"I'm sorry," Gene says quietly. He knows Tony is disappointed in him, but he'd rather have that than use the ring prematurely and ruin everything. His experiences with it have made him cautious, and even now, there's still that paranoia tickling at the back of his mind, that Malicant had wormed its way into his head before, and there might be a scrap of it left, a shadow on his soul, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

He's even more afraid that the shadow on his soul that would ruin them isn't Malicant - it's him.