After going over a few more details that Scotty needed some additional information on, Conner donned suit before taking off toward the sky. He had hero work to do.
Conner graduated early from high school the previous month. His parents originally were going to have him attend college in the fall but they didn't know that Conner had long since abandoned plans of college.
Being the founder and major shareholder of HOMRA made him a very wealthy man that would not worry about money for the rest of his life. With the freedom of no longer having to attend class, he could spend doing hero work, training, or spending time with those he was close to.
Conner traveled all over the world and dealt with various threats for the next few hours. Whether it was stopping bank robberies, helping police in car chases, preventing a few murders and drug deals, Sentry made sure to keep himself busy. It wasn't until around 1600 that he stopped what he was doing and returned to HOMRA.
Red King had asked him to help pick out members for a new superhero team that HOMRA was creating. After the publicity that they got from Sentry, Red King decided to strike while the iron was hot. Sentry was going to be their sponsored hero while the team would be the heroes that took direct orders from them when they were not dealing with other matters.
Sentry landed in front of HOMRA HQ and walked through the front gates without a care in the world. Even though he was helping with picking out the members, this team still had nothing to do with him. It was Red King's idea.
Sentry originally planned to just sponsor heroes instead of having their own team but was allowing him to do as he pleased. Since he put Red King in charge, he would let him take the reigns.
Conner wanted to invite Eve and Caitlin to try out for the team but he was rejected by both of them. Eve did not feel comfortable working with a team just yet (was enjoying her alone time with Mark) while Caitlin also felt the same (without the alone time with Mark).
The duo had founded Teen Team with the others so it was very heartbreaking for them that the team had broken up.
After arriving in the public basement level, Sentry was greeted by several dozen heroes who had come to audition, several of them familiar to Sentry.
Although he had only finished Invincible, it had caused him to be very interested in the other Image Comics comics. Living in this world for almost 18 also made him even more familiar with the more famous ones.
When Sentry walked in, he immediately caught the attention of many of the heroes. They had known he was the poster boy for HOMRA but were unsure of just how strong he was. There were rumors that he was on par with the son of Omni-Man, Invincible, but without any further proof, it was impossible to tell.
So one unfortunate soul decided to test it out.
A young man wearing wolf furs on his body swaggered over to Sentry with an arrogant look on his face. It appeared as if he was looking down on Sentry.
"I heard you are supposed to be some hot shit. That you will be the new Omni-Man in a couple of years. Mind showing us just how tough you are?" Without giving Sentry a chance to reply, he threw a punch.
Sentry saw the punch coming and thought it was funny. He stood in place and let the blow land on him. What should have been an injury on Sentry's chest turned into a broken arm on the other man.
Many of the heroes were shocked as the young man fell to the ground, screaming in pain. He was bleeding all over the floor as medics rushed over and began to treat him.
The way that many of those looking at Sentry changed. He was definitely strong. Enough to be compared to Invincible and Omni-Man? That was questionable but his power was top-notch.
As for saying he was in wrong with that interaction, no one would dare say that. He did not walk over to the other person, insult the other person, or even attack the other person. It had all been done by the other party so placing blame on Sentry was foolish.
This did not mean that more people weren't wary of Sentry. Strength easily frightens people. Absolute strength scares even heroes.
Sentry proceeded to head towards the judges' area where he sat down. The auditions would be two parts. The first part was their abilities and skills. The second was an interview. Even if a person was powerful, they would not bring them on if they did not think they would follow HOMRA's orders and ideals.
The first part of the auditions was conducted in a large, gym-like area. It not only had robots to test combat skills on but also other areas such as a very difficult escape room and a gymnastic and acrobatics course on the rafters.
As each hero took their turns doing their best in the... danger room(?), the others and the judges watched on from above. Sentry watched on with interest. The only heroes he had really interacted with before were the Teen Team and his family. It was pleasant to see such a diverse set of powers and skills that the heroes were using.
There were those that just decided to crush the robots as fast as they could before leaving the test, some that would show off their level and skill with flight as they soared through the acrobatics course while firing upon the robots, and even a woman that broke out of the escape room in under 2 minutes without using any powers.
By the time the first round was over and of the original 97, there were 36 individuals that had passed the first assessment with an adequate score. Once all of the other heroes were escorted out and the ones that passed the first exam were taken up to the 3rd floor, the interviews took place.
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Author's Note:
Sorry for only one chapter yesterday but it was a holiday. So I ate and slept and put up lights before cooking then eating and sleeping again. It was quite comfortable actually. You should really try it.
Anyway... Here's the new chapter