Paramount had the footage released as soon as possible to explain why they had Demigoddess in custody. The public discourse online regarding this incident was split right down the middle. To some, this proved that Demigoddess had likely provoked Elementus into attacking her and then played the victim, because that’s what she was clearly doing with SteelStar. Others believed that SteelStar had provoked or threatened Demigoddess, and what you saw was her fighting back. One thing that made people pause, even some predisposed to hate SteelStar and like Demigoddess, was her throwing herself at the wall. Damage of U.H.E. property was plenty of justification to take her into custody, and with no clear attack from SteelStar, it was hard for even her most arduous supporters to defend.
That didn’t stop them from trying. To the most hardcore Demigoddess fans, they always had one final argument to resort to. SteelStar, they said, was a hero killer. He must be in the wrong, and Demigoddess must be in the right. They couldn’t explain what really happened, but they stuck to that narrative, nonetheless.
Even with that slur making the rounds, SteelStar felt much better about how this new footage made him look, which made him optimistic about his new interview. Sitting across from reporter Karen Carlyle in his grey skinned organic form, the young superhero spoke confidently.
“Welcome back, SteelStar,” said Karen. “Hopefully we won’t interrupted by another emergency.”
“Believe me,” said SteelStar. “I’m ready to finally explain the whole truth of what happened with SteelStar. Nothing short of the end of the world could stop me.”
###
Elementus strolled through the Sonnelicht Corporation’s corporate headquarters with a confident bearing. With his face set in determination, he strolled right up to the CEO’s office and knocked. When said the man inside said ‘enter,’ Elementus went in to confront his employer, Henry Anderson.
“Mister Anderson,” said Elementus. “We need to talk about Demigoddess.”
“I’m sure we do,” said Anderson, looking at his computer screen and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“What do you plan to do about her?” asked Elementus.
Anderson looked up at Elementus curiously. “What do you mean?”
Elementus raised an eyebrow. “She tried to set up SteelStar just like she set up me. She’s clearly out of line. How do you plan to deal with her?”
“I already told you,” said Anderson. “You need to cool things down between you. The two of you at odds is bad for Sonnelicht’s image.”
Elementus looked at Anderson incredulously. “What about SteelStar?”
“SteelStar isn’t sponsored by Sonnelicht. You and Demigoddess are.”
Elementus was astonished. “What do you expect me to do? Throw SteelStar under the bus?”
“Unless you can think of another way,” said Anderson bluntly. “Maybe you can patch things up between the two of them as well as yourself, but I don’t see that happening.”
“No,” said Elementus, a subtle anger in his voice. “This isn’t right.”
Elementus hands began transforming involuntarily, looking like stone. It wasn’t unheard of for heightened emotions to trigger this, so Anderson wasn’t surprised. He still quickly snapped his hand over and pressed a button on his desk.
The superhero’s eyes widened as his hands suddenly turned normal. He looked at his hands in shock, then placed his hands on his chest. He couldn’t feel his powers, and he felt naked without them. Elementus then looked up at his boss helplessly.
“Let me explain something to you,” said Anderson. “Both you and Demigoddess are valuable to this company. I would never dispute that. However, your value is not equivalent. Demigoddess is a natural mutant, her powers innate. You, on the other hand, are not. I shouldn’t have to remind you that we gave you your powers, and the sheer amount of money we spend on you to support our brand can easily be spent on someone else. What we’ve given to you can be given away.”
“Oh, no, please,” said Elementus desperately. “Don’t fire me, sir. Being a superhero means everything to me.”
“Then do as your told,” said Anderson. “If I must choose between you and Demigoddess, you’re replaceable, and she isn’t. It’s that simple. So, if you have to drag SteelStar’s reputation through the mud to repair our damaged image, you do it, or I’ll find someone else who will.”
Elementus’ lip quivered as he stood there, speechless.
“Don’t worry,” said Anderson. “If you don’t know what to say, I’ll write the speech for you.
###
Elementus stood at a podium, faced by an army of reporters. Reading from the teleprompter provided by the Sonnelicht corporation, Elementus spoke, but couldn’t quite banish the quivering in his voice.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Elementus. “You’ve no doubt been wondering about recent events with the U.H.E.. As you know, I recently had an altercation with Demigoddess. This was the result of a misunderstanding concerning the events of that day. Now that I have spoken with her and learned the truth, I now regret my actions. I was out of line, and I…sincerely apologize to Demigoddess and to the people of this world.
“The truth is that we had opportunities to diffuse both bombs without setting them off, but SteelStar, rushing in, triggered both, causing that blast of lightning and the explosion in the sky, risking the lives of everyone in the U.H.E. and those in this great city.
“Given what I now know, I must also assume that SteelStar’s actions on the day of Spectramancer’s death were also the result of reckless behavior. I…I completely and utterly denounce SteelStar and the Death of Spectramancer. The world deserves better than a power user who killed one of our most beloved superheroes. SteelStar is nothing more than a…a hero killer.”
Finished, the reporters started asking questions, their loud voices blending together, and Elementus, forcing himself to smile, felt like dying.
In the corner, hidden in the shadows, Sonnelicht CEO Henry Anderson stood watching, his arms crossed and his expression dour. Now that Elementus was finished, Anderson turned to see another creature poking it’s head out of a vent in the wall. It was a black snake, nearly invisible in the shadows.
“Well?” asked Anderson. “Will that do, Morphic Man?”
“Oh, yes,” said the snake. “That will do nicely.”
And the snake slithered back into the wall. Seeing that snake talk made Henry Anderson shudder. Something about shapeshifters always made Anderson uncomfortable, but this Morphic Man outright made his skin crawl.
###
Paramount, SteelStar, Speedshock and Animage stood in the control room, watching Elementus’s press conference. Speedshock and Animage watched in astonishment, while SteelStar clenched his fists, his blue eyes scowling angrily. Paramount, for his part, only creased his brow in confusion.
“I don’t believe this,” said SteelStar. “How could he?”
This, of course, gave SteelStar’s haters just the ammo they needed to keep trashing his reputation. Online discourse, once split in half, started to lean against hating SteelStar again. Even those starting to question what really happened with Spectramancer went right back to thinking SteelStar had killed him recklessly. Sadly, Elementus’s press conference was getting shared far more than SteelStar’s interview, so many missed the full story of what happened that day.
To make matters worse, the anti SteelStar protests were back, displayed on one of the monitors. Angry people shouting and waving signs with inflammatory messages just outside U.H.E headquarters. Paramount looked back and forth between Elementus and the protests and just shook his head.
In truth, it wasn’t just outside the U.H.E. that they had to worry about this sort of thing. Paramount knew that not everyone in the U.H.E. was entirely comfortable with SteelStar. They were lucky those he’d called upon for this mission hadn’t wavered, but Paramount was still afraid of things like this happening. He just hadn’t expected it to happen with Elementus.
Elementus vehemently disliked demigoddess. Paramount knew that. Furthermore, when Paramount had explained what happened between SteelStar and Spectramancer, Elementus had accepted the explanation without question. Why would he be turning on him now? It just didn’t make sense.
A moment later, a call came in on the intercom, and Paramount answered.
“This is Paramount.”
“Um…” came the voice of Elementus, his voice nervous. “This is…Elementus.”
Paramount looked up to see SteelStar glaring at the intercom.
“Is…” Elementus stammered. “I SteelStar there?”
SteelStar kept glaring for a moment, his fists shaking. Ultimately, he turned and walked away without a word, his footsteps echoing throughout the room. Animage, concerned, turned to follow him while Speedshock just shook his head and Paramount sighed.
“He doesn’t want to talk to you right now,” said Paramount. “And I can’t say I blame him.”
“Please,” said Elementus. “I…I didn’t want…I didn’t mean…” he was silent for a moment. “I just wanted to say…just wanted to say…”
“Say what, Elementus?” asked Paramount.
Elementus didn’t answer.
“He put you up to this, didn’t he?” asked Paramount. “Your boss, Henry Anderson.”
Elementus didn’t respond.
“Elementus,” said Paramount. “Why do you stay with them? I can tell they make you miserable. Why do you keep signing with Sonnelicht?”
Elementus remained silent.
“What have they got on you, Elementus?”
Elementus hung up, and Paramount frowned, disappointed.
Nearby, Speedshock shook his head. “You really think Sonnelicht had some sort of hold on him?”
“It’s the only explanation,” said Paramount, frowning at the intercom.
Speedshock watched him gravely. “That company’s gonna be trouble, isn’t it?”
###
Animage caught up with SteelStar as he marched angrily down the hall.
“Wait, SteelStar,” she said. “Follow me.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
SteelStar stopped. “Why?”
“I have someone who wants to see you.”
SteelStar sighed. “Look, I’d rather be alone right now.”
“It’s someone you know,” she said.
SteelStar looked at her. “Who?”
“Follow me and find out.”
Animage turned and walked down a hallway to the left. SteelStar watched her for a moment, debating with himself whether he’d follow. Ultimately, his curiosity got the better of him and he walked after her.
As they strolled through U.H.E hallways, Animage said, “Some day, huh?”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Look, don’t let Elementus get to you,” said Animage. “We suspect that Sonnelicht has some sort of leverage on him.”
SteelStar gave an exasperated sigh. “Maybe that’s true. It hardly matters. I was hoping that footage would expose demigoddess for what she is.”
“It did.”
“For some people, sure, but others have already made up their mind.” SteelStar sighed. “Every conversation I see where someone is defending me ends with the other person calling me a hero killer.”
“Yes, we’ve seen that before,” said Animage. “We call it a magic dismiss term.”
“Magic dismiss term?” asked SteelStar.
“Yes,” said Animage. “People will give you a label they treat like a magic word that can win any argument. They’ll often bring it out during a debate or at the end of one when they think they’re losing, or they’ll shout it out to prevent a debate from happening in the first place. In your case, anyone who defends you is accused of defending a hero killer, but it’s not the first time we’ve come across this sort of thing.
“Anti power user groups think superheroes shouldn’t exist, and even if you can demonstrate how they’ve helped the world they’ll just dismiss you as…” she made air quotes. “Corrupted by power. I know it’s not fair, but you’re going to have to deal with people accusing you of being a terrible person just to win an argument. It happens to all of us. Your situation just makes it easier to do. Sorry.”
SteelStar sighed. “I just want to help people. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, but so many people keep trying to make me out as the opposite.” He sighed. “I just wish people would look at the real me. Not the fake me they’ve made up.”
“There are those that see the real you,” said Animage. “I promise you that. You’ll see.”
SteelStar frowned at her. “Just who are we meeting again?”
“See for yourself,” said Animage. “We’re here.”
Animage pointed to a door, and SteelStar gave her a curious look. When she waved her hand to insist he enter, he approached the door and opened it, looking inside. Within, SteelStar found an office with Animage’s dog sitting to the side, panting. Upon seeing a stranger, the dog raised itself and walked over. As SteelStar removed his gauntlet and gave the dog a few friendly scratches behind its ears, he frowned.
“Your dog?” he asked. “I don’t…”
He was interrupted by a meow. Looking over, SteelStar saw a familiar kitten, and smiled in recognition.
“Hey, it’s you!”
The psychic kitten SteelStar had saved before stood up from where it had been curled up on the office’s desk and walked over. A moment later, the kitten’s eyes glowed as books levitated over from a nearby bookshelf, forming a walkway so it could reach SteelStar. As SteelStar reached down to pet the little creature, the kitten leaned into the superhero’s hand.
“My secret identity,” said Animage. “Is heavily involved in the mutant reserve program. I met this little guy a while ago, and he remembered a kind man who helped him calm down when he was scared.”
SteelStar removed both his gauntlets and picked up the kitten with his grey hands, the levitating books falling to the floor. SteelStar could feel the small creature purring in his hand as he petted it, which put a smile on his face.
“I know it seems like the whole world is against you,” said Animage. “But you are making a difference. Not everyone may say it openly, given the circumstances, but I promise you that every person you help will remember it.
“Nature is cruel, as I’ve often said, but even an animal can appreciate kindness. Don’t let the cruelness of the world get you down. A single act of compassion can make a world of difference for someone. Even if this seems a small victory, one day you’ll look back at the many, many small victories you’ve achieved and realized that it was all worth it. I promise you that.”
SteelStar looked at Animage curiously. He wasn’t certain what to think of she’d just said, but he wasn’t in a position to argue with her either. For the moment, he just kept petting the little kitten, grateful that someone appreciated his efforts. It always struck him just how comforting the sound of a cat purring could be.
###
Patrick Powell scowled at the camera like he always did.
“And the U.H.E. is still standing by SteelStar, even after all he’s done, and still keeping Demigoddess in custody. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised. Supervillains and rogue mutants terrorize the world, and the U.H.E. defends those who have the power to stop it. Why should they care if their actions result in great damage? They certainly don’t care that the inactions of others lead to great damage.”
Patrick shook his head. “These power users who sit on their abilities, and those who defend them, are like a bystander who sees a car accident but stands idly by, doing nothing to help the injured. These bystanders are content to watch the world burn around us, and the rest of us are paying the price.
“You mark my words. If you oppose the power user draft, then you are nothing more than a heartless, uncaring bystander. Wake up people!”
###
SteelStar did some more training with Speedshock, just in case he ever came against another speedster, and was steadily improving. He did attempt the ‘fight without thinking’ technique Paramount had mentioned, but that seemed beyond his grasp. According to Paramount, it would take a considerable amount of time for the brain to adapt to fighting at such speeds. Still, at least he was making some progress.
Soon, however, it was time for SteelStar to begin the journey home. Standing next to the plane that would take him home, Paramount and Speedshock saw SteelStar off, the sound of the plane’s engines making them raise their voices.
“You did good out there today,” said Speedshock. “But don’t let that go to your head now, you hear? Can’t have you slacking off on us.” He added the last part teasingly.
SteelStar smiled. “Don’t worry. You won’t catch me slacking off any time soon.”
“Good man,” said Speedshock, giving a thumbs up.
“We appreciate all the help you gave us,” said Paramount. “Good luck back home.”
SteelStar nodded, but then hesitated. “Hey, Speedshock. Can you give us a minute? I need to ask Paramount something.”
Speedshock raised an eyebrow but didn’t question him. He turned and walked away, giving them some breathing room.
“What’s on your mind?” asked Paramount.
SteelStar hesitated for a moment. “It’s about Passion…Spectramancer’s daughter. He…Spectramancer, I mean…asked me to tell her something before he…you know.”
“I see…” said Paramount.
“Only…” SteelStar continued. “I tried talking with her and…she doesn’t want to talk to me.”
Paramount nodded. “I’ll talk to Passion next time I see her.”
“Thank you.”
###
SteelStar got some much needed sleep on the flight home. When he woke up, he was pleasantly surprised to see a notification on his smartwatch that he’d been paid for two bounties, one for Speedclaw, and he’d finally received his half of the bounty for Drago. That money would hopefully keep him afloat for a while. Before he left the plane, he changed clothing and went through the airport as Andy Gatlin, transforming into light skin and dark hair.
His father, mother, sisters and brother all met him at the airport, congratulating him on a job well done. As eager as Andy was to get some rest, he felt he had one more thing to check on before he went home. He briefly turned back to SteelStar and flew through the city to find someone.
Flying through the city as the setting sun cast an orange glow over the clouds, SteelStar searched for Partition City’s other superhero with his metal eyes. He soon isolated her electromagnetic signature running down below and followed as best he could. Soon she stopped and he zeroed in on her.
SteelStar found Celerity leaning against a wall with bags under her eyes, her purple suit standing out against the grey wall. Landing on the sidewalk, he took one look at her and came to a conclusion.
“Bad day?” he asked as he turned organic.
Celerity nodded. “Giant mutant frogs.” She shuddered. “Took me forever to tie them up. There was so…much…slime…”
SteelStar sighed. “Alright, you get some sleep. I’ll take first watch and wake you when I get tired.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yeah. I got some sleep on the plane ride back. Go on.”
Celerity sighed gratefully. “Thank you so much.”
The look of gratitude in her eyes absolutely warmed SteelStar’s heart.
Small victories indeed.
###
“Well,” said Chelsea, pleased. “Don’t you look nice tonight.”
Elementus wore a nice suit and tie over his superhero costume. Normally, Elementus would have been blown away by Chelsea’s stunning black dress. He would have told her that before commenting on the restaurant’s immaculate décor. However, he just nodded at her and only said one word.
“Thanks.”
Chelsea noticed he seemed down. “Hey, you okay?”
“Hmm?” he asked, distracted. “Oh, I’m fine.”
“You sure?” she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sure,” said Elementus. “I’m just…a little tired, that’s all.”
“I see.”
Chelsea walked beside him as they went to find a table. Looking at his face, she wasn’t fully convinced he was telling the truth. Something definitely seemed different than before. Well, this was only their second date, but she knew how to cheer him up. She sidled in close and hung onto his arm.
“Why don’t you tell me about your latest mission?” she said cheerfully.
Elementus’s face grew dark. “I…I don’t feel like talking about that tonight.”
Chelsea was taken aback. “Really?”
“Yeah, sorry,” said Elementus. “I…I just don’t feel like it.”
As they kept walking to get a table, Chelsea had a sinking feeling that it was worse than she realized.
###
One day after the death of Spectramancer
“So,” said Karen Carlyle. “Do you think Spectramancer’s death could have been prevented?”
Paramount paused, considering the question carefully.
After a moment, he finally replied, “Yes…and at the same time, no.”
“What do you mean?”
“We could have stopped this if we’d made different decisions. Asked Paramount. “But who would have acted differently and for what reason? As I said, I do regret not pushing harder for Spectramancer to retire. However, anyone who thinks it’s that simple didn’t know Spectramancer. Spectramancer himself could have prevented this if he’d agreed to retire, but he was never going to do that, not unless it could be absolutely proven that something like this would happen. I could have prevented it had I been there. God knows I intended to, but the work of a superhero is never done.
“I would have let Spectramancer deal with the rogue mutants that day had I known what would happen to him in my absence, but I didn’t know, and it’s precisely because I didn’t know that I made the decisions that I made that day. It’s easy to examine an event after the fact, where the cause and effect is laid out for you, and it is our duty to learn from those experiences to prevent it from happening again. However, no one ultimately knows what the result of their actions is going to be until it happens. Sometimes your plans work out perfectly, but life has a way of throwing you curveballs, and your actions can have unintended consequences.
“There are some who say SteelStar could have stopped Spectramancer without killing him, and I wonder how they could possibly know that. We’re talking about a superhero who hasn’t been around for more than a week. Most don’t know what his powers and limitations are, let alone how they’d match up against Spectramancer. Furthermore, all the evidence I’ve found shows that SteelStar did everything he could to stop Spectramancer without killing him. To make matters worse, Spectramancer ended up killing a man. Manny Turner. No one condemning SteelStar for Spectramancer’s unfortunate death wants to talk about him.
“Maybe if SteelStar had struck the killing blow sooner, Manny Turner would still be with us. Would any of you have done that? All I know is that if SteelStar had done nothing, the loss of life would have been far worse. Hundreds or thousands of people would have been killed.”
Paramount gave the crowd an intense look. “If you knew what SteelStar knew and had his powers, could you have done better? When the adrenaline begins pumping through your veins, and you only have seconds to act, can you muster the willpower to keep a calm head and do what needs to be done? Don’t be so quick to answer.”
He paused, letting the reporters in the room absorb that.
“So, yes and no. We could have saved Spectramancer if we’d done things differently, but based on what we knew at the time, we were never going to do anything differently. That’s the cold hard truth of it. No one knows what the future holds. Even the best laid plans of ordinary men can go astray. We all do the best we can with the information we have. That’s all we can ask of anyone.”
Epilogue
Joseph Kimball sat in his office, going over papers detailing his company’s finances. He’d already sent his employees home for the day, as he wasn’t ready to share the bad news. After losing so much money due to the damages caused by Demigoddess, being forced to drop his lawsuit against her meant he had to bear that cost. He’d gone over the numbers over a dozen times, and had to accept that if he couldn’t turn this around, he’d be bankrupt.
Joseph was wracking his brain trying to come up with a solution when his phone started buzzing. That was odd. It was after business hours, and he didn’t recognize the number.
He answered it. “This is Joseph Kimball of Starlight Construction.”
“Mr. Kimball,” said a deep voice on the other end. “You’ve been greatly wronged.”
Joseph frowned. “Who am I speaking with?”
“My name is Andrew Thornton.”
Joseph paled. “You’re not…that Andrew Thornton?”
“The very same.”
Andrew Thornton, leader of The Sons of Purity, an extremist group that believed all power users were corrupt. Their mantra was, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ They expected all power users to renounce their power and refrain from ever using them.
“What do you want from me?” asked Joseph.
“I thought I made that clear,” said Thornton. “You’ve been greatly wronged. We, the Sons of Purity, don’t believe for a second that you dropped your lawsuit against Demigoddess willingly. She threatened you somehow, and now your business is now in danger of going bankrupt. We want to help you, that’s all.”
Joseph shook his head. “I’ve heard what you do to power users.”
“Not a single one of them didn’t deserve their fate,” said Thornton. “I promise you that. We don’t harm the innocent; we simply punish those corrupted by power. Are you going to sit there and tell me that Demigoddess doesn’t deserve what’s coming to her?”
Joseph couldn’t argue with that.
“Besides,” said Thornton. “You need our help, and you know it. Join us, lend us your skills, and we’ll help you out. Of course, if you’re not interested, you’re free to hang up right now and I promise I won’t contact you again. Your choice, but this is a one time offer only, so choose wisely.”
Joseph considered it. He’d heard horror stories about what the Sons of Purity were capable of. He was tempted to hang up right then and there, cut this off before he regretted it. One look at the financial documents on his desk, however, made him reconsider.
“Alright,” said Joseph. “I’m listening.”
Joseph didn’t see it, of course, but on the other end of the Line, Andrew Thornton had a list of superhero names in front of him. Demigoddess was one of them, naturally, but another name on Andrew Thornton’s list was SteelStar.
End of Episode Three