Chapter 7: Extremis, Part 3

"Oh, another one. I take it you solved the icing problem, sir."

Tony Stark glared at the monitor in his garage.

"You'll never let me live that one down, will you?"

"I won't, sir."

"Just get the new one ready."

"And presenting: the Mark III."

A series of robot arms began to place the armor on Stark in piecemeal.

"Red and gold, sir? Isn't that more than a little bit tacky?"

"Silence from the peanut gallery."

"Aldrich, you're nuts. You read the report. Extremis isn't safe for use."

"Just do it, Maya. Just…purge me of this mutant blood."

Maya Hansen looked at her former boss as he lay sprawled across an operating table, while all manner of tubes ran into a series of entry points laid across his body.

"What are you waiting for? DO IT!"

Hansen opened the floodgates and watched as her creation ran into Killian's veins. Without much delay, changes began to take hold, and a cloud of acrid smoke rose from the operating table.

Something's wrong. It shouldn't be doing that.

About an hour later, Killian rose up from the bed, tearing the depleted IVs from his body. Hansen looked on in horror as she saw what looked like a corroded area in the general shape of a man.

"Aldrich? Tell me you're-"

Just then, the skin on her shoulders began to burn.

"What's happened-"

Hansen looked up to see Killian holding her in a vise-like grip.

"You screwed it up, Maya. YOU SCREWED IT UP, AND YOU SCREWED ME UP WITH IT! Now, it's my turn to reciprocate!"

Maya screamed in agony as her boss pressed the palm of his hand into her cheek, burning away the skin.

"YOU SCREWED IT UP, WOMAN!"

Hansen fell into the fetal position, whimpering as Killian left.

"Virginia Potts and Tony Stark, you will be the next to feel the burn!"