3 Chapter 3: Variable

The rooftop of the Grey building was filled with people. Music was playing in the background as people drank bottles of beer. Eli recognized some people from his classes last year and Tadashi stopped to talk to them. Eli tried his best not to be rude but ultimately had to weave around the crush of people to get to where Mo was.

He stopped when he saw her talking to a tall, blond guy. This must be the guy from the rowing team. The guy said something and Mo blushed, tucking her long, dark hair behind her ears. A pit in Eli’s stomach was growing as he tried to process what was happening.

Then, Mo turned and saw him. She smiled brightly and he forgot what he was so worried about. She waved him over and he reached her quickly.

"There you are," she said. "For a second there, I thought you got lost on the way here."

He snorted at her joke. The Grey building was hard to miss. It was in the middle of campus.

"I wouldn’t leave you hanging," he replied. He tried to keep his face impassive as he made eye contact with the other guy and asked, "Who’s your friend?"

"This is Blaze. He’s on the rowing team and an Aerospace Engineering major."

A smart jock wasn’t that rare at CIT. That explained the muscles. Eli had seen the team in the mornings, rowing over the lake at ungodly hours, and decided early on in orientation that he wasn’t interested in joining. He didn’t like having to get up before breakfast was served in the dining hall.

Blaze was objectively good-looking. His hair was a dark blond that looked effortlessly messy. He was taller than Eli and reached over six feet. The fact he was more than a pretty face made him more intimidating.

"Eli’s majoring in Electrical Engineering," Mo continued. "He’s interning for Carlysle Industries and he’s only a sophomore."

Blaze looked surprised. "That’s impressive. I was hoping to get an internship too next year since they now have their own space program."

Eli rubbed the back of his neck. Being praised for something he never actually did was embarrassing but a small part of him was glad to have something over the other guy. He mumbled out a "Thanks."

"Aren’t they launching the space probe next month?" Mo remarked then nudged Blaze lightly with her elbow. "Maybe you’ll get to go on space missions someday."

Blaze smiled warmly. "That’s the dream."

Eli was about to cut in, trying to think of anything to stop this travesty from continuing when Tadashi came over.

"Check this out." He showed them his phone screen. There was footage of the fight in the city with Smokeburn earlier that day. "We got a new super."

There was Eli in his shiny, metal suit and dispatching the thugs in front of the bank. It was an out of body experience for Eli to see himself on video like that. With his face covered, there was no way people could tell that was him in the suit. Even his friends couldn't tell that was him.

"Isn’t that just Chromium?" Mo asked. "Maybe he revamped his look."

Tadashi showed Chromium and Eli fighting with Smokeburn. "That’s old Tin Man along with the new guy."

Mo took the phone from Tadashi to rewind the footage. She zoomed in on Eli’s suit gleaming under the afternoon sun. "We haven’t had a new super in a while. Who is he?"

"The League’s PR team released a statement after the fight," Tadashi answered. "He’s called Electrick with a K."

Tadashi showed them the bank robbery fight again and the part where Eli electrocuted the thugs trying to dog pile on him and added, "He can do everything Chromium does and he can use electric blasts."

Mo nodded. "I like his suit. The purple looks cool."

Eli smiled and couldn’t hide how pleased he was. Mo thought his suit was cool. If only she knew who Electrick really was. Would she be impressed?

"There’s a new bad guy too." Tadashi showed the man in the red mask pulling Chromium into the truck. "No one knows his name yet. He seems to have the same powers as Smokeburn."

Mo raised an eyebrow. "A new Chromium and Smokeburn?"

"Tin Man and Stovetop have been at it for a while. Maybe they’re throwing in the towel and letting the kids take over."

"Do you think the new guys are related to them?"

Tadashi looked thoughtful. "Could you imagine being raised by a superhero or villain? That has to be insane."

Mo turned to Eli. "What do you think?"

Eli shrugged, avoiding having to actually answer. His life just seemed to be one fib after another. The first thing he was taught after joining the Heroic League was the importance of keeping his identity a secret. It not only endangered themselves but everyone they knew.

Blaze was looking at his phone, uninterested with the talk of supers. He left them to talk to other people and Eli was not sad to see him go.

"How old do you think he is?" Mo asked.

"The last new hero was Valiant and he was twenty-something when he joined the HL," Eli replied easily. "There hasn’t been a teenage superhero since the nineties."

It wasn’t a complete lie. Eli was going to be twenty next year, and then he wouldn’t be a teenager.

Mo added, "I bet he’s cute."

Tadashi scoffed. "You can tell with his face completely covered? I bet he wears a full mask so no one can see his ugly mug."

Eli elbowed Tadashi, hard.

His friend stared at him wide-eyed. “What was that for?”

“Muscle spasm,” Eli deflected, unapologetic. “Whoops.”

Tadashi tried to elbow him back but Eli blocked it. All that combat training could be really useful. Before Tadashi could question Eli’s new agility, Mo cut in, "I just have a feeling he’s cute. And I bet he’s nice too."

"All heroes are nice," Tadashi countered. "It’s kind of their thing. Save the day and all that jazz."

Eli knew that better than anyone. All heroes were nice. He tried to remind himself that as he kept imagining elbowing Blaze in the face next.