It should be noted that originally, the Avengers only had Tony Stark and Steve Rogers fighting against so many official agencies, which was quite stressful. Now, with an undercover Martian Manhunter, a lot of that pressure can be alleviated.
Although Martian Manhunter hadn't revealed his military identities at this point, Tony Stark believed that this alien who could blend into human society was certainly not simple. Since he possessed psychic powers, he must have access to some military information!
With an insider like Martian Manhunter, combined with Robert's previous deterrence to those official agencies, Tony Stark, like Steve, felt that now might be a good opportunity to legitimize the Avengers further, especially since there was still much to be said about the official agencies invading JARVIS.
Robert didn't intervene in Tony Stark and others' discussions and calculations on this matter. After all, Robert and Clark had long been prepared to reveal their identities. Being able to hide their identities until now was already quite good. This also proved that cooperating with Tony Stark and the others was indeed the right decision. Since Tony Stark and his team did well before, they should continue handling things in the future.
After a hearty meal, the Avengers went to rest. This round of battles had indeed exhausted them. This battle also made them realize their shortcomings.
Not only had they spent a lot of time and energy in the fight against Serdal, but more importantly, they found that when encountering other superhumans, they didn't seem to have much of an advantage.
When they first awakened their powers, the Avengers all thought they were special. Even when they formed a small team under Robert, they still considered themselves among the world's strongest.
Especially since most of the extraordinary events they experienced were interdimensional, dealing with all sorts of demonic non-human enemies.
Under such circumstances, the Avengers naturally felt that few on Earth could rival them. They even saw themselves as main characters in a way, befitting the title of superheroes.
However, this time the Avengers fought against superhumans from official agencies, which was one of the few times they truly fought extraordinary individuals. The battle results were unsatisfactory; except for a few like Johnny Stone, others even found themselves at a disadvantage!
This undoubtedly meant that the so-called Avengers were not actually that strong among superhumans, especially since they didn't even count someone as powerful as Lan Qi.
Even though Lan Qi couldn't withstand a few moves from the enraged Robert, lacking any resistance, and might have died without Martian Manhunter's plea, Lan Qi's strength was still greater than their strongest member, Kara!
Such strength was enough to crush them. And the key issue was, they didn't know how many like Lan Qi existed. Even aside from Lan Qi's level, they weren't opponents to those grotesque monsters either!
This undoubtedly filled the Avengers with pressure. The pride they once felt was fading, and with their powers at a bottleneck and official pressure, their morale was low.
The Avengers wanted to find ways to improve their powers during their rest but were clueless, making the atmosphere in the Avengers' base somewhat gloomy.
Faced with this situation, Robert had no solution. Despite his considerable abilities, he couldn't help every Avenger find their path to improvement.
Moreover, Robert wasn't some hot-blooded anime protagonist with talk-no-jutsu like Naruto, capable of reigniting everyone's fighting spirit and guiding them forward with a speech.
So, these issues had to be resolved by the Avengers themselves. Of course, Robert didn't ignore them entirely; he did bring in Martian Manhunter, after all. As a master of psychic powers, he should be able to help with psychological stress, right?
Even though Robert didn't know about a certain wheelchair-bound bald telepath, he believed Martian Manhunter could assist the Avengers in this regard. He only needed to take Kara out for some relaxation.
"It's up to you now. If possible, help relieve the Avengers' stress. And with your hidden identity skills, you've probably seen a lot of extraordinary powers. Maybe you could guide them…" With only Kara by his side, Robert glanced at Martian Manhunter and others who had already stopped, grabbed Kara's hand, and vanished.
"Does he never tire?" Tony Stark muttered, looking in the direction Robert disappeared. "Considering how intense his battles were compared to ours, and he's already recovered after just one meal?"
"People are different... By the way, ever since I joined the Avengers, the tasks assigned to me seem a bit much!" Martian Manhunter shook his head slowly, feeling a bit emotional.
"To whom much is given, much is expected! Saiyans like him excel at combat, so let him fight. I excel at invention and creation, so I invent and create. As for someone versatile like you, naturally, you must demonstrate your value too. Otherwise, why would a Saiyan choose to bring you into the Avengers?" Tony Stark smiled at Martian Manhunter.
In truth, Tony Stark was a bit curious. He always prided himself on being the smartest, but if Martian Manhunter had psychic abilities, theoretically his brain should be quite impressive. Maybe he could help with some of the unsolved issues?
For example, the research on Venom that had to be paused due to the battle between Robert and Kairi.
Tony Stark could tell that if Venom's abilities were fully utilized, it could be very helpful in battles. Though Venom's strength might not be that powerful, its unique abilities were very useful for control and restraint in fights.
So, if possible, Tony Stark genuinely wanted Martian Manhunter's help with Venom research. Whether this would increase Martian Manhunter's workload didn't concern Tony Stark much.
After all, as Tony Stark had just said, to whom much is given, much is expected. Besides, as one of America's biggest capitalists, how could he ever think he was overworking someone? This was his forte!
Thus, with a fleeting thought, Tony Stark started explaining to Martian Manhunter. Hearing this, Martian Manhunter's mouth twitched slightly, unsure what to say.
Martian Manhunter hadn't expected that he would be so heavily utilized right after joining the Avengers. The anticipated exclusion and distrust were nonexistent, and the tasks were far more than he had imagined.
But what could Martian Manhunter do? He had no choice but to accept it helplessly. He couldn't possibly quit the Avengers after just joining and after one meal, could he?
If that were the case, neither Robert nor Clark would let him go. Even with his concealment abilities, Martian Manhunter doubted he could hide from everyone.
Especially with Robert having connections with Kamar-Taj, it was quite possible Robert could track him down...
After reluctantly accepting another task, Martian Manhunter started working with Tony Stark. The only positive aspect of Tony Stark's approach was that he didn't just exploit others; he also pushed himself to the limit. While Martian Manhunter worked, Tony Stark was never idle.
From Martian Manhunter's perspective, he was a Martian, and his constitution was far superior to Tony Stark, an ordinary human. Martian Manhunter noticed Tony Stark's physical fitness was just average, not even on par with truly well-trained humans. Tony Stark shouldn't be able to outlast him.
However, Martian Manhunter clearly underestimated Tony Stark. His mental resilience and endurance far exceeded Martian Manhunter's expectations. Even Venom couldn't withstand their continuous experiments, yet Tony Stark showed no signs of stopping.
Martian Manhunter had to admit, Tony Stark's success wasn't just due to his background. He had indeed underestimated Tony Stark because of his former playboy persona...
On the other hand, Robert took Kara away from the Avengers base, not to send her back to school but to take her around for some relaxation.
For Robert, one or two prolonged battles weren't enough to mentally tire him. But Kara was different. Even though Kara had trained with Robert for a long time, even capable of sparring with him, she hadn't truly become a warrior.
Moreover, in this battle, Kara had struggled quite a bit. It was her first time being overpowered by humans on Earth, even when teamed up with someone as strong as Hellboy.
Of course, that's assuming Lan Qi was indeed human. But Robert, judging from Lan Qi's appearance, thought he probably had less non-human blood than Fury, but certainly some. Thus, he was likely a mutant rather than an alien like Robert and Kara.
"Robert, am I too weak?" Kara, who had been silent for a while during their stroll, suddenly asked.
"How could that be? Your strength is already quite impressive. This time, it was because your opponent's abilities were peculiar, and you're not yet accustomed to gravitational forces. Otherwise, you wouldn't have lost so easily…" In the past, Robert might have bluntly said Kara was weak and needed more training, but their relationship was different now. Encouraging Kara to improve was good, but undermining her confidence was not.
Especially since Kara's drive for improvement wasn't particularly strong. If her confidence was shattered, her progress might stagnate.
Furthermore, Kara's progress wasn't slow compared to others, only slow relative to him and Clark. Compared to others like Pietro and Lorna, who also had fortuitous encounters, Kara's improvement was even faster.
As for why Kara, also a Kryptonian like Clark, lagged behind in progress, it was an unavoidable reality. Even within the same race, individual differences existed. Saiyans were classified into various warriors too. Goten's power never quite matched his brother and father's.
Kara's defeat to Lan Qi didn't mean she was unmotivated. Even with effort, adapting to Lan Qi's gravity control was difficult for someone with limited battle experience.
Robert could almost ignore Lan Qi's gravity powers because of extensive training in the gravity chamber in the Dragon Ball world
, thanks to his unique abilities granted by Dragon Ball wishes. He was well-acquainted with various gravitational forces.
"Have I spent too little time training?" Kara muttered, looking down.
"I did the math. Actually, the time you spend training progresses slower than the same amount of time sunbathing. Of course, sunbathing alone increases your power, but it's difficult to improve your combat skills… Hmm?" Robert laughed, shaking his head as he spoke to Kara. Suddenly, he sensed something and looked toward a park lawn.
On the lawn, a family of four was having a picnic. The middle-aged couple, with a son and a daughter, looked happy and content.
However, beneath this facade of happiness, there seemed to be an undercurrent...
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