At the edge of Partition City, a small building began opening its doors. As it did, something inside the building screeched, sharp beaks struggling to poke out. When the doors finally opened, giant falcons poured out, spreading their wings and taking to the air, screeching loudly.
###
SteelStar and Celerity still sat on the edge of the bridge, cars going by below them. The sun had risen a little bit higher, though it was still early in the morning for them.
“So,” said Celerity. “You mentioned that Sister Nature was a suspect in the Redwell City incident. Have you gotten any news about that?”
“Silent is interrogating her,” said SteelStar. “I’m still waiting for news about that. Honestly, though? I don’t think she did it. The blast that destroyed Redwell City was gigantic, and her bombs, even if they’d gone off at full power, wouldn’t have destroyed an entire city.”
“Do you have any other ideas?”
SteelStar looked down over the city, considering. By now, he was suspecting that Elementus really did have something to do with Redwell City. The company Elementus worked for, Sonnelicht, was clearly more concerned with their own public image than the truth. It wasn’t hard to believe that they were involved in some sort of Tholatite experiment gone wrong. All the U.H.E. needed was the details. The only thing SteelStar couldn’t figure out was how Morphic Man fit into all of this.
“Nothing definitive,” said SteelStar. “I’ll let you know if we find anything.”
Celerity nodded, before tilting her head and looking at SteelStar curiously.
“You know,” said Celerity, thoughtfully. “You always turn to your organic form when we talk. Why wouldn’t you stay in metal form constantly? Someone could ambush you like this.”
“I was wondering when you’d ask that,” said SteelStar, smiling. “The truth is I can’t stay in my metal form forever. I have to turn organic to eat, breath, and sleep, eventually.”
“Wait,” said Celerity, confused. “You have to turn organic to breath? I’ve seen you breath in metal form.”
“Force of habit,” said SteelStar. “When a Valtarian takes their metal form, certain bodily functions enter a state of suspended animation. My digestive and respiratory systems, to be specific. That means I can delay when I eat if I need to, and I don’t need oxygen. A Valtarian can even survive the vacuum of space in metal form, but if we stay that way too long, we can stiffen.”
“Stiffen?” asked Celerity, frowning.
“Become a metal statue forever,” said SteelStar.
“Whoa,” said Celerity, just taking that in.
“Yeah,” said SteelStar. “If we do start to stiffen, we have to turn organic to breath, eat, and sleep before we can turn metal again.”
Celerity shook her head. “Become a statue. I can’t imagine what that’s like.”
“Neither can I,” said SteelStar. “Thank goodness. Our metal bodies stiffen when we take too much damage as well. For us, it’s called the solid death. Some ancient Valtarian cultures considered it the height of honor become a statue, because it meant you died in battle.”
Celerity took that in for a moment, and then grinned. “So, metal space Vikings?”
SteelStar laughed. “You’re not far off.”
At that moment, the pair of them got alerts on their smartwatches. Raising their wrists to look, they saw a mutant attack.
“Giant Mutant squirrels,” said Celerity.
“Alright,” said SteelStar, standing up. “I got this. I’m sure I can…”
Their watches beeped again, and checking, they got more bad news.
“Mutant falcons,” said SteelStar.
Celerity sighed. “I’ll take the squirrels. I can’t fly, so you’re a better fit for…”
Another beep, and checking this time revealed mutant turtles.
“Three at once?” said Celerity, concerned.
“It’s not unheard of,” said SteelStar, rubbing his chin. “The falcons are probably the most dangerous, and since I can fly, I’m best suited for those. They’re all giant type mutants, so considering that, I’d say the squirrels will cause the most damage next.”
“I can handle that,” said Celerity, standing. “Hopefully the turtles won’t cause too much trouble before one of us can get to them.”
“Sure thing,” said SteelStar. “Be careful out there.”
“You too.”
The pair of them fist bumped, and then Celerity sped off, climbing down a ladder as SteelStar turned to metal to flew away.
###
What followed was one of the longest days of SteelStar’s life. By the time SteelStar finished with the Falcons and the turtles, he’d encountered giant mutant lions, mutant bears with the power to take a ghost form and fly through walls, psychic mutant lizards, and more.
Celerity fared no better. She fought giant mutant snakes, flying mutant fish, a mutant dog that could turn into water, and more. Unbeknownst to them, buildings across the city opened to unleash these creatures on poor, unsuspecting civilians. A few giant trucks driving around the city also let mutants out in secluded areas, giving the two superheroes more trouble to deal with.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
By noon the pair of them were quite tired. Celerity was dripping with sweat as she found some shade in a park and leaned against a tree. SteelStar, for his part, found time to land on a building, turn organic, and take a few breaths. When he did, he was shocked by how tired he suddenly felt. Resting on his knees and panting, the sweat came swiftly for him.
Where were all these mutants coming from? He’d never heard of this many mutant beasts of different varieties attacking one city in half a day. As SteelStar stood there atop that building, he got yet another alert, and checking his smartwatch, he saw an alert about a giant preying mantis with a metal exoskeleton.
“Oh, come on!” said SteelStar. “Give me a break!”
After a moment, he got a message from Celerity.
‘I’m sorry, I need something to eat or I’m gonna to pass out. Can you handle this?’
Steelstar Messaged back. ‘It will still be a while before I need food. I got this.’
Celerity: ‘Okay. I’ll be back out there as soon as I can. What do you think is going on?’
SteelStar: ‘I don’t know, but something about this doesn’t feel right.’
Celerity: “Well, nothing we can do about it now except keep going. Stay safe.’
SteelStar: ‘You too.’
Now that he’d finished messaging Celerity, he took one final, deep breath, turned to metal, and flew off. He still had a job to do.
###
John Gatlin sat in his office going over an e-mail from one of his clients. These days John Gatlin worked as a consultant for other superheroes, giving his insight into certain situations. Right now, John Gatlin was exchanging correspondence with a superhero in deep space. Planet Earth didn’t have access to space travel generally, but there were experimental aircraft attempting that very thing. The superhero accompanying this project, Evolver, had recently given details on the planet they were stuck on after their experimental hyper drive failed. It took thirty-six hours for messages to each other, but it was still worthy correspondence.
John was, naturally, the perfect person to ask about being stuck on an alien planet since he’d been in that exact situation. In his case it was an experimental teleporter that somehow crossed wormholes with a Valtarian experimental teleporter. That had been a long time ago, but his arrival on that planet as MagKnight had changed his life forever.
John was just considering what advice he would give them when he saw the news feeds pop up in the corner of his computer screen. More mutants were attacking Partition City, and John’s instincts told him that this wasn’t a coincidence. He’d contacted his son a few times, but Andy, saving people as SteelStar, had insisted he could handle it. The more mutant reports John saw, however, the more he felt he should do something. Letting his son deal with so many threats without his help had weighed on him for a while now, especially after what happened day one. No other superheroes were on their way, most being at a distance or on mission, which meant John was the only other power user besides Celerity who could help right now.
John then pressed a button on his keyboard and turned to see the wall opening, revealing his old superhero suit. The metal armor gleamed in the light, filling John was an overwhelming sense of Nostalgia. In that moment, John was seriously considering taking on the mantle of Magknight one more time to help his son. He could handle one day out of retirement, couldn’t he?
Pulling up the map of mutant attacks, John considered which mutants he could try and stop. At that moment, there were mutant porcupines shooting needles like bullets, a massive swarm of ants that had combined into a blob of insects walking around, giant bees, teleporting giant foxes, and an octopus whose tentacles were growing longer, and longer, and longer, covering a building.
John figured he could help against those. He’d handled plenty of rogue mutant animals in his time. He just had to figure out which mutant he’d go after first. That octopus was dangerous, but Andy could knock that out easily. Maybe he’d go after the bees? No, maybe the porcupines could cause more damage...or the teleporting foxes? But maybe the local speedster would have better luck with them. Maybe…
He spent a few minutes thinking it through but couldn’t decide. Come on, John told him, you have to make a decision.
And suddenly, John was reminded of the last time he told himself that he had to make a decision. It had been back on Valtaria, during the Zindari invasion. He’d been heading for the hyper bomb drilling to the center of the planet. On the way, however, MagKnight got a message about a downed ship pinned down by Zindari forces. At that moment, Magknight had been forced to decide if he went straight for the bomb, or risked the time and energy it would take to get the people on that ship to safety.
He’d chosen to go after the ship, and that had proven to be a mistake. By the time he did get to the bomb, he’d expended much of his energy and didn’t have enough to defeat the forces protecting the weapon, including a particularly strong warrior. The injuries MagKnight had sustained forced nearby Valtarians to save him and retreat. The planet had been destroyed, but it might not have been if Magknight had made a different decision. He’d saved the people in the ship, but many millions more had died in the destruction Valtaria, a weight he’d never fully recovered it.
And as these memories finished washing over him, John kept staring at the computer screen, trying to decide which of these mutant animals he’d be suited to stopping.
###
The day continued with more mutant animals running amok in Partition City. Psychic ducks, wolves with laser eyes, speedster hyenas, and more. The giant jumping spiders were the worst. Even SteelStar, who could turn to metal, got shivers seeing giant spiders.
He knocked out most of the spiders with lightning. The last arachnid jumped towards a person, and SteelStar caught it, shocking it unconscious and throwing it away. As a bunch of unconscious spiders lay on the road, people fleeing in every direction, SteelStar landed and turned organic to get some breath. His need to breath seemed to get more and more urgent every time he transformed today, more than normal. He’d never spent this long in metal form at once. He could take breaks to get oxygen just fine, but if he didn’t get some food or sleep soon, things could get bad.
SteelStar looked to the person he’d just saved, a young woman in her early twenties laying on the ground. She stared at the motionless spiders with wide, fearful eyes. She didn’t even seem to notice that SteelStar was there. The woman looked uninjured, so SteelStar turned away. Just as he was about to turn back to metal to fly off, he heard the woman’s voice speak to him meekly.
“Thank you.”
SteelStar turned, surprised to actually hear a thank you from someone. Standing before him, the woman looked at him gratefully for a moment, then turned and ran off. SteelStar stood still, surprised, and then took a deep breath. Maybe there was a silver lining to today after all. After all the work he’d done protecting this city, maybe people would appreciate him more.
Finally, he turned to metal and flew away. As he flew, however, his body felt heavier than normal. SteelStar realized he was running out of energy. If this tide of mutant animals didn’t end soon, they’d been in serious trouble.
###
Finally, in the mid afternoon, the mutant animals stopped coming. After dispatching some mutant monkeys that could spit poison, SteelStar found a shaded spot atop a roof. Sitting against a wall in his grey skinned, organic form, he took long, deep breaths. It didn’t take long for sweat to form on his skin as he sat there, his limbs on fire from exhaustion.
On the other side of Partition City, Celerity found herself in a similar situation. In the shade of a tree, she lay on the grass, taking deep breaths as she stared at the sky. Sweat made her skin glisten as she tried to recover from her own exhaustion.
And high in the sky, planes flew above both superheroes, the engines roaring as the wind rushed past. When the pilots of these planes saw the two heroes staying in one place, they signaled the people in the back of the plane. As doors opened on the side, men jumped out, each wearing black, padded suits. Lines on the suits glowed red as they fell, and jets on their feet activated, slowing their descent with a booming sound.
Soon the men in power suits landed, shaking the ground and making both SteelStar and Celerity stand quickly, startled. Both superheroes looked around, alert and wary. Both groups of men surrounding them said the same thing.
“We are the Sons of Purity! You, who are corrupted by power, are under arrest!”