An Invitation

"Hey, Eve..."

Mark walked up to Eve, looking hesitant as he tried to figure out what to say.

"You're... I think I remember you. You're Jupiter, the football team captain's little brother, right?"

Eve's eyes lit up when she saw Mark.

"Uh, yeah..."

Mark's mouth fell open slightly. He was something of a celebrity at school, too. As Jupiter's little brother, he was pretty famous...

"Oh my God, you're Jupiter's brother! Could you get Jupiter's phone number for me?"

A girl standing beside Eve, with golden hair and a glittering tongue stud in her mouth, spoke excitedly after hearing Mark.

"Uh..."

Mark felt awkward all of a sudden. He didn't know what to say. He really wanted to tell the girl that he was here to see Eve...

"Could you?"

The girl's eyes sparkled as she looked at Mark expectantly.

"Of course."

Before Mark could say anything more, Jupiter, who had walked up beside him, answered the girl first.

"Jupiter..."

The blonde girl gazed up at the tall Jupiter, stars in her eyes, as if she were looking at a celebrity.

"Here's my number. Put it in your phone..."

Jupiter pulled out his phone and gave the blonde girl a sunny smile.

"Okay..."

The girl felt her heart melt in an instant. For girls their age, Jupiter—a hugely popular figure at school—fit everything they imagined a prince charming should be.

"I'll get in touch with you later..."

Jupiter chatted with the blonde girl for a little while longer, then said goodbye.

"Wow... You're even good at handling girls..."

Mark watched Jupiter effortlessly charm the blonde girl, his face bitter.

"If you spend more time around girls, you'll be able to do it too."

Jupiter patted Mark on the shoulder, continuing to encourage him.

"Were you two looking for me just now?"

"If not, I should get going. I have class soon."

Eve, holding her textbooks, looked at the two brothers and asked. She was still completely in the dark and had no idea why they had come to see her.

"Well..."

Mark collected himself again.

"Thanks for saving my brother yesterday."

Unfortunately, Jupiter got there before Mark once more.

"Saving your brother..."

Eve tightened her grip on her books, wondering if someone had figured out her identity.

"Yesterday, I was the one flying around in the skintight suit."

Mark awkwardly brought up what had happened the day before. Honestly, being rescued by a girl was the most embarrassing thing he'd ever experienced. Nothing else came close.

"You're that new superhero..."

Putting together what Mark had said, Eve finally realized that he was the newly debuted superhero.

"Then you're...?"

Now that she knew who Mark was, Eve seemed to realize something. She covered her mouth and looked at Jupiter in disbelief.

"Oh my God, you're the little Omni-Man who saved all of us! The Viltrumite Youth Group talked about you all day afterward. Robot figured you had powers beyond Omni-Man's. Is that true?!"

Eve felt like her brain couldn't keep up. She couldn't believe there were two other superheroes at her school besides herself—and the craziest part was that they were brothers.

"Heh..."

"Comparing me to Omni-Man is definitely an exaggeration."

Jupiter smiled faintly. He was a very modest person; saying he was on par with Omni-Man would be too arrogant. It wasn't as if he was actually stronger than Omni-Man—his dad, Nolan.

"I think Robot exaggerated too. You're strong, but you're still a ways off from Omni-Man."

Eve smiled softly. She also thought Robot's analysis was unreliable. After all, Omni-Man was the strongest person on Blue Star. How could someone like that suddenly have another equal?

"Haha..."

Jupiter knew Eve had misunderstood him, but he didn't explain. Telling her he was a naturally powerful Virtumian whose strength grew by the moment—and that perhaps only War Beast and the Viltrumite Regent were stronger than him in the entire universe—would make him sound like an idiot. It was much more fun to hear someone else say it.

"Hey! Can you include me in this conversation?"

Mark raised an eyebrow as he watched Jupiter and Eve chatting away. He felt like he was being ignored again.

"This is my little brother, Mark. His superhero name is..."

Jupiter turned to Mark, his eyes seeming to ask what name Mark had come up with for himself.

"Invincible Young Hero!"

Mark glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, then announced his title.

"..."

As soon as he said it, Mark suddenly felt pretty stupid.

"Actually, it's not a bad name. I believe in you, Mark. One day, you'll be invincible."

Jupiter instinctively praised Mark.

"Don't praise me anymore. If you keep it up, I'll lose sight of who I really am."

Mark knew his own limits. He waved his hand. If Jupiter kept hyping him up, it would turn into setting him up to fail.

"Heh..."

Jupiter smiled faintly and said nothing.

"I'm Atom Eve, but my teammates just call me Eve."

Eve introduced her superhero name.

"Your teammates? The Viltrumite Youth Group?"

Hearing Eve mention teammates, Jupiter knew she meant the Viltrumite Youth Group.

"Yeah! We're the fourth most popular team."

At the mention of the Viltrumite Youth Group, Eve perked up and proudly introduced them.

"I know about you guys. You're a little better than the Power Team, right?"

Jupiter had indeed been keeping an eye on the Viltrumite Youth Group's activities.

"The Power Team? We're way better than them. They're the worst! The Lizardman beat them up last year!"

Eve's expression soured as soon as the Power Team came up. They were basically a joke.

"I think I remember that. Mark and I watched it live on TV. It was the first time I'd seen superheroes look so helpless."

Jupiter nodded slightly. He seemed to recall it. He'd been stunned at the time. He hadn't expected a supervillain to chase superheroes all over the street, beating them up.

"Exactly..."

Eve agreed wholeheartedly. The Power Team was just a joke. She was getting excited and was about to keep teaching Jupiter about superheroes.

"Ding-dong~"

But the school bell rang...

"I have to go to class..."

Hearing the bell, Eve glanced at her watch and realized it was getting late.

"Would you two like to come visit the Viltrumite Youth Group's headquarters after school?"

Eve invited Mark and Jupiter.

She said she was inviting them to visit the Viltrumite Youth Group's headquarters, but it was really a roundabout way of inviting them to join.

"Visit the Viltrumite Youth Group's headquarters after school? I'm in!"

"What do you think, Mark?"

Jupiter looked at Mark.

"Sure!"

Mark had been watching Jupiter and Eve chat. Now that it was finally his turn to weigh in, he immediately nodded, accepting Eve's invitation.

"See you after school, then!"

After getting an answer from both of them, Eve waved and strode toward the classroom building.