Stamford!

" Do you see what the hell's going Jen? The people are actually thinking of creating a bill that forces heroes to register. That's insanity."

Clark said to the woman as they ate dinner.

" It's not that bad Clark."

Jen replied.

" Not that bad? Jen they want to force heroes to give up their secret identities. Do you know what that could do to the hero community?"

Clark asked.

" Clark what would change? Nothing? The only thing that would happen is heroes would become official law enforcement and be given proper training."

Jen explained

" And put the identity of ever man woman and child who wears a mask out to the public and their enemies. What would happen if Spiderman were to take his mask off? His villains would stop at nothing to hurt him. That means they go after his family."

Clark explained.

" Clark calm down. Who says it's even going to get that far?"

Jen asked.

" You're right, guess I just don't feel comfortable about all of this."

Clark replied as he rubbed his face.

On the news the Reporters were going over the latest show of the New Warriors.

" On your feet Nitro and don't try any of your stupid exploding tricks!"

Namorita yelled to the man she had just slammed into a school bus.

" Namorita, right? Aren't you the sub-mariner's cousin or something? Well, I'm afraid we're not the bargain basement losers you guys are used to baby... Heheheh! You're playing with the big boys now!"

Nitro explained to the woman as his eyes started to glow and, in an instant, he exploded taking all of Stamford with him.

Clark and Jen watched the scene in horror as the broadcast cut out.

" Clark GO! GO!"

Jen yelled

Clark turned around raced out of his house towards Stamford, arriving to see the land still smoldering as ash filled the sky.

It wasn't long before the Avengers, X-men, and other prominent heroes showed up to help look for survivors.

" I'm told they've got a lead on Nitro. Word is he snuck out of town on the back of a pick up truck."

Iron man said to captain America.

" Does it matter? All these children tony. The F.E.M.A Chief said there could be eight or nine hundred casualties. All dead for a stupid reality TV Show."

Steve replied.

" They should have called us, cap. Speedball knew the new warriors were out of their league. The whole country saw the tape where they said they were only chasing ratings."

Iron man explained.

" What does it matter stark? What does any of what you said matter? What could we have done differently? What could any of us have done to stop Nitro from doing what he did? Nothing, that's what."

Clark explained.

" We don't know that."

Iron man replied.

" Marvel Girl! Cyclops! We need some help over here Motion Detectors are picking something up about twenty feet down, but we haven't got our diggers yet."

One of the search and rescue members yelled to the two X-Men.

Scott and Rachel walked over to the pile of rubble to help.

" Can you handle this on your own Rachel?"

Scott asked the girl.

" I can handle it, Scott."

Rachel said as she lifted the pile of rocks.

" This is bad Logan. Really bad."

Clark said to the man as he looked around for other survivors.

" Yer not lying. This might just be the straw that breaks the camel's back blue."

Logan said as he sniffed the air, however something soon drew his attention.

" You gotta be kidding me. We volunteer to help with a federal emergency and you're still following us around?"

Logan asked as the sentinels arrived.

" Just doin' our jobs wolverine."

The sentinel replied.

" Well, you have to the count of three to leave or else."

Clark said to the man.

" Or else what?"

The man in the robot asked as he raised his blaster to superman.

Clark burned a hole through the machine's circuitry before doing the same to the others.

" Superman, what are you doing?"

Iron man asked.

" Keeping those idiot sentinels in check and if the One has a problem with it they can speak to me about. The X-men are out here helping us and they still insist on treating them like animals that need to be put on a leash. I won't put up with it. Not today."

Superman replied before walking off.

The heroes continued for a full twenty-four hours before they were finally finished. Clark saw the X-men off with them thanking him for his words before Leaving with Jen.

" Clark."

Jen called out.

" Not tonight Jen, I'll see you tomorrow."

Clark said to the woman before flying off to his home.

' This is bad. This is very bad.'

Clark thought as he flew towards his house. Once he was home, Clark placed his gear down on the table and collapsed into his bed.

" Things are about to change drastically. Aren't they?"

Clark asked himself before going to sleep for the night.

The next Morning Clark woke to a message from Jen to watch the news. Clark turned on his Tv and turned to CNN to see Jen was doing an interview.

" A ban on superheroes? Well, in a world with thousands of Super-Villains that's obviously impossible, Larry. But training them up and making them carry badges? Yes, I'd say that sounds like a reasonable response."

Jen explained to the man.

" Is she serious? Did she not hear a word I said? Jen you can't be serious."

Clark said as he watched the news in shock. He quickly grabbed his phone and messaged the woman.

The next few days were filled with mass hysteria. A funeral was held for all of those who lost their lives and Johnny storm the human torch was beaten to near death outside a club. All of this led to a gathering of heroes at the Baxter building.

" So, what are they saying, Doctor Richards? That I'll be forced to become a federal employee or face a warrant for my arrest?"

Doctor strange, asked reed Richards.

" Actually, you were one of the post-humans they're hoping to seek a compromise with, Stephen."

Reed responded.

" Pension plans and annual vacation time? It's ridiculous. What are they trying to do? Turn us into civil servants?"

Wasp asked.

" Looks like they're closing us down, wasp."

Luke replied.

" Or making us more legitimate. Why shouldn't we be better trained and publicly accountable?"

Iron man asked.

" Somebody said we should go on strike if they mess with us like this. Does anybody else think that's a good idea?"

Patriot asked.

" No, Ah... It's patriot, right? No, I don't think anyone here could seriously advocate for a super-hero strike, son."

Reed replied.

" So, what's the general consensus?"

Scott asked.

" As far as I'm concerned Stamford was our wakeup call. What alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity. Becoming public employees makes perfect sense if it helps people sleep easier."

Iron man stated.

" Do you hear yourself Stark?"

Superman asked

" So, nice of you to finally join us Superman."

Stark replied.

" Superman, just listen to them."

Jen said to the man.

" Listen to them? I've been listening this entire time and now I'm going to talk. Jen I told you the consequences that come with this registration."

Clark stated.

" And what are they? Please enlighten the rest of us."

Ironman demanded.

" You're asking men and women who fight for this country, this world every day to become servants to one government. Giving them the power over all of us. Are we going to go wipe Russia off the face of the earth because the government says so?"

Clark asked.

" That's not what's going to happen."

Iron man responded.

" Stark, doing this gives them that power. Don't you see that? What about those of us who have been keeping our identities secret? Who's going to stop the green goblin or Doc ock or I don't know The rhino From attacking Spiderman's family while he's away saving the day?"

Clark asked

" We can place shield agents..."

Iron man tried arguing.

" Shield agents? You mean the sorry bastards who fail at almost every job they do? No offense cap. But Shield sucks! That's the hard truth. Without the people in this room the world would have been destroyed long ago. I wouldn't trust the agents of shield to watch my dog. But let's for arguments sake say we placed everyone's family under Shield supervision. Doing that we not only tell these villains who our families are, but we take away the privacy of our families."

Clark responded.

" So, what do we do then? Tell me what we do, because what happened in Stamford, can't happen again!"

Iron man yelled.

" What happened could not have been avoided Stark! What could any of us do?! How is captain america going to stop Nitro from exploding? How is Jen going to stop that? Or luke? Or Spiderman? Or Ben? How? The only two people in this room who could have moved fast enough to stop that explosion are Dr. Strange and myself. But we weren't there. We didn't know that was going to happen!"

Clark argued

" Exactly! If the new warriors had called for backup this could have maybe been prevented."

Strak replied.

" You're talking about Maybe's Stark! There is no room for maybes in a situation like this. Let me tell what is going to happen. Spiderman you can come in!"

Clark yelled out.

" Sorry, seemed like you were on a roll there."

Spiderman said as he joined the others.

" Now, as I was saying this is what's going to happen if this bill goes through. The people in this room are going to be forced to pick a side. There will be a war!"

Clark stated.

" Not if you all see reason."

Iron man replied.

" I'm done with this. I can see you aren't going to change your mind Tony and frankly I don't care."

Clark stated.

" Superman, don't do this."

Jen pleaded with the man.

" Jen, you know I'm right. You know this is wrong."

Clark said to the woman.

" Please Jen, stand with me on this."

Clark said as he held his hand out to the woman.

" Superman... I..."

Jen fumbled over her words as she avoided the man's gaze.

" I see... I enjoyed our time together Jen."

Clark said as he turned his back to the woman.

" Superman don't do this. You can Register with no problems if you don't you will be arrested and charged as a criminal."

Jen explained.

" You and Stark can try Jen. But we both know that's not going to happen. There's a war coming now. It's inevitable. I won't throw the first punch Stark. I will sit things out. But if you or any one else in this room tries to enforce registration, I will step in myself and I will crush you."

Clark said to the man as his eyes burned red. A clear warning to the man of the things to come.