Back on the ILS’s mobile HQ, Londyn stood at the command deck. A map of the world was projected in front of her, red dots blinking all over it. She kept her eyes on it as she spoke to the ILS staff at their stations.

“What’s the situation in Dhaka?”

One of the staff spoke into a mic and then turned to her.

“Aqua Mage has it handled!”

“What about Accra?”

“Master Mammoth Owl is enroute!”

“Deploy the drones to delay until he arrives.”

“Director, priority call from Chicago! They’re requesting assistance.”

“All the American assets are already deployed, they’ll have to wait.”

“They say it’s urgent!”

“Then tell them to ask their dang government for help! America has an army, tell them to use it! The closest is Aurora but they’re already engaged in Boston, they can’t leave until they finish up there!”

Londyn held her head. What on Earth was the U.S. military doing that she was getting this many calls from them?! Couldn’t even one nation take care of itself right now?! Even China was asking her for help and they had resisted ‘foreign incursions’ ever since the League began! The only country that hadn’t called her in the past week was freaking North Korea.

Speaking of country calls…

Linda stepped behind her.

“Director, the world leaders are calling.”

Londyn heaved a massive sigh. Really? Now?! They didn’t have anything better to do?! She grit her teeth and mumbled under her breath.

“...I’ll never forgive you. Never, do you hear me, Bob?!”

“We understand the situation is bad, but you can’t just deploy military-grade weapons on our soil, Director. My counterparts agree on this, we are all deeply concerned. We tolerated you deploying drones in our airspace and spying on our citizens, Director, but now we find out they were armed all along? That’s crossing the line, Director.”

“Are you an idiot, President Guerra?”

“Excuse me?!”

Londyn simply pressed a button, displaying a live feed from a drone to the world leaders. A blue lion leapt onto a car, sending out a surge of electricity through a city street. Traffic lights shut off as the surge passed through them.

“This is Chicago, Mr. President. They’re on the line here right now, desperately calling for assistance and every last hero I have is already engaged. Where then, is the American Army? Where are America’s military-grade weapons? The casualties are rising as we speak, so I am not holding back a single tool I have at my disposal.”

“I admit, the situation is not entirely under our control, but you still can’t just ignore our sovereignty like that.”

“I can, and I will. If you want your sovereignty, then keep it. Anyone want to complain? The ILS will leave your country, and will not return to it, and then you can enjoy your sovereignty, all on your own. So if you’re not going to help, then shut up and let me work. I have enough to deal with without putting up with this crap.”

With that, Londyn ended the call and left the room.

Within the Chicago branch of the ILS, a Mass Suppressor hummed to life. It began to glow purple and spin rapidly in the air.

Outside of the building, a purple beam shot into the sky. After reaching above the building, it stopped and began to spread out, forming a dome of purple light around the structure. The only gap in the barrier was a metal gate, with armed ILS staff at the ready.

Throughout Chicago, drones began to deploy speakers.

“This is an emergency announcement from the International League of Superheroes. A monster is rampaging downtown. Please proceed to the nearest shelter. If you are close to the ILS branch office, please proceed there and we will provide shelter. Please avoid the following areas…”

People began to stream towards the ILS Branch office, where an iron gate opened a hole in the purple barrier. ILS staff began to guide the people inside, to the shelter area prepared ahead of time.

Meanwhile ILS drones surrounded the rampaging monster, capturing it in a jail of gravity barriers until a hero or the conventional military arrived to respond.

In cities across the globe, the same scene played out, over, and over.

But still, Londyn grimaced.

She didn’t have nearly enough drones or shelters. And she was continuously losing drones in the process.

If nothing changed…the ILS’s net would break. Casualties would spike as conventional forces struggled to respond to these powerful individual actors that appeared out of nowhere at any time. Some nations were already on the verge of declaring martial law.

And who knows what was happening in the rural and remote parts of the world.

But…it wasn’t all bad news…

Won Chi-Yong stood in the dojo, bowing at her opponent. She took her stance, waiting for the referee to give the signal. She let out a sigh.

She had a scare earlier this week with that sudden pain, but fortunately it cleared up. She was able to make the tournament in the end.

As soon as it did the two girls approached each other. Chi-Yong jerked forward before quickly stepping back. The other girl fell for the feint and missed a kick, leaving herself open. Chi-Yong let out a shout as she swung a roundhouse kick into the girl’s hogu.

The girl flew out of the ring, crashing straight into the referee.

And sending both of them careening into the next ring over.

Chi-Yong froze, leg still raised, blinking repeatedly.

A giant maned wolf leapt into the schoolyard, growling and snarling. The teacher desperately tried to gather the screeching children, shielding them with her trembling arms.

But she missed one.

The teacher’s eyes widened as a little girl stepped towards the wolf.

“Zélia, no!”

The wolf snarled and prepared to pounce. Little Zélia raised her hand…

“Bad dog, sit.”

The wolf snarled…and sat on the ground.

“Lay down.”

The wolf let out a confused bark as it laid on the ground.

“Roll over.”

The wolf rolled over, exposing its stomach. Zélia’s eyes glowed slightly as she walked over and began rubbing the wolf’s stomach.

“Good boy, good boy.”

The wolf whined slightly as it laid helplessly before the little girl.

“Muahahahaha!”

A young man strolled down the streets, fire burning from his hands. He jabbed a fist in the air and a ball of fire flew into a car parked on the side. People began to scream and run. He smirked as they did, tossing another ball of flame.

“This is amazing! I’m invincible!”

Just then the area began to grow foggy, as a cloud of mist surrounded the man, blocking his view.

“Huh, what’s this? What’s going on?”

Something struck his cheek.

“Who did that?!”

Something struck his stomach.

“Get out here!”

He threw a ball of fire, and then someone kicked his behind. He swung his hand, sending an arc of flame behind him, only for something to smack his chin. As he fell to the ground something stepped on his stomach.

The mist condensed into a foot, gathering up into a young man who smirked at him.

“DIE!”

He launched a jet of flame and the person’s head vanished…only for mist to swirl back and reform.

“You can’t kill me, I’m the Misty Guardian! And I’m bringing you to justice!”

“Hiya Stacey”

“Hey, Farmer Joe!”

The woman waved to Farmer Joe as he drove his tractor down the dirt road.

“Ya hear about what’s going on in the cities?”

Farmer Joe shrugged.

“Something about some folks stirring up trouble?”

Stacey nodded.

“It’s a bit worrying, you know?”

“Ah, don’t worry. I reckon it don’t have nothing to do with folks like us.”

Just then, a shadow passed overhead. Stacey screamed as a giant crow descended towards them.

Farmer Joe just glanced at the crow, his eyes glowing red. Two red beams pierced straight through the crow, which fell to the ground. Stacey stood in silence, still covering her wide open mouth with her hands.

“Wow, that’s a big’un. Let me hook him up and get him out of the way. You take care now, Stacey.”

Agent…well…former agent Wilson sat on a bench in the park, eating a sandwich. Such a wonderful day.

“Hey Wilson.”

He nodded at the man approaching.

“Hey Steve.”

“How’s your ILS app going?”

Wilson grinned.

“No more BSI for me. How about you?”

Steve gave a sad smile and shook his head.

“It got canceled.”

Wilson stopped eating his sandwich.

“Canceled? Why?”

Steve grinned and grabbed the bench, then lifted it with one hand. With Wilson still on it.

“Had to change the position I was going for.”

“...I hate you.”

Londyn heaved a sigh as she scanned through the document on her monitor.

On the one hand, it was a blessed miracle to receive this many new hero applications. Right now, she needed all the help she could get.

On the other hand…how on Earth was she going to vet and manage this many heroes?!

“Linda.”

“Yes Director?”

“Have you seen the new applicants list?”

Linda froze. And began shuffling towards the door.

“I…um…I have to go, Director. I-I’ll see you later…”

Linda leaped for the door but Londyn was faster, clamping her hand on Linda’s shoulder.

“Linda.”

“Y-Yes, Director?”

“You sent me this list, you know. So if I’m not sleeping tonight, neither are you.”

And so work continued long into the night at the ILS.

A hooded figure walked through the streets of a city on a rainy night. He passed by a television store, several monitors playing the news from behind the glass.

“Authorities are scrambling as the rate of monster and villain attacks continue to rise. Several nations, including the United States, have deployed their militaries to try and keep the peace, but the ILS is still responsible for resolving the majority of events. Several nations have even turned to known villains in an attempt to contain the violence. Here we have footage of the mercenary group known as Nemesis battling a monster in cooperation with local Grenadian authorities. Nemesis has clashed with the ILS in the past, and has had contracts with identified villains in the past, though to what extent is still unknown…”

The figure watched as Nemesis battled on screen. Kiyosuke briefly appeared on camera, stabbing a sword into the beast they were fighting.

The figure’s mouth curled into a grin.