Chapter 02-02

Alex stood on the sidewalk in front of a tall apartment building. He held the address for Obsidian in his hand and glanced from the paper to the building and back. The building rose into the sky constructed from dark slate colored blocks that were inlayed with dark tinted glass. Thick white grout lines stood out sharply against the dark colors of the building.

“What have I gotten myself into?” He asked the piece of paper with a sigh. All the times that he had played the game he had never once had a sidekick. Sure, he had worked in a group before, but a sidekick he was personally responsible for.

One of the most important things about sidekicks was that he would sponsor this person. This would give them the ability to respawn. Not an unlimited number of respawns, but he could bring them back a couple of times if things went sideways.

The address that was listed for Obsidian was on the sixth floor. He shoved the paper in his pocket and walked up the front steps. Two large men came out of the front door as he was trying to enter. They angled their shoulders to check him as he passed by. He was not wearing his mask and was still slightly on the mend from his early skirmishes and decided to let it go.

The entryway in the building opened into a center room that housed four elevators, two on either side of the building. There were also staircases at the rear in the case of an emergency. Alex pressed the call button on the elevators and stood patently in the lobby with his hands folded in front of him rolling on the balls of his heels.

The ride up the levels was quiet as soft music played in the background. His fingers tapped his sides absently as he waited. He found himself humming to the music in the background. The elevator car around him was typical, made of brushed chrome, but there was a stripe of black slate that ran diagonally from the floor to the ceiling.

The cabin lurched to a stop with a soft ding. The doors slid open to a loud smashing sound. A blur of purple whipped by the opening. Alex leaned out and looked to watch the blur smash into the wall. Light from the outside began to spill into the hallway as chucks of the wall dropped down around the blur’s landing spot.

Alex turned to the other side of the hall where he saw a woman hovering several inches off the ground. She wore grey clothes and a white cape whipped around her in some kind of artificial wind. The girl’s eyes glowed bright green.

The purple blur, who was of course Obsidian, climbed up off the ground. She shook her head and stumbled for a moment. The woman at the other end of the hall lifted her arms. Two large tables lifted from the ground and were tossed down the hallway. Obsidian dropped her shoulders and as fast as she could ran towards the attacker.

Using her shoulders, she smashed the tables into the wall shattering them into small pieces. She ducked down and increased her speed. With her head down she rammed her shoulder into the floating girl at full speed. The floating girl flew back and crashed through the end of the hallway. She fell from the hole down out of sight.

Obsidian stopped at the edge of the hole where she watched the woman fall. She held on to the wall while she looked still seeming to be a little dizzy from her collision with the far wall.

“Serves you right you bitch!” She spat over the edge down at the woman.

“Who was that?” Alex asked. He had walked over to stand next to her. While he watched her he crossed his arms over his chest.

“What the hell?!” Obsidian yelled and nearly fell from the hole. She jumped back and threw up her fists in a defensive stance, “Who the hell are you?!”

“The name is Aether. Who was that?” Alex asked again after the quick intro. He pointed outside towards the woman she had just attacked.

“That was my bitch of a sister.” Obsidian said with a snarl. She relaxed just a bit but did not let her guard down completely.

“You just threw your sister out of the sixth floor of a building.” Alex said. He tried to remain as nonjudgmental as he could, but she was shaping up to be quite the crazy.

“She’s a villain, and she used my makeup.” Obsidian said with a growl, “Who are you again?”

“I’m hero. I was just at the sidekick office and I was given your name. I came down here to hire you.” Alex said showing her the sheet of paper.

“Wow! I had forgotten I submitted that application. I was like fifteen.” Obsidian said in awe.

The two of them weren’t paying any attention to what was happening outside. A large slab of stone burst through the wall catching them both and sending them crashing down the hallway.

Alex smashed into the wall. His head took most of the force as he rolled down to the floor onto his stomach. Moaning in pain he pushed himself up and looked down at his arms which were scratched, cut and bruised. He shook his head as he used the wall to stabilize himself.

Obsidian was on her feet and she didn’t have a single scratch. She yelled loudly down the hallway where her sister was hovering outside a few feet from the building.

“I’ll be right back.” Obsidian shot to Alex.

She ran towards the hole in the wall. She picked up speed gradually until she reached the edge where she threw herself out and slammed into her sister. She locked her arms around her midsection causing them both to drop out of sight light rocks.

“What the hell am I getting myself into?” Alex coughed and stumbled his way down the hallway so that he could watch the fight. He couldn’t deny that he like a good cat fight.

The two sisters rolled around for a few minutes each breaking the other’s hold almost as soon as it landed. Finally, Obsidian pinned her sister down to the ground with her knees and began to pound on her face over and over again with her fists.

“I give up!” Obsidian’s sister yelled. She attempted to use her hands to try and protect her face, “You crazy bitch!”

“You started this. You should have thought about that before you threw the dresser at me.” Obsidian said throwing a single final punch. She leaned back and took in a deep breath through her nose. Looking down on her sister Obsidian stood up from where she knelt. She stepped to one side holding out her hand to help her sister off of the ground where she laid moaning in defeat. Reluctantly her sister took the offered hand and stood up.

She put her arm around Obsidian’s waist, and the two of them drifted up from the street below. They landed on the ledge just inside the damage that they had caused at the end of the hallway. Alex leaned on the wall watching in awe with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Sorry.” Obsidian’s sister said shortly focusing on the floor in front of her.

“This is my sister, Lift.” Obsidian said gesturing.

“You should consider the life of a hero.” Alex said. He uncrossed his arms and puffed out his chest in pride.

“I come from a family of villains. I can’t follow in this black sheep’s footsteps.” Lift said with a grumble.

“Yeah well, this black sheep seems to always kick your ass.” Obsidian said shifting her weight and rolling her eyes.

“It won’t always be that way.” Lift hissed and stormed off towards the apartment.

“Keep telling yourself that. I look forward to the day.” Obsidian called after her and gave a halfhearted salute, “Sucks that she’s a villain, but I love her.” Obsidian patted Alex on the shoulder, “Sorry you got some of the splash there.”

“It’s fine.” Alex said waving his hands, “So, how do you feel about the job?”

“I’m interested. I thought that I was going to have to get a job flipping burgers or convert to a villain.” She said wondering from one side of the hall to the other in a slow pace.

“Well I’ll gladly pay your wage that you have in your file, plus performance raises.” Alex offered.

“I don’t remember what I put in the offer.” She said shaking her head.

“One tenth of the weekly income, plus with a minimum of five hundred thread.” Alex said.

“Right, I guess I’m in.” Obsidian said after a short moment of contemplation.

Alex held out his hand for her to shake. She took it and gave him a firm handshake. Their contract was sealed with a notification window.

-You have a Sidekick!

-Sidekick name: Obsidian

-Sidekick Level: 4

-Partnership Level: 1