The previous day.

Elementus flew, a whirlwind carrying his body downward. His ocean blue suit with a map of the world looked vibrant in the sunlight, even as he fell below the treetops. He landed next to a road in the forest and immediately put his hands on his knees. After resting for a few seconds and taking deep breaths, a stylish sports car drove up and rolled down the window.

“Hey Elementus,” said the driver. “You need a ride?”

Elementus smiled gratefully, but before he could say anything, someone shouted, “Cut!”

Elementus looked over to see the camera crew and the director of this little car commercial walking over.

“Is something wrong?” asked Elementus.

“You’re fine,” said the director, a young man with a scowl. “You.” He said, pointing angrily to the driver of the car. “What are you doing, man? This is Elementus you’re offering a ride, not some random hitchhiker. Put some awe into your performance!”

“Sorry,” said the Driver sheepishly.

As the Director prepared to return to his spot, Elementus hesitated for a moment.

“Hey,” said Elementus.

“What?” asked the director.

“I have…a concern,” said Elementus hesitantly. “The idea for this commercial is that I just defeated a bad guy, right?”

“Yeah,” said the Director. “What’s the problem?”

“Well…I look like I just got done having makeup put on.”

“You did just finish having makeup put on.”

Elementus blinked, “Right…I look like I just got done putting makeup on, and not like I just finished defeating a supervillain. I get looking good for the camera, but don’t you think this seems…I don’t know…”

“Seems what?”

The first word that came to Elementus’s mind was phony but had a feeling the director would be offended by that word. After a moment’s hesitation, he chose something more diplomatic.

“Inauthentic?” Elementus offered.

“Look,” said the director. “Your job is to be a superhero and fight supervillains, and you’re good at it. Great at it. Absolutely fantastic. My job is to sell cars, and I promise you that most people won’t notice if you look grungy or not. They’ll feel good seeing you do what you’re best at. So, you focus on being a superhero, and I’ll handle selling the cars. Okay?”

Elementus hesitated, but gave a halfhearted, “Okay.”

“Good, good,” said the Director before turning around and holding up a megaphone, “Allright, places, everyone. Let’s do another take. This car won’t sell itself.”

“I wish,” Elementus muttered.

###

Later that night.

Elementus, in his costume, sat down to dinner with a pretty woman in a pink dress, her curly blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. Elementus had been looking forward to this date, but the woman across from him shifted nervously, her eyes darting around the room.

“Is something wrong, Chelsea?” asked Elementus.

Chelsea Blake answered sheepishly, “Everyone’s looking at us.”

Elementus looked around and saw it was true. Other people at the restaurant were either glancing in their direction or openly staring at them.

Elementus cleared his throat, “I mean, I am a superhero.”

“But did you have to wear your superhero costume?” asked Chelsea. “You stick out like a sore thumb.”

“I’m sorry,” said Elementus, looking away. “I’m so used to wearing it. It’s just…I don’t…I…”

“You haven’t dated in a while?” Chelsea offered.

Elementus hesitated but then smiled nervously. “Yeah. I haven’t dated in a while…not since I first became a superhero. I’ve gotten used to wearing my costume all the time, you know? In case there’s an emergency? I love being a superhero. It’s my whole life.”

Chelsea smiled, “Well, I suppose it’s a good thing you take it so seriously. Word of advice, though? Wear a formal suit next time you go on a date. You can keep your costume underneath it if something happens.”

“Absolutely,” said Elementus. “Won’t happen again.”

“And…” she hesitated. “I hate to be a downer, but…do you have a plan to get past the reporters outside?”

Elementus chuckled nervously. The restaurant had security which was keeping the press outside. It was the whole reason Elementus had chosen this restaurant.

“I’m sure the owner will let us fly off the roof,” he said, clearing his throat. “So…how’s life as a veterinarian?”

She waved him dismissively, “Oh, you don’t want to hear about that.”

“No, I do,” said Elementus. “I’ve pulled plenty of pets out of natural disasters, but I’m helpless if the animal is already injured. I think what you do is amazing.”

It reminded Elementus of how they’d met. He’d flown an injured dog to her clinic and liked her from the very start.

Chelsea blushed, “Well, thank you, but things have slowed down lately. I’m glad there’s someone out there preventing people and animals from getting hurt in the first place, but it does leave me with less to do. I spent most of this week doing normal checkups. Honestly, I’d rather hear about you. Your life must be so exciting. I’ll bet getting to see that new car before anyone else is pretty cool.”

Elementus frowned, “Not really. I can fly, so I don’t really need a car. Honestly? I feel kind of phony advertising that, but it’s in my contract, so I have to.”

“Oh,” said Chelsea.

“Honestly?” said Elementus. “I prefer the public service commercials. You know, telling kids not to litter, to make sure their smoke alarms have fresh batteries, that sort of thing. Something that can send a positive message.”

“Oh, absolutely,” said Chelsea. “That’s great. I’ll bet plenty of kids listen to a superhero. You must have so many stories about being one.”

Elementus’s eyes grew wide as he smiled excitedly.

###

Later that night, Elementus flew Chelsea home. He held her in his arms, his left arm underneath her knees and his right arm supporting her back as she held onto his neck. He was careful to shift the whirlwind around himself carefully so as not to injure her. Before long, he landed in front of Chelsea’s apartment building and let her down.

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“Wow,” said Chelsea, catching her breath. “Well, that beats taking the bus.”

Elementus nodded sheepishly, “So, did you have a good time?”

Chelsea smirked mischievously, “Well, it was a bit rough at first, but I think we pulled it off.”

Elementus smiled, then stood there, feeling a bit nervous and suddenly at a loss for words. Chelsea noticed, moved closer, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek.

“Call me, okay?” she said.

Elementus blushed, “Y…Yeah. I’ll call you.”

Chelsea smiled at him, turned, and walked to her apartment. Elementus watched her for a moment, making sure she got inside, and then took a deep breath, smiling. Feeling fantastic, Elementus surrounded himself in a whirlwind and flew off. He was on top of the world right now, and very little could bring him down.

Then his smartwatch beeped, and he frowned. Couldn’t they wait just a few more minutes before they bothered him?”

He brought his smartwatch up, “What is it?”

“Elementus,” said his handler. “We just got a mission in, and you should like this. It will be a joint mission with Paramount.”

Elementus smiled excitedly. He was still on top of the world, after all.

###

The next day.

While SteelStar and Paramount had flown part of the way themselves, they caught a plane after meeting with Elementus, the Silent Wraith, electric type speedster Speedshock, and a woman with animal telepathy named Animage.

Speedshock wore a blue costume with an open mouth mask showing very dark skin. His costume was decorated with white lightning bolts, and his eyes were covered in running goggles with white frames.

Animage wore red robes, her head completely covered so that only her blue eyes, surrounded by light brown skin, were revealed. She walked next to a big white dog, one of the biggest SteelStar had ever seen.

At UHE headquarters, the six superheroes went to the conference room, which was about the size of a large college classroom. It had become necessary for the conference room to be this large for when a mission required a lot of superheroes, so they were dwarfed by the massive, white space. Silent stood at the head of the room by a gigantic screen, giving them their information.

“Sister nature has been spotted near Mount Adams in the state of Washington,” said Silent.

The screen behind him showed the image of a woman in green robes, her face hidden by a deer skull mask with antlers. On her robes lay the symbol of three leaves in a triangular pattern. Footage began to play, showing this woman giving a speech.

“Humans are a plague on this world,” she said. “They tear down life giving trees, murder animals to satiate their gluttonous desires, spew toxic smoke into the air and spill poisonous oil into the ocean. They are slowly killing mother earth and must either change their ways or be purged from her surface forever.”

Silent paused the video. “For those who don’t know, sister Nature is a member of the eco-terrorist cult Gaia-Born,” the screen switched to the three leaf emblem. “This group has been around for nearly three decades but rose to prominence when one of its members became a power user…Sister Nature herself.”

The screen showed Sister Nature secreting and levitating a black substance from her hands. She then covered the building with this substance, and it ignited, turning it to an inferno within seconds.

Speedshock laughed.

“What?” asked Silent.

“Come on, dude,” said Speedshock. “She’s an eco-terrorist, and she basically has the power to produce and control oil.”

SteelStar chuckled, both Elementus and Paramount smirked, and even Animage tried to stifle a chuckle.

“The irony is not lost on me,” said Silent.

Speedshock’s laugh was deflated, “Clearly the humor is,” he whispered.

“As I was saying,” said Silent. “Gaia-Born has a history of taking hostages and making threats to various governments to cease oil drilling, release all animals in captivity, the usual. With sister nature’s powers, she was able to raise their profile by taking higher value hostages. She’s managed to capture everyone from senators to CEO’s and even certain world leaders. Most were rescued successfully, but she’s been a menace for a long time.

“A few days ago, one of my contacts alerted me to a shipment of explosives stolen by Sister Nature. These explosives used Tholatite, an experimental substance with an energy signature similar to the explosion that destroyed Redwell City, making her a suspect.”

“I don’t recall Sister Nature making any demands before that day,” said Elementus.

Steelstar watched Elementus out of the corner of his eye. Could he really have had something to do with Redwell?

“We believe Redwell may have been a test run,” said Silent.

“She murdered hundreds of people for a test run?” asked Animage, a subtle, stern anger in her voice. The dog next to her seemed to notice her mood and growled at the image of Sister Nature onscreen.

“Possibly,” said Silent. “That’s what we aim to find out.”

SteelStar grimaced. She sounded like a nasty piece of work. SteelStar hated oil spills and animal cruelty as much as the next guy, but she obviously went too far. Of course, SteelStar was extra wary about this particular mission after having a bad experience with a fire based supervillain. He tentatively raised his hand.

“You have a question, SteelStar?” asked Silent.

“How hot do her flames burn?”

“Nowhere near as hot as Draego’s,” said Silent.

SteelStar’s grey skin blushed blue, “Am I that transparent?”

“Just a simple deduction,” said Silent. “While her flames don’t burn nearly as hot, she has incredible explosive power.”

Footage onscreen showed sister nature waving her hands, gathering oil that compressed into a little ball. She then waved her hands and launched the ball at a tank. A moment later, an explosion sent the whole tank flying, flipping over and landing quite a distance. That kind of explosive power could wear him down if he was hit enough times.

“And even if she can’t hurt you personally,” Silent Continued. “Her associates are quite dangerous. With Sister Nature increasing their profile, she attracted more power users to their cause.”

The footage showed a humanoid creature with purple fur, a catlike face, and pointed, elf like ears.

“Speedclaw,” said Silent. “A bio type speedster.”

SteelStar knew about him. He was one of the Prixai, an entire race with muscles adapted to super speed. They attacked the Earth in 1996 and were only defeated because they were repelled before their ships reached the planet. If they had reached Earth, they could have caused chaos even with the power users of Earth working against them. Only one ship managed to reach the planet’s surface, and it was a crash landing, leaving this alien as the only survivor. Rumor had it that he joined Gaia-Born not because he believed in their ideology, but because he wanted revenge, and a cult that believes humans are a disease is an easy tool for such revenge.

“Another power user in Gaia-Born is Black Ash.”

This time the footage showed a large creature covered resembling a black humanoid tree, branches on his head looking like horns.

“Powers include incredible strength, near instant regeneration, the ability to grow more limbs, and the ability to extend any of those limbs.

“Finally, we have reported that Sister Nature has recently been in contact with Biomaster.”

The screen showed a man in a green lab coat with black, rubber gloves, rubber boots, and a green, featureless mask on his face.

“A rogue biologist,” said Silent. “His claim to fame is creatures created in his lab with various different powers.”

The screen showed twisted monstrosities running amok in a city. A bulbous giant spitting acid on things, a tentacled mass ripping things apart, a giant lizard swallowing a car whole, and more.

“We don’t know what sort of creatures he’ll have for us this time,” said Silent. “So we need to be prepared for anything. Now, we’re tracking shipments of Tholatite batteries. We have confirmed that Gaia-Born is behind previous thefts, and hope to…”

Silent was interrupted by someone shouting outside the room, “What do you mean they started without me? Get out of my way! I said get out of my way!”

Demigoddess threw the doors open, scowling. Silent’s face was impenetrable behind his mask, but Paramount looked at her irritably while Animage, Speedshock, Elementus, and SteelStar watched her incredulously. Behind her, one could just make out distraught security officers.

“You seriously started without me?” she demanded.

“You were late,” said Silent.

“Purse snatcher,” said Demigoddess. “I got delayed.”

“That would have taken five minutes at most,” said Silent. “You’re over half an hour late.”

Demigoddess crossed her arms. She didn’t mention that she’d stopped taking a shower to get rid of some dust she’d kicked up and reapply makeup. She was about to protest that there were extenuating circumstances when she noticed SteelStar in the room. She pointed, glaring spitefully.

“What’s he doing here?” she demanded.

“I invited him,” said Paramount, standing and crossing his arms. “Is there a problem?”

She looked at Paramount and gave him a smug smirk, “I didn’t know you kept company with murderers.”

SteelStar clenched his fists.

“We all regret what happened with Spectramancer,” said Paramount. “And a lot of mistakes were made leading up to that day.”

SteelStar noted the regretful tone in his voice.

“Ultimately,” said Paramount. “What happened was a tragedy, but if SteelStar had done nothing it would have been an even greater tragedy, and I know Spectramancer himself wouldn’t have wanted that. SteelStar had a hard choice to make, and he did what he had to do. I’m proud to have him with us.

“You, on the other hand, called up our headquarters demanding to work with us on the Sister Nature case. As rude as you were to our receptionist, I’m not about to dismiss help from another superhero if it can save more lives. That being said, you’re the one who demanded to be here. If you don’t like how we run things, or who we choose to associate with, you’re free to walk out right the way you came. I assume you know which way that is?”

Demigoddess’ eye twitched, but she said nothing. Instead, she picked a seat that was a fair distance away from everyone else, and sat down, scowling. SteelStar couldn’t help but smirk.

After a few moments, she said, “Well, get on with it.”

“I’ll send you a recording of what you missed,” said Silent with obvious irritation.

SteelStar sighed, “You know, this wasn’t what I imagined for my first mission with the United Heroes of Earth.”

“I think I know how you feel,” said Elementus, frowning at Demigoddess.