"Tony, you're just giving in?"
Hill's shrill voice echoed in Tony's ears.
"Giving in?" Tony calmly asked in return. "Hill, how long have you known me?"
The answer was obvious, so Hill said nothing.
"You've known me long enough to know that I, Tony Stark, have never given in to anyone in my life."
"Then what you just said..."
"I said we're done fighting," Tony interrupted her. "Being done fighting and giving in are two different things."
In the command center, Natasha leaned against the wall, arms crossed, her sharp eyes narrowing slightly.
"Let me ask you again. What do you think?" Tony's voice continued over the comms, echoing through every corner of the command center.
"Why did Russell lock us in a Spatial Cage?"
"Because he wants us to admit defeat," Hill answered without hesitation this time.
"Wrong," Tony rejected her answer.
"He doesn't need us to admit defeat."
Hill frowned. They were discussing the same question, yet Tony had already arrived at a new interpretation in such a short time.
"He can blow up Earth and put it back together. He can create a Spatial Cage and lock us in the void. But he hasn't killed us, and he even let Spider-Man go. Why do you think that is?"
Hill remained silent.
"Because he doesn't think we're worth killing," Tony said, his voice utterly even.
"Because we've never been a deadly threat to him.
S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, the Celestial Armor-in his eyes, they're all just children playing in the sand in a backyard.
He locked us up because he wanted us to understand one thing."
"What?" Natasha wanted to hear what other insights Tony had.
"We can't beat him. We've all known that for a long time. But the second, more important thing is that he doesn't care