Oblivion

Chapter 1: Welcome to New York

Warning! This is a continuation/spin-off series. You don't have to have read the prequels to read this, but some things will make more sense if you do! The stories are Off to The Races book 1 in the Velocity saga, Migraine, The Gamble, Up Up and Away, Behind the Mask, The Wicca Prophecy and When Lightning Strikes.
Brady's P.O.V.
     I climbed out of bed and zoomed around the crappy motel room that I had been staying in since I had woken up in New York a couple weeks ago. When I came to the last year was a blank.
     I had awoken in a dirty alleyway in an upgraded version of the Velocity suit. For me the next several days were a jumble of fear and confusion as I tried to figure out what had happened to me.
    Eventually I had decided to stay in New York. "It's disturbing," I thought as brushed my teeth remembering the past few weeks, "I still have no idea what happened in the missing year. The last thing I remember was going to face off against Lightspeed after he kidnapped Jade and then.... nothing."
    After waking up I had tried to contact my parents but couldn't get in touch with them. They no longer were living in town, and they seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth.     With a whoosh I dashed out of the room to head to school. Blue and gold lightning crackled and trailed behind me as I ran. As the buildings blurred by I once more attempted to remember something about the last year.
     With a sharp pain on my temple a blurry vision hit me.
     I was lying in the middle of a street with jagged piece of metal sticking out of my stomach. There was blood everywhere and Jade was leaning over me holding my hand and crying. The rest of the group was standing at the other side of the street holding each other and crying. I whispered something to Jade and took one last shuddering breath and closed my eyes.
    I snapped back to the present just in time to see a school bus turn a corner and spin out of control. Time seemed to slow as the out of control bus hurtled towards a telephone pole.
     My instincts kicked in, and I leaped forward and phased through the bus doors. I grabbed the driver, and a kid and exited again.
     In about two seconds I had got everyone off the bus and cleared the area. I dashed to the mouth of a nearby alley and skidded to a stop. Flushed with exhilaration I watched as the, now empty, bus spun into a pole and flipped.
      As I grinned my stomach dropped as I realized what I had done. "Crap I used my powers publicly" I thought as I took off running again. I mentally beat myself up. Since arriving in New York I'd been trying to keep a low profile until I figured out what was going on. Within a minute I was walking into my homeroom classroom.
     As I plopped down in the back the girl in front of me turned around and said "Brady did you hear about the Fall formal in a couple of weeks?"
     "Yeah but I'm probably not going to go."
     "Why not?"
     "Because I'm new, and don't know anyone." I said as I put ear buds in. With a huff the girl spun around and glared at her book.
     Right as the bell rang a girl in a hoodie walked in. "Ah Ms. Turner nice of you to join us!" My English teacher Mr. Olsen said. With a start I glanced up and gasped. Standing next to my teacher was Hayleigh!
    She mumbled an apology and started to shuffle to the back but before she got far Mr. Olsen called her back "Ms. Turner introduce yourself to the class."
     "Hey I'm Hayleigh I'm from North Carolina and I'm fifteen. I like to read," she muttered before being directed to a seat across the room.
     As homeroom dragged on my mind was racing trying to figure out what the heck Hayleigh was doing here. I tried in vain to catch her eye.
     When I'd gone back to North Carolina to look for my parents all of my friends had apparently moved away. Finally the bell rang and everyone rushed out, and by the time I got into the hallway she was already gone. With a sigh I headed off to my next class.

After school
     I was getting things out of my locker at the end of the day when I saw a familiar face. It was Sarah!
      "What the heck," I thought "how is it possible that two of my old friends happened to just show up at my school on the same day?" Putting on a quick burst of speed I tried to catch up with her. But before I could catch her she slipped out the doors and into a waiting car.
     "Damn it so close" I thought. With a sigh of defeat I started speeding my way back to the motel. Just as I sped down Broadway my forehead begin to hurt again and I was hit with another weird vision.
     I was laying on the ground with the same piece of metal in my stomach and Lightspeed was standing nearby cackling. Then out of nowhere a Immanuel rushed out of an alley and threw a sliver orb with a red light at him. It hit Lightspeed in the head and in a flash of he vanished.
     With a groan I snapped back into consciousness and stumbled to a stop in a alleyway. Even now the vision was already fading from memory. I struggled to remember but it was already gone.
     I slammed my fist into a wall and took off once again. I ran to the beach and just kept on running. As I ran across the water I let out a deep sigh of annoyance.
Mid-run my phone buzzed and I checked it. It was a text message from my friend, Nayeli, saying Hey get here now I need help!!🖒🖒👃🖒🖒
Me- Be there in 5 minutes.
N- ok hurry
     I pushed myself to go faster and soon I was at Nayeli's door. I rang the bell, and she opened the door.
     "What's the emergency?"
     "Just come on!" She replied as she pulled me to her room. As I entered I saw three dresses on the bed.
     "You have a fashion emergency?!?"
     She nodded in response and said "My mother is making me go to the annual Quantum Corp. Gala tonight and I don't know what to wear."
     I examined the first dress, it was a simple strapless black dress with purple beads. The second was a tight fitting red dress that had a long sleeve and was cut in a diagonal over the chest. The final gown was long and pale blue it had a train.
     "Hm I like this one," I decided as I picked up the red one.
She grabbed it and ran into the bathroom to change.
    She walked out and said "What do you think?"
     "Perfect you will kill it in that."      "So Brady I have a question."   "What?"
     "Do you wanna come with me tonight?" I blinked and said "Um... Sure why not. Will it be ok with your mom. Do I need a tux?" She nodded and motioned for me to follow her.
     She walked into the hallway and yanked open a closet. She dragged out a cardboard box. Opening the box she pulled out a old white tux.
     "Try this on I think it will fit you," she said as she gave it to me.
    "Ok," I murmured as I grabbed the tux and went into the bathroom.
     After I finished putting the tux, and I stepped out. I gave a little twirl, Nayeli laughed and clapped.
      "Fantastic Brady you look great."
     "Thanks Nay- Nay! When do we leave?"
     Nayeli checked her phone and said "About two hours."
     "Ok," I replied as I walked over to Nayeli.
     The next hour and a half passed in a blur as I helped Nayeli get ready.
     "Let's go man!" Nayeli exclaimed as she dashed out of the door.  Smiling at her sudden eagerness I followed behind her. We walked to the subway and got on.
Several minutes went by before the train stopped at our station and we disembarked.
     I followed Nayeli up on to the street and into a fancy tower. Nayeli walked up to the security guard and asked "Hi Mr. Henser can we go in?"
     Mr. Henser replied "Yeah Nayeli go ahead!" We walked over to a set of double doors and entered.
     I glanced around and saw we were in a large ballroom with soaring columns. On the walls there were large arched windows and beautiful paintings. The room was full of men and women socializing. My gaze went to the ceiling high above dripping with chandeliers.
     "Let's go get some food Nayeli," I said. She nodded and we made our way towards the buffet table. I surveyed the long table covered in food.
     After grabbing some food we made our way to a high table.     Right after we finished our plates       Nayeli asked "Wanna dance?" "Oh... Sure," I replied embarrassed. We made our way on to the dance floor just as a slow song began to play.
     Blushing I gently laid my hands on her hips. Nayeli looked mortified and whispered "Oh my god... I'm so sorry about this!" "Don't worry about it," I murmured back.
After dancing for little while I glanced over and saw a peculiar  sight.       
    Standing on the other side of the room, in a dark blue gown, a teenage girl was arguing with Mr. Track the CEO of Quantum Corp.
     The girl was gesturing angrily and Mr. Track crossed his arms in annoyance.  She looked familiar I thought. As the dance began to wind down I struggled to figure out why she seemed familiar.
      The girl spun around, her black hair was like a dark halo as she spun, looked pissed. As shock rippled through me as I realized it was Jade!

To be continued....