Tabula Rasa

My name is Cameron Jameson but everyone knows me as the Blank Slate. If you ask me, it’s a pretty corny name but I guess it describes me well enough. I don’t burst in all guns blazing like some of those costumed goofs you see around in the other cities. I like a more subtle approach, something quick and painless.

I don’t have an arch-nemesis. Hell, I don’t even have an enemy. Most of my encounters are one and done, super-heroic or otherwise. Life’s pretty empty but I can’t complain. For the past 10 years, I did my job and I did it well. Nobody’s died on my watch and nobody ever has a bad memory of what they went through. I do make them remember just enough though, with things the way they are today even a superhero needs a payday. The best part of my job though is what I can do to the bad guys.

Some heroes lock them up, others go straight for the kill. Me, well I’ve got my own way of doing things. You see that guy in the lab coat standing over there? That’s Dr. James Erickson, one of the most brilliant minds our world has ever known. From what I heard, his research is on track to end world hunger in less than twenty years. Now that’s a hero. The people love him as much as he loves his job but little do they know, that man whom they shower with love and praise was the same man who had once attempted to poison our city’s water supply.

How about that guy over there? That’s Warren Vandersmith, owner of the world’s biggest toy store chain. He is personally responsible for putting millions of children around the world through school. That’s a hero. Guess you could say that this was a big improvement over running the country’s biggest human trafficking syndicate.

Imagine if such brilliant minds were locked up or such great resources were squandered. What good would have just been wasted? That’s what I love about my job. I don’t just beat the bad guys, no. I can take a “Doctor Death” or “People Pusher” and turn them into what this world needs. A real hero saves everyone and I don’t discriminate when it comes to who I save. I look into their heads, wipe out all the bad stuff and keep the good things in and this is the end result. A person who somehow, through some inexplicable feeling finds a calling to do something for this world. Somebody who can do a lot of good when they come in with a blank slate.

Somebody just like me.

I don’t tell a lot of people this but just like those guys, I too don’t remember much about my life before the past decade. My earliest clear memory was waking up one day in the hospital. I was pretty banged up from something. What that something was I don’t know. Sitting across me was Atomic Man, the greatest superhero our city’s ever known and not to mention my predecessor.

He looked a little shook up too. Thirty years of crime-fighting does take a toll.

He told me “Son, you’ve got a gift that’s way better than mine.”

“Why?” I asked back.

“Super strength and flight gets the people out of the burning buildings. But what you got helps them carry on with their lives.”

“Maybe, but you’ve gotta get them out first and I can’t do that.”

“That’s true but with your gift, maybe one day we won’t have to have many burning buildings anymore. Maybe soon, they won’t need old muscle-bound fossils like me anymore.”

Those words stuck and that put me on my path. It gets busy sometimes but on quiet days like this, I still wonder who I was before all this and ask myself why I don’t remember. I’m supposed to be doing the wiping not getting wiped myself.

On the weekends, I look after my “uncle” Ronnie. He’s not really my uncle but he’s the closest thing to family that I got. Everybody has a superhero, I just had to share mine with an entire city for a while. These days, Atomic Man’s biggest battles are with age and arthritis. The good thing about having my powers is that nobody misses you when you aren’t around anymore.

“Damn you, Dementia! You may be my newest foe but Atomic Man always prevails!”

The old man’s been losing his memory the old-fashioned way and it’s been on a steady decline the past couple of years. A few months ago he tried sneaking out of the house so to stop anything bad from happening, I had to make sure he forgot how to fly. One thing you can never forget though is super strength. That’s when it all started.

“It’s you! Dementia! I’ll put you down and save the city!”

This kinda thing has been pretty common for a while. He’d get agitated and throw a few punches before he got sleepy or his back gave out. He still hits like a ton of bricks so caution was necessary. One day, I admit I wasn’t as careful as I should’ve been and he missed by just an inch. He took out a whole wall and then fell asleep in his wheelchair. Behind the wall was a door and behind that door was a well-hidden room. Explains why I never saw his costume lying around the house.

Ronnie’s old-fashioned and his top-secret files were kept in messy boxes. It was the usual hero stuff. Keys to the city, pictures with the mayor, and photos of his old victories. Then there was that box. The one labeled ‘Do not open!’ Naturally, I opened it. I didn’t even make an effort to hide it, it’s not like he’d know after all.

In it, was this tacky purplish costume and a freaky mask. I didn’t ever remember Ronnie telling me about a bad guy like this and this piqued my interest more. Then, I found a newspaper cutting. It was a headline that said, “Dementia strikes again! Sightings of a masked villain whom nobody can remember wreaking havoc throughout the city before our very eyes.” My heart stopped and I asked myself why Ronnie never told me that there was someone out there who was really just like me. Perhaps he was the reason I could never remember my past life.

I lifted the box to put it aside but it gave way. As I was clearing the mess, an opaque black folder caught my eye. In it was a diary entry written by none other than Atomic Man himself.

“Guess the time has finally come. I’ve been pushing off retiring for a good five years but now it looks like I don’t really have a choice. Soon, I won’t even remember how to do this anymore anyway. Who would’ve thought that my most powerful enemy was someone so young. What could have ever happened to that boy’s life that caused him to do what he did. Those poor people whose minds he wiped bare. I’d like to say I gave him a taste of his own medicine. Who would’ve guessed that he could wipe his own memory too by looking at his reflection. It’s too bad I was in his sights too but since I wasn’t his main target, it’s going to take a little longer for it to get to me. Till then though, I’ve got to make sure the city has a new savior. Someone new, someone who won’t need to take as many risks as me, someone who can always make sure that if we don’t get better, we at least always have a blank slate to build off. I shall put my trust in you Cameron.”

I rushed home with the box and destroyed all its contents hoping that by no longer being able to see it I wouldn’t ever need to remember it. I couldn’t accept it. Me? The villain who caused our city’s greatest hero to decay into a frail old man? I hoped that with each item I burnt, I would forget what I discovered bit by bit. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way and soon all I could think about it was that. It even started affecting my job, so much so that I finally had someone dying on me. What did I do about it? I wiped that kid’s parents’ memories clean. I never felt so wretched in my life.

I rushed home and knew only one thing could stop my pain. I went into the bathroom and stared at the mirror and I knew this was the only option left. My gift was great and it’s about time I shared it with myself. I’m sorry Uncle Ronnie, I’m sorry everyone. I’m just glad that I left you all with some good that you won’t forget and pain that you will never remember. One… Two… Three…

What the hell? Where am I? God, I got old. It seems like a lot of time has passed but I finally did it! That fool may have thought he figured me out but he never knew one thing… Using my powers twice on the same person causes their memories to reset. At last, I have returned! I would say that the world shall remember Dementia but they won’t! Now Atomic Man! I shall have my revenge!