Marvel's Kryptonian Scientist Chapter 16 16

A little money greased the right palms, and just like that, Drex obtained detailed records from veteran hospitals.

dical histories.

Psychological evaluations.

Combat records.

Family backgrounds.

He filtered ruthlessly.

Anyone with close family ties was removed.

Anyone too old, physically inadequate, or lacking exceptional combat history was discarded.

Even after that brutal selection process...

More than one hundred qualified candidates remained.

Arica's endless wars had produced no shortage of broken soldiers.

And this was only one hospital in New York.

Across the country, thousands more wounded veterans sat abandoned in military facilities, discarded by the sa machine they had served.

For Drex...

It was a goldmine of manpower.

He wouldn't be running out of recruits anyti soon.

Drex understood one important limitation:

He was a scientist, strategist, and superhuman.

He was not a professional manipulator.

So he outsourced.

He hired three elite lobbyists.

In Arica, persuasion itself was an industry.

These n specialized in selling dreams, legal loopholes, and desperation.

Morality was negotiable.

For the right price, they could convince drowning n to pay for water.

And so...

Using polished speeches, calculated promises, and carefully engineered lies, they approached crippled veterans who had long since given up hope.

n missing limbs.

n trapped in wheelchairs.

n whose remaining future consisted of hospital ceilings and morphine drips.

Drex offered them sothing impossible:

Restoration.

Strength.

Purpose.

The contracts were rciless.

Once signed, these n effectively sold themselves.

But most signed willingly.

Because hopelessness makes even chains look like salvation.

Soon, they were quietly transported to Texas.

To Drex's ranch.

Or rather...

His growing private nation.

The now-expanded 3,000-acre compound was flourishing.

Fresh air.

Green fields.

Massive infrastructure.

The transformation was surreal, especially in the harsh Texas borderlands.

To the arriving veterans, however...

It looked like a ranch.

Not a secret organization.

Not a revolutionary bioengineering empire.

Just land.

Lots of it.

Confusion spread quickly.

"Boss..." one veteran muttered. "This is the secret facility?"

Drex rely smirked.

"Follow ."

Inside the mansion, Drex led them downward.

Beneath the luxurious estate lay the real operation.

A sprawling underground complex, expanded through Drex's heat vision and superhuman labor.

Advanced laboratories.

Genetic engineering chambers.

dical systems decades beyond civilian science.

To ordinary soldiers...

It looked like science fiction.

Which was exactly the point.

Shock inspired obedience.

Standing nearby was Drex's first successful prototype:

The crocodile hybrid.

Now restored to human form, though his physique had permanently transford into a towering wall of dense muscle.

Drex gave a simple command.

"Soldier. Show them."

"Yes, Boss!"

In less than two seconds, before Newtonian physics could file a complaint, the man transford.

Bones shifted.

Muscles expanded.

Skin thickened.

Scales erupted.

A towering reptilian monster over seven feet tall stood before them.

The veterans froze.

Fear.

Shock.

Awe.

Then the crocodile soldier approached a demonstration weight set.

Five hundred kilograms.

Far beyond human capability.

He lifted it one-handed.

The tal bar bent under sheer force.

Silence consud the room.

Then...

Desire.

The wounded veterans' fear rapidly gave way to hunger.

Power.

Real power.

Drex let it settle before speaking.

"I can restore your bodies."

He paused.

"And I can give you strength."

He explained the Super Beast Serum.

Enhanced physiology.

Regeneration.

Transformation.

Combat superiority.

Then ca the warning.

"I've embedded a genetic toxin into the serum."

A lie, of course.

"If you fail to receive regular antidotes, your genetic structure will collapse. Total death. No remains."

The threat was deliberate.

Control mattered.

Drex was already developing superior mind-control systems, but fear would suffice for now.

"If anyone wishes to back out, I can erase your mories."

No one stepped away.

Not one.

They had already lost too much.

Then ca the questions.

One Black veteran raised what remained of his arm.

"Boss... I've got one concern."

"Go ahead."

"I don't want to look like a crocodile."

A pause.

"I'd rather be a lion."

A few others chid in.

"Insects would be stronger."

"Rhinos."

"Bears."

"Sothing better."

Drex considered them.

"Scientifically speaking, reptiles and arthropods offer superior survivability, regeneration, and structural advantages over mammals."

He shrugged.

"But if you insist on lions and tigers, I can accommodate your preferences."

Another soldier asked:

"What do we call this organization?"

Drex's eyes sharpened slightly.

"World Serpent."

The na landed heavily.

Ancient.

Predatory.

Global.

Perfect.

"I like it," the soldier said.

So did everyone else.

Ninety veterans underwent transformation.

Ninety broken n were reborn.

Their bodies twisted into monstrous hybrids.

Scales.

Horns.

Exoskeletons.

Enhanced muscle mass.

Predatory instincts.

At first glance, they looked less like soldiers...

And more like mythological nightmares.

But Drex's research had anticipated one complication:

Bestial instincts.

Primal aggression surged violently in newly transford minds.

The mont they awakened, many lost control.

Predators erged.

Chaos erupted.

Drex stood calmly with his hands behind his back.

The crocodile soldier moved to protect him.

Drex stopped him.

"No."

A faint smile crossed his face.

"I could use the exercise."

Then...

Drex unleashed himself.

A rhino hybrid charged first, powerful enough to flip armored vehicles.

Drex caught him by the horn with one hand.

Lifted him.

And hurled him like a wrecking ball.

The impact shattered multiple Beast Soldiers.

Then Drex entered the pack.

Every punch crippled.

Every kick shattered bone.

Every strike reminded them of one immutable truth:

No matter how monstrous they beca...

Their creator was still infinitely worse.

Minutes later...

The entire chamber was littered with broken super-soldiers.

Only Drex remained standing.

He flexed his hand once.

"Everyone calm now?"

The room answered with silence.

Beast instincts had been beaten out of them.

Literally.

And thus...

The World Serpent's first true army was born.