When Andy’s alarm woke him up, he still felt exhausted.  He really wanted to stay in bed, but his sleeping hours were bound to become a hotbed for criminal activity if they noticed he wasn’t around at specific times.  The only way to mitigate this was to have a flexible sleeping schedule, where sometimes he slept during the day and sometimes he slept half the day and half the night.  If more superheroes made permanent homes in Partition City, they could coordinate schedules, but until then, Andy would have to be flexible.

            Still, he’d started by waking up at four-thirty in the morning, and he already hated himself for it.  Lying back, he glared at his beeping alarm clock, that glowing number practically slapping his face.

            It wasn’t long before he’d changed into his blue costume with a white star on the chest and put on his metal boots, gauntlets, belt, and pauldrons.  He quickly messaged Scarlet Ghost to tell him that he was starting again.  Scarlet Ghost was the superhero Paramount had asked to look after things while SteelStar was gone, a woman of living red energy.  Before long, she messaged back a thumbs up, signaling that she’d let him take over now.

            Briefly, Andy considered calling Brian but quickly dismissed that idea.  Brian would still be sleeping and need it for classes today.  Andy just got a quick breakfast, left the house out the back door, and flew off, beginning his day as SteelStar.

Before long, SteelStar was flying over the city, looking for trouble.  It was still dark out, though from that high above the city, he could see a small ribbon of light on the horizon.  Other than that, he could see the car lights and street lamps illuminated below him.

            He wasn’t out there long before he sensed an electromagnetic signature in the sky with him.  Looking over, SteelStar recognized Centurion flying.  He didn’t remember Centurion having any sort of flying abilities but quickly noticed an extra electromagnetic signature from his chest, some sort of device.  SteelStar knew that the government experimented with technology taken from various alien invasions over the years but had achieved very few results.  Either the tech was so far ahead that they were barely getting started, or the tech required materials not found on Earth, making it impossible to mass-produce them.  Devices like the one Centurion was using were pretty rare.

            Centurion flew close to Andy.

            “A little early, isn’t it?”

            “I’ve been gone long enough,” said SteelStar.  “I want to get back to work.”

            “Fine.  Fine,” said Centurion irritably.  “Just dandy…waking up at an ungodly hour before so much as a biscuit for breakfast.  Fine.”

            “If you’re so upset,” said SteelStar, getting irritated.  “You could always declare I’m good and go home early.”

            “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

            “Yeah, I would.”

            They flew in silence for a moment.

            “Well, tough,” said Centurion.  “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

            If only, thought SteelStar.

###

The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful.  There was an armed robbery, an attempted carjacking, and a purse snatcher.  SteelStar handled them all without any trouble while Centurion observed.  Most were grateful for SteelStar protecting them and their property, but one or two of them gave SteelStar a confused look.  SteelStar figured he’d have to expect that.   A lot of people had a low opinion of him after what happened with Spectramancer.

            Ultimately, the few crimes SteelStar dealt with were pretty minor, but that just made SteelStar nervous.  He knew the E.H.O.D. would probably want to test him on something more high stress than petty criminals who couldn’t even hurt him.  How long it would take for that to happen filled him with anticipation to get it over with and dread that he’d mess it up.

            Later that morning, SteelStar and Centurion took a break from flying around the city to stop at a café, mainly because Centurion kept complaining that he was hungry.  Centurian got a Danish pastry, and Andy settled for a small cookie.  As they sat outside under a giant umbrella, SteelStar wore his grey skinned organic form while Centurion took his helmet off to eat his bagel.  Centurion, under the helmet, was a middle aged man with a mustache and some grey at his temples.  His eyebrows seemed permanently slanted into a scowl, and SteelStar wondered if that was just how he looked.

            Of course, SteelStar’s attention was quickly diverted by other people sitting at the café.  A few of them were giving dirty looks.  These people were angry, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why.  Right as Andy stood up to get away from all of this, he sensed someone walking up behind him.  He turned just in time to see someone pulling the lid off their coffee.

            “Murderer!” cried the woman.

            SteelStar instinctively put his hands up and turned to metal just as the scalding hot coffee washed over him.  In his metal form, it didn’t hurt, but SteelStar still backed away as steam rose from his body.  As SteelStar stood there, covered in hot coffee, he suddenly found himself surrounded by angry people as Centurion sat at the café table and laughed.

            “You murdered Spectramancer!” the woman accused.

            “I had to stop him,” SteelStar protested.  “He would have killed people.”

            “Oh,” said the woman mockingly.  “So it’s his fault you killed him.”

            “That’s not what I…”

            But SteelStar’s protests of innocence were drowned out by all the yelling.  About half the people at that café were calling him a murderer.  The other half just sat drinking their coffee or eating their café food, trying to ignore the noise.  Centurion just kept laughing.  SteelStar looked around helplessly as a few more people opened their coffee.

            Before anyone else had a chance to throw a hot drink in his face, SteelStar flew up, rising high over them.  He quickly found a tall building and landed, hugging himself.  After a moment, when he’d cooled down, he turned back to his organic form and wiped a tear from his eye.  He stood there for a moment, trying to stop himself from crying.

            Guess I’ll have to get used to that, he thought bitterly.

            He stood on that rooftop for a few more moments, just wiping tears from his eyes.  A minute later, SteelStar sensed the electromagnetic signal of someone in distress.  SteelStar took a deep breath, turned to metal, and flew in that direction.

            Diving down, he saw two cars mid collision, spinning out of control.  One hit the curb and was just about to flip over.  SteelStar dove down to catch the car, but before he could, something happened.

            A figure moved across the road as a purple and white blur.  It quickly sped to one of the cars and pushed against it to stop it before quickly pushing against the other car as well.  The whole process took a second or two and ended with both cars perfectly still.

A speedster!  Thought SteelStar.  And more than that, a kinetic type speedster.  Kinetic types could generate and control kinetic energy within their bodies, allowing them to move fast.  They could also transfer some of that energy to whatever they touched, allowing them to carry things or use that energy as an attack.  It was like having super strength, but only when moving fast.  They also had enough control to spread that energy out.  That’s why the drivers of those cars weren’t jostled and given whiplash when the speedster pushed against them.

            With the cars harmlessly stopped, SteelStar, with great interest, turned to see who had stopped them.  On the sidewalk, he saw a woman about his own age in a skintight, sleeveless purple costume with white racing stripes and a white C on the chest.  The speedster had brown hair tied in a braid, purple running shades over her eyes, and a slender, toned frame.  Her face, SteelStar thought, was a cute sort of pretty, though she currently had her hands on her hips and stared at the two drivers sternly.  The two drivers sat in their cars, shaking from their recent experience.  The speedster signaled for them to roll their windows down, and they did.

            “I hope you two will drive more carefully from now on,” said the newcomer.

            “Uh,” said one of them, a woman, “Sure.”

            “Who are you?” asked the other driver, a man.

            “Call me Celerity,” she said.

            A moment later, this Celerity looked up to see SteelStar.

            “Oh,” said Celerity, surprised.  “I’m sorry.  Were you gonna get that?”

###

Deathstare sat in the hideout wearing a t-shirt with jeans and tapping his foot.  Draego had a bunker hidden in a forest, a perfect place to escape prying eyes.  The bunker’s entrance was a door in the ground that could be easily covered with dirt when one wanted to hide.  The inside of the bunker was made of concrete walls and had all the basic necessities.  There was a bathroom, a kitchen, and food storage.  Not much else.  Deathstare was getting really bored waiting there by himself.

            Finally, the door above, at the top of a ladder embedded in the wall, opened up, and someone jumped down.  Draego fell before blasting fire downward at the last minute and slowing his fall.  When his feet thumped on the concrete floor, he stood, a briefcase in his hand as he transformed.  The scales retreated from his skin, his face flattened, his wings disappeared into his back, and his eyes returned to normal.

            The now human Draego then walked over and placed the briefcase on a table.

            “Finally!” said Deathstare, getting up.

            Draego walked over to a wooden table and placed the briefcase, opening it up.  Inside was a purple bodysuit with golden spots in the shape of eyes.

            “Gimme that,” said Deathstare, yanking the suit out.  “Be back in a minute.”

            Moments later, Deathstare was back in his suit.  The purple suit covered his entire body, including his head and face.  Deathstare stretched for a second and then stood with his arms spread out.  The golden eyes on the suit opened to reveal real eyes on his skin that glowed with green energy.  The eyes closed except for the two in his head where most people had eyes.

            “Ah,” said Deathstare, stretching.  “Feels good to be back.”

            “Told you I’d get it,” said Draego.  “As if there were any doubt.  Anyway, I’ve got the time and place for the ambush.  Let’s plan this out.”

            Draego spread out a map.

            “The armored car procession will pass through here,” Draego pointed to the map.  “But the fugori crystal will be switched to random cars at consistent intervals.  We’ll need you to determine which car has it when we attack.  That’s why we had to break you out.”

            “Oh, nice,” said Deathstar irritably.  “I knew you didn’t break me out because you liked me.”

            “Get over it,” said Draego.  “You up for this?”

            Deathstare thought about it and said, with no small amount of glee in his voice, “Yeah.  I’m up for this.  In fact, now that I have my suit back, I feel on top of the world.

###

SteelStar walked next to Celerity in his grey skinned form.  The speedster superhero had her running shades on her forehead, revealing her piercing green eyes.  SteelStar got a few dirty looks from people nearby, but he tried to ignore them.  Celerity, for her part, didn’t seem to mind SteelStar’s company.

            “So,” said SteelStar.  “You’re called Celerity, right?  What made you pick that name?  I don’t recognize the word.”

            “It means swiftness of movement,” said Celerity.  “Heard it in a Shakespeare play once.  I like it because it sounds elegant.  You know what I mean?”

            “Yeah,” said SteelStar.  “I guess I can see that.”

            He hesitated.  She hadn’t asked anything about him yet, but the knowing look in her eye told him that she already knew.

“I suppose you know who I am?” asked SteelStar.

            “Kind of hard to miss, dude,” said Celerity.  “But I saw Spectramancer’s video.  I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

            “Trust me,” said SteelStar.  “You don’t want to.”

            “Yeah, I’m sure.  So…you figured out who I am yet?  Aside from my superhero persona, I mean.”

            SteelStar had a pretty good idea.  He remembered a news story from about four years ago.

            “You’re Laura Landry, aren’t you?” asked SteelStar.  “You were booted from the Partition City High School running program for cheating with superpowers.”

            It wasn’t unheard of for a power user to use their powers in sporting events.  SteelStar remembered the case of a famous weightlifter who was discovered pulling a few tones of concrete off himself after a building collapse.  It was a huge scandal, and since then, there had been rules and procedures for professional sporting events to prevent cheating with powers.  Power users were, as a rule, barred from sporting events as their powers were often considered an unfair advantage.  Of course, detecting superpowers was harder for a high school than in a professional league.

            “Well,” said Celerity.  “Yes, that’s my name, but that’s not quite what happened.”

            “That’s what everyone said.”

            “Yes,” said Celerity, smirking.  “And as we both know, it has to be true if everyone’s saying it.”

            SteelStar smiled.

            “Point taken,” said SteelStar.  “So, what happened?”

            “Dormant mutation,” said Celerity.  “Lies hidden until later in life.  They’re pretty hard to detect.  I think only the army has the tech to catch that sort of thing, so a lot of cases like me slip under the radar.”

            “And it’s just coincidence that your powers kicked in during a race?”

            “No.  Not really.  I learned from my doctor that heightened emotions can trigger dormant mutations.  Emotions such as excitement at proving myself to talent scouts.”

            “Oh, right,” said SteelStar, rubbing his chin.  “I’ve heard of that.  The Goldstein effect.  So you’re excitement to win triggered your mutation, making you ineligible to compete?”

            She nodded.

            “Man,” said SteelStar.  “That’s gotta hurt.”

            “You’re telling me,” said Celerity.  “And I worked so hard to be the fastest runner.  I wanted to win so bad.  Thought one day I’d get a gold medal at the Olympics, but I’m ineligible for that, too.”  She sighed.  “Can you imagine putting in all that work, only to have your dreams ripped from you at the last minute?”

            SteelStar thought about it.  Learning to control his powers had taken a lot of training.  His metal form would be stronger if transformed from strong muscles, so Andy had dieted and exercised a lot.  Learning to gauge his internal energy and hit targets with electricity accurately took quite a bit of practice.  Last but not least, flying had been difficult at first.  At first, he’d kept running into trees, but now he could dodge and weave through things easily.  He’d done a lot of work to become a superhero.  Now the E.H.O.D. was threatening to take that away from him.

            “Yeah,” said SteelStar.  “I can imagine.”

            “Hey!” cried Centurion.

            The armored superhero flew over.

            “Where were you?” he demanded.

            “Sensed a car accident,” said SteelStar.  “Went to do something.  You know…my job?  I notice you weren’t there.”

            “Don’t get smart with me, you little twerp.”

            “Would you rather he be stupid?” interjected Celerity.

            Centurion turned his helmet towards her.

            “Who are you?” he asked.

            “Celerity,” she said.  “What’s your problem?”

            SteelStar cleared his throat, “I’m…under review by the E.H.O.D. and he’s shadowing me.”

            “Oh,” said Celerity.  “I see.  Well, I’ll let you get back to it.  Nice meeting you.”

            “Yeah,” said SteelStar.  “Nice meeting you.”

            And Celerity sped off, kicking up a gust of wind as she did.

            Centurian grunted, “If you’re done cruising for chicks…”

            “I wasn’t,” snapped SteelStar.  “I told you, I sensed an accid…”

            “Don’t care,” said Centurion.  “Just stay where I can see you if you know what’s good for you.”

            SteelStar clenched his fists.

###

SteelStar spent a few more hours helping around the city by stopping a robbery, pulling some people out of a burning building, and dealing with a mutant kitten the size of a lion.  The kitten wasn’t even particularly dangerous.  It just kept chasing neighborhood dogs to play with them.  SteelStar was able to calm the kitten down and carry it to a temporary holding facility.  It would be cared for until it reached maturity and transferred to a mutant reserve.

            Centurion didn’t help with any of them but just watched.  That was fine with SteelStar, as he didn’t want to work with the man.  Centurion, for the most part, was pretty quiet.  SteelStar wasn’t making any mistakes, so Centurion didn’t have much ammo.

            The worst part was that hecklers had come out.  Even when SteelStar was pulling people out of a burning building, some would show up and start angrily shouting at him that he was a murderer.  He shouted back to show some respect for people in danger, but they didn’t seem to care.  As bad as that was, the thing that hurt most was when SteelStar would reach his hand out to help people escape the fire, and they would hesitate upon seeing him.  He just wanted to help, and they were recoiling from him.  No one refused his help, thank goodness, and they did thank him once he carried them out of the building, but SteelStar still felt stung every time it happened.

            Finally, as SteelStar flew around the city in his metal form, he got an alert on his smartwatch.  An armored vehicle procession was being attacked by a pair of supervillains, namely Draego the half dragon and Deathstare the all seeing.  The pair of supervillains were also supported by some mechanical drones controlled by an unknown source.

            “Well, well, well,” said Centurion.  “A real test.”

            SteelStar tried not to take that as a veiled threat as he flew to the scene, Centurion following closely behind.