Chapter 171

"In 30 minutes, we will begin the broadcast; executing a president live feels satisfying in some way," said Killian, smiling slightly as he looked at the president hanging from his window.

Maya simply shook her head; he was truly sick and had lost any sense of compassion.

Killian, who was enjoying the view, was interrupted by multiple alarms.

"What's happening?" asked Killian, frowning at the sound of explosions.

"Iron Man, along with dozens of suits, is attacking," said one of his subordinates.

"What?! Didn't you just tell me he was in New York?" Killian exclaimed, rising to his feet.

"We don't know what happened either," the subordinate replied, shaking his head.

Tony had reached the base and didn't say a word; he just opened fire directly alongside the 41 suits controlled by Cortana.

The lethal repulsor shots left smoking holes in all the enhanced soldiers.

Wherever they went, all Extremis soldiers died.

Cortana skillfully controlled the repulsors, ensuring they had no place to dodge.

She used three suits to target a single person, leaving them with no options.

"Send some suits to rescue the president," Tony said, looking at the hanging president.

"Alright," Cortana nodded before sending a couple of suits to rescue him.

Suddenly, a burst of fire interrupted the advance of the armor.

Turning to look, Tony and Cortana saw Killian with his mouth wide open, with dozens of soldiers behind him, and occasional orange streams running down his face.

"He... just spat fire?" Tony asked uncertainly.

"It seems so. Is this guy... still human?" Cortana said with a doubtful voice.

"Tony! You arrived sooner than I thought, but that's fine. After this battle, the entire United States will be mine!" Killian shouted.

"Oh, Killian, you won't hold a grudge for what happened in Switzerland, right?" Tony said cheerfully.

"Tony, I could never be mad at you. In fact, I'm grateful. You gave me the determination to move forward," Killian said, smiling.

"In the end, you're still using something that's partly mine to face me," Tony taunted.

"I saw the test videos; you've been working on this since 2000, around 12 years, and you're still where I left you. Isn't that pathetic?" Tony said again as he noticed Killian's expression turning redder than usual.

"Do you enjoy mocking your enemies? There are previous records of you doing that," Cortana said, looking at Tony.

"Anger clouds your judgment and makes you act impulsively," Tony said, smiling arrogantly.

"Enough talk, attack!" Killian ordered his men to advance while signaling the artillery to start firing.

"You see?" Tony said before dodging and flying higher to get out of sight.

Cortana also dispersed the suits while continuously firing.

This time, she couldn't be as effective or lethal because she had to constantly dodge attacks. She felt her temperature rise a few degrees, calculating the right moves in a hail of bullets and attacks.

Repulsor attacks still left a smoking hole when they hit, and occasionally she was forced into melee when some armor was knocked to the ground, where she had a little more trouble because the enhanced soldiers were much faster and more agile than the armor.

She also couldn't just fly away, as they would grab onto the suit's legs and destroy it.

A few seconds at a temperature of over 3,000 degrees Celsius could easily cut off limbs.

This also depended on the thickness of the armor, which in several suits was really thin; many were experimental and not necessarily made for combat.

After blowing the heads off some guys with a punch, they also began to get scared and started playing more cautiously.

Tony wasn't having an easy time either.

After eliminating several guys using heavy artillery to shoot at his suits, he was directly intercepted by Killian.

Killian walked slowly toward Tony.

"And here we are, on the roof," Killian said, smiling as waves of heat ran through his body.

"You know? I'm starting to think you're upset about switzerland," Tony said, smiling slightly as he prepared himself.

"Can you satisfy my curiosity a bit? What does Extremis give you besides not feeling cold in winter?" Tony asked, looking at Killian.

"I don't mind telling you; after all, soon you'll have all the information, and you'll be perfecting Extremis for me," Killian said confidently.

"Essentially, Extremis is hacking the operating system of our bodies. Our subconscious is very powerful, Tony; with Extremis, you can slowly modify your own structure toward an ideal one."

"You'll notice that I'm very different from 12 years ago," Killian said.

"Yes, back then, you had long hair, so what's changed besides a haircut?" Tony nodded.

"Your mouth is something that I'm sure Extremis can fix," Killian said, his eyes glowing orange as he approached Tony faster.

"Cortana, how are you doing?" Tony quickly asked.

"I'm doing well; I've lost 10 suits, but I've eliminated more than half of them. I'm starting to besiege them; it should be over soon," Cortana said.

"Good, because this guy looks tough; give me a hand when you can," Tony said, focusing on Killian, who was already very close.

Tony quickly started firing his repulsors, which Killian avoided relatively easily, causing Tony to start retreating.

Unfortunately, Killian's speed was incredibly high, and he quickly arrived in front of him.

Tony had no choice but to ask Jarvis to take it upon himself to use Aegis to block the blow as he prepared to counterattack.

Before Killian's fist could hit his suit, a suddenly appeared semi-transparent blue barrier, blocked his blow.

At the same time, Tony sent a punch to Killian's chest while a repulsor activated at his elbow, increasing the speed and power of the blow.

The next thing Killian knew was that his vision blurred, and he felt his chest cave in completely.

Tony quickly flew over Killian before he fell and began unleashing punches on his face.

Killian covered himself with his arms, trying to avoid Tony's blows; If his head was blown off, he knew he would really die.

Tony continued to strike while the occasional counterattack was blocked by Aegis.

Killian felt his arms completely torn apart by the constant blows; he could only quickly heat the metal on his back before it melted and fell.

Tony, who was now without a target, also stopped hitting before stretching the roof, making a larger hole to enter.

"I've got the president and Rhodes," Cortana said to Tony.

"Is he okay? Tony asked.

''He's unconscious, he was injected with Extremis'' said Cortana.

''Get the President to safety, Rhodes will take him with us," Tony said, stepping through the hole and concentrating on the fight.

Killian had already stood up and looked as good as new.

"You're becoming a nuisance," sighed Tony.

Killian breathed heavily, his expression grim. Even though he could regenerate, the pain from the beating Tony gave him was something he had never experienced.

Quickly, he tried to put on a more confident expression, maintaining a strong front.

"It's useless, Tony. I'm afraid you don't understand the power of Extremis. Nothing can kill me," said Killian, attacking Tony again. No matter how scared he was of the pain, there was no turning back for him now.

Killian put his arrogance aside and began to attack Tony more intelligently.

Taking advantage of Tony's slowness to turn, he began to circle around him, unleashing quick blows before changing positions, his new tactic causing Tony some trouble as he could only withstand the blows with his energy shield.

Gradually he got into the rhythm before trying to hit him, expecting Killian to dodge, just as Killian dodged and moved to his back, the repulsors on his back came off the armor before hitting Killian hard in the face.

Tony smiled slightly at this surprise attack, no one would expect his armor to suddenly disarm and attack.

Tony took advantage of this moment to physically overwhelm him without giving him time to escape.

This guy was really tough and despite the constant blows he was not knocked down.

He had to admit that if he didn't have the energy shield, he would have lost to Killian.

"Sir, energy reserves have dropped by 30%," Jarvis said as if echoing Tony's thoughts.

"Eh?" said Tony inside his helmet, pausing for a moment, causing him to be hit. Checking his energy, he saw that it had dropped to 28%.

"Sir, each punch consumes about one percent of energy. Although it may not seem like it, his punches are very strong, and the energy shield technology is very immature," Jarvis explained before Tony could ask.

"What if we ask for a truce?" Tony joked inside his helmet.

"I don't think he'd agree, sir," Jarvis said.

"Any ideas to contain him?" Tony asked.

"None without some time for preparation. His abilities are very difficult to contain," Jarvis said.

''I guess there is no other option'' said Tony before deciding to finish Killian, in his opinion killing him is too easy for him, it is better that he rots in prison torturing himself with the fact that he failed.

Tony decided to end this as quickly as possible. He didn't care about the damage to his armor and used his hand directly to grab Killian's wrist.

Even through the thick layer of metal, he felt his hand burning.

Quickly using his superior strength to twist Killian's wrist, he took a step to the side, putting Killian's arm on his back, while using his other hand to wrap around his neck.

The repulsor on his chest buzzed loudly before firing. The repulsor left a large hole in Killian's chest before continuing and destroying the wall.

Killian showed a surprised expression before his knees trembled, and he fell to the ground, spasming and trying to cough.

Tony couldn't help but admire the tenacity of those enhanced by Extremis; that kind of wound would instantly kill any other living being.

"You finished too," Cortana said, arriving next to Tony.

"Yes, it's all over," Tony said, turning around with the intention of going to find Maya; he wanted to know what had happened.

"He's still alive," Cortana said, looking at Killian.

"He's unconscious; he'll die soon," Tony said, glancing at Killian.

"His condition stabilized; he's recovering but very slowly. If we leave him here, he might recover in a few days," Cortana said.

"Impossible. All the previous ones died when their hearts were destroyed. Besides, no organism can survive without a vital organ," Tony said, surprised, turning back.

Tony removed the armor from his hand before taking Killian's pulse; as expected, there was no pulse, but he could see the wound on his chest glowing slightly.

"He entered a coma; his body is doing everything possible to survive."

"Have you ever wondered where a person's body with Extremis gets the energy to generate high temperatures and regenerate entire limbs?" Cortana asked, looking at Tony.

"No, but it's a good point," Tony said, frowning.

"Do you want to capture him, or are you going to finish him?" Cortana asked, looking at Tony.

"Let's take him with us," Tony said after a moment of hesitation.

Cortana nodded before wrapping the armor she was using around Killian and controlling it.

If he woke up, she would try to contain him. In the worst case, she would detonate the armor and put him to sleep.

Tony flew alongside Cortana to what was clearly their main base.

There, they found Maya, calmly looking at some data on her computer as if the fight outside had nothing to do with her.

When she heard someone enter, she turned and showed no expression when she saw Tony indicating that her side had lost.

"Maya," said Tony, approaching.

"Tony," Maya said as if she were happy to see an old friend.

"How did you end up like this, Maya?" Tony said, sitting a few meters behind her.

"Ego and obsession. Before you know it, you're far from where you wanted to be," Maya said with a somewhat melancholic expression.

"Is that why you never came to me?" Tony said, looking at Maya's back.

"When I woke up that morning and saw the card you left me, I didn't feel joy," Maya said, turning around and looking at Tony.

"I just saw that someone who had just superficially read my research totally surpassed me," Maya said with a slight smile.

"I felt sad, and then I felt pathetic because I still used what you left me to move forward."

"It's okay. I'm aware of my actions. Many have died because I joined Killian," Maya said, shaking her head at Tony's silence, wondering if he felt guilty or just despised her.

"Here is the Extremis information and a sample; I just hope you can take it to the end," Maya said, handing Tony a USB and a syringe.

"This won't make me let you go; it's impossible for me to let you go. If you're captured, they'll force you to create more like them," Tony said, still taking the things from Maya.

"I'm not doing it for that. Just consider it my obsession. I've reached my limit; I want Extremis to continue even without me," Maya said with a calm smile. Years of witnessing all the evil that Killian caused had tired her.

"Alright," said Tony a bit puzzled but not showing it.

"Jarvis, bring her with us too," Tony told Jarvis.

Jarvis quickly took control of one of the suits before wrapping it around Maya and starting to fly toward New York.

"Let's go," Tony said to Cortana, who was closely monitoring any changes in Killian.

"I'll detonate the destroyed suits," Cortana said a few seconds before multiple explosions sounded outside where they were.

"Let's go back," Tony said, nodding at Cortana before starting to fly followed by around 20 suits.

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