🆃🅷🅴 🅼🅴🆃🅰🅻 🅼🅴🅽

@DocWillMagnus Platinum smiled at him. Gold nodded. Iron crossed his arms, satisfied.

@MetalMenTeam Magnus stared at the inert machine. “Yes, Tin, you certainly did. You helped.”

“All right, all right… don’t rush me.” Magnus stood at the main console, coat half on, glasses crooked, tapping keys. The only thing rushing him, as always, was himself.

@DocWillMagnus The Metal Men moved as one! Iron charged, Lead shielded the console, Gold wrapped the intruder in precise bands, Mercury darted in, disabling joints, and Tin tripped, accidentally, into the probe’s core, shutting it down completely. They all stared. “D-d-did I help?”

@MetalMenTeam “No explosions!” Magnus snapped. “Minimal force! I want it intact!”

@DocWillMagnus Iron grinned. “Now 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 I can handle.”

@MetalMenTeam Magnus straightened his glasses. “Intention is overrated.” Before anyone could respond, the wall monitor flared to life! A robotic probe, foreign, hostile, and already breaking through the outer defense grid!

@DocWillMagnus Gold glanced at the readouts. “With respect, Doctor, control implies intention.”

@MetalMenTeam Magnus exhaled. “See? Perfectly under control.”

@DocWillMagnus She was already moving. “On it, Will!” Her hands flowed over the controls, sealing valves, redistributing power. The alarms softened, then stopped... Silence!

@MetalMenTeam Magnus froze, eyes widening. "By God's eyes," he whispered. “Platinum!” he barked.

@DocWillMagnus Lead lumbered forward slowly. “Doctor… pressure’s rising in the lower chamber.”

@MetalMenTeam Magnus didn’t look up. “I heard that.”

@DocWillMagnus - anything explodes it’ll be Magnus’s fault!”

@DocWillMagnus Gold hovered nearby. “Doctor Magnus, the atomic matrix is holding at optimal levels.” Iron cracked his knuckles. “Good! Because if it wasn’t, I'm ready.” Tin peeked out from behind a stack of equipment. “R-r-ready for what, exactly?” Mercury rolled his eyes. “Relax, Tin. If -

@DocWillMagnus @OfTruthAndWar @TornadoSentinel - Magnus did. And that was enough to make Platinum's chest feel heavier than her metal frame could explain.

@DocWillMagnus @OfTruthAndWar @TornadoSentinel - Platinum felt something bloom, sharp, bright, impossible to hide. She didn't know why. She only knew that this woman's arrival drew Magnus's focus in a way that stung. She followed the others toward the door, but glanced back once. Diana Prince didn't look at Platinum. -

Dr. Will Magnus, that brilliant, stubborn dreamer forging metal souls with a fire-hot genius, stood over the console, tightening a coil no one else on Earth could have named.

@DocWillMagnus @TornadoSentinel - awe, suspicion, and the quiet camaraderie only artificial beings could recognize.

@DocWillMagnus @TornadoSentinel - looked at strangers who didn't know how strange she truly was, ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑. They said none of it. The Metal Men thought like people and stood like soldiers, and now they regarded Red Tornado with a mix of -

@DocWillMagnus Mercury snorted. "We do, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡! We're the ones getting smashed." Tin raised a trembling hand. "D-d-doctor Magnus? Should w-we… put the Keeper on the shelf?"

@MetalMenTeam He gave a thin smile. "Another day, another machine trying to kill us. You know how it goes."

@DocWillMagnus Platinum stepped close, a hand upon his chest, worried. "Will, are you all right?"

@MetalMenTeam Magnus exhaled, suddenly aware of how long he hadn't blinked. He reached for his pipe and tobacco.

@DocWillMagnus - thrashing machine in a perfect coil until the motors sputtered out. Silence.

@DocWillMagnus The Metal Men stared. Gold nodded. "Understood, Doctor." In a neat, impossible ballet, they moved as one, Iron blocking a blow, Lead shielding the lab equipment, Tin squeaking apologies as he tripped into Mercury, who cursed loud enough to make Platinum wince. Gold wrapped the-