afterglow - tony stark

46

It had been two days.

Tony had found the Mandarin. Although, the man had turned out just to be an actor who was addicted way too much to drugs. Tony had gone inside the compound in Miami without his suit as it was still charging and he had gotten captured.

Tony woke up from his unconscious state to find his wrists zip-tied above him to a bed spring, "Ah...Okay."

"It's just like old times, huh?" Maya revealed herself.

"Oh, yeah. With zip ties. It's a ball."

"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," Maya denied.

"Yeah."

"No, you're in a dungeon. I'm free to go," Maya said before walking towards him. "A lot has happened, Tony. But I'm close. Extremis is practically stabilised."

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

"Then help me fix it," Maya showed him the note he left from 1999.

"Did I do that?" Tony didn't have any recollection.

"Yes."

"I remember the night, not the morning. Is this what you've been chasing around?"

"You don't remember?"

"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," Tony said. "I get to wake up every morning with someone who still has their soul..."

Maya gained a guilty look as he said that which he picked up on. It wasn't her idea to do what Killian did to Eira; Maya only wanted her sedated to use as leverage.

"What?" Tony asked in worry.

"I'm sorry," Maya said genuinely.

Tony frowned as Killian walked in. He looked between the two of them as he questioned, "You didn't tell him yet, did you?"

"No," Maya said solemnly.

"Tell me what?" Tony asked.

"Patience, Tony," Killian smirked. "We need to have a little discussion first..."

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

"How can I be pissed at you, Tony? I'm here to thank you. You gave me the greatest gift that anybody's ever given me," Killian replied. "Desperation. If you think back to Switzerland, you said you'd meet me on the rooftop, right? Well, for the first 20 minutes, I actually thought you'd show up. And the next hour...I considered taking that one-step shortcut to the lobby. If you know what I mean..."

"But 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," Killian continued. "Anonymity, Tony. Thanks to you, it's been my mantra ever since. Right? 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," Tony stared at him like he was crazy.

"You have met him, I assume?" Killian referred to the actor that merely played the Mandarin.

"Yes. Sir Laurence Oblivier."

"I know he's a little over the top sometimes. It's not entirely my fault. He is an addict," Killian said. "It is kind of interesting how the mind of an addict works. My team actually developed a drug that's way more addictive than heroin. On this stuff, it only takes one dose for the cravings to start..."

"What are you getting at?"

"This is me repaying you with the gift you gave me: desperation," Killian said before he rolled three tiny balls forward that displayed an image. Eira. She was sitting on the floor with no restraints and he wondered why she wasn't fighting back. But he noticed her eyes were bloodshot and her head was swaying like her mind was clouded.

"This is a live feed," Killian explained. "I considered giving her Extremis but I think we both know that she's already perfect. She just needed to be a little more...compliant. I've been giving her a dose every hour..."

Tony watched as a filled needle was thrown down in front of her. He watched as she lunged for it and her hands held it unsteadily before she stabbed it into her arm. Tony watched as her eyes clouded over like her mind was eased with some euphoria and the needle fell from her hand. Then the live feed ended.

"Now she's an addict," Killian smirked. "My addict. And can I say she is stunning. The pictures really don't do her justice..."

Tony pulled against his restraints harshly. He glared at the man angrily, "I'm going to kill you."

Killian chuckled in amusement before Maya demanded, "Let him go."

"Hold on, hold on. Maya..."

"I said, let him go," Maya said as she held a device to her neck that would make her explode from the Extremis.

"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?" Maya questioned and Killian sighed before he shot her.

"The good news is, a high-level position has just been vacated," Killian said as he watched Maya die right in front of him.

"You are a maniac," Tony stated.

"No, I'm a visionary. But I do own a maniac. And he takes the stage tonight," Killian said before he left the room.

Tony hung his head back once he did so. Eira. It was painful to think of what she was going through. He wondered how many times she'd been injected with that drug as her arm already looked littered with needle marks.

She'd been forced to become an addict to some unknown drug and he wasn't able to protect her. How could he even look at her again when he had failed so completely? He didn't know but he'd start with just getting her back home.