Blank Slate | ONC2023

Chapter Nine: Never Use Your Power On Any Living Thing

When you have powers that can break anything with a single touch, it's incredibly easy to escape. After packing everything I have into a bag and throwing some stuff around to make it seem like there has been a struggle here, all it takes is a blast of power to the window and security field and I am out.

Shaking the sand off my boots and blanking the security shield again as it attempts to reform, I dart across the lawn and duck behind the neighbor's bushes. Just as I am concealed, the security shield reforms with a shimmering blue whoosh. The lights flick on inside the house. The heroes are officially alerted.

I scuttle along the bushes to the garage, blanking the panic switch and the garage door. It comes down with a deafening crash of metal. Leaping over the debris—which will hopefully hide the blanked panic switch—I swerve around the hover car to the back where I find what I was looking for: a hoverboard.

Snatching it, I flick it on and jump onto it. It takes a moment to gain my balance and the anti-fall field to latch onto my feet, but I manage. I lean forwards and the board shoots out of the garage and into the gray, city-lit sky. As I leave the neighborhood behind, a twinge of guilt wiggles under my ribs. I'm sorry, I think to the boy I saw playing with the hoverboard next door yesterday. But I need your board.

Plus, the heroes will probably reimburse him with a brand new one once they figure out that I—or rather, Blank Slate—has stolen it. At least, David might do that. He seems to be the charitable type. Another twinge of guilt, this one razor-edged, slides through my ribcage. I'm sorry I'm such a horrible friend.

Crisp night air whips at my clothes and hair, chilling my exposed skin and stealing away my sigh. It's better this way. I won't have to lie to him—to all of them—anymore and can focus on...figuring things out. Now that I have a base to land in, I can take this risk. It's worth it. It really is.

Still, doubt forms a knot in my stomach. Pushing it aside, I angle myself towards the arching shapes of buildings studded with lights, sparkling as if they were the stars themselves. Below, the dark shapes of suburban houses blur past, slumbering along with all sane people.

This will be a long trip. According to my GPS, I am an hour and a half from High-Five St., and only if I don't have to take detours around high-traffic air spaces or no-flying zones. At least...it will give me time to think.

●↽—01000010—⇁●

It's nearly dawn by the time I find my hideout. It's tucked in the backside of an old, abandoned apartment building on the middle floor—nearly impossible to find in the dark. But at least...I found it, even if it did take five hours of searching.

Tucking the hoverboard under my arm, I tap on my holowatch's flashlight and pan it across the space. Dust lies thick over the floor, a rickety old table shoved into the corner, a cot held up by cinder blocks, a stack of crates, and the various random debris haphazardly scattered throughout. The two windows set into the far wall on my right are sealed with what looks like opaque emergency tape, keeping the wind out and the musty smell in.

Wrinkling my nose, I gingerly set the hoverboard by the door—which surprisingly is still intact, though squeaky—and edge farther into the room. I take off my backpack and toss it onto the cot. It lands with a cloud of dust and I cough.

I'm going to have to do something about this dust if I want to breathe tonight. I glance towards the window and the faint light filtering through. At least, what's left of it. Running a hand through my hair, I begin to take stock of the situation.

First, I search the room more thoroughly for anything I missed. One of the first things I find is a broom, which I use to sweep the worst of the dust out the door, nearly choking with each sweep. Next, I check the crates which are filled with a duplicate of my villain outfit, some other clothes, food and water—enough to last a month—various pieces of tech I don't recognize, and plenty of ParaPens.