Drex Valen had discovered a new universe.
After a brief investigation, he realized it wasn't an ordinary reality at all.
At first glance, it looked mundane.
Beneath the surface, however, countless superheroes and supervillains had already erged onto the world stage.
This was a comic-book universe.
Unlike his previous arrivals, Drex didn't imdiately unleash the Golden Angels to purge evil.
Instead, he decided to observe.
For now.
The President of the United States hadn't been sleeping well.
Over the past year, the increasing appearance of superheroes had turned every day into a new crisis. After another restless night spent tossing and turning, he finally accepted his wife's advice and scheduled a complete dical examination.
The clinic he visited was one of the finest in Arica.
In fact, it ranked among the best dical institutions on Earth.
The word "clinic" in its na didn't do it justice.
Before heading in for testing, the President spent part of the morning online, venting his frustrations about the job.
Being President was difficult.
Trying to do it well was even harder.
His complaints eventually shifted toward the Arican healthcare system and how much taxpayer money it consud.
Those remarks imdiately struck a nerve.
Before noon arrived, while the President was still undergoing examinations, rumors had already begun spreading across the country.
The rumors multiplied at an astonishing rate.
Advisors, political allies, and even family mbers started calling one another in panic, trying to find out what had happened to him.
The ssage behind the rumors was obvious.
A warning.
Unfortunately for those responsible, they had picked the wrong target.
The President didn't care.
The mont his examination ended, he held a press conference and publicly blasted the organizations behind the dia coverage, accusing them of spreading fabricated stories for profit.
Then he returned to the White House and announced his intention to tackle one of the most difficult promises he had made during his campaign.
Healthcare reform.
In Arica, the healthcare industry represented an enormous concentration of wealth.
The financial interests tied to it accounted for more than twenty percent of the nation's economic output.
Every year, vast sums of public money flowed into the system.
The amount involved surpassed military spending and consud a staggering share of governnt revenue.
For many observers, the healthcare industry had beco a disease within the nation itself.
Everyone knew it existed.
Almost nobody dared confront it.
Compared to it, the financiers of Wall Street seed almost reasonable.
At least they could be negotiated with.
The families profiting from the healthcare industry were different.
Many were old dynasties whose influence stretched back generations.
Their histories were stained with scandals, violence, and ruthless business practices.
So stories involved sabotaged competitors.
Others involved private security forces crushing labor movents.
Whether every tale was true hardly mattered.
The reputation remained.
Within Arica, making enemies of those interests could be more dangerous than antagonizing the military itself.
Yet the President had finally reached his limit.
The mounting costs of superhuman disasters, scientific experints gone wrong, incidents involving beings like the Hulk, ergency stockpiles, and the nation's growing deficit had pushed him over the edge.
So he did what many stubborn n before him had done.
He charged straight ahead.
His administration announced plans to investigate the healthcare industry.
The first step was transparency.
dical providers and insurance companies would be required to disclose pricing and financial data to governnt regulators.
The goal was to close loopholes that allowed affiliated organizations to exploit subsidies and manipulate reimbursent systems.
At least in theory.
Of course, reality proved more complicated.
The President had sounded fierce during the press conference.
Once negotiations began behind closed doors, the resulting legislation beca considerably softer.
Organizations that failed to comply would face fines.
The problem was that those fines were laughably small.
Three hundred dollars per violation.
Ten thousand dollars annually at most.
For companies handling billions, the penalties were aningless.
The bill looked more symbolic than practical.
Even so, many influential figures quietly admired the President's determination.
If healthcare reform truly began here, history might rember him kindly centuries later.
Drex sat on a rooftop eating ice cream.
Beside him, Lyra Yan accepted a spoonful from him before imdiately feeding one back.
The simple interaction looked strangely normal considering the cosmic subjects under discussion.
"This universe is fascinating," Drex said.
"Every major superhero and supervillain is already active. There are dinsional realms tied to Heaven, the Celestial Court, Olympus, and countless other pantheons."
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"There's no doubt about it. This is a comic universe governed by a Council of Gods."
It had taken him less than a day to uncover the reality's basic structure.
anwhile, the universe itself remained completely unaware of his arrival.
Tifa frowned.
"What I don't understand is why healthcare beca such a profitable business in the first place."
She, Lyra Yan, and the other angels had spent hours traveling across the world with Drex.
Using their enhanced senses, they had overheard countless conversations.
Drex shrugged.
"One of humanity's many flaws. Not worth dwelling on."
His attention was elsewhere.
The Council of Gods interested him far more.
This universe differed significantly from the versions he knew.
Asgard had beco a dinsional realm rather than a physical world.
The Nine Realms connected by Yggdrasil were no longer planets but entirely separate dinsions.
Combined with Olympus, Heaven, the Celestial Court, Hell, and nurous divine domains, the structure of this reality was extraordinary.
To Drex, it looked like an all-you-can-eat banquet.
A feast of dinsions waiting to be consud.
The challenge was that a universe with a functioning Council of Gods was difficult to dismantle.
The pantheons supported one another.
Conflicts happened occasionally, but they rarely escalated beyond control.
That left Drex with a choice.
Should he reveal himself openly and beco their enemy?
Or infiltrate their ranks?
His thoughts drifted toward the Celestial Court.
The Marvel version had always struck him as absurd.
The Jade Emperor dressed in green armor resembling a bizarre fusion of samurai equipnt and ancient ceremonial garb.
Nezha looked more like a monster than a divine hero, with blue skin, fangs, and multiple arms.
Drex felt no attachnt to such a pantheon.
Destroying it wouldn't bother him in the slightest.
With a casual motion, he peeled back the veil surrounding the Celestial Court Dinsion.
The dinsional realms of this universe made little effort to conceal their coordinates.
Finding them was effortless.
"Hm."
He studied the destination.
"This isn't quite the Celestial Court I rember. It's not even connected to K'un-Lun."
A mont later, he arrived.
Standing before him was a massive gate.
The Southern Heavenly Gate.
Rows of celestial soldiers stood guard.
Their armor glead brilliantly, but the design was bizarre.
Parts resembled Ming Dynasty lallar armor.
Other sections looked inspired by entirely different eras.
The helts seed almost futuristic.
The overall result was an awkward combination of styles that looked more ridiculous than majestic.
Drex stared for a mont.
Then shook his head.
If these soldiers marched through Tis Square, they'd probably beco a viral joke before sunset.
The guards noticed him imdiately.
"Halt!"
Hundreds of celestial soldiers leveled their weapons.
"By what right does a demon trespass at the Southern Heavenly Gate?"
Drex didn't answer.
He didn't move.
He didn't even glance at them.
The next instant, every celestial soldier disintegrated into dust.
...
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