Abdullah's Video

"But I still didn't get it. You only went to Afghanistan for one night. How did you end up with so many... loyal fans?" Tony waved the slice of bread in his hand.

"You mean believers?"

"More or less. Especially that reporter who looked like he'd suffered a lot. Every day, he tells the media that you're a true holy spirit. He's practically a fanatic."

"You mean Abdullah... I don't know what's going on with him either. Maybe that's just the simple local customs over there?"

"I thought you brainwashed him. You know, like Clark from Superman, who can control other people's memories." Tony gestured wildly in the air.

"I wish I had an ability like that. Sounds pretty awesome." Leon quipped.

"What kind of awesome? Let's hear it."

"You'd better only want to hear it, not already be imagining the scene in your head."

"Ahem... what was I saying? Oh, right, that Abdullah. He said in an interview that you saved his life?"

"That was what happened. He was within the blast range of the Jericho missiles. I saved him and had him spread the footage and pass along a message for me."

"So he was that guy!" Tony suddenly realized. "He appeared in the footage you had JARVIS send me. No wonder he looked so familiar!"

Leon raised his head. "You seem pretty interested in him?"

"Mhm!" Tony chewed his bread. "He said that, to thank you, he planned to spend all his money buying Warner stock, so I had Pepper acquire Warner."

"You really know how to make big money." Leon's mouth twitched.

"Don't say that. The whole world is watching Superman now. After acquiring Warner, Stark Industries' stock rose along with it." Tony finished his bread and started licking his fingers.

"I'm more curious about how you pulled off that acquisition. The entire world is watching DC now. There's no reason for them to sell the company."

Tony pulled out a napkin and wiped his fingers. "Some... other financial conglomerates and countries, you know, were putting pressure on their company. So I took the opportunity to step in."

"How did you step in? You don't even sell weapons anymore. What right do you have to step in?"

"But I sell this now!" Tony tapped the Arc Reactor in his chest. "New energy. Everyone wants it."

Leon's eyes widened slightly. "You revealed your identity?"

Tony looked left and right, paced around in place twice, and raised a hand.

"More or less. Rhodey let it slip. Oh, that guy's mouth is like a public restroom. He can't keep a single secret!"

Leon did not believe him at all. "Give me a break. Rhodey's just a little humorous. If he couldn't keep his mouth shut, could he work in a classified department?"

He guessed, "I think you were just jealous of Superman's traffic. You deliberately exposed yourself because you wanted to draw all the attention to yourself!"

Tony fell silent. He glanced at the ceiling, pretended to be busy, dusted himself off, and then actually turned and left the next moment.

"I was helping relieve your pressure. So many people are watching you and misunderstanding you. Didn't I have to step up and lead by example?"

He waved behind him. "All right, I'm leaving. Today is my last day going to the Middle East. The Ten Rings won't exist after this."

"Oh, right!" Tony suddenly turned back after walking out the door. "I have a press conference tomorrow. Remember to attend."

"..." Watching Tony's retreating back, even Leon's Super-Brain had been sunk.

Half a minute later, the sound of an Iron Man suit igniting and taking off came from outside.

"Tony's press conference tomorrow... he wasn't planning to use it to publicly reveal that he was Iron Man, was he..."

Leon watched the Mark 3 vanish into the horizon outside the window and remained speechless for a long time.

He had considered it many times.

Iron Man's debut, as the beginning of Marvel's major movie events, was very likely an absolute point in time.

In other words, there was a high chance that Tony would say that line—"I am Iron Man"—no matter what.

Because of that, Leon had imagined quite a few possible reasons that might lead Tony to acknowledge his identity as Iron Man.

But the one reason he had never imagined was Tony exposing his identity because he wanted to "get traffic."

"This fucking... this world is fucking insane." Leon could not help swearing.

"Forget it. Tony won't die anyway. I won't bother with him. Sunbathing is more important."

Leon patted his butt and stood up, tore open his shirt, instantly changed into Superman, and flew into space.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury had heavy dark circles under his eyes—though his entire body was black.

Still, the bags under his eyes looked especially dark and especially large at the moment, like a lump of coal hanging from an ink bottle.

"This is your investigation report?" He put down the file in his hand and looked up at Coulson standing before him.

"The information in it isn't even as extensive as what the TV stations exposed. At least they interviewed everyone local!"

Coulson lowered his head. "Sorry for the trouble, Director. Superman hasn't appeared again since that day, and we haven't been able to find any leads."

"However, the video shown on television actually contains a great deal of information!"

As he spoke, Coulson took out a tablet and handed it to Nick Fury.

Seeing this familiar action from his subordinate, Nick Fury's eyelid twitched.

Then he watched Coulson light up the screen and begin playing a video he had already watched hundreds of times over the past few days.

The video had three parts.

The first part was footage filmed by the Afghan reporter Abdullah, showing Superman taking vehicle-mounted missiles and Jericho missiles head-on.

The second part was Abdullah relaying Superman's message to the Eagle side.

—All foreign troops were to leave the border immediately and abandon their invasion!

The third part was the reporter's own personal agenda.

He spent an entire hour promoting Superman's greatness, spreading faith in Superman, and desperately linking Superman to Allah.

Although he did not know how many hundreds of times he had watched the video, Nick Fury still patiently watched it to the end.

Because the first part of the video was Superman's strongest performance among all the battles in which he had displayed his power so far.

And it just so happened that, during this encounter, not a single official satellite had been able to record the whole thing.

The only relatively comprehensive material was the video released by this reporter, which held great significance for studying Superman's strength.

After the video ended, Nick Fury looked at Coulson. "What conclusion did you draw from it?"

"Director, it's obvious. Superman's strength—at least his defense and speed—surpasses every living creature and even every weapon on Earth."

Coulson chose his words carefully. "Whether or not he is the Superman from the comics, based solely on the power he has shown, our best option is to befriend him and keep his emotions stable."

"Mm..." Nick Fury nodded.

He rubbed the pager in his hand. "Then tell me, does his personality tend toward the extreme and unruly? Do we need to suppress him?"

"Suppress him?" Coulson froze. "With all due respect, Director, it doesn't seem like we have the means to do that."

Nick Fury glanced at his pager. "I mean, assuming we did, do you think it would be necessary?"