Charlotte Powers 1: Power Down
Page 16
When I first realised that 'mimicry' was my power (ugh fine okay Daniel helped me figure it out, stupid, STUPID honesty curse) my immediate thought was, oh hey, I could've been throwing stuff around like The Head, I could have been flaming-on like Veronica, what a wasted opportunity! But, you know, maybe next time. At least I used Ray's power against him, or I think I probably did anyway. Maybe I would've hit him where I hit him even if I hadn't been copying his power, but it kind of adds a little extra sweetness to it all if I used his own power to defeat him, don't you think? He recovered, apparently, and was taken away by some military agency or another—one of their guys was here yesterday, not to visit me but to talk to Mum and Dad who WERE here visiting me, I saw him through the doorway saluting them REALLY respectfully. I didn't know my parents were ever involved with the military, but I guess it makes sense, they were pretty high-profile superheroes back in their day.
Anyway, enough about stupid horrible boys and mysterious government agencies, back to me and my power. I'm actually still getting used to the whole idea of 'mimicry'. This is a big change, you know? I've never even HEARD of a person with this kind of power, and I thought I knew them all. It's kind of a weird ability, but at the same time pretty cool. It'll keep me on my toes, at least! The only problem is that I STILL can't think of a name. The Mimic? Chameleon? Copy-Lass? Slate? (Like 'Blank Slate'.) How about just Blank? Or Blanc. Or ... Canvas?
Maybe I just suck at coming up with superhero names. Oh well. I'm sure I'll think of one eventually. The main thing is that I know what my power is now. I know who I am. I'm Charlotte Powers, most definitely a superhero. Maybe not the greatest superhero in the world, but I think I'm off to a pretty good start. I mean, I won, didn't I? Okay fine so Veronica and The Head and pretty much everyone at the facility got away (some kind of mass-teleportation that totally burnt out the transmitter-receiver), so we still don't know exactly what the 'advanced self-improvement program' was and all of the students involved have disappeared (thankfully C2's friends weren't a part of it, they came to visit me with her yesterday and, well, they're still weird even without the whole mood alteration thing happening, but at least they made an effort).
I've lost my point now. Oh right, winning. So I suppose it wasn't a total victory, but at least we managed to save this town from being controlled—and more importantly, we saved Alice from doing the controlling. We shut down the bad guy's facility and drove them out of town. Most of the people here aren't actually that grateful, though, especially the students, but that's probably just because most of them don't even realise anything happened. Quite a few of them are pretty angry at me for slapping Veronica, there was DEFINITELY some mood-altering going on there for her to be at ALL popular.
Still, some of the students recognised her for what she was, and when I slapped her in front of everyone they were the ones who were silently cheering. Some of them have visited me here, guess what? I'm invited to a party tonight! A real party with chips and dip and music and dancing! I'm REALLY looking forward to it, especially since C2 got my guitar back for me (have I mentioned how much of a sweetheart she is? Probably not enough; C2 is SUCH a sweetheart). I'm going to take it with me—and no, I'm NOT going to bust out a killer solo while flipping off a wall. I'm just going to play some music if I feel like it, and if people feel like listening. I have learnt to be 'subdued'. My lesson has been mastered.
One thing you might be wondering about is how Mum and Dad got here so quickly, even with Mum's invisible jet. Like I (and Daniel) said before, it's neither invisible nor a jet. It is, in fact, technically a spaceship. Why do my family need a spaceship, you ask? Well, I answer, it's because apparently we live on the moon. In a big bubble. Made of super-glass. With a simulated environment and fake sun, apparently it's just a contained plasma field in a super-glass globe, can you believe that? Even the SUN wasn't real! And could I just point out, here, that my second-greatest fear in the world since I was four years old is getting blown out into the vacuum of space and exploding? Thanks, parents, for making my nightmare so close to a reality. And talk about ostentatious! As if a secret volcano base wasn't enough already, now it turns out that it's a secret volcano base on the moon. No wonder getting potatoes was so difficult.
Speaking of food, I figured out something I could do for C2. It's not really much, just a tiny thing really, but since I'm laid up in bed (mostly by choice right now, but still) of course Mum fussed around me and asked me if she could get me anything. I just had one request. It turned out to be slightly inconvenient to fulfil, and probably the pears that the fruit bowl beside my bed is now filled with are the most expensive pears in the world considering the spaceship fuel burnt getting them, but the look on C2's face when she saw them was worth it. And you know what? They ARE delicious! I think I like them almost as much as mangoes! Know something else? C2 likes mangoes now almost as much as she likes pears!
Oh, by the way, the whole 'big game' was actually a big con. The rival team weren't from another school at all, they were just appropriately-aged minions of the unseen Big Bad behind all of this. And that secret room underneath the disused building? NO LONGER THERE. It wasn't just a room either, judging from the remains I'm told it was more like a small underground complex—but it's all gone now, taken away somewhere else by some kind of emergency teleportation system, leaving the building above to just kind of collapse into the space it left. The admin building was destroyed too, taking all the computers and records at the school with it. As for the facility, the caverns beneath were exploded and the whole thing fell in on itself. (Cue panicky moment of unnecessary guilt from me because of the technicians I left unconscious in there; C2 said they were all teleported out before the facility was destroyed. Phew.)
So I guess there are lots of mysteries as yet unsolved. Lots to investigate, lots to follow up on. Because Mum and Dad have already found evidence pointing to other schools being 'used' like this one; suspicious fires, mass-disappearances, lots of seemingly non-super events that when taken together point to supervillainry of the highest and most dangerous order; supervillains who have learnt to take the long view of things, who have learnt the value of subtlety. It turns out Mum and Dad were right. This isn't the same world they adventured in. It's a new world, a more dangerous world, a world of hidden threats and insidious plans—threats and plans that I'm going to uncover, threats and plans that I, Charlotte Powers, am going to put a very definite stop to. Because Dad was right about something else: where there are villains, there you will also find heroes—whether they're 'super' or not.
Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm feeling up to discharging myself. Before I save the world, I have a party to attend.
Saving [CPowersJournal.ot]
[subname : powerdown]
Done!
Shutting down . . .
Goodbye, Veronica.
Charlotte's journal continues in:
Charlotte Powers
2
Power Play
Available now from
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Books By Ben White
Miya Black, Pirate Princess
I - Adventure Dawns
II - Freedom & Responsibility
III - Fractured Lives
IV - This Impossible World, This Impossible Girl (coming soon)
Charlotte Powers
1 - Power Down
2 - Power Play
3 - Hidden Power (coming soon)
Resonance
Book One - Birds Of Passage
Book Two - Against Darker Days (coming soon)
Other Books
The Undying Apathy Of Imogen Shroud
The Boy & Little Witch
More about these titles can be found at:
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Copyright © 2011 by Ben White.
Cover and book design by Ben White.
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Website: cloverisland.co.nz
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