At their core, Drex Valen and Tony Stark were both madn.
History had proven ti and again that humanity's greatest leaps often began as ideas everyone else considered insane.
The world had no shortage of sensible people.
What it lacked were visionaries reckless enough to challenge its assumptions.
That said, there was a fine line between genius and disaster.
And Tony was currently standing right on top of it.
"Nobody can listen in here, right?" Tony asked.
Drex raised an eyebrow.
The seriousness in Tony's voice imdiately caught his attention.
"That important?"
"Yes."
Tony's expression didn't change.
"It's that important."
Drex leaned back in his chair.
"Anyone capable of eavesdropping on doesn't exist now and won't exist in the future."
Tony nodded.
"...I've been thinking about this for a long ti."
He stood and began pacing around the room.
"Ever since the Saiyan War. The Battle of New York. The Zerg invasion. Every major crisis we've faced."
His pace slowed.
"This is still just an idea. It isn't fully developed yet. And honestly, there's probably only one person I can discuss it with."
Tony glanced toward Drex.
"It's a crazy idea."
A faint smile tugged at Drex's lips.
"I reject the premise. I'm perfectly rational."
"Co on."
Tony snorted.
"No scientist is perfectly rational."
Ignoring Drex's objection, Tony continued.
The more he spoke, the more serious he beca.
"So what exactly are you trying to propose?" Drex asked.
Being called crazy for no reason was mildly irritating.
Sure, he occasionally beca obsessed with solving difficult scientific problems.
That wasn't madness.
That was focus.
Tony stopped pacing and looked directly at him.
"An organization."
Drex blinked.
"An organization?"
"A hero-led organization."
Tony folded his arms.
"No governnt control. No political interference."
His voice grew steadier as he explained.
"We recruit only people who are intelligent enough, influential enough, and trustworthy enough."
"We share information."
"We exchange ideas."
"We coordinate."
He pointed toward Drex.
"What you're building is too big for one person to handle forever. You'll need allies."
"Friends."
"The organization wouldn't have a leader. More like a council."
Tony's eyes glead.
"A round table. A gathering of equals."
For the first ti in the conversation, Drex looked genuinely surprised.
"So let get this straight."
"You want to create an organization above governnts."
"Independent from governnts."
"Run entirely by superheroes."
"And protected by strict secrecy."
Tony nodded imdiately.
"Exactly."
Then he added:
"And I need your support."
Drex was silent for a second.
Then he turned toward the room.
"Red Queen."
"Yes, sir?"
"Please contact Director Rogers and Deputy Director Nick Fury. Inform them that Minister Stark from the S.W.O.R.D. Oversight Division appears to be planning a rebellion."
"Understood."
"Wait!"
Tony nearly jumped out of his skin.
This was not how the conversation had gone in his head.
Not even remotely.
Drex, anwhile, looked completely calm.
The mont Tony started describing secret organizations and hero councils, Drex had already concluded one thing:
Tony Stark was about to start sothing.
And in Drex's experience, whenever a major disaster originated inside the Marvel Universe, there was an excellent chance Tony Stark or Reed Richards was involved sohow.
If it wasn't one of them, that alone was unusual.
As a result, Drex had developed a simple rule.
Never trust Tony Stark when he claid he had a great idea.
Especially when the idea involved secret organizations.
"You don't even want to hear the rest?" Tony asked.
"No."
"You can leave now."
Drex gestured toward the door.
"I'm sure Director Rogers and Deputy Director Fury would love to hear the details."
Tony looked as though soone had physically wounded him.
"Listen to ."
He tried again.
"This organization has a genuinely noble purpose. S.W.O.R.D. is constrained by governnts. There are things we can't do because of politics. But if we had an independent structure..."
Drex sighed.
Tony's thinking didn't surprise him in the slightest.
If anything, it was exactly what he'd expected.
No matter how much Tony matured, certain traits remained deeply embedded in his personality.
That conviction that if sothing needed to be done, he should be the one doing it.
That belief that he could solve problems others couldn't.
That certainty that his judgnt was better than most people's.
Compared to the younger Tony Stark, the current version was already significantly more restrained.
Years of failures, disasters, and hard lessons had tempered him.
But they hadn't changed who he was.
Governnt oversight frustrated him.
Rules frustrated him.
Being told "no" frustrated him.
The fact that he'd lasted this long before proposing his own independent superhero organization was honestly impressive.
Tony was many things.
Dishonest about himself wasn't one of them.
He understood both his strengths and weaknesses better than most people ever could.
Which was exactly why he'd spent years refining this idea before bringing it to Drex.
Tony knew he needed people capable of challenging him.
He'd said as much before.
When he made mistakes, he needed soone strong enough and intelligent enough to point them out.
Soone he respected.
Soone whose judgnt he trusted.
That person, in Tony's mind, was Drex Valen.
The one man he openly admitted he was still trying to catch up to.
Officially, Drex never called himself a superhero.
Yet from Tony's perspective, that distinction was aningless.
Every ti the world faced a crisis beyond the reach of ordinary heroes, Drex stepped forward.
Nobody required him to.
Nobody could force him to.
He wasn't obligated to risk his life.
Yet he always did.
And sohow, he always found a solution.
If that didn't make soone a hero, what did?
Tony had grown exhausted by politicians.
The endless compromises.
The hypocrisy.
The bureaucracy.
To a genius, wasting ti navigating incompetence often felt unbearable.
Part of him genuinely believed the world would function better if people like him simply bypassed the political process entirely.
What Tony failed to understand was why history had never worked that way.
There was a reason humanity had not spent centuries appointing its smartest scientists as absolute rulers.
Genius and wisdom were not the sa thing.
And brilliance alone was not enough to govern a civilization.
In fact, it could be dangerous.
A genius might create paradise.
Or catastrophe.
The unpredictability was precisely the problem.
Drex finally shook his head.
"You're thinking too much like a genius, Tony."
Tony frowned.
"aning?"
"No individual stands above society."
Tony opened his mouth.
Drex raised a hand.
"Don't interrupt."
"If your idea is truly correct, answer a simple question."
He leaned forward.
"Why hasn't humanity spent the last several thousand years putting its smartest people in charge of everything?"
Tony hesitated.
Drex continued.
"Isaac Newton was one of the greatest minds in history. Why wasn't he placed above the laws of Britain?"
"Albert Einstein changed humanity's understanding of the universe. Why didn't he beco humanity's supre leader?"
His voice remained calm.
But every word struck with the force of a hamr.
"The mont you decide that a handful of exceptional individuals should stand above the law because they know what's best for everyone else..."
Drex's eyes locked onto Tony's.
"...you've crossed into dangerous territory."
"That's not wisdom."
"That's arrogance."
The room fell silent.
"When exactly did those people gain the right to speak for all of humanity?"
"Do they understand what every human being wants?"
"Can they represent billions of lives?"
He pointed toward Tony.
"You spend your life operating far above ordinary people. Whether you admit it or not, that creates distance."
"A massive distance."
"What you see from your position isn't what everyone else sees."
His voice hardened slightly.
"What you believe is best is simply what looks best from where you're standing."
User Comments
0 comments from readers