The U.H.E. headquarters blared its alarms as employees fled for the nearest exit. Only a handful of people remained behind, some security as well as a few technicians in the command center. There were a few other superheroes in the building, but most were busy assisting the evacuation. Though it was a desperate situation, all personnel remained calm as they swiftly found the nearest exits and a few bravely stayed at their posts.

In warehouse 3B, Paramount kept fighting Black Ash’s wooden arms as SteelStar paced back and forth uncertainly, his metal eyes never leaving the organic bomb. The rookie superhero was afraid to even touch it should it trigger some sort of reaction. He knew regular bombs were usually booby trapped to prevent tampering, and figured this thing was no different.

“Paramount!” cried SteelStar. “I don’t know what to do!”

“Contact Animage!” the elder superhero replied.

Right, she had animal telepathy. SteelStar felt foolish as he brought up his smartwatch.

“Animage,” said SteelStar. “We found the bomb, and it’s a living thing.”

“Are you serious?” She asked. After a pause, she said, “You’re right, I can sense life signs at your location, but I can’t sense an animal mind. Whatever it is, it has no brain. I won’t be able to control it.”

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy, thought SteelStar.

“Can you get any information from it?” he asked.

“I can sense it charging the energy within,” said Animage. “And it’s charging fast. I don’t recommend attacking it, though. You’ll cause it to explode prematurely. I don’t think it has enough of a charge to cover the entire building just yet, but there are still people in the area who would be killed, not to mention you and Paramount. On top of that it has tendrils burrowed deep underground. It will take too long to dig out.”

“Can you tell me how much time we have?” asked SteelStar.

“Nine minutes.”

SteelStar swallowed.

###

Under the sound of the alarm, Demigoddess strolled through the room towards a large generator. She could sense the radiation flooding the room as men in hazmat suits ran in to rescue people on the floor, sick from radiation poisoning. By absorbing the energy into her reserves, the radiation readers in the room began to go down, and when Demigoddess placed her hand on the generator, the levels fell even faster.

“No need to thank me boys,” she said, leaning against the generator casually. “Just get this patched up so we can get out of here.”

A few technicians in hazmat suits came up with tools, prepared to fix the generator. As they worked, Elementus approached the room, his body transforming until he looked like a finely sculpted statue, a man of stone. He walked up to Demigoddess who gave him a disinterested look.

“What’s up?” she asked, looking at her fingernails as she kept one hand on the generator.”

“They found the bomb,” said Elementus. “It’s a living thing, so they might need you after all.”

Demigoddess smirked, “So tin boy can’t save us after all? Pity.”

Elementus clenched his fists, “Are you going to help or not?”

Demigoddess didn’t stop smirking, but the gears in her head began turning. As satisfied as she was that this SteelStar wasn’t going to outshine her, Demigoddess realized that Paramount had a point. She’d never absorbed Tholatite energy before, so there was a risk she couldn’t absorb it. Not wanting to die in a Tholatite explosion made Demigoddess hesitate.

“I am a little busy at the moment,” she said. “In case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Don’t you get it?” demanded Elementus. “This leak was likely a distraction to keep you away from the bomb. There’s probably a creature from Biomaster nearby.”

Now that he mentioned it, that did seem likely.

“I’m already here,” said Demigoddess. “And if the bomb is already in place, then it’s probably too late to get to it. I’m sure Paramount will think of something.”

It pained her to say that.

“I hope you’re right,” said Elementus, crossing his arms.

###

Paramount kept punching Black Ash’s limbs, but he seemed to be slowing down. Whatever psychic creature they were using was clearly taking its toll, forcing Paramount to another of his abilities. Focusing, Paramount shot blasts of kinetic energy from his forehead, and each blast could destroy multiple limbs at once. This was a powerful move, but it drained Paramount’s energy pretty fast, so if he kept it up, he’d be completely out and without his powers.

SteelStar, meanwhile, was on the verge of panicking now. He couldn’t think of a way to stop the organic bomb and time was running out. There had to be something else he could do, but he was coming up blank. Before he could think of anything, however, something made of electricity zipped into the room, quickly turning human.

“Speedshock?” asked SteelStar in surprise. “How’d you get in?”

“The warehouse doors are metal,” said Speedshock. “I can go through anything that conducts electricity, but that’s not important right now. I have an idea on how to deal with the bomb, but it might be a long shot.”

“Anything’s better than nothing,” said SteelStar. “Lay it on me.”

“I’ve experimented with my powers,” said Speedshock. “I can turn almost anything into a semi electric state like me, and that includes explosives. By turning an explosive electric, the explosion itself manifests as lightning. If I turn this bomb into electricity, it might let you absorb the energy that way. If that doesn’t work, then you might be able to absorb the explosion itself once it turns electric.”

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“Are you sure you can turn Tholatite energy electric?” asked SteelStar.

Speedshock sighed, “No. Never tried it with a Tholatite explosive, but I don’t have any better ideas. Do you?”

It didn’t take SteelStar long to accept that he didn’t, “I’m going to need to empty my reserves if I’m absorbing that much electricity. Give me a second.”

SteelStar turned and flew to the tunnel in the back. As he charged to his full power, his body glowing with electricity, he shouted, “Paramount!”

SteelStar didn’t even need to tell him to get out of the way as the Elder Superhero dodged left. SteelStar landed and shot as much electricity down the tunnel as he could, setting the black branches aflame and ripping them to shreds.

The lightning didn’t go far, and the branches started reaching for them again once the electricity cleared, so SteelStar raised his arms, pulled a couple of bullets into place atop his gauntlets, and charged them. SteelStar shot one magcannon, the electrified bullet going through two branches far down the tunnel, then he shot another, taking down two more branches, and with the last of his electric reserves, he launched one more, ripping apart the final two branches.

With the black wooden arms torn up a fair distance down the tunnel, it would take Black Ash a few minutes to regrow them, giving them some breathing space. Indeed, Paramount seemed grateful for the reprieve as he landed on the floor and rested his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. Then he raised his head and gave SteelStar a serious look.

“You can do this,” said Paramount.

SteelStar hesitated, “I don’t know…”

“No,” said Paramount firmly. “You’re ready for this. We don’t have time for self doubt, so you can’t afford to think otherwise. You…can…do this.”

SteelStar was surprised by Paramount’s words but couldn’t argue. Nodding, SteelStar took Paramount’s words to heart as he ran back to the organic bomb. Paramount then stood in front of the tunnel, preparing for the return of Black Ash’s limbs.

It had been a while since SteelStar had drained his reserves like this, but he already missed his electromagnetic powers. Running back to the bomb felt so inefficient compared to flying, but he’d just have to suck it up. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find Speedshock and the bomb again.

“How much time now?” said SteelStar.

“Animage says four minutes,” said Speedshock. “First thing’s first. Let’s see if I can transform this bomb.”

Speedshock knelt beside the organic bomb and placed his hands on the floor. As the electric speedster transformed, the floor beneath his hands turned electric as well, and after a moment or two the bomb began transforming. Speedshock kept the transformation slow just in case there was a reaction.

Fortunately, nothing happened, and after a moment or two the organic parts of the bomb lay in a state somewhere between matter and energy, arcs of electricity coming out of it.

“Okay,” said Speedshock. “Can you absorb it?”

SteelStar shook his head, “It still feels like bioelectricity.”

He also wouldn’t be able to detonate it early, as it would be immune to electricity in this form. He’d have to wait for it to detonate and absorb the entire electric explosion. SteelStar looked up at Speedshock and the two of them shared a worried look.

“Can you do this?” asked Speedshock.”

SteelStar closed his eyes and focused on Paramount’s words for a moment, then he looked at Speedshock and said, “Yes. I can do this.”

###

The technicians in the generator room began evacuating once the leak was sealed, the alarm still blaring around them. Demigoddess finally pulled her hand away and looked towards Elementus, who had his arms crossed, his stone face stern and unyielding.

“Alright,” said Elementus, “Let’s go to the bomb. They might need you.”

“Sure…” said Demigoddess, beginning to sweat. “Let’s…”

Before she could come up with an excuse not to go, the pair of them heard something.

“Is that…” said Elementus. “A gorilla?”

Sure enough, from an exit to the back, they heard the grunting of a gorilla. Soon they saw it enter view, a gorilla with green, glowing fur, one of Biomaster’s creations. Both Elementus and Demigoddess realized that this was the beast that damaged the generator. The gorilla monster began beating its chest, and as it did, the radiation dials in the room began going haywire.

“We have to stop it!” cried Demigoddess, thanking her lucky stars for a distraction.

“Demigoddess, wait!” cried Elementus chasing after her.

The gorilla fled and Demigoddess was hot on its heels. Elementus pursued them both, thinking that this couldn’t get any worse.

###

“I can sense it,” said Animage through the smartwatch. “The bomb is about to blow. Thirty seconds.”

You can do this, SteelStar thought.

As he stood there, mentally preparing for what he needed to do, Paramount stood watch by the tunnel. Soon, Black Ash’s limbs reached down the tunnel again. Paramount cracked his neck and flew up, punching the wooden limbs as they came at him once again.

SteelStar, meanwhile, looked at the bomb, partially transformed by Speedshock, and moved everything else from his mind. Every sight and sound aside from the bomb was irrelevant.

“Almost time,” said Animage.

She began a countdown.

“Ten.”

You can do this, SteelStar told himself.

“Nine.”

The bomb began pulsing faster.

“Eight.”

SteelStar clenched his fists.

“Seven.”

The organic light pulsed even faster.

“Six.”

Speedshock grimaced nervously.

“Five.”

Fast and faster the organic bomb pulsed.

“Four.”

Paramount’s punches were like lightning as he splintered the branches coming at him.

“Three.”

The bomb began flashing faster than the eye could track.

"Two."

You can do this, SteelStar told himself.

"One."

The organic bomb exploded, a wave of electricity expanding out from it. For a moment, it covered both SteelStar and Speedshock. Speedshock winced as the electricity destroyed the nearby shelves, but after a moment, the expansion stopped. Soon the electric field began shrinking. Smaller and smaller it became until it was nothing more than a wave of electricity flowing into SteelStar’s body from where the bomb used to be.

Speedshock immediately grew concerned when he realized that SteelStar was clenching his entire body, his face grimacing as he groaned with pain. More and more electricity flowed from the source of the explosion, and SteelStar’s body began to glow. It was too much energy, more than SteelStar could support, and he began to scream from the pain.

“SteelStar!” cried Speedshock.

Suddenly SteelStar raised his hands up, shooting electricity and blasting a hole in the roof. The lightning shot up towards the sky above the building, visible from miles away. SteelStar kept screaming as he both released electricity and took more in.

Finally, the stream of electricity from the floor ended, leaving nothing but a smoldering crater on the ground. SteelStar kept releasing electricity skyward, even as the last of the explosion entered his metal body. He screamed the whole time, his body’s glow starting to ease off.

Finally, as the glow from his body faded, he stopped, a few arcs of electricity dancing on his fingertips before going calm. SteelStar then fell backwards, cracking the ground as he landed. His body turned from metal to his grey skinned organic as he lay there and began taking deep, exhausted breaths, his eyes closed. Beside him lay the crater where the bomb used to be, and around him lay the shelves destroyed by the initial explosion. Speedshock, seeing him on the ground, gave a sigh of relief.

Black Ash, watching through the eyes on his limbs, realized that they’d failed and severed all six of his wooden limbs like a gecko losing its tail. He grew new ones quickly as he fled down the tunnel. As the six limbs fell to the ground, Paramount wasted no time flying through the tunnel to pursue the living tree.

Back in the warehouse, Speedshock turned from lightning to flesh, the floor beneath him turning back to normal as well, and he walked over to SteelStar.

“You okay, kid?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said SteelStar. “I’ll be fine.”

Weakly, SteelStar gave a thumbs up. Speedshock nodded, then turned semi electric and sped off to help Paramount capture Black Ash. SteelStar lay where he was, resting, a smile breaking out on his face.