"Eden, what's your read on the Guardians' Second Team right now?"
Cecil stood over the field littered with groaning recruits, shaking his head before turning to Eden.
"Black Samson needs a shock to jump-start his superpower again. He might even have to die a second time, like when he first lost it."
"Shrinking Ray needs to toughen up. Stop hiding those human enhancement surgeries and serums of yours, Cecil—give him something to work with."
"Monster Girl needs tech that cancels out her side effect, or you'll be stocking up on diapers for her in a few years."
"Dupli-Kate needs to start thinking on the battlefield. If it were me? I'd keep one duplicate safe at base, another off the front lines, and cycle them so I never lost everything at once."
"Eve and Rex need to be in college, relearning basic physics. And Rex, on top of that, needs a full combat support system—armor that can resupply itself, plus drones to keep his gear flowing mid-fight."
Eden rattled off their flaws and fixes like he was reading a checklist.
"So you're saying… there's hope?" Cecil asked after a pause.
"Heh." Eden smirked. "Depends what you actually plan on using them for, Cecil."
"What if… my endgame is turning them against someone like you?" Cecil's lips cracked dry as he forced the words out.
"…Huh?" Eden's brow furrowed. That was a strange way to phrase it.
"I mean your mother's people. The Viltrumites." Cecil clarified quickly, seeing Eden's confusion.
"Oh?" Eden's eyes sharpened, reevaluating him. He didn't know how Cecil had gotten his hands on intel about the Viltrum Empire, but it was impressive.
"If you're planning to throw this squad at Viltrumites, you might as well disband them now," Eden said bluntly. "Sending them in would just be sending them to their deaths."
Cecil sighed. He'd already done everything he could. But there was no magic button that spawned world-class heroes out of thin air.
When that interstellar envoy had warned Earth about the Viltrumite threat during Eden's mission to Mars, Cecil had no solution then—and still didn't now.
"Fine. Even the damn galaxy is huddling together against the Viltrum Empire. I can't exactly solo it." He muttered, half convincing himself.
"Stop worrying about things that are way beyond your pay grade," Eden told him, patting his shoulder like a boss encouraging a subordinate. Then he turned and walked away.
"Eden… you're Earth's last card. Our only trump. Please, don't end up like your mother."
Cecil watched him leave, the weight heavy in his eyes. Eden was the ace they'd been searching for all along. But an ace can also be a wild card—and if it blew up in your hand, you were finished.
Meanwhile, the unbeatable duo—Omni-Woman Nolanne and Superman Clark Kent—were already moving.
The Order. The biggest mafia syndicate in the world.
"Talk. Now!"
"What the hell have you people been plotting? Why's The Order been quiet lately? That's not your style—you thrive on chaos."
With overwhelming force, Nolanne and Clark stormed through the headquarters, flattening every gangster inside and out until only Killer Mantis remained, trembling like a bug under a boot.
"Uh… what?" Mantis stammered. He couldn't think of a single rule he'd broken. His mind blanked. "Uh… should I… answer Superman instead?" He glanced nervously at the man hovering above him.
"You asking me?" Clark frowned, thrown off by the question.
"Sorry—my mistake!" Mantis blurted, eyes catching on Clark's underwear worn over his tights. "Actually, The Order's been… reconsidering its business model. We're transitioning."
"Transitioning?"
"Yeah. Look, running the mob is exhausting. Cops on one side, rivals on the other. Constantly rooting out traitors, dealing with undercover agents, getting hammered by superheroes… it's just not sustainable. So our new leadership's decided we're going legit—shifting into a clean multinational corporation."
"New leadership?" Clark's eyes narrowed. "You mean The Order replaced its boss? Who the hell has the clout to take Mister Liu off the throne?"
"…Uh." Mantis froze. His brain short-circuited. "Crap. What am I supposed to say to that?"
"Forget it. We'll find out ourselves," Nolanne muttered. He and Clark exchanged a glance, then turned and left, deciding there was no use pressing him further.
Once they were gone, Killer Mantis rushed into a reinforced lead-lined chamber. He booted up the secured terminal and hammered out a message.
"Bad news, everyone."
"What happened?"
"What's going on?"
"You run into trouble, Mantis?" The once-dead group chat exploded as old bosses came crawling back online.
"You all need to be careful—Omni-Woman and that underwear-on-the-outside freak just showed up. They're sniffing around about The Order's so-called transition."
"And one more thing… the Boss's condition is getting worse. He's starting to babble nonsense."
Mantis rubbed his temples, remembering Clark's baffling question about who'd dethroned Mister Liu.
Yeah. The Boss's mental illness was definitely acting up again.
...
"Son of a bitch."
Killer Mantis couldn't even put into words what it felt like facing the new Boss.
When the Boss towered over him, radiating bloodlust, demanding to know who the hell had taken the reins of The Order, the pressure nearly crushed him alive.
Mantis swore to God, if he'd slipped up even once—just a single wrong word—he would've been reduced to ashes under those blazing red eyes.
*Is the Boss's insanity flaring up again? Or is he testing me? I can't tell. I can't tell at all!*
"Guess starting today, I'll have to keep the crew on tighter watch. Every little thing needs to be handled with caution."
"Anything not critical—we're freezing it for now."
After chewing on it, Mantis made up his mind.
Up above the city.
"That bug's acting real sketchy," Nolanne muttered quietly to Clark.
"Of course he is."
"From the second we flattened their whole operation and started grilling him, he peeked at me five separate times. Five. Like he was waiting for me to give orders or something."
Clark threw his hands up. "Christ, I'm not their Boss. What's he staring at me for?"
"…"
Nolanne's brow furrowed at Clark's rant, though her silence carried weight.
Kent Residence.
The second Eden left the escort detail, he bolted straight home. Simulation time. Every spare minute went into getting stronger.
"Shit."
Just as he was about to boot up a new round, a thought hit him. He snatched his phone and dialed Cecil.
"Cecil, if I'm remembering right, Donald's been glued to your side all night, yeah? Then who the hell's been walking around school pretending to be me?"
"…Another Donald."
"…What?"
"Eden, I made a backup. Of Donald. You get what I mean?"
Cecil's voice went flat. "And I need you to keep this between us. Don't tell anyone—not even Donald himself. Thanks."
There was a long silence.
"You're a real piece of shit sometimes, Cecil."
Eden's brow tightened. Then he hung up.
Tomorrow, he decided, he'd check out the school personally. Make sure Cecil hadn't screwed things up beyond repair.
But for now? Simulations came first. Power came first.
"Simulation, start!"
As far as Eden was concerned, Cecil's dirty secrets could rot. Cecil had been running the GDA for decades—he was no saint. Half the crap he pulled wasn't much cleaner than The Order anyway.
[Simulation Opponents: Thragg, Battle Beast]
[Simulation Location: Uninhabited Planet]
The world flickered. Red sands stretched in every direction. And across from him stood Thragg and Battle Beast, already squaring off.
"Who are you?"
"Stay out of our fight, kid," Thragg barked, his tone almost civil.
"I'm your worst nightmare."
Eden dove, his fist shattering Thragg's jaw in the opening move. Revenge for last time. His heat vision blasted across the battlefield, searing straight into Battle Beast's face.
"Take this brat down first!" Battle Beast roared.
"I was thinking the same thing."
Thragg forced his broken jaw back into place with raw muscle, glaring murderously.
"Die!"
Eden rocketed forward, body slamming both of them.
"You're asking for it!" they snarled together.
*BOOM!*
The collision of three world-crushing titans sent the entire planet into convulsions. Atmosphere tore itself apart as shockwaves ripped across the surface.
Eight hours later.
"End simulation."
Eden coughed, a sword jammed through his stomach, before shutting the whole thing down.
But his opponents weren't exactly pretty either. Thragg's jaw hung in shattered pieces, one eye gone, chest punched into a bleeding crater. Battle Beast's armor was shredded, one arm snapped clean, an ear missing, his tail half-severed by heat vision.
By the time Eden staggered back to his room, night had fallen.
"Whew."
He pressed a hand to his fully healed stomach, exhaling in relief. Then: "System, run it again."
[Master, do you wish to return to the previous save point, or begin a fresh simulation?]
"…Save point?"
[The moment you ended last round. You can continue fighting Thragg and Battle Beast in their injured states.]
"No need. I want them at full strength."
[Understood.]
The world shifted.
"Kid, whoever you are—"
"Shut up."
Eden dropkicked Thragg halfway across the valley.
"Zzzzzzap!"
Heat vision splattered across Battle Beast's face again.
"Together!"
And once more, Thragg and Battle Beast charged him side by side.
Ten hours later.
Yes—this time, Eden lasted ten hours, leaving them in even worse shape than before.
"Four a.m. already?"
Glancing at the clock, he grinned. "Again."
Third simulation.
This time he went berserk. Zero defense. Trading blows like a maniac, wound for wound.
Another ten hours gone.
When it ended, the clock read two in the afternoon. Eden actually made the trip to school this time. Checked everything. No exposure, no slip-ups. Then straight back home. Back to the grind.
Donald handled all his meals—three square deliveries a day. At this point, Eden wasn't even pretending to hide that his room was basically a warzone of secrets.
A week passed.
Ten more simulations. At least.
And in the final round—shoulder impaled by Battle Beast's shattered blade—Eden fought Thragg and Battle Beast for an entire day. Until at last, he severed Battle Beast's head from his body.
"Now I've got it all. Time to take the initiative."
Grinning, drenched in blood, Eden sat among their corpses. He didn't stop there—he ripped through Battle Beast's mate and the twenty-plus Rognarr she'd brought along, tearing the predators to pieces.
Finally, victory tasted sweet.
Machine Head Tower.
"Omni-Woman. Again!"
Machine Head nearly fried his processors after Nolanne's raids bled The Order dry once more.
"Machine Head. Get Isotope. Rally every last soldier."
The voice came from right behind him. Ghostly. Cold. Eden.
"You're finally making your move?" Machine Head buzzed, sparks of excitement crackling through his circuits.
"…Hm?"
Eden frowned at the cyborg's wild enthusiasm. Clearly, the guy had the wrong idea. But Eden couldn't be bothered to correct him.
"Just remember—call in everyone you can. No excuses."
With that, he vanished.
Machine Head's processors purred, almost gleeful.
"I won't let you down."
He summoned Isotope. "Didn't you say you made contact with that alien cat who wants to challenge Omni-Woman? Looks like it's finally time to bring our feline friend to the stage."
----
Author's Note: 400 powerstones for extra chapter!
---
🔹 Read 8 chapters ahead! → patreon.com/NiaXD