The Sidekick Club

1.9

"Alright, alright. Settle down everybody," Hush called over the crowd of sidekicks that next day. Ethan stood next to a boy called Beacon. He had the power to produce light. Basically, he glowed in the dark. "As you can see, Edison has been found, and it is very important that we notify the heroes of this."

Ethan watched as several sidekicks took out their cell phones and sent a text to their heroes. With a sigh, Ethan did the same.

We found Edison.

Sticking his phone in his pocket again, Ethan turned his attention back to Hush.

"Beacon, Alkali has been working on the liquid within the syringe, right? The one that nearly got Talon?" Hush's eyes slid to Ethan briefly before returning to Beacon as he answered.

"Yes, though it appears to be nothing more than a sedative."

"Good," her eyes traveled down to her hero, who was slumped in a chair at the front, "Edison, do you know who your captor was?"

"Yes," he said tiredly. "It was Nefarious."

I knew it, Sam screamed in her mind, though she kept a calm demeanor in front of the others. She nodded at the sidekicks, who all took out their phones again.

Ethan was about to text Talon when his phone started to ring. The caller ID read Asshole.

Noah.

"Sorry," he mumbled an apology before stepping out into the hallway. "Have you never heard of texting?"

"Ethan?" the voice wasn't Noah's.

"Yeah?"

"It's Curtis," the voice said.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked, sensing the urgency in his tone.

"I can't find Noah. One minute he was here and the next... I'm trying not to freak out, but he left his phone and I can't get ahold of him. He's not with you, is he?"

"No. He's not. Where was the last place you saw him?"

"Well, we were in that little plaza near the Deming-Porter building, and he seems to have wandered off."

"He tends to do that," Ethan muttered before sighing, "I'll be down there as soon as I can. Call me if you find him before I get there."

"Thanks."

With that, Ethan hung up his phone and ran his fingers through his short blonde hair. He was seriously considering investing in a leash for the boy.

Ignoring the increased amount of chatter coming from inside the room, Ethan made his way down the stairs and quickly changed into his civilian clothes. He decided to walk to the plaza, being as it wasn't really that far and he didn't want to waste time trying to catch a cab.

Once he started getting closer to the plaza, Ethan began to look around for his friend. That curly brown hair, however, was nowhere in sight.

Huffing in frustration, Ethan jogged to the center of the he plaza and turned in circles in an attempt to spot either Noah or Curtis.

Ethan was just about to walk off to search in another direction when a very loud explosion knocked him off his feet and caused his ears to ring. He blinked heavily as he looked down at his scraped up arms, then up to terrified civilians running around like headless chickens. Slowly, his hearing returned to the point that he could hear muffled screams.

Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, immediately sending a text to Talon.

Explosion. Plaza. Center of city.

Stumbling to his feet, Ethan shakily ran to the nearest building to change. Once he was Mr. Dependable, he stepped out into the plaza and people immediately started to run towards him.

Luckily, his hearing was nearly restored, so he was able to make sense of his surroundings a little better.

Ethan glanced at the source of the explosion and was relieved to find it was a relatively small bomb, all things considered, but he knew that also meant there were probably more.

"I want an orderly evacuation," he called to the gathering crowd. "Stay close to me and we'll get out of here alright."

Ethan knew that the more people were near him, the less people would be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was counting on that to get these people home safely.

"Let's go," he called and started to jog to the edge of the plaza. There, he stopped and made sure the stragglers didn't get left behind. "Head east, and don't come back here until the police deem it safe."

He received a few nods in reply, and Ethan couldn't help but scan the crowd for curly brown hair. When he found none, he cursed and ran back into the plaza.

"Chaos, glorious chaos!" A man's voice yelled happily. Ethan looked to see none other than Nefarious standing on top of a picnic table with his arms spread in delight.

Before he could slip away unnoticed, Nefarious turned his gaze to the sidekick.

"Ah, Mr. Dependable," he grinned at Ethan, "Where is your big bad hero?"

"On his way, I would assume. He does like to take his sweet time," Ethan said in a surprisingly steady voice.

"Pity," he pouted, "I was hoping to get this party rolling rather quickly. I'm meeting my nana for dinner at five."

"A shame you'll have to miss it," Talon suddenly appeared from the sky and threw a punch at Nefarious.

"That wasn't very nice," Nefarious spat and held up a hand. Ethan noticed there was a small remote in it, and he only had time to cover his ears before a second explosion went off. Nefarious laughed and turned his gaze to Ethan again. "The next one will be a little more detrimental. Tick tock, Mr. Dependable."

Talon glanced at the Deming-Porter building, a thirty story business operation with far too many people inside. Talon then glanced back at Ethan and ordered, "Go," before gripping Nefarious's collar and rocketing into the sky.