Not Your Sidekick

by C. B. Lee

  “It’ll be fine,” Jess says. “Now we just have to… survive all this.”

  They park the car a good half-mile away from the facility and hike in. At the last moment, Bells disguises the three of them. He puts an arm on their shoulders and concentrates, and then they look like Captain Orion and two guards. Bells can only maintain the disguise for a short time, but the uniforms look impeccable and their features are forgettable.

  Jess looks up at Bells, now in Orion’s body. “Is this okay for you?”

  “Not really,” Bells says in Orion’s voice. “I’ve gotten used to it, though. I shift into a lot of different people for the League. Part of having to use this power, I guess. But it’s different when I want to do it to help my friends versus the League telling me to. Thanks for asking, though. Come on, the sooner we get through this, the sooner I can get out of this body.”

  They walk into the facility unchallenged until they get to the main door.

  “Captain,” the guard says at the door, surprised. “I didn’t know you’d be back so quickly.”

  “Don’t question me,” Bells says, in Orion’s commanding tone.

  The guard lets them pass. “Of course.”

  The facility is a labyrinth, but Jess directs them forward, even though she doesn’t consciously know where the path will go.

  Even as Jess gets more and more comfortable with her power, they keep walking around in circles in search of Abby’s parents. No amount of rephrasing the question aloud or Jess repeating it to herself gets them anywhere until Bells has the great idea of asking about depth.

  They take the elevator down, down, down.

  There isn’t anyone else on the lower floors. Bells relaxes the disguises so he can recharge.

  “That was pretty awesome,” Abby says. “So you’re a B-class then?”

  “Yeah, the League likes me a lot, but I had to sign a lot of contracts with rules about when and what I could do,” Bells says. “They didn’t even like me randomly coloring my hair, like that was my favorite part after I figured out my powers. I can keep it up on myself pretty easily, especially if it’s just a small thing like my hair, but to do the whole face and voice and clothes, that takes a lot more out of me.”

  “How long until you can put up the disguise again, if we need it?” Jess asks.

  “I can do another disguise for the three of us in about twenty minutes, for about one more minute. And then I’ll probably be done for the day.”

  “All right,” Abby says. “Jess? Lead the way. My parents?”

  Jess thinks about the question, then doesn’t really understand what her instincts are saying. “I don’t… uh, this is weird.”

  Bells perks up. “What’s up, Jess?”

  “Shush, I didn’t even know I had powers yesterday,” Jess says, trying to concentrate. “It’s no use, I don’t… I keep feeling like I’m being pulled in different directions. That can’t be right.”

  “Or maybe it can,” Abby says. “Okay, where’s my mom?”

  Jess points northeast.

  “Ah. They’re being held in different locations.”

  “Maybe we should split up?” Bells asks.

  “No, no, that’s the worst thing we could do. Besides, you’re the only one with a disguise. One of us gets caught without you and all of us are dead meat,” Abby says. “Let’s go find my mom first.”

  Jess leads the way, and they get deeper and deeper into the winding hallways. There are no windows, and each hallway looks eerily similar to the last. The air gets colder as the building becomes more industrial. Exposed pipes line the ceilings; rusted paint peels from the walls.

  “She better not be in a dungeon, or worse,” Abby says.

  “Stop right there!” a voice shouts from the distance.

  “Bells—!” Jess says, but Abby grabs Bells’ hand and shakes it before he can do the disguise.

  “If we’re already spotted, it would be a waste to use it now,” Abby says.

  They turn around to see their accuser. Abby stands at the forefront with her modified mecha-suit ready for blasting.

  Jess stares at the figure flying down the hallway at them at full speed. “Claudia?”

  “It’s Powerstorm!” Claudia says, coming to a halt in front of them. “Jess, when Captain Orion told me you’d fallen in with these villains I could hardly believe it, but you were always simple and naïve. Of course, you would trust anyone.”

  Claudia shakes her blonde hair. Jess doesn’t recognize the sister she’s grown up with. She looks like a miniature Captain Orion, from the similar colors in her uniform to the hair, and even the blinding white smile.

  “Surrender now, and we’ll go easy on you,” Claudia says, her hands on her hips. “Jess, it’s okay if they brainwashed you somehow. We can pretend this never happened —”

  “Me brainwashed?” Jess snorts. “You’re the one who’s brainwashed! Look, the League kidnaps people and does all these terrible experiments to try and make people’s powers last longer!”

  “In the name of the country,” Claudia says. “It’s for the good of the public. We need to believe in people who fight evil. We need to fight someone.”

  Abby shakes her fists. “What are you doing to my parents?”

  “And what’s this?” Claudia glances at Bells with disappointment. “You’ve got Chameleon believing this web of lies too?”

  “Master and Mistress Mischief are my parents, and you’ve done them wrong. It could have been any toss of the dice, and it could have been your parents too, chosen to be villains,” Abby says.

  “Chosen? I knew you guys were off your rockers, but this whole idea is ridiculous. I’m bringing you all in.” Claudia swoops forward, reaching out to grab them, but Abby waves her arms and the pipes above them burst, spilling water all over them. The broken pipes block their path, so they run the opposite direction until they come across a junction.

  “Where are we going now?” Bells asks.

  “I don’t think my power works that way!” Jess says. “I don’t know the answer, but if you ask me a specific question, I could figure it out!”

  “Keep going toward my mom!” Abby says.

  Jess directs them down the left hallway and then continues on, even as the hallway lights disappear. She reaches in the dark toward a door. She rattles it, until Abby waves her hand at it and they hear the lock click.

  They push through the door, shut it behind them, and catch their breath.

  The room is dark until Jess finds a switch and flicks it on. A light bulb turns on in the center of the room. A single figure sits on a chair, restrained with tantalum. Jess has only seen the heavy shining metal in newsholos. The tantalum seems to radiate a cold intensity that causes them all to pause where they stand.

  “Mom?” Abby asks in a small voice.

  “Abby!” The woman gasps and looks up. Her face is drawn and tired, but her eyes sparkle with hope that is visible even in the dim light. “What are you doing here? Who are—”

  “Mom, this is Jess and Bells, my friends from school. We’re here to rescue you.”

  Ch.13...

  Abby and her mom catch up while Jess figures out how to undo the restraints. She doesn’t really know how the tantalum alloy will affect her, but she doesn’t want to risk either Abby’s or Bells’ powers.

  When Jess touches the metal, a cold heaviness weighs in her stomach, but it’s not really noticeable. Better her than Abby or Bells, anyway. She finds a latch and presses it, and all the restraints unlock, pop free, and clatter to the ground. Mistress Mischief—Genevieve—stands up and seizes Abby in a hug, and then pulls Bells and Jess in as well.

  “Thank you,” she says.

  “Of course,” Abby says.

  Jess lets them have their moment, holding on to the restraints.

  Bells eyes her warily. “Isn’t it
affecting you?”

  “I don’t know,” Jess says. “Ask me a question.”

  “Which way is north?”

  Jess has nothing, no internal pull, no instinct. It’s strange, having only known about her power for a day and now to miss it so much. How long will this last? The initial cold unsettling feeling disappeared when she stopped touching the tantalum, so maybe the rest of it will wear off soon.

  “Phillip isn’t here,” Elizabeth says to the room. “They separated us a while ago.”

  “We need to get out of here,” Jess says.

  They race out of the room. Without Jess’ sense of direction, it’s difficult to navigate, but Bells recognizes the numbers on the hallways and gets them back to the elevators.

  Abby pulls them into the stairwell. “Stairs, stairs, they’ll be watching the elevators.”

  Their luck runs out three floors up. The stairwell is flooded with light and noise, and a rush of uniformed people comes down the stairs toward them. Claudia flies at them, and for a split second Jess is terrified.

  Safety. We need to get out of here unobstructed.

  “This way!” Jess opens the nearest door and flings herself down the hallway, running and following her instinct. It’s back! She had no idea she missed it so much.

  “You’ve already recovered from touching the tantalum cuffs,” Genevieve says with awe. “Abby tells me your gift is amazing.”

  “Oh, thank you, I just found out about it today,” Jess says, panting. “Come on, we have to get out of here before—”

  The stairwell door bursts open, and Claudia flies down the hallway.

  “She must have used the same supplements as Orion,” Jess says. “She’s never been able to use her abilities this much before.”

  “Chameleon, you traitor!” Claudia shouts. She picks up a hallway cabinet and throws it at Bells.

  “Hey!” Abby steps in front of Bells. She lifts her hand, stops the cabinet in midair, and flings it back at Claudia, who just punches through it.

  “Oh, I know who you are,” Claudia says. “You’re the one Orion says wanted to be on the hero track. Apparently you’re A-class. Longest intensity level recorded, at least you would be if you were registered. Supposedly you’re even stronger than me.” Claudia sniffs, walking forward. “But I think you’ve been using your powers all day, and you should be just about tapped out by now.” She advances, grabbing a broken piece of the cabinet and throwing it.

  Abby can only duck, and the four of them back up, hugging the walls.

  Jess cringes as the metal crashes to the floor.

  Claudia gives them a sinister smile. “In the labs here we’ve been developing something that will revolutionize how we deal with uncooperative meta-humans. This batch isn’t quite ready yet, but I think it will do. You’re a threat, Abby Monroe, to me, the League, and the North American Collective. Can’t have A-class meta-humans breaking into government facilities and aiding the escape of detainees, now can we?”

  From her belt Claudia pulls out a syringe and uncaps it.

  “No, no, no, what are you doing?” Jess yells, running forward.

  Claudia shoves Jess aside, right into a wall, and Jess crumples to the ground in white-hot pain. Claudia injects the contents into Abby’s neck and holds her by the wrist in a tight grip.

  Abby’s face goes ashen and she stumbles back. “What… what is—”

  “You feel it, don’t you, even if you’re tapped out,” Claudia says.

  Bells has picked up a metal bar from the broken debris but stops when Claudia turns around. “I’ve got another one of these ready to go. You don’t want to let go of your precious powers, now do you, Chameleon?” Claudia taunts.

  Bells shrinks back.

  “Leave him alone!” Jess says, fighting back the shock. She thought Claudia might have gotten a bit carried away with the fame of being in the League, but that she’d be able to listen to reason. Obviously she’s so much in Orion’s pocket that she doesn’t see anything wrong with what she’s just done to Abby. “I thought you were better than this.”

  “I am better,” Claudia says. She gives Jess a long, considering look, purses her lips together, and for a second Jess is reminded of the way Claudia used to do that when they were kids; it’s her thinking face, the same expression that preceded a new game or how to sneak sweets from their parents.

  “What are you doing with these losers?” Claudia asks, jerking her head at Abby and Bells.

  “They’re my friends.” Jess tries to stand up; her shoulder throbs from where she hit the wall and a new, throbbing ache has started in her chest from her scar.

  “We’re going to have to deal with them, you know. They’re villains,” Claudia says, shuddering with distaste. She looks down at Jess, still struggling on the floor, and then extends her hand. “Come on, Jessie Bessie. You don’t have to be one of them. I’m very well established in the League now. Did you know Captain Orion is considering me for second in command? I’ve got a lot of say. And you’re my sister.”

  She leans forward with a conspiratorial smile, and suddenly Jess is reminded of the way it used to be between them.

  “Look, remember what I said about hero support? You don’t have to have powers to do that, but now that you’ve found this place and see what we’ve done with the meta-gene, there’s just so many possibilities. I know you don’t have powers, but you and I, we’ve got the same DNA. We’re legacies. It would be so simple to activate the rest of your powers, Jessie Bessie. You could fly.”

  Jess stares at Claudia from the floor, and a painful yearning in her heart leaps forward: those countless trials in the desert by herself, jumping off rocks, hoping for something, anything to show that she would inherit her parents’ powers. The memory of flying above the canyons with Claudia holding her, the two of them laughing and joking like the friends they used to be changes to the present: Jess and Claudia wearing matching League emblems, flying together.

  Flight. The rarest of abilities.

  If Captain Orion found a way to make meta-abilities last beyond normal limits, it’s entirely possible Jess could fly.

  Claudia’s hand is still outstretched before her. “It’ll be great,” she says.

  Jess takes a deep breath; she’d always wanted to fly.

  Behind Claudia she can see Abby’s prone figure; Genevieve cradling her head and rocking back and forth. Bile rises in Jess’ throat. Bells is cowering on the other end of the hall, still shaking from Claudia’s threats.

  The memories of Claudia and Jess together—they’re just that; memories, in the past. Claudia is different now, and Jess knows the horrifying things Orion and the League have done.

  “No,” Jess says softly.

  “What?”

  “No.” The word is louder this time, and Jess pushes herself off the ground, standing up on her own. She brushes aside Claudia’s hand. “Orion and the League are wrong.”

  Jess holds up her fists and sets her feet apart in a fighting stance. She winces as her aching body protests, but she readies herself anyway.

  Claudia’s eyes flash and she flies up, seizing a pipe and breaking off a section from the ceiling with her considerable strength. The remaining pipes above her shake and groan.

  “You’re going to regret this,” Claudia says coldly. “Corrections is not a fun place.” Claudia shakes her head, hefting the heavy pipe. “I’m going to knock you all out now and take you back to Orion.” She shakes her head at Jess. “I was so good to you; I took you flying and endured all your clingy little questions. You were going to be my sidekick, help me—”

  “I am not your sidekick!” The volume of her own voice surprises even Jess, and it echoes in the hallway, but she stands by what she says, grabbing a stray bit of metal to protect herself. If it’s going to be a fight, she might as well be ready. “I’ve always been in your shadow, Clauds.
What makes you think I want to keep doing that? I want to be my own person, be liked for who I am, not just for copying you!”

  Claudia laughs, loud and shrill. “Your own person? You’re nothing but a byproduct of an experiment!”

  Jess blinks. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Maybe you should ask our parents what they’ve been keeping from you. I mean, they didn’t seem surprised at all when you didn’t get any powers, did they? Like they knew you wouldn’t?”

  Jess steps backward, stunned.

  Claudia continues, voice hard as steel. “You’ll never be a hero, never be anything—”

  The debris above her shakes precariously. “Claudia, watch out!” Jess yells.

  Claudia is still in the middle of her diatribe when a pipe lands on her, knocking her to the ground. Jess rushes forward; for all that Claudia has said and done, she’s still her sister. “No, no, Claudia—”

  Bells steps hesitantly forward. “She’s got superhealing, right?” He reaches and tries to lift the pipe off Claudia. Jess struggles to help and the two of them finally push it aside.

  Claudia’s unconscious, and Jess tries her best to remember the first aid classes she’s had and takes Claudia’s pulse. It’s steady, so she might just be out of it for a bit.

  “Come on, we have to get her out of the way.”

  They take her to the cell where Abby’s mom was kept and put the tantalum shackles on her to keep her from recharging.

  “Orion will get her,” Genevieve says.

  Jess takes one more look at Claudia. With her eyes closed, she doesn’t look angry anymore. Just young.

  Genevieve Monroe is short and has a commanding presence. “Abby, you have to get off the base immediately. They’ll want to keep you to monitor how the serum affects you—and how are you feeling?”

  “Terrible,” Abby says. “This is totally different from being tapped out.”

  “I haven’t seen many of the test subjects, but a lot of them had very invasive tests,” Genevieve says. “I need to get a message to your father as soon as possible. If I can get into the mainframe somehow—”