BOOM!
RUMBLE—!
New York hadn't heard this much noise in ages, sending civilians scrambling to see if aliens were invading again.
They saw no aliens—just a truckload of superheroes.
"Angel! Oh my God, look—it's Angel!"
Excitement swept the crowd; even after all these years and countless new heroes, the cachet of being first still clung to Warren, keeping him firmly fourth on the Awakened Influence Index.
The top three were Fang Yuan, Professor X, and Magneto; fifth place went to Darwin.
"Are the X-Men clearing out the Gangs?"
Some onlookers spotted their target and instantly lit up.
"So the cops finally admitted they're useless and asked the X-Men for help?"
Others started stanning on the spot.
"Look—it's Agent Zero! Christopher is so hot!"
"No wonder he graduated top of Xavier's School!" gushed a blonde, stars in her eyes.
"And that's John Reese—Ghost is amazing, the second Black Superhero ever!"
Needless to say, the speaker's teeth were the whitest thing about him.
The cheers weren't just on the streets; studio audiences were gasping at their screens.
Anytime Vought's headline heroes moved en masse, the public went wild.
Thanks to Vought's long marketing push, every X-Man had become A-list, their clout eclipsing even The Seven of The Boys universe.
These days the team rarely deployed together; solo ops or duo stunts were enough to trend, and getting three X-Men in one frame was headline news.
Tonight's takedown of New York's mobs was meant to be the opening battle of Fang Yuan's big event, so of course the rookie heroes had to shine.
Thus the strike force fielded five core X-Men—Angel, Magneto, Banshee, Impact, and Wolverine—plus a crop of fresh grads from Xavier's, making for a perfect warm-up.
Fang Yuan had vowed to turn Xavier's into the X-Men World's answer to Godolkin University, Vought's famed Superhero boot camp in The Boys reality.
There, teen Awakeneds grew up under spotlights, letting Vought cherry-pick the most camera-ready talents.
The Deep and A-Train were star alumni of Godolkin,
while Xavier's poster kids were Agent Zero and Ghost—who, by the original script, should have joined William Stryker's X-Squad for black-ops dirty work.
But Fang Yuan's arrival rerouted them to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where their standout traits earned them pre-debut fanbases.
Movie Agent Zero's powers diverged from the comics; on page he was mini-Sebastian Shaw, absorbing kinetic energy to amp himself up.
On screen he was simply peak human—superlative gunslinger and brawler.
Among Vought's current Awakeneds his abilities were nothing special, yet the man oozed cool; after scene-stealing cameos in several X-films he became the emblem of the new generation.
As for Ghost… skin-tone buffs speak louder than words.
Besides those two, the audience spotted a few new faces tagging along.
"Quicksilver—it's Quicksilver!"
"Peter's first official mission with his dad Magneto? What a treat!"
Peter's appearance set tongues wagging, mainly because of his pedigree: Magneto's son.
The first hero-kid to ride the nepotism wave, Quicksilver had commanded mega-attention since the day his existence leaked; only Fang Yuan's insistence that "too early will stunt his growth" delayed his debut. Otherwise he'd already be an X-Man.
Erik and Charles both praised Fang Yuan for being so considerate of the children.
In truth Fang Yuan just wanted higher stat unlocks later—let Peter grind first so he could freeload the development points.
Right now, story-time had arrived for Quicksilver's big entrance, so Fang Yuan let him cut loose.
Of course, Peter's power isn't viewer-friendly.
"I've been watching ten minutes—where's Quicksilver?" asked a couch potato.
Speedsters are awkward: without special treatment nobody can track them. Even aerial cams only caught flickers as he zipped across the battlefield; no one knew what he actually did.
He could have pleasured himself mid-rescue and no one would notice.
No matter—being Magneto's son is a lifetime meal ticket.
There were also two other newcomers; one of them was Bradley, who had previously worked with Mystique. He acted as support, using the battlefield's lightbulbs and electronic devices to give his teammates an edge.
A bit of a wallflower.
The other newcomer, however, was absolutely dazzling.
The man was strikingly handsome. He walked straight toward a Gang, twin Katanas whirling, spraying brilliant sparks. From less than five meters away, not a single bullet touched him, leaving the viewers utterly stunned.
"Wade, if you can slice bullets with your swords, why not just dodge them?" Quicksilver zipped up to Wade Wilson and finally blurted out the question.
"Oh, and I'd like to know why, if you can shove people aside, you can't dodge bullets?" the man named Wade shot back, then looked puzzled. "Huh? Why did I say that?"
Wade Wilson.
Deadpool—initial release version.
Before the real Deadpool restored him to factory settings, reviews of him were sharply polarized.
In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the early Wade was as cool as could be; after his transformation into Deadpool, the hate he got was just as intense.
Fang Yuan still couldn't figure out what the director of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was thinking when he came up with the stitched-mouth, cult-classic version of Deadpool.
Like Bradley, Wade had been poached by Fang Yuan from Stryker. His flair for showing off surpassed even Agent Zero's.
It was just that mouth of his—yakking non-stop all day—seriously undercut the overall vibe.
Fang Yuan had even tested whether Wade could Break the Fourth Wall like Deadpool; sadly, this Deadpool was a beta version without that ability, only occasionally blurting out random quips.
Still, he figured it was way better than She-Hulk—that show was pure garbage and even tainted the whole fourth-wall-breaking gimmick.
Hard to believe She-Hulk's only watchable bits came from The Incredible Hulk tie-ins.
But The Incredible Hulk had bombed at the box office too; wheeling it out now for nostalgia points was bizarre.
The entire show leaned on cameos from Hulk, Blonsky, Wong, Daredevil—every classic but the lead. The finale pulled a "creative" twist that was just lazy writing.
Even Vought Television's ads were more entertaining.
At that moment, Vought Television's commentary finally kicked in.
"This is a joint Vought Superhero operation. New York's Black Robe Gang has gravely disrupted civilian life; the X-Men have mobilized to wipe them out, with full official authorization."
"Now that's the kind of commentary that hits the spot."
In a manor on the outskirts of New York, Old Tom lounged on the sofa, nice and comfy.
A blanket covered him; clearly he'd been under the weather lately.
So Old Jerry shoved a cup of hot tea right into his face.
"Agh—aren't you going to check the temperature?" Old Tom yelped.
"Be grateful someone's looking after you. Next time I'll have your daughter do it!" Old Jerry snapped.
Old Tom bristled. "You've eaten my cheese for years—now it's payback time!"
They bickered away, eyes never leaving the screen.
"Bet you anything The Collector channel is denouncing this." Old Jerry suddenly said.
"No doubt."
Old Tom flipped the channel, and loud shouting filled the room.
"Vought can no longer hide its ambitions—they're ripping off their mask!"
On-screen, another host was ranting, delivering classic Collector-style lines.
The name said it all: this was the TV station under The Collector Daily.
Times move forward; The Collector had to keep up.
Now The Collector Daily had become The Collector Broadcasting Corporation, running papers, radio, and TV networks, all dedicated to opposing Vought Television.
"Attacking Gangs downtown? How many civilians will die?"
"Oh my—look! An innocent civilian just collapsed because of Magneto's power!"
Old Tom switched back to Vought Television.
"Confirmed: the person who fell near Magneto is a Collector TV reporter. Blocking rescue efforts while filming, he was restrained by Magneto."
The Vought host's voice dripped disdain.
"You can always tell a network by its reporters!"
Old Tom chuckled. "Knew Vought would clap back!"
They were used to it—during live broadcasts, Vought and Collector never took more than ten seconds to answer each other. Rumor had it each anchor kept a monitor showing the rival feed.
Old Tom and Old Jerry were sure the rumor was true; otherwise how could the two networks trade insults in real time without being linked?
Thanks to the dueling broadcasts, the X-Men's operation instantly became headline news.
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
patreon.com /AZofficial