By the time Armor came back, it was later into the evening. Rim had tried to message him several times to tell him about what had been announced about our mom, but he didn’t respond at all. He didn’t even know the information until he walked in through the elevator doors. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6V2PvmMCBX
It was about ten o’clock when I heard the door outside. Before that I was sprawled out on the guest room bed, my amber-colored hair spiked and uneven, as I tried to meet all of my realizations at the same time. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnhQS5WUZE
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #1: I am a teen superhero with powers that are supposedly jeopardizing the planet. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn6Nhf7LIe
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #2: My father has been alive this entire time and just decided to waltz into my life now, and not when I really needed a father. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCfXwC9DdW
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #3: My mother is supposedly gone, taken by these weird creatures my long-lost-emotionally- scattered-just-met-her-today-she-threw-me-into-a-car-and-basically- kidnapped-me sister won’t tell me about. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRMCLKEr6P
Blake’s Horrible Crazy Life Realization #4: My life must be pretty nasty if I made a whole “Blake’s Horrible Life Realization” list with more three points, and it’s even sadder that I carried it in that far. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pTeWGxOTg
“You’re new here,” a voice said from the wall. I jumped, looking around to see where the voice had come from.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMabMh3Doln
“Who said that?” I asked.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRG4Nloqwpn
“Yes, definitely new.” I froze.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDB3I21nKy
There it was again. I was tempted to run out of the room and find Rim, who was watching a movie about a vampire-princess romance one room over. The voice came again.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7X0Dy730vT
“Do not be alarmed. I am sorry. My name is Sicily. I was programmed into the walls of this flat when a man named Knight’s-Armor was stationed to this apartment. Are you acquainted with him?” I shifted awkwardly on the mattress.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTS96J3vmma
“Are you talking to me?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrlqFHsuOR
“Of course, Unidentified Male Lifeform.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQk5cT7pf81
“I’m Blake,” I said, twisting my head, trying to decide which way to face the voice. The walls flickered like holograms.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZUnax1KnS
“Blake. Yes. My internal scans tell me that you are composed of two-hundred human bones and about six-hundred-thirty human muscles. According to my findings in the official achievement of human intelligence, you are slightly below the average height for a boy of your current age. I collected a sample of your DNA through monitoring the saliva you spit on the left wall when telling your name, and found that you are indeed a son to Armor. Fusing family trees now. You are indeed an adolescent, and interestingly prone to major types of acne.” I sat up on my elbows.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lFmxweeMI
“Nice to know. Yes, supposedly Armor is my father, and I’m supposedly an all-powerful teenage arc of destruction that has really become some kind of time bomb to supposedly trigger the end of the earth as we know it. Did any of your sensors tell you any of that?” There was a long pause.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWyLvcsSff
“That doesn’t compute.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKE3y0JoyTL
“Figures.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLc4wdMaYhK
“My sensors picked up the word “supposedly” used many times in your statement. Could my computing error happened as you might have been referring to the rare sou possum?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgGaDPJHQs
“Forget I said anything. I’m sorry about the way I snapped, I’m just really messed up inside. I don’t exactly know what’s what.” The humming in the walls grew a little louder.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpAxeHpUwr
“Well, I’m an expert on what’s what. What would you like to know?” I thought for a moment.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPorzUsQsA
“Everything?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1aytZbURx
“Well, relaying that massive request will take 1.2 eons to collect and relay,” Sicily chirped. I laid on my back.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sht3lzutX
“Well now’s a good time to start with the truth as any. Go ahead.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAauolw0pnu
“Sarcasm detected. Was that sarcastic?” I laughed.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOB813JmgP
“Sicily, you and I are going to be great friends.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3s6nAzVxwv
Just as I finished saying that, there were a doorbell sound and a swish. Armor was home. Instead of going out to see him, I found myself turning out the lights. Let’s just say I wasn’t completely comfortable with a new family at the moment. I wasn’t completely comfortable with a new identity either.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlOX0D2N0x
I heard footsteps, chatter, crying? It must have been Rim, telling Armor the mysterious news. There was more talking. Arguing and silence. I heard footsteps outside my room. I quickly crawled under the covers and closed my eyes, faking sleep just as my bedroom door opened. I felt a presence there.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81ZKKqNFqd
“Oh, Blake.” That was Armor. Of course, he thought I was asleep. I was an excellent actor. More footsteps. Rim’s voice broke the silence.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvjksSAs0X
“I don’t want you to leave,” she said simply, her voice dipped with pain.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ECytk5O9d
“I’ll only be gone for a little while, sweetheart. I need to check those archives. They shouldn’t have been able to find your mom. There has to be some kind of mistake.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRK4xVKzUG
“I heard her name, cross my heart!”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bjvcACe27
“I know, cupcake. Just stay here and watch your brother.” Footsteps sounded further and further away from the door. He was leaving the room.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxjjYwBpEO
“Dad? Do you think the under-naturals will take Blake too?” The footsteps stopped.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24J7bJ9MUg
“I hope not. I should never have lost him in the first place. I never want to lose him again. Only time will tell, Rim. Only time will tell.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XIVI4b5PO
With that my consciousness slipped away, leading me into sleep. My dream centered around a room with a large table. It was dark, lit primarily by a crackling fireplace. Off two one side was a high-backed swivel chair. Someone was sitting in it, but I couldn’t get a good look at their face.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNqnwIYo63
Someone opened the door. It was the boy from the gym that had tried to attack me. His features were etched in the firelight. His eyes glowed. His black hair made his eyes look darker.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYVTAyb3u2
“Sir,” he began, closing the door behind him. The chair swiveled towards his voice, the face still out of view.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8rMLKvCZ5
“What do you want?” It sneered. It was a man’s voice.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHDUarnMT4
“We found the boy,” he said sternly. The figure stood up.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAgplJnrmY
“What?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyIvcrplgz
“We used the tracking locators and found him at the school in sector 243. We found him, Myrna and I. We tried to retrieve him, but those no good Super Naturals got to him first.” A growl escaped the dark figure.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYXWAG7XFW
“Super Naturals?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeT9tCAitjI
“Yes. One was a...” He bit his lip as if he were hiding something. “A leg-natural. The other was a guardian: Lana. We could have had him easy, too. We chased them all the way to the highway and then they vanish off the scanners.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ItFDjV9ru
“Let me get this straight. You alerted them of your presence, and then you let them get away!? Do you understand how important this boy is? Now they know the gist of our plans! Do you have any other horrible news to report?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuXZoCmELN
The boy was about to speak when the doors opened and a girl entered. It was the boy's accomplice from the gym. The one he called Myrna. Her black hair was arranged in a bouquet of ringlets atop her head. She was wearing a long, sleeveless white top and black pants that were cropped by pearl white boots. Her cold grey eyes were scary no matter how much makeup she put on.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AgDOt4OW6
“I’m sorry, Master. I had important errands to attend to.” She met the boy’s eyes and silent communication passed through them. She faced the tall figure.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnoep3kkh0N
“We got word from group 451 in a sector close to the one in which we found the boy. It seems they found a feisty little Super Natural of their own. One with a high power count. They suspect....they suspect she may be an ultra-natural as well.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKXoZhN5fx
“Did you catch the name?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAynnjwGNM7
“Taradelta. The team also failed to extract her. She was supposedly quite quick on her feet, and she had a little friend from a chest-natural known as Allen.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0cnu2wpEk
“Ugh. No news is good news when it comes to your extraction teams. You have failed me again. No matter. We have recognized your failure. Both the boy and the girl are most likely at the “safe haven”, and we’ll have them by dusk tomorrow. Now get to the pods. We need to move fast.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngEeQDyNlm
The dream changed.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wFZJvH7RF
My mother was chained to a metal wall. Her head was hanging and she was breathing heavily as if she had been busy struggling from the restraints. Seeing her that way made me want to cry. Another woman was there with blue hair and vibrant eyes, holding her hands out.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcJNCgQAPr
“Hurry, it won’t last long.” His teeth seemed to be clenched with effort. My mother looked up and her eyes met mine.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Fidgkxjso
“Blake!”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzCI8XD2gS
“Mom!” I wasn’t sure if it was an illusion or not, but I was just so relieved to see her alive. She didn’t look happy, though. Her eyes grew desperate.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUM22bmufvS
“Are you okay?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgZY1wqvnL
“I’m fine Mom. Where are you? What have they done to you?” Her face pinched. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7xHSDaIMq
“Blake, don’t come to get me.” I gasped so loudly it made her flinch.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UOhPYwBxB
“What!? You’re imprisoned and you expect me to sit around and do nothing? I’m coming to find you, Mom.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLfmnlSxTu
“No, you can’t. You’re the one they want, cupcake, not me. I’m only here in this place to see you get hurt. Don’t come near and you’ll be fine. I’m safe because I’m the bait. Don’t you see it? Stay away.” The blue-haired woman grunted.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYRJC4FnvE
“I’m losing the dream connection, Lauren.” I whimpered.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oiFGMoJOG
“Mom....”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJkpHUdMWo
“Blake! I don’t have much time! Stay where you are! I’ll find you!”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmm2qLU5hB
And then I woke up to my sister’s scream piercing the night. I jolted awake, immediately on alert. Rim screamed again, quickly silenced, as if someone had tried to stop her. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxa5JWNlXZT
“Quiet girl! You want to wake up the whole neighborhood. No, stop! Guards! Catch her! CATCH HER AND BRING HER TO ME!”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXqaDcHOkm
There was a lot of noise from the room over, as if there was a fight. I flew out of bed, a bit alarmed, not sure if this was reality, or if I was still dreaming. I was going for the door, wondering whether I should lock it or fly to Rim’s rescue, when my sister burst through, falling into me and sending us sprawling on my bed. I tried to push her off me.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ycnvhRGe1
“Ah! Get off! Rim what’s going.....” She sprang up and locked the door. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOzkzePBUp
Then, hastily, she began to pile the few furniture items I had in the room in front of the entrance. The apparent intruders banged on the door, but it was no use. She used her back to push the items snugly against the door. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgD1qyK4vyw
“We’re being attacked,” she managed, her electric blue eyes wide and shining in the dark. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ78ZedCT3A
Her pajamas were rumpled in a few places from the fight, and her once smooth hair was in a rats nest.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvzxz0zraq
“You think I didn’t notice? What happened? Who’s out there?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvQPzYNAyZ
“It’s hard to explain. Basically they want to take us and do horrible things to us. Need to say more?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGYrejnD7z
“What about Sicily? Can’t she enforce the security?” Rim grunted.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOrsN1Ewbt
“They hot-wired the system. I tried to call the authorities but I didn’t have a signal. I texted Dad and told him about the intruders, but who knows if he’ll get it in time.” 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurVoiPowBc
The truth came to me.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnatEop0Ch2
There was no way out.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kULEDfoUC
“So....we’re stuck?” She shrugged.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3XGAj19CC
“Basically.” 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bbubnDecQ
Oh yikes. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDLVPsDLtb
“How many of them are there?” I asked, backing as far away from the door as possible. She joined me, sending me a cautious look.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6CJBS5kDC
“You can’t seriously be thinking.....”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqhScZBMBT
“No. I have absolutely zero experience, but maybe....if some do find us or hear us.....” 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfi9PHlTFI
“Doubt it,” she remarked.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJiRkRGZPy
“Thanks for the optimism, queen sunshine. I suppose you have any ideas?” Her eyes lit up in a scary kind of way.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJbKLL4PLD
“We can go through the fire escape.” I blinked. That was actually kind of brilliant. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3P86LLQdKK
“Great. It’s out of my window?” She nodded.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP540RVWRPZ
“Yep. There’s just one problem though.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHGXJ7RhSa
“What’s that?”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIO51s5s570
“They have the girl. The one that can do the scary weather stuff. Tara. They have her gagged and held in restraints.” 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NSW1Asv57
She bit her lip like she was going to try to break it to me we would have to leave her. Call me crazy, but I felt a surge of protectiveness for the girl. She was an ultra-natural, like me. She’d been outcast, like me. I couldn’t leave this girl behind.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXkVjXYOgc
“We have to get her.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtj6nwpCG36
“That’s crazy. We have no backup!” Rim protest. She was standing at the window now. I crossed my arms.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKju7RMwGZ
“She needs our help! Do you want her to get taken away too?” That got her. Her face scrunched.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaH4TtUpqo
“We’ll fail.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNohFintYj
“We might fail,” I corrected, “and even if we do, we would have failed to know we tried.”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1aWOvUgYn
Rim didn’t seem to approve of my reasoning. She didn’t know me that well yet. When I get started on something, there was no backing out. I made my way to the keyhole in the door and peered through. A bunch of pirate-looking guys stood around.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mxCb6vgb4
Two of them were holding Tara between them. Her eyes were wide, and she looked a mixture of panic and anger. Her short hair was caught in some places in the cloth gag around her jaw. Suddenly she was looking at me and her eyes glinted. She was telling me to get out. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPKuvNFAYy
“Get them!” The tallest one said.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4fWum49CA
They tried sticking a variety of weapons through the keyhole. I managed to stumble away just in time. Then, they slid something through. It looked like a bug; a sort of spider that looked almost mechanical. Before I could do anything it hooked onto the doorknob and began to tinker with the mechanism.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlKEHpC01U
“Rim...” I began, backing away from the door. I heard her gasp behind me.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTR2oGGbl5
“We need to go. Now.” 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNUSpKzflI
I didn’t want to, but Rim pulled me by my elbow to the fire escape just as the door swung open and the intruders burst in. Then out of nowhere comes Armor. He immediately comes to our rescue, defending us without weapons.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUP6l5oq120
His skin, as you might of guess, was as indestructible as titanium. He lifted Tara on his shoulder and made his way to us, leaving the girl with us just as a dozen police began to take the criminals away into custody. Armor nodded to them as they hauled off the men. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFiiqqmVAHB
He turned to us.“Are you kids alright?” Rim nodded, a little startled. I helped untie Tara.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDHTcKEhJa
“Thank you,” she said simply, though the relief was apparent on her face.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0glxmgxZud
Her eyes were vibrant at night. I smiled and told her I didn’t do anything. Armor was shocked. I must have asked him a million times was going on.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjXDOEhDoS
“Go to bed,” he told me in a serious tone. “You need your sleep.” 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQ4xTxQcPt
I wasn’t tired anymore. Armor headed towards his room and closed the door loudly, so it sounded more like a door slam. The sound was final and condemning. Behind me, Rim was already inviting Tara to stay with her and ushering her inside. I laid on my back, feeling lonely and clueless. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjTKYou35p
I wanted to know who those people were. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AoCAZ3AIX
I wanted to know why Armor was suddenly so frustrated. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRg2HDLQG6R
I wanted to know what would happen to me, being so dangerous and powerful.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoFnkNYn96
For now, I knew the answers weren’t going to appear on my bedroom ceiling. I didn’t even know if the answers were going to appear at all. I knew one thing...604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tdxzUEH8M
I was Blake, no matter what. I was going to do something, and somehow... everything would work out. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbn8CEjYRb
I heard Rim and Tara chattering in the next room. I was surprised. Those girls are as different as night and day. Maybe they would be friends after all.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHCDWHMHTZ
“Master Blake?” A whisper. A sudden stirring of humming in the walls.604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRW1ZRTlWeQ
“What’s going on? My power sensors....”604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyL83NW43eL
“Sicily.” It made me smile to hear her voice again. “It’s okay.” 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGmkWKVNQT
I yawned and pulled the covers up to my chin. Tomorrow, I would think of a plan. I would save mom, no matter what. Tomorrow. I faced the wall where I always felt Sicily lived in. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALvcBhGxDz
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” And my eyes slipped shut. 604Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3GCsn27ei
That was my first day in Super Natropolis.
ns3.147.8.67da2
