Drake Burroughs was an astroengineer working on a new propulsion system for rockets at Metropolis University. In July 2019, Drake was at a carnival with his brother, Squire, a fellow engineer. The two hung out with their respective dates and won a number of prizes. A month later, Drake suffered an accident in a containment room.

"I'm going back inside. I forgot my watch," Drake said to his brother.

"Who wears a mechanical watch anymore?" Squire scoffed.

Drake entered the trans-field room to get his watch. As he did, the door locked behind him as the counter went off. "What the fuck?" he wondered. Alarm bells went off as something had gone wrong. Squire rushed over to the door.

"The program has started," he said stunned. "I can't override it."

The electrical field became alive with anti-energy lightning. "Don't leave me!" Drake shouted through the door.

"I'm right here, bro. I got this," Squire said as he made a phone call.

The hair on Drake's arms raised as static electricity buzzed about him. His watch slowed down and then stopped completely. It was at this moment that Drake recalled having his first beer, then his father teaching him how to build a mechanical watch, and then the terrifying realization of death.

The anti-energy field became more intense as Drake's clothes disintegrated and then his flesh gave away revealing vital organs and bone. His organs then dissolved away as his bones shattered. Finally, he was completely gone. Supergirl tore through the roof of the university next to Squire and eyed the empty room through the window.

"It's too late. He's gone," Squire said dumbfounded.

Kara scanned the room with her eyes and saw nothing of Drake left. "Well...shit," she sighed.

Soon after the token funeral, a circulatory system of pure anti-energy appeared outside the perimeter of the fence. "That's weird," the guards noticed. The circulatory system of anti-energy screamed and then disappeared in a flash of light. Inside the laboratory, a man of pure energy but without skin appeared. It attempted to keep itself together and then fizzled to nothing freaking out a janitor. Finally, a naked man of pure anti-energy suddenly appeared in the cafeteria.

"Drake? Is that you?" Squire asked completely amazed.

It wasn't long before the news agencies found out about the accident and the new superhero. "Nations around the world are still reeling over today's announcement. The superman exists...and he is American," the Daily Planet reported.

Drake was now a being of pure anti-energy but kept a muscular human physique for appearance's sake. He was bald and completely hairless, his eyes glowed white, and the rest of his body gave off an orange glow. As his clothes had a tendency to burn away due to his incredible power, he often walked around naked or in a speedo.

The Imperial military tested Drake's superpowers. Drake lazily pointed his hand at an obsolete tank and vaporized it on the spot with extreme heat. Throughout these tests, Squire was by Drake's side the entire time. As news spread of Drake's powers of flight, speed, extreme energy discharges, invulnerability, teleportation, and the cloning of himself, many upgraded him from "superman" to a god. Now, humanity had its own hero to be proud of, a hero that may even be more powerful than Supergirl.

In the palace, Kara invited Drake to her office. "How you doing, Drake? You had me worried there when I saw you vaporized. Now, people are saying you're like a god."

"I don't think there is a god and if there is, I'm nothing like him," Drake replied.

"Well, okay then," Kara smirked. "From one god to another, stay away from jailbait. It will ruin you," she advised.

"Good to know," Drake replied emotionlessly.

"I need you to handle a little conflict going on in Vietnam," Kara said to him.

"We're all puppets," Drake replied.

"You mean humanity? I wouldn't put it like that," Kara downplayed.

"I'm merely a puppet that sees the strings," Drake added and then teleported out of the room.

"Wait...what?" Kara wondered.

Vietnam

Drake arrived at an Imperial military base to receive a briefing on the situation. The base was filled with tents and helicopters. "Ah, ERG-1, enemy forces withdrew to this spot on the Cambodian border," a colonel pointed on the map.

"What is the enemy's strength?" Drake asked.

"Manageable," a staff officer major replied.

"You have no idea," Drake realized.

"Simple orders, ERG-1. Find the enemy and kill him," the colonel said. "Will you be needing any support or backup?"

"No," Drake replied.

Imperial artillery pounded the suspected positions of the Vietnamese prompting them to move out of their tunnel system. Drake teleported on the spot and looked around with his new set of eyes. With these eyes, he could see in different visual spectrums. He found a lookout spy hiding in a ditch and pulled him out, slightly burning him as he did.

"How many are here?" Drake asked calmly.

The spy simply shook his head resisting him. Drake pointed his hand at the spy causing his clothes to sizzle. "A whole division!" he spat.

"Where?" Drake asked.

"In the mountains," he said pointing all around.

Suddenly, Drake was hit by all sides from enemy fire. Drake ignored the spy as he fled the scene only to get shot up by his own men. The bullets whizzed by Drake with some occasionally going through his body. Drake lifted his hand toward the enemy and fired energy bursts. The bursts accurately hit the Vietnamese enemy annihilating entire squads with each hit. The forest was filled with flames as the Vietnamese regrouped. Drake kept his firepower relatively light to lure the enemy closer.

Once the enemy was close enough, Drake fired beams of light at the mountain side causing massive explosions of fire. The wildfire roared across the battlefield consuming hundreds of Vietnamese soldiers in an instant.

At HQ, the military brass was skeptical of Drake taking on an entire Vietnamese division by himself. "I don't like it. This is going to be a massacre," Secretary Defense Bob said.

"It's just one man. How can that be a massacre?" General Taylor asked.

"Losing an entire battalion is one thing, losing a metahuman is a massacre," Bob clarified.

"I still don't think you're using the word right," Gen. Taylor told him off. "He's still fighting."

"Against more men than he can count. He's lost," Bob said anxiously.

"He's not lost. He's only cut off and surrounded," Gen. Taylor argued.

The Vietnamese moved closer believing the enemy to only be a long-range fighter. As they did, Drake was impervious to their bullets. An RPG went right through him and exploded behind him. Drake casually lit everyone on fire that was charging him. In a sudden burst of energy, he burned away everything in an intense wildfire. One Vietnamese soldier managed to stab Drake through with his bayonetted rifle. The blade simply went through him and then Drake burst the soldier to pieces.

Drake targeted the field and created a firestorm around the advancing Vietnamese troops killing hundreds of them. The Vietnamese soldiers that emerged from the smoke exploded on sight in bursts of light. Drake finally made his way to the Vietnamese camp above ground and destroyed everything. With his vision, he could see below the ground the tunnel system. Drake fired into the ground sending waves of fire through the tunnel system. At this point, Vietnamese forces withdrew from the area, totally defeated.

Imperial forces and reporters arrived shortly thereafter. Very few bodies were recovered and there were no survivors. The terrain was completely scorched. "How many casualties? What the hell happened here?" the reporters asked Drake.

"Just leave me alone," Drake said to all of them.

Unable to defeat Drake on the battlefield, the Vietnamese tried to get around him and attack positions in the south through tunnel and trail systems. Drake ignored their incursions and kept moving north. The cities of North Vietnam began to fall one by one as Drake completely destroyed them and moved on. Civilians were given notice to move out before he arrived, but once he did arrive, he consumed the city in nuclear fire. Drake continued his movement north until he reached Hanoi. At the same time, Vietnamese leadership was assassinated by Brainiac 5 drones. In Hanoi, the city buzzed with energy and was then consumed by a giant fireball that roared through all the buildings and every street turning it all to ash. Finally, North Vietnam surrendered unconditionally as Drake destroyed all of the country's infrastructure.

In what was left of Hanoi, Kara, Mon, Brainiac 5, and Drake marched into the burnt-out capitol building. "Who knew firebombing cities and directly invading the northern capital would end the war so quickly?" Kara mused.

"I knew," Mon rolled his eyes.

"You would have wasted fifty thousand soldiers to do it though," Kara said scornfully. "I appreciate you getting the job done singlehandedly with such speed," she said to Drake.

Drake said nothing to that. "In previous wars between Vietnam and the West, there were political complications not present in this conflict," Brainiac 5 brought up.

"Oh, really?" Kara scoffed. "Like what?"

"In our case, Russia wasn't financially and materially supporting the Vietnamese and China didn't threaten to escalate the conflict if Western forces crossed the border," Brainiac 5 reminded her.

"Yeah, well, maybe the West should have made an agreement with Russia and China before entering the war," Kara said brightly.

"By then, the war would have already been lost," Mon said obviously.

"When did you become so knowledgeable in Cold War history?" Kara shot back.

"It doesn't take a genius to know when you're fucked. This country's GDP was nothing. The West should have shored up its support in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia to contain the situation. You never fight a proxy, yourself. You have your own proxies to do it for you," Mon said obviously.

"It was a righteous cause. When American forces left, millions were killed in the purges, millions fled, millions were enslaved, and religion, which saves us all, was outlawed for tens of millions of people. And it did create a domino effect where millions more suffered in Laos and Cambodia. So, you can take your enlightened foreign/military policy and shove it up your ass," Kara fired back.

"Fine, don't be a pansy-ass bitch about it, then. Nuke their cities like Japan and call Russia and China's bluff. If the whole world is consumed in nuclear fire, fuck it," Mon threw up his hands.

"Superheroes, it's the answer to everything, am I right, Drake?" Kara asked.

"I suppose so," he allowed.

"We need a better name for you than ERG-1. I mean, that was only a code name," Kara judged.

"How about Wildfire?" Mon grinned.

"Sounds ominous. I like it," Kara agreed. "Is there anything we can get you? A coke?"

"I would appreciate a suit that would make me look human again," Drake replied.

"That can be arranged but any suit would be temporary. Your radiation levels will be difficult to contain," Brainiac 5 said.

"I understand," Drake said solemnly.

Kara gave him a sympathetic look. "You've lost your body, your humanity, your ability to touch others. I know that this victory and calling you the most powerful human in the world isn't going to make everything better for you. We will do everything we can to help you get through this."

"I know you will try," Drake replied.

"You all shook up about all those you killed? I can find you a great therapist," Kara offered.

"In my opinion...life is a highly overrated phenomenon," he replied coldly.

"Well, okay then," Kara said slightly freaked out.

Metropolis

After her awesome victory in Vietnam, Kara came before the World Congress with Mon and Brainiac 5 behind her. "With Earth finally unified, we will now make Society Great Again," Kara began.

"I will be submitting to this congress a long list of bills, and I dare any of you to vote against me. This list includes but is not limited to equal compensation for all occupations, community mental health centers, a clean air act, urban mass transportation, universal food distribution worldwide, wilderness protection act, nurse training, library services and construction, universal elementary and secondary education, retirement pensions for those already above the age of fifty, housing and urban development, public works and development, a global foundation for the arts and humanities, freedom of movement and assignment to any country in the world, heart disease and stroke amendments, motor vehicle air pollution controls, highway beautification, universal higher education, vocational rehabilitation, laboratory animal welfare act, uniform time act, cotton research and promotion, freedom of information act, national traffic and motor vehicle safety act, national historic preservation act, public broadcasting act, a prohibition against age discrimination, national park foundations, fire research and safety, crime control and safety, global trail systems, radiation control for health and safety, and mandatory firearm safety classes for children," Kara listed off.

"And you may ask, 'How are we going to pay for all this shit?' and that's a fair question. It turns out that we now have ten billion drones working around the clock to provide agriculture, mineral extraction, manufacturing, energy, and services to the two hundred million humans on this planet, so the math works out," Kara assured them.

"Every so-called Great Society of the past has emphasized universal social welfare, meritocracy, and a strict moral code but never all three at once, which is why they all failed. This is the Kryptonian model I am introducing to you, tonight. To my friends on the right, you have tolerated extravagant greed, nationalistic pride, and judgmental wrath against your fellow man. That ends tonight. Capitalism, currency, and banks are a thing of the past. National pride has been replaced with global pride in all of humanity. And you no longer need to condemn your fellow man for sin, because I will do that for you," Kara said to them.

Kara then turned to the left side of the room. "And for my friends on the Left, you have tolerated sloth, gluttony, lust, and envy in clear violation of the natural law. You have excused this behavior because there was a lack of a social safety net but now that excuse no longer exists. I have given you everything you have ever wanted and now you will pay me back with moral obedience."

"And for my friends in the Center who have the attributes of all Seven Deadly Sins...in moderation, of course, you can all get fucked...in moderation, of course. The time to act is now, the time for moderation is over. Vice has no rights. Extremism in the pursuit of justice is no vice," Kara declared to the entire chamber.

"Finally, there will be a new Voting Rights Act that truly represents the will of the people. I'm going to strip you of your corrupt as fuck gerrymandered districts. Starting now, congressional elections will be entirely proportional representation. The senate elections will be winner take all in the second round with a majority vote. There will be no voter threshold to win a seat, all votes will be counted, all votes will be represented," Kara proposed.

"And when you have passed all my bills, I'm going to fire you all in a snap election," Kara said and then dropped the mic.

The World Congress quickly passed or failed to veto any of Kara's proposals making them all law. Riding high, Kara ordered a snap election using her new electoral system. The end result was 5 Royalist gains in the Senate putting them at 42-58 and 5 Royalist gains in the World Congress putting them at 192-243. Kara was initially pissed that her faction was still in the minority compared to the Republicans. Despite this disappointment, the Royalists had a solid veto-proof minority in both houses.

"I give them everything, fucking everything and this is what I get?" Kara asked displeased.

"The results of your programs have yet to be felt by the entire population," Brainiac 5 excused. "I told you it was a mistake to order a snap election so soon. There's still a healthy amount of skepticism against your absolute monarchy for life."

"But why?" Kara wondered as she looked out the window of her grand palace.

"The Martians have filed a formal grievance against you as well," Brainiac 5 brought up.

"How come?" Kara asked concernedly.

Mars

A global team of astronauts descended upon Mars in a primitive rocket and touched down. As it did, it unfolded into a lab like a transformer. It had been the first time in centuries, men from Earth had landed on Mars and the first time in all of human history that the team was truly global. Despite the atmosphere being somewhat breathable, the astronauts remained in their spacesuits and awkwardly moved around in the lower gravity. Martians watched the team with interest wondering what the fuck they were up to. The astronauts then took out the Earth flag of 50 stars and 13 stripes and planted it on Mars soil.

"We claim this Martian land in the name of Earth. This new settlement shall be called Karatown in honor of our sovereign," the leader said as the flag was pushed into the ground. The astronauts then went about their business collecting samples, riding the rover, planting potatoes, listening to music, and occasionally playing golf.

"What the fuck is this?" the Martians asked outraged.

Metropolis

Kara winced at that. "Find a way to apologize to the Martians without me having to actually say it."

"Will do," Brainiac 5 nodded.

"What else is going on in my solar system?" Kara asked.

"The Titans are claiming the moon, Titan, as their territory. By extension, that also includes Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the Kuiper Belt, and the Ort Cloud of this system. They have sent over instructions for acquiring a permit should we desire to explore the outer solar system," Brainiac 5 said.

"Tell them, in the most eloquent way possible, that they go fuck themselves. The Sol System is mine, all of it," Kara ordered.

"I will send them the message," Brainiac 5 assured her.

"I noticed you didn't have Pluto in that list of planets. Sup with that?" Kara demanded.

"It's objectively categorized as a dwarf planet by the Galactic Science Council," Brainiac 5 informed her.

"I don't give a shit. It's now a planet," Kara ordered.

"Are there any other dwarf planets you wish to arbitrarily designate as planets?" Brainiac 5 asked condescendingly.

"No," Kara said flatly. "Also, I get to decide what is science on this planet with a 2/3rds veto override of the International Science Council."

"As you wish," Brainiac 5 humored her. "I have some bishops of mine claiming that the Earth is the center of the universe. What should I tell them?"

"We are...the center of the universe," Kara confirmed.

"There is no objective center of the universe. From the perspective of every point in the universe, it is the center," Brainiac 5 told her.

"So... therefore...we are the center of the universe," Kara reasoned. "Problem solved."

"This got leaked," Brainiac 5 said and then showed her a datapad.

Kara quickly read the article on the classified details of Drake's transformation and the outrageous fuck-up at the Metropolis University Lab. "I thought we covered this up and prevented Ameripol from getting involved?" Kara recalled.

"We did but Ameripol ignored the order," Brainiac 5 said. "There have been several arrests for negligence and coverups."

"I want whoever leaked this. I want their ass!" Kara said angrily.

"It's Drake's brother, Squire," Brainiac 5 replied.

"Shit, never mind," Kara winced. "Tell the 'acting' Ameripol Director that if he wants to be nominated as permanent director, he better play ball."

"I'll inform him," Brainiac 5 said.

"And I want daily updates on this investigation," Kara ordered.

While the investigation into the Metropolis University Lab was ongoing, Kara spoke with new congressional leaders on their legislative agenda. "So, Jerry, what's on your so-called mind?" Kara entertained her Royalist minority leader.

"Tax reform," he said super-seriously.

"No one pays any taxes," Kara reminded him.

"Coal mine health and safety regulations," Carl, her Republican majority leader, said.

"Why the fuck are people working in coal mines?" Kara asked Brainiac 5.

"It's an assignment that was offered and people keep asking to do it," he shrugged.

"Carl, no. I'll tell you why. No more assignments will be permitted involving coal production. We're in the fusion age," Kara shot down.

"Public health cigarette smoking campaign," Jerry brought up.

"Cigarettes are banned, period. And if anyone is selling them, I expect the police to beat the life out of that man even if he stops resisting," Kara told him off.

"Metropolis representation act," Carl brought up.

"No, Carl, then every other major city will ask the same thing. Metropolis is part of New York. It keeps things simple," Kara rejected.

"Bank secrecy act," Jerry proposed.

"There are no banks, Jerry," Kara reminded him.

"We have proposed the Equal Rights Amendment: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States of Earth or by any State on account of sex," Carl said. "It has considerable support in the World Congress and the individual states."

"Such a radical amendment would abolish all abortion laws, work accommodations for pregnant women, and motherhood as an explicit rank while implementing gender-neutral bathrooms, sports, and women-specific programs," Brainiac 5 informed Kara.

"Not at all. You could impose restrictions or grant privileges how you please, but they would just affect both men and women at the same time," Jerry argued.

"Like banning men from getting abortions and giving pregnant men full workplace accommodations," Kara smirked. "I see men and women being quite different than race. I put together the "What is a woman?" study for the purpose of establishing objective criteria between the sexes. Now, you want me to treat them both the same?"

"Absolutely," Carl said.

"I'll send young women to war, and they'll come back full of holes and blasted to pieces," Kara said darkly. "In my meritocracy, women won't qualify for any of the sports. Men will play women in movies and plays. In my meritocracy, men may dominate over women in traditional female roles."

"It's women that are pushing for this," Carl shrugged.

"The Church will fight you on this," Brainiac 5 predicted.

"The Church is not the state so they would be exempt under the first amendment clause," Jerry said.

"We'll fight it anyway," Brainiac 5 clarified.

"When it comes to men and women, they should be treated the same in most instances, alright. But I reserve the right to restrict or promote the welfare of one over the other in specific areas. So, instead of a constitutional amendment that is vague as fuck, I suggest we work together on a situational case-by-case basis," Kara said.

"Well, we feel we have sufficient support to pass it even if you oppose it, Your Majesty," Carl said boldly.

"Oh, really?" Kara scoffed. "Jerry, you're to make sure no Royalist votes for this."

"I have to let them vote their conscience on this one," Jerry frowned.

"The both of you...get the fuck out of my office," Kara ordered angrily.

Author's Notes: I'm really digging the reviews, but it's often the case that all reviews land on the last chapter of the story so I don't always know what chapter the review is referring to. Wildfire is not entirely comic book accurate, but I've exaggerated his abilities to make him OP like all other AOS heroes. In this version of him, he's more like Dr. Manhattan capable of keeping a physical appearance even as pure energy. Later, I'll have him able to look human with artificial skin similar to the Batman Beyond villain, Derek Powers.