Wanda and Sharon's concern lingered in the air, their voices filled with hesitation.
But Luke turned to them with a calm smile, his tone breezy and confident.
"Relax. I'm built different, nothing's going to happen to me."
He meant it.
This wasn't guesswork or bravado. The Extremis in his hand was flawless, refined by the system itself, stripped of side effects and failure. Injecting it was the obvious choice.
With their worry soothed, Luke's face shifted as he turned toward Maya Hansen.
His smile vanished.
"Stop stalling," he said coldly. "Just inject it."
Maya had everything prepared. The syringe was ready. But she still hesitated.
Her voice was soft, nervous. "You… might want to lie down. Maybe bite down on something. The pain, it's not something you can ignore."
Her warning wasn't baseless. They'd run tests on animals. Even without human trials, she knew the agony involved. Extremis rewrote the body from the inside out, molecular combustion, cellular reconstruction…
Like being torn apart and rebuilt from fire.
She half-expected Luke to lash out for trying to scare him. But he didn't even blink.
"Enough," he said flatly. "Do it."
Maya let out a resigned breath, stepped forward, and slid the needle into his arm. The blue liquid drained in seconds.
As soon as she finished, she hurried backward, putting distance between herself and Luke. If he lost control, even for a moment, she didn't want to be within reach.
Killian, still crouched on the ground nearby, had been silent all this time.
But now, with the injection complete, his lips slowly curled into a grin.
He covered his wounded arm with the other and began to laugh.
Soft at first, then gradually louder.
Unhinged.
"Hahahaha… HAHAHAHAHA!"
The sound was sharp, ugly, manic. He sounded like a man who'd just watched the world burn, and loved it.
Everyone in the room turned toward him.
"What are you laughing at?" Sharon asked, raising her hammer. Her eyes narrowed, something felt off.
He had no power left, no leverage whatsoever. So why that laugh?
And why now, right after Luke took the injection?
Killian's laughter stopped abruptly.
He looked at each of them in turn, Luke, Wanda, Sharon, then finally Maya, and smirked.
"You probably don't know something important."
He turned his gaze toward Maya.
"This particular formula? She didn't create it. She assisted. It was me, I am the mind behind Extremis, I took her initial research and made it mine!"
His voice rose with fervor.
"And here's the part she never figured out. The real flaw isn't just a low success rate."
"No, the initial injection usually works. But after 24 hours of agony. Then, after a few days, the body needs more. And more. Every ten to fifteen days, you must reinject it, forever! Or the virus becomes unstable, and you'll explode from the inside out!"
He paused, letting the revelation settle in.
Maya's face fell. Her breath caught. She'd had no idea. She felt humiliated, this was her creation to begin with.
All this time, Killian had withheld the truth of his modifications.
Wanda and Sharon looked toward Luke in alarm.
If Killian was telling the truth, Luke had just walked into a trap.
But Killian wasn't finished.
He stepped forward slightly, blood still dripping from his arm, but his grin had grown sharper.
"Luckily for you," he said, "I can help you produce more. You just have to do one thing, follow my rules."
He gestured to himself proudly.
"Even Maya can't recreate it. No one can, not in less than a year. But I can. Only me."
He spread his arms wide like a twisted messiah. "So if you want to survive… you'll obey. Or die."
He laughed again, loud and triumphant.
It was his moment, he could feel it.
Luke had walked right into his web.
The others would have to play along.
This was his comeback.
He laughed again, until something stopped him.
Silence.
Dead, suffocating silence.
He frowned.
Why wasn't anyone panicking? Why weren't they shouting, threatening, or begging?
He looked at Wanda and Sharon.
Their earlier concern was gone. Now they just looked… calm. Almost amused.
His heart skipped a beat.
Why weren't they reacting?
Shouldn't they be scared for that man?
His mind raced.
Then he turned around, and froze.
Luke was still standing where he'd been, casually pulling the empty syringe from his arm. No tremors. No screams. No burning skin.
He looked perfectly fine. Almost… bored.
There was even a faint smirk on his face.
Killian's stomach turned.
What the hell?
There should've been agony. His cells should've been tearing themselves apart by now!
He looked closer. There was no glow, no sweat, no signs of pain. And then…
Luke raised his hand.
In an instant, it ignited, magma-red, glowing with scorching heat.
Killian collapsed back onto the floor, paralyzed.
He had done it.
Fully integrated Extremis, in less than a minute.
Impossible.
His scientific mind rebelled.
There was no way! He knew how this worked. There were no shortcuts. No miracles!
Unless…
Unless this wasn't the Extremis he designed.
His mouth went dry.
Every theory he ever clung to, shattered in one moment.
He had become a joke in his own story, and they watched him jump around like a clown.
Luke looked at him like he was something stuck to his shoe, then turned toward Maya with an unreadable expression.
"Friendly advice," he said coolly. "Walk away from Killian soon, or you'll regret it."
And with that, he turned and walked toward the exit.
Wanda and Sharon followed behind him, no longer worried.
That smile Luke wore, it reassured them far more than any words could.
Compared to Killian's madness, Luke was steady, unshakable. Real power didn't scream, it stared you down.
At the door, Luke paused.
As the wind stirred outside and the moonlight spilled in, he turned back one last time.
His lips curled faintly.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Tony asked me to say hello."
Then he stepped into the night.
The Camaro's engine roared to life moments later, and with it, they vanished into the darkness.
…
In the lab, Killian stood frozen.
That last line, Tony's name, hit like a gut punch.
So Stark had sent him.
Tony Stark knew about him all along.
And now… this Luke guy had Extremis. In his blood. In his bones.
Killian trembled, not with fear, but with a surge of vengeance.
Slowly, he stood up.
He turned toward the open safe and pulled out one of the two remaining vials.
So Luke had left them behind.
His fingers wrapped around the cold glass.
Hope flickered.
Not just hope, rage.
"Tony Stark…" he whispered.
"Just wait for me."
He held the vial up to the light.
The game wasn't over.
Not yet.
…