Soar, the bio-enhanced eagle of Brute Force, patrols a heavily polluted industrial area and, unable to contain his rage, drops a boulder on a factory smokestack. Back at his control center, team creator and scientist Randall Pierce reprimands him sharply: their orders at this stage are to observe and report, not act. Soar bristles, but reluctantly backs down.
Each member of Brute Force is out on field observation. Wreckless, the armored bear, watches loggers clear-cutting a forest and barely suppresses the urge to intervene. Lionheart, the cybernetic lion, struggles with his predatory instincts while surveying farmland devastated by over-cropping. Hip Hop, the kangaroo, documents illegal dumping in the countryside. Surfstreak, the dolphin, is patrolling the Mississippi River, reporting on industrial waste being dumped into the water. Pierce monitors them all remotely, worried that the team's commitment is still untested.
A call comes in from Charles Sutton of the Fresh Air Group: an environmental watch organization has picked up a distress signal from a laden tanker in the Gulf of Mexico reporting active pollution. Pierce redirects Surfstreak to investigate. Surfstreak reaches the tanker — but before he can assess the situation, a team of armored animal mercenaries calling themselves Heavy Metal attacks. Armory, Uproar, Ramrod, Bloodbath, and Tailgunner storm the vessel, incapacitate the crew, and attempt to sink it. Surfstreak fights back but is overwhelmed and forced to withdraw.
Pierce pieces together a disturbing clue: Heavy Metal's armor is manufactured exclusively by Multicorp. Having established that Adam Frost — Multicorp's cold-blooded chairman — is the man behind Heavy Metal's creation, Pierce confronts him directly at his office. Frost plays innocent. After Pierce leaves, Frost calls the FBI and reports him, determined to neutralize the threat he poses.
Three hours later, Heavy Metal strikes again — this time attacking a tanker near New Orleans. Brute Force scrambles and the full team arrives by air. As the animals engage Heavy Metal in brutal combat on the tanker's deck, Pierce makes a reckless decision: he jumps from the plane, forcing Soar to catch him mid-air. On the deck, he deploys a device that temporarily nullifies Heavy Metal's armor enhancements, turning the tide. But before Brute Force can finish the fight, Heavy Metal receives new orders from their employer and retreats, promising the team they will meet again.
As Brute Force regroups, Soar questions why they let the enemy go. Pierce acknowledges the frustration but insists the team needs to develop true cohesion before they can effectively confront threats of Heavy Metal's scale. The moment of reflection is cut short when FBI helicopters descend on the scene — and Agent O'Donnell places Pierce under arrest for tanker piracy.
Excelsioring your collection