In the vast, dry desert of Arizona lie many jagged mountains and red rocks. One of such massive rocks hides a secret. A shadow of a jet hovers over the red summit, but no aircraft appears above. From the middle of the mountain top splits open a large hatch, revealing a high-tech base inside. Wind blows dust in all directions, as the invisible, stealth jet floats down inside the hanger. The red rock doors slide shut over it.

A tall, reinforced door lifts from the reflective, black floor. In walk three figures on the blue carpet leading to a round table. First, a woman made entirely of water in a flowing dress of her own making. Atop her wet hair lies a silver crown with a blinking yellow light; her eyes glow the same color. Second, a hunched dinosaur-man hybrid standing about nine feet tall. Covering his skin are greenish brown scales, with a trail of graying, red hair from his scalp to his back spines. He wears a black vest in an attempt to look fancy, far too small for his barrel chest.

Dressed in the finest tuxedo available, Eduardo steps down the blue carpet towards the round table. There he presses a sequence of buttons, causing a British male's voice to say in a robotic tone, "Base lockdown complete. Welcome home, Knight Vision, Lady Lake, and Tyler Ano." Just behind him walks Lady Lake with a terribly sad expression. "I never thought we would see the day," she said, "but Tatiana would be happy with how many of her friends attended her funeral."

In contrast to the monstrous appearance of Tyler Ano, his voice sounds calm and reserved with a slight growl underneath. "It was a wonderful celebration of her life. We can't let tragedy dictate how we remember her." The two super heroes await their friend's reply but get nothing. A watery hand is placed over Eduardo's. "Eddie, we know emotions are not your strong suit, but-" "Talking about Tatiana won't solve her murder faster, Lake," says the scarred man with his back turned, "I suggest we all get to work."

In a fit of rage, the dinosaur man punches a hole clean through a metal wall. Sparks fly from internal wires, as he shouts in a deeper, roaring voice. "GRAH!! Just wait 'til I find this bastard! I'll-" Eduardo once more interrupts. "Lashing out at anyone won't help either, Tyler. We need solid evidence before bringing whoever did this to justice." The wild look in Tyler's reptilian eyes return to more human-like pupils, and his voice softens again. "Apologies."

Lady Lake would shed a tear, if her body wasn't already made entirely of water. "Grieving and solving a murder are not the same things," she says, "Eddie, you need to stop working and deal with this...Vee needs her father." A moment of silence from the three is only broken by tapping of buttons on the circular console. Eduardo stops for just a few seconds to say, "She's managed without me so far." Lake turns her face away in sorrow, while Tyler Ano begins to carefully take off his much too small vest. He asks, "You don't think it could be..." Eduardo's fists tighten before he says, "It's too early for assumptions."

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19 years ago...

Over an empty street hill, a rounded van with peace signs flies over at great speed. Arms raised, the young Tyler Ano with bright red hair catches the vehicle. His razor sharp toenails scrape across the asphalt from the weight. With a mighty roar of a T-rex, he places the van down. People inside jump out and run for their lives from the approaching woman of steel. In torn, casual clothes, Miss Steel walks over the street hill and looks down at The Mighty Five. Lady Lake bursts out of a fire hydrant and forms her body next to Knight Vision. Compared to his all dark outfit, the younger hero dons armor in blue and gray colors.

Knight Vision turns his ear to the sound of a jet and presses his finger to his ear. "Power Metal, stand down. We don't know if she's hostile." In the clear blue sky flies a gold and blue mech suit. Targeting reticles in his visor lock on to Miss Steel standing atop the hill. She notices him as well, thrusting forward her fist to fire a beam of blue light. Power Metal kicks out his left leg thruster to dodge just in time. "Looks hostile to me. I'm going in." "No! Wait!" Knight Vision's warning goes uncared for, as the man in metal rockets parallel to the road with both fists forward. Twin missiles pop out of his forearms and fire straight ahead.

"Jauta la ukima!" shouts Miss Steel in her own language. Her stance widens, as she crosses her steel arms in front of her face. Both speeding missiles explode upon impact, shaking the entire city block and shattering nearby car windows. Miss Steel, however, remains in place with slight cracking on her arms. Inside his helmet, Power Metal zooms in to see blue blood leaking from her steel skin. "Not so invincible now." Now flying at max speed, he pulls back his left arm for a mighty blow. A powerful hit, but not from Power Metal. Miss Steel had perfectly timed an uppercut into her enemy's chest, launching him skyward.

A shadow zooms across the street before the broken suit of Power Metal slams on top of the peace van. Knight Vision stares at his friend lying on his back with sparks shooting off his chestplate, then turns to the metal woman. "Miss Steel," he says in a much less gruff voice than current day, "We don't have to fight. We just want to talk." Talking would prove to be difficult, as Miss Steel says in an indiscernible language, "E bummis omcaqrsumc xio, golum!"

Carefully Knight Vision steps closer to the alien with raised hands and lowered faceplate. In response, Miss Steel lifts both fists with a bright, blue light surrounding them. "Easy. Eeeasy." The nervous hero jesters with his hands, in an attempt of getting his message across. "Friend. Do you understand that?...Friend." Knight Vision points to his heart while repeating his last word. A gentle smile appears on his young face, causing the contrasting, angry expression on Miss Steel to fall. "F...fr..." "Yeah, that's it. F-r-i-e-n-d." "Fr...end?" "You got it!"

At this point, Knight Vision and Miss Steel were arm's reach apart, so he extended an open hand to her. Cautiously the titanian does the same. Knight Vision's hand felt warm in hers, a feeling that led her to smile a bit. It was only now Eduardo realized how beautiful she was. Perhaps the butterflies in his stomach caused him to take a risk. "Eduardo," he said quickly and quietly so no one else could hear, "That's my name. What's yours?" Miss Steel looked as if she was figuring out what he meant in her head, then it clicked. "Tatiana," she said with a giggle.

Using his large stature, Tyler Ano picks Power Metal up from the partially crushed van and stands him up on uneasy feet. "Are you alright, Raymond?" he whispered. The injured Raymond looked at his dino-hybrid ally with disgust and kept that expression as he turned to Miss Steel. Seeing his friend getting chummy with her didn't help his humiliation either. His exposed eye under the broken helmet tilts down to his broken chest core. A single drop of Miss Steel's blue blood runs down into the chamber. The entire suit flashed back online for only a split second. Raymond's wide open eyes glance back up at Miss Steel once again. 

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Present...

The aged, bearded face of Raymond reflects in a glass beaker of blue blood in his right hand. Standing in a spotless white laboratory with shelves of equipment on nearly every wall, the man in a lab coat places the beaker into a slot of a machine with three others. One of which appears to be half empty and being sucked through a clear tube into the device. Most eye-catching is the red, symmetrical crystal being electrocuted from four rods inside a thick glass sphere. As the machine powers down with a whirring noise, a british female's voice says, "Titanite crystal formed, sir." "Excellent!" Raymond says, "With Tatiana in stasis, I've been able to siphon more blood and quicken the crystallization process."

Opening the glass container, Raymond removes the glowing, red crystal with his robotic, left hand. Unlike the Death Metal suit, this arm is completely gray. "Much faster than collecting drops from battle scenes." He then places the crystal in a suitcase, custom imprinted for a dozen more to be set in two rows. This was number four. Raymond's reflection in the spotless black floor matches his movement across the room. A family photo of four when Raymond was just a boy sits crooked on one of the countertops, which he gently turns back in place.

With a spin of his globe and pushing in of the Bermuda Triangle, a solid wall begins to rotate. A red light softly takes over Raymond's face. Before him stands the most beloved hero in the world, Miss Steel, sleeping in a tube of water lit by red lights below and above. Several needles are injected in her arms, legs and neck, all slowly leading out her blood of bright blue color. "Lucky for you, your species replenishes blood quicker than humans," says Raymond, "Or should I say, lucky for me." Miss Steel doesn't reply, only faintly breathes through her oxygen mask.

Raymond's mind takes him elsewhere. "Iris, show me what you found on those kids." Upon command, the screen on his robotic arm displays a list of four names. One by one he taps the screen and opens pictures of Chester, Amy, Lajon and Vee. "Nobody, nobody, nob- wait, I recognize that last name. Save Lajon Dust's records, Iris." "Right away, sir." Finally Raymond opens Vee's school yearbook photo. "Hmm. She didn't inherit Eduardo's ugly. Lucky kid."

The disembodied voice of Iris says, "I have detected the children's van in Phoenix, sir. An intersection CCTV screenshot is the source." Now Raymond strokes his rectangular beard with lowered brows. "Her half humanity makes her blood useless to me, but I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep track of her. Maybe even test her abilities." The pondering man takes a fresh beaker of blue blood from Miss Steel and injects it into the crystallization machine. With a pull of a lever, voltage afflicts the spilled blood inside. "Call Sting," he says. "Yes, sir."