Graceful as a startled swan.
Fluid as a drifting dragon.
Drex Valen quietly studied the woman standing before him.
Fortunately, Lyra Yan had originally co from a highly detailed 3D character design, much like Tifa. Reconstructing her in reality wasn't especially difficult.
Characters like Esdeath had been far more complicated.
Turning an animated figure into a believable living person required absurd precision, endless adjustnts, and far more patience than Drex liked admitting.
Lyra radiated contradiction.
Warm yet distant.
Elegant yet dangerous.
Playful enough to lure people in before they realized they were being manipulated.
Beneath her alluring calm burned a fiercely passionate personality, one that loved openly and hated honestly.
Drex had no intention of pretending otherwise.
Yeah.
She was absolutely one of his favorites.
And considering how many won from that series he liked, Lyra was only the beginning.
There would be more later.
One at a ti.
No reason to rush.
Like the others, her body carried Kryptonian soldier genetics as a foundation. Drex had also integrated pyrokinetic mutant genes modeled after Pyro's abilities, along with telepathic mutant genes.
The telepathy wasn't for offense.
It was protection.
Drex had no interest in seeing soone else hijack her mind through psychic manipulation.
Besides, pairing Lyra's flas with Esdeath's ice sounded entertaining in more ways than one.
Bit by bit, Drex refined every detail.
With a Kryptonian super-brain assisting him, the final result bordered on perfection. Every expression, every movent, every subtle detail matched flawlessly.
If anything, the real version possessed even more life than the original.
Drex's thoughts drifted elsewhere.
"Now that Lyra's finished... maybe I should start looking at characters from other universes next. Super Seminary has a few interesting options..."
As mories integrated and electromagnetic stimulation activated her neural patterns, Lyra slowly opened her eyes.
Drex had originally wanted to dress her in her iconic fla-thed ancient outfit.
Then common sense intervened.
Walking around modern Earth in ornate fantasy-era clothing attracted entirely too much attention.
So instead, he chose professional office wear.
Which sohow made her even more dangerous.
Black pencil skirt.
Black stockings.
High heels.
A fitted blouse hugging elegant curves.
The overall effect was devastating to Drex's concentration.
"Drex..."
Lyra recognized him instantly through the implanted mories.
Stretching lazily, she stepped down from the platform with smooth confidence, heels clicking softly against the floor.
Her eyes were vivid and alive, filled with intelligence and faint amusent.
Drex gently touched her cheek.
He knew perfectly well that he had created her himself.
That didn't matter.
Not anymore.
"Co on," he said quietly. "I'll introduce you to the others."
He brought her to et Tifa Lockhart and Esdeath.
Drex wasn't planning to create every figurine girl all at once.
Relationships still needed ti to breathe.
Dropping dozens of won into the sa environnt simultaneously sounded like engineering a social apocalypse.
Esdeath and Tifa didn't react too strongly after seeing Lyra.
Mostly, they just felt slightly conflicted about suddenly gaining another "sister."
Then both won rembered one important detail.
Drex was an absolute monster physically.
For ordinary humans, thirty minutes already counted as impressive.
Kryptonians didn't operate by ordinary standards.
Sessions stretched to absurd lengths.
And despite both won possessing Kryptonian bodies themselves, they still consistently lost against Drex's terrifying stamina and raw physicality.
Especially recently.
Ever since his evolution into Doomsday, he had sohow beco even more overwhelming.
The conclusion ca naturally.
Another woman helping absorb the damage might actually be a blessing.
"Esdeath," the blue-haired woman introduced herself first, noticeably friendlier than before.
Tifa simply smiled and started talking with Lyra normally.
"Take your ti," Drex told the three of them. "I've got sothing else to handle."
Leaving them to build familiarity, he departed to et Thunderbolt Ross.
"You want to give up my position as Secretary of State and join S.W.O.R.D. as an S-Class hero?"
Ross looked genuinely surprised.
"That's right."
Drex sat calmly across from him.
"General Ross, you're Red Hulk. Threat levels keep escalating. Monsters are evolving. Aliens have already arrived on Earth."
He leaned slightly forward.
"Compared to that, being Secretary of State doesn't an much anymore."
"And you know exactly how important S.W.O.R.D. has beco."
The truth was simple.
Drex still felt S.W.O.R.D.'s upper ranks lacked enough overwhelming power.
Thing replacing Captain Arica as part of the "Big Three" sounded impressive publicly, but realistically?
Compared to the monsters Drex himself had engineered, Thing was basically an extrely durable punching bag.
That wasn't enough.
Drex intended to build sothing far stronger.
Not rely an Avengers-level organization.
Sothing capable of rivaling even the Justice League.
His plan was already moving forward.
First, unleash Emil Blonsky publicly as a massively upgraded Abomination and allow him to display overwhelming power.
Then recruit him into S.W.O.R.D. as an S-Class hero.
Afterward, bring Ross in as well.
Super Abomination.
Red Hulk.
Hulk.
Thing.
Iron Man.
Five monsters standing at the top of Earth's power structure.
The Five Titans.
Honestly, that lineup could probably fight a Justice League roster that didn't include Superman.
Though admittedly, Shazam and Martian Manhunter would still be terrifying matchups.
Especially Martian Manhunter.
One J'onn could probably dismantle three Hulks by himself.
At that exact mont, Blonsky was already rampaging through city streets in his Super Abomination form.
Drex opened a live feed for Ross.
"See?" Drex said calmly.
"Humanity needs every weapon available."
"We need to unite every possible force if we want to survive the Monster Association... or whatever else is hiding out there."
Ross smoked quietly while watching the footage.
Honestly, the decision wasn't difficult.
S.W.O.R.D. already operated above most national governnts in practical terms. Every major country on Earth funded and supported it now.
Compared to that, being Secretary of State for a single nation suddenly felt... limited.
Especially when the office itself no longer carried overwhelming authority.
anwhile, S-Class heroes had beco one of the most desired positions in Arica.
For younger generations, "President of the United States" had actually dropped to third place on dream career lists.
Second place was A-Class hero.
S.W.O.R.D. poured enormous resources into supporting superheroes, and the culture surrounding them had exploded worldwide.
Ironically, that shift even reduced the number of future supervillains.
A surprising number of enhanced individuals had started thinking:
Why beco a criminal when being a celebrity superhero looked way better?
Of course, Drex had built safeguards into the system.
The Sentinel robots weren't only for evacuation support and disaster response.
Their na carried another purpose.
Sentinels watched people.
Including superheroes.
Drex had absolutely no intention of allowing the kind of "heroes" seen in The Boys to erge under S.W.O.R.D.'s banner.
Corruption.
Exploitation.
Violence.
Using hero status for assault, intimidation, abuse, or outright murder.
The mont soone crossed the line, Drex locked them up without hesitation.
At this point, more than a hundred superheroes had already been arrested and imprisoned by S.W.O.R.D.
Drex despised people like that.
One piece of trash could poison public trust in every hero alive.
n abusing fa to manipulate won.
Bullies hiding behind heroic branding.
Predators pretending to be saviors.
Drex's eyes turned cold.
"Scum worse than criminals," he said quietly. "People like that should just die."
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