Not a single recruit walked out.
Of course they didn't.
Everyone there understood what the Hero Bureau represented now. It was the most powerful and influential organization on the planet. These future agents dread of becoming the real-world equivalent of cinematic legends like Jas Bond or Ethan Hunt.
And only a place overflowing with superheroes and monsters could make that fantasy feel attainable.
Naturally, so of the recruits had ulterior motives.
Hydra infiltrators were almost certainly mixed into the crowd.
Drex Valen didn't care.
Eventually, all of them would beco his people anyway.
"The Hero Bureau…" Drex muttered afterward. "Still feels like the na could use work."
He'd already finished his speech in just a few short minutes.
No dramatic inspirational monologue.
No political theater.
Drex hated performative speeches.
Hero Bureau training wasn't particularly complicated anyway. It was just significantly harsher than most intelligence academies on Earth.
Soon afterward, he climbed into a luxury vehicle waiting outside the academy grounds.
The mont he sat down, Esdeath casually stretched one long leg across his lap.
The World Serpent driver stared rigidly ahead without reacting.
"Hero Bureau headquarters," Drex said.
Then he glanced at Esdeath.
"Black stockings don't suit you. You should stick with boots."
Esdeath ignored the comnt completely.
Instead, her leg slowly slid higher against him beneath the edge of his suit jacket.
"You know," she said lazily, "your little admirer has been bothering constantly lately."
Drex sighed.
"Which admirer?"
Did he even have that many people around him anymore?
Android 18 barely counted. At this point she was more of a mid-level World Serpent operative who had quietly integrated herself into the Hero Bureau system.
"And technically she was pre-registered," Drex thought dryly.
"Emma," Esdeath replied.
Drex blinked in realization.
Emma Frost had indeed been visiting World Serpent facilities constantly lately. As a telepathic mutant, she had nurous assignnts tied to intelligence operations, so Drex never considered it unusual.
But from Esdeath's tone…
Apparently Emma's motivations weren't entirely professional.
"She's adorable," Esdeath said with amusent. "She actually thinks beating will earn your approval."
Drex looked genuinely confused.
He didn't rember doing anything particularly suggestive toward Emma.
No manipulative flirting.
No emotional baiting.
Nothing.
And honestly, the idea of Emma defeating Esdeath was ambitious to the point of cody.
At this stage, Esdeath had already absorbed nearly all the solar radiation enhancent a normal Kryptonian body could handle. She'd effectively reached standard Kryptonian peak levels.
On Earth?
Very few beings could realistically challenge her.
Drex himself.
Ancient One.
Maybe the Sentry if he existed sowhere in this universe.
Possibly Hyperion.
Maybe Blue Marvel.
Beyond that?
Most of Earth's superhuman population would get flattened.
Even a coordinated attack probably wouldn't matter much.
The only real wildcard Drex could think of was Mister Fantastic sohow inventing a miracle solution at the last second.
Of course, killing Reed or Invisible Woman carried its own terrifying risks.
Franklin Richards existed.
And future Franklin attacking backward through ti was exactly the kind of nightmare scenario Drex preferred avoiding entirely.
That was one of the reasons he deliberately kept his distance from Susan despite finding her attractive.
Honestly, Drex generally avoided relationships with most Marvel heroines altogether.
Their approach to romance felt chaotic even by superhero standards.
Affairs.
Breakups.
Rebounds.
Relationship roulette on a cosmic scale.
Compared to that insanity, Drex found his artificially created companions significantly less stressful.
Besides, they were essentially perfect real-world ani heroines.
Hard to compete with that.
"I'm not interested in Emma," Drex said honestly.
He preferred mature won anyway.
Emma still felt too young for his tastes, even if he knew exactly how stunning she'd eventually beco.
As for Wanda Maximoff and Morgan…
Those were different.
The sheer scale of their future potential made them impossible to ignore completely.
And then there was Jean Grey.
Still missing.
In a universe without mutants, Jean almost certainly possessed a fragnt of the Phoenix Force.
The Phoenix Force.
One of the few cosmic powers Drex genuinely coveted.
Even after seeing the Dragon Force damage it before, he still considered the Phoenix Force one of the greatest powers imaginable.
With that kind of strength, he could stand against almost anything in existence.
Esdeath interrupted his thoughts.
"So you're not interested in Wanda either? Or Jessica? Or the missing Morgan?"
"I already have all of you," Drex replied.
He caught Esdeath's wandering foot before she could continue making trouble.
Honestly, he still believed black stockings weren't ideal for her.
Her legs were too striking to hide.
But the combination of thigh-high black fabric and the exposed strip of pale skin beneath her skirt created an absolutely lethal visual effect.
Drex could literally feel his hormone levels rising.
And then suddenly, his expression changed.
Without warning, he kicked the driver straight through the windshield.
Esdeath barely had ti to look confused before the car exploded.
BOOM!
Flas engulfed the entire vehicle.
Seconds later, Drex erged from the inferno wearing the Dark Knight armor while Esdeath vanished from sight entirely.
After pushing his electromagnetic control deep into the atomic scale, Drex had developed a primitive form of predictive perception. By observing microscopic atomic movent patterns, he could sotis detect fragnts of imdiate future outcos.
A scientific version of precognition.
That ability had just saved them.
Drex stared at the massive crater blown open beneath the street.
The bomb had clearly been hidden inside the sewer system directly beneath the route.
The explosion launched the vehicle into the air and tore it apart completely.
Even armored transport wouldn't have survived that blast intact.
"What kind of lunatic tries bombing now?" Drex muttered.
Nearby Hero Bureau agents imdiately sward the area to secure their director.
Drex turned toward them coldly.
"My route should've been swept in advance."
The agents stiffened instantly.
"And my travel schedule wasn't public."
That was the more troubling part.
Only trusted personnel knew his movent plans.
Which raised an unpleasant possibility.
Coincidence?
Or a leak?
"Director, we apologize!"
None of the agents tried deflecting bla.
For them, Drex wasn't rely a superior officer.
He was the man who effectively controlled their lives.
News that soone had attempted to bomb the Director of the Hero Bureau inside the United States spread like wildfire.
Every major Arican intelligence agency mobilized imdiately.
The White House exploded into fury.
Congress followed seconds later.
At a mont when the world was already hanging by a thread, soone still dared launch a terrorist attack against Drex Valen?
That crossed every possible line.
"Whatever it costs," one furious senator snarled, "find whoever ordered this."
The reaction hit New York like an earthquake.
From federal intelligence agencies down to ordinary local police, the entire city erupted into motion overnight.
Because soone had just tried to kill the most important man on Earth.
And Arica suddenly realized how catastrophic failure would look if they couldn't find the culprit first.
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