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Before he could even think about what he should do Killian felt as if his body was thrown into the air with force and in the next second he was hitting his back hard against the ground.

And without being able to react he saw how a sword was embedded in his chest, an orange light began to be radiated from Killian's body.

Norman for his part just watched with a bit of curiosity as Extremis seemed to try to heal the damage he had done to Killian's body, he had intentionally missed the heart by a few centimeters.

Once he had Extremis' formula and data in his possession he would have to do a lot of testing with it to prove its effectiveness and also find any weaknesses it might have.

His thought process was interrupted when he felt Killian grab his sword and try to remove it from his chest while with each passing time, the heat increased.

Norman simply put a little more force on his sword and slightly changed its trajectory slowly heading for the heart, the closer he got to it, he saw how Extremis seemed to start losing his regeneration ability and even his ability to control the heat was weakened.

The moment Norman pierced Killian's heart was basically the end of Extremis' ability, as quickly his power or ability seemed to simply disappear.

All the while Norman paid no attention to the calls, threats, and pleas that came out of Killian's mouth nor did he even notice when he simply stopped talking as a trace of terror was the only thing that could be seen in his eyes.

Finally, Norman just brought his left hand with the metallic glove and pointed it exactly at the man's head, seconds later a high-pitched noise was heard being followed by a kind of energy beam that practically charred Killian's head.

' It really was a good decision to recreate the repulsor technology' thought Norman when he saw the results of the weapon, basically it had the same functionality as the repulsors that Tony will have in his armor with the only difference that Norman only had one in his left hand.

Without further ado Norman withdrew his sword from Killian's now lifeless body, finally, he brought his gaze to a small group of Ducard's men who upon seeing the scene simply moved to retreat seeing that it was all over.

Quickly Norman began to move again, his work was not yet done.

At no time did Norman notice a small purple butterfly that seemed to watch him with interest and as soon as Osborn disappeared it spread its wings to fly away.

…

Norman was on his way to the laboratory where Walter and Bucky were supposed to meet, he simply wanted to make sure that his mission was carried out successfully.

He quickly walked through the white corridors as he remembered exactly where the lab Walter mentioned in his report was located.

He knew he was about to arrive because he was beginning to hear Walter and Barnes' voice, but the content of their conversation made him quicken his pace.

"So what are we supposed to do with her?" Walter Hardy asked his partner as he looked at the unconscious figure of a woman.

"The mission was about getting the information related to Extremis thing we have the rest is not relevant" commented Bucky.

"Yes I know that, but she is the creator of Extremis wouldn't it be better to take her to Norman after all she may be of use to him" Walter told him quickly.

Bucky just thought Walter's words over finding that his reasoning was quite right, however, the fact that Norman had not ordered her capture made him doubt the action he should take.

"What are you two doing?" a voice snapped both men out of their thoughts who had a very different reaction, Walter just jumped to stand behind cover while Bucky quickly turned around as he tightened his grip on his weapon.

Once he was about to fire he realized who he was aiming at and quickly retracted his weapon, "Good reflexes" remarked Osborn as he saw Bucky's reaction.

On the other hand, he took his gaze to the concrete wall where Walter was hiding: "Walter come out of there" he ordered.

Soon the Hardy came out of his hiding place once he recognized the voice of his boss: "Damn it don't use your ninja skills to get close to people much less at this time!" he claimed with indignity in his voice.

"Are you ordering me?" asked Osborn in a calm voice to which Walter quickly shook his head realizing his mistake.

Deciding to ignore Walter's juggling to replace the words he had just said Norman spoke, "Tell me what the situation is" he said as he looked at Bucky.

"The unconscious woman is Maya Hansen the creator and main researcher of Extremis, a little earlier you must have seen the body of a red-haired woman, that was her bodyguard" Barnes began to explain.

"When we got to the room they were already here" he continued, "By their actions they were trying to destroy the information and samples they had from Extremis, thanks to the weapon you gave me I managed to eliminate the redhead who seemed to have some regenerative ability while Walter knocked Maya out" he finished explaining as he started to keep silent waiting for an answer from Norman.

Norman was thinking what he should do, if he remembered the things he knew about the woman's counterparts she usually always started with a noble goal, but then she was a bit corrupted by her surroundings.

Especially this case, since the similarities were so clear to the MCU's Maya, there were so many choices he could make at this point.

Norman leaned in a bit to get a closer look at the woman while only thinking about his next move both Walter and Bucky didn't know what was going through Norman's mind.

"Do you have your mission objective?" asked Norman without taking his eyes off Maya.

"Of course" Walter replied positively while Bucky just nodded his head.

A few seconds in silence passed until all of a sudden Norman reached out his hands to the woman's body and in a matter of seconds he was carrying her on his right shoulder.

"Let's get out of here" Norman simply mentioned as he began to move down the path by which minutes before he had arrived.

…

On the way to the retreat site the group of three received a few stares from Ducard's men, but none of them dared to say anything.

By the time they reached the meeting point Norman realized that Ducard was already there as he seemed to be waiting for them.

"I thought you didn't want hostages?" asked Ducard.

"I changed my mind," Norman answered him as he made his way to one of the boats that were ready for their retreat.

Ducard didn't seem to mind Norman's change of plans, "My part of the deal is done in addition I took the liberty of having my men create a scene that would lead the security agencies on an impossible quest" he commented.

"Don't worry even with your little change of plans it will work" he added quickly as he moved to his own retreat vehicle, "In a few days I will send one of my men for you to hold up yours part of the deal" he continued as he looked at Norman.

"Until then goodbye" Ducard said goodbye as the boat he was in begun to move quickly through the water and within a short time disappeared into the fog.

Norman paid no attention to his mentor's words after all he already knew what he had to do, instead he just waited a few seconds until Walter and Bucky got into the boat and immediately started to drive it.

For a few minutes Norman began to drive the vehicle as he headed back to the city, however, before he got there, he suddenly stopped the boat.

"She didn't see either of you, did she?" asked Norman referring to Maya.

"No she didn't she was knocked out before she knew what was going on" they both replied simultaneously.

Norman just nodded before taking Maya in his arms and dropping her into the cold water and without further ado began to move the boat again, "I thought you were going to take her with you?" asked Walter as he looked towards the spot where the woman was thrown which was soon lost due to the fog.

"Too much of a coincidence, of course I could keep her cooped up working for me, but sooner or later she would look for a way to escape or die after all she would have nothing to lose if that was the case" Osborn began to explain.

"On the other hand if I simply take her to her apartment when she wakes up she will wonder who brought her, and it is obvious that the security agencies will investigate her quickly and find it strange that she is the only person who was not on the island plus I doubt she could lie efficiently to fool them" he mentioned a possible scenario of what would happen.

"On the other hand what I just did is to give her a chance, if she can take it or not, then we will know shortly" he finished by saying and a silence formed in the boat that lasts until the end of the trip.