"You... got lucky..." Carter's eyes finally focused. He looked at Tony, and there was neither anger nor fear in his slit pupils.
Only something strange, like regret and relief intertwined.
"Central Command... changed its mind... You... don't have to die anymore..."
His body began to change.
Not into a combat form, nor into any other form.
It was shrinking, changing from a humanoid, conscious, threatening existence into an ordinary, nonaggressive creature that only wanted to leave.
His skin changed from pale back to the Skrulls' distinctive green, and his silver scales vanished.
His limbs went from powerful to ordinary, and his height shrank from six feet to five foot seven.
He became an ordinary Skrull.
No combat form, no energy weapons, no intent to attack.
He turned and walked out of the factory.
His subordinates moved as well, not because they had regained control of their bodies, but because some force had lifted their frozen state.
Their bodies simultaneously went from rigid to supple, from stillness to motion, from warriors to deserters.
The twelve Skrulls followed behind Carter toward the exit, their steps growing faster until they broke into a jog.
Their bodies changed as they moved, not into combat forms, but into human forms.
Carter became a middle-aged white man in an ordinary jacket and jeans.
Another Skrull became an Asian woman in athletic wear.
Another became a Black man wearing a baseball cap.
They became twelve utterly different, unremarkable people and disappeared into the night in Brooklyn.
Tony stood where he was, watching the Skrulls' backs vanish into the darkness.
His Palm Cannons were still glowing, but his hands trembled slightly.
Not from fear, not from anger, but from an indescribable emotion he could not name.
Nymph walked up to Tony, rose onto her toes, and lightly tapped