Chapter 7: Maya Hansen Pt. 2

Chapter 7: Maya Hansen Pt. 2

A/N: Maya Hansen gets brought in, in more ways than one~

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“Holy shit. What is that thing?”

Naturally, Tony had known that bedding Maya would involve revealing the Arc Reactor to her. Not many people were aware of its existence this time around, but then, not many had been aware at first last time either.

In fact, the only person Tony hadn’t shown it to before his death this go around was Obadiah Stane. Even if he’d been doing everything in his power to make the old man relax and let down his guard, he still wasn’t going to dangle THAT tasty of a treat right in front of Obadiah’s salivating jowls.

That all said, as expected, the moment that he and Pepper had gotten Maya back up to their suite, the clothes had begun flying. And while Tony could have made a big stink about keeping his shirt on and hiding the big glowing battery in the middle of his chest, he didn’t really see the point. He already owned AIM and through AIM he already owned Maya and Extremis. And if he was going to use Extremis, she was going to have to know eventually anyways.

... Contrary to what some might believe, Tony’s first thought hadn’t been to kill Aldritch Killian. He hadn’t wanted to murder the man, even if that was precisely what had happened. But in the end, Killian had ultimately left Tony no choice.

The first time around, it wouldn’t be until almost a year from now that Aldritch would use a semi-perfect version of Extremis on himself, regulating his dosages and finally doing away with the deficiencies that had plagued his body all his life. Frankly, Tony didn’t blame the man for wanting to be able to walk without crutches. But he did blame him for the other things he’d found out Killian was doing.

Funnily enough, in the previous timeline, even Tony had been led to believe that Killian was the first human test subject for Extremis. That the man had bravely, heroically, or foolishly depending on your perspective, been the one to take the plunge and start human trials on himself.

That, as it turned out, was a lie. One that even Maya Hansen had been led to believe. The truth was, thanks to JARVIS’ upgrades, Tony’s AI butler had been able to hack not just AIM’s servers, but also all of Aldritch Killian’s personal work. And that was where they’d found the true deceit. Killian wasn’t patient enough to take his time like Maya had been. He wasn’t willing to continue animal trials until they’d made sure it was safe for humans like Maya had insisted.

Unbeknownst to his business partner, Killian had started human trials months ago... and not a single test subject had survived so far. The reason nobody, not even Tony, had heard about people exploding as a result, was because Killian was going after the disaffected. He was taking homeless people off of the street and locking them in cages, and when they finally blew up because they couldn’t handle Extremis, the blasts were contained in a specially prepared room.Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

What Tony had discovered, and what had ultimately forced him to pull the trigger on Aldritch Killian’s ‘suicide’, was that the man had been developing Extremis on his own side by side with his work with Maya for almost six months... and over two dozen homeless men and women had died in that time in Killian’s pursuit of perfect health.

In the other timeline, it was obvious that the moment he’d dosed himself with Extremis, which Killian had used to convince Maya of his conviction and willingness to do anything to complete her research, had in fact been staged. Killian had only done it to himself once he’d managed to successfully keep the homeless people he was experimenting on alive. And then, as far as Tony could tell, he’d gone ahead and erased any traces of that research and refocused his efforts entirely on working alongside Maya.

To quote a certain eye-patch wearing spook... Maya and Extremis yes, Aldritch Killian no. In the end, sending Killian off a roof to his supposed suicide and buying AIM up so that he could have Maya and Extremis wasn’t Tony’s first choice... but it also wasn’t something he would lose much sleep over. Some men deserved death. Stane. Killian. And Tony knew the list wouldn’t end with just two.

Ah, but he’d got off on a bit of a tangent, hadn’t he? Maya had asked him a question and he’d left her staring at his chest in wonder all this time. Smiling crookedly, Tony tilts his head to the side.

“It’s an Arc Reactor, Maya. It’s the only thing keeping me alive.”

Maya’s wide eyes dart up to his face at that, as if to see if he’s fucking with her or not. Tony has to admit, Maya looks good kneeling there on the bed in front of him in nothing but her bra and panties. But then, he knows he also looks good stripped down to just his boxers, even with the Arc Reactor glowing in the center of his chest. Tony’s smile widens a bit as he explains.

“It’s basically a glorified magnet, truth be told. It’s keeping the shrapnel embedded in my chest from reaching my heart and killing me. The original version was a car battery.”

Off to the side, Pepper has also stripped down to her underwear. She’s looking a little distraught at hearing Tony talk so nonchalantly about his experiences in Afghanistan, just like she always does. But this time, Maya is there as well, looking a mixture of horrified and hopelessly intrigued as she reaches out and brushes her fingers along the rim of the Arc Reactor. Tony lets her. She’s not about to damage it with a single touch.

And yet, after a moment she still pulls her hand back as if singed... or as if afraid that she might hurt him. Looking up into his eyes again, Maya’s breath hitches.

“That’s horrifying. And spectacular.”

Tony grins and nods.

“The work of an incredible man.”

She looks a little exasperated at that.

“Yourself?”

But Tony just laughs and shakes his head.

Smirking now, Tony shrugs.

“She.”

Maya huffs at that.

“Going to seduce her into your bed as well then?”

Tony won’t deny that the mental image those words provoke is a sexy one. But all the same, he ruefully shakes his head.

“If it evolves in that direction, maybe. But she’s South Korean, and they’re a bit more conservative then we are over here in the states. No, for the time being I’m envisioning a wholly... platonic relationship with Doctor Cho.”

Maya’s eyes widen at that.

“Doctor Helen Cho?! The geneticist?!”

Tony gives Maya a slightly surprised look. In about seven more years, Helen Cho and her U-GIN Research Group would be world-renowned for the Regeneration Cradle. But right now, Helen was still relatively fresh out of university and while some digging from JARVIS had shown that she was already working on the Regeneration Cradle, it was still in its very early stages.

Of course...

“Ah. I suppose you would have a vested interest in her, wouldn’t you?”

Maya is all but squealing now as she sits up in bed.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been wanting to work with her for ages. Unfortunately, Killian couldn’t make it happen. Something about the US and South Korean Governments getting in the way.”

Ah, yeah. While the world was rapidly on the road to globalization, it wasn’t there quite yet. And AIM, for all that it started out as a privately funded think tank, had connections to the American Government that it couldn’t escape so easily.

Smirking, Tony just dips his head, feigning some faux humility.

“Well, not to toot my own horn...”

Maya, seeing right through it as intended, huffs and slaps him on the shoulder as she rolls her eyes. Before she can respond, however, Pepper is suddenly there, pulling them both back down to the bed.

“You two can talk more later. Now it’s time for rest. There will be plenty of time to change the world in the days to come.”

Maya pouts but Tony just gives her a grin as he acquiesces to Pepper’s demands quite easily.

“Aye-aye, Pep.”

Seeing he’s not going to fight the red head, Maya huffs but also settles down... and soon enough, all three of them are off to La-La Land.

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A/N: Full steam ahead on Extremis! Maya is successfully seduced and Tony is already setting his sights on Helen Cho as well.

Will the two of them along with Tony's foreknowledge be enough to recreate Extremis? Or will they need something... more? Hmmmm~

See you all tomorrow!