The Sidekick Club

2.2

"Are there any others?" Ethan asked as he stood from his place next to the diffused bomb, slicking his wet hair back as the sprinklers from the alarm system rained down upon him. Funnily enough, the girl before him appeared completely dry as she peered out the window.

He still felt wary about the whole situation, but for some strange reason, he trusted her. It was one of those instincts that he couldn't help but listen to. Like when he felt the sudden urge to go take a walk and ended up with a free ice cream cone. Or when a casual stroll downtown lead him to a stranger giving away two free Broadway tickets.

Come to think of it, Ethan got a lot of free stuff.

"Not that I know of," Phase answered as she looked out the window. "Though it is entirely possible that he planted more bombs without my knowledge. He doesn't exactly trust me anymore."

"Then why keep you around?" Ethan found himself asking. He immediately regretted the words when her honey brown eyes turned to him with a weary expression.

"One cannot play chess without any pieces," she replied cryptically as she turned to face the window again.

Not knowing what to say to something like that, Ethan simply turned on his heel and made his way out of the building. By the time he stepped back out into the daylight, his suit had turned a few shades darker. It would probably take a while for it to dry thoroughly, but it was a small price to pay for justice.

As he looked around, he noticed that the plaza was once again crowded. This time, however, it was with the employees of the recently evacuated Deming-Porter Corporation.

As Ethan peered through the throngs of people, he suddenly remembered why he had come in the first place.

Noah.

He hoped the boy had had enough common sense to flee after the initial bombings, but then again, when did Noah ever have common sense?

Standing in the center of the plaza, Ethan twisted around in circles and scanned every face he could see.

Noah was not one of them.

A loud crashing noise, like the shattering of glass, had Ethan's attention turning to the sky. There he saw that Talon had tossed Nefarious through the tenth story window of the Deming-Porter building and was now flying in after him.

Knowing Talon had the situation under control, Ethan turned to the area of the first bomb. Though he was sure his best friend was safe, a nagging feeling at the back of his head told him to make sure he has not been injured in the explosions.

The first bomb had gone off from within a newspaper stand. Luckily, it didn't appear as though anyone had been critically injured by this bomb, but there were a lot of flames still licking at the stand itself, or what was left of it, and a bunch of burning newspapers scattered around the immediate area.

Ethan stomped out what he could on the ground before trying to pat out the flames on the stand.

Once everything had been reduced to a gentle smoulder, he jogged over to the area of the second bombing.

This one was a little more detrimental. It has gone off within a sort of gift shop. It had been an actual building this time, so most of the explosion hit brick walls and crumbled them. The upper right hand side of the building had collapsed inward and Ethan could see a bit of smoke escaping from the new hole.

Running inside, Ethan immediately began searching for any people. He had to step over bits of rubble, but luckily, there wasn't much smoke inside to obstruct his vision or fill his lungs.

"Hello?" he called, looking down each aisle for some form of life. He hoped he would find none, but if there was someone here, he couldn't just leave them.

A low groan caught his attention and he froze, trying to pinpoint the sound.

"Hello?" he called again.

"Here," the voice choked out and he followed the sound to the checkout counter. Leaning over the counter, his eyes widened at the sight of the man on the ground. He sported burn marks all along his left arm and a bit of his neck and jaw. Ethan was sure his torso looked just as battered, but at this angle, he couldn't quite see.

Hopping over the counter, Ethan landed with his feet on either side of the man as he searched for more injuries. He saw the man's eyes close, and immediately started to stop him.

"No, no, no. I need you to stay conscious. No sleeping until the paramedics say it's okay, okay?"

The man groaned again as Ethan fumbled with the store phone on the counter. He dialed 911 as the man sluggishly peeled his eyes open.

"What's your name?" he asked the man to keep him occupied.

"Matt," he mumbled, "Carpenter."

"Okay, Matt. I need you to tell me what you remember."

"911 what's your emergency?" A voice from within the phone asked him.

"I need immediate medical assistance to the east side of Kennedy Plaza. There have been several bombings and I am currently with one of the injured," Ethan said into the phone.

"We have already dispatched several emergency vehicles to that location. An ambulance should arrive within the next few minutes."

"Thank you," Ethan said and hung up. Matt was starting to close his eyes again, so Ethan started to ask him questions.

"What did you eat for lunch today?"

"I didn't," Matt mumbled, half conscious.

"What's the name of your best friend?"

"Ben."

"What's the name of your first pet?"

"Henry," he said tiredly. "He was a hamster."

"Okay," Ethan nodded. "Do you remember what happened just a few minutes ago?"

"Something bad if the supers are involved."

"What happened here?"

"A loud boom and a lot of heat."

"Can you move your hands?"

The man easily clenched his right hand into a fist, but it took him a lot longer to make his fingers twitch on his left.

"And your feet?"

Again, it was the same situation, but both ended up moving. Satisfied by this, Ethan bent down and lifted the man. After carrying him outside, he laid Matt down on the sidewalk and flagged down an ambulance.

Once he was sure Matt would be taken care of, he looked back up at the super battle happening above him.

He couldn't see much as they were both inside the building, but before he knew it, he could make out the blue and gold of his hero and the black suit of the villain near the shattered window.

They punched at each other, each getting multiple good hits before Ethan saw something bad happen.

Talon doubled over and fell to his knees. He then saw Nefarious bring something down hard on his shoulder.

The hero seemed to slump even more. At this sign, Ethan immediately started running towards the building. He didn't know how he could've gotten up there to do anything, but he knew there had to be someway for him to help.

As Ethan watched. Nefarious dragged his hero to the edge of the window.

Then his hero did something that Ethan would never forget.

He fell.

And he didn't fly.