How do you define a life?

To understand Tony Stark, you must know the whole story, which is why it is so difficult for me to begin this book. To pick anyone part of Tony's life and say that is the beginning would be too much of a simplification of a complex string of events. That is why I know understand why most biographers start with the facts, birth, place born, etc. but this is also why I have been forbidden both by myself and my subject to start in such a way. When I asked Tony where he would begin his story, he answered, to begin with where everyone already assumes they know.

Anthony Howard Stark, for many years this was the name that was associated with the son of Howard Stark, it wasn't until 22 years after the father's death and one captivation that another name was given to the man, Iron Man. Born from the caves of Afghanistan, Iron Man was an escape from a terrible ending, he was a necessity for survival, the one lifeline that was offered was the one that Tony created with his own two hands for everyone else assumed he was dead. The United States Government left him for dead, his best friend had given up hope, there had even been a funeral, for it was thought that no one could survive a Stark Missile landing on their vehicle. And they couldn't, the missile took out the two cars in front of Tony's, shrapnel from the weapon shredded his vehicle to shreds, killing the young men and women who were supposed to be escorting him to an airport. Tony was left alone to fight for his life, he stole a gun from one of the dead soldiers and took out as many men as he could. That's when the second missile dropped and all of a sudden his world went black.

Tony Stark died that day, according to Dr. Yinson, another man held captive by Islamic extremists, he was dead for a full 5 minutes before Dr. Yinson was able to revive him. Shrapnel had pierced Tony's veins and entered his veins, Dr. Yinson was able to stop it from killing him by making the device to inspire the iconic Arc Reactor, that for many years was embedded in Tony's chest. The device was powered by a car battery, over half of his chest bones had to be removed to fit the device inside, multiple organs had to be moved to other places all on a crude operating table that was the breeding ground for infection. Tony lost over a month of his life to this operation and the infection that spread afterward, his memories of the time are few and far between. He remembers only snippets, one incident of waterboarding, another of a ransom tape being filmed, all while still under a haze of infection, half dead to the world. He had wished he was dead...

"How'd you get better?" She asks, not understanding how the man in front of her could possibly still be alive after all that he had lived through in those few short months of captivity.

"I don't know," Tony answers her truthfully. "I just did. I woke up one day and I finally knew where I was, what was going on around me, and I tried to pull the thing keeping me alive out of my chest. I didn't fully know what it was, but I knew it wasn't supposed to be there. Yinson worked hard to keep me from removing it."

"Tell me about Dr. Yinson, what happened to him?"

"He didn't make it out of the caves alive… I realize now that he never intended to. He told me once while we were down there, that his family was somewhere out there waiting for him and that when we left that place he would join them. What I didn't know at the time was that at that time his family was already dead. They had died when he had been taken. I owe my life to Dr. Yinson, but until a few years ago I couldn't even speak his name…." Tony trails off, spearing a piece of pancake with his fork. He pushes it around in the sticky maple syrup for a minute before abandoning the fork altogether. "I got his revenge for him, I liberated his village once I got back to my lab and was able to develop the first suit that actually worked, I made sure that his final request was honored… but I still can't help but blame myself for his death. He died to save my life, and that is something I'll never be able to repay him for."

"If you could repay him for what he did, how would you do it?"

"I had met him, about ten years before, at a New Year Eve conference turned party, I blew him off. I didn't even realize that I had met him until after his death, I don't remember much about that night, some of my other demons formed from that same night…. If I could redo one thing in my life it would be that night, I would have given Dr. Yinson the time he deserved, and maybe if I had done that some of the other events of that night would have never happened…" Tony trails off. "Dr. Yinson is the man who opened my eyes to the world around me, for years I had been focused on my own little bubble. Things were happening around me that I was too ignorant to notice, people were dying due to me not caring enough to pay attention to my company, to my advisors to make sure everything was being done right. When I got back from Afghanistan, everything I did, I did with him in mind. Every action I took, I took to try to repent past wrongs. I knew that I was responsible….." He trails off once again, running a hand nervously through his hair, he yanks at it. He looks vulnerable in a way that Tony Stark never has before, at least not in front of any kind of public eye. For the first time ever, Tony Stark forgets about the camera, the reporter, and he lets his mask fall.

"We can be done today." She offers, feeling as if she's an intruder on so many levels, no one should see something so deeply personal, not when they are so disconnected from it all.

"That would be nice." He says, slowly collecting himself, he looks past her toward the window. She watches as he slowly puts himself back together, it's as if a suit of armor builds back up around him.

"Can I put any of this in my article, Anthony?"

"What?" He looks startled but more composed.

"My article, I'm a journalist, my paper is expecting a story."

"Use whatever you'd like… I'm not sure if any of it is relevant. What are you even writing?"

"I… I don't know anymore." She answers truthfully, when she had walked into this interview, the whole thing, the biography offer, the stories, the painful truth, it had all been completely unexpected, from the moment she had met him Tony Stark had eradicated all of her plans. All her prep had done nothing to prepare her for the man that is Tony Stark.

"Then why don't you wait?" He offers, posing it as the most simple solution in the world. "Tell your editor about our continuation tomorrow, postpone the release date, and maybe eventually you'll figure out what story it is you want to tell."

"That actually sounds like a good idea." She says, beginning to pack away all of her things. "Thank you, Anthony."
"Call me Tony." He offers her a sheepish smile, pulling himself up off of the couch. He begins to walk towards the elevator. "You can leave the camera here if you'd like. It looks heavy."

"Thanks." She sets the camera bag back down on the ground.

"I'll see you tomorrow at noon, Shawarma restaurant two blocks down the road. I'll have Georgianna email you the exact address."

"Tomorrow then." She says, picking up the camera once more, realizing that if they're meeting somewhere else she won't be able to leave it.

"Leave it," Tony says turning around he leans in the jam of the elevator.

"But…"

"We're going for lunch, we'll come back here afterward."

"I really…"

"Fine, I was just trying to be nice." He shrugs and steps back into the elevator, letting the door close behind him. She hears the purr as the motor begins pulling the car upwards. She walks over, camera on her shoulder, and calls the elevator to her. She finds it odd that Tony left her alone in his home once again, but then again if there was anything she had learned about him, it was that he was prone to being too trusting.