Marvel's Kryptonian Scientist Chapter 138 138

Drex Valen hadn't expected the situation to take this kind of turn.

The United Nations wanted to formalize the Superhero Association into an official international agency.

That imdiately made him suspicious.

He sat silently, reviewing the proposal while considering what the UN was really trying to accomplish.

The organization's full proposed na was absurdly long:

Global International Strategic Attack and Defense Logistics Special Operations Bureau.

A bureaucratic monster of a title.

But the power hidden behind it was very real.

Every participating nation would establish local branches of the organization. Its agents would operate worldwide, and bureau credentials would supersede nearly every local restriction during missions. The agency would maintain direct partnerships with superheroes, possess its own ard forces, and operate independently across national borders.

For any governnt, an institution like that was terrifying.

It would also possess an extrely rigid employee ranking structure, elite training systems, vast military resources, and effectively limitless funding.

Of course, the bureau would also be responsible for handling the most dangerous disasters on Earth.

The proposal granted it authority to mobilize almost every departnt within any UN mber state except China.

Its privileges would place it above organizations like the FBI, NSA, and CIA inside the United States itself.

Funding would co directly from multiple governnts, including the U.S. Congress, Russia's Red Palace, Britain, France, Germany, and nurous other UN mber states. Wealthy private donors would also contribute industries and assets to support operations.

The bureau hadn't even officially ford yet, and already countless influential people were beginning to feel uneasy.

Anyone with political awareness could see how terrifying this organization might beco if left unchecked.

And yet it was still being created.

Nobody could stop it.

Under normal circumstances, an institution with nearly unrestricted authority, weak oversight, private assets, and military power should never have existed in the modern world.

But circumstances had changed.

Monsters and disasters kept appearing.

Again and again, governnts and military analysts reached the sa conclusion:

Without deploying catastrophic weapons that would cause massive civilian casualties and destruction, only superpowered individuals could minimize losses effectively.

And that realization had started terrifying the people who truly controlled nations behind the scenes.

Especially because that power currently rested in the hands of one man.

The bureau was, in essence, a negotiation offer.

Drex Valen would beco its director.

The position ca with staggering authority.

But there were conditions.

Nick Fury had to serve as deputy director.

And a governing council would be established to limit Drex's power.

The ssage underneath it all was obvious.

Superheroes were no longer viewed as celebrities or vigilantes.

They were strategic military assets more valuable than conventional warfare itself.

And regardless of whether Drex genuinely wanted justice or not, politicians and corporate elites saw an uncontrolled superhuman force as an existential threat.

After all, if superheroes decided to target them personally, what exactly were governnts supposed to do?

Order airstrikes on their own cities?

Launch thermobaric bombs at superhumans standing inside financial districts?

Escalate to nuclear weapons?

While secretly recruiting superheroes and building controlled supervillain programs in the background, world governnts had simultaneously decided to negotiate with Drex directly.

They also believed he was smart enough to understand the implications of the offer.

And he did.

That was precisely why he found it surprising.

From the very beginning, Drex had never believed the Superhero Association could survive forever.

This wasn't the world of One Punch Man. Organizations like the Hero Association didn't realistically function long term in a world built around real politics, intelligence agencies, corporations, and competing national powers.

Right now, monsters still existed.

That was the only reason Drex and a massive collection of law-breaking superheroes were being tolerated.

Without external threats, governnts would have eventually moved to leash them or destroy them.

But nations weren't stupid either.

They were never going to sit quietly and watch superheroes remain completely outside their control forever.

So after months of observation, this bureau had beco their answer.

What genuinely surprised Drex was the sheer scale of authority they were offering.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was already a colossal organization.

This new bureau would be even larger.

In fact, many of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s core functions were being absorbed into it directly. The old intelligence giant had effectively been gutted.

One of the bureau's most absurd privileges was unrestricted multinational engagent authority.

If a crisis erged, its ard personnel could imdiately enter another country, establish lockdowns, and begin combat operations without waiting for approval from the local governnt.

Provided that country hosted one of the bureau's branches, of course.

Even so, the authority involved was staggering.

Drex finished reading the conditions with growing interest.

Nick Fury becoming deputy director didn't surprise him in the slightest. S.H.I.E.L.D. had suffered politically after the rise of superheroes and monsters, and Fury's reputation had taken collateral damage, but competent people still recognized his ability.

The council, however?

That had to go.

After several intense online negotiations with representatives from multiple nations, the proposal was revised.

The governing council was removed.

Instead, the participating nations demanded a dedicated oversight division inside the bureau itself. Every mber of that departnt would co from international intelligence agencies, tasked specifically with monitoring abuse of power and internal corruption.

Notably, nobody bothered specifying how long Drex Valen could remain director.

Everyone understood the answer already.

As long as he stayed powerful enough, the position was his.

Drex leaned back slightly.

"Step two," he said calmly. "World Serpent's legalization is complete."

A plan he had spent over a year constructing had finally succeeded.

Because personnel selection for the bureau required his direct approval, governnts couldn't simply stuff it full of their own people.

And that gave Drex the perfect opportunity to move World Serpent mbers into the open under entirely legitimate identities.

That had been one of the biggest reasons he pushed the Superhero Association so aggressively in the first place.