Dented Iron (Hiatus)

When i get free

When Alex wakes up she is in pain, her hands and feet are bound to some sort of wire bed. Looking in front of her she sees Maya Hansen, hard at work in a mini laboratory. She remembers Hansen she was at the house when it exploded, she was safe. But more importantly she remembers a drunken night. She can't remember if they had sex but she bet they did.

Hansen turns in her seat looking at Alex, almost as if waiting for her to wake up.

"It's just like old times, huh?" Maya asked

"Oh, yeah. With zip ties." Alex didn't have time or the desire for quips.

"It wasn't my idea."

"Okay. So, you took Killian's card."

"I took his money."

"And here you are 13 years later, in a dungeon."

"No."

"Yeah."

"No, you're in a dungeon. I'm free to go."

"Yeah?" Alex looked away betrayed, her hands pulling at the zip ties.

"A lot has happened, Alex. But I'm close. Extremis is practically stabilized."

"I'm telling you it isn't!" Alex shouts "I'm on the street. People are going bang. They're painting the walls. Maya, you're kidding yourself.

"Then help me fix it." she showed her the note Alex left in Bern. Alex vaguely recognizes her writing.

"Did I do that?"

"Yes"

"Well, I've gotta tell you I can hardly remember the night, let alone the morning. Did we have sex? I don't know I was drunk, and this was way before I got used to it."

"You don't remember?"

Alex shook her head, even if she did remember, the extremis was too close to a super soldier, and she vowed to never make that again.

"I can't help you. You used to have a moral psychology. You used to have ideals. You wanted to help people. Now look at you. I get to wake up every morning with someone who still has their soul. Get me out of here. Come on."

Maya walked away from Alex, just as another voice entered. "You know what my old man used to say to me? One of his favorite of many sayings... "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.""

"You're not still pissed off about the Switzerland thing, are you?"

"How can I be pissed at you, Alex? I'm here to thank you. You gave me the greatest gift that anybody's ever given me. Desperation. If you think back to Switzerland"

"yeah, I told you no. There is no life lesson, there is nothing. I was 18, drunk and as far as I am concerned you tried to take advantage of that for profit."

Killian ignored her, again "As I looked out over that city, nobody knew I was there, nobody could see me, no one was even looking. I had a thought that would guide me for years to come. Anonymity, Alex. Thanks to you, it's been my mantra ever since. Right?" he glanced at Maya "You simply rule from behind the scenes. Because the second you give evil a face, a bin Laden, a Gaddafi, a Mandarin, you hand the people a target."

"You're something else." Alex scoffed looking away.

"You have met him, I assume?"

"Yes. Sir Laurence Oblivier." She sighed.

"I know he's a little over the top sometimes. It's not entirely my fault. He has a tenden... He's a stage actor. They say his Lear was the toast of Croydon, wherever that is. Anyway, the point is, ever since that big dude with the hammer fell out of the sky, subtlety has kind of had its day."

"What's next for you in your world?"

"Well, I wanted to repay you the selfsame gift that you so graciously imparted to me." Killian rolls three balls forward and they project an image when they came to a stop. In front of Alex was Pepper, she was just like all those people she saw in the files. The orange glow. Alex was disgusted.

"Desperation. Now, this is live. I'm not sure if you can tell, but at this moment the body is trying to decide whether to accept Extremis or just give up." Alex flinched as Pepper screamed, trying to pull away and avoid the image all together "And if it gives up, I have to say, the detonation is quite spectacular. But until that point, it's really just a lot of pain. We haven't even talked salary yet." Killian grabbed Alex by the throat tightly "What kind of perk package are you thinking of?"

"let her go" Maya said.

"Hold on, hold on." Killian let go and Alex breathed heavily "Maya..."

"I said, let her go." Alex watched as Maya put an injector up to her neck.

"What are you doing?"

"1200 CCs. A dose half of this size, I'm dead."

"It's times like this my temper is tested somewhat. Maya, give me the injector."

"If I die, Killian, what happens to your soldiers? What happens to your product?"

"We're not doing this, okay?"

"What happens to you? What happens if you go too hot?" Killian looks back at Alex and then shoots Maya. And Alex looks away as Maya falls to the ground.

"The good news is a high-level position has just been vacated."

"You are a maniac." Alex replied shocked.

"No, I'm a visionary. But I do own a maniac. And he takes the stage tonight."

Alex clenched her jaw "You wont win this"

"I think I will"

"When I get free, I'm going to kill you."

Killian simply smirked and pulled his gun shot Alex in the thigh. "I'd like to see you try"