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An Extremis soldier marched Hermione across the deck.
Killian turned.
"Why are there so few of you?"
He frowned, displeased.
"The attack on Tony Stark earlier tightened security around the girl."
The Extremis soldier replied without expression, following Hermione's instructions to the letter.
Killian nodded. He accepted that. And it only confirmed what he'd already suspected. For Stark Industries to deploy security capable of wiping out an entire special forces team over one teenager, she had to be Tony's daughter.
He crossed the deck and stopped in front of Hermione, studying her carefully.
"Didn't expect to see me again, did you?"
Hermione's eyes went wide. She stared at him like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"It's you?"
Killian smiled.
"Surprised?"
Mockery threaded through his voice.
"Don't blame me. Blame Tony Stark. His arrogance brought us all here."
Hermione said nothing. She just blinked at him. Then, after a long pause, she said: "Do you have an apple? I'm hungry."
Killian blinked.
Then he burst out laughing.
"Interesting little girl. Death's knocking at your door and you're thinking about apples?" He shook his head, still laughing. "Fine. I'll grant you that last wish."
He waved a hand. A subordinate brought one over.
Hermione took it and bit in. CRUNCH. CRUNCH. Her expression was completely serene, as if she hadn't been hauled here under guard but had simply decided to visit.
The Extremis soldiers around her exchanged glances. This girl had some nerve.
BOOM!
A thunderclap split the distance. Then another. Then the sky lit up with iron.
Countless armored suits tore through the night, screaming in from every direction, surrounding the tanker in a tight net of steel.
Tony and Rhodey stepped out from cover.
"Tony Stark." Killian's voice carried across the deck. "You finally showed up."
He looked up at the suits filling the air above him. Not a trace of fear on his face. If anything, he looked like a man who'd been waiting a long time for this.
"I knew you'd come," he said, slow and satisfied. "I've been waiting. And now, at last , we're meeting on the rooftop."
"Ever since you left me standing on that rooftop like an idiot for an entire night, I have been waiting for this day."
He let that sit for a moment. Then his voice shifted, swelling with something uglier.
"Back then you looked at me like I was nobody. Like I didn't matter. But look at you now, Tony Stark. Everything you have — everything you are — I'm going to tear it apart."
He went on. The whole bitter story poured out of him: the rooftop, the cold, the hours he'd stood there waiting, the humiliation of finally understanding he'd been blown off.
Tony stayed quiet. He knew he'd handled that badly. He'd known it for years. But this wasn't the moment for that conversation.
He shook his head. "Killian. Stop. You've already gone too far."
"Stop?" Killian laughed. Loud and sharp, like Tony had said something genuinely hilarious. "Stop?!"
"Tony Stark, do you still think you're untouchable? After tonight, I'll have the president of the most powerful country on Earth in one hand and the world's most wanted terrorist in the other. I will be the most powerful person alive." His voice dropped into something pleased and vicious. "You won't even be fit to shine my shoes. Sorry , I forgot. You won't be around to see it."
He let that land, then added: "Your precious daughter is in my hands too, by the way."
Tony paused. "Daughter?"
He turned to Rhodey. His expression said everything.
Motherfcker. Thank God Pepper isn't here. He could jump into the Pacific Ocean and still never explain this one away.*
"Rhodey." He kept his voice light, a thread of amusement in it. "When did I get a daughter? Nobody told me."
Rhodey caught on immediately. "Could be some old cover girl circling back to claim paternity?"
Killian heard the tone. His smile went flat. He snorted and raised a hand.
A subordinate brought Hermione forward.
"Open your eyes," Killian said, smug and satisfied. "Tell me that's not your daughter."
Tony looked.
He froze.
What in the , you Extremis soldiers are so good you caught Hermione?!
Then what exactly is he supposed to do here? Was begging still an option?
He was genuinely scared for a split second.
Then he saw Hermione's face.
She was watching the whole thing like it was a show she'd bought tickets to. Completely calm. Openly entertained.
You little brat.
Tony cursed internally. There was nothing he could do about it.
Hermione looked up at Killian and felt a deep, wordless exhaustion settle over her.
This man's imagination really had no limits.
Tony's daughter. He'd looked at her face and looked at Tony's face and somehow arrived at daughter.
Was he actually blind?
Fine. Fine. At this point, honestly, he had it coming.
"Tony Stark." Killian read Tony's frozen expression as terror and grew even more pleased with himself. "What do you have to say now? Surrender quietly and I might consider letting your daughter walk."
Tony came back to himself. He shrugged. "Do whatever you want."
"What?!"
Killian stared at him.
What kind of father ,
Tony curled his lip. "I'm not worried. But for your sake, I'd genuinely advise against messing with her. Teenage girls. Tempers like you wouldn't believe."
He meant every word.
Killian didn't hear it that way. He heard contempt. He heard Tony Stark looking down on him again, not even pretending to care about his own daughter, as if Killian's threats weren't worth taking seriously.
The arrogance. The sheer, bottomless arrogance.
"Fine." Killian's voice went cold. Then he laughed, high and furious. "Fine! Fine! Tony Stark, since her life means nothing to you , I'll do you the favor!"
He turned. "Kill her."
The Extremis soldier standing next to Hermione didn't move.
"Are you deaf? I said kill her!"
Nothing. The soldier stood there like a statue.
Killian went very still.
Something was wrong. The wrongness of it reached up from his gut before his brain had caught up.
"Tony Stark." He turned, his voice hard and sharp. "What did you do?"
The Imperius Curse. Of course. I knew this girl was here to watch me crash and burn.
Tony spread his hands, all innocence. "Your men won't follow orders. What does that have to do with me? Did you see me do anything?"
He tilted his head. "Honestly, if your own people won't listen to you, maybe the leadership skills need some work."
Killian wasn't buying a word of it.
"You think this changes anything?" He bared his teeth. "Naive."
He exploded forward. The Extremis virus surged, and the glowing veins across his skin ignited all at once, blazing hot.
"Since you won't surrender — I'll kill you myself!"
"Killian." Tony's suit snapped into place around him. "You brought this on yourself."
He charged to meet him.
Hermione stayed where she was. She took another bite of her apple and watched.
She had to admit , as villains went, Killian had the bones of a great protagonist. Disrespected young, burning with ambition, clawing his way back up from nothing, returning after years of struggle to make the people who'd written him off choke on their words.
In a web novel, he'd be the hero.
But this was Marvel.
Here, he was cannon fodder. Always had been.
➤ Next: Don't Mess with a Teenage Girl
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