The Orphan

An MCU Fanfiction

By Anastacia Lynn

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters that are copyrighted by Marvel/Disney. I do own Yekaterina (Trina) Savinkoff-Stark.

Yinsen worked for hours trying to extract all the shrapnel from Tony Stark's chest and other extremities. He knew that he would not be able to get all of them, so to keep the rest from entering the man's atrial septum Yinsen had to implant an electromagnet into Stark's chest. He used a car battery as a power source. Sadly, this would only last a week, at best.

After Yinsen was done, he sat back and waited for the famous Tony Stark to wake up. As he waited, Yinsen turns to stare at the other prisoner her. She looked like such a fragile thing, with her once golden curls and bright green eyes. Yinsen knew that their captures were getting impatient for the ransom they requested to be delivered by those the Ten Rings stole her from, the girl had been brought here in the middle of April and it is now the third of May. These men would probably put a bullet in her soon. It was a sad reality.

Yinsen decided to rest, it was at least ten in the evening, now, and Stark would probably be out for another six hours.


Tony Stark awoke with a gasp, and immediately noticed tubing in his nostril, which he proceeded to pull out. He then turned to his left and saw a table next to him and further away was a man looking into a mirror and shaving. Stark tried to grab something to attack the man when said man spoke up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Ignoring the man, Stark tried to grab a bottle to hit the man over the head, but was held back by something. Looking to his right Stark saw a car battery, it's wires leading under the gauze wrapped around his chest. He tore away at the wrappings to reveal a metal, circular object imbedded in his own chest.


Yekaterina had watched it all; Stark's arrival, Yinsen being told to remove all the shrapnel and him telling their captures it was almost completely impossible, but they wouldn't allow that answer. These desert men told Yinsen, on no uncertain terms, that if Stark died they would also kill Yinsen as well. So Yinsen removed as many metal barbs as he could and then implanted the large electromagnet to keep the remaining shards from killing Stark.

She now continued to observe Stark and Yinsen; not just with her eyes but listening with her ears and feeling with her other senses.

Months after the Baron and his group had started the tortures they called science, Yekaterina's new senses emerged. They were vague at first, but soon grew stronger. She could feel the emotions of those around her as if they were her own. She couldn't hear thoughts just feel their feeling. It went further than just inner emotions, if one of them was hurt, Yekaterina felt it as if she were hurt. Someone's broken arm made her feel like her arm was broken. It grew from there, prior to her abandonment, she was slowly able to make her guards feel what she wished them to feel. It was why they were so unfocused the day these terrorists broke in.

She focused these abilities on these two fellow prisoners in order to get a grasp on who they were. She doesn't know why she cared, as she had already decided to let herself either wither away, or get one of her newer captures to kill her. Curiosity, she guessed, is a hard urge to fight.

She watched Yinsen prepare some sort of beans on an iron skillet, and listens to him and Stark speak.

"What did you do to me?" Stark asked.

"I saved your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could," said Yinsen, "but there's a lot left and it's headed into your atrial septum. Here, want to see? I have a souvenir." Yinsen held up a very small jar with tiny metal fragments inside. "Take a look." Then he handed the jar over to Stark.

With a morbid curiosity, Stark examined the shrapnel that had been removed from his own body.

Yinsen continued on, "I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead because it takes a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

"What's this?" Stark asked, referring to the devise in his own chest.

"That is an electromagnet," Yinsen replied, "hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart."

Stark looked up and saw a video camera trained on him.

Having seen where Stark was looking Yinsen stated, "That's right. Smile."

Yekaterina observed the exchange and wondered why Yinsen felt such a strange mix of pity and guilty amusement. Stark appeared to be in shock, though she couldn't blame him; she doubted that this Stark fellow ever expected to be a hostage by terrorists. She got an underlining sense of arrogance and narcissism. This man was probably very wealthy and lived somewhere where the possibility of being kidnapped by middle eastern terrorists was very remote.

"We met once, you know," said Yinsen. "At a technical conference in Bern."

"I don't remember," replied Stark quietly.

"No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't be able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits."

Yekaterina's mind seemed to absorb what she heard and felt and came to the conclusion that this man, Stark, is wealthy and probably a genius. But she also got the impression that Stark didn't conform to the standards of behavior set by others.

"Where are we?" Stark asked.

Before Yinsen could answer, there was a shouting heard outside the door in a foreign tongue. "Come on, stand up. Stand Up!" said Yinsen as he pulled Stark to his feet. "Do as I do," Yinsen stressed. "Come on, put your hands up." Yinsen then placed his own hands behind his head and Stark did the same.

Stark looked at the men in surprise. "Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?"

"Do you understand me? Do as I do."

One of the men stepped in front of the others. Yekaterina recognized him as a Lieutenant, of sorts, in this terrorist army. His name was Abu Bakar and Yekaterina knew this because the men were no longer careful of what they said around her. Her lack of any communication had them all assuming she was either deaf or stupid.

Bakar began speaking Pashtu as Yinsen translated to Stark.

"He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.'

He is honored"

Bakar looked down at a photo in his hand, then continued.

"He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated."

Bakar handed Yinsen the photo.

"This one." Yinsen said as he showed Stark the photo.

"I refuse," stated Stark stubbornly.

Bakar yelled an order and his men instantly seized Stark and dragged him outside.

Yekaterina could here splashing and suspected that Stark was having his head held under water. Then more men came and dragged Yinsen out, as well. She could here both Yinsen and Stark being taken outside.

'There probably about to get shot,' thought Yekaterina.

She closed her eyes feeling weightless and wonders if her prayers for death have finally been answered. Instead a blinding white light flashed behind her eyes and when it clears she sees a strange sight.

Stark stands in a suit of dirty metal, while Yinsen types fast on a laptop. Suddenly Yinsen looks up and mumbles that he needs to buy more time. Stark yells at Yinsen to stick to the plan. Moment later the armor lights up and the helm falls over Stark's face. Using the armor, he shoots and burns the terrorists in order to free himself. An explosion occurs blasting him many yards away.

After the vision cleared Yekaterina opened her eyes and gave a sad smile. At least Stark wouldn't die here, and once he's free perhaps he could put a stop to this crazy group.

Another flash happened and this time she saw something months ahead of time.

A new suit of armor, this one red and gold, begins shooting at insurgents holding innocent people hostage. He destroys their weapons and liberates the villagers. He hands over a man, Bakar, to the people and says, "He's all yours."

Before she could open her eyes again a third vision occurs.

She is lying on an examination table there are doctors surrounding her. She begins to panic and starts to fight them. Suddenly Stark is there. He holds her hand and tells her not to worry neither he nor Pepper, as he tilts his head toward a red-haired woman behind him, will let anyone hurt her. He says they just want to take a small amount of blood and to keep her eyes on him. He promised he'd look after her and he's going to keep that promise.

Yekaterina was gasping as this last vision cleared. 'He'll protect me?' she thought in wonder.

Could she really trust what she just saw?

A.N. Sorry this chapter is a day late. Cleaning my apartment took more of my time then I thought. Sorry if this chapter goes a bit slow or repeats from the movie too much. I wanted to get Yekaterina's private thoughts in before she begins interacting with Tony Stark. Plus, I was trying to bridge her previous idea of throw in the towel with her sudden desire to help Tony escape. So please R&R and thank you to those who reviewed, favorited, and or followed this story.

I-am-a-Ice-cream-lover: Thank you. I got the name from watching a documentary about Katherine the Great. (Did you know her name at birth was Sophie) Yekaterina is how her name is pronounced in Russian. She chose the name after converting to Russian Orthodox.

Ashes2Dust18: I know I could have put it under Iron Man in comics, but it is based on the movie (I can't afford to buy and read all the comics, there are forty years' worth to read) I figured putting it under Avengers was the best plan as the series continues throughout the MCU.