Chapter 113: Extremis Virus
Lynn had originally intended to spend the next few days quietly studying and integrating the newly acquired Vibranium Resonance ability while waiting for T'Challa to deliver the promised two hundred kilograms of vibranium and the Panther Habit technical schematics.
Unfortunately, peace never seemed to last long around him.
At exactly 3:17 PM that afternoon, Lynn sat behind the clinic's front desk, reviewing molecular spectral analysis data gathered from an extraterrestrial alloy sample.
A half-finished Americano rested beside him.
The coffee had long gone cold.
Outside, the violent screech of tires shattered the quiet atmosphere.
A second later came the metallic slam of a car door being thrown open with enough force to nearly tear it off its hinges.
Lynn didn't even bother looking up.
The clinic entrance exploded inward.
Tony Stark stormed through the doorway.
Behind him came several assistants carrying an unconscious man.
The man supporting the stretcher looked exhausted.
His shirt was stained with soot and blood.
His hair was disheveled.
His eyes were bloodshot.
The patient lying on the stretcher looked even worse.
Harold "Happy" Hogan.
Tony's longtime friend.
His condition was horrific.
The entire right side of his body had suffered catastrophic burns.
Large sections of skin were blackened and cracked.
Yet the burns were unlike anything caused by ordinary fire.
No fluid seeped from the wounds.
No conventional signs of thermal trauma appeared.
Instead, a faint crimson glow pulsed beneath the damaged tissue.
As if something inside his body was still burning.
Tony carefully lowered Happy onto the nearest examination bed.
Then he turned toward Lynn.
The expression on his face immediately caught Lynn's attention.
He had seen Tony angry.
Arrogant.
Sarcastic.
Amused.
Condescending.
But never this.
Fear.
Genuine fear.
"Lynn."
Tony's voice was rough.
Desperate.
"Name your price."
"Save Happy."
"And then help me figure out what the hell is wrong with these fire-breathing lunatics."
Lynn placed the alloy data aside and rose from his chair.
Without a word, he approached the examination bed.
The All-Seeing Eye activated automatically.
Countless streams of diagnostic information unfolded across his vision.
[Automatic Diagnosis Initiated...]
[Patient: Harold "Happy" Hogan]
[Injury Assessment:]
[1. Third-degree burns covering 67% of body surface area.]
[Right thoracic and abdominal regions exposed to instantaneous temperatures exceeding 1,200°C.]
[Right lung collapse detected.]
[Thermal coagulation necrosis present on liver surface.]
[2. Unknown biological agent residue detected.]
[Highly active nanoscale gene-encoded virus spreading throughout the body.]
[Current infection rate: 11%.]
[Virus actively rewriting thermoregulatory genes within host cells.]
[3. Core body temperature continues rising.]
[Current temperature: 78.3°C.]
[Projected systemic organ liquefaction within four hours.]
[Overall mortality probability: 94%.]
[Estimated natural death: 4 hours 12 minutes.]
Lynn's gaze stopped on the second diagnosis.
A gene-encoded virus.
Thermoregulatory modification.
Cellular rewriting.
His vision shifted deeper.
The All-Seeing Eye magnified reality down to the molecular level.
What he saw was immediately familiar.
The Extremis Virus.
AIM's most infamous biotechnology project.
The culmination of years of research by Maya Hansen.
Later weaponized by Aldrich Killian after the project's corruption.
Lynn observed the viral structures spreading through Happy's bloodstream.
A faint glimmer appeared in his eyes.
Extremis was dangerous.
But it was also valuable.
Its core mechanism was extraordinary.
Cellular rewriting.
Extreme thermal generation.
Regeneration bordering on biological absurdity.
His Immortal Divine Body had already reached terrifying levels of physical durability.
Yet his offensive capabilities still relied overwhelmingly on direct physical force.
If he could gain controlled thermogenic abilities—
Combined with his existing heat vision.
Combined with his enhanced lung capacity.
Combined with Vibranium Resonance—
The possibilities would be considerable.
The thought lasted less than a second.
Then Lynn discarded it.
The patient came first.
Copying required treatment.
Treatment required survival.
And survival required immediate action.
"Stark."
Lynn slipped on a pair of gloves.
His tone returned to its usual calm rhythm.
"Happy has residual traces of a genetically encoded virus."
"It is rewriting the thermoregulatory system of his cells."
"In simple terms..."
"His body is burning itself alive."
Tony's complexion immediately worsened.
"I figured something like that."
He rubbed his face.
"The guy who exploded turned into a human furnace before detonating."
"Happy was standing almost directly beside him."
"So part of the virus transferred during the blast?"
"Most likely."
Tony nodded grimly.
"I had Jarvis analyze residue samples from the explosion."
"But..."
"But your AI couldn't identify it."
Tony remained silent.
Which was answer enough.
Lynn moved toward an equipment cabinet.
After opening it, he removed a blue-filled syringe.
A cryogenic cellular stabilization solution.
A custom compound designed specifically to suppress uncontrolled biological activity.
He approached the examination bed.
The needle entered Happy's carotid artery.
The drug flowed into his bloodstream.
Almost immediately, the crimson glow beneath Happy's skin dimmed.
The ECG monitor stabilized.
His core temperature began falling.
78°C.
76°C.
74°C.
72°C.
The downward trend finally stopped.
For now, the situation was under control.
Lynn removed the syringe.
"Take him to the operating room."
His assistant, who had rushed over moments earlier, immediately obeyed.
As the stretcher was moved away, Lynn turned toward Tony.
"The surgery fee is separate."
Tony rolled his eyes despite the situation.
"Of course it is."
"But the thing you asked about?"
Lynn gestured toward the laboratory.
"I can answer that right now."
Tony blinked.
"Right now?"
"Come with me."
Lynn led him toward a nearby workstation.
Opening a sealed specimen container, he removed a microscope slide.
A single drop of blood rested upon it.
The sample had been extracted from Happy's wound only minutes earlier.
Even now, it emitted a faint red glow.
Lynn placed the slide beneath a microscope.
He didn't personally need the device.
The All-Seeing Eye was infinitely superior.
Tony, however, did.
The image immediately appeared on an adjacent monitor.
Magnified thousands of times.
Tony stared.
His expression changed.
Inside the bloodstream, microscopic viral particles moved with disturbing activity.
Every red blood cell they touched ignited.
The infected cells flared into miniature furnaces.
Temperatures skyrocketed.
Then the cells regenerated.
Only to ignite again.
Over and over.
An endless cycle.
Destruction.
Repair.
Destruction.
Repair.
Lynn pointed toward the display.
"See that?"
Tony nodded slowly.
"That's your answer."
"The source of your fire-breathing lunatics."
"A synthetic gene-recoding virus."
"It forcibly rewrites the thermal limits of human cells."
"The primary target is the brainstem."
Tony's eyes narrowed.
His mind was already connecting pieces.
"Gene recoding..."
A memory surfaced.
His expression darkened.
"Extremis."
"The AIM project."
"It was rejected years ago."
"I remember reviewing parts of the proposal."
"Aldrich Killian..."
Tony's jaw clenched.
"That bastard—"
"Stop shouting."
Lynn interrupted him without looking up.
"Yelling doesn't solve molecular biology."
Tony shut up.
Mostly.
Lynn grabbed a napkin from the counter.
Then pulled a pen from his coat pocket.
Leaning casually against the workstation, he began writing.
Tony moved closer.
The moment he saw the contents, his eyes widened.
This wasn't ordinary notation.
It wasn't even ordinary advanced genetics.
The napkin rapidly filled with equations.
Gene repair pathways.
Protein-folding corrections.
Thermodynamic regulation models.
Cellular stability matrices.
Base-pair replacement sequences.
Mathematical frameworks capable of rewriting an entire viral architecture.
Line after line appeared.
The cheap pen moved continuously.
Inside Lynn's mind, his three super-intelligence systems operated simultaneously.
Biological calculations.
Genetic modeling.
Thermodynamic prediction.
All running in parallel.
Three minutes passed.
Then Lynn finally lowered the pen.
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