American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

"What did you do?"

Killian looked at the mechanical parts floating around him with shock and anger. The wounds on his severed limbs glowed with magma-like heat. A section of a limb tried to grow back, but failed under the influence of some force.

Feeling the seeds of high-speed activity of the Extremis virus within his body, Killian was beyond just shocked and angry; he was filled with a sense of dread.

His Extremis virus was not perfect to begin with, requiring a special stabilizer to suppress its activity to prevent him from self-destructing. Originally, his mind was focused on how to perfect the Extremis virus, making it stable and perfect. He had not achieved this step yet. All he could do was use stabilizers as much as possible to control the activity and outbreak of the Extremis virus.

Everyone injected with the Extremis virus stock solution gained new limbs and powerful strength, but at the same time, they turned their bodies into an unstable powder keg. They needed to obtain a certain amount of new Extremis virus stabilizer from Killian regularly to prevent their bodies from completely exploding like a bomb at any moment.

But this stabilizer was only a temporary solution; its effect was not 100%. There were always accidents or personal factors that caused even test subjects who had been injected with this stabilizer to explode like fireworks at some point during the drug's effectiveness.

Originally, Killian could only wait for Maya Hansen, the other creator of the Extremis virus, to solve the stability problem, but the Cosmic Cube, which was accidentally formed in the laboratory during the Battle of Washington, gave Killian a new possibility.

Yes, he was directly exposed to the Cosmic Cube at the time, and he was also infected with a mechanical virus. But the Cosmic Cube sensed his desire, and the mechanical virus he was infected with gave him the ability to control his own energy. This allowed him to solve the problem of his own unstable Extremis virus, which could go out of control at any time, in an unexpected situation.

With the ability given to Killian by the mechanical virus, the Extremis virus injected into his body was still dangerous, but no longer untamable. Two different viruses reached a symbiotic cycle in his body.

He did not find a perfect solution to the defects of the Extremis virus, but because of an accident, he temporarily got rid of the threat posed by the Extremis virus. So Killian believed that the Cosmic Cube was a gift from God, a powerful aid that could help him solve the defects of the Extremis virus and allow him to master even greater power.

Therefore, Killian could not wait to use some means to find some "voluntary" test subjects nearby. The experimental results were not satisfactory. The mechanical virus and the Extremis virus each had certain defects when they existed alone, but their coexistence in one host would increase the instability. In the end, Killian could only rely on studying himself to improve the original stabilizer, reducing the activity of the Extremis virus and allowing the mechanical virus to take the dominant position. Although this was not a perfect solution, at least it could stably produce some mutated individuals.

Then he used this to cooperate with John Lake and other extremist factions, and obtained huge financial support, as well as other hidden help that AIM and he desperately needed.

Killian always believed that he was the chosen one, the only master selected by the Cosmic Cube. He even felt that one day, he would be able to completely control the Cosmic Cube. Once he used the power of the Cosmic Cube to change the entire human race, then he would undoubtedly become the uncrowned king!

Those who gave him humiliation and despair would naturally experience his despairing state of mind at that time.

Killian had thought about many follow-up things after he stimulated the power of the Cosmic Cube, but the only thing he didn't expect was that he would be hit in the initial stage.

First, the betrayal of his partners, which he had expected. After all, he knew very well what kind of people his partners were. They were cold-blooded, cruel, did not care about life, and had no so-called morals.

The appearance of Captain America Steve and Flag also somewhat exceeded his expectations, but in Killian's view, it was not unsolvable, just a matter of spending more time and manpower.

However, Luke, who appeared silently behind him, not only obtained the heavily protected Cosmic Cube, but also dismembered his mechanical limbs with just a reach, breaking the balance of his internal virus cycle, really exceeded his expectations.

"Are you also a mutated individual?" Killian suddenly seemed to understand something and looked at Luke. Only in this way could he explain why his mechanical limbs were uncontrollably dismembered into individual parts with just a move of the other party's hand. This should be Luke's ability! His eyes scanned Luke's body, trying to find his mutated parts. According to his understanding of mutated individuals, the ability of mutation is largely affected by mutated limbs or organs.

After scanning his whole body, he did not find any signs of mechanization on Luke, so it could only be that some organ inside his body was mechanized?

"Mechanical Creation: Hounds of Tindalos."

Under Luke's control, the mechanical parts and fragments floating from Killian's body were assembled into a mechanical dog the size of a hound in mid-air with a dazzling speed and the unique beauty of mechanical assembly.

As soon as the mechanical dog's limbs landed, it bared its teeth and pounced on Killian, who was close at hand.

Killian's entire body was like a burning red charcoal. With an opening of his mouth, a stream of high-temperature flames spewed out, cutting the mechanical dog, which looked a bit thin overall with a skin as thin as paper, in half.

Poof.

A stream of magma-like hot blood spurted out from Killian's waist and abdomen. Killian almost knelt on the ground. He only felt as if he had been cut with an axe between his waist and abdomen, as if he was about to be cut in half.

"This is?"

Under the activity of the Extremis virus, the wound on Killian's waist and abdomen healed quickly. He raised his head and saw that the mechanical hound, which he had just split in half from head to tail, had returned to its original form in a complex and pleasing reorganization. No, it was still somewhat different from its previous form. On its thin metal body, there were winding fire-red lines similar to human blood vessel patterns.

Looking at the mechanical hound pouncing again, a flash of understanding flashed in Killian's mind. In order to confirm his guess, he once again used the power of the Extremis virus to attack the mechanical hound that pounced on him.

However, this time, although the same intensity of attack repelled the mechanical hound that pounced on him, it did not cut it in half as before. The other party seemed to have a certain resistance to his high temperature after one attack!

The familiar wound reappeared on Killian's body. Although it healed quickly under the power of the Extremis virus, Killian's heart was completely heavy.

This attack confirmed his guess. The mechanical hound composed of mechanical bodies separated from his body still had some mysterious connection with him. The other party was still considered a part of his body! So even if the other party was separated, attacking it was still equivalent to attacking Killian himself.

Coupled with the reorganization characteristics it possessed, it became tricky. Not everyone could keep the Extremis virus in a highly active state in a short period of time like him.

His eyes looked at the mechanical hound that had been hit by the high-temperature beam and collapsed on the ground. Under his gaze, the mechanical parts on the hound were reorganized again, and the red blood vessel-like lines on the body became more and more obvious. Even faintly, a little bit of leaked high temperature was revealed from the other party.

It's evolving!

Highly adaptive evolution!

A terrifying thought that made Killian suffocate flashed in his mind. The other party was adapting to his attacks in repeated reorganizations, and eventually becoming immune to his attacks! Killian didn't know how this was done, but he knew very well that if this continued, he would definitely die under the hunt of this mechanical hound.

And all of this was caused by Luke in front of him!

Yes, Luke!

Killian suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Luke standing ten meters away. In any case, since the mechanical hound was created by the other party, then as long as he solved the other party, would the hound lose control and be able to return to its original state and return to his body as a limb?

Killian didn't know whether this idea was correct or not, but in the current situation, he was willing to try.

"Catch him! Kill him if necessary!" Killian pointed at Luke and gave orders to the somewhat overwhelmed mutated individuals beside him. Killian's words awakened the mutated individuals who were somewhat dazed by this sudden change. The other party almost unhesitatingly separated a part to rush towards Luke, and the other part protected Killian, fighting against the mechanical hound.

"Poor choice."

Luke looked at the surging mutated individuals and stretched out his hand again.

Lion, hound, mouse, beetle, owl, snake.

One mechanical creation after another was separated from the mechanical bodies and organs of the mutated individuals, and then launched attacks on their original owners. The most miserable was the steel mutated individual who was fighting the green monster named Flag brought by General John. The area of his body that had mutated was the largest, and the mechanical creations that separated from him were also the largest. It was a majestic metal lion.

"Damn it! What the hell is this! Why are our mechanical limbs being separated? Why are they turning into these beasts and attacking us?" A mutated individual was entangled on his body by his mechanical limb creation—a silver-white metal snake. Its entanglement force was even comparable to the strangulation of a python, and he felt that his struggle was becoming more and more difficult. The high lethality of the Extremis virus against metal did not have too many advantages in these mechanical creations. Even the other party's resistance to high temperature was getting higher and higher.

"What have you done?" Killian's eyes were about to burst when he saw this scene. He looked at Luke with angry eyes. It was clearly only a distance of ten meters, but this short distance was like an insurmountable chasm! Any mutated individual who wanted to rush to Luke's front would be subjected to the crazy attacks of his own mechanical creation.

A group of mutilated, strangely shaped mutated individuals retreated to Killian's front, confronting the slowly surrounding mechanical monsters in terror.

"Just a trivial little technique. I separated them, constructed them, and released some of their consciousness data." Facing Killian's rage, Luke explained seriously.

"Release?" Killian once again repelled the mechanical hound that pounced on him, ignoring the other party's faster and faster reconstruction time and more and more difficult evolution. He only wanted to get an accurate answer from Luke now.

"Haven't you noticed? The Cosmic Cube has some subconsciousness inside! If you leave it alone, it will eventually digest and absorb those fragmented consciousnesses, and then give birth to its own consciousness! This is an item that you have never understood and cannot control from beginning to end." Luke said, while stretching out his hand, the Cosmic Cube, which was floating around him like a satellite, slowly shifted its route under the gaze of Killian and others, and floated above Luke's palm.

"It's just an inanimate object!" Killian deceived himself. He finally knew where the strange sense of communication he had with the Cosmic Cube before came from.

"It is indeed an inanimate object. But its formation absorbed the consciousness of too many dead Chitauri. Although these consciousnesses are fragmented and unsystematic." Luke first affirmed Killian's words, and then retorted. In fact, the essence of tracing back to the source is still his sublimation overflow power, the power of the Cosmic Cube, and the most important emotional/mental power, as well as some accidental research by Killian, which led to the appearance of the Cosmic Cube, a special item that contains a collection of three great powers.

Killian did not dig out the other party's true use at all. Or rather, he did not exert the true power of this Cosmic Cube. His method of using the Cosmic Cube was the same as Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s use of the Tesseract.

"How could you know these things?" Killian still didn't want to believe Luke's words.

"These mechanical bodies made from mechanical materials separated from you have a strong possessiveness towards your main body. They will share damage, share life, and share death with you.

If you don't die, they won't die, and they won't stop. They are like the legendary Hounds of Tindalos, who will hunt their prey until they die completely." Luke didn't answer Killian's words, just watched the scene of the mechanical bodies carrying out the most primitive killings in front of him. However, Killian and the others couldn't bother to listen to Luke's words seriously. They were gradually overwhelmed by the attacks of the mechanical bodies, which were reorganized after repeated damage and became stronger and stronger.

After repelling his mechanical hound for the last time, without waiting for the other party to pounce again, Killian, whose body was covered with healed wounds and who had a sense of awareness in his heart, raised his head and met Luke's calm gaze. After a strange smile appeared on his face, which was red as charcoal from the high temperature, he no longer controlled the increasingly active Extremis virus in his body, but instead kept pushing it higher and higher and higher!

Finally, like an erupting volcano, he unleashed all the energy in his body in a surge in an instant!

The violent explosion, along with the surrounding mutated individuals, drove the Extremis virus in their bodies, which was also in an extremely unstable state, and continuous explosions occurred one after another.