After the heroes had finished determining who was stronger, Jovian had them study the basic knowledge they needed about this world so they would not go out and cause trouble.
Once that was done, Jovian began experimenting by having Jack assign missions to them, kicking off their first hero work in this free world.
At the same time, Jovian joined forces with Jack and the others to overhaul the entire American superhero system.
"This is a massive reform. Starting today, all heroes must register with the Guardians of the Globe. Every one of you must enter your real information into the Guardians' quantum computer. Any solo hero or hero team intending to continue operating as masked vigilantes must accept the unconditional supervision of the Guardians of the Globe and return regularly for training and inspections."
"Anyone who continues acting as a masked vigilante on their own without authorization will be given a warning. After three warnings, you will be sent to prison on assault charges..."
With Jack's help, Jovian recorded the announcement and uploaded the video to the official Guardians of the Globe website. The moment it went live, the entire world erupted into an uproar.
No one had expected the skies to change so suddenly.
For a while, a cloud of anxiety settled over countless people, and they began worrying about the future of the world, and the future of heroes.
When the Guardians saw the news, they stormed furiously into headquarters.
They intended to confront Jovian and get a clear answer about what exactly was going on.
"Everyone, Mr. Jovian is currently very busy. It would be best if you didn't disturb him."
At Guardians of the Globe headquarters, Jack controlled his robot suit and spoke calmly to the visibly upset members of the team.
"Robot..."
Eve frowned as she looked at the machine blocking their path.
"What is this supposed to mean? Why are you standing in our way? We need to speak with Jovian and ask him what he's thinking. Why would he do something like this?"
Eve stared at the robot with knitted brows. She believed this could not possibly be entirely Jovian's own intention. She was sure he had his reasons.
"Miss Eve, may I ask what exactly Mr. Jovian has done to make you so angry?"
The robot looked at Eve in confusion.
"He's restricting heroes' freedom, suppressing their individuality, and even putting limits on their desire to help people!"
Before Eve could answer, Black Samson shouted the words out first.
"First, you need to understand one thing. The 'freedom of heroes' you're talking about costs this country nearly thirty billion dollars in damages every year. So I believe it is necessary to establish proper standards for hero activity. That is a good thing."
"Second, regarding the heroes' desire to help others..."
"Yes, helping people is a good thing. But if you take it too far, then it becomes a problem."
The robot shook his head at Black Samson, then pulled out a tablet and brought up several images for him to see.
Some showed battles between heroes and supervillains that ended with entire buildings destroyed. Others showed rookie heroes who thought they were invincible, only to be killed in a single punch by veteran supervillains.
And those were only a few examples. There were too many to count. It was not until Black Samson was left speechless that the robot finally put the tablet away.
"I think you should choose to trust Mr. Jovian."
"Everyone, this is a reform, but it is also the beginning of a new era."
"We will use big-data analysis to deploy heroes more efficiently. We will use a more standardized development model to train superheroes who possess both moral character and real strength."
The robot painted them a beautiful picture, describing an unimaginably bright future.
"Uh..."
After hearing that, every member of the Guardians fell silent. The robot really had left them with nothing to say.
"In any case, everyone is still welcome to return to work with the Guardians. But if you're here to find Mr. Jovian and ask about the latest hero work program, then I advise you to go home for now. Do not disturb Mr. Jovian while he is making an incomparable contribution to the future of all mankind."
From the robot's tone, Jovian sounded less like a man and more like some great saint of humanity who must not be disturbed.
"But..."
Eve still looked troubled. She felt that something about the robot standing before her was off. It was not because she had actually noticed anything concrete. It was just a woman's sixth sense.
"Eve, give Mr. Jovian three months. Once those three months are over, he will absolutely hand you a beautiful new world. And as for you..."
"I think for now, you should temporarily stop your hero work and go back to school to prepare for your final exams. Don't let more than a decade of effort vanish just because you relaxed at the very end."
"You're right. There are things I really need to take care of..."
Eve nodded after hearing him. Just as the robot had said, she did have something important to deal with. The exams were getting close, and she had to work even harder. But the matter with Jovian sat on her chest like a stone, making it hard for her to breathe.
After all, he was her first, but after that she felt abandoned.
"Trust me, Eve. You can always trust Robot."
The robot opened both arms toward Eve.
"Thank you, Robot..."
Eve grabbed hold of the robot's arms. She felt herself steadying a little, and the pressure in her heart eased.
"Unfortunately, I'm not Robot. I'm Jack..."
The robot looked expressionlessly at Eve as she held his hands.
Robot of the Teen Team had ceased to exist the moment the Teen Team fell apart.
The only one standing here now was Jack, a pioneer striving for the future of humanity. They were all pioneers. Their names would be recorded in epic history and praised for millennium after millennium.
"Director!"
"Did you see the video on the Guardians website today?"
"My God! I have no idea what the hell Jovian is trying to do!"
Inside the Global Security Agency, Cecil's assistant came running up to him, sweat covering his forehead.
"I saw it..."
Cecil replayed Jovian's announcement again and again.
"Jovian is trying to turn the Guardians of the Globe into an army that belongs to him alone!"
"He's building an army..."
After watching the short video five times, Cecil arrived at that conclusion.
"An army!?"
"My God! Is Jovian planning to train a superpowered army? Which country does he want to use it against?"
The assistant had not expected Jovian to be doing something like this. Panic showed on his face.
"No matter which country on this planet he intends to target, if Jovian really does build a superhuman army, then every national military on Earth would be swept aside."
"There is no army in this world that can fight against superpowered soldiers."
Cecil gently rubbed his chin as he thought about how to deal with Jovian. The main problem was that he still had no idea what was actually going on in Jovian's head.
If you called Jovian a villain, he really was protecting the interests of the overwhelming majority of people on this planet. But if you called him a hero, he had wiped out the previous Guardians of the Globe.
Jovian was both righteous and wicked, acting as if he pleased, making his behavior impossible to understand. Cecil had no idea what kind of leverage he could use to control him.
Or rather, in Cecil's eyes, Jovian was a completely uncontrollable ticking time bomb.
An extremely dangerous one.
"Director Cecil, Jovian wants to see you..."
Just as Cecil was wrestling with all of this, one of the Agency staff members walked in and spoke to him.
"Jovian wants to see me?"
Cecil had not expected Jovian to request a face-to-face meeting. He hesitated. He was certain there had to be something wrong with this. At a moment like this, at such a critical moment, Jovian wanting to see him could only mean trouble.
"Haa..."
Cecil had a feeling that today might be the day he got himself killed. He took a deep breath and adjusted his mindset.
"All right. Tell Mr. Jovian to wait for me in the conference room."
Cecil spoke evenly to the staff member.
"Yes, sir!"
The staff member nodded obediently and turned to leave.
"Mm..."
Cecil watched him go, then stood up and looked at the assistant and secretary beside him.
"Mr. Cecil."
The secretary nodded at him.
"If I don't come back, do exactly what I said before. Release everything I prepared."
"If I do come back, then destroy everything we collected."
Cecil had a faint sense of what was coming. He knew that, simply put, this meeting with Jovian contained both ruin and opportunity.
"Destroy it?"
The secretary froze behind his sunglasses after hearing Cecil's words.
"Yes. Because if I come back alive, it means that stuff probably won't be needed anymore."
Cecil smiled slightly at the secretary standing beside him.
Inside the conference room...
By the time Cecil entered, Jovian had already been waiting for quite a while.
"Ah, my apologies!"
"I'm always swamped with work, so I ended up arriving a little late."
Cecil walked into the conference room, sat down across from Jovian, and put on the kind of fake smile that made people sick just looking at it.
"Stop smiling."
Jovian frowned as he looked at Cecil's utterly false grin.
"What's wrong?"
Cecil looked puzzled, but he kept up the smile he had practiced for years. Even the President in the White House had once said his smile looked warm, kind, and full of decency.
"Ugly."
Jovian answered with a single word.
"What?"
Cecil clearly had not expected such a clean, direct, and painful response.
"Mr. Cecil, has no one ever told you that your smile is ugly?"
Afraid Cecil might not understand what he meant, Jovian clarified.
"Ah..."
After hearing that, Cecil fell silent. For a moment, he could not say a single word. Jovian was the first person who had ever called him ugly to his face.
"Anyway, I asked you here today because there's something I need to tell you."
Jovian did not seem interested in pretending anymore. He looked at Cecil with open disdain, his expression arrogant and dismissive.
"What is it? If there's any way I can help, I'll do my best."
Cecil said that if there was anything at all he could do for Jovian, he would give it his all.
"The Guardians of the Globe... I killed them."
Jovian smiled faintly as he looked at Cecil, who was still acting in front of him.
"Ah..."
The instant he heard those words, Cecil felt his heart go cold.
Of course he knew Jovian had killed the Guardians of the Globe.
But he also could not know that Jovian had killed them.
At least, not before he had a way to deal with Jovian. Until then, he absolutely could not know it. Even if he understood everything and had already pieced together the truth of the whole incident, he still had to pretend to be confused.
"Haha, Jovian, now that's a joke. It's not April First today. No need for pranks..."
"I've known your father since we were both young. You're practically someone I watched grow up. I know what kind of person you are."
Cecil kept trying to excuse Jovian. No matter what, the blame absolutely could not be pinned on him.
"I'm not joking. I really did kill the Guardians of the Globe. More precisely, my father and I did it together. He killed half, and I killed half. The Immortal is still inside a volcano dying and coming back to life over and over again."
Jovian looked at Cecil and smiled, using the calmest tone imaginable to say something that chilled him to the bone.
"Sigh..."
Cecil let out a helpless sigh. He knew Jovian's attitude was clear now. He had come here to lay his cards on the table.
"Why are you telling me this now?"
Cecil rose to his feet and glared angrily at Jovian.
"Because the time has come. It's time to be honest."
Jovian remained expressionless. He was utterly calm, as if he had already anticipated Cecil's anger.
"So what exactly do you want?"
Cecil demanded furiously.
"It's simple. Help me take control of the military. I need a large number of people to help me."
"The times have changed, Cecil. Are you ready to march into space? The age of the Great Crusade has arrived. This is humanity's new course."
Jovian smiled faintly at Cecil, then pulled a laptop out of his backpack and handed it over.
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