After sending off Stark, Alex returned to his spot by the pool. Laying down here, he looked over the calm waters while calming his own mind.
Alex was just one among many who had Iron Man as their favorite Avenger, yet after meeting the man in person for the first time after entering this world. He was left disappointed by him.
It was no secret that Tony was a playboy with a few streaks of narcissism, yet there was a massive difference between just hearing about it and seeing it firsthand. Not to mention that this had been Tony on his best behavior and while he was interested in a piece of tech rather than a woman.
'Guess he changed a lot more while kidnapped than I had expected.' He thought to himself as he grew confident that he couldn't do anything to stop that from ever happening.
'Even if I must start an incident myself if my actions stop Stane from doing it.' Alex came to a decision after thinking about it for a bit.
Alex might be getting used to wielding the power of the Foundation, but he wasn't about to let that get to his head. Sure, taking in the Hulk and Pym might change the future a little, but something like stopping the birth of Iron Man would surely piss off the Ancient One.
Now, doing that was something he wanted to avoid, if at all possible. So far, he was reasonably sure she hadn't even really noticed the Foundation, as the role it had played so far was minor. With Banner working on mastering the Hulk, he should still show up in any of her visions as usual.
Pym and Antman will also mainly first play a role after her death, so any change there shouldn't really show up for her. Even if they did show up, it would be in minor ways that hopefully shouldn't get her attention.
After all, the future will surely be changing in small ways all the time. No doubt, if she looked at the battle in New York in a few years, there would surely be plenty of different versions depending on what color of clothes Tony would pick that morning.
So what if, in one of the futures, Banner didn't come riding in on his own halfway through but instead flew there with a team of Foundation agents? She shouldn't take notice of such a small change. At least, that was what Alex was banking on, and given that she had not shown up in front of him yet? Well, he might just be right in his assumption.
Sighing, Alex shook his head and retired for the night. He would have yet another long day again tomorrow and would need to rest before then.
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Time continued to pass for both Alex and Tony after their meeting. Alex continued his daily work, and Tony had taken his words to heart and decided to build a far superior quinjet before going after SHIELD.
Though the world didn't simply revolve around just those two people, so while they didn't get up to anything new, it didn't mean others didn't.
[A.I.M]
Years ago, Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen had both been slighted by Tony Stark and had joined hands to work together to get back at him. While some of those goals had shifted over time, they still worked together on the same project, Extremis.
Due to both the use and possibility of the Extremis drug, the Foundation paid attention to their work. Alex had already sponsored a full billion dollars into it. All just to place his agents inside AIM to control events.
After all, while AIM did make the Extremis drug, they would also play a prominent role in the events of Iron Man 3. This alone was more than enough to make Alex want ears and eyes in there. Killian knew that the men and women lent to him were probably spies. Still, he couldn't deny that they were good.
Good enough that Maya had taken them onto the Extremis project even though Killian had tried to stop it. Extremis was Killian's treasure, and he was really protective of it. Still, Maya wanted nothing more than to complete the project and wouldn't turn down skilled scientists just because of a bit of risk.
She had, after all, worked on a drug that caused things to explode randomly, so she was used to taking risks. To fulfill her dream of completing Extremis, she had even been willing to sleep with Tony Stark, so working with spies was nothing. Not to mention that Killian had plenty of other shady people working with her.
"I'm afraid that the chance of success is still rather low, Dr. Hansen. We really shouldn't move to human testing just yet." Ash Peterson, a scientist from the Foundation, said as he, along with other researchers, stood looking into a testing chamber where a man was about to be administered the drug.
"I agree with you, Peterson, I really do, but I promised Killian that we would be ready to move onto human testing weeks ago. While you and Dr. Hans pointed out that flaw, I could delay only for so long. Killion just won't let us go back to animal testing without at least seeing failure." Maya said with a sigh.
She had initially thought that she had made a stable enough serum that could work without any dangers. Yet, with Peterson and his colleagues joining the project, they had already identified one problem. And while they thankfully had also all been able to solve It, they had also found other potential issues.
Because of that, Maya called off the human testing phase for now and went back to working on improving the serum. Already, the team had come up with dozens of new things they wanted to try. Yet Killian would not accept another long delay after having been told they were so close to success.
Maya really didn't have much faith in this test. She herself had found three potential problems with this version of the serum, to say nothing of the other possibilities others on the team came up with.
All the scientists could only sadly shake their heads as they heard her response. As all of them had worked in this kind of research for years, they were all used to the men with the money not understanding anything of what they did.
Killian wasn't even just the money-bag type; being a scientist himself, he should understand that trying to push for a deadline was never going to be good. Yet here they still were, about to kill this poor man with a semi-finished product.
"Alright, let's just get this over with then." Maya said and allowed the trial to begin.
The scientists could only watch as the test subject was given the serum. At first, nothing happened, but soon, he began to scream in horrible pain. He didn't explode, though; he simply screamed as his blood boiled him alive.
Some people had to run out as they got sick watching and hearing the man's suffering. One younger researcher tried to nervously lighten the mood. "Well, at least he didn't explode; that's good, right?"
"No, no, the fact he didn't explode just highlights the failure of this experiment." Maya said sadly as she knew that a man had just died totally needlessly.
"The normal explosion is a side effect of the desired effect of the drug. So the very fact that we didn't get an explosion just means we didn't even get the effect we wanted, just the side effect on its own." Ash added.
"Yes, what Peterson says is right. The last attempt to fix an error left behind others, which needs to be fixed to bring back the cell regeneration." Maya said as she looked down at her tablet.
"At least we can hope that the sheer magnitude of the failure will get Killian off our back for a time. We have so many ideas ready to be tested that I feel this is just a pointless waste of time." Another male researcher said, and others nodded in agreement.
"Not to mention, I didn't sign up to do this kind of illegal human experimentation. It is one thing to do it when you are sure about the success, another when you are sure of failure." A female researcher chipped into another round of agreements.
"Alright, I will talk with Killian and get him to back off again; I'm going to take full responsibility for all this. Don't worry everyone." Maya said to calm everyone down before dismissing them.
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Maya went to report the news of the test to Aldrich Killian, though she was pretty sure he already knew how the test went. She had to admit she didn't like him much. She had initially teamed up with him over their shared dislike for Tony Stark.
She had also enjoyed his ability to secure further funding for her work on the Extremis formula. He wasn't that bad to work with initially, but lately, he had started to change. Now, he had become mean and cruel, acting much like a power-hungry bully.
He no longer seemed to care about much about anything but success and at any cost. The old Killian would have understood not to push an unfinished product into testing like what he had just done.
"I heard that the test didn't go quite as hoped." Those were the first words she heard when she entered his office.
"Something that I did warn you about Killian. We needed more time before we were anywhere near ready." She snapped back at him.
"That wasn't what you said months ago! Back then, you told me you had a working formula." Killian said as he sat up straight up in his seat while glaring at Maya.
"Things changed, Killian. A new flaw was discovered that needs to be addressed." Maya tried to calmly explain something Killian should have been able to understand perfectly well.
"A flaw you said you had fixed last week, if I remember right, Maya." Aldrich said, pointing accusingly at Maya.
"We did a rushed job fixing it. While we fixed that flaw, we also introduced others. The chemicals we used had a negative effect on others." She tried to explain.
"So the fix proposed by one of the four new people you picked messed up with the serum? The same four people I told you to keep away from the project?"
"Please not this again, Killian. They didn't cause this problem or a delay. They are not at fault here, Killian. If anyone is, then it's my fault." Maya cut him off and tried to explain everything.
"I was mistaken when I said we were months away from success. I have been looking at it all wrong for a long time now. I was never months away from it. I was years away and too stupid to see it." She admitted and looked down sadly.
Killian looked like he was about to stand up and yell himself voiceless at the female scientist. In the end, he just sat back down and took a deep breath. "Why don't you explain what you are talking about."
"It's all because of that formula Stark wrote back then. The brilliant Tony Stark made improvements to my work. He did that mere hours after even learning about the project. And in most of that time, he was busy thinking about me rather than the formula." She could see how his eyes twitched as she talked about his hated foe Stark.
"So you are saying Stark sabotaged you with that formula of his?" He asked Maya, who shook her head.
"No, no, nothing like that. It was brilliant and an improvement over what I showed him back then. My mistake was forgetting that no matter how smart he might be, this was something he wrote after half-hearted thinking about my dream."
Killian was not pleased with sitting there listening to her continuing about how brilliant Stark was and whatnot. Normally, if anyone even spoke that name in his presence, he would fire them. Though Hansen was the one person he couldn't afford to lose, at least not yet.
"I started to focus all my work on HIS formula. I began changing everything around to fit and improve it. Never even thinking about changing his formula. That is where I went wrong. His work, while good, was flawed in the end! So I brought that flaw into all other further working of finishing the serum."
"Had it not been for Peterson and the others, I wouldn't even have known why this test here went wrong. I could have spent months getting nowhere before finally learning the truth!"
As Maya went on with her little rant, Aldrich didn't know how to feel. He was far too invested to allow it to fail now. Hearing that it sounded like there would be considerable delays wasn't something he wanted to hear at this point. Yet, at the same time, he loved the idea of the oh-so-perfect Tony Stark to have been wrong.
"So what does this mean? Are you close now that you realize this or?" Killian asked while fearing the answer.
"While this experience has pointed out the major problem. It has also opened up many new doors. We have so many new ideas we want to try out. How close are we? Can't say yet, not less than a year though, and that could become a few years as well."
"Maya, you know it's not so easy to give you more time. Every day that passes costs a lot of money. You know this. Extremis already takes up a lot of our budget, and it has so far given nothing in return. It's not easy to get money for something like that." Killian sighed as he tried to explain his constant struggle.
"I know, I know, we just need more time to get everything done. Today, a man died for no reason, just because you couldn't take no for an answer. This project was started to save lives, and to improve them. Don't go about corrupting that now." Maya gave him a stern look.
"Fine then, the 1 billion I got from the mysterious patron of those four gave me. You will need at least some progress after that if you want more, or things will have to change." Killian said while steeling his heart.
"Did you ever find out about those? I mean, they are brilliant, and I find it hard to imagine I have never heard or seen anything about them before." Maya asked and changed the subject.
Killian shook his head and started to explain everything he knew, which was just about nothing. Their names were nothing unique, yet they didn't lead anywhere useful. He hadn't been able to find any pictures of them either. So it seemed like they had popped out of nowhere or the people they worked for had been really good at removing any trace of their lives.
"Even trying to track down the money didn't lead anywhere. Whomever they work for are really good at staying hidden." He ended his exploration with a sigh.
"Damn, the mystery just makes me more curious about them. At least we can be sure that they aren't any of the usual suspects." Maya said as she tried to imagine just where those four came from.
"Yeah, that is one of the reasons I allowed you to take them. There is no doubt they are stealing your research, but whomever they work for wouldn't have been anything but a customer anyway. I'm certain that their true employer won't compete with us once we do succeed." Killian revealed his thoughts on the matter.
When Maya finally left his office after their talk ended, she felt much better. The whole pointless death of the poor man from before didn't weigh as heavily on her heart now. While she still did regret that she hadn't been able to stop it, she at least had been able to prevent others from following in his footsteps.
Once the serum was perfected, it would save so many lives that it would prove to be the best and most significant improvement in the medical field since the discovery of penicillin.