Somehow within the course of a month, I have been convinced to move in with my mother and acquire a high school diploma.
You'd think that being homeschooled and practically an inventor all your life made you get a free pass out of school. Granted, she doesn't know about the inventor part but still, if you know your stuff and get your message through, isn't that meant to be seen as teaching too?
Unfortunately, a GED requires Social studies and Language arts, both of which had been quite absent in said education.
The only thing I know of art is Musicals, and that is only because Cassandra loved them.
I pause then, at the top of the stairs as I take a deep breath.
I am still not quite sure why I acquiesced so easily. Perhaps it is because staying for days on end by myself in Shawna's old isolated mansion is starting to get dreary. I love inventing but perhaps, it is time to see what else I can do with myself.
"I'm sure you'll make lots of friends. People are gonna love you, princess." Ben says with a laugh, to his daughter, my half-sister Lizzie.
Of course she will. Lizzie's cute that way.
Granted, I haven't spoken to the girl much since I arrived here 2 weeks ago.
She has long curly blonde hair that she prefers in 2 high ponytails, icy blue eyes courtesy of her father whose hair was a rather dark shade of brown. She is beautiful to the point of pretty priviledge and an extrovert to boot so I wouldn't worry about the social aspects of her life.
She is also 6.
"Oh, Alex. How are you?" Ben asks in the fashion of a man wary of being accused of favoritism. Being a step-parent must be hard, so many possible missteps and minefields brought along in form of kids you don't even know.
Of course, only if you genuinely care.
"I'm alright." I say, finally starting to make my way though.
He positively beams. "All hyped up for your first day?"
Lizzie stares at me expectantly, her face breaking into a smile as I reply. "Can't wait."
Sarcasm seems to fly over the heads of the people in this family.
(Or maybe I'm just so out of touch with society that even my speech patterns vary.)
It isn't all sarcasm though. The highest amount of time I've spent in a learning institution is half of a year which occured the year right before... well, everything..
I'm slightly curious but not enough to be happy about it.
I can hardly expect Ben to make breakfast for me as I'm practically still a stranger in his house. I could wait for the cook but I really want to leave.
I'm not comfortable enough in here to cook.
I grab an apple out of the fruit bowl and bite into it as I turn to leave. I'll just buy something off the streets. "Good luck, Lizzie. Bye Ben."
"Ah, wait. Alex." Ben says , getting up from his position. "I wanted to give you a gift. Your mum said your birthday was about a week before you came here so we can call it a late birthday gift." As he finishes speaking, he hands me a set of keys. "I noticed you went out to get a renewed driver's license so I thought it would be for the best. And since you went to school personally for the tour and orientation, I assumed you'd be familiar with the road to it."
" I am." I say coming out of my surprise. "I... Thank you. You didn't have to do this." I collect the keys.
"I know but I suppose it could also double as a 'welcome to the family' kind of thing." He says, smiling at me. I can feel how genuine he is.
I look at the keys, knowing now that there is no way I can give this back without seeming rude.
I really hope it isn't a car.
It looks too light for a car though.
" I could tell you weren't a car person so I got you a motorcycle instead. It's the only one in the garage. " He says then, warily, perhaps suddenly afraid he's made the wrong choice.
I beam then. My last motorcycle had gotten totalled during the last saga of my life.
Having a new one unwinds something in me that I hadn't even realised was twisted up.
I'm about to head to the door when he speaks up. " Aren't you going to see your mum first? "
I wave a hand. " No. Wouldn't want her to lose her beauty sleep. "
_____
The whole auditorium claps as the principal finishes his welcome speech.
I can only refrain from rolling my eyes.
It's sending the wrong message really. Encouraging safety from environmental hazards and praising superheroes in one breath? Wildly contradicting.
The praise of superheroes is also just encouragement to throw yourself in harm's way for other people. A good lesson, yes but not one meant to be repeated often enough for children in a crime ridden city to emulate.
But then again, what do I expect from leading authorities except contradictions?
I'm starting to wonder if first days are lazy days or if it's only practiced here.
What is mostly going on in the classrooms now is just friends reuniting as the people start to segregate into their own little groups.
A person or two glances my way, and I end up putting my headphones as a deterrent to conversation.
I don't want to be here.
It happens quite suddenly.
So suddenly in fact that I'm not quite done sliding under my table when the front part of a car crashes through my window.
A sprinkle of glass showers down as people start to scream, which is a typical reaction but an ultimately useless one at that.
I take a deep breath to block out the wisps of terror seeping into my brain and shimmy out of my makeshift blockade and push my way out of the room, into the crowd and eventually breaking off into the bathroom despite the frantic waving out of students by teachers.
Although, the fact I wasn't noticed leaves something to be questioned about the actual situational awareness of the staff.
I step into a stall and watch as my bracelets unravel, my nanobots winding around me like a second skin.
Here we go, something I can do.
_____
I've only just made my way past 2 blocks when I find myself ducking and watching in what seems like slow motion as a web crackling with electricity flies an inch over my head and slams into an innocent person's roof exit.
I skid to a stop to see 'The Trio' (God, that is a stupid name.) or at least 2 of them. They're superheroes who appeared 3 years ago, or at least that's what the internet knows. I've met them about 3 times since I moved to Delris , all during my occasional rooftop runs in my nanobots suit. They tended to just watch me, probably because they didn't know what to do with me.
I'm pretty sure they think I'm an anti-hero of a sort since I sometimes help people but they don't trust me, which is honestly smarter than I expected from three people who basically call themselves 'The three people'
"Give it up." Hurricane (Get it? Because he uses wind) says while Voltage makes a show of electrifying another web.
I can't help but sigh.
In the Trio, we have Hurricane: master of wind, can create tornadoes and all that jazz. I suspect he's not using his powers now as it might affect civilians which is stupid because this is literally roof level not street but whatever...
I slide down the fire escape of a building to dodge another web, ending up in an alley. It crackles with electricity as it falls. I look up and smirk at Voltage's irritated face though I doubt she sees it as my mask produces lower face coverage and a hood.
All this begs the question of why exactly they are chasing me. I literally just stepped out to see the chaos and suddenly I'm being hounded like I hold the keys to the universe.
The pause proves to be my undoing as they land around me, blocking my two spaces of escape.
"Okay, you got me." I put my hands up. "Can I get a why though?"
I slide back as Hurricane lunges, ducking under Voltage's arm and running up the wall to escape. "I'm guessing that's a no."
I whip out a small circular device from my suit and tossing it under their feet. It opens to an electrical forcefield, enclosing them.
I realize my mistake, turning back to use a grappling hook to swing myself onto a building, narrowly missing a volt of electricity as I do so.
I'm guessing tossing a self-amplifying electrical device at a manipulator of electricity was not one of the best ideas of my life.
"Again, I'd really like to know why I'm being chased." I yell over my shoulder.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it has to do with the bots that only you use causing chaos in the city." He snarks back right before a flood of something slams into him, tossing him off the building.
I watch the swarm as it recedes and sharply inhale as I recognize it.
Of course, their first suspect would be me.
I'm the only one who uses them.
I'm the only one meant to have them.
There's a strange emotion filling me up and seeping into my bones.
I follow the bots and lock eyes with a masked person standing on a mountain of them,glaring at me. They send it towards me, forcing me to skid back and create a forcefield using my own nanobots to block out the foreign ones.
I don't break eye contact. I watch their eyes narrow.
I recognize what the feeling is then. Anger.
White-hot Anger. I haven't been this angry since- ... since Amos.
How dare they? How dare they use something they have no right to? No right at all.
I bled and lost for the right to wield something I myself had invented and some fool just thinks he can make use of whatever he wants?
I send my forcefield outwards, following it, then swing myself up and use the viruses nanobots as a running pillar to get closer.
I lunge just as they dismiss it, twisting mid-air to avoid another attack, using my nanobots as balance before I knock into them, slamming us onto a nearby roof.
I yank off the mask then and my body freezes, my mind going blank as my anger settles deep in my stomach.
A woman with deep black hair and green eyes, a scar stretching from her left eye to her mouth glares back at me, the hate leaking off her refusing to match with what I remember of her.
Shawna.
Her nanobots slam me off and I am flying through the air , my mind refusing to unfreeze.
I'm about to hit the ground when I'm caught by someone. I open my eyes to meet google-shielded green.
"Hey." I croak as I get down.
"You okay?" He asks.
Is that even possible to answer right now?
Bolt is the third of the Trio. He's cool. We've spoken to each other once or twice. Of course, that was in the absence of Hurricane and Voltage. There was always a divide though because he had no idea which side I belonged to and I didn't really want to befriend a superhero.
It's like meeting a person on the street often enough that you start to nod at each other.
Shawna's gone, escaped during the course of my distraction.
I shake my head. "I'm leaving."
And I do, but that doesn't help me escape from seeing the injured and widespread chaos on the streets.
She's alive, She's alive. How- She did this... But Shawna would never...
Shawna's alive.
My hands shake and I can feel tears prick my eyes. A weight I hadn't even known I still carried slips down.
Shawna's alive.
A wave of determination fills me then.
I'm going to find her.