Over the next few weeks Jon went about diligently writing his paper about Winston Marveler. Jon came to feel akin to the boy who had not just been a sidekick but a sidekick to all of hero kind. It was mid November—Thanksgiving only a week away and he was excited for the break from school and to visit his grandparents in Philadelphia. His parents and he would leave when he let out of school on Tuesday and spend the rest of the week there. His grandma made the best pecan pie he had ever tasted, and he couldn't wait to eat the richly sweet dessert.
His grandparents in Philly were the parents of his father, so they weren't very aware that he or his mother had powers. They thought he went to a private school for gifted kids—which he was really smart but the truth wasn't quite the right 'gifted' they had in mind. He found himself often distracted at reading the profiles of other noted or historic figures from Mr. Bitters' book—just as a habit.
He had the paper in its final draft and decided to title it, 'The sidekick who saved Heroes.' Boy, if that were the truth now. Jon stretched his wrist from writing so much—if he did it for too long his penmanship would get sloppy and he would stop dotting his 'i's. He thought of the time off he would get the rest of the week for the holiday—maybe he could practice saving the citizen after school the next day.
Every Friday in Phys-Ed, Coach Split had started running Save the Citizen matches, starting with the upper classman. Jon, of course—just like everyone else loved to watch the players in action. Then, every other Monday in Phys-Ed, Split ran official Save the Citizen matches for the Championship. Shaun Wilson, student body president, and Cassie Lightfoot were the hardest to knock out—still reigning champs from the year before. Sometimes they would call out a freshman to have a chance at the game, but no freshman ever won. Neither Jon nor his friends were ever chosen—in fact, most sidekicks were left out of the championship matches because everyone thought they were too easy.
Stronghold was picked a lot, especially when up against Shaun—they were matched solidly and their partner was the deciding factor of the win. Shaun always picked Cassie, and they always won.
Jon sighed, wishing he would get a chance to play Save the Citizen someday—well—he would definitely get to when he was a senior when Split did normal matches. He would never get to play in championship games though. After school Mondays, Split stayed and ran 'just-for-fun' Save the Citizen rounds. Jon hadn't gotten the courage to go to one yet although it was a nagging desire in his heart.
Instead, he went to the Fun Time Lounge or watched reruns of 'Star Trek' at Medulla's house. He had gone to the Fun Time Lounge with Phil, Medulla, and Lance that weekend. They held their own championship games on the air hockey table all afternoon with Lance winning because he would slyly use his gravity powers to reverse the puck. They all called him a dirty cheater but he only laughed light-heartedly at their accusations. Then Medulla challenged him to a game of pool, and he had is ass handed to him. Medulla was famous within the Fun Time Lounge for being the best pool player anyone had seen.
His parent's arguments had died down significantly—though he could sense a strain between them still and could not figure the reason. He never informed his parents that he had almost died that foggy morning in October, because he didn't want them to worry. Sometimes though, when he heard their shouting escalate he wanted to throw himself in between them and tell them he did almost die, and then they would have nothing left but each other. At least, that's what he told himself.
Sue had relaxed a little from the bus incident—she still was carefully guarded as always and Jon thought staying with her in the hallway for that extra half hour made her feel better. She had been busy after school, since she had joined the Sky High science club—and wasn't around as much.
He still wondered about his principal—wondered how to expose him for the Russian he was. The relations with Russia and its super heroes were still tense according to the media. The news reporters had decided to highlight that the Russian heroes were not speaking to anyone from the Coalition of P.O.W.E.R—and it made the U.S. citizens even more wary—knowing the Coalition wasn't taking a preemptive action.
He stared at the picture of Marveler; I wish I could live in your time, when things weren't so complicated. In 1906 there were no gas shortages, no threats from nuclear arms, and no difference between heroes and sidekicks. They paired up and fought as equals, not using a sidekick to handle all their gear and to come up with witty quips.
Jon handed Mr. Bitters his paper. Bitter raised his eyebrow, impressed. "You know this isn't due until tomorrow?"
"Well yeah—"
Sue approached the desk and also stuck out her paper. Jon didn't even know whom she did her research on.
Bitters whistled, "Well aren't you kids the cream of the crop?" He took them and put them in a folder. They took their seats and Bitters took a sip of coffee but realized he was out—he sighed.
"So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Jon leaned back and asked Sue.
She shrugged, "Not much, maybe I'll watch the parade on TV."
"What? You don't get to go over to a relative's house and eat turkey?"
"No."
Jon felt so sorry for the girl; she didn't have much of a family. Then he smiled brightly, "I could ask my parents if you could come to Philadelphia with us for our Thanksgiving!" It didn't seem like a bad idea—he could catch up with her, she wouldn't be stuck at home, she would get to at least eat turkey."
She gave him a look of incredulousness but then to his surprise smiled warmly, "Thanks Jon, but I'll be fine without turkey."
"Bummer for ya, you don't know what you'd be missing."
She only shrugged with indifference once more and that was when Bitters coffee must have been refilled because he started teaching them about important gadgetry for sidekicks.
Jon still had possession of Mr. Bitters' book of superheroes but had been taking an interest in the other stories that were in it. He didn't want to return it quite yet, and the library carried no copies.
During a class break Jon approached his teacher with crossed fingers, "Mr. Bitters, I was wondering if I could borrow the book you lent me for a little longer. You see—"
"'Course you can Boy, knock yourself out."
Jon smiled and nodded appreciatively. At least he would have some reading material while he was in Pennsylvania.
Sidekick class resumed and Bitters finished up the lesson on gadgetry just in time for lunch. Jon was stuffing his notebooks into his locker as he noticed Sue looking over some notes. He hadn't had a chance to ask her how she was doing since the bus incident. She seemed fine enough but then again, he knew Sue to mask her feelings extraordinarily well.
"So, who did you do your paper on?"
She looked up sharply, seeming annoyed she was being bothered but softened when she saw it was only Jon. She slipped her notes into her locker and grabbed a brown paper bag with her lunch. It was one of the few times he had ever seen her with a bagged lunch—she usually just got a tray from the cafeteria.
"Widow."
Jon balked, not expecting such a historical figure, "Her?"
"What's wrong with her?"
"She was dishonorably discharged in 1942 for disobeying a direct order from her partner, Arachna, which resulted in 20 civilian fatalities. She was put in the book of Renegades."
"I know, but did you know that the 20 civilian fatalities were actually Arachna's fault? She only blamed it on Widow and everyone believed her. Isn't it sick that a hero blamed their own sidekick for the wrong they did?"
Jon stopped walking, his cheeks flushed in irritation, "I've read the story, and Arachna did not blame Widow—it was Widow's fault. She did not climb to the third story of the burning building first, and so they got cooked. The firemen could have been rescuing the people on the ground floor while she did the third—but she didn't."
Sue rolled her eyes and huffed, "Yes you have read the story, but I did the research. I found newspaper clippings and testimonials from bystanders. "
Jon shook his head, not understanding her point.
"One witness on the second story could hear shouts of 'Help, I'm stuck! It's sticky!' and another one said that they saw Widow climb the stairs to the third story after rescuing them—so she did follow orders."
"Not entirely. She was supposed to go to the third floor first."'
"Why should she if Arachna was already there?"
Jon opened his mouth to retort but stopped, "Wait. Arachna wasn't there, she was on the ground level."
"She swung into the third story to barricade any flames with her silk shields, but the victims got caught up in them. So she told Widow to go up and help them while Widow was on the second floor already climbing people down the side of the building. Widow did go upstairs and she saw all the people caught in Arachna's mess but it was too late to do anything. So it was all Arachna's fault but she spun the story so she wouldn't be reprimanded for a sloppy rescue mission."
Jon didn't even know how to respond, "How do you know?"
"Just look up Widow's rebuttal to the accusation, pictures from the newspaper and the witness's testimony back it up. Arachna claimed that the witness was dizzy from too much smoke inhalation and that was good enough for the Coalition to convict Widow."
The arrived at the cafeteria, ten minutes late because of their Widow/Arachna debate. Sue brushed the hair out of her eyes and sat down at her usual place. Sometimes she would sit with the guys, sometimes she would sit with the Cutlass twins but as of late she sat by herself—and sometimes Dave would join her.
The truth about Widow was a staggering blow to his perception of heroes. Super heroes were the embodiment of the tried and true and to think that one let their innocent sidekick take the fall was disgusting.
He took a tray and paid for a hot lunch of some sort of casserole and a side of peas. He didn't bother sitting with Sue, feeling ashamed he had doubted her—she must have done a really good job on her paper then, if she had researched that far into Widow.
Medulla and the rest of his buddies were sitting at their usual table, the one closest to the back wall.
"I thought you disappeared," Lance nodded at Jon when he joined them then paused as if something he hadn't thought of before occurred, "Even though you don't have that power."
"No, I was talking to Sue about the paper we turned in."
"Why did you turn it in so early anyway, I'm smarter than both of you by years but I even know it is good to wait until the due date to turn something in, just in case you need to alter your words," Medulla questioned.
Jon shrugged, "I'm going to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving and wanted to get it done with."
"Why you going to Philly?" Phil wondered then an idea popped into his head and materialized as a Philly cheese steak sandwich. The smell alone was superior to the lumpy casserole Jon was eating. He took a mental note that he would bring his own lunch tomorrow.
"My grandparents live there."
"So this year, I told my Mom that I'd help with Thanksgiving dinner," Phil mentioned through bites, grossly spraying bits of steak and cheese onto the table. Jon shielded his food with his hand, even though he was done eating it. "I'm just gonna stand there and think of all the food she wants me to. She won't even have to buy a turkey or cook it for 6 hours. It's gonna be so awesome and immediate."
Well that's useful, Jon thought.
---
During gym, it was another Tournament match for Save the Citizen. Shaun and Cassie were, of course, the leading team. They picked Non Li, a junior who could cause your vision to blackout and Baron Battle. Jon and Medulla exchanged looks because it was quite a dangerous villain team that hadn't been paired before.
Baron didn't seem to ever enjoy the game but trudged down to the gym floor anyway. Non was confusing, she had such a dark power but she looked like a bottle of sunshine.
Bob got in his harness and Split shrilly blew his whistle as the start signal. Baron hurled flames at Shaun, who was not phased by it at all—he barely broke a sweat at the intense heat. The only concern he had was stopping the flames from burning through his clothes, so he was busy patting them out while running towards Bob.
Non stood in the center and smiled as Cassie grew in size, taller so she could reach Bob faster. With a simple blink of Non's eyes, Cassie stopped, disoriented, her vision gone—in a total blackout. Non's blackouts usually only lasted 30 seconds, she walked circles around Cassie, guarding her, making sure to hit her with another one as soon as her vision cleared. In the mean time Cassie was moving in the wrong direction with her hands held out in front of her, trying to find the right direction.
Shaun shoved Baron away hard, so he hit the floor. The action got his temper flaring and he ignited his whole arm, ready to set Shaun Wilson, student body president, on fire for good.
Cassie finally recovered and she shrunk to the size of a toddler and ran through Non's knees, returned to her normal height. Suddenly she wobbled and cried out in pain, then collapsed, nearly falling into the mulcher if it wasn't for Shaun catching her.
Split slammed on the emergency button to stop Bob's harness from descending further. He blew his whistle.
"What did you do to her?" Shaun glowered holding his girlfriend tightly.
Non looked like she was about to cry, "Nothing! Nothing! I only blacked her out that first time."
"What is goin' on?"
Cassie shook her head, "I don't feel well."
"Suck it up, Lightfoot, that ain't an excuse to lose the match."
Shaun looked upon her with concern. She held her forehead and stood albeit shakily. She took in a deep breath.
Split sat down again, ready to resume the tournament but Cassie's body lurched forward and she held her hand to her mouth, shaking her head profusely before sprinting out of the gymnasium. Shaun frowned and called after her before following her.
Split threw up his hands incredulously, "Well it's a draw! All you can suit out and go home."
There were some yips of happiness but a lot of the students were wondering why Cassandra Lightfoot, the popular and pretty senior was so sick that she couldn't finish a match of her favorite game.
A/N-I've just figured out this story will be pretty long because I plan to do all four years of Jon's high school life, he's still a freshman and it's going to take a good four to five chapters to finnish this year up. So, it's good news for the few of you who really like this and always want more. Also, FYI I casted my characters if this were to be a movie and the link to it is on my profile page. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing :)