Nebula's eyes were full of struggle, but her body was completely beyond her control. Like a puppet, she wielded her laser sword again and again at the sludge binding Thanos's limbs. Attacks of this level should not have been able to break through sludge made entirely of filthy psychic energy, but Thanos had prepared for this long ago.
The Mad Titan had been gathering strength all along. The instant several cracks appeared across the sludge's surface and the restraints broke, he suddenly exerted himself.
Foul-smelling black mist spread in every direction. Stark instinctively took two steps back, while Thanos successfully freed himself.
Ignoring Nebula's violent struggle, he reached for her eye socket. With a crack, he forcibly ripped out her eyeball along with a long string of mechanical components behind it.
Though it was a mechanical eye, it was connected to countless nerves. Nebula cried out in pain, but under Thanos's psychic control, her body could not move at all.
"Thank you, daughter." This was the third time in a short span that Thanos had thanked Nebula, but her nerves had already been stretched to the limit, and her mind had reached its breaking point. At a single command from Thanos, she lost all perception of the outside world.
"Let her go!" Stark's opinion of Thanos had plummeted. This was nothing but a villain. His laser cannons fired repeatedly, but in this cramped cave, he had to worry about accidentally hurting Nebula, leaving many of his methods unusable.
"Tony Stark." Thanos tilted his head to listen, as if only now confirming the intruder's identity. He grabbed Stark's arm and forced the arm continuously firing laser beams to the side.
"You know me?"
"Of course." Thanos grabbed Stark's helmet. Before his palm could exert any force, the nanometal separated, and Stark