Tony pressed his palm against the Celestial Armor.
The thirty-meter steel giant began to awaken from the point of contact. Its Stellar Engine reignited, and the energy lines across its armor lit up like veins stirring to life.
When the machine stood upright, the entire hangar shook. Dust sifted down from the ceiling, and hanging tools knocked against one another with sharp metallic clinks.
"Mr. Stark." Spider-Man stood at the hangar entrance, watching the giant being activated. "Are you really going to..."
"Pajama Baby." Tony's voice came through the armor's communications system, mechanically processed into a deep, resonant rumble.
"You've had your say. Now it's my turn."
The Celestial Armor's eyes lit up, like two miniature stars burning in steel sockets.
Spider-Man's words caught in his throat.
He had wanted to say, "You can't win," but that would have been stupid.
Tony had already said that himself. He had wanted to say, "Don't do anything stupid," but that would have been even stupider, because everything Tony Stark had ever done in his life was stupid, and those stupid things were precisely what had made him Tony Stark.
So Spider-Man said nothing.
He simply nodded, shot out a web, and quickly swung out of the hangar.
Outside the carrier, Russell hovered in the void, watching it all.
His gaze pierced the Helicarrier's layers of armor, revealing the steel giant powering up inside and Tony sitting in its cockpit with his fists clenched.
He tilted his head slightly, the faintest hint of a smile curving his lips.
"Good."
He turned his right palm downward and spread his fingers, as though reaching for something invisible.
"Since you refuse to admit defeat..."
His fingertips curled inward slightly.
"Let me give you a little more despair."
The instant his words fell, the sky around the