Drex Valen hadn't orchestrated all of this chaos for entertainnt.
He was redirecting pressure.
He knew perfectly well that governnts around the world were deeply uncomfortable with the fact that he controlled the single largest concentration of superheroes on Earth. Behind closed doors, countless officials and intelligence agencies had already discussed ways to replace him, undermine him, or seize control of the Hero Bureau entirely.
Drex didn't particularly care about their sches.
But he did understand one thing:
Internal conflict was wasteful.
So why not give humanity a larger enemy?
Once survival itself beca the priority, political hostility naturally shifted toward the imdiate threat.
And it worked.
After the Monster Association's assault, governnts temporarily abandoned their attempts to interfere with the Hero Bureau. Experiencing firsthand what a coordinated global monster invasion looked like had forced humanity into a very uncomfortable realization.
Without the Hero Bureau, civilization would already be collapsing.
That outco also aligned nicely with another of Drex's concerns.
Politicians and billionaires in worlds like Marvel, DC, and countless other universes all shared the sa suicidal habit:
They constantly tried to put leashes on beings capable of leveling cities or killing gods.
And they never truly understood the consequences if those beings stopped cooperating.
Sooner or later, so superheroes resisted control.
Then another group of heroes inevitably sided with governnts and "public order," convincing themselves they were defending freedom and stability.
The result?
Superheroes tearing each other apart while humanity watched from the sidelines.
A political trick so primitive it should never have worked.
And yet it always did.
Manipulate idealists.
Exploit morality.
Turn heroes against heroes.
Again and again, superhuman conflicts left both sides broken while the people in power maintained control from a safe distance.
Drex had seen the pattern too many tis.
During the original Infinity War tiline, when Thanos invaded Earth with an alien army, what did the world's governnts accomplish?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Humanity's leaders could only stand there praying that the superheroes would save them.
Then, once the crisis ended, those sa governnts imdiately returned to demanding regulations, oversight, and obedience from the very people who had saved the planet.
Over ti, the heroes changed.
By the later eras of the Avengers tiline, many of Earth's greatest defenders had stopped seeing themselves as guardians of ordinary people. Their perspective expanded outward toward cosmic order, galactic balance, and multiversal stability.
Compared to the scale of the universe, human lives began feeling… smaller.
Colder.
Distant.
Millions dying beca statistics instead of tragedies.
At one point in a future tiline, the Illuminati rose as Earth's true hidden rulers while the Avengers themselves gradually evolved into the planet's unofficial overlords.
There had even been a crisis involving the Lord of Nothingness and the Abyss invading Mars before turning Earth into an experintal playground. Entire cities were annihilated. Millions died.
The Avengers fought the entity to a standstill.
Then, after negotiations and ideological debates, the cosmic destroyer joined the Avengers.
Its genocide against humanity was quietly swept aside.
Because by then, the Avengers no longer viewed themselves as representatives of mankind.
From a cosmic perspective, the death of a few million ordinary humans simply didn't outweigh the value of a higher-dinsional superbeing.
Drex had no intention of allowing that kind of future to happen here.
Politicians and corporations could handle politics and business.
Superheroes should focus on saving lives and enforcing justice.
Simple.
As for who should serve as humanity's ideal superhero?
Drex had actually given that a lot of thought.
In the end, his answer was surprisingly straightforward.
Iron Man.
Tony Stark was flawed in all the right ways.
Arrogant.
Brilliant.
Self-destructive.
Sharp-tongued enough to offend half the planet without even trying.
There was a running joke that most Marvel villains existed because Tony Stark had annoyed them personally at so point.
And yet…
When everything truly mattered, Tony never failed to stand up.
That humanity mattered to Drex.
Unlike a certain star-spangled icon.
If Captain Arica had remained completely unwavering, Drex might have chosen him instead.
But Steve was still human.
He had biases.
Personal loyalties.
Emotional blind spots.
And those flaws had helped ignite the Civil War.
Realistic flaws, yes.
But flaws that made him less reliable as a universal symbol.
Of course, Drex himself benefited enormously from the Monster Association crisis.
The Hero Bureau's authority and influence had skyrocketed overnight.
And then there were the orders.
Endless orders.
War Machine platforms.
Iron Mongers.
Military drones.
Weapon systems.
BladeTech Industries had effectively turned a global catastrophe into the greatest advertising campaign in modern history.
The entire world had watched Drex's technology hold the line against monsters while conventional militaries crumbled.
Now the orders ca flooding in from every direction.
Governnts.
Financial conglorates.
Private military groups.
Corporate dynasties powerful enough to influence entire national economies.
And the quantities being requested were insane.
Not small security contracts anymore.
Not symbolic purchases.
These people were trying to build armies.
Real armies.
"What the hell are they planning?" Drex muttered, frowning at the latest procurent reports.
He enjoyed making money as much as anyone.
But mass orders involving tens of thousands of War Machine units started looking less like defense spending and more like preparation for global conflict.
Yes, the Monster Association was terrifying.
But not terrifying enough to justify purchasing enough armored combat suits to start a world war.
The urgency made it even more suspicious.
Fortunately, Drex had an easy excuse.
BladeTech's manufacturing capacity simply couldn't keep up with demand.
At least not yet.
Another major developnt followed soon after.
The United States officially rebuilt S.H.I.E.L.D..
The original organization had largely dissolved after the Hero Bureau erged, since both agencies overlapped heavily in purpose and authority. Nick Fury himself had even transferred into the Hero Bureau as Deputy Director of Operations.
But after the Monster Association incident, even Fury reluctantly admitted that destabilizing the Hero Bureau now would be catastrophic for humanity.
That didn't an he trusted Drex.
Far from it.
Nick Fury still maintained contingency plans for scenarios involving Drex losing control… or every superhero on Earth suddenly going rogue overnight.
But at the mont, humanity needed stability more than paranoia.
So the United States adapted.
The newly rebuilt S.H.I.E.L.D. would no longer function as an international organization.
Now it existed purely to serve Arican interests.
It possessed authority equal to the CIA and FBI combined while operating above all three major U.S. intelligence agencies.
And unsurprisingly, its new director was an old familiar face.
Alexander Pierce.
Which ant things were probably about to beco even more complicated.
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