Time bent. And Atlas once a boy was returned to Earth. But something was off. He had left at 13 years old. Now, standing in apartment garage, he was 24, tall, bearded, with long blond hair and a hardened stare.. His childhood room was still untouched. He had grown... but the world hadn't. Ten years passed. Atlas Vale, now age 35, stood as the founder and CEO of IronSoul Industries he's very well successful man. While others built for money, he built for meaning. His masterpiece? The Titanus Suit a Mythralite-powered exo-suit with strength on par with Superman himself. Capable of flight, speed, and crushing force, it became the world's new defense. And yet...Here we go
The sun dipped low over the San Francisco Bay, painting the clouds in hues of crimson and gold. High above the city, where the air turned thin and the wind whipped fierce, a blur of motion streaked across the sky a figure in a sleek, armored exo-suit, glinting like a comet. Atlas Vale Ironsoul was scanning the skyline, systems locked onto a strange energy surge.
And then, he saw her.
A second streak cut through the air from the opposite direction. She hovered effortlessly, arms crossed, long black hair flowing behind her like a banner. Her dark brown eyes narrowed, locked onto him. Her suit was smooth and luminous alien in design, but built for battle. She was calm, but ready.
They hovered in silence, just a hundred feet apart.
Ironsoul neutral, cautious.
"Never seen you before… you're not from around here, are you?"
SteelGirl curious, sharp.
"I could say the same. That suit… it's from Earth's tech . It's something else."
Ironsoul quiet.
"I built it."
She blinked. Impressed, but hiding it.
SteelGirl.
"I sensed a pulse something powerful. You were testing it?"
Ironsoul.
"No… I was tracking someone. Something dangerous landed a week ago."
SteelGirl floating closer.
"So was I."
They circled slowly in the air, sizing each other up not as enemies, but as warriors trained to be careful. The skies hummed with tension.
SteelGirl:
"Name's SteelGirl."
Ironsoul nods.
"Ironsoul."
She arched a brow.
SteelGirl half-smiling.
"That's bold."
Ironsoul smirks.
"So is flying up to a stranger in powered armor."
Their silence was broken by a sudden boom in the distance another tremor of energy, far beyond the mountains. Both turned.
SteelGirl:
"Looks like we're on the same side. For now."
Ironsoul glancing her way.
"We'll see."
They blasted off together, unknown allies in a world of rising threats neither realizing how their paths were about to intertwine forever.
The city lights of San Francisco twinkled below as Atlas Vale stood on the rooftop of the old apartment building he once called home. The wind was cold. Familiar. But it couldn't hide the heaviness in his chest.
His helmet folded away with a hiss of steam, revealing a face aged by survival by war, by loneliness, by loss.
He looked out at the skyline, his eyes settling on a distant school playground. A memory struck him like a blade.
Eight years old.
His father waving goodbye at the curb.
The last time he saw him alive.
Atlas murmuring to himself.
"Just a quick ride to school… that's what he said."
The accident. A truck swerved. Sirens. A shattered windshield.
He had waited by the school gate… his father never came.
And his mother her warm hands, her humming voice. Gone too. She died giving birth to him. She never even held him once.
His fists clenched.
Atlas whispers:
"I came back home. But there's no one left."
He lowered himself to sit on the edge of the roof, his eyes glassy.
Atlas:
"Mom… Dad… would you have been proud of what I became?"
The night was silent. But in his heart, he heard their voices faint echoes from a life that felt a universe away.
Atlas resolute:
"I'll protect this world now. I promise."
Far above him, a faint shimmer in the sky flickered. Trouble was always near. But for this moment just a breath Atlas Vale allowed himself to feel human again.