[ WP ] Every aspiring superhero must become a sidekick for a few years before being granted full time hero status . You are the strongest superhero in your age group , but believe you have been assigned to the weakest hero . You learn a lot more than you originally thought you would .

Karen, 
 
 It ’ s been a month in Seattle, and I think I ’ ve seen sunlight twice. The Night Hawk has me walking every block of downtown, counting fire exits, alleys, roof access points, and places where both the roofs and sewers of the city are readily accessible. No matter how detailed my reports, he always finds details I ’ ve missed, like doors that are open that look locked, and broken padlocks masquerading as real ones. It seems pointless. Why should I have to bother walking the streets like a normal person, looking at doors and access points? I ’ m easily strong enough to make my own entrance, and I can fly for short distances. This seems like a waste. 
 
 Your friend, 
 Steve ( Samson Prime ) 
 
 
 Karen, 
 
 It ’ s been a weird couple of weeks here in Seattle. I don ’ t know how much of it hit the news in Austin, but we ’ ve had a massive uptick in gang violence. I finally got to watch the Night Hawk in action, and I find myself impressed. He ’ s had me watch as he ’ s taken down three stash houses for one gang, and the operations center for another. The gangs are now terrified of him. He had me install a gadget in one of the stash houses we didn ’ t hit, and at 4 AM, the device produced a copy of his warcry, and the gangers fled like they were being pursued by the Devil himself. 
 
 I guess the part that ’ s got me most impressed is that he ’ s done it with almost no power himself. He ’ s got supernatural night vision. That ’ s it. But he ’ s turned that and a fearsome reputation into complete control of all of Seattle. I watched a gang member turn himself in and confess just because he thought we were after him, and we hadn ’ t even targeted his group. I seriously don ’ t know how he does it. 
 
 Your friend, 
 Samson Primus ( I like it better than Prime ) 
 
 Karen, 
 
 I understand why the Mindbender wanted me to go here now. Night Hawk accomplishes by himself what an entire group of heroes tries to do elsewhere. I thought at first that he did it through fear. It seemed obvious. The night-time attacks, the hidden cameras and microphones along with speakers to amplify his hawk cry and make it seem like he is everywhere all make it very easy to miss what he actually does. 
 
 He researches, Karen. He knows everyone in this city, every route through the city, every locked door and open window. He knows the nighttime routines of every man, woman and child down to the minute, and he can exploit all of it. I ’ ve watched him depend on things that I thought are impossible to predict, like a bus being 34 seconds late, but just in time to screen him from being seen as he ducked into a sewer weapons cache. I ’ ve seen him snatch informants in the time it took them to step outside for a smoke, and return them before their cigarettes had finished burning. 
 
 It ’ s more than that, though. I ’ ve been here for 2 months, and there ’ s been exactly three violent murders in all of Seattle. Two were husbands who snapped suddenly, and there was no way to predict how and when they would snap. The third might haunt my dreams for years. 
 
 On Thursday, a little girl walking the family dog at dusk was snatched. I ’ m pretty sure that Night Hawk knew before the girl ’ s own parents did. We got to the scene in street clothes, and he had me using my powers, looking for any scrap of a clue. He let me run point, which I was grateful for, as I wanted to show him how much I ’ d learned. We tracked the van to the warehouse district, and I heard her with my hearing, crying for help. I bolted forward, crashed through the front door, and activated a trap that set off a claymore mine. I only survived because Night Hawk slide tackled me as it went off. The two perpetrators fled, and Night Hawk was bleeding from a piece of the shrapnel. I took off after one of the bad guys and I will say that my knowledge of the city allowed me to hunt him down and nab him quite easily. I dragged him back to the warehouse where I found Night Hawk bandaging his wounds while the little girl lay dead on the warehouse floor. The trap I ’ d set off had hit her with a ricochet. She never knew what hit her, I think. Night Hawk looked at the unconscious man I ’ d dropped in front of him, and questioned me on what I ’ d seen. 
 
 In a few minutes, he ’ d figured out who the men were and where they were from. We had a name and a description of the guy we were looking for, but he had a twenty minute lead in a major city. He could have gone anywhere. Night Hawk told me we were going to take a shot at this one, and for me to change. 
 
 We went, dressed in civvies again, to the bus depot, where, much to my chagrin, I saw three people who all could have been my villain. Night Hawk turned to me and said. “ You get one shot at this. This is in public. You screw up, and the bad guy gets free while your reputation gets tarnished. The world won ’ t stand for superheroes who screw too much with regular joes. Pick one. Go. ” 
 
 I did. I picked the right guy. 
 
 Details matter. Being right matters. 
 
 Being smart enough to check for traps matters more. I understand the lesson of Bolt now. Bolt was a hero in the first gen, like 50 years ago. He cornered a guy who was suspected of brutally killing some 17 women in 5 months. The guy holed up in a cheap motel room, and when Bolt came crashing through the wall, the guy ran out the door into the middle of the parking lot. Bolt hit him with a lightning bolt, which carried through the man and into the motel pool behind him. Three children died in the pool, and Bolt was charged and found guilty of the deaths. And the guy wasn ’ t even guilty, just a loser in the wrong place at the wrong time. 
 
 The lesson isn ’ t that you must always know what your power will do, and what the ramifications are. The lesson is that we are held to a higher standard of conduct precisely because we have powers. I can throw a car, jump half a mile, and shrug pistol ammo off, but I have to know what ’ s standing behind me when the guns go off. I need to know if the sight of me leaping through the air is going to cause an 8 car pileup. I need to know these things. 
 
 I know how Night Hawk does it. Intensive research, psyops, hidden equipment caches, and an encyclopedic knowledge of his city. He knows who ’ s at risk because he always knows who is around. I don ’ t know if I can do that, but I am willing to try. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 Steven. ( The names feel silly right now ) 

