Hey everyone! I decided to give this whole "fan fiction" thing another crack. I am a huge fan of the Iron Man comics (which explains my love of the movies and the subsequent cartoon series..es… I guess…). I've been thinking about this story for a long time, and I decided to put pen on paper and actually do something about it. In the comics there's an arc called "Extremis," and it's highly regarded as one of the best Iron Man stories ever. That's what this story is about – I'm going to (very loosely) adapt Extremis into the Iron Man Armored Adventures universe. My intention is that this story will act as the beginning as a new sort of IMAA fanfic "universe" I'm trying to build. There's a little bit of Pepperony in this chapter and I might expand on it as the story goes on – as I said in Steel and Venom, once I get the characters I'll try stuff like that. Anyway, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Iron Man belongs to Marvel and Disney, IMAA belongs to a number of different parties but I'll just say Marvel and Nick to make it simple, and most importantly, the original Extremis story was written by Warren Ellis, and while this story will be significantly different than the full-on Extremis arc, many ideas are from the book, so I must give him full credit for inspiration, and please read the original if you can! It not only inspired this story but a majority of the stuff in the moviesI t's very good, so go to your local comic shop or book shop and buy a copy!

IMAA: Extremis
Chapter One

"The saying 'The City That Never Sleeps' brings familiar connotations of New York City and its many citizens, and while the phrase could equally apply to any denizen of the busy town, it can apply no better to 17-year-old Tony Stark, also known to a select few as the incredible Iron Man. As Iron Man, the young engineer dons a metal suit and fights crime across the world. As Tony Stark, the teenager is busy preparing for the biggest day of his life. In two weeks, he is destined, per his father Howard's will, to take Stark Industries from the hands of Obidiah Stane. Due to his double-life, Stark spends his nights awake upgrading his suit, or reading one of many choice business manuals and capitalist manifestos preparing for the handover.

The… uh… geez, i can't think of anything else :(. care to contribute?"

The paragraphed flashed in an instant messaging window on Tony Stark's computer screen.

"So, why exactly are you writing an essay about me again?" the teen typed, with characteristically perfect grammar.

"cuz i'm super bored," blinked the window, almost instantly after Tony sent his question, "seriously, i want to leave the house or something."

"Pepper, it's 1 in the morning." Tony replied.

"i know! it sucks! Ever since grad i haven't been able to do much. i mean, you're doing… you stuff, with the whole ceo thing and the whole Iron Man thing, and Rhodey's off at the air force academy already! and i would go clubbing or something but i'm still 17 and they won't let me in! plus that really bores me i'm not really into that or anything."

"Why don't you try applying for college or something? Or a job?"

"i already told you, i'm taking a year off, and shield internships don't start until winter anyway. i just need a vacation that's all."

"For a year?"

"i have my reasons :3. Anyway, what are you doing now? i've got some youtube videos i wanna send you :P"

"I'm going through some old documentaries, with my dad. Trying to learn from the best, you know."

"again D:? t, aren't you bored of that already?"

"I just… I want to run the company correctly, you know? I don't want to…"

"you think you're going to sink the company or something?"

"Don't make me think like that, Pepper. :\"

"relax. go to bed. work on iron man. do something fun. OOOH, i should play a game huh? :3"

"You said you liked Cave Story a bit but you didn't finish that, right? You could do that."

"i should huh. okay, imma gonna go do that a bit then. :3 you should go to bed, seriously. youre making yourself depressed. :("

":|"

"well you are!"

"Fine, I'll go to bed. Night."

"nite!"

The IM window flashed the words 'Pepper Potts has signed off.' before finally closing. Tony sighed and pushed himself away from the computer. Normally, he'd be on the computer in the armory, but now he was in front of his bedroom computer, in a very dark bedroom, facing a dim Apple Cinema Display and a massive stack of packaged DVDs and burnt discs, all labeled "Dad Doc" or "Stark Industries stuff" or something similar.

"Hm. Better get back to work on some of these. I'd like to finish through them." Tony spoke softly to himself, in order to avoid waking up his adopted mother. Tony grabbed one of the discs and looked at the cover. "Ghosts of the Twentieth Century," it read. Tony pressed a button on his keyboard and the disk popped out of the Mac Pro underneath the plain wooden desk. He placed the disk back into the case and placed it on the bottom of the stack. Labels like "Pioneer: The Life and Times of Howard Stark" and "Story of an Industrialist" were above it, as were titles like "Stark: Innovator or Killer?" As Tony saw these, he grew more tired, so he pushed himself tiredly out of the office chair, and hopped into bed, where he slid into the blankets and began to toss and turn.

As Tony slept, the city remained awake, in its clubs and its bars, and in a supposedly abandoned slaughterhouse with its lights turned on.

Inside, there were three tall men. All dressed in dark clothing, so they couldn't be seen, doing their best not to be heard. They came with nothing, save for the third man, who carried a briefcase. The men congregated in the center of the building, and the third man laid the briefcase down on the floor and opened it.

Inside the case was a pressurized gun of some sort, and a strange cartridge full of what appeared to be liquid. The second man remained quiet and walked over to the first man, wearing a brown coat. The first man stood and walked over to the third man, who had loaded the cartridge into the gun.

"Mallen, you sure you're up for this?" the third man asked the first man.

"Just do it." Mallen responded. The second man held Mallen straight, by his jaw, as the third man brought the gun to his neck. The third pulled the trigger.

Mallen began to twitch and squirm. And scream. The pain began to roll up his neck, through his jaw, and down his body. And the pain grew. And grew.

Mallen dropped to the floor, panting, grabbing at his neck where the shot was administered. He slumped over and fell to his back.

The second man looked at him. "What the hell's happening Beck?" He asked the third man. "Looks like nothing."

Mallen choked and sighed on the floor.

"Listen," Beck responded, "I think we were sold a dud or something. Mallen, get your breath back, we'll get back in the van, start over."

Mallen tried to push himself up, choking. As he stood up, the pain started again. And got worse. Beck and the second man jumped back, frightened, as Mallen's pupils became fully black and he screamed inhuman, blood curdling screams. Mallen squirmed as tremendous pain crawled throughout him. He lurched over and vomited a viscous, black substance, as the two other men began to run away. As Mallen continued to scream in pain, the two bolted out the door and locked it shut, then ran to their van and drove off as quickly as they could. Mallen fell to the floor, pounding in pain, as his flesh began to tear and scabs began to form…

"The brain is actually designed to take in and process the drug DMT, did you know that? I think we're supposed to take it. I think we're supposed to see our own operating systems. Perhaps we're supposed to hack them. Perhaps we're supposed to change our own bodies."

10 am. The radio alarm blared in Tony's room. It was set to NPR – Tony had made a habit of following business news lately.

"Sal, hate to stop you there, but we're running out of time. I've been talking to Sal Kennedy on the nature of the human mind. Sal, thank you for an, as always, illuminating morning."

"You're welcome, man - happy to be here."

"That's it for us here on Science Friday, but up next on NPR i--"

Tony pressed the button on the alarm to turn it off, and pushed himself out of bed. After a quick trip through the bathroom and the closet, Tony walked downstairs fully dressed to eat breakfast. When he got to the kitchen, he found a note on the fridge.

"Tony, out for work. There's new milk in the fridge, make sure you eat breakfast for a change, you've got reason to feed your mind, you know. Don't get too vested in those videos! - Mrs. Rhodes"

Tony poured himself a bowl of cereal and turned on the TV, which was set to CNBC. Tony ate as he sat through the business news for the day.

"A man was found dead at Stark Tower this morning. Dr. Aldrich Killian was found in his office, apparently after committing suicide. We're live now with the associate who found him, Maya Hansen."

"He was too young for this. I don't know why he would do this it was… he was a very, very intelligent man with a whole lot of ideas. It's such a shame this happened, especially without warning like this."

"Dr. Killian was a member of the special projects team at the biological innovations branch of Stark Industries. Stark Industries spokespeople say this has nothing to do with the rumors of several trade secrets from the same division being compromised earlier this week, and claims that a joint investigation under Stark and the FBI has begun to find out what could have caused the suicide. S.I. officials went onto affirm that the rumors of trade secrets or prototypes being leaked from Stark Tower was absolutely false, and that the FBI was only helping the investigation into Dr. Killian's death to ensure that there was no foul-play involved."

"We're working with the police and the FBI to make sure that any possible homicide is ruled out."

"New York City police officials say they have their doubts about the suicide explanation."

"We do have a couple of possible leads, but we have nothing further to say on the issue. We will continue to work closely with Stark Industries and the FBI on this death."

"From Stark Tower, this is CNBC."

Tony had finished his cereal and was washing the bowl, when he felt his cellphone vibrate in his pocket.

"Hello?" Tony asked.

"Tony!" yelped the person on the other end, enthusiastically, "It's Pepper!"

"Yeah, I can tell. What's up?"

"Tony, it's big. I can't tell you what it is over the phone because there's the distinct possibility my dad bugged my cellphone at this point, but I'm telling you, it's big."

"Pepper, i--"

"Just get your butt over here! I mean it! We're talking Mandarin-level on the T.I.M. evilness scale!"

"Evilness scale?"

"You know what I mean!"

"No, I don't. Pepper, slow down, what are we talking about here?"

"Something big is going down, Tony. T.I.M. big."

"T.I.M.?"

"You know what I mean by that one at least, come on."

Tony's eyes widened. "Oh."

"You know what, I'll just come over there. Bye!"

"Pe--"

Before he could even get a word in edgewise, the phone hung up. Tony sighed and headed outside towards the armory to meet Pepper, who would probably get there before Tony did. Tony shook his head at the thought.

About ten minutes later, Tony heard a knock at the door of the armory.

"Hey, it's me, open the door!"

Tony activated the door to let in his hyperactive friend. He was surprised to see her carrying a large briefcase with her.

"When I said this one was big, I meant it. Got a place for me to set this down? It's pretty heavy."

"Yeah, just bring it over here. You sounded pretty hectic over the phone, you okay?"

"Yeah Tony, I'm fine." Pepper grunted a bit and put the suitcase on a wheeled desk. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason. What the heck is in there? A body?"

"Close."

Tony's jaw dropped. "Wait, what? You don't just go and say that."

"Close in the sense that both a body and the contents of this case could get me arrested."

"You scare me sometimes, Pepper."

"Sometimes?"

"A lot of the time."

"Psh. Anyway, observe."

Pepper opened the case to reveal a large stack of papers and folders and a thumb drive. She presented the case to Tony with a 'ta-da!' expression on her face, arms wide.

"Pepper, how is this at all comparable to a body?"

"Secret FBI documents don't compare to a dead body to you?"

Tony gawked. "Wait a minute, all of these are --"

"Yep. Dad's papers. I saw mention of this on his computers, and I immediately wanted in. Tony, you have no idea how deep this goes."

"What's going on?"

"Something's leaked from Stark International. Something big. Iron Man big."

"I got that impression over the phone. I heard about that leak this morning, they're calling it a hoax."

"Far from it. You hear about the guy who died this morning, Aldrich Killian?"

"Yeah, the doctor from the biological innovations department."

"Biological innovations sounds really nice, doesn't it? Tony, we thought Stane was bad before, but you have no idea what he's done."

"Pepper, what are you talking about?"

"Bioweapons, Tony. That's the internal name for that division."

"Biological warfare? You can't be serious."

"Dead serious. And they've been working on some things. Recently, however, Stane shut down the majority of their work, saying that due to a lack of military interest it wasn't cost-effective to keep the division running."

"Figures."

"Shortly after the shut-down, something from the branch's special projects vault was stolen and presumably leaked. The offices have been locked down ever since."

"What?"

"Yeah. Anyway, the FBI was called in not because Killian's death is a possible homicide – it isn't – but because of Killian's suicide note, which I have a copy of…" Pepper said as she flipped through the various papers… "right here!"

Tony snatched the suicide note out from her hand.

"So wait, the FBI is involved--"

"--because Killian is instrumental in the leak of this thing. Precisely. And this thing, Tony, is something called Extremis. This flash drive has a video I ripped off my dad's computer called 'hansen'. It explains what this thing is."

"So wait, you stole all this from your dad's files?"
"He keeps trying to encrypt his system, he'll never find a password or security setup that I can't crack." Pepper laughed triumphantly.

"You're dead, you know."

"They're all copies, Tony. My dad's none the wiser, especially considering that he's at Stark Tower right now."

"Anyway, what is Extremis?"

"You've heard of Captain America, right?"

"Yeah, isn't he just a my--"

"Okay, first the Hulk is a myth, and we meet him. Then Spiderman is a myth, and we meet something that's almost identical to one of Spiderman's villains (AN: Steel and Venom!). When are you and Rhodey going to get the idea that there is no such thing as myths when it comes to superheroes?"

"Well…"

"Exactly. Anyway, Captain America is a super soldier. He was given a super soldier serum back during World War II. The Extremis project is basically that. They want to replicate that, do it again."

"So what is it, is it like a virus or what?"

"Well, it's weird. This biologist, Maya Hansen – that's who's speaking in the video – says it's nanobots or something. They go up into the brain and hijack the brain's repair center. They remake the body. It's really crazy stuff, Tony."

"Stuff that my company shouldn't be doing."

"That's the stranger part! The video she made was a video trying to convince Stane not to cancel the project! Stane was apparently against it not only for monetary reasons but for all sorts of other reasons. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt this time, Tony."

"Ergh. Anyway, go on. How is any of this critical?"

"This is what leaked, Tony. A super soldier serum. It's been sold, somewhere, to someone, and it can be used at any time."

"Meaning this stuff could be…"

"Anywhere, Tony."

"Oh man."

"Yeah. I'm going to keep track of this, but Team Iron Man – or, you know, just us now that Rhodey's gone -- needs to be on high alert."

"Definitely."

Pepper closed the case, struggling to shove the files back in.

"So, now that that bit's over and done with, you wanna hang out? I'm still bored, you know."

"Yeah. I was planning on watching the next of those DVDs and--"

"Tony, seriously? I don't get it. Why do you keep watching those?" "Pepper, that company is huge. It's got a long history, and it scares me. There are parts of that company I didn't know about. I didn't know about my dad's weapons contracts. I didn't know about the bioweapons division. I'm just…"

"Scared, Tony?"

"No!" Tony said, defensive. "I'm not scared I'm just… you know, overwhelmed, that's all."

"Sure. Tony, it's fine if you're scared, it's okay to be scared of this."

"But I'm not."

"But you are. Seriously, other than last night, you've been up all night for like, ever."

"But that's normal for me, isn't it?"

"Tony, I'm serious. You need to calm down. I… I worry about you a bit."

"You do?"

"Y-- yeah, I do."

The two looked at each other briefly. Pepper genuinely cared about her friend, and worried about his fear. Tony simply thought about her eyes and how he really shouldn't be staring into them like this because they made him think about Pepper in a light he really wasn't sure he was ready to think about her in. His stress over the past few months mounted with every step towards his 18th birthday, but Pepper had helped to relieve that stress, and because of that he'd grown close to her – closer than he'd like to admit.

"Look, watching those DVDs, reading those books, it's helped me. I think I know what I'm doing, I've got my bearings, I think I have a plan."

"A plan?"

"Well, I know what I'm doing."

"Okay Tony. As long as you think what you're doing is right."

"Yeah." Tony said. His voice shook a bit. Pepper gave him a frown, and Tony responded right back with a smile. "I'm fine, Pepper. Trust me."

"Don't I always? You know what, maybe sometimes I trust you too much, it's not like you're very reliable. I mean, I can count out too many times where trusting you led to--"

"Pepper, you're over-analyzing again. Less words."

"Sorry, that's what I'm good at. Got you the goods this time, didn't it?" Pepper said, motioning towards the briefcase.

"Well, I'll give you that. And just that. You still talk too much, though."

Pepper stuck her tongue out at her friend, teasingly.

As night fell, lights across the city dimmed, and the slaughterhouse was left alone and cold in the dark. A van pulled up outside of it, quietly. The doors slid open, letting Beck and the other man out. The pair walked up to the slaughterhouse carefully, and noticed the door was covered in marks. Dents coming from the inside, as if someone had tried to fight their way out. The two made their way in and looked around for Mallen.

They saw him in the corner. Or what appeared to be him. He was lying on the floor in the fetal position. He looked dead. Around him, piles of scabs had accumulated, and a puddle of blood and black liquid surrounded that. He had wrapped his clothes, or what remained of them, around himself for warmth, but otherwise he was completely naked. They walked up to him slowly, and suddenly the mass of flesh rolled over to face them. His flesh was covered in brown marks and he looked yellow-ish. He turned his head up at them and opened his eyes. They were completely blood red.

"I'm alive." Mallen said, as he exposed his blood red teeth to his partners. "I'm alive."

Spooky! If you'd like, I'd recommend reading the actual Extremis book and comparing it – I am taking a lot of liberty with the story, not only to adapt it to this universe but to make it feel very different. There are sections and concepts (and quotes, but I'm trying to make that rare unless it's an homage to the comic, which I did a couple times in this story) that anyone who's read Extremis will recognize, but overall I'm really trying to take the story and mix it up. Those of you who have read it may be wondering about a certain change (Stark Industries instead of Futurepharm), and, like Pepper, I have my reasons. Speaking of Pepper, the Pepperony moment was something that I didn't think I was going to do yet, but I did it because it felt right in that conversation, and it allowed me to play up the Stark takeover thing a bit more which I am going to be exploring with this story and possibly stories that follow it. If you liked what you read, please do review. :)

Also, this Saturday, visit your local comic book shop! It's Free Comic Book Day on May 1st! There will be Iron Man goodies (an Iron Man and Thor book, Heroclix War Machine, possibly something else)! And while you're there get a copy of Invincible Iron Man #25, it just came out on Wednesday and it's really good! :D