The restraints suppressing her powers had just been removed.
Supergiant lowered her gaze to the new restraint hovering before her throat and froze for a moment, failing to obey Leon immediately.
She could feel it clearly.
Her telepathic domination and psychic corruption abilities were rapidly recovering.
Aside from the two synthetic beings in the lab, everyone inside this laboratory—no, everyone inside Stark Tower—had already fallen within her mental influence range.
And that range was still expanding.
Fast.
So fast that Supergiant, long deprived of her full psychic reach, felt her mind tremble with exhilaration.
This was it.
That godlike sensation of omniscience—of absolute mental sovereignty.
She felt powerful again.
Then she looked up.
Leon's calm, knowing smile met her gaze.
The faint curl at her lips collapsed instantly.
Because—
Everyone else was irrelevant.
The one who held her life in his hand stood right in front of her.
To Supergiant, Leon Stark was like a black hole—bottomless, unreadable, untouchable.
Her psychic manipulation had no effect on him whatsoever.
Which meant—
Whether or not that neural seed remained in her brain didn't matter.
If she made the slightest wrong move, Leon would crush her without hesitation.
Exactly 2.5 seconds passed.
Then she snapped back to reality and obediently placed the nano neural inhibitor around her neck.
A faint tingling sensation—like tiny insect bites beneath the skin—spread along her collar.
When she reached up to touch it—
It was gone.
Embedded beneath flesh and blood.
Permanent.
The fragile spark of hope in her eyes was extinguished, replaced by crushing despair.
Was she truly destined to remain Leon Stark's captive forever?
"Supergiant."
"I'm here, Master!"
At the sound of his voice, she almost reflexively transformed her lingering disappointment into polished obedience.
If she had a fox tail, it would have been wagging the word "loyalty."
The smile she wore wasn't perfectly sincere—
But it was pleasing enough.
Supergiant… how did you become this spineless? she scolded herself internally.
She knew the truth.
There was no going back.
Leon had reshaped her completely.
If resistance was futile—
Then survival meant adaptation.
Strangely enough, that acceptance made her smile more genuine.
Even Leon, monitoring her through Observation Haki, felt faint surprise.
"I thought you might take the chance to rebel."
He narrowed his eyes with a teasing smile, idly scratching beneath her chin like petting a cat.
"Never!"
"You will always be Supergiant's Master!"
She answered immediately, a thin sheen of sweat forming at her temple.
If she had already chosen loyalty and still died branded a traitor—
That would be the ultimate injustice.
She had followed Thanos once on a whim.
Now?
Who was Thanos?
She didn't know him.
Leon Stark offered her something far more compelling.
Even death at his hands would not be meaningless.
Observation Haki confirmed it.
She was telling the truth.
Leon blinked inwardly.
He didn't quite understand how she had resolved herself so completely—
But it worked in his favor.
He had no intention of removing the inhibitor regardless.
Insurance.
And, occasionally, leverage.
Perfect.
With Supergiant's collar settled, attention shifted to Tony's Mark VII.
Now the indestructible New-Element Miniature Arc Reactor Housing Leon had previously gifted Tony finally proved its foresight.
From the start, its design included a hollow interlayer specifically reserved for nano-material storage.
For Tony—who primarily relied on electromagnetic manipulation for high-output attacks and used the armor mainly as reinforcement—
This Living Adamantium nano-armor truly was a one-suit-for-life solution.
Future upgrades?
Simply update the nano-module programming.
Elegant.
Two and a half minutes later—
Mark VII was completed in Leon's hands.
A tribute to the legendary hand-forging immortal—
Leon Stark.
With Super Self-Regeneration, Leon's supply of Living Adamantium was effectively inexhaustible.
Under Arcee's cognitive assistance, he might deserve the title "Iron Super-Man" more than Tony.
But he preferred Captain Homelander.
Concise.
Dominant.
A statement of strength and leadership.
"Tony. Give it a try."
Leon seamlessly integrated the nano-material mass into the arc reactor housing on Tony's chest.
Tony personally uploaded the armor's combat data and auxiliary systems.
He exhaled slowly.
The shrapnel fragments that once threatened his life had long since been removed when he awakened his electromagnetic abilities.
The cavity in his chest could have healed completely.
He chose to preserve it.
A reminder.
A symbol.
The arc reactor was now inseparable from him—just as Leon's shield symbolized his own identity.
There were no clanking plates this time.
No layered mechanical assembly.
The activation was almost silent.
Brilliant silver nano-material flowed outward from the arc reactor core.
Tony's loose clothing offered no resistance.
Wherever the spreading nano-metal touched fabric, it dissolved instantly—disintegrating as if devoured.
From the outside, it looked as though the armor was consuming his clothes.
Fragments fell to the floor.
And in their place—
A sleek, seamless, pure silver Mark VII Nano Armor fully assembled over Tony's body for the very first time.
A historic moment.
Leon had Arcee record everything.
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