SteelStar

Episode Three: Part Two

The previous day.

Elementus flew, a whirlwind carrying his body downward. His ocean blue suit with a map of the world looked vibrant in the sunlight, even as he fell below the treetops. He landed next to a road in the forest and immediately put his hands on his knees. After resting for a few seconds and taking deep breaths, a stylish sports car drove up and rolled down the window.

"Hey Elementus," said the driver. "You need a ride?"

Elementus smiled gratefully, but before he could say anything, someone shouted, "Cut!"

Elementus looked over to see the camera crew and the director of this little car commercial walking over.

"Is something wrong?" asked Elementus.

"You're fine," said the director, a young man with a scowl. "You." He said, pointing angrily to the driver of the car. "What are you doing, man? This is Elementus you're offering a ride, not some random hitchhiker. Put some awe into your performance!"

"Sorry," said the Driver sheepishly.

As the Director prepared to return to his spot, Elementus hesitated for a moment.

"Hey," said Elementus.

"What?" asked the director.

"I have...a concern," said Elementus hesitantly. "The idea for this commercial is that I just defeated a bad guy, right?"

"Yeah," said the Director. "What's the problem?"

"Well...I look like I just got done having makeup put on."

"You did just finish having makeup put on."

Elementus blinked, "Right...I look like I just got done putting makeup on, and not like I just finished defeating a supervillain. I get looking good for the camera, but don't you think this seems...I don't know..."

"Seems what?"

The first word that came to Elementus's mind was phony but had a feeling the director would be offended by that word. After a moment's hesitation, he chose something more diplomatic.

"Inauthentic?" Elementus offered.

"Look," said the director. "Your job is to be a superhero and fight supervillains, and you're good at it. Great at it. Absolutely fantastic. My job is to sell cars, and I promise you that most people won't notice if you look grungy or not. They'll feel good seeing you do what you're best at. So, you focus on being a superhero, and I'll handle selling the cars. Okay?"

Elementus hesitated, but gave a halfhearted, "Okay."

"Good, good," said the Director before turning around and holding up a megaphone, "Allright, places, everyone. Let's do another take. This car won't sell itself."

"I wish," Elementus muttered.

###

Later that night.

Elementus, in his costume, sat down to dinner with a pretty woman in a pink dress, her curly blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. Elementus had been looking forward to this date, but the woman across from him shifted nervously, her eyes darting around the room.

"Is something wrong, Chelsea?" asked Elementus.

Chelsea Blake answered sheepishly, "Everyone's looking at us."