Chapter 11 – Welcome to Real Life
The emergence of the Strategic Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation Regiment, now Advanced Experimental Operations Nexus, and the very real Heroes of the Storm characters proved a challenge for typically-sluggish governance around the world. The debate over whether new laws were required was raucous, discourteous, and infused with raw emotion.
On one hand, actions taken by the Weaponized Extraction Teams over Anaheim clearly involved Title 18 of the United States Code, but given that the organization responsible was supranational authorities outside the United States demanded input on the matter as well. Never mind some fringe groups calling for bombing Australia in retaliation for "hosting those crackpots."
Reaction from the Prime Minister was necessarily swift and short. "So you'd punish us for being fooled by and ignorant of what essentially qualifies as magic? I would ask if you lost your mind, but by making suggestions like this, the question has answered itself."
"Markets fell today, as no resolution appears to be forthcoming over the 'hero incident.' Coupled with continuous sliding in oil prices, volatility on the NASDAQ led to a sharp drop…" represented a common refrain across news sources.
In a rare display of bipartisan vigor, the United States rushed a "Supernatural Registration Act" through Congress at breakneck speed—concluding in a 327-108 vote in the House, a 72-28 tally in the Senate, and Presidential signature after only twenty days of debate.
"This legislation is a solid first step toward confronting a newly-emerging aspect of our world that we remained unaware of until recently" read the press release. "It establishes fair controls for those in possession of abilities which defy the explanation of modern science and assurances to the wider public that such individuals will not be permitted to abuse their unique capabilities."
Jaina stewed in her quarters at the Down Under base, surrounded by many other Heroes.
"So we're supposed to wear trackers now? And be monitored directly by disguised agents? What purpose would that serve?"
Raynor could understand Jaina's anger—really, he didn't totally disagree. Still, he also recognized that from the perspective of those who originally inhabited this world, people like them were hard to accept.
"You gotta remember, the folks around these parts are still getting used to the fact that we exist. Top that off with being unkillable, having weapons that never run out of bullets, and abilities capable of mass destruction. I can see why they're scared."
"But we weren't the ones who killed several thousand people!" protested Nova. "Why are we being treated the same way as the ones who burned down a building with civilians inside?"
Raynor briefly considered a dig at Nova's past, specifically implying moral culpability on her part for the actions of her employer but refrained.
"Look, I know what it's like. Mengsk spun everything we did as bad. Feeding people starving because of his misrule was supporting terrorists. If we got shot down and crashed because they chased us away from those people, we were accused of having stolen the food for ourselves!"
"The wearer of a cloak soaked by blood of another's kill may be considered just as guilty" added Sylvanas.
Jaina sighed. She didn't like it, but sometimes, people were called upon to sacrifice their own interests in the pursuit of a greater good. If that meant wearing a "GPS wristband" she would accept it.
Two weeks later, Jaina Proudmoore stood before the United Nations in New York City. She had already given a speech to selected world leaders back when AEON was still SPEAR and had just revealed itself, but now would be the formalization of the Heroes' existence before a world shocked by their emergence.
She awoke dazed in the darkness of a room in which the chest was kept, her wristband destroyed.
Against better judgment, Nova and Johanna faked out their GPS trackers and ditched their tailing agents by swapping in some (FSP-enhanced) cosplayers recruited from the few survivors of BlizzCon 2015. They had a feeling something would go wrong, but nobody could put their finger on what until Jaina's body disintegrated in a flash of blue as a massive bomb detonated beneath her feet.
Nova quickly brought up her rifle (which she was permitted to have under various frameworks-in-progress), using its advanced scope to see through smoke.
"Hostiles coming through the blast point! Take them down!" she yelled.
A flash of yellow as Johanna vanished into the air, followed by a metallic crash and expanding ring of matching color as she slammed down where Jaina and her podium used to be. Bullets from automatic weapons rained onto the Crusader, who shrugged them off.
"Halt!"
All six lay on the ground, stunned by a bouncing shield which returned to Johanna's hand. One stirred, so she put him back out with a solid whack from her flail.
Oddly, the ease with which one Hero disabled six heavily-armed terrorists made the public more concerned.
"This isn't some Marvel movie" opined a political commentator. "We know Tony Stark's a good man because the script says so, even if he doesn't always stay on that path the whole time. Thing is, these so-called Heroes—there's no script! What happens if one of them goes bad? We're supposed to just trust them?"
When the conservative talking heads on Fox News agreed with their erstwhile rivals on liberal MSNBC, anyone familiar with US politics knew something was very amiss.
