According to intelligence gathered by the Hero Bureau, Alexander Pierce had pushed hard behind the scenes to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D.
He had personally met with Secretary Ross and several other senior officials before finally securing approval for the agency's return.
Hydra was terrified of the Monster Association too.
The propaganda campaign they had originally planned against Drex Valen evaporated almost overnight after witnessing what the monster invasion had done to the world.
That didn't mean Hydra stopped moving.
They simply withdrew their attention from the Hero Bureau and focused instead on rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. into a structure they could quietly exploit from within.
Unfortunately for them, that only made Drex's job easier.
The new S.H.I.E.L.D. was practically glowing with Hydra infiltration.
At this point, Drex doubted even one percent of its agents were truly loyal to the original organization.
Meanwhile, the East officially announced the creation of S.P.E.A.R., an organization dedicated solely to domestic superhuman affairs and recruitment.
Three major agencies now existed on the global stage:
The Hero Bureau.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.P.E.A.R.
Other nations immediately started getting ideas.
Russia responded the very next day by establishing its own enhanced operations division: Hammer.
Drex honestly didn't know whether to laugh or sigh.
Still, he understood the logic.
The Monster Association attack had scared everyone badly, and the Hero Bureau's manpower shortage during the invasion exposed a dangerous reality.
If another global attack happened tomorrow, humanity might not survive it.
So governments creating their own superhero organizations made sense.
As long as those agencies didn't spiral completely out of control.
Unfortunately, that already seemed to be happening.
When Drex finally returned home, he discovered three police officers waiting for him inside his house.
Very attractive police officers.
Tall.
Dangerously attractive.
And strangely familiar.
Esdeath stepped forward first, twirling a pair of handcuffs around one finger while holding a pistol in the other hand.
"Mr. Valen," she said with complete seriousness, "you are under arrest. We suspect you are carrying an extremely dangerous concealed weapon. We'll need to perform a full body search."
"This is outrageous," Drex protested immediately. "I'm completely innocent."
Apparently, Officer Esdeath disagreed.
As a rising star of law enforcement and self-proclaimed enemy of crime, she ignored his defense entirely and slammed him face-first against a table.
Drex instantly felt crushing pressure against his back.
Two crushing pressures, technically.
It was like being pinned beneath mountains.
An absurd comparison considering he could casually manipulate planetary gravity fields, yet somehow he still found himself completely restrained.
Like Sun Wukong trapped beneath Five Finger Mountain.
Tifa Lockhart adjusted her police cap awkwardly, clearly less confident than the others. Wearing sleek black silk gloves, she pressed one of Drex's arms firmly against the table to stop him from moving.
Meanwhile, Officer Urd had no such hesitation.
With righteous determination, she immediately began "searching" him thoroughly from head to toe.
Then she froze triumphantly.
"Aha! Found the dangerous weapon!"
Drex inhaled sharply.
His fists clenched.
His brows furrowed.
A few seconds later, though, his expression gradually unraveled into something dangerously close to existential despair.
He might have underestimated Urd.
Normal people probably weren't built to survive this kind of interrogation.
The abuse of police authority was getting completely out of hand.
"Evidence confirmed," Esdeath declared. "This criminal is armed and dangerous. Deadly force is authorized."
She pinned Drex onto the floor and launched a brutal assault that rapidly escalated into complete chaos.
Clothing tore apart.
Furniture suffered catastrophic structural damage.
Even Esdeath's own uniform ended up partially destroyed in the struggle.
Naturally, Drex refused to surrender quietly.
A fierce battle erupted between one dangerously overpowered man and three wildly irresponsible police officers abusing their authority.
Unfortunately for Drex, four hands were hard enough to deal with.
Six was impossible.
The battle continued all night.
Only by dawn did Drex finally manage to subdue the exhausted officers.
"So what brought this on?" Drex asked afterward.
He sat on the couch holding Tifa in his arms while idly playing with her gloved hands. He genuinely liked the look of those black silk gloves on her.
Esdeath leaned back lazily, long ice-blue hair hanging in complete disarray.
"You don't think it's fun?"
That was also one of the reasons Drex avoided skintight superhero suits.
If he ever wore one publicly, half the male population on Earth would probably develop self-esteem issues overnight.
Unlike the two Kryptonian women, Urd lacked a reinforced superhuman body and had already fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion.
The entire situation had apparently started because Esdeath hit a plateau in her solar-enhanced growth training. So she'd returned home looking for Drex.
Unfortunately, Tifa and Urd discovered them.
Both women had apparently assumed they were Drex's only partner.
That misunderstanding had not survived the evening.
Drex, wisely, avoided saying anything catastrophically stupid like "you're all my wings" or "I choose everyone."
Instead, he simply dragged all three of them into the chaos together.
One day later, neither Tifa nor Urd had any remaining objections.
Drex had thoroughly convinced them through sheer overwhelming persistence.
Terrifying persistence.
"It was fun," Drex admitted. "Next time we should try strict principal punishing underperforming students."
Esdeath immediately countered with her own suggestion.
"What about a tyrannical queen and her loyal general?"
"Why not both?" Drex replied without hesitation.
He wasn't exactly lacking confidence in his stamina.
Honestly, the surprise from the three women caught him off guard a little.
But at the same time, it made perfect sense.
They weren't dolls.
They weren't mindless creations.
They had personalities, emotions, instincts, and independent thoughts.
Which led Drex toward a surprisingly philosophical question.
Did artificial humans possess souls?
As Director of the Hero Bureau, he had a lot on his mind.
"Your clothes, sir."
The Black Queen's emotional fluctuations remained subtle, but Drex still noticed them easily.
A Sentinel robot approached carrying fresh clothing.
Drex accepted the outfit casually.
"So," he asked while dressing, "after observing human and Kryptonian reproduction firsthand, have you reached any conclusions?"
The Black Queen answered immediately.
"Inefficient."
Drex blinked.
"That honest?"
"I do not lie, Mr. Valen."
"Hopefully you haven't learned how yet," Drex said dryly. "I'm not sure I'd be able to tell."
He walked to the refrigerator, grabbed an ice-cold cola, and drained it in one long pull.
"Anything important today?"
"Yes," the Black Queen replied. "The Hero Bureau Academy has officially enrolled its first class of students."
A brief pause.
"As principal, you are expected to give a speech."
Drex closed the refrigerator slowly.
That somehow sounded more dangerous than fighting Dragon-Level monsters.