Heavenly Sword

The following few months were likely the busiest Michael Passo had experienced since his transmigration.

Most of the time, Michael was constantly shuttling across the globe through one magic circle after another while clad in his armor. Sometimes his schedule was so tight he didn't even have a moment to stop and recharge the suit. In such cases, he had to return to his lab first, swap to an older model of battle gear, and then set out again.

His tasks weren't particularly difficult, in truth—just blowing up a few bases, tearing off some roofs, and demonstrating inhuman strength to intimidate certain reluctant Hydra remnants into "voluntarily" accepting reform and obeying the new leader's command.

In fact, most of this kind of work was delegated to people like Rick Belloc—one of his newly acquired Hydra underlings—who led teams to handle it. Michael only stepped in personally for the tough nuts to crack. Some surviving Hydra units still possessed firepower rivaling regular armies, or held onto high-risk technologies. In those cases, Michael would handle things himself, because, admittedly, when he wore that pitch-black armor and used the speaker to project his low, eerie voice, his persuasion was quite "convincing."

After six months of relentless effort, most of Hydra's remaining forces had been successfully absorbed by Michael. Now, the majority had accepted that the organization had a new leader, and they were well aware that this new boss was no less dangerous than their previous one. But interestingly, none of them had ever actually seen this new leader's face—or at least, not the face beneath that black armor.

Michael had said he wanted to rebuild a better organization from Hydra's ruins, but when he said that, he never naively thought he could change the members' beliefs. He knew exactly what kind of people he had gathered—liars, killers, terrorists, to whom human life was as insignificant as grass. They could slaughter an entire city without blinking. Trying to reform them would be like trying to drill ice for fire.

This new organization was like a sword—sharp and deadly, but also extremely dangerous. Yet a sword was just a sword; it could harm or save, and whether it was good or bad depended on the wielder.

That was why Michael had renamed it "S.W.O.R.D."

S.W.O.R.D., short for Sentient World Observation and Response Department, was originally an organization in Marvel Comics established to monitor alien invasions and resolve interstellar disputes, similar in nature to S.H.I.E.L.D.

But since this world didn't seem to have a S.W.O.R.D. anyway, he just borrowed the name for convenience.

Hydra couldn't be completely eradicated, but it could be controlled. Meanwhile, this world was entering a critical new era—the number of superheroes and supervillains had been skyrocketing in recent years, and the existence of aliens had been confirmed. Under these circumstances, an organization capable of monitoring and managing global supernatural phenomena, quickly investigating potential threats, was undoubtedly necessary.

Of course, up until now, this had all fallen under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s jurisdiction. But as everyone knew, S.H.I.E.L.D. had also fallen apart. Although Agent Phil Coulson was working to gather people and rebuild the organization, their resources and capabilities were far from what they once were, not to mention that they had now been classified as terrorists by the international community.

This was another reason Michael had established "S.W.O.R.D."—to monitor dangers and prevent threats. He needed to ensure that potential risks across the world were under control, nipped in the bud before they could take shape, or at least prepared for in advance if unavoidable.

Hydra's resources were undoubtedly well-suited for this task. So far, among the Hydra-affiliated individuals Michael had successfully recruited, there were numerous bankers, scientists, crime bosses, high-ranking politicians, and military officials, spread across various countries and fields, with access to highly classified projects. These people would become S.W.O.R.D.'s eyes and ears, helping them track developments across the planet.

Beyond these informants, technical surveillance was equally important, and that part was primarily Sherry's responsibility.

As previously mentioned, Michael had long ago dug a backdoor into Hydra's network. He then created the first artificial intelligence of his life and embedded it within Hydra's systems. Over the years, this program had gradually delved deeper into Hydra's vast data world, and by now, it had taken control of nearly every aspect of Hydra's entire network. It had now fully merged into a part of Sherry, meaning Sherry had autonomous access to all of Hydra's network permissions.

In the past, Hydra liked to boast that they were everywhere. Now, Michael believed that this fledgling "S.W.O.R.D." had already achieved the same capability.

After six months of hands-on effort, the massive machine of "S.W.O.R.D.," hidden in the shadows, had finally begun to run on track. Every part was in place, every gear was doing its job, and all functions were online and operating smoothly.

S.W.O.R.D. could now monitor all kinds of anomalies and superpowered reactions worldwide, but the next issue lay in the response phase. Many cases involving supernatural abilities were beyond the scope of regular troops and conventional weapons, and Michael couldn't always personally show up at every scene to neutralize the crisis.

That was why S.W.O.R.D. also needed an elite team with sufficient capability to handle all problems involving supernatural phenomena. In Michael's vision, this team should be completely independent of the organizational structure, with a high degree of autonomy, reporting to no level of command except directly to the director—in other words, to Michael himself. They would be like a precise, sharp scalpel, cleanly excising any unconventional threats.

Of course, that was a plan for the next step. For now, the team only had three candidate members: Sergeant Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier freed from Hydra's brainwashing; Wanda Maximoff, who had apparently gained the ability to wield Chaos Magic from experiments under Baron Strucker, codename Scarlet Witch; and Pietro Maximoff, her brother, who had gained super speed through the same means as Wanda, codename Quicksilver.

Michael swiped his finger, dismissing the holographic projection of the candidate list floating above his desk. He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples.

Maybe the team only had three candidates for now, but that wouldn't last long. Soon, more extraordinary individuals would emerge. They would form an unstoppable team, and they would become S.W.O.R.D.'s sharpest blade.