The Undoing of Sidekicks | ✓

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(a/n: dedicated to dyosa_ng_kabobohan for some amazing support and incredible comments! you motivate me so much. hope you keep enjoying the book! <3)

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"DON'T YOU think it's kind of lame? Jumping around, trying to prove herself ...-" My friend trailed off in the background. 

"What do you mean?" I started, shaking the can, " - cause' I'm not really following you here, Maddy." 

Maddy sighed, and I envisioned her commencing her usual pacing. In the few months I'd known Maddy, I'd discovered three things:

One, she could not (under any circumstances whatsoever) talk without moving. Be it flailing her arms, pacing, or just ... general stomping around. 

"Just, I think it's desperate. She has to have some sort of issue, right? And the water powers .. like, could you get anymore basic? She's like a ... sad, wannabe Korra." 

I pressed the top of the can, a circle of blue spray paint forming on the wall. I moved along, filling in the lines I'd previously sprayed in black. The figure was slowly but steadily forming, visible in the alleyway in which we'd camped out. 

The second thing Maddy was guilty of was her blabbering. She needed to talk, all the time. My theory was that Maddy was part shark — if she stopped talking, she'd probably die. I guess that's why she'd been drawn to me, since I never responded. Instead of understanding that this meant I simply did not like talking to other human beings, she took it as more time for her to fill that silence with words. 

The third thing? She absolutely despised me. Well, not me me. The other me. The masked, crusading, vigilante me. 

" - even worse, she just assumes she can jump around however she wants to, because she has powers! She's like that nuisance Brann, over in Dynamo -" 

I backed away from the wall, appraising my work. It was a little rough around the edges, but it'd work. I threw a sideways glance to Maddy, who was still talking vividly. Her hands were waving frantically, and I envisioned her just flying away — like a helicopter lifting off. At this, I smiled. 

"See? You have to agree with me." Maddy cast an exasperated glance my way, and I just tilted my head, still entertained by the notion of her becoming an airborne vehicle.  

"I mean, she probably can't choose her powers," I said at last. I didn't have water powers. If I'd had those, I would've asked for a more blue suit. Instead, mine was very much not blue. Not that it mattered — I'd faked having water-based powers for the better part of the time I'd been active. It was very useful in countering anything and everything who opposed me, since they assumed they understood my skill-set. 

Pathetic. 

Maddy stayed silent for 0.2 milliseconds, before going off on another tangent. I glanced over my mural, then reached into my bag to fish for another can of spray paint. 

"Even if she couldn't choose her powers, she could've at least come up with a better name. Nymph!" Maddie snorted, " - who in their right mind calls themselves that?"

I happen to think it sounds pretty cool, I wanted to say, but kept my mouth shut. Metahumans were an acquired taste, and since I was one I was not the most objective judge. Besides, if I actually responded, she'd want to engage in further conversation — and then I'd be stuck talking for the rest of my summer break. Not an ideal situation.