Ellen nodded. Yeah, never say never. Good intentions were no guarantee that the results would be positive. Still, she felt like she'd been granted a second chance and it seemed churlish to waste it. It was nice to hear the offer of help if she couldn't find work, too.
She didn't think she'd need it. But it was good to have as a fallback. Then he mentioned his super-hot, super-heated girlfriend.
Ellen looked up from the table. "Super-heated," she said. And then, "Pepper? Pepper was given the Extremis treatment?" It had to have been Killian's doing. Some kind of "screw you!" to Tony or Pepper or both.
Pepper was still alive. She knew that much. Still CEO of Stark Industries. Still in good health. Ellen searched Tony's face, her thoughts awhirl. He'd said he'd studied Extremis to get it out of someone, and/or to stabilize it. Now she knew why, and who that 'someone' must have been.
"Is she--does she still have it? Did you stabilize her? Did you remove it entirely?"