Hero Association Online - Part 1
Several months had already passed since the creation of the Hero Association. At first, it was still constantly monitored by governments, out of fear that the heroes might suddenly try to rule the world.
Something that would actually be ridiculously easy for them to do. But just like they had said from the very beginning, the association, or rather the heroes who joined it, continued doing their work like always. Though now they were far more protected, both as heroes and in their personal lives. Global crime rates had dropped by nearly seventy percent since the Hero Association was created. And even many police stations occasionally worked as support for the heroes. Sometimes it was even the other way around. Civilians slowly started trusting heroes more and more over time. Some people even started creating fan clubs for different heroes. Cards with approximate stats and abilities were even being commercialized, becoming extremely popular among younger people. Making a world protected by superheroes slowly start feeling almost normal.
Well, more or less.
…
Owen was staring at a massive amount of paperwork in front of him and at his beloved wife, Wanda Maximoff, approaching with even more of it. Wearing a smile that looked like the sweetest thing in the world, but right now looked more like the smile of someone about to ruin his entire week.
"Well, dear president of the association. Seems Hulk and Hercules had another one of their fun little clashes and destroyed another island in Thailand. Luckily it was uninhabited, but their government is pretty upset because if they keep going like this they're going to destroy all their islands before the year ends," Wanda said while acting like a professional secretary.
"Could you tell me when my next vacation is?" Owen immediately asked while genuinely considering quitting this damn job on the spot. A position he never actually asked for in the first place. But thanks to majority vote, he ended up being forced into it.
"You already used all your vacations for this year. The next one too. And the one after that. So the next available one should be in 3 years," she said with a little amusement in her tone.
"Seriously? All of them? Even the sick leave ones?" Owen asked with slight surprise.
Wanda raised an eyebrow while looking at him. The idea of a man capable of creating antibodies against magic itself taking sick leave was honestly ridiculous. But yes, he did it anyway.
"Unfortunately you can't. Tony took his vacation for his honeymoon and there's nobody authorized left to replace you," Wanda said calmly.
"Seriously? Nobody? What about Reed Richards? Strange?" Owen went silent after saying the first two names that came to mind. "You know what, I realized it the moment I said it. Ignore me," he said after naming two of the guys who usually created the kind of problems everyone else had to clean up later.
"Good. It's decided then. After almost a year of operation, the Hero Association officially declares itself…"
"No," Wanda told him before dropping the documents onto the desk with a loud thud. "You know perfectly well how many things depend on the association now. So stop playing around and get back to work or I'll be forced to send you to sleep on the couch," Wanda said while poking his nose for a moment with a slightly evil smile.
Owen couldn't help letting out an amused smile because obviously he was joking. The pride he felt over the existence of the association went far beyond the simple exhaustion from the workload.
Owen read the documents on his desk and started filling them out with practiced familiarity, even at an inhuman speed. Something you wouldn't expect a hero at his level to use his powers for; turning paperwork into a superpower of its own.
"How are the brats doing?" Owen asked without slowing down his work.
"Peter's doing pretty well. He's about to take the exam to move up to Class A. And Kamala is grounded," Wanda said with a small smile.
"She's already about to take the exam?" Owen said, unable to hide his surprise. "And what did that brat do this time?" he asked.
"The usual. She accepted a simple animal rescue mission and somehow ended up declaring war on Animal Protection, destroying one of their vehicles and escaping with dozens of animals that were being taken to a protection center because she somehow convinced herself they were part of an underground animal trafficking ring," Wanda said while trying to hold back an amused laugh. "The budget for paying off the vehicle should be…" Wanda said while searching through the papers she had just brought before pulling out the one she wanted. "Here," she said while placing it in front of Owen, who after seeing the numbers could only let out a sigh.
"Sometimes I genuinely think giving that girl powers was humanity's greatest mistake," Owen couldn't help adding.
"Well, it can't be…" Wanda was about to say something, but suddenly her gaze turned serious while she looked around with a frown.
Owen, who had been filling out documents, suddenly stopped his pen and raised his gaze toward the office ceiling. The amusement disappeared from his face instantly, his calm demeanor disappearing completely.
Instantly, an alarm started echoing throughout the entire Hero Association base while red lights flashed across every room. Causing the heroes who had been busy with their own things to suddenly stand up with serious and worried expressions.
Because this alarm existed for only one kind of situation. And since the creation of the Hero Association, it had never sounded before.
On different screens all across the base, an image appeared. A gigantic spaceship shaped like some kind of flying donut had appeared out of nowhere directly in the center of New York. Without a single radar detecting it until it literally showed up there.
…
Meanwhile, literally right in front of that ship, Tony, who should've been enjoying his day with his wife, was currently standing beside Stephen Strange. Wearing the most annoyed expression possible after a wizard kidnapped him out of nowhere just to warn him that aliens were coming to steal a magic rock.
And standing beside them, looking just as done with everything, was Wong.
A beam shot out from the ship directly in front of the three of them as two aliens appeared. One massive, covered in muscles, almost the same size as Thor, while holding a gigantic war axe in his hands. And the other one, uglier and skinnier, dressed in a faintly glowing gray robe.
"Hear me and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the children of Thanos. Be grateful that your insignificant life will contribute…"
"Sorry, but if I wanted to hear a dramatic speech, I would've stayed at the opera with my wife instead of being kidnapped by a wizard. So why don't you go perform your preschool play over on Andromeda 5 or something before the others show up and kick your asses. To be more precise, Earth's closed today. Try invading somewhere else," Tony said irritably.
The skinny alien stared at Tony while his eyebrow twitched with annoyance. Before returning to a look of disdain.
"Kill them all and bring me the gem," he muttered toward the other huge alien. Who grinned viciously while his battle axe suddenly activated and its size increased again, becoming even more intimidating than it already was.
Tony, seeing the giant approaching ready for battle, let out a sigh before lightly touching his smartwatch. Then he glanced slightly toward Strange.
"What do you think he is? A Class B, more or less?" he asked.
"At least a lower Class S. The other one I can't fully sense, but he should be a mid or upper Class S," Strange said with a serious expression.
"Well, there's two of us, but just in case…" Tony said while touching his watch. "Double class threat. Deployment and assistance required. Two Class S heroes present. Deploy support for civilian protection," Tony said in a serious tone.
"Class B heroes and above dispatched for support and civilian assistance. Alerting Class S heroes prepared for deployment," a voice immediately responded to Tony through the watch.
At the same time, he touched a glowing object on his chest, which instantly began releasing microbots that moved across his clothes like liquid. In less than a second, his entire body was completely covered by an Iron Man armor far more advanced than any previous one.
Just as the giant was already standing in front of him.
"Well then. Guess this is where we find out if the Hero Association was actually worth all the paperwork," Tony said while his face became covered by the Iron Man mask, watching the giant raise his axe over his head, clearly trying to split him in half.