Above Stark Industries, Thursday afternoon

[heroic_jawline]

Steve was still sifting through the file photos of the Chinese Theater explosion when his phone rang. "Rogers," he said, sounding distracted.

"Click the link I'm sending you right now," Natasha said in his ear.

"Should I be worried?"

"Just watch it."

And that was why Tony was probably hearing some distinctly un-PG words coming out of Captain America's mouth as he watched his Tony threaten the Mandarin live on international television.

Comments

[heroic_jawline]

"He was rebranded about a month ago," Steve said. "He's Iron Patriot now."

Don't laugh, Tony.

[imafuturist]

He did not laugh! He looked positively murderous for a second before forcing it into a calm expression.

Because of course Osborn would have picked that name too.

"I would contact him once I was certain I wouldn't put him in harm's way." A beat. "And Rhodey would punch me for it after putting himself there on his own."

[heroic_jawline]

"Sounds like the Rhodey I know," Steve said, calling Rhodey's number.

"Hey, it's Rogers," he said. "Don't suppose you've heard from Tony yet?"

There was a long, awkward pause and Steve's face fell. "Yeah, me either. Not that I'm exactly his first call, but--"

But he can't be gone.

[imafuturist]

"I'd wait," Tony said, low enough that the other Rhodey wouldn't hear him. That would probably just make things weird. "Formulate a plan first."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve nodded. "Has Pepper heard--"

His eyes went wide. "She was in the house too? Is she alright?"

He nodded for Tony to know. "She's with some visitor who showed up--Maya Hansen--who works for AIM? Tell her if she needs anything, I'd be happy to help."

[imafuturist]

"AIM. Advanced Ideas Mechanics," Tony said. "Maya Hansen works for them?"

He covered his mouth.

"Maya, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"

[heroic_jawline]

"So AIM is bad news?" Steve asked, covering the bottom of his cell phone with his hand like it was an old-fashioned miraculously repairing, oops hand set.

[imafuturist]

It was just a little cracked!

"Remember MODOK?"

[heroic_jawline]

"The weird head thing?"

[imafuturist]

"Built by AIM," Tony said with a smile that wasn't exactly happy. "And Maya... Maya Hansen was the primary programmer of Extremis."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve hissed in a breath. "Hey, Rhodey? Any chance you can run down the location of where Maya works? It might be important."

[imafuturist]

"See if this version of her is as lax in following ethical guidelines as the one I know," Tony muttered just a bit bitter. "God, the idea of the Mandarin with that is just..."

[heroic_jawline]

"Terrible," Steve said succinctly. "Call me back if you get anything good, Rhodey?" he asked, then disconnected. "How does Extremis work?"

[imafuturist]

"The pure version that Maya and FuturePharm created was meant as a technological version of the super soldier serum," Tony replied. "Nano-technology that reprograms a subject on the cellular level."

He took a breath, rubbing his forehead.

"One soldier to take down all resistance in a city by themselves."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve made a face. "Great. And what did the stuff that didn't work do?"

[imafuturist]

"The paired down version is the one I programmed for myself using her last sample of the injection." Ahem. No big.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve made another face. "What did Extremis do before it was pared down?"

[imafuturist]

"Enhanced strength, speed, regenerative capabilities, uh... breathing fire." That one had sort of puzzled Tony, but hey. Different strokes. "I got the feeling it was just a hodgepodge of powers go see what stuck?"

[heroic_jawline]

"And what happened if it doesn't work correctly?" Steve asked, turning off the stream of vaguely panicked commentators babbling about the death of Tony Stark.

[imafuturist]

"Psychosis," Tony said, finding absolutely no way to soften that one. "It's... see, with you and even Schmidt, they only enhanced the possible limits of human capabilities. With this guy, it was everything and the kitchen sink. Not something the human brain can adapt to all at once."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve winced. "So anyone they've experimented on will need to be stopped entirely? Or is there a way to reverse the psychosis?"

[imafuturist]

"I don't know," Tony replied. "This strain could be different. Butterfly effect and all that. And I didn't really get a chance to try with the other test subject back home."

Nope, just blew his head off and panicked a lot.

[heroic_jawline]

"I'm wondering if the bombings are linked to failed experiments," Steve mused. "Take someone who's going to die anyway, strap a bomb to 'em...gets rid of your evidence..."

[imafuturist]

"That would fit the Mandarin's MO," Tony replied slowly. "If Extremis is involved... you don't need to build a bomb. A subject could be one."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve's eyes went wide. "They can blow themselves up?"

He tilted his head at Tony. "You're not going to blow yourself up, right?"