"There's no way I can work with only one month!"
Currently, Eli was in his room, on the verge of a panic attack. His breaths were shallow and speedy, and his usual mental clarity eluded him no matter what he did.
Last night, after his sudden kidnapping, and subsequent agreement to an insane workload, he was escorted back by the giant man that had apprehended him at the empty construction lot. There, he finally got a quick look at his face. Without Dogbot around to make them incredibly conspicuous, they could walk on the main streets back to his home.
The man didn't look half as threatening as he sounded. He imagined he looked about the same as your average grandfather. If a bit larger, and meaner.
He would have been thankful for the escort home, considering the side of town they were wandering through, it was a breath of fresh air for Eli to not be stopped by some commotion even once!
Of course, the feeling didn't last long. After all, being walked home also meant that the thug knew where he lived. They could bust in unannounced any time. Maybe they put someone on him to survey already.
The thought made him shiver.
Anyway, he was now shackled to an unachievable goal. Create something equivalent to Dogbot in just a single month. Even thinking about the effort that would require made his bones feel weak.
But for now, that wasn't the only responsibility he had. After all, he was still a young man tied to the state-system. He couldn't end up late again this term or they'd probably go through with their threats to call his father.
That definitely wouldn't go well.
So, with a nice, deep breath, Eli meandered through his shabby apartment, and managed to eke out the courage to leave.
The day was nice. Relatively so, at least. The news recently - not that he paid much attention to it - hadn't reported on many significant Offclock crimes, and all the 'Hero' news he found while scrolling were photoshoots and Off Shift sightings.
Eli still enjoyed reading them, mindless as they were. 'Supe O'Clock' was a favourite of his.
Eli glanced up as the walk light flashed green, and wandered out onto the road, before glancing back down. He paused his jabbing thumbs for a moment, before searching:
'Five-member gangs, Paigetown, Talber City.'
His lips pressed together as he read, eyes narrowing at every headline. Nothing seemed to link his new friends to any of the results he got.
With the rampant crime-rate, it wasn't much of a surprise.
The biggest issue was his lack of knowledge. He didn't know if they were Ordinaries, or an organised gang of Overclocked loonies. None of them showed hints of having any powers, but they could have just as easily known not to show.
Finally, Eli huffed and stuffed his phone back in his pocket. He wouldn't get any further just thinking about it. He had to wait until they next contacted him.
Before Eli could fall into delusions of being a spy, applauded for being a brave Ordinary who took down a gang from the inside, a light, peppy voice filled his ears.
"Good morning Eli!" It almost screamed at him.
He turned, dreary from the lack of sleep. Plus the kidnapping. He wasn't feeling his best.
"Hey, Tiff. You seem good." He couldn't be quite bothered to fake a smile as he met her emerald green eyes.
Tiffany took the reply in stride. Her oak-brown hair was blowing rather viciously for the light breeze. They walked aside each other silently for a few minutes. She sat beside him on the bus, and silence ensued once more.
It wasn't until their noses had just passed the school gates that Tiffany snarled, "Eli! What is wrong with you today!? You didn't say even one thing."
"I was kidnapped last night, and I think someone killed my dog."
"Not. Funny." The unamused glare shut him up, even though he was right.
She squinted at him, before wandering off somewhere, leaving him alone in the concrete plain. He had nowhere else to go, so he simply wandered to class.
The school was certainly less than appealing to the eyes, but numerous mass-hostage situations from all sorts of Offclocks and Lunatic gangs at least made the defensive, brutal architecture understandable.
Still, it was an eyesore.
The second Eli found himself alone, the problems at the back of his mind began to crawl forth. He only managed to snap out of his stupor when somebody had noticed him staring at the Computer Lab like it was a goldmine.
All the deliberation led him to one, very obvious answer: To make anything, you need parts.
In fact, he required a lot of parts.
Eventually, three O'clock came and slowly faded past like a blur. It was unnatural how quick time passed when you need it most. The school day passed had given him a rough mental plan, and he was about to embark on the first step.
His pale, gaunt hand rapped against the stiff metal of the workshop door. The usual day's noise pollution of drills, sawing, and all sorts of precision equipment had faded.
Muffled, through the door, travelled a voice, "Come on in?"
As Eli did exactly that - pushing the door with so much effort he frankly found himself embarrassed, he saw the stout figure of the Shop teacher, and his true idol, Staff Vaughn. Mister Vaughn to him.
"Oh. Eli? I thought you were one of the tots… lost or some-... no matter, what's occuring, my boy?" The aged voice felt almost like home to Eli, and it relieved the relentless stress he had. Just for a moment, but that was all he could ask for.
He found himself missing the days the workshop club was still around.
"W-what would it take to let me commandeer the shop after school? Or on the weekends? A-anytime, really." His voice was as stiff as his posture while he spoke.
He was downright horrified to plainly ask something so close to admitting he was planning to create a murderous bot for a gang of criminals, after all.
The sudden, hearty laugh sent Eli. He shool his head, and stared wide-eyed at the old man sitting at the bare-wooden desk.
"Whatsoever are you talking about? You needn't commandeer a thing, my boy! I'm retiring soon, anyway. What are they going to do, fire me?"