Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man: Armored Adventures or anything related to Marvel Universe.

Flashbacks will be in italics. Feedback/critique is always welcome and wanted. First time I've written fanfic from a cartoon series.

Chapter 1

"Mai!" called her mother in a frightened whisper. "Get behind me. Quickly!"

The six year old ran to do her mothers' bidding and grabbed a handful of silk fabric as she buried her face against strong legs that would offer her protection against an unknown threat.

There was an angry voice, another woman. She couldn't make out what she was saying but the threat was there in the tone of the raised voice. Words filtered to her that had no meaning. '…the last…must die…'

Her mother's hand reached behind her and tried to sooth her shaking as she tried to speak calmly to the other woman, the warmth of her fingers caressing her hair, touching her shoulder as if to give her courage. As Mai took a deep breath to try and gather the courage her mother was offering her, those strong fingers gripped her shoulder tightly and in a swift motion, pushed her away as the world dissolved into a blinding sickly purple light.

She could hear her mother screaming in pain before there was silence. The world was dark and she couldn't find her mother as she cried out for her, her small hands reaching out, searching in the dark. She crawled across the uneven ground determined to find her mother. She had to be there.

An eternity passed before she heard someone approach in the darkness and felt strong, slender hands lift her off the ground. With a sob, she clutched at the person. The darkness of the night kept her from seeing whom she had taken to be her mother. To her, the world was all right now. Her mother had come for her and she would be well now.

As she was carried somewhere, her tired young mind began to realize something was wrong. Her mother smelled always of Jasmine. This person smelled of Amber and something else. Her mother would have spoken to her, held her, touched her hair and soothed her with words like she did when Mai woke with nightmares sometimes at night. This person was simply carrying her and doing nothing to comfort her or sooth her fears.

Shifting, Mai began to try and get out of the woman's grasp. She heard the woman's snarl and felt the hands clutch her tighter but there were no words spoken to tell her to stop what she was doing. She began to fight now, her fear giving her a last burst of energy to free herself. "I want my mother. MOTHER!" she screamed as the stranger carried her further away.

A sharp stinging slap to her face stopped her yells, causing her to gasp and whimper at the sudden pain in her cheek. Before she could get the courage to try to fight again she felt herself being lifted away from the woman's body and released. The fall that followed made her cry out in fear before her small body hit the cold water of the river that quickly sucked her under with the strong current, forcing water into her lungs and making her choke…

Mai woke with a startled cry. She was covered in a light sheen of cold sweat and was trembling as she lay on the small cot. Her heart was racing as she focused her mind back into full awareness and went through the exercises she'd been taught to calm her heart rate, to calm her fears and to regain her composure.

She faced upwards to the ceiling of her small room. It was dark as it always was in her world, as dark as it had become that night twelve years ago. The last thing she had ever seen was that ugly color of purple in a blinding flash of light. She took a few more steadying breaths as she waited for her heart rate to return to normal before she sat up.

A voice came to her from across the hall. "Mai?"

It was a man's voice, gentle yet strong, one she'd come to treasure these past six months. She got up and went to the door of her small cell, counting her steps from her cot and felt the door with her hand, letting her fingers gently slide up it till she found the window in the door with the bars set into it.

"I'm here…," she called softly.

"Another nightmare?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"The same," came her response. In truth, she'd had the same nightmare about once a week or so since being taken prisoner and being brought to this place.

"I'm sorry Mai." There was a pause for a moment as he pondered something. "So what shall we do today since we're now both awake," he tried to joke. "Play chess? Another lesson in Mandarin or shall I bore you with another lesson in quantum physics?" he teased lightly.

She smiled softly to herself. In the face of all the heartache he had been put through, all of the hardship both had been subjected to, he was still able to joke some and draw a smile from her. She could only pray that some day that they would both be free of this place and able to return to the land of the 'living'. He could return to his family and she could return to … well, she would figure something out.

"Please, tell me again about your son, Mr. Stark," she asked politely. She knew it was the one thing he could talk about for hours and it always made him happy. They both knew his son was alive and it was talking about him that gave Mr. Stark hope that he'd see his son again.

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