𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬

༻ ❁ ༺

Aldrich Killian's Mansion
Miami, Florida

 
          THE FIRST THING Charlotte felt when she returned to consciousness, was her chest tingling and warmness all over her body.

When she opened her eyes, the twelve-year-old let out a shocked gasp. She sat upright, suddenly remembering the hand covering her mouth and the sharp sensation on her neck. 

She covered the region of her neck where a needle had been inserted, but she felt no discomfort. Charlotte, on the other hand, felt fine, despite the tingling sensation on her chest and the fact that she was incredibly warm.

She looked around her, scanning her surroundings. She appeared to be in a small cell, sitting on a filthy mattress, with nothing about her save a pail in the corner and weeds growing out of the floor tiles. And when she looked up, she noted the security camera staring at her from the upper corner of the cell. Startled, Charlotte immediately rose up from the mattress and made to stand from the bed.

However, as she swung her legs across and placed her left foot on the ground, she noticed that something was wrong. Her right leg was bare, and her prosthesis was gone. Panicked, she glanced around, searching for the appendage that she so desperately depended on.

When she came to the conclusion that it was not inside the small room with her, she called out, somewhat fearfully. "Hello?! Is anyone there?" she yelled, her voice echoing through the long corridors around her.

No one replied, but she heard footsteps approaching. Cautiously, she backed away, pulling herself backward, further onto the mattress, away from the bars.

Then a man showed up, smiling. He didn't look scary, but his sight was unnerving.

"There she is, back from dreamland. How do you feel Charlie, can I call you that?" He began, approaching the bars of her cell and staring at her with an expectant expression, "After all, your father and I know each other."

"W-Who are you?" she stammered out, not recognizing him the slightest.

"My name is Aldrich Killian." he flashed her a charming smile that was laced with a hidden sinister tone, "Now that we're past introductions, how do you feel? Warm?"

"Where am I?" Charlotte frowned at him, backing away further, "And, why have you taken my leg?"

He frowned, "Now Charlotte, it's rude not to answer a question."

"Where am I!"

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" he yelled, losing his patience. Charlotte gasped as his eyes became a bright yellow and the veins in his face turned crimson as he did so. She flinched and moved away from him.

"What's wrong with you?" The child whispered, afraid of the answer.

In an instant, Killian lurched forward and leaned his fave so close to Charlotte's, that the child close feel his hot hot angry breath against her skin. "THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!"

Killian calmed down and smiled again as he breathed through his nose "I have made the perfect cure for everything. And you should know it, it's in your blood."

Charlotte began to take deep breaths and saw that the more panicked she became, the redder the veins on her arms and hands were. "What did you do to me?" she asked as it began to burn and she felt as though her chest was becoming constricted.

Killian grinned, "I fixed everything about you. But it's a shame that the side effects may be death."

"W-What?" Charlotte squealed, her veins becoming dangerously brighter as she freaked out even more, "It burns! Why is it burning?!!" she groaned, allowing her head to fall back and hit against the wall behind her. She grabbed her arms, wrapping her fingers around her wrists in an attempt to suppress the burning sensation.

He hummed, his expression casual, "Then maybe you should calm yourself down, it would be troublesome for you to explode before your father could see it. Or maybe you might be a pleasant surprise. You see, I injected some Extremis into you."

"What's that?" she asked, trying to keep her mind away from her glowing veins and the rising warmness all over her body.

"I'm glad you asked, the Extremis was something I created eighteen years ago by using nanotechnology. It grants the human body the ability to heal and regenerate from physical damages, deformities, and even psychological damages. You see, I grew up with a number of physical disabilities and I was never able to accept them, so I spent most of my life trying to overcome them in any way I could," he told her with a distant look.

"So you created something to cure your disabilities?" Charlotte asked, connecting the dots.

"Yes! Exactly!" he clapped his hands, "You can be a smart girl when you want to."

Her eyes cast down, glancing towards her lower body, specifically the loose trouser leg that fell over the bare stump where her prosthetic once sat, "Is that why you're doing this to me?"

"See, you are smart." Killian exclaimed with a patronizing tone.

Charlotte frowned, a chill began to creep over her. "But, why...?"

"Ah, well, on New Years Eve, eighteen years ago, in Bern, Switzerland, I met and initially asked for your dad's support for my project under Advanced Idea Mechanics, only to be shunned and ignored," he paused, and his smile dropped into a scowl full of anger, "And tricked by him, left on the rooftop by the cold as everyone celebrated a new year. But guess what–I celebrated someone new as well. I grew tired of waiting, I pondered on jumping down from the roof."

Charlotte frowned at that, she understood that her dad had been a completely different person before she was born. She read the stories online, and people still talk about how much he transformed from a bachelor who partied every night to a parent, but it didn't make her feel any sympathy towards Aldrich Killian.

"But then my presence on the roof caused me to relish in my state of anonymity, which made me decide to work on my own in creating an expansive and covert business for myself. Then a woman named Maya helped me, she had the important formula. And thus, here I am! No more disabilities!" he spread his arms open and gave her a wide grin, "Imagine how that could be. You could live a life without limitations."

"My disability does not define me," The girl hissed, feeling a new rage bubble inside her chest. "You could've used Extremis for good, why use it for bad?"

Killian chuckled, "Oh sweetie, you're so naive."

She glared at him, "Am I? Let me guess, you said I could explode, right? Does that mean that the recent explosions were caused by you? Were those people whose Extremis killed?!" she yelled, tired of being patronized.

Killian whistled, "I was not expecting you to be this feisty and still be alive, by the way, you really should calm yourself down. I mean, you're fuming," he laughed, once again, at his own pun.

Charlotte gasped as she realized her clothes were beginning to smoke and her skin was turning red as her veins were visible and covered in an orange and charcoal tone, as if lava itself was rushing through her body.

"You won't get away with this, my father will kick your ass," she whispered harshly, trying to calm down.

"Ah-ah, language young lady. Now, if you excuse me," Killian smiled and straightened his tie, "I have a meeting with your mother."

Charlotte's eyes instantly widened, "Mom?" she glared furiously at him and approached the bars, "What did you do to her?! Don't hurt her, please!"

He smirked, looking down at her as he stepped closer as well, "I will do everything to destroy your father, sweetie, including killing what is most precious to him, and that includes you," Killian said as he bopped her nose, she instantly flinched away from his touch though, "And, unfortunately, your mother," he sighed, looking disappointed, "Such a shame though, she's such a great woman. Your dad really doesn't deserve her."

"And you think that you do?," she spat at him through gritted teeth.

The intensity of venom she felt for Killian, a man she had only recently met, made her feel immensely powerful. Charlotte wasn't sure if it was because her Extremis was feeding her rage, but right now all she wanted to do was hit him in the face — something she had never considered doing to anybody before.

He let out a guffaw, "Ouch. That hurt, anyways, nice chat. I have to go now," he turned and began making his way down the hall, but suddenly halted when he remembered to add something, "Oh and, if I were you I wouldn't try to escape. I have eyes on your mommy, and your little friend, Ezra is it? We wouldn't want anything to happen to either of them, would we?"

Charlotte's expression fell into a crestfallen one, "Oh no..."

"Don't worry. Your mom is more worried about your whereabouts than anything. After all, you have been missing for a few hours," on that note, Killian returned to walking away from the area, leaving a shocked and scared Charlotte behind.

"Mom..." realizing what she had just done, Charlotte groaned and covered her face with shame - she shouldn't have shouted or threatened Killian. She had made him angrier.

It was her fault she was here, she was stupid enough to escape the Hogan residence and go on her own through the streets.

She made herself an easy target to find, and her father was missing and presumed dead so obviously, it was like she had painted a red target circle on herself.

However, she had not expected Hugh to decide her in such a way. He betrayed her family, working for Killian all this time, watching them - and they were none the wiser.

Charlotte decided to lay down, she didn't feel warm anymore, nor her veins showed a visible orange, instead, she began crying and curled her body into a fetal position to hide from the world.

Killian was right, she was naive.

Who was she trying to fool? She was just a kid.

Her dad was the hero, not her.