"Hey, Eve…"
Mark stepped up in front of Eve, his expression hesitant, like he was working up the courage to say something.
"You're… I think I remember you." Eve's eyes lit up. "You're the little brother of Jovian, the varsity football team captain, right?"
"Uh… yeah." Mark's mouth opened slightly.
Honestly, he was kind of well-known at school too—just by being Jovian's little brother, he was automatically "famous."
"Oh my God—wait, you're Jovian's brother?" A blonde girl standing next to Eve—tongue stud glittering when she spoke—got excited the moment she heard Mark. "Can you get me Jovian's number?"
"Ah… uh…"
Mark instantly felt awkward. He really wanted to tell her he'd come to talk to Eve…
"Can you?!" The girl's eyes sparkled as she looked at Mark hopefully.
"Of course."
Before Mark could say anything else, Jovian—who had just walked up beside him—answered first.
"Jovian…"
The blonde girl stared at Jovian's tall frame like she was looking at a celebrity, little stars practically popping in her eyes.
"Here." Jovian pulled out his phone, smiling bright and easy. "Put your number in."
"I—yeah…"
In an instant, the girl felt like her heart had melted. For girls their age, a campus superstar like Jovian perfectly matched every "dream prince" fantasy they'd ever had.
"I'll text you later," Jovian said casually.
He chatted with her for a bit, then waved goodbye and moved on.
"…Okay. You're even good at handling girls," Mark muttered, his face twisted with bitter envy as he watched Jovian deal with her effortlessly.
"Spend more time around girls and you'll get the hang of it too," Jovian said, patting Mark's shoulder—still doing his best to encourage him.
Eve, hugging her textbooks to her chest, looked between the brothers, still confused.
"Um… did you two need something from me?"
"If not, I should go. I've got class soon."
"Actually…" Mark took a breath and tried to pull himself together.
"Thanks for saving my brother yesterday," Jovian said—once again beating Mark to it.
"Saving your brother…" Eve's grip tightened on her books. For a second, she wondered if her identity had been exposed.
"I mean yesterday—when I was the one in the spandex, flying around," Mark admitted, embarrassed.
Honestly, getting rescued by a girl yesterday had been the single most awkward moment of his life. Nothing even came close.
"Oh—so you're that new hero…" Eve finally connected the dots.
Then her expression shifted.
"Wait… then you are—?!"
Realization hit her and she clapped a hand over her mouth, staring at Jovian in disbelief.
"No way. You're the one who saved all of us—the mini Omni-Man? The Teen Team talked about you all day afterward. Robot even guessed you've got power on Omni-Man's level. Is that true?!"
Eve felt like her brain was short-circuiting. She couldn't believe that at her school—besides her—there were two other superheroes…
And the craziest part?
They were brothers.
"Heh…" Jovian smiled modestly. "Comparing me to Omni-Man is a little exaggerated."
He kept it low-key—saying "I'm on Omni-Man's level" would be way too arrogant.
(Meanwhile, the truth was he was even stronger than Omni-Man—his dad, Nolan.)
"I agree Robot exaggerated," Eve said with a light laugh. "You're definitely strong, but you're still not Omni-Man."
After all, Omni-Man was the strongest man on Earth. How could someone like that just randomly have an equal show up out of nowhere?
"Haha…"
Jovian understood she'd misunderstood what he meant, but he didn't bother correcting her.
Saying something like "I'm a natural-born Viltrumite powerhouse whose strength keeps rising nonstop, and the only people in the universe who might be stronger are monsters like Battle Beast or the Viltrumite Regent" would just make him sound like an idiot.
That kind of line was way more fun when other people said it about you.
"Hey—can you two include me in this conversation?" Mark raised an eyebrow. "I feel ignored again."
"This is my brother, Mark," Jovian said, looking at him like he was waiting for Mark to reveal his hero name.
Mark glanced around to make sure nobody was listening, then said it anyway.
"Invincible."
…
The second the word left his mouth, Mark suddenly felt… kind of stupid.
"Actually, that's a pretty good hero name," Jovian said automatically. "I believe in you, Mark. One day you really will be invincible."
"Stop praising me." Mark waved him off. "If you keep going, I'm going to lose track of who I actually am."
At least Mark still knew his limits—if Jovian kept hyping him up, it would turn into setting him up to fall.
"Heh…" Jovian just smiled and didn't argue.
"I'm Atom Eve," Eve said. "My teammates just call me Eve."
"Your teammates—Teen Team?" Jovian asked.
"Yep," Eve said, instantly energized. "We're the fourth most popular team."
"I know you guys," Jovian said. "You're stronger than Fight Force, right?"
"I mean—way stronger." Eve made a face. "Fight Force is the worst. They got absolutely stomped by the Lizard League last year."
"I remember that," Jovian nodded. "Mark and I watched the video on TV. It was the first time I'd ever seen superheroes look that helpless."
"Right?!" Eve said, totally agreeing. She looked excited, like she was about to start giving Jovian a whole crash course on the superhero scene—
Ding-dong—
The school bell rang.
"I've got to get to class," Eve said, reflexively checking her watch. "It's getting late."
Then she looked back at them.
"After school, do you two want to come check out the Teen Team headquarters?"
She called it a tour, but it was also a not-so-subtle invitation—her way of feeling out whether Mark and Jovian might join.
"After school, go to the Teen Team headquarters? Works for me," Jovian said immediately, then looked at Mark. "What about you?"
"Of course!" Mark nodded fast.
After watching Jovian and Eve talk nonstop, he finally got a chance to respond—and he wasn't about to miss it.
"Then I'll see you after school," Eve said, waving as she turned.
She strode off toward the school building, long legs moving with purpose.