The freed Blonsky became the Sword Bureau's new S-Class hero.
Although this drew backlash and protests from many superheroes, Director Zod overruled all objections and convinced everyone with a host of reasons.
Especially with the Saiyans coming at some unknown time, they had to unite every force they could.
The mere thought of the terrifying Raditz, against whom only the Green Hulk could fight, suddenly made Abomination, who had battled the Red Hulk to such an extent, highly valued.
They were just far too lacking in this kind of power.
In truth, it wasn't just Blonsky and Ross who got sweet-talked into becoming superheroes. Within the Burning Legion, aside from those who couldn't show their faces—Bucky, Steve, Rumlow, Grant Ward, and others—everyone else who could appear in public, meaning the mutants with no black marks on their records like Black Tank, Colossus, Iron Man, and Luke Cage, were all sent out by Zod to be superheroes.
To them it was presented as an undercover mission for the Burning Legion. The reality was, Zod had simply grown tired of the old and fallen for the new.
From now on, he planned to take only his personal action figure legion on cosmic adventures. The rest would stay on Earth.
…
Wanda, Quicksilver, and Emma were nearing graduation. After all, several years had already passed.
As graduation approached, Wanda submitted her résumé to the Umbrella Corporation. Zod Heeth had never demanded anything of her or Pietro, but Wanda felt she had to repay the kindness. Her grades were excellent and she had earned unanimous praise from her professors, so she thought she might be able to help Zod from this angle.
As for Pietro, he wanted to start a band. After being taken away back then, he hadn't come back nearly as rebellious. His rebellious phase had been forcefully bent back by Zod. But he was deeply interested in music and wanted to become a rock singer.
Emma, for her part, had long been working at the Burning Legion, so graduation was just a formality for her, practically meaningless.
Wanda was waiting for news. Several financial companies and major corporations had already extended offers, even Stark Industries among them, but Wanda chose to wait.
"Still no word today?"
Pietro fiddled with his guitar. Seeing Wanda in a daze, he asked with concern.
"Yeah…"
Wanda poured herself a glass of water and answered Pietro in passing.
"Don't lose heart, Wanda. Umbrella Corporation is huge. They probably get tons of résumés every day, and with graduation season now, maybe they just haven't seen yours yet. Could come any moment."
Pietro quickly consoled her.
In reality, this problem didn't exist, because the Black Queen could review all job applicants' résumés in minutes. It was just that Wanda's résumé had been set aside. The Black Queen wanted to ask Zod's opinion.
"Yeah. How's the band going?"
Wanda returned the concern for her brother's situation.
"Pretty good, still short a few people."
Pietro's face went awkward. The truth was, he couldn't find a single person. He was currently singing at a bar, with mediocre results. The money he earned barely sustained his own life, and it was a stretch.
"You've got this, Pietro. Working hard for your dream is the best thing you can do!"
Wanda cheered him on. After all, unlike her, who had no dream, Pietro having one was a good thing, even if it looked like a long shot.
"Don't worry!"
Pietro immediately assured her.
Just then, Wanda's computer received an email. She hurriedly opened it. It was an acceptance notice from the Umbrella Corporation.
Wanda, who had been on tenterhooks all this time, finally exhaled in relief.
The Black Queen had just inquired with Zod, and Zod had said no problem, let her in, and she might even help out.
After all, they hadn't yet acquired the Mind Stone, so there was no way to activate Wanda and Quicksilver's abilities right now. Besides, it seemed like he no longer needed their powers anyway.
Even if Thanos came with all five Infinity Stones, Zod would still hammer him to death. After gaining Doomsday's abilities, Zod no longer feared ninety-nine point nine percent of enemies.
Though he did wonder whether this Marvel universe's sun might cause further mutations in him. Actually, Kryptonians were different in every parallel universe.
There were Magic Superman, Kryptonite Superman, Cyborg Superman, Energy Superman, and a whole host of others, so Zod wasn't surprised by his own mutations.
But this uncontrolled mutation made him somewhat uneasy, afraid that one day he'd wake up and not even look human anymore.
So lately, he had been using his bio-field to block solar radiation from reaching him.
Strange, though, neither Esdeath nor Tifa had exhibited any mutations. Who knew why.
…
Just as Zod was contemplating this matter, Atlantean civilization was invaded by the Deep Sea Clan.
Because Zod had been very busy recently, after creating the Mysterious Beings, he'd left them to their own devices, letting them act independently.
The Deep Sea Clan had initially thought they were the absolute overlords of the ocean. Now that they discovered there were other overlords in the sea, war was bound to break out.
Although the Deep Sea King was gone, the Deep Sea Clan averaged Tiger-level Mysterious Beings, and they still drove the Atlantean civilization back, steadily gaining ground.
Left with no choice, the Atlantean civilization could only seek help from the surface dwellers.
America was the first to come into contact with the Atlantean civilization. Surprised that such a civilization existed on Earth, and wary of the power of this suddenly emerged Atlantean civilization, they tossed the matter to the Sword Bureau.
The Sword Bureau was also caught off guard and informed Zod Heeth.
"So they've come out on their own."
Zod understood what was going on with a moment's thought. And the fact that the Deep Sea Clan could force Atlantis to seek help from surface dwellers… they were probably about to reach the capital by now.
"Atlantis is an undersea civilization that humans have never encountered and know nothing about. Before they appeared, people had at most heard this name from Plato's Dialogues and the legends of Poseidon, god of the sea."
"But now? It's presenting itself as a nation, a civilization. This means whatever decision the Sword Bureau makes, we must proceed with extreme caution, weighing every possibility."
"Congress, the White House, the Pentagon, the United Nations, the other member states… right now no one wants a war. So negotiations, contact, building relations—that's what we need to do."
Nick Fury spoke to Zod seriously.
As the Director of the Sword Bureau, Zod wielded high authority and even held sway over humanity's future. He had the right to decide whether to aid the Atlantean civilization.
"Why should we help? All this time we've been dealing with Mysterious Beings, and we never saw them lift a finger. Now they're about to fold and they come running for reinforcements. The world doesn't work that cheap."
Zod refused outright.
"The Atlantean civilization is a force too, you know."
Nick Fury tried to persuade him.
/-\
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