Chapter 249: Earth's current state

The changes on Earth today are much greater than in the past, even though it has only been a few short years.

At this time, technology is progressing rapidly, and various high-tech advancements are constantly emerging. The appearance of aliens, demons, angels, and others has significantly reduced internal conflicts within countries.

Most people focus their energy and attention on how to combat these threats.

The triple competition in military, economy, and technology has also furthered the advancement of Earth's civilization.

Of course, there are still many unsavory events, such as the United States, which remains self-centered and continues to try to expand its power by draining the resources of other countries, rather than pursuing a global community where the world progresses and develops together.

However, the strength of the United States leaves other countries unable to resist and instead forces them to rely on it.

For these so-called lackeys, the United States usually extracts the last bit of profit from them.

New York's western suburb, Avengers Headquarters Building.

This area has been completely transformed by Tony Stark into the Avengers Headquarters base. Initially, he wanted to place the headquarters in downtown New York, but after consideration, he realized that placing it in the city center would cause unnecessary trouble.

The Avengers Building was constructed very lavishly with substantial funding from Tony and Congress, supported by the government.

Besides the core Avengers members, many auxiliary staff were also recruited.

These staff members are mainly responsible for the maintenance of the headquarters building, weapons, equipment, and information-related matters.

These individuals were thoroughly screened by Tony and the X-Men to ensure their integrity before entering the Avengers Headquarters base.

Despite government support, the number of Avengers members has not increased significantly.

The primary reason is that the Avengers need high-end combat power, and after several years of searching, very few high-end combat forces have emerged on Earth, or even if there are, few are willing to join the Avengers.

Either due to distrust of the government or because they have become criminals.

For various reasons, in a few years, the Avengers have only added two new members compared to before.

However, even with just two, the Avengers team has made significant progress and growth.

One is Captain America, Steve Rogers, and the other is a young girl named Tabitha Smith.

The former, without a doubt, was found and unfrozen by S.H.I.E.L.D. after being in ice, and under the guidance of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, he joined the Avengers. Although in terms of strength, Steve Rogers, as an enhanced human, is not very powerful in the superhuman realm.

However, he is a tactical master, very suitable as a battlefield leader of a team, and a resolute warrior with a charismatic appeal that inspires others to follow.

He plays a unique role in uniting the Avengers team.

The young girl, Tabitha Smith, also has a dramatic backstory. Tabitha was born in a poor rural trailer park in Virginia, and her parents divorced when she was young, leading to a strained relationship with them.

She is often depicted as a rebellious but normal girl.

However, when she entered her teenage years at thirteen, Tabitha suddenly awakened an ability. Her initial power was to create yellow and plasma energy balls out of thin air, which she could control and detonate at will.

In essence, it was an ability to create bombs out of nothing.

With this power, she frequently used it against her parents, leading to constant disdain and beatings from her father.

Despite being kind-hearted, under her father's beatings, she chose to run away from home instead of killing him, dreaming of using her abilities to gain fame.

Unfortunately, as soon as she boarded a train, she was taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D., who had been monitoring her.

Her power was highly dangerous and had been under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s observation. When she ran away and seemed intent on using destruction to change her fate, S.H.I.E.L.D. had to intervene early.

The girl was very scared; despite having superpowers, she was terrified when she heard they were from the government.

She was then taken to a special prison for highly dangerous superhumans by S.H.I.E.L.D.

After a series of tests, it was confirmed that she was not a mutant but simply had awakened superpowers.

And her powers had great potential.

After assessing her psychological state, Nick Fury decided to have Tony evaluate if she was suitable for the Avengers, making his intentions clear. Tony did not refuse, considering the rising incidents of superhuman crimes due to global changes over the years.

Although the Avengers did not lack numbers, Tony had to consider future needs.

After personally seeing the girl and reviewing her psychological evaluation data, Tony formally recruited Tabitha Smith.

The girl was quite interesting. Initially, being imprisoned made her anxious, but her rebellious nature led her to constantly think about escaping this "hell-like" prison.

After all, she often watched TV, which depicted many plots about government agencies conducting human experiments on superhumans.

Terrified, she kept planning her escape.

Despite many attempts at what she thought were perfect escape plans, all failed due to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s specialized equipment for various superpowers.

This made her dejected, feeling weak and lethargic.

However, she was not foolish. After several escape attempts, the guards did not punish her but only gave verbal warnings, providing her with a room, TV, books, and abundant food, making it unlike a prison.

She started to suspect something until Tony Stark, America's most famous superhero, billionaire, and Iron Man, appeared before her.

He personally extended an invitation, exciting the girl so much that she agreed immediately.