Elder Valtarian Tobor had waited for his nephew for fifteen minutes, hiding in the dark and wearing night vision goggles. Soon, he got the message on his communicator. The remaining Sons of Purity had left the city with an unconscious SteelStar in tow. Ordering the other Valtarians in the safehouse to stand down, they turned the lights on to reveal another storehouse filled with canned goods. As the Valtarians transformed into their human forms, they removed the night vision goggles and stood around looking dejected.

Tobor, looking like an old human with white hair, knew that someone was about to contact him, but a part of him dreaded it. Sure enough, Amedara’s voice came through.

“Tobor? Tobor, we need to talk.”

Tobor pulled up his communicator. “Go ahead.”

“You’ve heard the news, I assume? I’ve already contacted the U.H.E., and a lot of heroes are already on mission. The ones that aren’t are either too far to be of much help, or of a low power level. The Sons of Purity chose today to attack for a reason.”

“So what do we do?”

“There is one hero group off mission, and they’re not too far from us. They’re only listed as unavailable because they’re on vacation, but I know they’ll be willing to help us.”

Tobor closed his eyes. “You mean the Fullmetal Force.”

“We’re lucky they’re only on vacation,” said Amedara. “Tobor, I know you have a communicator for them, and that means no one can reach them faster than you. Call them and have them get my son.”

Tobor sighed. “Alright.”

###

Rick Tyson, a young, muscular man with dark hair, a good tan, and piercing grey eyes, sat on a lounge chair wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts while reading a book. His seat rested on the deck of a cruise ship, and his current spot gave him a view of the ocean and the shore of a nearby Caribbean island, all under a vibrant blue sky. The sound of people talking and having fun could be heard the lower decks where people played games, ordered drinks from the bar, and danced to Caribbean music.

Rick was just about to reach for his drink when he heard a ringtone, a very specific ringtone, higher pitched than his normal one. It was from a Valtarian communicator he kept with him, hidden at all times. Rick looked at the bag beside him in disbelief.

A few minutes later Rick was back in his room, standing next to a luxurious bed with a view of the ocean to his left. He held up the communicator, still beeping, and stared at it. It had been a few years since Rick had spoken to his father, and he found himself hesitating.

Finally, though, he pressed a button on the side. “This is Rick.”

“Hello, Ris,” said Tobor.

Rick swallowed nervously. It had been a while since someone used his Valtarian name. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, dad?”

“Is has,” said Tobor. “And I wish I was calling under better circumstances. Ris, young Andro has been kidnapped.”

Rick’s face grew serious. “I’ll gather the team immediately. When we’re mobile, you can give me all the details.”

###

Four years ago.

“Checkmate!”

“No!” cried Andy Gatlin. “Where did that come from!?”

Andy, only fourteen years old, sat across from a sixteen year old Rick as they played chess in the comfort of the Gatlin living room. Andy wore his white hair, light skin, and a dismayed expression, while Rick wore black hair, dark grey skin, and an amused expression. Nearby, three other Valarian children watched, along with their only human friend, Brian.

One of the Valtarians was a big, burly one with brown hair, yellow skin, and friendly green eyes. He laughed boisterously, amused by Andy’s bewilderment. Rick always won these matches, and yet Andy was just as upset every time.

The second Valtarian was a petite girl with light grey skin, white hair, and vibrant blue eyes. She tried to stifle her giggles, wishing to spare Andy’s feelings, but was unable hold her own amusement back.

Beside them stood another Valtarian girl with brown skin that seemed to shimmer in the light, and dark hair. She sported a tall, athletic frame and angular features, and she had a hint of irritation in her piercing brown eyes. Last, but not least, the only human in the room, Brian, gave an apologetic shrug.

“I’m sure you’ll beat him someday,” said Brian.

“I know I will,” said Andy, standing up. “My dad’s a superhero! That means I’m gonna be the best at everything!”

The other Valtarians in the room just laughed.

“That’s not how it works, Andy,” said the brown girl with shiny skin, smiling even as she rolled her eyes.

“It is, and I’ll prove it someday!” Andy insisted. “You’re next, Erica. I’ll beat you at your game too!”

Erica sighed. “If you insist.”

They set up the Valtarian trainer, a device on the floor that projected a hologram above it. This particular program allowed them to use fake rifles to shoot at targets that appeared to be far in the distance. Erica and Andy both shot quickly, and though the score was close, Erica won at seventy three percent accuracy vs sixty eight.

Andy lowered his gun and grumbled, while Erica looked on approvingly.

“Actually,” she said. “You did better than I expected. Have you been practicing?”

“I shoot bullets with magnetism in the woods,” said Andy. “I’m trying to learn Dad’s magcannon attack.”

Eric nodded approvingly.

“Aw, man,” said Brian, amazed. “I’ve seen what the magcannon can do. That’s awesome, dude.”

There was a hint of regret in his voice. Andy noticed, but he didn’t say anything. There just didn’t seem to be anything appropriate to say.

“Well, don’t get too cocky,” said Erica, smirking. “You’ve got a lot of skills to learn to use your powers. I can put all my time into this.”

Andy grumbled again, then pointed to the other Valtarian girl. “Cathy, let’s go!”

Cathy, the grey skinned girl, shifted uncomfortably. “Come on, Andy, we don’t need to…”

“Let’s go!”

“Why do you even want to learn to pilot?” Cathy protested. “Aren’t you learning to fly without a ship?”

“I can run out of energy,” said Andy. “Who knows? I might need it. Now come on! Let’s see who’s a better pilot!”

Cathy struggled to find a response.

“He’s not going to take no for an answer,” said Rick, smiling even as he shook his head. “You might as well give him what he wants.”

“Oh…okay,” said Cathy.

They soon set up the trainer for a flight simulation, Andy and Cathy wielding practice flight controls. They flew holographic ships through holographic terrain, and both piloted well, but Cathy’s holo-ship exploded before they reached the end.

“Yeah!” cried Andy, raising both fists into the air.

“Nice job!” said Brian.

“Huh,” said the big Valtarian, scratching his head. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“Oh, well,” said Cathy, shrugging. “Better luck to me next time, right?”

Both Rick and Erica stared at Cathy suspiciously. Cathy, meanwhile, looked away.

“What’s wrong, you guys?” asked Cathy nervously.

“Cathy,” said Rick. “I’ve seen you make that turn plenty of times. That’s the first time I’ve seen you crash there.”

Andy and Brian turned to Cathy, confused.

“What are you saying, Rick?” asked Andy.

“Cathy,” said Erica. “You let him win, didn’t you?”

“What?” asked the big guy.

“Cathy,” said Andy. “You didn’t…”

Cathy sighed. “You just had your heart set on winning.”

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Andy glared at Cathy. “You can’t let me win, that’s cheating!”

Everyone looked at Andy in confusion.

“Uh,” said Brian. “Andy, I don’t think that makes sense.”

“It does!” Andy protested. “Letting me win is like making me cheat. It doesn’t count.”

“Consider it a forfeit,” said Rick. “If you’re enemy gives up, you win.”

Andy grumbled. “Fine, but we’ll go again later, and you’re not allowed to let me win. Now,” he pointed to the big guy. “Carl. Let’s go.”

Carl grinned.

A few minutes later, they had set up a table and Carl sat across from Andy, hands clasped together in preparation for an arm wrestling match. Carl grinned confidently, while Andy scowled, determination in his eyes. The pair of them turned to metal, Andy looking like steel, and Carl looking gold.

“Ready?” said Rick. “Set? Go!”

Andy and Carl’s metal arm muscles bulged, and they gritted their teeth as they pushed against each other. Andy’s face became set in determination, while Carl quickly went from confident to confused. The younger half Valtarian was putting up much more of a fight than Carl had expected.

All around them Rick, Erica, and Cathy watched in astonishment, while Brian grinned.

“Come on, Andy!” said Brian. “You can do it!”

“Can he?” asked Erica.

“I thought it would be over by now,” said Cathy.

Rick, meanwhile, watched carefully. Andy and Carl each struggled to move the others’ arm, but finally, after about a minute, Carl ever so slightly began to lower Andy’s arm. Andy fought as hard as he could, but Carl finally pushed the other boy’s arm down, hitting the table with a thump.

Carl and Andy pulled away from each other and took deep breaths, slowly turning organic again. Both rubbed their arms, and while Andy looked frustrated, Carl watched Andy in astonishment.

“How’d you get so strong?” asked Carl.

Andy smiled. “My magnetic powers are coming in. I can’t levitate things, just push and pull, but I can reinforce my metal body with magnetism. I’m getting a lot stronger.”

“Really?” asked Carl.

Rick sighed. “Sorry, Carl, but I’m afraid if there’s anything Andy can surpass us on, it’s strength.”

“I see,” said Carl, looking at his arm. “Good…good for you.”

Carl rubbed his arm sadly, and Andy suddenly felt awkward. Erica, Cathy, and even Brian gave Carl sympathetic looks.

“I…I’m sorry,” said Andy.

“No,” said Carl. “I’m happy for you, really.”

“Thanks, but…” Andy thought about it. “You’re still really strong. You’re gonna be a great superhero, I know it.”

“Thanks,” said Carl.

Rick, Erica, Cathy, and Brian kept silent.

“Ah, well,” said Carl. “At least I have my ship.”

Andy grinned, “Is the Iron Eagle finished?”

Carl grinned back.

“Not yet,” said Carl. “But trust me, when it is, it’s gonna blow you away.”

###

Present day.

Rick Tyson gathered the others from various corners of the cruise ship and gave them the news. Soon they were prepared for an early disembarkation, informing the cruise ship staff that they had to leave early for a family emergency, though they were vague about the details. Soon, five individuals strolled down the dock with luggage bags hanging over their shoulders.

Rick stood next to Erica, who took the form of a woman with light brown skin wearing a long skirt and blouse. Beside her stood Cathy in the form of a light skinned woman with blonde hair, still quite petite compared to the others, wearing a sundress and a wide brimmed hat. Next to her stood Carl, his burly, dark skinned form towering over the rest of them as he wore jeans and a t-shirt depicting a tropical island. Last, but not least, an older gentlemen sporting more than a few wrinkles on his dark skin strolled next to them, a knowing look in his grey eyes. He wore jeans and a button up shirt.

“I knew we should have called home,” said Erica, scowling.

“We couldn’t have known Andy was in trouble,” said Cathy. “And no one can blame us for going straight to vacation after…that job.”

No one disagreed with that sentiment.

“Granted, but we still could have called,” said Erica.

“I’m with Erica,” said Carl, also scowling. “We’ve known for months now that Andy would be starting…” he looked for people listening nearby. “His new job soon.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” said Rick. “Let’s just get to our ride and get moving. Silas, when we get to the ship, prepare to get in touch with our contacts. I want to start tracking the enemy as soon as possible.”

“Understood,” said Silas, the older man.

Once they left the dock, they took a few minutes to travel through the small port city before entering the wooded areas filled with tropical trees, including palm trees. Deep into the woods, where they wouldn’t be bothered, the five of them placed their bags on the ground unzipped them to reveal their uniforms. Before he started changing, Carl pulled out a wrist mounted controller and pressed a button.

They began changing. Under their vacation clothing, they had black, skintight, sleeveless shirts and matching skintight shorts, the same underclothing they used on missions. They wore this part of their uniforms all the time in case they needed to change quickly. After removing their vacation clothing, they slipped into black body armor with metal buttons matching their metal forms. The final part of their uniforms were black hats in the style of a military service caps with the Fullmetal Force insignia, a metal disc with two F’s matching the metal they each transformed into.

As they changed clothing, they subconsciously changed back to their Valtarian forms, a mixture of grey skin, yellow skin, and shiny brown skin reveling their extraterrestrial origins. Silas turned yellow, like carl, though he also showed a few small patches of green in his wrinkled skin and hair, revealing his age. Once finished, they waited.

Soon, they heard jet engines roaring through the air. Looking up, they saw their ship, the Iron Eagle, stopping in midair as its engines pointed forward to slow itself, and then down to hover. The Iron Eagle, true to its namesake, resembled a giant metal bird, the cockpit pointed like a beak, it’s wings spread wide, and the hull painted black. Beneath the ship lay a circle set apart from the rest of the hull, and as Carl pressed a button on his wrist controller, that circle began to hum

“Magnetic field engaged,” said Carl.

The others nodded and then transformed into metal.

Rick Tyson turned into a man resembling iron, the dark metal imposing. His codename: Ironmind.

Erica Yaxley transformed into a copper hue. Her codename: Coppershot.

Carl Carrey transformed into a man made of gold. His codename: Goldarms.

Cathy Driscoll became a silver hue. Her Codename Silverwing.

And finally, the elder gentleman, Silas Sorrell, became like gold with a few patches of green. His codename: Goldshift.

Once transformed into metal, the Fullmetal force gripped their bags tightly as they knelt and, as one, jumped, flipping head over heels. In the air, their metal bodies entered the ship’s magnetic field and were attracted upward, speeding towards the ship. A moment later, their feet impacted the underside of the ship with a series of clangs, all landing within the center of the circle.

Once all their feet were attached to the ship, Carl pressed another button on his wrist controller, and the circle turned with them on it, putting them inside airborne vessel. When the circle finished turning, Carl pressed one more button to deactivate the magnetism, letting them walk freely through the ship.

The interior of the ship revealed polished chrome walls, the humming of the engine room to the back, the sleeping quarters to their right, mess hall to their left, and the cockpit in front of them. A few ladders led to manual guns both in the floor and in the ceiling. As one, all of them headed to the cockpit.

“Alright,” said Ironmind. “I’ll get Tobor on the phone. Let’s find out who we have to mess up to get our friend back.”

###

SteelStar, lying face down on the floor, suddenly came awake, gasping. He stood up quickly, but then winced, feeling a sharp pain in his arm. Looking down, SteelStar discovered that he was still in his blue costume, though his gauntlets, boots, and ammo belt had been confiscated. He was pleased to see himself in his grey skinned Valtarian form. At least his secret identity was safe. He was less pleased to see a metal cylinder around his arm, a metal cable extending from the cylinder into the floor. Something in that cylinder was sticking into his flesh, causing that sharp pain.

It only took a few seconds for SteelStar to figure out that the cylinder was draining his electricity. While his body naturally restored his electromagnetic energy over time, this device was sucking that power into the floor as fast as he could produce it. He tried to absorb the electricity from the device, but the electricity seemed to flow only one way through it, so that wasn’t an option.

SteelStar tried turning his hand to metal, but immediately felt it attracted to the floor. He turned it organic again quickly, but the problem was clear. Without his own electromagnetic energy, he had nothing to counteract the magnet beneath him. If he tried to turn to metal, he’d just be stuck to the floor. Furthermore, while SteelStar could absorb electricity, he couldn’t do the same with magnetism. Looking at the device on his arm, he realized he was well and truly trapped.

“Yeah,” said a nearby voice. “The Sons of Purity are thorough alright.”

SteelStar looked up to find himself inside a metal cage. The person who’d just spoken leaned against glass in a cage of his own. SteelStar recognized him immediately. A man not much older than him with red hair, blue eyes, a muscular build, and an irritated look. His costume was black, decorated with flames.

“Inferno Man,” said SteelStar. “You…”

Suddenly becoming more aware of his surroundings, SteelStar realized there were more people in cages around them. SteelStar recognized them all, and judging by the way they stared at him, they recognized him too.

Next to Inferno Man, a woman stood in a cage wearing a green bodysuit decorated with a vine and leaf pattern, her auburn hair spilling over her shoulders and her green eyes giving SteelStar a stern look. It was Green Angel, the leader of the peacekeepers, her arms folded in displeasure.

In the next cage SteelStar saw a man sitting in a chair, his entire body covered in chitin armor, like some sort of humanoid beetle. The armor did retract from his jaw, revealing a human mouth underneath, his teeth gritting in frustration. This man was currently held down by steel bands, and a device drilled through the shell at his neck, injecting something from a tube coming out of the floor. Blacksting, the bounty hero.

In the next cage sat another man clad in Chitin armor, only he was much larger, easily seven feet tall. He was in a similar set up, held down by steel bands, and injected with something from the floor to keep him immobile. His face was completely covered by his chitin mask. Beetle Brute, a supervillain.

In the final cage, SteelStar saw a woman in black jeans, a black leather jacket, and a mask that covered nearly her entire head. Only her striking red, slitted eyes and mouth showed, surrounded by very dark skin that nearly blended in with her black clothing. Sticking up from the top of the mask were cat ears, revealing her to be Nosfeline, the vampire cat, a well-known vampire slayer. She gave SteelStar a big grin, showing off her sharp fangs.

“What’s up, dude?” said Nosfeline.

She waved her hand, covered in some sort of silver glove, no doubt preventing her from extending her blood draining claws.

“Welcome to the party,” she added. “The scenery’s dead, but at least the company’s decent.”

Inferno Man snorted. “That’s debatable.”

“Ignore him,” said Nosfeline. “He’s just embarrassed they trapped him with a sprinkler.”

“Shut up,” the other man replied.

SteelStar looked up, and sure enough, the roof of Inferno Man’s cage was covered by sprinklers. It made sense. Inferno man could turn into living flame, but water forced him back into his human form. Inferno Man, being reminded of this, scowled angrily as he crossed his arms. Then he noticed SteelStar watching.

“What do you want, hero killer?” asked Inferno Man.

SteelStar glared. He didn’t need this on top of everything else.

“I’m not a hero killer,” said SteelStar angrily.

“Did you not kill a hero?” asked Green Angel, raising an eyebrow.

“I had no choice,” said SteelStar.

“There’s always a choice,” she replied.

“Yeah,” said Inferno Man. “And he chose to snuff a guy.”

“Shut up!” cried SteelStar.

“Make me!” Inferno Man shouted back.

“Enough!” cried Blacksting suddenly. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re all prisoners here!”

SteelStar and Inferno man looked towards Blacksting, their faces filled with anger.

“We need to focus on what’s important,” said Blacksting continued, his deep, raspy voice commanding. “And that’s trying to escape. Our best chance of doing that is working together.”

“For once,” said Beetle Brute, his voice deep and gravelly. “I agree with my goody two shoes little brother.”

Green Angel sighed. “Yes, you’re right, of course.”

Inferno man just kept scowling, but SteelStar, Green Angel, and Nosfeline gave Blacksting their full attention.

“Alright, then,” said SteelStar. “First, do you know what the Sons are planning to do with us?”

“Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?” said Blacksting. “The first thing they’ll do is decide what to do with us. Get ready, SteelStar. We’re going on trial.”