Miami, the second-largest city in Florida.After assigning Eric to handle the filming of the Mandarin's first appearance, Killian went alone to the lab to find Maya Hansen.
Although he had prepared for this situation in advance, the explosion at the U.S. military base still caught him off guard. After all, in order to improve the success rate of the Extremis injections, Killian had recruited test subjects who were all soldiers that had lost limbs in war.
In fact, many of these soldiers were still on active duty, but because of their lost limbs, they could no longer serve. Yet with the help of the Extremis virus that Killian had injected into their bodies, those who survived the experiments all returned to peak condition—their missing limbs regenerated completely.
As a result, many of the fully recovered soldiers were required to return to the army. To make people aware of the "cost" of his work, Killian actually charged for every treatment.
So it was perfectly normal for these soldiers to be sent back to duty after their recovery. And since he had already developed a method to maintain internal stability through regular Extremis injections, Killian didn't mind his newly enhanced soldiers leaving.
But he never expected that only a few days later, one of the military bases would suffer an explosion.
When Killian found Maya Hansen, she was sitting in front of her computer, endlessly comparing data. Killian knocked on the door, walked in, and asked,"Do you have any leads on improving the third-generation Extremis subjects?"
Hearing his question, Maya turned around to glance at him, then leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and said,"Still no good. The heat generated by Extremis inside the human body can't be expelled. If that heat isn't released, the host's temperature will keep rising until they inevitably explode."
"So right now, the only option is to inject a new batch of Extremis to neutralize the unstable strain already in the body. But this method has its own drawbacks."
"In other words," she continued, "even if you use new Extremis to stabilize the volatile strain inside you, every time you do it, the lower limit of your tolerance increases. When will the lower limit finally become the upper one?"
Hearing this, Killian's heart sank. Because for him, Extremis wasn't just a tool to achieve his ambitions — it was inside him.
Unwilling to appear weaker than his subordinates, Killian had injected himself with the third-generation Extremis after learning that continuous injections could stabilize the virus in his system.
But if Maya wasn't lying, his life countdown had already begun. As the head of Advanced Idea Mechanics, he might have unlimited access to Extremis, but it didn't matter — once his body temperature hit the critical point, no amount of new injections would save him.
"How long do I have? If you think there's anyone who can solve this, I'll find them for you."
Though he now understood the danger, Killian kept a calm expression. He couldn't afford to let anyone know he was dying. After all, even if he was the head of A.I.M., the organization behind him was massive.
If anyone found out he was on borrowed time, Killian suspected he'd be killed long before the virus reached its critical mass.
"About six months," Maya finally said. "After that, the Extremis will reach critical mass. As for outside help…"
Her voice trailed off as a name flashed through her mind — someone who might actually be capable of fixing this, if he were willing to help.
"Who are you thinking of?" Killian asked immediately, noticing the change in her expression. The spark in her eyes told him such a person existed — and if that person could help, Killian was determined to bring him in.
"Tony. Tony Stark," Maya said after a brief hesitation. "He helped me refine the formula before. If I can find him, maybe we can fix the flaws in Extremis."
Maya hesitated because she knew Killian hated Tony — hated him so much he wanted him dead.
"Tony Stark?" Killian muttered. He thought for a moment. It was, after all, thanks to Tony's help that Maya's Extremis formula had evolved from a biological bomb into something that could miraculously heal the human body.
But then he remembered that night — Tony's arrogance, his dismissal, his mockery. Killian fell silent for a long moment, then said coldly,"I understand. I'll find a way to bring him here. In the meantime, keep working on a solution."
Without waiting for Maya to respond, he turned and walked out of the lab.
Once outside, making sure she couldn't see him, Killian slammed his fist against the wall and ground his teeth as he growled one name:
"Tony Stark."
Killian didn't want to go to Tony — not unless he absolutely had to. In his imagination, their next meeting would be after his grand plan succeeded, when he could stand before Stark as the victor… and kill him.
But now, because of the setbacks with Extremis, he actually needed Tony Stark's help.The thought made him furious — humiliated, even.Yet what choice did he have?
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