Author's Notes: As promised, here is the update of Markings of a Hero. Arkham Rising and Sora Gaiden should be posted sometime next weekend. I'm trying to get back into things since moving (I moved a few weeks after my laptop crashed) and the new job. That aside, this chapter starts one of two training chapters for Eli, the next being his first "patrol", and then he will be a somewhat full fledged vigilante. So as always, please enjoy.

Chapter Warnings: The following chapter is rated T for Teen for swearing.

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Five: Reasons to Fight Pt. I

Leila was not happy that he did not return back to her house last night. Though Eli hardly cared. In his mind, Leila had run away from home twice. She really had no room to bitch about him not returning for one night.

He had spent most of the night rummaging through the files on the laptop and the other half going through the boxes of notes there. Due to the fact that his notebook was left at his mother's, he was forced to type most of his new revelations on a word document on the computer instead of jotting it down like he has been doing. Once more, he found his mother's work ethics coming out of him in full force and found himself going to sleep past three in the morning.

Eli had also gotten a better look at the weapons in his father's possession. Given that he had taken the gloves, goggles, and knife to his mother's, he was mostly focused on the guns that remained at the apartment. Against Leila's wishes, Malcolm had taught Eli the proper use of a handgun. Or at least, taught him as much as an American civilian with the right to have a firearm should know. Things such as reloading, safety, aim, safe keeping, and firing were all things that Malcolm had taught Eli. Of course, Eli knew that there were things his Army vet dad had left out, but at the time he was too excited to hold his dad's old revolver to give a damn.

Looking at the time on the digital clock on his father's nightstand, Eli groaned at the red blaring 6:21 that stared back at him. He woke up around seven and showered once it was clear that he was not going back to sleep. Sometime during his exploration through his father's things, his mother had called to express her early morning disappointment. That had been roughly thirty minutes ago. Eli neither cared why his mom was up before seven in the morning on a Sunday nor why she chose to call him to complain. He ended the call with a half-ass apology and went right back to what he was doing earlier. There was an ambulance that zoomed by with alarms waking many would-be sleepers sometime after eight. That had been another indicator that Eli was not going to get any more sleep.

So here he was, eyes glued onto his laptop screen, staring at a blank page. The cursor seemed to be blinking impatiently as if it had something better to do than to indicate where it was on the page. He had created the page to record his training with Ben- if he got it that is. Ben and Jade had been persons of interest to Eli, and thus deserved a page somewhere in his notes. Unlike everyone else though, there weren't any notes for Eli to read and transcribe. He had to make his own deductions and observations.

He began typing: Ben Turner…?

What did he know about the man? He was a fighter? He was obviously in shape and probably took care of himself. But that's all Eli knew. Jade had avoided the topic of her godfather almost completely yesterday, saying his name when only absolutely necessary. Eli had nothing to go on.

And what about Jade? He at least knew Ben's last name. Eli stared at the ceiling in thought. She was a fighter, trained by Ben. She knew the Bertinelli Family, though how was something Eli did not know. She was also quite familiar with the Penguin's personnel as she had been able to point out that the guards- or at least one of them- was also on the Gotham crime boss's payroll.

Then there was her connection to someone within the Robert Pullman campaign. Eli was almost certain that Jade's mystery father was the senator himself, but he could not really put Pullman in Vietnam roughly twenty years ago to create Jade. The Vietnam War ended sometime in the seventies- the teen was not sure exactly when- which was roughly twenty years before Jade was born. Therefore, it was hard to put a United State's senator within the country for legitimate business after 1980.

Closing his eyes, Eli groaned.

"He was in the army." Eli muttered out one of the few things he knew of Senator Pullman. The man had served his country just as Eli's father had years later. "What was going on in the nineties?" Eli continued to draw blanks, growing frustrated by the seconds. "Relax Eli. It'll come to you."

He stayed in this position for what felt like a few minutes. He figured that if he could pin down who Jade was, he would solve half his problems that came with her and her godfather. Not that knowing her father did him much justice, it did even out the playing field a bit. Jade knew who Eli's father was, that Malcolm had died, and that Eli's mother came from Bialya and was currently living in Mancastle Hills. Eli knew nothing but Jade was a girl from Vietnam that lived in Cheshire Square.

Eli jumped up as soon as he felt sleep attempting to drag him into a state of unconsciousness. His laptop tilted off of his legs and onto the bed, which caused him to sigh in relief. Had it fallen the other way, it would have crashed onto the floor.

Eli looked at the clock again.

6:54…

"Damn," Eli said getting out of his dad's bed. "I almost overslept."

He immediately moved to put the items back into their hiding spaces. With Leila both off today and in a bad mood, he was sure that she would stop by. If he wasn't here, she could discover all that he was determined to keep hidden. Afterwards he hastily put on his shoes, grabbed his phone and keys, and bolted out of the door.

If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late.

Honestly, Eli had no idea where that quote came from, just that his parents said it a lot. Both of them. His first day in kindergarten started with that exact phrase as well as his first day back from Winter Break his sophomore year in high school. Every time Malcolm dropped him off for basketball practice or a game, the man mentioned that phrase and every time Leila told Eli to show up for some holiday function, she hinted it. It had been preached to Eli so many times that he wouldn't be surprised if he muttered it in his sleep.

The complex was quiet in the early mornings except for one noisy neighbor was blasting music while vacuuming the floor. Yet the noise was not necessarily annoying. In fact, it was rather enjoyable compared to the eerie silence that came with Mancastle Hills. The silence there was bad enough for Eli to find comfort in his mother's late night ramblings than to sit alone outside.

Shoving his thoughts aside at the sight of the brass 4C, Eli composed himself. Jade had made it her mission last night to put fear into him about just walking up to Ben and asking for training. Last night, Eli was more than certain about the entire thing. Now he was starting to replay recent events and wonder just what he was doing here.

"Let's get this over with," Eli said as he raised his hand to knock on the door, only for the door to open before he could even tap his knuckles against the wood. "…"

"Did anyone follow you?" Jade asked as she peered behind Eli.

"No." he answered.

"Come in," Eli did not have a choice in the manner as she took his wrist and pulled him inside. The wind from the door told him just how lucky he was to take one small stumble step to the side as he believes Jade would have crushed him as she slammed the door shut. "Sit."

Eli looked at the two armchairs and took a small step towards them. His progression was stopped when Jade grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pointed to the floor.

"Sit." she repeated.

Eli was more than annoyed about sitting on the floor but did it anyway. He folded his legs in front of him, sitting like how the schools made the kids sit back in elementary school during outside presentations. Hannah, who did Yoga, could sit like this for hours. Eli could only do so for about thirty minutes before he had to move and stretch his legs.

He was athletic, not overly flexible.

"I can't believe you showed up," Jade said quietly to Eli. "Ben was not too happy about this idea and he still hasn't said if he will train you or not." Eli looked up at Jade. "I was serious last night. He might kill you."

"George might kill me. You might kill me." Eli replied. "I'm fine Jade. And if it doesn't work, we're even anyway."

Jade only gave a low disapproving hum before Ben entered the room. Eli saw Jade's eyes meet with Ben's before the girl slowly sank to the floor next to Eli, on her knees. Seeing the position she was in, Eli changed his position so that he too was seated on his knees.

"One," Ben spoke, looking directly at Eli. "Give me one reason why I should go through with this deal."

Eli sat quietly on his knees quietly for a moment. He thought about telling them about the Mozgov Family and Tobias Whale. He thought about telling them of his need to find out what compels one to become a vigilante. He thought about using the same Bialya colloquy that he used on Jade last night. Yet, for some reason, none of those reasons seemed good enough.

"I don't have one." Eli finally said. Eli saw a flash of anger in Ben's brown eyes and continued his speech. "I don't have just one reason. I have many reasons to fight. But I need someone to teach me how to fight."

Ben's eyes narrowed. "You already know how to fight."

"No. I know how to throw punches against guys who are dumb enough not to dodge them." Eli said. "I will run into worse and I will need to know how to fight. You are a fighter. You understand what I'm saying."

"Hmm…" Jade heard her godfather hum deeply and took in a quiet breath.

Eli had not mentioned the real reason he wanted to be trained last night. Jade knew that it was not just the SRC. She had pieced that together last night. However, his resolve at the moment surely surpassed what she had seen and expected. It was almost as if he had specifically picked her out to lead him to Ben for this very moment.

"What would you do with these skills? Would you go out and fight injustice? Would you seek out those who have wronged you? What would you do?" Ben questioned. Eli sat quietly for a moment though he did not take his eyes off of Ben. "What is it that has you here right now? Power? Fame? What is it?"

"Answers," Eli stated. "Answers that I don't have has me right here, right now, sir."

"…To what questions?" probed Ben.

"Why my dad became a vigilante." Eli began listing. "Why my mom left Bialya. Why she left us. What the Russians wanted from my dad. Why no one has stopped Bookworm yet. Who will stop the SRC. And why…" Eli paused and swallowed quietly, his resolve leaving him for only a second before it returned. "And why am I so angry all the time…"

Once more, Jade found herself looking at Eli in a different light. This would not be the first time some guy had stepped in front of Ben and requested to be trained. Most of them had similar problems as the boy to her left. Yet something she had not seen was how Eli postured himself. Eli showed no fear yet it was obvious that Eli respected Ben's unseen prowess greatly. Cocky and brash boys did not make it. Afraid and petrified men never got to ask. Now she would see how the confident yet respectful would manage.

Eli had not intended to reveal that much but he had. He was aware of Jade's stares but ignored them for the moment. He had not taken his eyes off of the larger body in the room for a very good reason, he was afraid. Eli knew that Jade's speeds out-sped his reflexes, especially at the close proximity that they were in, but he had no idea just how fast or strong Ben was. If Jade was right and Ben would attempt to kill him, then Eli had to prepare himself without showing his nervousness.

The tension only grew when Ben strides towards the two teenagers. Jade's eyes snapped up to Ben while Eli subtly took in a breath that did not draw the girl's attention back to him. And then…

…And then Ben simply stepped by Jade and continued his journey to the front door. Jade was the first to react, practically scrambling to her feet to step in line behind the man. She gave Eli a tap on his shoulder as she did so, instructing him to do the same.

However, Eli remained in his spot.

"I will see how well your conviction holds up during training." Ben spoke to Eli. "Get up. We've wasted enough time."

Eli finally released his breath and slowly stood to his feet. At the moment, his main goal was to find out what drove Malcolm Jackson to become the Army Ant in a town where vigilantes had the shortest lifespan. In order to do this, Eli realized that he had to go out and see what it was that his father saw. However, Eli knew that in order for him to see what his dad saw, he would have to go to the places that Army Ant ventured that Malcolm did not. And if Eli dared to go there, then he would need the means to survive those hostile environments with the likes of people such as the Mozgov Family or Bookworm.

That is where Ben came in. And that is where Eli began with his journey to gain the answers he so desperately needed to know.

From roughly seven in the morning to a little after eleven, Eli had endured the worse physical training he had ever experienced in his life. Worse, Ben had told Eli afterwards that what Eli had faced was just conditioning.

The real training began later that night.

Eli had managed to leave afterwards, again not questioning what it was that Ben and Jade went to do. He returned to his apartment where he basically passed out on the sofa. His body simply could not take another minute of any type of labor- be it mental or physical- and had promptly shut down for the remainder of the morning.

He would wake up around three in the afternoon, still sore but mentally rejuvenated. A second shower had helped soothe his sore muscles, but only just. Eli was set on sleeping tomorrow in with or without anyone else's approval. And if he was forced to watch Sam tomorrow, they would not be going anywhere farther than the curb in the front yard and the wooden fence in the back. He'd be damned if the boy wanted to go to the park or anywhere like that.

However, Eli's physical turmoil would not be over today. There was a reason he was not resting and preparing for Ben's actual training. After waking a checking his messages, he found a message from one of his father's friends, Nick Hickman.

Eli remembers Nick from Malcolm's funeral and a few guys' nights that Malcolm actually went out to enjoy. Nick had not been a major part of Eli's life, but enough for the teen to actually know who he was and trust him. So when Nick called and told Eli to stop by, Eli figured that it was of some importance and dragged himself out of his apartment.

Nick stayed in the suburban area known as Madison, which was in the southern parts of the city. It was not as high-class as Leila's neighborhood, Mancastle Hills, but financially on a high hierarchy level than those families residing in Cheshire Square. The houses here were normally small three-bedroom one-story homes that looked to be the perfect place for older couples to retire to with a few two-story homes here and there. The green residential area was home to Madison Park, the place many fundraisers used the trail to start or end their run/walk for whatever cause. The most noticeable cause was breast cancer and women's awareness.

Walking down the sidewalk from the bus stop, Eli noted that the streets in Madison were wider than those in Cheshire Square. Originally he thought it was because the number of cars that were forced to be parked along the curbs of his home neighborhood, but brushed that aside when he saw a few cars parked along the curb of the sidewalk with sufficient space in the road for cars to pass effortlessly. This could be due to the fact that Cheshire Square was a historic neighborhood and the streets had not been resized since the 1920s while the neighborhood known as Madison would not sprout into its own major area until the baby boom after World War II.

Another thing Eli noticed was the heavily mixed ethnicity that Madison held within it. Cheshire Square was mostly populated with African-Americans with Caucasians taking a clear second place, Hispanics being third. Mancastle Hills was mostly inhabited by Caucasians of Western European descent, Middle Easterners who moved into the area after a great success- like Leila- being in second. The original Dutch home of Venice Terrace was densely populated with Eastern Europeans thanks to the heavy migration in the late 1910s due to its name. However, once the tourists left for their respective homes outside of New Camford, Italian, Greek, Croatian, German, and Russian decent clearly outweighed any other ethnicity in the area, with a nice chunk of Eastern Asians (Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean). But Madison, to the naked eye, had an evenly amount of race distributed amongst its people.

The air was also different than those boroughs and neighborhoods near the city, such as Cheshire Square. It was also not as salted as Venice Terrace.

Maybe, Eli thought, it's because everyone is cooking out today.

It was true. From his perspective walking down the sidewalk, he spotted at least four houses with the familiar smoke signal rising from the backyard that told him that someone was grilling something. Again, not a lot of that in his mother's neighborhood or his dad's for two different reasons.

After a five minute walk from the bus stop, Eli was able to locate Nick's white-painted house due to three obvious features. For one, the American flag hung proudly next to the porch and Nick was, if nothing else, a patriot. Secondly the silver plated "Hickman" on the mailbox told him all that he really needed to know. Finally, Malcolm's white 2003 Jeep Cherokee was parked on the paved driveway.

Gingerly walking up the driveway and then the small squares that led to the front porch, Eli stepped onto the porch and rang the doorbell. Seconds later, the lean Australian decent man known as Nicolas Hickman appeared at the door.

"Eli! Come in!" he said while pushing open the glass screen door, his raspy Australian accent still heard despite his many years living in New Camford. "I thought you'd change your mind after a while!"

Standing at six-foot even, Nick was a tall lean man, being smaller than Malcolm was yet visibly more toned than Robert is. His dark blond hair had grown into a mess of manageable curls with trimmed sideburns that stopped at the end of his earlobes. His nearly invisible trimmed glasses could be considered geek chic with his white polo top and khaki shorts adding to the mix. Nick was quite the hairy man, his forearms and lower right leg covered in dark blond hairs.

Nick's left leg had been amputated after the man survived a blown suicide bombing attack in Qurac.

Stepping inside, Eli found the house to be quite comfortable. Not too flashy as he felt his mom's home to be and not dingy like George's apartment. It was just comfortable.

"Nate will probably be here soon trying to get me to go down the street," Nick announced as he led Eli to a couch in the living room. "Bloody bloke has this thing about inviting the entire block whenever his daughter doesn't visit like she said."

Eli frowned. "Where does she stay?"

"Coral City." Nick's answer had Eli shrugging the entire question off as the pair sat down. "It's good to see you again. I think the last time I got a good look at you, you were, what? Eleven? Twelve maybe? Seems that once you got to thirteen, you were always out and about!"

Eli grinned a little bit. "Dad used to say the same thing."

"Yeah… That's kind of what I called you down here for." Eli let his smile drop as he stared at the solemn face next to him. "I need that laptop Eli, as well as the other things."

"What?" Eli angrily returned. "Why?"

"Because there are other people who need them, not some boy who is just digging for answers in his father's past." pointed out Nick. "I know this doesn't sound fair but-"

"I'm not giving that up," Eli quickly voiced. "It was my dad's and he died. I have a right to keep something of his, don't I?"

Nick sighed. "Listen kid, I get where you're coming from, but this is bigger than just your feelings. We're talking an entire city filled with Lord knows what and the information that your father has could help someone who wants to clean this mess up do it." Nick then pointed at Eli. "Your old man would have wanted that. And that's something you have a right to. Doing something he would have wanted."

Eli glared at Nick. "I'm not giving it back. I need it."

"Kid, whatever is in there is not for-"

"You know, don't you?" Nick blinked in confusion at Eli's quick cut off. "The Mozgov Family. Tobias Whale. You know about all of that, don't you?" Nick's silence answered Eli's question, the boy scoffing after a minute of silence. "Did everyone know my dad was a fucking vigilante but me?"

"Miles wasn't just a vigilante, kid. He was a hero. He did a lot more good for this damned city than you could ever hope to do." Nick stated. "And now there are others who want to do the same and I need that information back."

"So you're like the go-to guy to become a masked freak in this town, huh?" Nick practically snarled at Eli's words.

"Kid, I'm asking nicely because you were my friend's son and I owe it to him to give you the chance to do the right thing." Nick growled. "Hand me those files and that laptop. Guns. Knives. Bombs. You don't need those. Hell, it's illegal to have them. And it won't be for nothing. I'll give you what you want, kid. Just ask."

Eli now sat quietly. He was once again debating his next words, much like he was earlier with Ben. However there was a major difference. Eli was afraid of Ben and there had been nothing to replace said fear even during their workouts. Eli's fear of a military trained man such as Nick Hickman was replaced by anger now and Eli wanted nothing more than to punch the man for his request and leave.

"Miles told me to give you the Jeep out there when you got your license. I'm assuming you still don't have that yet, do you?" Nick's words snapped Eli out of his thoughts and the teen shook his head for no. "I know Leila won't be too keen with you driving beforehand, but if you want it, it is technically yours."

"Where did he work? Army Ant, that is." Eli questioned.

Nick took in a deep breath. "Well, that's a trick question." Eli brows knitted together. "I can show you but you'd have to swear that you won't tell another living soul. It isn't a clubhouse for kids to sneak off to and get laid."

"I promise." Eli said.

Nick shook his head. "Doesn't work like that kid. You have to give me your word that you won't do it or else I get a hell of a lot more than those boxes."

"Is someone using it?"

"No. Not now anyways." Nick answered. "But that's not the case. There are still things down there that… The things that I can't let go."

Eli understood what Nick meant and gave Nick another solid nod. In truth, Eli had never thought about where Malcolm went to change or work until now. The boy had been too busy being torn by the revelation of Malcolm's death to worry about just where Malcolm ran off to change into costume. Now it was a thought that was slowly forcing exhaustion to the back of Eli's mind.

Nick soon stood up and walked towards the kitchen, prompting Eli to follow with a simple motion with his hand. Eli needed know extra encouragement to follow. Before Nick exited the kitchen into the backyard, Eli was right on his heels. The pair walked across the freshly cut grass to the tool shed in Nick's backyard.

"Damn keys," Nick said as he fished a set of keys from his front left pocket. "Miles used to be able to just pull out the right key at any moment. Wasn't a genius by a mile, but talented at what he did, he was."

Eli was not completely okay with Nick subtly hinting that Malcolm was somewhat of an idiot but said nothing about it as the man unlocked the door and opened it. His body was practically buzzing with anticipation, only to be let down when he saw that it was just a tool shed.

"Make sure no one's looking, alright?"

Eli nodded at Nick's statement, looking over the chain-link fence that divided Nick's backyard with his two neighbors. The home behind Nick's house had a higher six-foot wooden-picket fence that Eli was unable to see over.

"Alright kid," Nick's voice was heard. "Come in and close the door."

Stepping inside, Eli saw a small square opening in the floor with a ladder leading to a basement beneath the shed. Figuring that that's where Nick's voice was coming from. Walking to the hole while closing the door behind him, Eli took in a deep breath.

This was it. He was finally going to see exactly where his father, the Army Ant, worked. All of those boxes of files and notes on the laptop came from this exact workspace. And as he descended into the surprisingly large area, Eli could not help but see why his dad chose to spend time here.

The space was clearly larger than the shed above. There were shelves of weapons on the northernmost wall with a desk with a three-screen desktop on it against the south wall. A punching bag hung near the weapons shelf with a gurney located on the eastern wall. There were also three glass showcases and a small square table with four chairs around it, a deck of playing cards on said table. Finally, there were file cabinets close to the ladder, probably for easy access to research or catalog a criminal or hero within the city.

The child in his mind called the place "cool" but Eli refused to say it aloud.

"This," Nick said throwing his hands up. "Is where your old man worked. Half the time, bastard didn't even bother to wake me up to let me know he or Trent were here."

"Trent?" Eli parroted in confusion as he moved around the well-lit room.

So caught up in the room, Eli had missed Nick's silence. It wasn't until he eyed the deck of cards on the table that he looked back at Nick.

"Who's Trent?" Eli asked.

"He," Nick elaborated as he moved across the room to the glass cylinder cases. "He worked with your dad. Never got around to a name but he had a suit and everything."

Eli swallowed, looking up at the back of Nick.

"He was his sidekick?" Nick was again silent. Eli quietly stepped towards the man's side, eying what was in the large cylinder containers. "He… He died too, didn't he? Trent."

Nick nodded. "Miles wasn't too pleased about that. Having to tell Trent's parents… Ate at your dad's gut, kid. It really did."

Eli looked at the two costumes in their respective containers. He immediately recognized his father's black get-up. The vest with pockets on both sides and the long sleeved top he wore beneath it was what Malcolm was garbed in when the police found him. The black, white, and gray camouflage cargo pants were present as well as the boots.

But Eli's eyes hardly strayed away from the black knitted mask that appeared to have covered every facial feature except the eyes. It was the mask that Malcolm Jackson wore and the face of the Army Ant.

"Why…" Eli began. "Why did he do this? Why did he become this?"

"I can't answer that kid." Nick answered as he stared at the Army Ant suit. "I'd like to think that he never stopped being a soldier when we returned. None of us truly forget about our time serving, especially those of us in Qurac. But Miles… He was one of the few of us who just had the urge to continue to fight on the frontlines."

"Mama thinks he was crazy." Nick snorted at Eli's words.

"Yeah, Miles was about three pages short from an issue." said the man. "But he had a heart on him, I tell you. He's saved my ass, and in truth, he saved yours too." Eli looked to see Nick grinning a bit. "Still picked the dumbest name, if you ask me. Who in the hell would ever be afraid of someone calling themselves the Army Ant?"

Eli shrugged as he looked back at the costume on the mannequin in the display case. He attempted to envision his dad wearing the suit then and there, probably angry that Eli was present in the first place. Though that would not last long as Malcolm was not someone who held grudges, not as long as Leila was.

"He was proud of you, you know?" Eli looked at Nick as the man continued to stare at the suit. "Said that, when you actually put your mind to it, you were just as bright as Leila was. I doubted him at first."

"Why?" Eli questioned.

Nick shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe because I knew just how smart your mum was. Leila set the bar high for any of us, higher than you give her credit for."

"I guess Dad told you about us. Me and Mama, that is." Eli guessed.

"Yeah," nodded Nick. "He told me about it alright. As the years go by, you give her a harder time. Can't blame you though. Did the same to my old man when we moved over here with his wife." Nick paused and shook his head a bit. "I guess Miles just wanted you to see the woman he did. The Bialyan warrior who could kill you just with a simple glance."

Eli grinned a bit. "Mama does have that glare thing working for her…"

"Your mum is an amazing woman," Nick told Eli, now staring at the teen. "Given that she came to this country with nothing but a bag full of books and clothes, you have to give her credit for ending where she did."

"With another guy in her rich neighborhood?"

"Some day kid, you'll actually be happy for her. I know I am." Eli grunted at the comment. "Hey, before she was your mum, she was just a woman trying to make it in this world. Hell if she didn't do it either. So, to me, she's a working woman who deserves a break- especially from her own son."

"I didn't know you were close to her." Eli voiced.

Nick sighed. "We're not, not anymore at least. I did talk to her a few nights when Miles was out there taking shots from God knows who."

A long silence followed after that as Eli tried to picture his dad in action. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he would have liked to see his dad fighting crime somewhere within the city, particularly Cheshire Square. If he had, and known that it was his father behind the mask, he might have some sense of pride or joy that Malcolm was the Army Ant.

Now…

Now he was just left here with angered thoughts and questions.

"She worries about you, you know?" Eli blinked out of his thoughts. He looked to see Nick staring at him. "Your mum? She worries about you quite a bit. I agree. You do remind me a lot like her."

"I doubt that." mumbled the teen.

"No, you do. I wouldn't be surprise if you run off to Canada or somewhere." Nick took another pause. "Bright too, smarter than your dad. You're even mentally built like your mum. Miles flinched at the first time he saw a dead man in front of him. Leila? She hardly blinked."

"How do you know?" Eli asked.

"Heh, I've known your mum for a long time now, back when she was still at Conn-4. She was living in your apartment in Cheshire Square though, driving back and forth to Ivy Town to get to classes." Nick explained. "This was years after Miles had met her, back before she was just in Gotham State. Couldn't believe that I met the chick to be honest. Hell, I couldn't believe she was still waiting on your old man to return!"

Eli once again gave Nick a look of confusion. "Why?"

"Kid, your mum was a beautiful young woman going to Conn-4 for Business Law. She lived in her own apartment in Cheshire Square. The fact that she chose to wait for Miles to return instead of finding some other suitor before then was amazing to say the least." Nick answered. "You don't know how many soldiers come home to find their husbands or wives gone or cheating, kid. Your mum was one of the ones we were betting on."

"I guess she loved my dad…" Eli thought aloud.

"And you," Nick continued. "You have that going for you. Handsome young fella with brains and apparently one helluva basketball player. Your old man saw a lot of Leila in you. Hell, I see it too."

Eli swallowed. "Almost as if I am Bialyan."

"A Bialyan with American problems," Eli's eyes widened at the statement, staring at the man in shock. "Eh? Something wrong?"

"No I…" The boy slowly regained composure. "You just said something that my mom said to me once, that's all."

"Miles used to say that about you a lot. That you were a Bialyan kid with American problems." Nick said. "Never figured out if that was a compliment or not, stop caring honestly. But he said it quite a bit about you."

Eli's eyes slowly fell onto the ground. "Maybe I am…"

"Hmm? Oh, the Bialyan kid thing?" Looking up at Nick, Eli saw the man grinning. "Kid, there's a story behind that, back when we were stationed in Qurac. A joke amongst platoon."

"Mm-hmm…" Eli hummed while looking back at the suit.

"You know," Nick said. "With the folks that you got, you have a pair of big boots to fill. Selfish or not, even you have to see that kid."

"I see that now…"

"No, you don't. Probably won't for a while. Too angry about what happened." Nick pointed out before sighing. "You need to get rid of that anger. Nothing good ever comes from it."

Eli stood in silence again. There was so much that he did not know about his parents and it made him angry. The secrets that Malcolm and Leila hid from their son had only done their job in putting a distance between what Eli knew and what really was. He did not want to know everything about them, but he was beginning to think that he knew nothing about either parent.

Eli's brown eyes once more traveled up to Nick as the man stared at Malcolm's former costume with his dark blue eyes.

"I remember," Eli spoke. "I remember that you used to do card tricks whenever you visited. Dad always told me it was because you were a magician while Mama never seemed to care."

Nick snorted. "Your mum's just mad because she never found the time to learn how to. It probably still pisses her off."

"Probably…" Eli said before thumbing to the cards at the table. "So would you show me?"

"Just to piss off Leila?" Eli shook his head.

"No," he answered. "Well, mostly no. I'm trying to get this job at Stagg Industries with their youth group. Maybe a couple of your tricks would please those kids like it did me."

Nick's brows shot for his hairline. "You don't strike me as one to work with children. Hell, you're a kid yourself!"

"I needed a job and got one." Eli said. Once again, he found that avoiding the whole truth was probably better at the moment.

"Sure, I can show you some tricks." Nick said. "But afterwards, we're going to talk about those files and the laptop. Like I said, more people need it."

Eli gave a small grin. "Of course."

Author's Notes: A small chapter but important nonetheless. Nick will provide Eli with, not only training on-field, but off of it as well that will be seen later. He will, in a sense, become akin to Eli as Alfred is to Batman or Felicity Smoak is to Oliver (from Arrow the TV series). Eli's training by Ben Turner, a top fighter in the DC Universe, will not stop in the hand-to-hand area but also Ben will mold Eli's perception in vigilantism as a whole. Again, leave a review or PM for any questions, thoughts, or comments that you have and I will respond during the next Review Corner. Peace.