"I wanted to complete the Extremis Virus. I wanted to prove what I was capable of."
Maya said dejectedly, "But thirteen years ago, Tony saw my research and read my report. The next day, he left me this."
She took a business card from her pocket. It was Killian's, with a formula written in the blank space.
"I tried," Maya said. "I never imagined my work would become a weapon for terrorists. Killian needed military contracts. He recruited disabled veterans as test subjects for the Extremis Virus."
"Some couldn't withstand it and exploded. Others survived the Extremis Virus and regained healthy bodies."
As she spoke, happiness showed on Maya's face-the joy of seeing her invention benefit humanity.
That happiness vanished in an instant. "A lot of people died."
"All those reported terrorist attacks were actually failed experiments."
Maya looked up at John. "Your father was the first person who understood his vision."
"But Killian began to change. He became terrified of your father, afraid he would come knocking and take everything away."
"To make the company entirely his own, he let his relationship with your father grow worse and worse."
John listened, rubbing the ring on his right hand, lost in thought.
Perhaps Killian had never intended to assassinate his father at first, but as his power and wealth grew, they nourished his desires.
A greasy, down-and-out scientist with a limp had met an investor who understood his vision.
They could either become friends who shared everything, or that initial helping hand could turn the benefactor into an enemy he wanted dead.
Clearly, Killian was the latter kind.
Everything he had had come from Watson Wick, and he feared losing it all, becoming the same worthless wreck Tony had once toyed with.
Driven by those feelings, he had chosen to