In the private medical chamber of IronSoul Tower, GirlSteel rested in a stasis pod, bathed in golden healing light. Her vitals were stabilizing. Bones regenerating. Her body, though superhuman, had been pushed to the brink. Atlas Vale stood at the glass, arms crossed, eyes lost in memory. 21 years ago. Neo Valley San Francisco USA . Before he was IronSoul. Before she was GirlSteel. She was Stella Raine confident, athletic, always first to jump in when someone was being bullied. He was Atlas Vale quiet, awkward, always sketching designs in his notebooks instead of eating lunch. They were an unlikely pair. But one afternoon, he dropped his tech project in the hallway. No one helped. Not until she did. "You build all this?" she asked, holding up a spider-bot with sparking legs. He nodded, nervous. "Y-Yeah. Just prototypes." She smiled. "Looks cooler than anything in science class. Mind if I hang out sometime?" That was the beginning. They became inseparable. She helped him dodge bullies. He helped her study physics. They built things together drones, model rockets. Sometimes she'd vanish mysteriously for days. He always thought it was family stuff. He never knew she was secretly training to become GirlSteel San Francisco"future protector. And she never knew he would become something greater. Back to the Present. The stasis pod hissed. Her eyes fluttered open, faintly glowing. "...Atlas?" Inside, GirlSteel stirred. Her eyes fluttered open faintly glowing with that familiar warmth. Her voice came out in a rasp, soft and disoriented.
"...Iron Soul…wait who are you?" She shock.
He turned, surprised but relieved, his face softening behind the dim glow of his helmet.
"Hey, Steel."
She managed a weak smile… then blinked harder as realization set in. Her eyes scanned his face, tracing every familiar line.
"Wait… Atlas Vale? We've… we've met before. Back in high school… You " She surprised.
He paused. His voice quiet, nostalgic.
"You remembered."
"You were the quiet one. Built things in the back room. Always drawing strange machines."
Her smile grew, even through the pain.
"I always wondered where you disappeared to."
Atlas knelt beside her, nodding softly."Somewhere far. Too far. But I'm back now."
"You have long hair You grew a beard. Looks… weird." She coughs and smiles.
He chuckled, stepping closer.
Atlas replied "You almost got vaporized and that's your first comment?"
She reached for his hand.
"I knew you'd come." she whispered.
"Even when I saw the end… I still believed."
Atlas swallowed hard. "I wasn't fast enough. You almost" "But I didn't."
she cut in, squeezing his fingers. "Because of you." They sat in silence for a moment.
The Monsters invasion over. For now. "You remember high school?" she asked, eyes misty.
"When you said one day you'd build something that could change the world?" He listens.
"I remember you believed it before I did." She smiled. "You did it, Vale. You changed everything."
End scene credit: A sudden sinister superman like villain Far, Far away from the cosmos showed out...
To be continued…