"Of course! Alice, absolutely no problem!"
"Boss, I won't let you down!!"
Feeling the warmth on her head, something she had never experienced before, and meeting Killian's gentle smile, Alice answered with complete conviction.
"Good. I believe you. Go get some rest. You've got a mission tomorrow."
After hearing the little girl's reply, Killian felt something he hadn't expected.
For the first time, he felt a deep sense of guilt.
Maybe if not for his project, she would never have been born into this situation. Maybe something as basic as having a name, something any normal person was born with, would not have become such a source of overwhelming joy for her.
Looking into her eyes, eyes as pure as an infant's, filled with absolute trust in him, Killian felt something stir inside.
For the first time, he realized that sometimes, what they created under his orders was not a tool.
It was a living being.
"Maybe I was wrong."
"But Alice... I'm sorry. Right now, I need your strength."
Watching her skip away with excitement, her back turned to him, the guilt in Killian's eyes faded.
His expression turned cold again, and his will hardened like steel, crushing that trace of remorse completely.
He knew exactly what he wanted.
And in the dangerous Marvel universe, where worlds could be destroyed and realities reset at any moment, he could not afford even a shred of hesitation or mercy.
He wasn't qualified for that yet.
Then he turned and walked out.
Samuel, who had clearly picked up on the shift in his boss's mood, silently followed behind without saying a word.
"Samuel."
Inside the elevator, Samuel had assumed the silence would continue until Killian left.
Instead, his boss suddenly spoke.
"Yes, boss?"
Samuel responded immediately.
"From now on, unless I give explicit authorization, no clone is to be given independent emotional development or autonomous thought."
"Remember what I said."
Ding.
As the elevator doors opened, Killian dropped those words and walked straight out, leaving the lab behind. Only after he got into the car and the convoy drove away did Samuel finally come back to himself.
When he returned to the lab, he immediately gathered the staff and relayed Killian's order in a stern tone.
...
Evening.
As night fell, the entrance to AIM headquarters had already filled with dozens of high-ranking Florida officials. There were even several White House officials who had flown in early and were already waiting outside.
All of them were there for one reason.
To welcome the President of the United States.
Soon, as a motorcade slowly entered the tech campus gates, the car bearing the iconic American flag rolled to a stop in front of AIM headquarters under everyone's watchful eyes.
Killian was already waiting.
"Senator Kennedy."
The moment he saw Kennedy stepping out alongside the President, Killian immediately moved forward, greeting the senator warmly and with perfect composure. As for the man beside him, Killian simply turned and smiled.
To Killian's eyes, Kennedy looked visibly younger than the last time they had met.
Even his posture was straighter than before.
Seeing that, the smile in Killian's eyes deepened a little.
"Haha, Mr. President, this is the young entrepreneur I kept praising to you all the way here, one of America's rising representatives of the new generation, Mr. Killian."
"Killian, this is the President, Ellis."
After smiling and shaking Killian's hand, Kennedy turned and made the introductions himself.
"President Ellis, it's an honor."
"Mr. Killian, likewise. You've made this country look very good."
President Ellis wore a warm, statesmanlike smile as he spoke.
"As an entrepreneur, contributing my part to the country is only natural."
"And really, this is also the result of the healthy development your administration has maintained."
Killian responded with calm confidence and easy grace.
If he remembered correctly, Ellis had served multiple terms and remained in office all the way into the Iron Man 3 era, only stepping down after the kidnapping incident and the Vice President's attempted power grab.
Maybe the man had eventually realized that compared to power, staying alive mattered more.
For a brief moment, Killian couldn't help thinking that the two of them really did share a strange kind of fate.
"Exactly. From the beginning of my administration, I've focused on supporting enterprise development, because my goal has always been for our country to stay at the front of the world in every industry. And in that regard, Mr. Killian, you've done very well."
"You've got courage, brains, and drive."
"Other companies spend decades just getting a project off the ground, and you've already built the thing. That alone says enough about your vision and determination."
"The younger generation really is something else. Bold enough to act and strong enough to follow through."
As he spoke, President Ellis looked around the company grounds, then at Killian's still-youthful face, and couldn't help sounding a little emotional.
"Well, this is an era of rapid development. The old method of moving slowly and cautiously no longer fits the times."
"We need to seize every usable opportunity and push our own development as hard as possible."
Killian smiled modestly as he answered the President's praise.
"Haha, no wonder. No wonder that during the last incident, you had the nerve to 'extract' two billion dollars from Nick Fury. Very impressive. I like you."
Seeing Killian still smiling calmly, Ellis patted him on the shoulder and said it with a grin.
"?"
Before Killian could even respond, Ellis continued, as if worried the comment might make him uncomfortable.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Fair is fair. If I were in your position, I'd have done the same thing. The government won't hold that against you."
At that moment, not only Killian but even Kennedy had to suppress a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Two billion dollars.
That black-hearted cyclops had really gone all-in with that number.
Black on the outside, black on the inside too.
Still, with reporters all around them, Killian had no intention of explaining anything. After exchanging a brief look with Kennedy, he saw the man subtly signal that they would handle it later.
Then, noticing the President had already moved ahead and was giving them a questioning look for falling behind, the two of them caught up.
"That's true, Mr. President. Florida recognized Mr. Killian's drive and ability from the very beginning. Honestly, every time I see him, I can't help feeling my age."
Kennedy tactfully chose not to continue the President's previous comment and instead picked up the thread from an earlier remark.
After all, when a leader got misled by a subordinate and approved a ridiculous amount of money, that kind of mistake required delicacy even in private.
In a public setting like this, bringing it up directly would not make the President think you were being helpful.
It would make him think you were embarrassing him.
And no President of the United States, the leader of the world's strongest nation, would tolerate having a subordinate expose that kind of mistake in public.
If pushed, he'd sooner declare the whole thing false and brand you, Kennedy, as the one trying to slander and frame the President.
That was also why, in the original story, Fury could lie about enormous sums of money over and over again and still walk away untouched.
No leader wanted a subordinate who looked smarter than they did.
"Yes, that's also to your credit. For companies this outstanding, don't keep them buried. Nominate them for awards, give them subsidies, give them policy support. Don't be stingy about it."
"If a company is excellent, then it deserves our support so it can lead the development of its industry."
President Ellis nodded with satisfaction as he said it.
"Yes, Mr. President. We understand."
Kennedy's eyes lit up immediately, and his tone was openly delighted.
At this point, who didn't understand what this meant?
After AIM's three launch events, the President had now publicly made his position clear. He was openly backing AIM.
And there were countless reporters present recording every word.
Those comments would spread across American media before the night was even over.
After that, Killian personally led the presidential group through AIM's underground labs, showing them the manufacturing lines for the T-Series Viral Antibody Serum, the development lab for the companion robots, and finally the project President Ellis was most focused on, the controlled nuclear fusion reactor.
All in all, by the time the tour ended, Ellis was extremely satisfied.
In fact, he felt even better than he had when he first took office.
A President might have sweeping authority, but the office still came with terms.
Every election cycle, voters judged what you had actually accomplished while in office.
Without real results, you got replaced.
In that sense, American presidents and companies were deeply interconnected. Support the right companies, let them create visible benefits, improve lives, do charity, satisfy the public, and eventually the voters would credit the administration for helping make it happen.
This was Ellis's third year in office.
Which meant that if AIM's success could be politically tied to his administration, then next year's election would become far easier.
Yes, governors and senators from other states would try to fight him for the credit.
But Ellis knew one thing.
Senator Kennedy of Florida was the least ambitious of them all.
Or rather, the man was already content ruling his own corner of the world.
That, more than anything else, was why Ellis had rushed to Florida overnight to inspect AIM in person.
After the tour, the President brought Killian into a conference room, where in front of a wall of cameras he asked about AIM's future plans, its contributions to society, and its relationship with the current administration.
To the public, it looked like a down-to-earth President sincerely caring about an entrepreneur.
And Killian, as AIM's representative, calmly and confidently painted a picture of the future: a society where everyone could thrive, everyone could live well, and no one would suffer from disease.
In short, it was a glowing vision of prosperity.
It was so effective that it almost gave people the illusion that under President Ellis and AIM working together, the country might truly create some new kind of utopia.
When Killian finished, Ellis found himself nodding more than once, privately impressed by the young man's vision and intelligence.
Even stripped of everything else, Killian's words alone were enough to paint a huge, irresistible dream that made people want to believe in it.
All in all, the President's view of Killian was simple.
He was the model of an outstanding young leader.
And when the visit finally came to an end, President Ellis personally invited Killian to join him for dinner.
At that moment, the eyes of the senior officials present changed completely when they looked at Killian.
He had already been famous in their circles before.
But now?
Now he was someone the President had personally invited to dine with him.
And once a connection like that was in place, the future looked very different.
As expected, Killian accepted on the spot.
So the group headed together to a well-known local hotel Kennedy had arranged in advance.
This time, however, the atmosphere was very different from AIM headquarters.
There were no reporters waiting outside, only senior government officials and a handful of notable local business figures.
Even so, wherever Ellis went, he kept hold of Killian's hand with striking enthusiasm.
It was almost as if he wasn't holding an outstanding entrepreneur, but a newlywed bride.
After personally introducing Killian to several high-ranking government officials, Ellis stepped aside to greet some local business representatives together with Kennedy.
And the moment he did, the officials he had just introduced came over with broad smiles.
The two sides quickly fell into easy conversation, and within a matter of minutes they had already discussed a number of mutually beneficial arrangements.
By the time they parted again, Killian's phone had gained several new contacts, powerful names with real influence inside the government.
(End of Chapter)
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