The Worst Place to Attack
Owen received T'Chala's messages along with the work he had been doing on several changes to the registration law he was pushing forward, as well as the growing support from the public thanks to the manipulation of the media.
Although Owen was not really happy about using people like that. Deep down, it was exactly the same thing that whoever had manipulated the narrative the first time had done to create that stupid law.
Fury was still the main suspect. More than anyone, Owen knew how much that man liked having everything under control, making sure nothing slipped out of his hands… or his eye.
But maybe his distrust toward Fury made him see him as the culprit when, in reality, it could be someone else entirely.
For now, it was better to focus on changing the fine print of the law so he could create the association of heroes.
With something like that in place, almost like a government of heroes protecting the world and its civilians, Earth could stay fairly calm when enemies appeared from anywhere.
Not like the Avengers, who only gathered for special situations and then separated again to deal with global threats while everyone else went back to their own lives.
This association would be created specifically so that would never happen again.
A threat appears that happens to be the personal enemy of one of the heroes.
Nonsense.
The moment someone earns the title of villain, they stop being the enemy of just one person. They become the enemy of every hero.
If his association ended up being a copy of many others he might have seen in the past… it did not matter. As long as it worked and Earth remained safe, with heroes moving everywhere to save people, then it would be useful.
Especially knowing the dangers that existed in space.
And not only there. Even on Earth itself there were threats beyond human understanding.
And only with heroes united could they stand a chance.
"Ring."
Owen's phone rang for a moment, pulling him out of his thoughts. He picked it up without hesitation and answered.
"Owen. Two monsters are fighting near the prison island. They're throwing islands at each other like they're snowballs." Tony said from the other side of the line with a somewhat urgent tone.
"Oh. Right. Banner already told me Hercules seemed pretty excited to finally be useful again against a villain," Owen replied calmly.
"Are there people on those islands?" he asked, just in case.
"Hercules?" Tony asked, surprised, in a tone that was hard to describe.
"They're not empty islands. But if they keep this up, we'll have to replace a few globes and nautical maps," he added with a little more calm.
"Just let him return to his golden age. It would be quite useful if he stopped being depressed and all that," Owen said casually.
"Just in case, send someone to make sure their fight doesn't get too close to populated areas," he added.
"Yeah, yeah, boss," Tony replied with a sarcastic tone. Obviously he was the kind of person who hated orders more than anyone… but still followed them.
"By the way, who's his enemy?" Owen asked before Tony could hang up.
"I'll send you a picture," Tony replied.
The call ended.
He did not even have to wait long. Seconds later, an image arrived on his phone.
Owen looked at it for a moment and easily recognized the villain fighting Hercules.
Graviton.
Or, more precisely, Doctor Franklin Hall.
"Why this guy…?" Owen muttered while thinking. It did not make much sense for someone like him to attack the island where the heroes were resting.
Or well… where the world believed they were imprisoned.
"I'd better go myself," Owen added, shaking his head. Sitting there waiting for answers would not give him any.
Then, with a red flash, Owen suddenly disappeared.
…
"No one should be able to have that much strength," Graviton shouted while looking down.
Below him, an entire island was slowly sinking. The pressure of gravity was crushing it completely while the water began to cover it.
At the center of that island, where a mountain should have once stood but was now completely crushed beneath the sea, stood a man with a huge smile. His muscles seemed to shine faintly under the sunlight.
As if the more excited he became, the more his power increased.
The gravity in that place could crush any normal person completely, turning them into pulp of flesh and blood.
But for that man…
It felt like little more than a soft breeze falling from the sky.
"HAHAHAHA! This is great! It's been centuries since I've had a workout like this!" Hercules roared with a massive grin.
Then he jumped.
The force of it was so brutal that the half sunken island collapsed entirely. The water split apart before crashing back together like a gigantic tidal wave, swallowing what remained of the land.
Just like that, another island vanished from the map.
Hercules appeared directly in front of Graviton.
The villain raised both hands instantly, and an enormous gravitational pressure countered the punch Hercules was about to throw. If that blow had connected… it could have caused truly terrible damage.
Earlier, when Hercules had struck him, Graviton had reacted just in time, using his own gravity to reinforce his body.
Even so, he had almost died on the spot.
Since then, every time Hercules made the slightest movement, Doctor Franklin Hall was ready.
Gravity slammed into Hercules again, and he had nothing to stand on in the sky.
After all, he could not fly.
The hero was blasted backward at a brutal speed, crashing straight toward the sea.
The ocean split apart from the force of the impact. For a brief moment, the seabed could even be seen completely dry.
But the moment he touched the water, Hercules pushed off again.
He launched himself back toward Graviton.
The villain now wore an expression of complete irritation, as if he were fighting a wild beast… or the biggest muscle brain on the planet.
Once again he raised his hand to send Hercules flying.
But the hero suddenly pushed both hands forward. As if he were grabbing something invisible blocking his path, he pulled with all his strength.
Then Graviton, with a completely shocked expression, saw Hercules suddenly appear right in front of him, already throwing a punch.
For a moment, only one thought crossed his mind.
The monster had just broken gravity… with pure brute force.
He reacted instantly. Pointing both hands toward himself, he shot backward at incredible speed like a comet, barely dodging the blow from that monster.
And he was already preparing to run.
Hercules, seeing that, made a slightly annoyed expression. This did not feel like a proper fight.
The moment he fell toward the sea, his enormous body sank beneath the water before bursting back out with an explosion of foam, launching himself at full speed toward where Graviton had flown.
At that exact moment, Owen appeared there, explosions of red energy trailing behind him, a clear sign that his repulsion speed had increased again after the brutal training he had gone through since returning from retirement.
He looked down.
The entire ocean was in complete chaos. Massive waves rose in every direction while two enormous trails cut across the sea, moving away at an absurd speed.
"In that direction is… ah, damn. I'll have to interfere," he muttered while watching where they were heading.
Owen floated in the air and stepped on the sky itself as if it were a solid surface. A pair of red flashes glowed around him.
And in the next instant, he vanished, following the two monsters.