Chapter: 165
"Um... uh..." In a dazed state, Kilian shook his heavily burdened head and let out a muffled groan.
Struggling to open his eyes that seemed sewn together, the glaring light forced him to give up the attempt and tightly shut his eyes again.
"Are you awake already? Your metabolism is fast! The anesthesia wore off in just an hour. The dosage I used could make an elephant sleep for three days and nights."
Upon hearing this familiar voice, Kilian made another attempt to open his eyes. His slow movements allowed his vision to readjust to the surrounding light, and he finally saw Mark standing in front of him.
At this moment, their positions and roles had reversed. Kilian, who used to be the one in control of everything, was now a bound captive.
However, the material Mark used to restrain him was much more advanced. Mark used graphene fiber material covered with hafnium tetratantalum pentacarbide.
Hafnium tetratantalum pentacarbide could withstand temperatures over 4000 degrees Celsius, preventing the material from melting. And the high strength of graphene made it difficult to break free easily.
"I didn't expect you to have an ace up your sleeve—that's why you surrendered so calmly and were fearless in the face of my threats. It seems I underestimated you..."
Kilian's speech was slow, perhaps because the anesthesia was still affecting his body and causing some stumbling.
"You didn't underestimate me; you shouldn't have provoked me in the first place.
Truth be told, the revenge plan I formulated for the Casualty of my Company employee began when we first met.
After that, every move you made was actually part of my design. You were manipulated by me from start to finish, without the slightest chance of success."
"That's impossible! I haven't even started implementing the retaliation plan against Tony. How did you connect Mandarin's terrorist activities to me?"
Kilian couldn't accept this fact. He had always believed he had hidden himself well, with a shining surface identity as a perfect successful person. All the dirty work was arranged by his subordinates or manipulated through Mandarin. He couldn't figure out how he had slipped up and allowed Mark to discover his involvement.
"There's nothing impossible. There are no airtight walls in this world. If you don't want others to know, don't do it.
As for how I did it, you don't need to worry about it. I have my ways."
Mark pretended to be mysterious, but in his mind, he was thinking, "Do I have to reveal to you that I'm a time traveler? Or that I activated the plot cheat?"
"So what do you want? Now that I'm in your hands, you can make any demands, and I can fulfill them. Money? Technical data for Extremis transformation? Or the original shares of A.I.M. Corporation?
I believe that as long as the price is right, there's nothing that can't be traded. And if there is, I'll offer double!"
"Heh..." Faced with Kilian's shameless surrender and begging, Mark responded with a cold laugh.
"'No matter how much money you ask, I'll offer double'. The condition for the trade is that you revive the innocent lives that perished because of your involvement. If you do that, I'll let you go. How does that sound?"
"That's impossible!" Kilian shouted excitedly, "You simply don't want to let me go; that's why you're making things difficult for me!"
"I'm making things difficult for you!" Mark's voice grew louder upon hearing Kilian's words. "The fact is that not everything can be measured in terms of money and other external things, such as life.
You want to trade your own life with me but consider other people's lives worthless, all for the sake of fulfilling your ambitions, indiscriminately killing and causing chaos. And now you have the audacity to say that I'm making things difficult for you?
Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. This is just the retribution you deserve!"
Upon hearing Mark's words, Kilian's expression remained indignant, clearly showing his anger towards Mark valuing his own life and the lives of those who had already died differently. However, when he wanted to retort, he couldn't find any words to attack Mark's viewpoint.
"But don't worry, I won't kill you. I'm not like you, and if I let you die so easily, that would be too cheap for you.
I will make you lose everything, bring you down to dust, and then lock you up in prison, where you'll spend the rest of your miserable life in agony.
While you were unconscious, I contacted the other shareholders of A.I.M. Corporation and provided them with my support. I believe that your beloved creation, A.I.M., has already been devoured and divided by them.
In other words, you are now a penniless pauper.
Furthermore, I have just developed a serum called the Hope Serum, which can reverse the Extremis transformation. Under its effect, all your subordinates have returned to their normal human states.
Your super army no longer exists, and now you are all alone.
But I can give you a choice. In front of you are two syringes: one contains the Hope Serum, and the other contains adrenaline. You can choose one to inject yourself, and then I will hand you over to the Iron Patriot to face a public trial."
"I choose adrenaline!" Kilian hardly had any hesitation or contemplation and directly chose adrenaline.
He didn't know what adrenaline meant for him, having undergone an imperfect Extremis transformation. He only knew that he now had this altered body that surpassed ordinary individuals, and if he lost even that, he would truly have nothing and no chance of turning the tables.
He wasn't sure if the syringe truly contained adrenaline as Mark claimed, but now he had no choice but to make a decision. In order to preserve his abilities, he had to believe Mark's words.
With firm determination, Kilian made his choice, and Mark wasted no time. He aimed directly at Kilian's neck and injected over 10 milliliters of adrenaline into his body.
Under normal circumstances, a regular person could only tolerate a dose of 1 milliliter of adrenaline. Now, Mark not only increased the dosage by tenfold, but more importantly, the adrenaline injected into Kilian's body would greatly activate the repair center in his brain.
For Kilian, who hadn't suffered any injuries, this kind of activation was extremely deadly because it essentially transformed the normal cells in his body into abnormally proliferating cancer cells. His body would collapse under the immense strain and endless consumption.
Soon, Kilian felt that something was seriously wrong with his condition.
His body began to heat up uncontrollably, and at the same time, the hair on his body and face started to grow wildly. His body tissues also began to undergo uncontrolled proliferation and expansion. Kilian felt that if this continued, he would inevitably explode due to the overwhelming internal pressure.
"What did you inject into me?! What is happening to me?"
Sensing his deteriorating condition, Kilian became increasingly frantic and loudly questioned Mark.
"I didn't do anything. That syringe indeed contained adrenaline.
It seems you haven't conducted in-depth research and understanding of your prideful Extremis transformation project.
Due to the imperfections in your Extremis repair algorithm, after the modification, your body lacks important inhibitory mechanisms, making it prone to uncontrollable self-destruction.
And adrenaline is the best catalyst to trigger this reaction."
"If you want to stay alive, there is only one option now: inject the Hope Serum before your body completely collapses, reverse the Extremis transformation, and eliminate the lethal effects it brings."
"Ah --! You tricked me! You didn't leave me any other choice from the beginning. I can only inject the Hope Serum and return to being an ordinary person."
Kilian went completely mad. He first shouted and yelled, then burst into laughter, and finally started crying.
This was exactly the effect Mark wanted to achieve. Why did he deliberately make Kilian make a choice? It was to take away his last thing—hope!
He injected the Hope Serum to save his own life but he would lose hope for the future. How ironic.
In the end, Kilian, driven by the fear of losing his life and unbearable pain, chose to inject the Hope Serum prepared by Mark, extinguishing his last flicker of hope.
As soon as the serum was injected, it quickly took effect. Kilian's vitals started to normalize, returning to the level of an ordinary person. The previously proliferating cells also ceased their activity. However, the proliferative tissue that had already formed could not return to its original state. He had to endure the grotesque and bloated appearance and face judgment and punishment.
With this, Mark's revenge finally came to an end. Kilian and his henchmen were handed over to the military, along with the evidence Mark had gathered and Trevor Slattery's confession, which had already been given to the military. They would not escape legal sanctions, and it was likely that Kilian would spend the rest of his life in prison.
However, it is worth mentioning that in the prison where Kilian was held, he had a cellmate who shared his interests—Justin Hammer.
The two were confined in the same cell, both being company bosses, both hating Stark, and both having assisted the military in modifying War Machine. In the end, they ended up in the same fate, both locked up in a prison cell. Sometimes fate works in mysterious ways.
On the other hand, Maya Hansen, who assisted Kilian in the Extremis transformation research, was handed over by Mark to S.H.I.E.L.D., or more precisely, was intercepted by Nick Fury.
Upon receiving news about Maya Hansen and seeing the research results she had obtained, Fury decisively used his authority to recruit Maya Hansen, claiming it was a way to redeem her for her deeds.
She has now been sent to the medical technology research institute under Dr. Helen Cho's supervision, to collaborate on the development of the Cradle of Regeneration.
Mark had no objections to this. He knew that Maya initially joined the project to complete her own research and collaborated with Kilian with the support of A.I.M.'s funding on the Extremis transformation project.
Regarding the events involving Mandarin and the terrorist attacks, Kilian had deceived Maya Hansen.
So, Mark didn't bother investigating the little trickery by Fury. He was more curious about the next time Maya Hansen and his old man, Tony Stark, who were once lovers, would meet again in S.H.I.E.L.D. What kind of scene would that be?
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