Sidekicks!
By: Stargater 37
Introduction:
Throughout time and space there have always been heroes. The person, who steps up to save the day, the girl or even the world a time or two is that. These tasks are seldom accomplished alone. Those who help the heroes have become known as the sidekicks. They are the unnamed assistants or the person who blends into the background when feats are celebrated. It can be a thankless job but I care about them. So I opened "Sidekicks", a multidimensional club, which spans time and space and caters exclusively to the unknown heroes of the day. My name is Sam and I serve as host, chief bartender and willing ear to those who come in. My only price for the visit is a tale. These are those stories.
Chapter 1
"A Bat"
Gotham City, it is a modern city that has seen its fair share of troubles. Statistically it ranks as one of the highest crime centers of the United States. The other statistic rarely quoted is the amount of crime stopped by the means of one man. His nicknames include the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, the Dark Knight Detective, and the World's Greatest Detective; he is known as Batman. His assistants account for a fair share of my business some nights. As I took a pitcher over to their table, I wonder if their own room would be in order. Tonight was the Robin's nest. There was Jason Todd, Robin II, Tim Drake, Robin III, a young Dick Grayson, Robin I, and An older version of Dick Grayson, Nightwing, Stephanie Brown, Robin IV and Damian Wayne, the latest to this long line of sidekicks. They thank me for the drinks and I hung back to listen to the stories. Young Dick Grayson was the first to begin a tale of his days under the tutoring of the bat.
The years begin to blur together at a point. When I first joined forces with the Batman I thought that this was going to be the greatest adventure I have ever known. My days were school and polishing my image of rich boy Dick Grayson. My nights comprised the hunt for criminals and evil doers alike. This particular night in August Batman and I had just got done shutting down a counterfeiting ring. He saw the bat signal and left immediately for police headquarters to meet with Gordon. Leaving me to mop up after the fight. Did I enjoy playing janitor? Did I enjoy cataloging weapons? The answer is no but it was part of the job. At this point Stephanie Brown began chuckling and remarked he's done that to me so many times I can't count.
I know what you mean replied Dick. As I went through the items we had confiscated I found a notebook with names and addresses and pictures of pretty young girls. Looking at the notes inside the notebook I soon discovered that our friend boss Crenshaw had his hands in a little more than just funny money. Looking through the pictures I soon discovered a familiar face. It was the face of Karen Kane a classmate of mine who I had not seen in school that week. According to the notes Karen had been abducted the prior week and was set to be sold to an Asian freighter captain who was looking for girls. Holy kidnapping the date the date of the sale was tonight.