Not Your Sidekick

by C. B. Lee

  Bells’ mouth falls open. “What? You—you’re—”

  “I’m a meta-human,” Abby says. “I’m thinking there might be three of us standing here. Am I right?”

  “Three?” Bells eyes widen.

  Jess sighs and says, “We should talk somewhere private.”

  Somewhere private turns out to be Bells’ bedroom. Jess is used to the warm, colorful space and the soft glow of twinkling light garlands strung up on the ceiling. She throws herself onto Bells’ bed, sinking into the pillows. This could be just another day hanging out, except instead of the characters from The Gentleman Detective projected on Bells’ holo, there’s an open array of Bells’ personal files, including blinking holobooks titled META-HUMAN TRAINING 101 and HEROES’ LEAGUE OF HEROES OFFICIAL MANUAL AND GUIDEBOOK. Bells waves his hand frantically and closes all the windows.

  He rubs the back of his neck and the tips of his hair turn aquamarine.

  “That’s neat,” Abby says, lingering by the door, giving him an impressed once-over. “Can you make it go curly or any texture?”

  Bells nods; his mohawk falls down around his face in long, soft tendrils. “I mean, technically I shouldn’t use my powers outside of actual hero work, but I can’t help it. I’ve been altering myself ever since I learned how. It’s just part of who I am.” A corner of his mouth quirks up. “It took me a while to learn how to concentrate on not shifting accidentally, but today’s full of surprises, so I think I’m allowed.” He looks at Jess, as if he’s waiting for her to react.

  Jess gets up and pulls him into a hug. She’s known Bells for years, knows that’s probably the extent of how much he would want to get into it right now, especially considering how long he’s known Abby. Instead, she throws all her love and appreciation into the embrace, hoping Bells knows she understands how much this means to her, how it’s okay that he didn’t tell her earlier, and what this power means to Bells. He closes his eyes and leans into the touch, hugging her back tightly.

  “So that’s how your hair got longer. I knew it wasn’t hair extensions,” Jess says, hoping to make Bells laugh.

  He does, tossing his hair a little.

  Abby paces back and forth, her mecha-suit clanking loudly as she goes. Her eyebrows are knit together. She narrows her eyes. “So you’re in the League. What do you think of it?”

  Bells shrugs. “I mean, I don’t do much yet; my job until I finish school is just to help with public morale and do some reconnaissance, that’s it.” He glances at Jess. “I may have checked up on you once when I was on the clock. But the assignment was to ‘do general good,’ and I already rescued a cat, and making sure your walk to work was safe definitely fell in that category.” He beams, the smile stretching from ear to ear.

  “You walked me—” Jess gasps. “That was you! I thought there was something about that woman. Bells, what in the world kind of disguise was that? I spent forever trying to figure out how her hair was so shiny.”

  Bells hums in approval. “Well, I thought the hair would catch your attention. I was trying for Abby’s shade, but I must have overdone it. Can’t beat the original, you know.” He holds out his fist for her to bump.

  Abby gives Bells a small, pleased smile and taps his fist with hers.

  “You’ve been tailing me all over town?”

  “Oh no, I only did it until you started getting rides with Abby. The other time I was at Monroe Industries was an actual League recon mission, but I was glad I ran into you and said hi.”

  “Barry,” Jess says suddenly. “Barry from Devonport.”

  Bells winks at her.

  Abby looks affronted. “You were that punk that tried to look at my MonRobot designs!”

  Bells laughs. “‘Tried’ being the key word. The security there is top-notch. Those security MonRobots chased me out; it took three different shape-shifts to get them off my tail. Anyway, the mission was super-vague. I have no idea what Captain Orion wanted to know. Figured it had something to do with… stocks, maybe? Wait, your designs?”

  “Bells Broussard, meet Abby Jones, also known as Abby Monroe,” Jess says.

  It’s Bells turn to look impressed, and he puts his hands on Abby’s shoulders. “Okay. The latest update with the kitchen assistant model—genius. Saves so much time at the restaurant.”

  “Aren’t they cool? Abby’s MonRobot made me a grilled cheese and it—”

  Abby coughs. Her cheeks are pink. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but we’ve got a huge problem we’d love your help on. Can we get back to discussing the League and what you do there?”

  Bells gives her an apologetic nod. “Sure. Like I said, some public morale tasks, a bit of recon, and there have been a few practice battles. I shifted into a popular villain and had to fight some of the other heroes, but it’s mostly training. It’s been kind of cool so far to meet the people the comic books are about, but I don’t see them that often. They’re always busy.”

  “Public morale,” Jess says. “Is this what you were doing with all the rescuing cats and stuff? You’ve been driving my parents off the wall, especially since there’s a limited amount of hero work in Andover to begin with.”

  “Your parents?”

  “Shockwave and Smasher,” Jess says. “Since we’re coming clean about everything.”

  Bells gasps. “Oh gosh, really? That’s so cool! I mean, I always thought your mom was amazing, but next time I see her I’m gonna have to really thank her for being awesome—ah! I never see them at League meetings, though. I just thought they’re busy.”

  “They’re in the Associated League, get a few missions from the big boys every now and then.” Jess says. “I mean, technically they are part of the League, and my dad likes to say he is, but he hasn’t had an official mission from them in years. I guess since the Mischiefs disappeared, they do what you do—public morale.”

  Abby scoffs. “Yeah, the League is gonna need public morale boosting after they’ve kidnapped all those villains.”

  “Wait, what?”

  Abby folds her arms. “Where do you think all those people went? The ‘villains’ were the ones who disagreed with the current authority.”

  “Captain Orion wouldn’t do that. Captain Orion does what’s best for the North American Collective,” Bells says, shrinking back.

  “Look, that’s what they want you to think,” Jess says. “But do you know that our country is currently helping Constavia in their war with the Kravian Islands?”

  Jess syncs her DED to Bells’ desktop projector and pulls up the holos from the files she and Abby found, showing him all the evidence they’ve collected, the reports from Constavia, and the strange files on the villains. Bells scans through them, the furrow in his brow getting deeper and deeper.

  “Okay, we have a presence there,” he says slowly. “But I mean, the NAC isn’t involved in a war. No one’s even—” he splutters, as if the concept is too ridiculous to even think about. “Since World War III,” Bells mutters. “There aren’t any wars, okay? The Global Federation is stable. There’s some conflict between the Kravian Islands and Constavia, and then over in the Southeast Asian Alliance, but definitely not with the NAC. Who would we be fighting? I mean, they would report it on the news if we were at war.”

  “Not if there were other news people care about more.” Jess pulls up the latest news-holo and isn’t disappointed; the current headlined article is about Captain Orion fighting the villain in Ore Town.

  “Yeah, but that’s important,” Bells says.

  “I know Plasmaman,” Abby says. “He was like an uncle to me, used to come over for dinner all the time with me and my parents. Nicest guy ever. Made really good mashed potatoes. His whole job in the Villain’s Guild was to show up where they told him to every once in a while and pick a fight.”

  Jess whistles. “And Plasmaman has been missing. And this report says he didn’t actually
use his powers in the fight. Didn’t you say you… ”

  “Yeah, okay, that was me,” Bells admits. “And last week fighting Cerebrus, too. But I—” He throws his hands up and sinks into a beanbag by the door. “It’s training,” he says, his voice flat. “It’s good for me to practice not just my meta-abilities but also combat skills, and the public setting requires me to use my creativity and the environment.” It sounds as if he’s reciting, and he looks up. His voice wavers when he adds, “Plasmaman is in Corrections.”

  Abby flicks at the projections on Jess’ DED, scrolling through the status reports on the “missing” villains, stopping on a profile of one Adam McVicar. “He isn’t,” she says gently.

  “These are all… missing villains?” Bells looks at the multitudes of reports. “Why would Orion have this… where… why?”

  “We don’t know,” Jess says. “But I do think that the big battles, everything that gets reported in the news-holos, it’s just a huge distraction. The heroes and villains, all of it. Tell me, at Meta-Human Training, did they tell you that you were going to be a hero? You had to pass some sort of test, didn’t you?” Abby asks.

  Bells narrows his eyes. “I was good at my classes, okay! And I’m good at hero-ing, even if it’s just small dumb stuff! It’s important, it makes people feel good, and it’s hard work, okay? Even if it’s just returning a pet to some spoiled rich person. You know cats have so many claws and a lot of the time they don’t want to leave the tree, and I don’t—I don’t even fly or have superstrength—most of my tasks involve trying to be creative and coming up with ways I actually can help! You try doing that and high school at the same time!”

  “But the people you trained with, were all of you guys going to be heroes?”

  Bells shrugs. “I mean, I finished the program. I don’t know about the others. There were some people always getting held back for talking back and stuff.”

  “That’s how it works,” Abby says. “My parents… they were picked by the government to become villains.”

  “Wait, who are—”

  “The Mischiefs,” Abby says.

  Bells takes a step back.

  Jess touches his elbow. “Look, you know the Mischiefs have never hurt anyone. They do a bunch of harmless, elaborate pranks—”

  “Because they’re anti-government!” Bells cries out. “I’m gonna—I’m gonna—”

  “With good reason, look! They’re gone, they’ve been gone for a while, them and the other villains, Orion and the government are keeping them under wraps and it’s wrong,” Jess says. “Please, you know it’s wrong.”

  “Captain Orion—”

  “Held us captive,” Abby says. “We confronted her earlier to ask about the Constavia thing and the missing villains, and she attacked us.”

  Bells claps his hands to his mouth in horror. “No way, she’s the Commander of the Heroes’ League of Heroes. They’re the defenders of the innocent! The keepers of justice—”

  Jess unzips her sweatshirt.

  Bells stares, wide-eyed. “Đụ,” he curses. He only borrows this word from Jess when the English one won’t do. “Jess, what happened to your neck?”

  “Captain Orion zapped me with lightning today,” Jess says. “I asked her a question and she attacked us, like I said. And then I woke up in a cell at her house, and Abby was strapped to a chair as she questioned us. Like criminals.”

  Bells opens his mouth and then closes it. He pulls Jess close. “Oh God, does this hurt? I should have asked—”

  “It’s fine, Bells,” Jess says, patting him on the back.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know she could—” Bells takes a deep breath. “I guess I just was so caught up in the idea of being a superhero that like, I mean, there were some questionable parts, and sometimes I’d get weirded out but… I was so excited about it, you know?”

  “All right, Chameleon,” Abby says with a grin. “Ready for a rescue mission?”

  “And who are you supposed to be? I mean, I know you’re Abby Jones, but like, when you’re in… this mode?” He gestures at the mecha-suit. “Do you have a codename?”

  Abby shrugs. “I haven’t thought about it yet. My parents didn’t get to pick for themselves, they were dubbed the Mischiefs by the Villain’s Guild…”

  Bells nods, and then turns to Jess. “Jess, you have powers? But I haven’t seen you at Meta-Human Training!”

  “I don’t… well, I didn’t think I did, not before today,” Jess says. “And, um, I don’t think I’ll be applying there. My power isn’t on the accepted list.”

  “What’s your power?” Bells asks.

  “Direction?” Jess gestures at nothing. “It’s lame, I don’t know why Abby—”

  “It isn’t lame,” Abby says. “It’s amazing. I bet you’re at A-class, too; you must use it all the time without even thinking about it. Close your eyes, Jess. This is gonna be cool, Bells. So, I’m hungry. Does Bells have any oranges in his house?”

  Jess shrugs. “I have no idea.”

  “Okay, Jess, where are the oranges in Bells’ house?”

  It’s like something pulling her from her navel, familiar to her as the muscle memory of how to write. Jess stands up, thrilled that she can identify this sensation as an ability, and walks out of Bells’ bedroom. She closes her eyes, testing herself. She can hear Abby and Bells follow her to the kitchen, where Jess lets her instinct guide her. Eyes still closed, she picks an orange from the fruit bowl. She opens her eyes and tosses it to Abby.

  “Pretty cool,” Bells says. “That’s awesome!”

  Jess ducks her head, pleased with herself.

  “It is awesome; deal with it,” Abby says. “Ready to go kick some butt?”

  Bells takes a deep breath, and in an instant he’s taller, wearing a rainbow-hued outfit of Chameleon’s.

  “Okay, good, the three of us, and maybe… ”

  Jess calls her sister. “Clauds, pick up, c’mon,” she says, pacing back and forth as her DED shows the spinning wheel of doom.

  “Wait, who’s your sister?”

  “Powerstorm,” Jess says.

  “Wow,” Bells says. “She’s awesome. She looked at me once and made eye contact, made my whole day. Do you think you can ask her what kind of conditioner she uses?”

  “No!” Jess rolls her eyes.

  “Sorry,” Bells says. “It’s kinda weird. I mean, I think it fits, like Claudia always was an overachiever, but I always thought the way she talked to you was weird… I mean, I don’t talk to my siblings that way.”

  “Claudia got a big head when she got into the League,” Jess says. “She isn’t picking up. Let’s go.”

  Now that they know where the facility is, they let Abby recharge her powers while they take the Trans’ sedan into the desert. It’s newer than the minivan and boots up in a reasonable amount of time, to Jess’ relief. She’s still not sure what she’ll say when her parents get home and discover both cars are gone. At least one isn’t gone permanently.

  As they leave the city, the carefully maintained lawns and shiny buildings give way to the desolate landscape of the desert, marked by the tall mountains in the distance and the sparse shrubbery. The Joshua trees carve eerie silhouettes into the night sky.

  Las Vegas shines in the distance, lighting up the skyline, and Jess can imagine the people going about their gambling and concerts without a care in the world.

  Bells and Abby are caught up in a conversation about volleyball, of all things.

  “Are we gonna tell Emma?” Jess asks. Abby’s just talked about a game where she and Emma worked together to score a point.

  Bells frowns. “I’m not sure. Maybe, we’ll see. I mean, I wasn’t going to tell you two—not because I didn’t want to, but because the rules, you know, having a secret identity, and…”

  “That’s already out of the bag for
me,” Jess says. “And now that I know, you know it’s gonna feel off to her. Not to mention that Abby’s been hanging out with us too, and Emma’s gonna feel really out of the loop.”

  “She’s mad at me,” Bells says, and sighs. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Abby throws her hands up. “Hey, don’t look at me. I don’t really know what to do with close friends. Hanging out with you guys is a first, you know.”

  “But you’re captain of the volleyball team,” Bells says.

  “Was captain,” Abby corrects. “I stepped down after my parents were kidnapped. I wanted to focus everything on finding them. And even before that, I didn’t hang out with the girls from the team much. I talked to them, was friendly, but we weren’t really friends, you know? I mean, it wasn’t like I could invite people to my house. What if my parents were being weird, or what if they’d figure out our abilities, or if I forgot myself and began manipulating something… so yeah. I don’t really know what to do with this. I mean I’m kinda jealous how close the three of you are.”

  “Friendship is pretty awesome,” Jess says. “And now you’re a part of this too. And yeah, Bells, you’re overthinking it. I mean, Emma has been really hurt by all this lying and stuff, you know that, but once you tell her the truth, she’ll understand. And the whole superhero thing and wanting it to be secret isn’t the same as like when you have a crush on someone else and don’t tell her.”

  Bells coughs. “So you know.”

  Jess chuckles. “Well, I suspected, but now I know!”

  “Emma is awesome; you two would be so cute together,” Abby says.

  Bells looks at his feet. “I just… I dunno, I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”