Free Sidekicks by Dan Danko, Tom Mason, Barry Gott Page A

monitor duty when the signal comes in calls all the other sidekicks on their cell phones and tells them to report.
    Beatrice unfolded the game and we picked our seven letters.
    “Z-I-G-G-U-R-A-T,” Beatrice spelled out as she placed down all of her letters in her first turn. “That’s nineteen points for the word, fifty for using all my letters at once, and double for going first... one hundred and thirty-eight points.”
    “Wait! How can you spell an eight-letter word when you only have seven letters?” I asked, pointing to the seven tiles she had slapped down on the Scrabble board.
    “I
am
Spelling Beatrice.”
    I should have picked Monopoly.
    I looked at my own letters: O-O-O-D-P-A-R. I shuffled them around. O-P-O-R-D-O-A. I shuffled them a third time.
    “Do you want some help?” Beatrice inquired.
    “No!” I reached down to my tile rack and pulled off a pretty good word. I mean, it’s no Zigguwhatever, but then I’m not a human dictionary, either. “Door. That’s four poin —”
    “Zwieback. Eighty-six points,” Beatrice said, enthusiastically plopping down all seven of her letters again. “That’s two hundred thirty-four to four. Hey! You’re doing better than last time.”
    Where’s an alien invasion when you really need one? I gotta admit, getting creamed in Scrabble by a girl whose biggest claim to fame was that she actually knows what a dangling participle is, is not really my idea of being a superhero. Or even a superhero sidekick.
    I mean, you read all the unofficial biographies and watch all the unofficial movies-of-the week and it looks all glamorous and stuff. But the truth is, it’s more about doing laundry and getting my butt kicked by a girl who thinks proper grammar will save the earth.
    Then it happened. It was amazing.
    No, not a supervillain attack or some enormous monster rising from the ocean depths to destroy the city. There was no ticking bomb or urgent cry for help from the League of Big Justice. No. What happened was, I picked up the Scrabble board and threw it across the clubhouse.
    Then
we got the urgent call for help from the League of Big Justice.
    “Speedy! Spelling Beatrice! Thank th’ bagpipes o’ Angus MacGarrnacuuraan! Ah’ve found ye! Make haste, me twosome! Whar attacked by th’ villainous duo Grease an’ Grime!”
    It was Captain Haggis! His pixilated image flashed briefly on the black and white screen of the Sidekick Super Computer. He sounded urgent, desperate, and then the transmission was cut.
    Finally! Some action! And we were his only hope!
    “Let’s go, Beatrice!” I said, and raced out the door.
    I gotta admit, when I get an assignment, it’s like my birthday, Christmas, and any other day people give me free stuff wrapped into one. I can’t even tell you how cool it is fighting evil.
    Fighting bad is cool, too. But not as cool as fighting evil, I’ll tell you that.
    Okay, so most of the time my assignments seemed to involve cleaning things. I don’t know what it is about superheroes, but they are the dirtiest people on the planet — and I’m not just talking about The Stain. At least that guy’s got an excuse. But I guess that’s just what happens when you’re the newest sidekick. Not like Charisma Kid. If I could be any sidekick, I would be him.
    He’s been a sidekick longer than anyone but Sidekick Lad and is kinda the unofficial leader of the Sidekicks; not just because he’s the coolest sidekick in, like, the galaxy, but because he’s been assigned to the coolest superhero in the universe: King Justice, founder and captain of the League of Big Justice.
    “Taking a bite out of crime, one pizza slice at a time.” At least that’s what King Justice’s public relations kit said.
    I’ve only met Charisma Kid once. Well, I didn’t actually
meet
him. He kinda walked by me at the sidekicks roll call. He waved to me. Or I think he did. He could’ve been swatting that fly buzzing around his head, but I’m sure it was like a