Fury stepped closer to Adam after the room settled again.
The agents had stopped moving for the moment, but nobody looked relaxed. Tony was still trapped inside his armor, Thor stood near Loki, and Steve was watching Fury carefully.
Fury's eye stayed on him.
"You are coming with me," Fury said.
Adam blinked. "What?"
Steve moved before Adam could say anything else.
"Why?" Steve asked.
Fury did not look away from Adam. "Captain, you heard him. He says he is an alien, he has a device we cannot remove, and that device just disabled Stark's armor because someone touched it."
"He also helped save people," Steve said.
"I know what he did," Fury replied. "That is why we are having this conversation here and not with him unconscious on the floor."
"That is supposed to make me feel better?" he asked.
Tony's voice came out of the locked armor, still distorted. "For Fury, yes. That was almost a hug."
Natasha stayed silent, but her eyes moved between Fury, Adam, and the agents near the elevator. Clint kept his hand close to his bow.
Steve took one more step forward. "You cannot just take him because he is unknown."
Fury looked at him then.
"I can, and I have to," Fury said. "You saw what an alien army did to New York today. I am not letting another unknown off-world asset walk out because he seems friendly."
Adam hated how reasonable that sounded.
Thor came forward after that. His expression was serious, but not angry.
"By your words, I am also an alien to this world," Thor said. "Yet I stand here freely."
Fury turned toward him. "You are not the same problem."
Thor's brows lowered slightly. "Explain."
"When you came to Earth, we watched you," Fury said. "Your hammer was in our custody, and your name already existed in old stories. We had something to connect you to."
He looked back at Adam.
"With him, I have no file, no entry record, no verified planet, and no one to call," Fury said. "He appeared during an invasion with a watch that shifts his abilities and shuts down advanced armor."
Adam slowly raised one finger. "In my defense, I did not ask the watch to do that."
"That is not helping your case," Fury said.
Adam lowered his hand. "Yeah, I heard it after I said it."
Tony made a small sound. "At least he is learning."
Steve glanced at Tony, then back at Fury. "What exactly are you planning?"
"Temporary custody," Fury said. "That is all."
Steve's face did not soften.
"Temporary custody means containment, questions, medical checks, and threat assessment," Fury said. "If he is what he says, then he is safer with us for now."
"Safer?" Adam asked.
Fury looked at him. "If the world learns there is a boy who may be alien and carries a weapon like that, governments, companies, criminals, and collectors will start looking for you."
Adam had been thinking about S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra. Fury was talking about the whole world.
Steve still did not like it. "He should have a choice."
"He does," Fury said. "He can come quietly under my protection, or he can walk out and test how long it takes for every camera in New York to turn him into a target."
Adam looked at Natasha.
"Do not panic," Natasha said. "No one here is letting him bury you."
Clint added, "If they were, this conversation would be louder."
Adam looked at Steve next. Captain America still looked unhappy, and that helped more than Adam wanted to admit.
"I do not love this plan," Tony said. "Mostly because I am not the one with the lab."
Fury gave him a flat look.
Tony continued, "But if you are asking whether I trust the kid more than the people staring at his watch, yes, I do."
Several agents looked away a little too late, and Adam noticed the Omnitrix at the same time.
The red warning from before was gone. The dial had settled back into green, and his one-minute cooldown was over.
If something went wrong now, he was not empty-handed. He could transform. He was still scared, but the fear no longer had the same teeth.
Adam took a slow breath and stepped forward.
"It is fine," he said.
Steve turned toward him. "Adam."
"Really," Adam said. "If this is temporary, I can cooperate."
Fury studied him. "You understand what that means?"
"It means I go with you, answer questions, and try not to let anyone touch my watch again."
"Good start," Fury said.
Adam shrugged lightly. "I also have no house, no money, no ID, and no planet I can show you, so it is not like I had a full schedule."
Tony said, "That joke was sadder than you think."
"I know," Adam said.
Fury lifted one hand.
Several S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers came forward at once. They did not grab Adam roughly, but they surrounded him closely enough that the meaning was clear. One moved beside his left arm where the Omnitrix was.
"Easy," Steve said to the soldiers.
Adam began walking with them.
"I thought after helping with the alien invasion they would let me walk out like a guest," Adam said quietly.
Steve answered just as quietly. "This is not over."
Adam nodded and wanted to believe that.
While the soldiers led him toward the elevator, Adam tilted his wrist slightly. The Omnitrix gave a soft green pulse under the light. The soldier beside him did not react. Adam turned it a little more, and another green flicker moved over the face of the watch.
Still nothing.
Adam's steps slowed by a small amount.
No one had reacted to the cooldown color earlier either. They had noticed the watch itself, but not the exact red and green signals the way Adam did. Even the alien selection window had always appeared for him, not for everyone else.
That meant the system layer was not fully visible to others.
Adam kept walking with the soldiers, but his eyes stayed on the Omnitrix.
For the first time since Fury ordered him into custody, he felt like the watch was hiding something in his favor.