In the President's view, although Adam saved the World and defeated the overbearing Apocalypse and Magneto, who could reverse the World's magnetic field, that year.
However, that battle was a fight between Adam and two Mutants. It looked very impressive, but it was difficult to gauge its exact extent of power, as there was no special standard of measurement.
Mainly, as an ordinary person, he couldn't fully comprehend it.
It wasn't until he saw the video of Adam catching sniper bullets with his bare hands, shooting down armed helicopters with laser beams from his eyes, a flick of his tail collapsing a building, and a clap of his hands capturing an entire army, that he truly understood Adam's terrifying power.
He was truly as invincible as Superman in the comics, and Adam, this Saiyan Superman, wasn't as easily fooled as the comic book Superman. If you truly offended him, he would kill.
"Oh, right, isn't there also S.H.I.E.L.D.? What did Nick Fury say?"
At this moment, the President suddenly thought of S.H.I.E.L.D., which specialized in handling such matters.
The Minister of Defense showed a bitter smile:
"Regarding Adam, I contacted Director Fury a long time ago."
He said that S.H.I.E.L.D. suffered heavy losses due to HYDRA, and even if Black Captain Marvel, Captain Carter, and his Agents combined, they wouldn't be able to deal with Adam.
Moreover, Adam also has many powerful Ability Users under his command.
He hopes the country can increase S.H.I.E.L.D.'s budget so that S.H.I.E.L.D. can quickly regain its strength, and only then will it have the power to deal with such a powerful entity as Adam."
"More budget? Isn't the budget we've given them enough?
The combined annual budgets of the CIA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are less than S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, and doesn't he also have budgets from other countries!"
The President was immediately displeased when he heard about another budget increase.
There's only so much budget each year; if S.H.I.E.L.D. gets more, other departments will complain.
"Alright, I hear this Adam is holding some World's Greatest Ability User Tournament. You should have Nick Fury send S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel to participate.
If their people can demonstrate an ability to contend with Adam in this competition, then I will increase their budget."
"Okay, then what about General Ross?"
The Minister of Defense nodded.
The President said irritably:
"Do what needs to be done. Don't let Adam find any more faults, and then come to me. I don't want him to threaten me a second time."
Meanwhile, inside Stark's luxurious sea-view mansion.
After the machine removed his Iron Man Suit, Tony took out the best red wine from his cellar and chatted with Adam.
"Are you really from an alien Planet? What level of technology does an alien Planet have?"
"I'm not an alien. It was just for fun at the time, I just said it casually. I didn't expect even the President and them to believe it."
Adam took the red wine and shrugged.
The lie about being an alien, which was originally used to draw out the enemy, was no longer necessary for him.
So, he didn't hide anything from his friends, and everyone at school also knew that he wasn't an alien at all.
He also had no need to lie to Tony Stark.
Tony was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing:
"How interesting, you are truly interesting. I really want to see the expressions of the President and the Minister of Defense when they find out you're not an alien. It must be very amusing."
Although he often had to deal with high-ranking government officials because of his company, he didn't truly like those hypocritical politicians.
Adam's actions didn't annoy him; instead, they made him feel like he had found a kindred spirit—both were interesting people.
"Oh, right, just now at the White House, I saw that the Minister of Defense seemed to want to buy your Iron Man Suit?"
Adam deliberately asked.
It was late 2005. Tony, for some unknown reason, had invented the Iron Man Suit ahead of schedule, and naturally, he hadn't experienced being kidnapped by the Ten Rings.
Without being kidnapped by the Ten Rings, without Ethan's death, and without seeing his weapons used by Terrorists to slaughter civilians.
At this time, Tony hadn't yet become the true Iron Man; he was merely a playboy who flaunted his Iron Man Suit everywhere.
So, it was possible for him to sell the Iron Man Suit to the military.
"Yes, but I haven't made up my mind about it yet."
Tony took a sip of the red wine in his glass with a pained expression, then looked at Adam and asked:
"Adam, do you think I should sell the Iron Man Suit as a commodity to the military?"
He was indeed very conflicted about this matter.
Given his personality, he rarely struggled to make a decision about something.
Compared to other weapons he invented, the Iron Man Suit held a somewhat different meaning for him.
This was a suit he invented based on the inspiration from the Hydra Stomper invented by his father. It was a personal item tailor-made for him, and because of it, he even earned the title "Iron Man."
If he sold the suit to the military, then everyone would be Iron Man.
But if he didn't sell it, Obadiah Stane and those in the military would certainly be unwilling. That was fine; he was never the type to be coerced.
However, his original intention in researching weapons was to arm the nation's military and protect his country.
Now that he had invented such a powerful combat weapon as the Iron Man Suit, not selling it to the country would go against his original intention.
So he wanted to ask Adam, a person he felt very compatible with and who had very strong opinions, for his perspective.
"Tony, are you short on money?"
Adam swirled the red wine in his hand.
"Of course not. There shouldn't be any company in this World richer than Stark Industries. Even your League of Heroes is still quite a bit behind."
Tony thought for a moment and understood what Adam meant.
"The reason I'm conflicted isn't because of money, but because of my original intention, as I just mentioned at the White House."
Adam smiled at the words. He didn't answer immediately but instead spoke of his own experiences:
"Before I came to New York, I lived in Sokovia.
Five years ago, during the Sokovian civil war, countless Sokovian people died in that conflict. There were young soldiers who had just come of age, innocent elders, women, children, and even infants.
I also lost all my family in that war and was adopted by my current family.
And you might not know, but basically every missile that killed those elders, children, and infants had the logo of your Stark Industries engraved on it; they were all invented by your hand."
"This... this is impossible. How could all the missiles used in the Sokovian civil war be from our Stark Industries? Our missiles are only sold to the military, never to other countries or factions.
Moreover, the military uses them to deal with Terrorists and protect the country.
Is there some misunderstanding here?"
Upon hearing Adam's words, Tony immediately retorted with wide eyes, not quite believing what Adam said.