CH 19: The Extremis

A few months had passed since the day human experimentation had started and the results had been getting better.

The serum was getting more stable as the days went by. And finally, after another breakthrough, Marcus was able to stabilise the serum successfully.

Marcus had been trying to search for the reason for the human body rejecting the nano-virus. The reason was actually really simple, the body's rejection of an unwanted substance was natural due to the immune system but because the virus was designed to forcefully mutate the human DNA, the immune system and the virus were fighting each other which made the virus reproduce, as it was being killed off. The reproduction of the virus caused exothermic reactions and generated intense heat, which killed the subject.

Marcus' first thought was to use immuno-suppressant drugs which could inhibit the immune systems and probably stop them from fighting the virus. But that caused another problem, due to the virus's uninhabited proliferation, the human body couldn't sustain it, and the body combusted on the intracellular level internally.

So after much thought, Marcus had made a new serum with the help of Killian and Maya, a serum whose job was to enter the body carrying a small amount of the nano-virus and trick the body into accepting it as its own part.

Once that was done, the limited amount of virus would start to reproduce and help the brain in creating the necessary neurons for its control. Essentially this serum made sure that the virus was now recognized by the body and the body could easily control it.

This was called the first dose, after the first dose was injected into the human specimen, the body would experience high fevers for a day and then due to the process of creating neurons, the body would go into a coma for another day.

After which, the second and final dose could be administered which consisted of the fully potent Extremis virus.

After the virus was injected, it would travel through the bloodstream,and then it would start to reproduce which would cause exothermic reactions and the veins would start to glow.

Slowly, the virus would spread throughout the body and start its main mission. With the help of the brain, the virus would repair the damaged DNA and replenish the telomeres at the end of the DNA, which would keep happening as long as the virus remained in the body.

This meant, theoretically, the person would stop aging and all the damaged cells on their body could be easily repaired. The repairing process would require the division of the Extremis virus, thus creating the exothermic reactions and it will cause the body to generate an intense amount of heat.

But, because the brain can now control the virus, the subject, after sufficient training, can control the exothermic reactions and generate heat whenever they want.

Due to healing the DNA continuously, the body would become stronger, faster, and tougher than before, essentially reaching the peak of the human potential, which it can surpass in extreme stress situations and with the help of its healing factor, could maintain it for a long time.

But even after all that, Extremis had limited uses, as the nano-virus was only compatible with a small percentage of the population.

Killian and Maya were elated at the success of the research that they had been working on for years and Marcus was the reason for that success.

"Dr. Marcus, My body can finally be normal, no- even better than normal, and It's all thanks to your help. Agreeing to your offer was the best decision I have ever made in my entire life."

"It's alright, Dr. Killian. This is just the first step towards the future of humankind."

"Dr. Marcus, I didn't know that you are not just a genius but also a great future thinker. I hope to be able to walk alongside you in the process of uplifting humankind."

After the exchange of pleasantries, Killian didn't waste any time and asked Maya to administer the first dose to him, after which, he was connected to a few bottles of nutritive solutions and water to replenish the nutrients and water lost during the process.

After the two day period was over and the process was completed, Killian was administered the final dose.

His veins started to glow as the virus divided itself, producing heat and light. Slowly his whole body started to glow orange and it started to produce steam due to the evaporation of the water inside of his body.

One thing to note was that after taking the Extremis, the nutrient requirements for the body changed drastically, a person was still able to enjoy normal food and drinks, but he didn't need them to survive. Instead, as long as he ate anything that could provide nutrition, the body could easily digest it with the help of the nano-virus.

Even then, an Extremis user's body could go on without food, water or air for very long.

So the process of the evaporation of water didn't actually harm the body in any way.

Killian tried to scream but due to being gagged, only a growl left his throat. The process of changing the human body on the cellular level did bring a great amount of stress and pain to the body but it didn't last very long.

After an hour, the process was finally completed and Killian sat up on the medical table, sweating.

He melted his metal straps easily using the controlled exothermic reactions and stepped off it and examined his muscular body in full glory.

Killian was elated that he could finally walk normally and would never need crutches, his body was healed of all the related problems and he was the most healthy he could be in his life.

"Oh! Looks like you can already control the virus, your genius isn't unwarranted either Dr. Killian."

"Hahaha! You flatter me. So, when would you like to administer the serum, Dr. Marcus?"

"I am in no hurry, Dr. Killian. Meanwhile, What about you, Dr. Hansen?"

Marcus turned towards Maya Hansen who was checking the data on her Tab.

"Huh, what about me?"

"I was asking, whether you would like to take the serum or not?"

"Oh, definitely, I would."

"Very well then, let's not waste any more time."

Maya Hansen was also administered with the first dose and after two days, the final dose was injected into her body.

And now both the researchers were essentially immortal. But their loyalty towards Marcus didn't decrease in the slightest, in fact, it grew even more.

Before deciding to inject himself with the extremis, Marcus decided to study his DNA a little just in case the mutant gene present inside of him reacted in unintended ways to the Extremis.

But Marcus didn't find any problems and the reaction of the virus was similar to the recorded data.

After doing all of the check-ups that were necessary, Marcus was administered the first dose by Maya Hansen. The sting of the syringe was soon negated by the growing pain that he felt from all over his body.

The pain reminded him of the time when he had a severe fever in his last life and his father took care of him the whole night, helping him with everything.

The thought brought tears to his eyes, they dripped down his cheeks and ears and fell on the medical bed he was laying down on.

Killian and Maya also noticed the tears but thought it might be due to the extreme pain.

After a day with the fever and remembering his past life, the process of neuron creation started, which caused him to go into a coma.

Marcus woke up the next day, not remembering anything after his blackout.

Maya was by his side, holding a tab. She smiled and said, "Dr. Marcus, your vitals are stable and the checkup shows that the first dose was successful. So, do you want to wait or take the final dose right now?"

"No need to wait, you can inject it now."

"Alright."

Marcus was strapped to the bed, gagged, and was injected with the Extremis.

Soon, the sting of the needle turned into the sensation of burning. As the virus traveled through his veins, the sensation kept spreading along with it.

Marcus held on using his insanely high willpower, as the pain increased and spread throughout his body, his powers started to go out of control, things began to float around him and his telepathic storm caused Killian and Maya to blackout.

But something else was also happening inside his body, a specific gene was slowly awakening, causing Marcus' body to glow, due to the stress being caused on the body.

But before it could awaken completely, the Extremis virus was assimilated and the awakening stopped, all of this was unbeknownst to Marcus.

The objects that were floating also fell onto the ground as Marcus reeled in his powers.

Marcus breathed rapidly at first but then his breathing slowly became normal.

Due to the high amount of willpower and intelligence he possessed, he could easily control the virus in his body, even better than Killian at his peak.

Marcus melted the straps and stepped out of the metal bed after he found that Killian and Maya had fallen unconscious and no one was there to unstrap him.

He understood that they were unconscious because his power went out of control. And he didn't want to expose his powers for now, so he did the easy thing and deleted their recent memories of blacking out and seeing his powers in action.

After being jolted awake, both the scientists were a little confused but Marcus distracted them by telling them of his successful assimilation and how he would make sure they both would get a Nobel prize for the success of their research.

After a little celebration, Marcus went to his personal gym that he had constructed in the AIM headquarters.

He wanted to see how much he had improved after taking the serum. After reaching the gym, the first thing Marcus did was to measure his height, and he found that he had grown by 3 inches and his current height was 6'1".

The gym not only contained traditional weights but also a big hydraulic press, which was able to reach 15 tonnes of force.

Marcus stepped under the hydraulic press and used the voice command to start it.

"100 kg is pretty easy. Increase the force to 250 kg."

Marcus kept increasing the force and when it reached 1.5 tonnes, his body started to emit light, unlike the usual orange color that a normal Extremis user would emit, Marcus' light was yellow and very different. Because instead of his body glowing from inside, it felt like he was covered by the light.

"Huh? What's happening? This light seems to increase my strength but I can't seem to control it. Could it be…?"

To test his hypothesis, Marcus kept increasing the force until the light stopped increasing after reaching 2.5 tonnes.

"So, it does increase my strength. Let's see if it affects my speed too."

Marcus stepped on the custom-made treadmill he had designed which could go up to speeds of 100mph.

Marcus started to run and increased his speed gradually, he was easily able to reach 40mph and that's when his body began to glow again with the same light, increasing his speed exponentially.

After running for a while, Marcus recorded his top speed to be at 80mph.

"Looks like all those months researching the serum weren't in vain, right now, I can easily take on at least a few of the human members of the Avengers. And I have a hunch that once I am completely able to control this light, my power would increase even more. Meanwhile, let's check out my stats."

A/N: MC's picture in paragraph comments.