Opening My Past

Chapter Thirteen~Maya's Last Stand

My eyes blearily open.

"Tony?" I ask. Gravity comes down upon me and I look around to see I'm zip tied to a standing bed frame, Tony, the same way, next to me.

We were in a sorta dungeon/lab, I look up to see the girl that knocked on the door.

"Tony?" I ask.

"Oh Maya, Illisha, Illisha, Maya." he says annoyed. I look over to her and begin to remember "Your the botanist friend?" I ask, she shrugs and nods "Okay. So you took Killian's card." says Tony continues a conversation I clearly missed.

"I took his money."

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

"No."

"Yeah." I say looking around.

"No, you're both in a dungeon. I'm free to go." she says walking towards him "A lot has happened, Tony. But I'm close. Extremis is practically stabilized."

"Extremis? The power Killian talked about." I state. When he showed me the brain, he found a way to fill that hole in the brain!

"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." says Tony.

"Then help me fix it." says Maya showing Tony a card with an equation on it "Did I do that?" ask Tony. Maya looks disappointed "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. I get to wake up every morning and spend my time with people who still have their souls." says Tony looking at me, I give him a small smile "Get us out of here. Come on." starts Tony.

Maya smirks before sitting back in her chair, I sigh. 

"You know what my old man used to say to me? One of his favourite of many sayings... "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

Oh no. Killian, he walks in and seems to be excited.

"You're not still pissed off about the Switzerland thing, are you?" ask Tony as Killian walks up to us "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. 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."

"Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the first mouse."

"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. 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." I say, he turns to me a grin, walking over to me "You have met him, I assume?"

"Yes. Sir Laurence Oblivier."

"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."

"Thor?" 

"Subtlety has kind of had its day."

I bite my lip as he stands face to face with me, well I'm just tied up "That's why you showed me the brain?" I ask, he smiles waving his finger using it to grab the collar of my shirt "You know I really wanted the second date."

"How about a date with my fist?" I ask.

"You want it rough wait till the third date." he jokes.

I struggle against my bonds "I don't know, you still free Friday? What's next for you?"

"Well, I wanted to repay you the selfsame gift that you so graciously imparted to me." says Killian as he rolls three balls forwards and they stop, projecting an image of Pepper. She has Extremis. 

No!

"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. 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." 

"Killian, please!" I shout, he walks over to me a smirk wide on his face "You know I have been with many women, but none of them are as resilient or head strong as you."

I look over at Tony and then back to him "What do you want. Pepper as no part in this. I'll do anything."

"Spirit." starts Tony.

"Shut it Stark. I want you to hold still." he says, I don't move. He starts to lean in. No way was he going to kiss me!

His lips push on mine forcefully and I don't respond, I wasn't going to move for Pepper, but I also wasn't giving him satisfaction!

"AHH!" I shout feeling an injection in my neck. Killian pulls away and looks me in the eye "What was it you said people like you would be over power is they had Extremis."

I turn my head to see the glowing orange liquid being injected into me.

"Let them go." says Maya. Killian pulls the syringe out of my neck and we both look to see Maya holding a syringe up to her own neck.

"I said, let them go."

"What are you doing?" ask Killian.

"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?" ask Maya. Killian turns back to look at me and Tony, and without even looking shoots Maya in the toreros having her drop to the floor dead.

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

I weakly looks up at him "You.....are.....a maniac."

"No, I'm a visionary. But I do own a maniac. And he takes the stage tonight." says Killian walking up the stairs and out of the dungeon.