True Sidekick - *Sequel to Hero by Day

Chapter 7 - My girlfriend is a super

"I have lived most of my life surrounded my enemies. I will be grateful to die among my friends."

~ Gamora

:Oliver:

When Aden came to me reporting his strange abilities since his accident, I knew what it meant. I had expected it to happen.

The green solution in the Paramount Pharmaceuticals truck that had covered Aden after the accident mixed with the blood on his shirt and entered his bloodstream through the wounds all over him. Direct contact with the same substance that gave countless other teenagers powers, including Delinquent, made it almost a certainty that Aden would develop powers.

I knew this, so I told him to come to me if anything strange happened. If not me, he would've gone to someone like his best friend or his parents, which wasn't good.

Telling his friend might result in them going out and trying to do dangerous things with his newfound powers. It was more common than you'd think. A new super and his friend will go try and rob a bank or seek vengeance on a bully. Usually the friend seduces the super into helping them with crime.

Telling his parents would've probably been catastrophic. I knew who Aden's father was. Adrian Dashner owned Dash Corp, a multimedia empire that controlled most of the online newspapers and just about every news sharing outpost. His agents constantly badgered me after Captain Impossible's death for an interview. They even almost followed me home once. If he told his father, Adrian Dashner would've set him up as another newspaper story.

If he came to me, I could help him. I knew what it felt like to wake up one day with strange powers. I knew what it felt like to suddenly feel like a stranger in your own body. I knew what it felt like to be in his position.

I also knew that I needed to help him if he had gotten powers from the accident. If Daniel hadn't helped me after I got my powers, who knows what would've happened? Maybe I wouldn't have stopped hanging out with the rough neighborhood kids. Maybe they would've helped me turn in the wrong direction. Maybe I would've been a super villain instead of a superhero.

I didn't want that to happen to Aden.

As long as he was a good human being, like I knew him to be, Aden could be my sidekick. Great heroes have sidekicks so that they could teach them all they knew and help them become heroes in their own rights. Golden Eagle taught Marvel before he became a great hero, and Captain Impossible taught me.

(Though Golden Eagle is now in a mental hospital and Captain Impossible is no longer with us.)

(I guess that shows the usual fate of heroes with sidekicks)

Super strength wasn't the power I expected from Aden. Normally the powers matched the personality at least a little bit. But I couldn't imagine Aden, the freshmen nerd who got pushed around by sophomore jerks, as a super strong man to be feared.

But I could work with that. At least it was a power that could be dealt with. If he had teleportation or shrinking, it would be a bit harder. Those were powers that could go haywire easily and I couldn't really train someone how to control that.

And, if someone was to be your sidekick, they needed to know your identity.

(I will not lie, I had fun scaring Aden as White Lightning.)

Also, now that he knew who I was, it was kind of hard for me to not let him be my sidekick. As my sidekick, I could assure that he wouldn't tell anyone of who I was.