I was forced down onto a rickety steel chair, my hands pulled behind me and zip-tied by one black-clad crony while the other, a blonde woman, picked up my suit with one hand and tossed it at the blond man's feet.
"All yours, Mr. Killian," she said. They were both glowing from inside, and their skin and the air around them burned. They must have been injected with Extremis.
"Killian?" I managed to gasp out. Something clicked in my head. "So you're the bastard who's behind all this!" The man restraining gave me warning whack on my head.
Killian merely shook his head, still keeping the smug grin. "You know, Isabella, my old man always used to say that first impressions are everything. I take it that your generation doesn't care about that kind of stuff?"
"Ah, screw you," was all I could get out. He tutted at me before turning to face the woman who'd emerged from a side entrance.
"Aldrich, don't hurt her," said Maya Hansen, her voice strained as she entered.
"Maya!" I arched my back, trying to get free. "I knew you were a part of this! Tony was wrong—" My fists clenched as I seethed at her, wanting nothing more than to grab her around the throat for what she had done. Even if I'd been wary of it, seeing her standing next to Killian and confirming my suspicion hit hard in the gut.
The man and woman who'd restrained me stepped back as Maya confronted Killian with the force of a mother whose child had been sent to the Principal's office for no good reason. "I told you she wasn't going to be a threat, why are you treating her like this?"
"Ooh, Maya, calm down," said Killian, more impressed than intimidated. "She came charging in here, I'm just making sure she stays down."
"I'm serious, Aldrich."
"What do you want?" I interrupted forcefully.
Maya lingered, about to answer me, but Killian shooed her away. "See? Tough kid, she'll be fine. Now don't you have work to do, Maya?" With one last bitter look at him that made me rethink my rage towards her, Maya turned around and left.
"Easy now," Killian said, addressing me as I continued to struggle. "You heard the lady; I'm not gonna hurt you. Anymore."
"Look, cut the crap okay?" I said savagely. "I know you have Pepper. Let. Her. Go."
"You might as well bargain for your own freedom," said Killian, nodding toward my bindings. "So. Isabella Stark. The invincible Iron Girl."
"Whatever," I said, stung by the mocking tone in his voice.
"If you're here…I'm guessing your uncle's not far behind?"
"No," I spat, "just me. I'm ridin' this mission solo."
"I doubt that." He stopped in front of me. "I'd like to know how exactly you found this place."
Think. Think. Think. "Followed the broadcast signal of the last Mandarin message," I said bluntly.
"But you mentioned Tony," Killian said. When I fell silent, he smiled, knowing he'd found a plothole.
How could I have been so stupid?
"We'll find him," he said, mock-reassuringly.
"Why do you want Pepper?" I spat, abandoning all pretense. "No matter what Maya says, I'M more dangerous than she is! You should let her go!"
"You obviously take after your uncle," he noted. "Everything always has to be about you, doesn't it?"
"But it's true," I said. "Pepper's— She's not a threat to you."
"But she will help me get what I want."
"How?" I challenged. "What do you want anyway? Just revenge against Tony? By latching yourself to an international terrorist?"
Now he laughed at me. Really laughed.
"You may be a genius, Isabella, but you're still naïve," he said. "I'm sorry to say that this is worse than you think."He bent over, looked me in the eye. "You're uncle's gonna pay for what he did to me, but I can't say I don't owe him. After all, if it hadn't been for the—"
"Elevator in Switzerland?" I interrupted.
Killian raised his eyebrows. "So Tony's been telling you bedtime stories," he said. "If it hadn't been for that moment, well…I'd never have all of this."
I rolled my eyes. Take note of the date: December 23, 2012. The first time I ever got The Monologue from a bad guy.
Killian kept right on talking. "The whole time, I've been constructing my master plan, and nobody even bothered to look. Turns out they were the idiots." He straightened. "I've been waiting a long time for this, Izzy. And no smart-ass teenager or know-it-all CEO is going to run her mouth and ruin it for me."
"But you've hired walking WMDs," I couldn't help but point out. "Extremis is far from stable. Seriously—you can't expect to win like this! You've surrounded yourselves with—with time-bombs!" I jerked my head toward my guards. "Holding both of us isn't gonna convince Tony, you'll just blow up anyway."
"Who said I was ever going to use you to get to Tony?" Killian replied. "After all, you've still got a mother and a father out there. There's no way your dad is going to refuse funding me when his little girl's in danger. There's no way your mom, one of the country's best scientists, isn't going to help me stabilize Extremis if I have to eliminate her daughter…"
"You dick!" I shouted.
Killian merely shrugged. He squatted down by my suit, which lay useless on the floor. He held one of the flight inducer rockets with one hand, which started to glow orange.
I gasped. He didn't just stop with his associates; Killian's done it to himself!
Killian ripped off one rocket, then the other. He handled them like toys. From inside he was glowing with the same heat I'd seen from the two guards on either side of me.
"Nice," he said, examining the rockets. He turned toward me. "Don't mind if I do."
"No!" I shouted. "Don't—that's—please!"
"Why not?" he smirked. "Like I said, you're not going anywhere."
"Sir," said the man who'd tied me down, "I've just received a transmission. You'll like this—they found Stark right in the Master's quarters."
Time seemed to freeze, and so did my insides. We were screwed. Killian glanced at me.
"Told you," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me. Your uncle and I have something to discuss, and it's waited nothing short of thirteen years." He got up and began to stride out of the room, taking my flight inducers with him. My two guards followed and were replaced with another pair of men. By the weapons they carried, I figured they weren't injected with Extremis as the first two had.
"When I get back tonight, we're going to film a hostage video right here," he told them. "The Starks must be missing their precious princess. Make sure she still looks presentable."
"Is that it?" I yelled after him. "You're dragging our whole family into this? Come on, man, it's Christmas!"
"And I'm sure it's going to be a merry one!" was his last reply before striding out of the parlor, the man and the woman following him.
The heavy wooden door was shut behind him and bolted.