Gene braces himself for another fight when he slips the rings onto his fingers. But there's nothing.

Sweet, blissful nothing from the outside trying to force its way into his head, or the inside out, and he feels balanced as he hasn't for quite some time. The rings are his again. He's free.

He smiles back at Tony, and takes them off again just to prove that he can, as a signal to Tony that he's not Malicant faking control. Malicant desires power, and the rings are power itself. It wouldn't dare remove them.

Just a few short months ago, Gene wouldn't have dared remove them, either. He's not certain how he feels about that, but he's glad that he's changed. He's different.

And he has to thank, in part, the man standing in front of him.