Blank Slate | ONC2023

Chapter Twelve: Citizen on the Case

The South Quarter Hero HQ located an hour away from the safe house is a tall building that shoots up into the sky like a spear of ice. Pale, frosted glass windows line its exterior with elegant navy blue trimmings spiraling around it and ending in a sharp point several stories up. Morning sun flashes off of the windows and passing hovercars like paparazzi cameras, stabbing me in the eyes more than once.

This headquarters screams importance, elegance, and heroes—a far cry from the temporary one back in the west sector. I squint up at it as David pulls over a drop-off platform sticking out of the left side of the building. "Is sparkly the new fashion?"

David quirks a lip, landing the hovercar with ease. "No. We just thought it'd be a great deterrent to villains."

I snort. So villains are afraid of sparkles now? Aaaah, I am so terrified. Save me from the sparkles, pleeeease. The urge to roll my eyes is so strong, I have to run my hand through my hair and give a few tugs on my curls to keep a straight face. Since when did I become sour and sarcastic? What's more likely is the villains being blinded by the periodic flashes of light.

Pushing open the door, I step out of the hovercar and back into a little alcove, Citizen following me. David pulls away, sinking down towards the car park. I run my hand through my hair again, watching until the hovercar is out of sight, the ghost of frost buzzing in my arms like fireflies in a jar.

How do I always seem to find myself at hero headquarters? You'd think I'd be better at avoiding them, but no, Citizen insisted I accompany him today and no excuse was good enough for him. Sighing, I glance towards him. "Why am I here again?"

Citizen leads me inside and past a crisp and formal-looking reception room filled with people and heroes alike. "To answer a few questions and sort out your files." He doesn't face me as he answers, instead choosing to walk briskly through the thankfully not sparkly halls, weaving around heroes and staff with the coat of his hero costume fluttering behind him.

I frown and pick up my pace to keep up with him. "Couldn't we have done that at the safe house?"

He curves around another corner and slows, letting me catch up. "No," he says as I fall into step. "Your presence is needed here where the files are safely stored."

I sigh. I want to say I have better places to be—because I do: hero HQs are no place for villains—but I swallow it. I am here now and it'd be better to get all of it over and done with as soon as possible.

We reach a room lined with Leapers. Citizen approaches the first one and barks a command for the seventeenth floor for two. It beeps, opens, and he jumps in, vanishing just like David had in the first Leaper I ever saw.

Narrowing my eyes, I wait for my turn. Something is...off about him today. Something is off about this situation. I flex my fingers, darting my gaze around the hall, lingering on the heroes in uniform, senses prickling. This place is crawling with heroes. Getting out in an emergency will be...difficult. The Leaper beeps and its doors pull apart. Grimacing, I jump inside, tensing as it blasts me upwards.

At the top, Citizen waits for me, hands in his pockets and hardly looking ruffled. He glances me over, eyes lingering on my hair, then dips his head. "This way." Pivoting, he heads down the right hall and turns a corner.

Combing my fingers through my curls, pulling out some tangles, I push my pace to catch up. I round the corner just in time to catch his coattail disappearing into a room. A huff fans my face. Well, he's in a hurry. Maybe he wants this done as quickly as possible, too. If so, fine by me. With a short burst of speed, I close the distance and slip into the room.

It is rather sparsely furnished with two chairs facing a desk piled with files. A few file cabinets line the far wall and a holographic screen projecting the time is set into the one on my left. Citizen stands by the desk, scrolling through a file with a slight crease in between his eyebrows.