Superhero Press Conference.
This was the press conference Hawke Group was holding today.
Or rather, a Superhero Showcase.
It was said that three superheroes would be demonstrating their powers.
This unprecedented and shocking news had packed the entire Superhero Press Conference to the brim.
Nearly half of New York had rushed over.
The person who had contributed the most to this was Andrew, the superhero known as Super V.
In New York City, you might not know the mayor, but you had to know New York's friendly neighborhood hero.
Super V.
Especially that line: "Your friendly neighborhood hero."
It had caused Super V's fanbase to grow rapidly, and the household products he endorsed were selling exceptionally well.
It had sent Hawke Group's stock price soaring.
And before this press conference had even begun,
Hawke's stock had already shown signs of becoming unstoppable.
Fans had begun chanting on their own.
"Super V! Super V! We want to see Super V!"
Inside Hawke Group, Nathan Hawke felt the strength of his body and the electricity flickering at his fingertips.
"That's it. The more people who know about superheroes, the more supervillains I can summon to strengthen myself."
The fluctuations from the summoning were also gradually increasing. Before long, the time to summon again would arrive.
At the press conference, quite a few people wondered why Nathan Hawke of Hawke Group had not appeared.
It was not until someone said that Nathan Hawke was attending a charity gala and therefore could not come to this press conference that some people began to develop a favorable impression of Nathan Hawke and Hawke Group.
Nathan Hawke had not gone to the charity gala, but the donations and orphanages had indeed been put into action together.
They would all become die-hard fans of Hawke Group and the superheroes in the future.
Everything had to start with the children.
The press conference was an enormous success.
Super V's Psychic Power, Translucent's invisibility, and Electro's lightning had pushed the event to one climax after another.
After their joint appearance came individual interviews with each superhero.
Every superhero had their own dedicated media area, merchandise, and character standees.
Photos, handshakes, interactions.
They used Psychic Power to make people float, turned invisible together with people, and charged people's little gadgets.
Back and forth, it went on until around 11 p.m. Before Hawke Group and the police officers they had invited could finally work together to bring the entire press conference to a successful close.
Yet the anticipated troublemakers had not appeared.
Inside Hawke Group, the three superheroes collapsed off to the side.
"I'm exhausted." A cup of Junk Food Drink floated in front of Andrew.
Max Dillon stared speechlessly at the ceiling. "You have no idea. When I was charging people's little gadgets today, do you know what someone asked me to charge?"
The other two looked at him and shook their heads in unison.
Max Dillon pointed downward.
"Gasp..." The two of them sucked in a breath.
"They really know how to have fun?" Translucent was stunned.
"There were quite a lot of them too. Some had toys, some didn't." Max Dillon curled his lip.
"Looks like you know what your future fanbase will be like." Translucent did not continue, but just like Andrew, a mischievous smile appeared on his face.
"Both men and women?" Andrew suddenly stared at him with great interest.
"Uh." Max Dillon did not want to talk to him and fired a small bolt of electricity at him.
Andrew waved his hand and brushed aside the electric bolt.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Translucent laughed loudly.
After that bit of fooling around, the three of them had become much closer.
"Tomorrow, you'll be starting as superheroes too. Good luck!"
Before leaving, Andrew encouraged the two of them.
"Got it."
"No problem."
Translucent had long since mastered this whole routine. He had no problems at all and picked it up quickly.
Max Dillon, however, was somewhat worried. He planned to review his character profile and superhero lines later.
Meanwhile, Nathan Hawke and Wesker were discussing matters.
"Hawke Group's stock is rising fast. The funding will come through soon."
"I've already found quite a few suitable locations overseas. I'm just waiting for your funds."
Wesker had already found several places suitable for experiments and simulated training with Biological Weapons. He was only waiting for Nathan Hawke's funds.
Umbrella Corporation's funds could only sustain domestic research. Going any farther would not be worth the cost. Equipment, transportation, and labor all required enormous sums of money. Without a solid funding chain, none of this could be accomplished.
After discussing matters for a while, Nathan Hawke left and went to rest within Umbrella Corporation.
Wesker did not need rest. The virus in his body allowed him to remain energetic for a long time.
Nathan Hawke could do the same, but he was not as enduring as Wesker. When he had summoned Wesker, his strength had only been half of Wesker's, and the virus was the same. Even the reverse-engineered genes now contained part of Wesker's sample.
Although Nathan Hawke had subsequently acquired Psychic Power, Translucent's invisibility, electrical energy, and their physical strength.
Strictly speaking, among the three of them, only Translucent had physical strength slightly greater than the two of them. But he could still be blown to death by bombs.
Although Nathan Hawke could also go without rest, there was no need to.
Early the next morning, Nathan Hawke received a message from Justin Hammer.
"You're a big shot now. When I went to the event yesterday, I thought you'd be there, but you weren't. I figured you were busy, so I didn't say anything. But you have to come over to my place today."
"Sure. I'll head over in a bit."
Speaking of it, Nathan Hawke had met Justin Hammer because of a weapons exhibition.
At that exhibition, Justin Hammer had been talking a big game in front of a group of military personnel.
Then someone mentioned Tony Stark's name.
Justin Hammer froze at once, but as a businessman who ran a major corporation, he knew what to do. He immediately composed himself, pretended not to have heard it, and continued praising his "invincible" weapons.
Because his weapons were cheap, varied, and could be produced quickly, Justin Hammer still managed to secure a military order.
Nathan Hawke, meanwhile, had come here to build up his network.
He had gone to Justin Hammer and bought quite a few weapons for Wesker's work.
When Justin Hammer learned that his customer was Nathan Hawke, the son of Hawke Group's founder and Hawke Group's chairman, he immediately thought that another friend meant another path to wealth.
He directly offered him the production price. Justin Hammer had said so himself afterward.
Since both of them had more or less intended to befriend the other, the atmosphere had naturally been very pleasant.
That was how the two had become acquainted.
Nathan Hawke got into the car and instructed the driver to head to Hammer Industries.
The moment the car began to deviate from its route, Nathan Hawke used Psychic Power to destroy the driver's skull from within, then drove the car to Hammer Industries with Psychic Power.
"Boss, the target vehicle has returned to its route," the member watching through binoculars immediately reported.
"Didn't our man already disguise himself as the driver?" asked a man wearing a skull mask.
"Yes, but the car isn't following our plan."
"You mean our man may have been eliminated?"
The observer's earpiece flickered, clearly indicating that a message had come in.
"Boss, according to the team observing from the other side, our driver is still behind the wheel, but he seems a little off."
"Off?"
"Yes. According to the body language expert on the team, our man looks like he has no strength in his entire body."
The man in the skull mask pondered his subordinate's words.
"Then give him something heavy." The cold command, devoid of life, fell.
The operation against Nathan Hawke.
Had begun.
Two cars sped up behind Nathan Hawke's vehicle.
Two cars in front also began slowing down, determined to block Nathan Hawke's path.
"Who wants to kill me?"
Nathan Hawke's eyes flashed as he suddenly thought of Hydra, the evil organization whose members were spread throughout America's institutions.
The corners of his lips curled upward as he pulled a button from inside his suit and pressed it.
The Superhero Trio that had received the order began moving.
Andrew arrived first and watched the several cars engaged in a chase across the bridge.
With a lift of his hand, the parts of the cars surrounding Nathan Hawke came loose.
The cars began to lose control, collide, and fall into the sea...
Biu.
A rapidly spinning custom bullet shot out.
Under the defense of Psychic Power, the bullet pierced the custom glass and stopped in front of Nathan Hawke's temple.
Andrew looked in the direction the bullet had come from and rushed over.
"Super V is here! Retreat!" Knowing they were no match for him, the group did not even pack up their weapons before quickly fleeing.
"Can you get away?"
Psychic Power erupted, knocking them unconscious on the spot.
"Wesker will like the Human Experimentation subjects I send him." Andrew looked down indifferently at the people lying on the ground.
"The plan failed," the man holding the binoculars immediately reported.
"Everyone, retreat." The man in the skull mask immediately gave the order.
"You think you can leave?"
Electro floated into the air and appeared before them from above.
"Kill him." The skull-masked man immediately gave the order, then fled at high speed.
The members beside him raised their weapons and opened fire.
"Hmph. You're courting death." Seeing them raise their weapons at him, Electro activated the aiming device over his eye sockets and fired bolts of electricity one after another.
They struck those members, and in an instant, Electro had cleared the field.
"Looks like Umbrella Corporation has some test subjects now."
The door to a room was kicked open, and the skull-masked man instantly shut it behind him.
He panted heavily.
After seeing who had entered, the bald man frowned and asked, "Rumlow, did you take care of it?"
"Shit."
Faced with Sitwell's question, Rumlow could only vent his rage by kicking a piece of furniture aside.
Watching the furniture shatter across the floor, Sitwell could only curl his lip.
"Superheroes, especially Super V and Electro, aren't opponents our forces can handle."
Remembering how, the moment Electro appeared, his team had been wiped out in a single exchange.
Rumlow viciously punched the table beside him to pieces.
Sitwell was speechless.
"The boss will understand," Sitwell could only say to comfort Rumlow.
Rumlow was a Super Soldier. He surely had never imagined a mission failure like this, but reality had taught him a lesson. There was always someone stronger.
Sitwell suddenly felt rather sorry for him. He did not know why; perhaps it was simply a secretary's sympathy.
Sympathy for the combat faction.
Fine, it was actually schadenfreude.
Seeing the other man's miserable state, Sitwell nearly laughed out loud. Unfortunately, he was a professional.
Absolutely, absolutely, he would not laugh.
It was just that his shoulders were inexplicably shaking.
What they did not know was that an invisible figure was silently watching the scene.
Before you continue