On the rooftop, Centurion slowly made his way towards Deathstare, his shield straining from the giant laser.  Deathstare was still combining many lasers from the eyes on the front of his body and was straining to keep the armored superhero back.  Centurion got closer and closer, pulling out a stun stick from his belt, sparks snapping at the end as he tested it.  He’d get close and knock Deathstare out with a nasty shock.  Centurion grinned at the thought.

            But when Centurion got close, Deathstar reached around the shield and aimed the eye on his palm.  The blast hit Centurion’s shield arm, knocking the shield out of the way and letting the eyes on Deathstare’s chest blast Centurion away.

            The glowing, armored superhero was thrown back, flying over the roof and falling. 

            Deathstare, closing the eyes on his body, cracked his fingers and looked at the roof where Centurion had fallen.

            “Yep,” he said. “Still got it.”

            Then he whistled as he walked away.

            Meanwhile, as Centurion fell, an alarm in his suit warned him that the antigravity device in his chest was damaged.  Centurion gave an exasperated sigh.  His power would strengthen the armor and protect him, but this was still really annoying.

            Centurion landed on his back, shattering the sidewalk and kicking up dust as he did.  Civilians had evacuated the area already, and Centurion was glad no one was around to see this embarrassment.

            “Centurion,” came the E.H.O.D. agent’s voice through the radio in Centurion’s suit.  “That new speedster girl got away with whatever these people were after, and SteelStar is currently fighting Draego.  Forget about Deathstare for a moment and go after him.”

            Centurion gave another exasperated sigh and responded irritably, “Fine.  Whatever you say.”

            The armored superhero stood up and tried using the mental link that controlled his antigravity device, but nothing happened.  He jumped up a few times, trying to make it work, but gravity stubbornly refused to stop working.

            Then he remembered that the antigravity device in his suit was broken, and he gave another exasperated sigh.  He couldn’t exactly commandeer a car or a motorcycle, not with this suit weighing him down.  Gritting his teeth in frustration, Centurion brought up his smartwatch to plan his route and then ran off.  Running on the sidewalk, his armored feet clanged with each step.

            “Fine, fine,” he muttered irritably.  “That’s just dandy.  I have to run in his heavy armor miles to catch people who can fly.  That’s just great.  Stupid, stinking piece of alien…”

            He continued muttering angrily the whole time.

###

SteelStar and Draego threw fire and lightning at each other, swerving away to avoid each other’s attacks.  Draego wouldn’t get close as SteelStar could run lightning through his metal skin, even as it remained red hot.  They flew around each other, fireballs exploding near SteelStar and Draego weaving around lightning bolts.

            Even though SteelStar’s lightning was instant, Draego somehow dodged it easily.  Meanwhile, the explosive fireballs got quite close to SteelStar, exploding inches away from him.  SteelStar could barely keep up, and one of the fireballs exploded right in the face, sending him spinning as he fell.

            Correcting himself and rubbing his red hot, sore face, SteelStar took a moment to consider his options.  While his metal was red hot, his durability was compromised.  However, Draego would have difficulty hurting him if he could cool down.  SteelStar knew he’d have to avoid that superhot blue fire, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.

            SteelStar dove down, looking for a fire hydrant, and found one quickly.  Draego quickly closed the distance and threw fireballs after SteelStar.  SteelStar dodged and weaved, hoping to throw him off, but a few fireballs exploded on the metal superhero’s back, making him grunt with pain.  However, he gritted his teeth and reached out his hand.

            Using magnetism, he pulled the left side of the bolt atop the hydrant and pulled on the bottom of the bolt on the side.  This caused both bolts to spin counterclockwise until the cap on the side shot off.  Water shot out of the fire hydrant, and SteelStar dived to fly through the stream.  As he came in contact with the liquid, steam burst in every direction, and SteelStar shivered as the heat was sucked from his metal body.

            When SteelStar flew out of the steam, his metal body gleamed silver, and he flew at Draego head on.  When the fireballs exploded on him this time, he felt nothing, his durability restored.  Draego, seeing this, unleashed more of that blue fire, which SteelStar swerved to avoid.

            This time SteelStar shot a bolt of lightning through the fire, hoping the flames would obscure his shot.  It worked, and Draego took a lightning bolt to the chest, sending him flying away as he grunted with pain.

            However, the half dragon quickly recovered and used jet streams to blast himself away.  Draego then dove straight towards SteelStar, his hands glowing with heat.  SteelStar flew forward and shot lightning bolts, which Draego dodged effortlessly.  The two superpowered beings met in the air, grabbing each other’s hands to force each other to surrender.  As they spun in the air, It looked like SteelStar would overpower Draego as the half dragon cringed from the pain in his hands.  However, the lizard man’s glowing hands quickly transferred heat directly into SteelStar’s body, making the metal superhero’s hands red hot.

            “Bad idea,” said SteelStar, channeling electricity through his hands.

            Draego cried out in pain as electricity lanced through his whole body.  However, the dragon man clenched his teeth and gave SteelStar a hateful glare, tightening his grip.  SteelStar, feeling his now red hot hands crushing under the strain, tried to pull away, but Draego was determined to hold on, even as electricity ravaged his body.

            Soon, SteelStar’s face was red hot again, and Draego headbutted SteelStar.  The metal superhero, feeling dizzy from the pain, tried to hold on, but Draego headbutted him again and again, sparks flying from each impact.

            Finally, SteelStar let go and plummeted, his head spinning.  Draego’s hovered there for a moment, his hands and feet unleashing fire jets, as he watched the metal superhero fall.  Smoke drifted from his scaly body now that the electricity was gone, and Draego chuckled in his deep, guttural voice.

            “As I said,” he muttered to himself.  “There are consequences for interfering.”

            And then he swayed, his fire jets going out as he became dizzy.  Draego then began falling, his wings rippling in the wind as he plummeted towards the ground.

            SteelStar hit the asphalt first, shattering the road and kicking up dust.  Draego hit the sidewalk a moment later to the same effect.  The pair of them lay there for a moment, dazed, but started getting up about the same time.

            As Draego got up, a small drone flew next to him.

            “Draego,” came Cipher’s voice.  “Fall back.  We need to regroup and plan our next move.”

            “I can beat this kid,” said Draego.

            “Maybe,” said Cipher.  “But I have eyes on Centurion.  He’s on his way.  His antigravity device is broken, but he has other weapons for dealing with people in the air.  Unless you want a  two on one fight, you better get out of there.”

            Draego stood and looked at SteelStar.  The red hot metal superhero had stood and held his fists.  While his red hot metal face looked determined, he swayed as if off balance, and his entire body shook.  Despite the beating he’d just taken, the rookie superhero was still ready to fight.  Draego had to admit.  The kid had guts.  Still, he couldn’t finish this just now.  Cipher was right.

            “We’ll have to finish this later, boy,” said Draego before turning around, spreading his wings, and blasting off.

            SteelStar didn’t give chase.  As much as he wanted to finish this, he wasn’t in a position to do so.  He was incredibly dizzy, which would make it harder to fly.  He could just as easily fly into a wall as catch the supervillain.   Reluctantly, he let Draego escape.

            SteelStar quickly cooled himself off with the fire hydrant he’d opened earlier, more steam pulling the heat from his body.  After turning the bolt atop the hydrant to turn off the water pressure, he put the metal cap back on the side and screwed it shut as well.  Once done, he returned to his grey skinned organic form and took a deep breath, looking around.  The hydrant had been spewing water long enough to drench the road nearby.  Examining his reflection from the water on the road, he noticed quite a few new bruises on his face.  Mom wasn’t going to like that.

            A moment later, SteelStar heard a clanking sound and looked up to see Centurion running towards him.  When Centurion got close, he stopped and rested his hands on his knees, panting from a lack of breath.

            “I’m here to…to help…”

            He continued panting, and SteelStar sighed.

            “Lucky me,” SteelStar muttered.

###

“So,” said the E.H.O.D. agent, writing in his notepad.  “You were defeated, Draego got away, and you destroyed someone’s car roof.”

            SteelStar, standing on the sidewalk, looked to his right and cringed.  There was a car with a dent in the roof from the manhole cover SteelStar had used to throw Draego off.  SteelStar had insurance, which was built in with Herofund, but this was still the kind of rookie mistake a new superhero tried to avoid.  He couldn’t blame this property damage on the supervillains.

            “Yeah,” said SteelStar.  “I know, but I helped Celerity get away with their target.”

            “Yes,” said the agent.  “The new speedster in town.”

            He wrote down some more, and SteelStar wondered what he was writing.

            Centurion sat on a bench nearby, his helmet off as he drank some bottled water.  He mostly seemed uninterested in the proceedings, which SteelStar was fine with.  The armored superhero hadn’t even witnessed SteelStar’s actions, so he couldn’t provide any input.

            “You also used a fire hydrant without notifying the local fire department,” the agent went on.

            “In an emergency involving a fire-based power user,” said SteelStar.  “Opening a fire hydrant is allowed according to city statutes.  I know what I’m allowed to do in this city.  Besides, it’s kind of hard to make a call with a half dragon throwing fireballs at me.”

            The agent looked up but didn’t respond and went back to writing in his notepad.

            “Still,” said the agent.  “Your loss at the hands of Draego is concerning.”

            “I mean,” said SteelStar.  “I’d call it more of a draw than a loss.”

            The agent ignored him, “You should be far physically stronger than him, your magnetic flight should give you superior maneuverability, and your lightning is significantly faster than his fireballs.  By all estimation, you should have been able to run circles around him, and yet he defeated you.  That suggests a wide skill gap, and I’m afraid that won’t look good on my report.”

            Of course there was a skill gap, thought SteelStar.  Draego had been doing this for over a decade now.  He wasn’t sure how Draego could consistently dodge lighting, but overall, SteelStar thought he did pretty well considering such an experienced opponent.

            “A superhero needs to be able to adapt to various situations.  If you can’t keep up, you’ll find yourself quickly overwhelmed.  You should consider the E.H.O.D.’s safeguard program.  We have a lot of specialized training for many different situations and can give you instant updates on a power user's strengths and weaknesses.

            “Who knows, it might help you…close that skill gap.”

            The way he emphasized ‘skill gap’ suddenly gave SteelStar a cold feeling.  The implication was clear.  If the skill gap would be a problem for the report, then joining the E.H.O.D.’s safeguard program would help with that report.  He was basically offering SteelStar a good score so long as he agreed to take orders from the E.H.O.D., losing any sense of independence and freedom he had.  If he refused, it would mean a bad score, and they could get that gag order to forbid SteelStar from hero work.

            Of course, it was illegal for the E.H.O.D. to blackmail a superhero into joining their program, but the agent hadn’t specially said it.  He’d just implied it, and his wording gave him plausible deniability if SteelStar publicly called him out.

            SteelStar clenched his fists angrily.

            “I’ll be fine,” he said.

            “Not from where I’m standing,” said the agent, putting his notebook away.  “Anyway, you’re on pretty thin ice.  No doubt Draego, Deathstare, and Cipher will try again once that item leaves the nearby military base.  You’ll have one more chance to deal with them.  That should tell me everything I need to know.”

            The agent turned and walked away, Centurion standing to follow him.  SteelStar, meanwhile, clenched his fists harder, glaring at the agent’s back as electricity involuntarily danced over his fists.