Static Bride

Eli stood at the front of the classroom, his salt-and-pepper beard twitching as he tried to maintain composure. He glanced down at the clipboard in his hands, then back up at the sea of hormonal teenagers staring at him—or, more accurately, whispering to each other, doodling in notebooks, or blatantly ignoring him altogether.

He gazed at the mulberry auras surrounding Emily and Rachel, whispering to one another in the back of the classroom. His eyes narrowed when he noticed them glancing back at him before resuming their private conversation.

Mike leaned over to Sara and whispered, "Bet I ace this thing."

Sara rolled her eyes and muttered, "Yeah, because whispering makes you smarter."

Rachel fidgeted in her seat, gazing at Elijah and then at Emily, who glared at Eli.

"He knows something," Rachel murmured, glancing nervously at Elijah.

Emily shrugged, though her fingers twitched against her notebook. "Let him try to figure us out."

"Alright, listen up," Eli began, raising his voice slightly over the low hum of chatter. "This isn't a pop quiz. No, you can't do push-ups to improve your score." He pointed at Mike, who had been flexing his biceps for Rachel behind him. "Any questions?"

Sara immediately raised her hand, her neon pink jacket glowing under the fluorescent lights.

"So, how high do we need to be to get recruited?" she asked with a smirk, leaning back in her chair like she'd just delivered the punchline of the century.

Eli blinked once, slowly. Then twice. His lips pressed into a thin line before he responded. "Excellent question," he said dryly, tapping the clipboard against his palm. "But that information is confidential."

Emboldened by Sara's attempt to break the ice, Mike shot his hand up next. "What do I gotta do to become a special task force agent?" He asked, puffing out his chest like he auditioned for an action movie.

"You have to be special," Emily interjected smoothly from the back of the room, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she locked eyes with Elijah. Her teal highlights caught the light, making her already sharp gaze even more piercing.

After she quipped about being "special," Emily crossed her arms and smirked, clearly pleased with herself. When Eli glared at her, she raised an eyebrow and said, "What?"

Sara whipped her head around to glare at Emily. "Well, that's definitely not going to be you," she snapped, flipping her hair dramatically.

The class erupted into bickering. Voices overlapped as students argued about who was "special" enough, what "ether" even meant, and whether or not Mike could bench-press Eli if it came down to it.

Rachel sat quietly in the back, trying and failing to suppress a grin as chaos unfolded around her. She leaned over to Emily and whispered, "I think he's enjoying this way too much."

"Okay, chill out, everyone!" Eli barked, but the rising cacophony drowned out his words. He pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering something unintelligible under his breath. Finally, he straightened up, took a deep breath, and let loose.

"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

The room fell silent. Mouths hung open, pencils froze mid-scribble, and even the clock on the wall seemed to tick louder in the sudden quiet.

Eli scanned the room, his expression unreadable except for the faint twitch of irritation at the corner of his eye. "The ether test doesn't care about your teenage popularity," he said flatly, his tone daring anyone to challenge him. "Do we have any other questions?" He paused, looking around the now-stunned faces. "And if so, the answer is—it's confidential."

Elijah sighed and rolled his eyes as Emily raised her hand. "Yes?"

"What if we don't want to work at the reactor or have no intentions of joining the P.I.A.?" Emily asked, her tone deceptively casual. Her raised eyebrow dared him to challenge her.

Eli stared at her, his expression unreadable. Beneath the surface, his mind raced.

Two conduits. One of them is sharp enough to suspect something is off.

He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice.

"You're taking the damn test," He said, his words clipped. "Especially you," His smirk held a dangerous edge, which Emily matched without hesitation.

Elijah left the classroom and pulled out his radio from his coat pocket.

"Bruce, Ashley, status report," Eli said into the radio, keeping his voice low as he walked down the hallway.

"All clear on our end," Bruce replied, his voice crackling through the device. "Ready when you are."

"We've got eyes on the conduit?" Ashley asked, her tone sharper than usual.

"Conduits," Eli corrected, exhaling smoke as he lit a cigarette. "Two of them. And I think one might already suspect what's coming."

A pause followed, broken only by static. "Two?" Ashley echoed, surprise evident in her voice.

"Affirmative. I'll handle their tests personally."

"Roger that. Over and out."

Elijah lit another cigarette, the flame from his lighter casting flickering shadows across his face. The gymnasium smelled faintly of sweat and polished wood, memories of high school games long past lingering in the air. He exhaled slowly, watching the smoke curl toward the rafters. Conduits were uncommon, but two in one town? That was unheard of. It's too rare to be a coincidence for Elijah's experience.

His gaze drifted to the medical tents where Ashley and Bruce stood ready. If either girl resisted—or worse, panicked—it could get messy. And messy meant exposure. Exposure meant failure or people dying.

"Keep it together," he muttered to himself, stubbing out the cigarette as he watched the students file in, escorted by their teachers.

As she entered the gym, his eyes locked on Emily. She smirked as her eyes drifted away from his gaze and whispered something to Rachel, who was next to her.

"They fucking know, they have to, but how?" He mumbled as he pulled out his radio and watched Emily and Rachel take their seats. "Bruce, are there any anomalies that give foresight of some sort of nature?" Elijah asked as he whispered into the radio.

"foresight? 020-180 is a magic 8-ball that can answer any question you ask."

Eli shook his head and pinched his nose. "No, something like predicting the future or reading people's thoughts?"

A pause followed, broken only by static. Then Ashley chimed in, her tone sharper than usual. "If she's what you think she is, that wouldn't make her Omega-level."

"I don't have a damn clue since there has never been one," Elijah replied as he glanced at Emily, who was watching him like a hawk.

"Well, you're beta, right, Elijah? That woman in the soviet union, I think she is called the Ice Queen, is a Delta, and anything she touches turns to Ice," Bruce said.

"Then what, someone who can turn the whole world into an iceberg by just existing?"

"I guess?"

Elijah rolled his eyes as he watched Mike stand up from his chair, eager to be the first to take the ether aptitude test. "Keep me updated; I got Fred Flintstone to deal with," Elijah said as he put his radio away and forced a smile to stretch on his face as Mike approached him. His eyes lowered when he noticed Emily chuckling at his misfortune.

Mike flexed his biceps as he approached, oblivious to the weight of the situation. "So, am I first? Bet I score the highest."

Eli raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Sure, champ. Step right up."

Behind him, Emily snorted. "Careful, Mikey. Wouldn't want your brain to short-circuit mid-test."

Mike glared at her but faltered when Eli gestured for him to sit.

"Just... don't touch anything," Eli warned, handing him a clipboard. "And try not to break it."

Elijah turned on the computer, sitting on a table in the medical tent, and grabbed a handheld body scanner. He waved it across a shard of Anonium, then a vial of Ether. The Scanner hummed and lit up with color-coded strengths.

"What's that?"

Elijah turned towards Mike as he handed him his paperwork. He noticed the almost invisible ether aura about him and smirked. "He definitely isn't passing."

The handheld Scanner emitted a low hum, its faint blue glow pulsing erratically as Elijah waved it over Mike. The metallic tang of antiseptic lingered in the air, blending with the subtle ozone scent of activated Ether.

"This little gadget will let me know how your body reacts around Ether," Elijah said flatly as he waved around Mike, who sat in his chair with his chest puffed out.

The Scanner beeped once and then fell silent. "Hrmmmm, not a good start, kiddo."

Mike's eyes widened as he stared at the results Elijah typed into the computer.

"Oh no, Mike's muscles didn't impress the scanner," Emily chuckled.

Mike glared at her as Rachel snickered. "Nah I got this, what's next?"

Elijah grabbed a blood syringe. "Next, I draw a little bit of blood."

"Nah fuck that. I hate needles," Mike muttered as he squirmed in his chair as Elijah approached him.

"Oh, come on, Mike, you really scared of getting your blood drawn?" Rachel chuckled.

Mike gritted his teeth as the needle pierced his skin. Elijah drew some blood and then put it in a machine that infused it with Ether. The machine dinged seconds later and spat out a sheet of paper.

"Hrmmmm," Elijah muttered.

"So, did I pass?" Mike asked as he pulled his sleeve down.

"Nope...Next!" Elijah said as he waved for the next person, then snapped his head towards Ashley's tent when he heard a student screaming.

"Finally, I can leave this godforsaken town!" Sara mocked as she left Ashley's tent.

Ashley called Eli on the radio, glanced at him, and then shrugged. "We got a potential recruit," she flatly said as she gestured to Sara's results.

"God help me," Elijah muttered under his breath as he pinched his nose and sighed.

Elijah watched Sara strut away, flipping her neon pink jacket dramatically. He shakes his head, muttering under his breath about teenagers and their egos. The gymnasium hums faintly with nervous energy as more students shuffle through the testing process.

Elijah turned back toward the medical tents just as Emily rose from her seat, her teal highlights catching the light. She smirked at him, clearly unbothered by the situation.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Emily said, crossing her arms as she stepped into Elijah's tent.

Eli gestured for her to sit down, his expression unreadable but tense. "Let's see what you're made of, kid."

He repeated the same procedure he used on Mike: waving the handheld Scanner over her, but unlike Mike's lackluster results, the machine reacted differently when analyzing Emily. It emitted a sharp beep, followed by an erratic pulse of light that made even Elijah pause.

"Huh," he murmured, studying the readout. His eyes flickered to Emily, who sat calmly, almost daring him to say something. "Looks like you're special after all."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Told you I was."

Elijah doesn't respond. Instead, he grabbed a blood syringe and pulled up Emily's hoodie.

"Careful, don't kill me, "Emily sharply said.

Eli's eyes widened as he paused, forcing himself to keep a neutral expression as he glanced over at Rachel, who was fidgeting in her chair.

"Relax, kid, you're not that special," He said flatly as he finished drawing Emily's blood and then glanced up at the flickering lights.

"How comforting," Emily muttered as she got up from her seat, not bothering to wait for the results.

Elijah glared at her and then gestured for Rachel to step forward. His eyes narrowed as he fixated on her massive mulberry aura radiating off her as she approached him with nervous eyes.

"But your friend might be."