The Sidekick Club

1.1

Emily had a bad feeling about this.

'This' being trying to catch a superhero in the middle of a mall. Nefarious had gotten word that Talon was going to be making an appearance outside of the old cologne shop, and now he was dead set on bringing Edison some company.

Emily sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Don't forget to scream for me, little damsel," Nefarious whispered in her earpiece as she entered the mall. She was primarily a distraction this time, so she wasn't in her super suit.

Emily rounded the corner and immediately noticed the mass of gawkers surrounding the hero. She looked around a bit and determined that Talon's sidekick, Mr. Dependable, wasn't there. She couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. She had hoped to see him again.

It was probably for the best though. If Mr. Dependable was here, then he'd probably just end up getting hurt.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and expected it to be the Vanisher. She almost let out a scream, but the hand turned her around to meet the gaze of a blonde haired, blue eyed boy she'd never met before. She saw something flash in his eyes before he shook it off.

"I can't find my friend, Noah. Do you think you could help me look for him?"

"Help him," Nefarious told her. She was a bit surprised by his answer. It had nothing to do with the task at hand. Maybe it was to help her look normal or something.

"Uh, yeah. What does he look like?"

"He's got dark brown, slightly curly hair, blue eyes, some freckles, he's a little shorter than me, and he's wearing a brown leather jacket and a Star Wars t-shirt right now."

Emily nodded, already starting to scan the crowd for a boy that matched that description.

"I'm Ethan by the way," the blonde boy said, holding his hand out for a shake.

"Emily," she said, putting her hand in his for a quick handshake. She couldn't get rid of the feeling that he looked a little familiar. She was almost positive he didn't go to her school, but for all she knew, he could've graduated within the last few years without her noticing.

Ethan sighed and ran his hands through his hair, scanning the crowd with a worried expression.

"Last I saw him, he was in the middle of that crowd. It's been an hour and I still can't find him. I'm starting to think he got trampled or something."

"Have you tried calling or texting him?" Emily inquired.

Ethan nodded his head, "He's not answering."

"Weird," she mumbled more to herself than to Ethan. Nefarious had picked her up around a half hour ago. Could that have been enough time to get from the mall to her house? Or was it just a coincidence that the missing boy had dark brown, slightly curly hair and probably bluish-grey eyes? She decided to do some research on this Noah guy later. "What's his last name?"

"Miller," Ethan supplied helpfully.

"Noah Miller," she tasted it on her tongue. "Are you guys still in high school, or are you out?"

"We're both seniors at Westington High."

They were both her age and went to a different school. If Nefarious was in high school, then he'd have to have a pretty atrocious attendance record for his last class if he was always there to pick her up after her last period.

Emily wasn't so sure if they'd find Ethan's friend here or not.

"Okay, Emily. Start screaming like something's in your head," Nefarious told her, "and sell it."

Emily clutched her head with both hands and screamed at the top of her lungs. She dropped to her knees for added effect and curled herself into the fetal position.

"Emily? Emily what's wrong?" Ethan crouched beside her with a frantic tone of voice. Emily only continued to scream.

"Move aside," the deep voice of Talon caused Ethan to back away. Even through her screams, she could tell Ethan was calling the ambulance.

Talon crouched beside her, and after a moment, she felt a gloved finger touch her temple. She flinched away from it and screamed louder. She felt bad about what she was doing. She wanted to tell him to run.

Ethan, who had taken to standing and watching the scene unfold, noticed something moving where nothing was there to be moved. He flicked his eyes that way but saw nothing. Then, from behind Talon, Ethan saw a floating needle. He always did hate needles.

Ethan grabbed whatever was on the vending table beside him, which happened to be a curling iron, and hurled it with surprising accuracy over Talon's head. It hit dead air with a thump and a grunt.

"Vanisher," Ethan shouted as Talon whipped around to tackle the invisible villain. The needle flew out of his hands and landed on the ground near Emily.

Emily heard it, and slowed her screaming just enough to see Ethan picking it up. Nefarious was not going to be happy with this turn of events.

Ethan dropped to the ground beside Emily, completely oblivious to the super battle happening behind him.

"Are you okay? What happened? What's wrong?" he asked her.

Emily stopped screaming and pretended to be losing consciousness as Nefarious screamed at the Vanisher through her earpiece.

"You fucking fool! If Talon doesn't kill you then I sure as Hell will, you insufferable moron! Where the Hell did my serum go?"

"I don't know, I dropped it," she heard the Vanisher's voice come through.

"You're dead meat, you little runt! You're lucky you can turn invisible because that's the only way you'll be able to hide from me!"

Ethan lightly patted her cheek, gaining her attention again.

"Don't go to sleep, Emily. Stay awake. Just look at me and don't go to sleep."

Emily did look at him, wondering how this one boy could unravel Nefarious's entire plan in the matter of seconds.

She wondered if Nefarious would want to kill him too.