"Director Fury, stop clutching your chest. I could barely believe it if you said Tony was a good guy."
Russell laid out the facts and reasoned things through. "Though he sells weapons, he's also a philanthropist, a capitalist, a self-righteous scumbag, and a gambler. But overall, he's not too bad."
"..."
Tony: Dad, that didn't sound right!
Howard: That's right, I was praising you!
"Director Fury, stop pretending. Never mind your anything-goes style; just that one-eyed look and your uniquely outstanding temperament make you look like a villain no matter how you slice it. You can't whitewash that."
"..."
Nick Fury: After all that, you're just saying I'm not as handsome as Tony!
High in the sky, a rain of fiery meteors plummeted at breakneck speed. Just as Russell had expected, Strange initially wanted to run for it and let Hydra reap what it had sown. But remembering that quite a few Avengers were still inside the base, he gritted his teeth and stood his ground.
He overlapped his hands and spread them apart, using the Form of Ikhan to create countless duplicates across the sky. They then joined forces to cast the Defense Barrier, layering one shield atop another to form a spectacular defensive net against the meteors' relentless bombardment.
Meteor after meteor slammed into the Defense Barrier, erupting into fireballs and shockwaves. The barrier shattered layer by layer as ripples spread outward, seeming unlikely to hold much longer.
Strange gritted his teeth. The Eye of Agamotto on his chest released the power of White Magic, reinforcing the barrier and preventing its collapse.
Then he brought his hands together before his chest, gathering a dense mass of Dark Energy in his palms.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—
The instant the meteor swarm shattered the barrier, he thrust both hands