Joseph Kimball felt funny about this job. It was a generous deal, certainly. Not only had the Sons of Purity provided the construction materials, but they’d also paid him more than the going price for this kind of work. Given the sheer scale of the project, this would not only save Joseph’s business, but it would also be a net profit greater than he could have ever hoped for.

He still felt funny about this job.

Joseph currently stood at a construction site in the dead of night, construction lights flooding the area as his employees worked. The sounds of construction vehicles, hammers, jackhammers, and rivet guns boomed in his ears Joseph thought about the details of this job once more.

The Sons of Purity had recently obtained a bunch of empty lots across the city, and the buildings they were constructing were simple in design, meaning this work went quickly. It had been two months since they started, and they would finish this final building within the week.

What felt funny to Joseph was the conditions. The Sons didn’t want this job to attract too much attention, so the work was done at night, and in areas where there wasn’t a lot of night traffic. Even so, the covert nature of this operation made Joseph feel like a criminal. Of course, working with the Sons of Purity didn’t exactly feel like an act of righteousness either, given their reputation.

“Jospeh!”

Speak of the devil, thought Joseph as he turned around. Before him, Andrew Thornton himself strolled up, an imposing dark skinned man with a muscular frame. He currently wore jeans, a black shirt, a leather jacket, and sunglasses. That was the strangest thing about him. Joseph had never seen him without a pair of sunglasses on his face. Even now, in the dead of night, he had sunglasses on.

“Joseph Kimball,” said Andrew, smiling. “You’ve done well for me. We’re almost ready to proceed.”

“We at Starlight Construction aim to please,” said Joseph. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, sir, why is this SteelStar a priority?”

Andrew’s smile wavered, but just for a second. “A man is dead because of SteelStar.”

There was a warning in his voice, and Joseph swallowed nervously. He did have to admit that Andrew was right. SteelStar had killed a man, and a superhero at that. It just seemed strange to Joseph that the Sons of Purity would care about a power user killing another power user, but Joseph figured that perhaps he’d misjudged them. Seeing his distress, Andrew smiled again.

“I get it,” said Andrew. “You’re worried about Demigoddess. We plan to deal with her, but she’s still in custody for her actions at the U.H.E., so she’s low on our list right now. Besides, we’re still working on our countermeasures for her…unique powers.”

“I see,” said Joseph uncertainly.

Andrew nodded put a hand on Joseph’s shoulder. “We’re going to great things together, Joseph. Those corrupted by power who prey on those weaker than them will be brought to justice. That’s a promise.”

Joseph nodded. “Well, that’s good. So…what is the plan for capturing SteelStar? He’s pretty powerful from what I know.”

Andrew’s smile widened. “Even the strongest warrior gets tired, my friend.”

###

As Andy Gatlin’s alarm clock bleeped loudly, he muttered, “Shut up, will you?”

Andy, in his light skinned, dark haired human form wearing pajamas, forced himself to get out of bed and walk over to his desk to shut off the alarm. When he was done, he rubbed his eyes and turned to look longingly at his unmade bed. He wanted nothing more than to crawl back under his covers and go back to sleep. He used to get excited for a new day, but sleep seemed so much more compelling these days.

With a sigh, he prepared to get dressed and start the day.

Before long, Andy had changed into his SteelStar costume and, wearing his metal form, flew through the city. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any trouble this morning. No mutants, no fires, and no kittens stuck in a tree. SteelStar found a building with a ledge and sat down, looking over the city, the first rays of the early morning sun peeking up over the horizon.

A moment later, SteelStar raised his wrist and looked at his smartwatch, going over his finances. It wasn’t looking good for him. The bounties he’d collected for the two supervillains he’d helped capture was definitely a boost, but the money he was receiving on Herofund was barely a trickle. It wasn’t enough to get a house or an apartment. It wasn’t even enough to help his parents pay the bills. He knew they would never kick him out, but he wasn’t a child any more. Not being able to make a living made him feel like a burden.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

At this point he was considering becoming a bounty hero, tracking down supervillains directly. It would be dangerous, but so long as he filled out his bounty paperwork at a U.H.E. office he should get the money without a hassle. The only serious problem he anticipated with that plan was his mother. She wouldn’t like him taking such dangerous work, but SteelStar was quickly running out of hope that things could continue as they were.

As he was sitting there, he got a message from Partition City’s other superhero, Celerity.

“Hey,” said the message. “Wanna meet up?”

Not having anything else to do, SteelStar answered in the affirmative and flew off to meet with her.

###

SteelStar and Celerity sat atop the suspension bridge, their legs dangling over the edge. Beneath them, cars went by, a few honks going off here and there. The sun was just beginning to rise in the distance, casting an orange glow over the clouds.

“A then Cousin Henry stumbles out of the junkyard in his metal form, completely covered in metal garbage. He’d stumbled just a little too close to the electromagnet and stuff was flying at him.”

Celerity covered her mouth, laughing. “What happened?”

“His eyes got covered and he ended up running into a wall,” said Steelstar. “When he realized he wasn’t in danger he turned organic to demagnetize and started laughing with the rest of us.”

Celerity kept laughing, and SteelStar laughed with her.

“So, where are they now?” asked Celerity.

“You’ve probably heard of them,” said SteelStar. “They all went to be superheroes before I did. Ever heard of a group of metal superheroes with military training?”

Celerity smirked. “The Fullmetal Force. Yeah, when you said you were half alien, I figured you were related to them. Didn’t realize you knew them personally.”

SteelStar shrugged. “They were the young Valtarians who wanted to be superheroes, and I was the son of a superhero who inherited powers. It’s no surprise we became friends.” He sighed. “I was the youngest, though, so they got to set out before I did.”

“I’ll bet their parents are really proud of them.”

SteelStar frowned. “Most of them. Not everyone was a fan of the decision.”

Celerity nodded knowingly, and SteelStar looked up at the sky for a moment. He hadn’t seen his Valtarian friends in a while. His cousin Henry, Catherine, Richard, and Rebecca had all grown up in their Valtarian neighborhood together with Andy. It had been over a year since he last saw them, and he was missing them more than ever.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Brian in a while either. SteelStar had been busy as a superhero, and Brian had been busy at college. Andy just hadn’t had much of an excuse to head to Partition City University. SteelStar figured he really should transform into Andy to meet with Brian at some point. In the meantime, he at least had someone to talk to.

“So, what about you?” asked SteelStar. “Any funny stories with your friends?”

Celerity grimaced and looked away. “Nothing I want to talk about.”

SteelStar was surprised, and Celerity’s face quickly softened.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just…all my friends believed I’d been using powers to cheat.”

“All of them?”

“All of them,” Celerity confirmed sadly. “I met all my friends in athletics programs at my school, and cheating is something we took seriously. I get that I have an unfair advantage now. That’s not lost on me, but not even one of them believed me when I said I didn’t have those powers before.”

Celerity sighed. “I haven’t spoken to any of them in years.”

“Yeah,” said SteelStar, leaning back on his hands. “It stinks when people think you’re guilty when you’re really innocent.”

Celerity looked at him. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up. I know all the hate seems overwhelming now, but over time it will seem like nothing more than background noise.”

She reached over and touched his shoulder. “Believe me, I know.”

SteelStar nodded gratefully.

###

Brian had to resist the urge to fall asleep as the professor droned on and on about calculus. The young college student was quickly coming to the conclusion that advanced mathematics wasn’t for him, but it was necessary for his grade regardless of whatever major he switched to, so he sat through it anyway. Other students in the many seats around him looked just as bored, aside from one or two that listened with rapt attention.

As usual when Brian was particularly bored with a class, his thoughts turned to his friend Andy Gatlin, also known as SteelStar. Brian had long ago given up on the idea of becoming a superhero with him. No mutant powers had ever come to him, not that this was likely anyway, and Brian wasn’t confident in his scientific prowess to build some sort of power suit in his room. Brian had long ago come to accept that a superhero career just wasn’t in the cards for him.

Or, at least, he thought he had. Brian kept watching the world hate on SteelStar for something he couldn’t control, and that frustrated him to no end. The most frustrating part was how powerless Brian felt to help him. Not being able to watch Andy’s back fighting rogue mutants and supervillains was bad enough, but Brian was stuck at college and SteelStar was always busy. This meant that Brian couldn’t even offer emotional support half the time. He could send the occasional text, but that just wasn’t the same.

Finally, the class ended, and Brian gathered his things as students everywhere did the same, making for the exit.

Just as Brian was heading out the door, someone behind him spoke.

“Excuse me.”

Brian turned to see a pretty, dark skinned girl about his age with an ever so slightly plump figure and a nervous expression. As students filed past them in the hallway, he tried to place her, but he didn’t know who she was.

“Can I help you?” Asked Brian.

“You…you know Andy Gatlin, right?” she asked nervously.

Brian felt a chill. Why would she be asking about him?

“I know him,” said Brian. “Do you know him?”

“Not personally, but…” she leaned in close and whispered to him. “I live in his neighborhood.”

“Oh,” said Brian, who suddenly understood. “Oh! I see.”

“I’m Brenda,” she said, still nervous. “Can we talk?”

Brian shrugged. “Sure.” He thought about it. “I’m guessing you want to find somewhere private?”

She nodded.