Chapter 245: Welcome to the Superpower Academy

George had located Pierce through telepathy, then Apparated directly to his position, swiftly eliminating Pierce’s subordinates before using Legilimency to extract his memories.

As for why he killed Pierce instead of handing him over to Coulson for interrogation—

First, he didn’t want Coulson and his team to learn the location of the Tesseract from Pierce. If they found the island and discovered it had already been destroyed, they might suspect that he had taken it.

Even if they did find out, he wouldn’t return the Tesseract, but it would still be troublesome.

Second, if Pierce was merely imprisoned rather than killed, Hydra’s vast network would likely find a way to rescue him. Killing him now was simply the cleanest solution.

As for the rest of Hydra’s intelligence? That wasn’t his concern.

Since most of Hydra’s forces were stationed below for defense, there weren’t many soldiers left in the building. With a wave of his hand, George manipulated the surrounding metal to eliminate the remaining ones before reuniting with Steve and the others who were rescuing hostages.

The rest was straightforward—Coulson, Black Widow, and the other senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agents handled the aftermath, escorting the rescued agents to safety.

Meanwhile, George, Logan, Steve, and Tony finally had a moment to relax.

“I think we should leave,” Logan suggested, glancing at the swarm of Washington reporters rushing toward them outside the Triskelion.

Tony lifted his helmet and smirked.

“I don’t think you need to rush off. The school will have to go public eventually—why not take this opportunity for some publicity?”

“That actually makes sense. Now is the perfect time.”

George, who had been about to leave, paused to consider Tony’s words before nodding in agreement.

Tony had a point—after all, they had just saved Washington, perhaps even the world. This was the ideal moment to introduce the Superpower Academy.

“Excuse me, are you really Captain America?”

“Yes. I fell into a glacier and was frozen for sixty-six years before Dean George rescued me this year.”

“Are you Wolverine from the comics? So mutants really exist?”

“Mr. George, are you also a mutant? Why did Captain America call you ‘Dean’? What school do you run?”

A flood of reporters crowded in, bombarding them with questions, leaving Steve and Logan at a loss for words.

Tony, on the other hand, handled the press with ease—but for once, he wasn’t the main attraction.

Normally, Tony would be the center of media attention, but today, everyone already knew too much about him. The most they asked about was his flashy new suit.

Instead, the real focus was on Captain America, Wolverine, and the enigmatic, almost godlike figure of Dean George.

“All right, let me explain,” George finally spoke up.

“There are no mutants in this world anymore. We are simply individuals with unique abilities—superhumans.

Many people like us exist across the world. Anyone with a skill beyond that of an ordinary person can be considered a superhuman.

By that definition, I’d say Tony is a superhuman too—his genius intellect far surpasses that of a normal person.

They call me ‘Dean’ because I founded the Superpower Academy, a school dedicated to helping individuals develop and refine their abilities.

After graduation, our students can contribute to society in various ways.

Our faculty is second to none—Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, and many others serve as instructors at our school.

If you or your child has abilities beyond those of an ordinary human, you are welcome to enroll in our academy.

We can help you learn to control and harness your powers while guiding you toward a future that makes the most of your potential.”

George paused briefly before continuing.

“As for what happened today—Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. invited us to assist in stopping Hydra’s plan to use the Helicarriers to dominate the world.”

He then revealed the full details of Project Insight.

After all, how could the public truly appreciate what they had done if they only knew about the nuclear missile threat? They hadn’t just saved Washington—they had saved the world.

Of course, the government wouldn’t want the public to know these details. Even the nuclear missile launch toward Washington would require extensive damage control.

It would take enormous effort to pacify the outraged citizens of Washington and provide an explanation to the entire country.

And now, with George exposing Hydra’s Project Insight, things would become even more complicated.

But that wasn’t his problem. That was for the world’s governments to deal with. The more headaches they had, the less they’d have time to meddle with his school.

“In short, we welcome superhumans from around the world to join the Superpower Academy. Our school is located in New York.”

After providing an address near the school, George exchanged a glance with Tony before disappearing with Steve and Logan through Apparition.

He wasn’t concerned about revealing the location. The true school grounds were hidden—only those he permitted could actually see them.

However, once people arrived nearby, Professor X would be able to detect them through telepathy, and they could then be interviewed for admission.

With this event, the academy’s enrollment was bound to skyrocket.

George Apparated back to the cloaked X-Jet parked nearby, cast a tracking spell, and set off to retrieve Dr. Banner, whom Gordon had teleported to an unknown location.

That evening, the X-Jet returned to the school.

The next evening, George received a call from Black Widow.

“George, does your offer still stand about me joining the school as a teacher?”

Following the recent crisis, the World Security Council had completely abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D., reducing it to a U.S.-based intelligence agency akin to the CIA, responsible for handling abnormal incidents.

This meant that S.H.I.E.L.D., once a global organization dedicated to world peace, had become a government agency serving only American interests.

Coulson had been appointed as the new Director, with Maria Hill as Deputy Director.

Black Widow had originally joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to atone for her past. She believed that fighting for world peace could help balance the sins she had committed in the Red Room.

But after the Hydra incident, she had already been considering leaving S.H.I.E.L.D.

Now that S.H.I.E.L.D. was solely serving the U.S. government, she felt there was no reason to stay. She wasn’t atoning anymore—she might just be adding to her sins.

Besides, she wasn’t even American.

“Of course, the offer still stands. We could really use more teachers. Welcome to the Superpower Academy!”

George didn’t hesitate, welcoming Black Widow with a smile.