Chapter 8

(Transcript from Lp37451 on AO3)

The bald man from before is back on the screen, fiddling with his ring yet again while staring at the monitor, his face twisted in a scowl as he observes. Tony can be seen swinging his leg, now encased in metal and wires.
The hatch is opened again and the men come barging in. Tony shuts off his blow torch and straightens up, both him and Yinsen instinctively raising their arms above their heads.

Raza, the main leader, walks in, glancing at the two men, "Relax."

"Shit, he knows." Bucky cursed. Tony countered, "Partly, he thought we were doing something else but couldn't prove it."

They hesitantly put their arms down, and the leader walks up to Tony, pulling the collar of his tattered shirt down to get a glimpse at the arc reactor.

"The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology."

"Once?" Clint screeched, "I'll have you know baldy the bow and arrow still is the best."

There were a lot of noises contradicting the statement which made Clint stick his tongue out at them. Natasha smacked his head in retaliation and everyone laughed, and for that moment it all felt like they were back to normal again before the fight, before Ultron.

But the moment was gone as soon as it came, leaving even depressing silence in its place.

"It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great, and four times the size of the Roman Empire." He picks up the papers revealing the armour plans, studying them for a moment.

"Oh no no no." Wanda muttered and Tony threw a surprised look at her. Wanda caught it and offered a small smile in return. Tony's gaze hardened slightly and he turned away. Wanda's face fell, Sam caught the exchange but decided not to comment on it.

Tony gives a nervous glance to Yinsen, who makes a subtle gesture with his hand to calm down as Raza continues, "But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons, rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn."

He glares at the billionaire for a moment before addressing Yinsen in another language that translates to, "Why have you failed me?

"We're working. Diligently." Yinsen responds

"I let you live, and this is how you repay me?" Raza asks, approaching the Doctor.

"It's very complex. He's trying very hard."

The billionaire can be seen watching uneasily; clearly not happy that he can't understand what's going on.

"On his knees!" Raza orders and a man approaches, grabbing Yinsen by the arm and forcing him to his knees. He walks over to the fire picking up the tongs and grabbing a hot coal, "You think I am a fool?"

"We're both working."

"Open your mouth," He says, holding up the burning coal.

"Shit. Please tell me they did not do that." Sam prays. It seemed like the room had grown fond of Yinsen, everyone was muttering furtively and looked worried.

"What does he want?" Tony questions, still standing helplessly on the other side of the room.

Ignoring him, Raza grabs Yinsen's head, holding the tongs in front of his mouth, "What's going on? Tell me the truth."

"He's building your Jericho," Yinsen pleads.

"The truth."

"He's building your Jericho!"

"THE TRUTH!" Raza raises his voice.

Tony steps forward in a moment of bravery, obviously fed up with the situation, "What do you want, a delivery date?" He asks, raising his hands in a placating gesture when every gun in the room is suddenly pointed at him, followed by a series of shouting.

Raza looks up at the billionaire, who hesitates for a moment before speaking, "I need him. Good assistant."

Raza drops the burning coal in front of Yinsen's face, never looking away from Stark, "You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile." He threatens, tossing the tongs carelessly across the room.

"Oh thank god." Bruce mutters relieved.

Thor nods, "It was a brave thing you did Friend Anthony."

Tony shook his head, "Wish it could've helped ahead."

Thor looked puzzled and asked, "What?"

Tony explained, "It'll be shown I think."

The music starts up again and Tony can be seen hammering a piece of metal, the glow of the arc reactor visible through his tank top. He continues pounding the metal into place, each hit making a loud 'clanging' sound. He's dirty and it's obvious he's sweating from the work and the heat of the fire nearby but continues nonetheless.

"Man, you are buff." Bucky lightly commented. Rhodey was narrowing his eyes slightly at him.

Vision replied, "Most people don't realize but Mr Stark has to lift a lot of heavy equipment in the lab, so he has to be strong."

Tony whispered to Rhodey, "Quit the death glare sugar plum, you can give him the shovel talk later."

Rhodey nodded but the scowl didn't leave his face, "Oh, he is definitely having the shovel talk."

On screen, Tony grabs the metal with a pair of tongs, dunking it in a tub of water, where it starts to steam from the cooler temperature. When he pulls it out again, he sets it on the table in front of Yinsen, where it's finally visible as to what it is, a mask.

"That is crazy." Sam shuddered. Tony replied, "Did you want me to carve a smiley face on it?"

Rhodey hummed, "That would have looked maniac and psychopathic. I now want to really see how it would look."

Tony looked at him, "That idea doesn't really go with you. A scowl would work better, leave the crazy genius scientist to me. But now that you say it, I do have a few ideas…"

Natasha intercepted, "Let's continue this discussion later."

Sam poked in, "No, no, I really want to hear how this goes."

Tony stuck his tongue out at him. Sam stuck his out back.

Natasha once again said, "Boys, now is not the time."

They relented. But Tony felt a little better now that he knew Sam wasn't going to criticize him at everything.

Bucky seemed neutral and Wanda seemed hot and cold, one moment making a quip and then another looking sympathetic and apologetic. He couldn't figure her out and that was making him go crazy, he decided to put it aside for now.

The scene changes and Tony is taping up his hands while Yinsen is raising the chest plate in the background. He shrugs on his dirty jacket and a pair of rubber gloves.

Yinsen straps a brace of some sort around his neck, and the next thing you know he's pulling the chest plate of the armour over the genius, the hole in the front fitting perfectly over the arc reactor.

"Okay. Can you move?" Yinsen asks, adjusting pieces of the armour. "Okay, say it again."

"41 steps straight ahead, then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right."

"Impressive." Natasha praised, "You remembered even when blinded by bag and disoriented."

Tony just shrugged, it was something Peggy had taught him, including quite a lot of fighting and self-defence, since he was kidnapped a lot and Howard wouldn't pay them, she wanted him to know how to protect himself and it had worked wonders. The kidnapping attacks lessened after the first few people were left bruised.

Raza approaches the security monitors, leaning forward to inspect them, "Where is Stark?" He growls to one of his men.

"He was here a moment ago…"

"Go look for him!" He barks, leaning closer to inspect the screen, only seeing a wall they had set up and Yinsen working behind it.

"Hurry up! They're coming." Steve urged and Tony bit back the scathing retort.

The faces in the room grew significantly paler.

The men ordered to look for Stark open the hatch yelling in, "Yinsen! Yinsen!"

"Say something," Tony hisses as Yinsen continues preparing the suit.

"He's speaking Hungarian! I don't-"

"Then speak Hungarian," Tony says, knowing they're running out of time.

"Okay, I don't-"

"What do you know?"

Yinsen shouts a reply to the men outside the door. One of them shouts back getting ready to open it. The camera pans down a bit to reveal an explosive rigged to go off if the door is opened.

"That's brilliant." Slips out of Clint's mouth before he can stop it.

Tony eyes him for a moment before saying a not completely sincere, "Thank you."

Upon seeing the camera go to static, Raza starts to yell to his men, sending more of them running towards the prisoners.

"How'd that work?" Tony asks Yinsen, who glances over the billionaire's shoulder to view the damage.

"Oh, my goodness. It worked all right."

"That's what I do."

"Let me finish this."

"Initialize the power sequence," Tony says, and Yinsen turns around dropping his tool.

"Okay."

"Now!"

"Tell me, tell me!" The doctor leans over an older computer, awaiting instructions.

"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now."

"Yes-"

"Talk to me," Tony cuts him off, "tell me when you see it."

"I have it."

"Press Control 'I'"

"'I.' Got it."

"'I Enter' 'I' and 'Enter.' Come over here and button me up."

The men are running down to the room, and Yinsen is frantically trying to finish preparing the suit. "Okay, alright."

"Hurry up." Bruce urged worriedly.

Tony had a guilty look in his eyes.

"Every other hex bolt," Tony instructs, ignoring the yelling coming closer.

"They're coming!" Yinsen glances behind the armour.

"Nothing pretty, just get it done. Just get it done."

"They're coming…" The doctor repeats, his voice full of warning and concern.

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?"

Yinsen is staring nervously at the laptop, the progress bar barely halfway complete.

"You need more time." Thor says sounding urgent. Tony nodded glumly, "Yeah, we did."

Rhodey glanced at Tony then looked at where Tony was gazing, oh, so this was where Yinsen left them. He put a comforting hand on his arm, Tony didn't seem to notice.

"We need more time." He states as he turns around, facing the billionaire with a determined look, "Hey, I'm going to go buy you some time."

"Please tell me he's not doing what I think he's doing." Steve muttered.

Tony sadly shook his head.

"No," Whispered Wanda.

"Stick to the plan!" Tony shouts as Yinsen starts walking away from him, grabbing a gun from one of the dead men and shooting it inter the air, "Stick to the plan! Yinsen!"

Tony looked away, he could feel the tears building.

The men are getting closer and closer, and they run behind a corner. There is a yell and a gun going off, and soon they're running back the way they came, Yinsen chasing after them. He follows them to a room full of men and stops when they all aim their weapons at him.

"Oh god no." Tony groans.

Thor roared in anger electricity cackling across his skin. "Those fools."

Bucky was cracking his knuckles, growling menacingly.

The scene changes back to the room, where the laptop is sitting on the table. The progress bar reaches 100%, and the light flicker a few times before going out. There are men running through the now dark cave, towards the prisoner's quarters.

They glance at the dead bodies before hesitantly stepping into the room. A rubber glove can be seen in the dark, squeezing open and shut menacingly. One of the men turns around when a bright blue light shines in his face. He looks up, and the source of the light moves, sending him flying across the room, the other men shooting bullets around the room.

"Holy shit Stark." Sam mutters. Tony says nothing.

The men seem satisfied that they might have hit their target when the light appears again. There's more shooting, but the followers don't stand a chance. When the last one falls, the camera pans out to reveal the armour in its entirety for the first time.

Clint whistles lowly, "That looks terrifying."

The room can only nod, all of them in awe of the suit.

Steve can feel the amazement, Tony built this in a goddam cave with scraps. Steve was ashamed to admit that Tony was much better than Steve had given him credit for.

Tony starts to walk forward in the armour, the men down the hall firing at him, though the bullets only ricochet off the metal. One brave man charges for him, but the billionaire simply swings his arm, sending the man into the cave wall.

He continues walking, Raza's followers eventually turning and running away once they realize they don't stand a chance. They close a door, locking one man out by mistake.

He pounds on the metal, begging for them to open it and let him through as the armour is getting closer. The men on the other side ready their weapons hearing their friend scream, and then fall silent.

"I don't think he's going to stop," Bucky observes.

There's a loud bang on the door, denting it, and they all take a few steps back. There are three more bangs, and the door flies open, landing on one guy and taking him down as the others run for their lives.

Bucky looking at this realized crystal clear that Tony could've destroyed them within a second if he wanted to. Steve didn't seem to have come to that realization yet.

The genius continues through the cave, swinging at one guy who comes around a corner but gets his arm stuck in the rock.

"Uh-oh" Sam mutters.

One braver man comes up, holding a gun to Stark's head, but the bullet bounces off the metal of the helmet and back at the shooter, killing him. Tony finally gets the arm out of the rock and continues on relentlessly. The scene changes to Raza loading a rocket into a rocket launcher, and aiming it at the entrance way where he knows Tony will appear.

"That looks damn powerful." Bucky observes.

Tony nods, "It could have been really damaging if Yinsen hadn't warned me."

The room perks up and Sam asks, "So he's alive?"

Tony's expression doesn't change, "You'll see."

Yinsen can be seen lying on stacks of rice. He's covered in blood and bullet holes and glances to the side when the armour finally appears at the entrance.

"Yinsen!" The billionaire shouts.

"Watch out!" The doctor manages to choke out despite his pain, just as Raza fires the rocket.

Tony just barely avoids getting blown up and opens a latch on his arm to fire his own missile, sending crates and bits of rock down on top of Raza.

"You didn't kill him?" Steve asks.

Tony grits his teeth, "Should have but I was more worried about Yinsen…"

Once he's down, Tony hastily makes his way to Yinsen's side, tossing a sack of rice off his friend.

"Stark…"

"Come on, we gotta go." The billionaire says, flipping up the faceplate of the armour. His face is gleaming with sweat, his hair sticking to his forehead, but it's clear to anyone that his eyes are sad and full of worry, "Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."

"This was always the plan, Stark," Yinsen replies in a near whisper, struggling to stay awake just a little bit longer as he slowly fades away.

"What did he mean by that?" Thor asks.

Tony replied in a small and bitter voice, "He always meant to die." His voice cracked here and then rose aggressively,

"Damn it Yinsen! You should've stuck to the plan."

All the other glanced helplessly at the billionaire's grief.

Thor tried to assure him, "I'm sure he has achieved the halls of Valhalla Friend Anthony. You did nothing wrong."

Tony turns his gaze down. Rhodey sighed softly.

"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up." Tony's voice is almost pleading, but the dying man before him shows no intention of moving.

"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark."

"Oh god." Someone whispers but Tony doesn't catch who.

Tony swallows hard as he listens to his friend.
"It's okay. I want this. I want this."

The armoured man sighs, trying his best at a small smile, "Thank you for saving me."

"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here…" Tony mutters.

Rhodey puts an arm around him, "We know Tones, we know…"

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." Yinsen lets out a strangled last breath before his eyes close one last time.

Rhodey firmly states before anyone, even Tony himself, can interrupt, "You did not waste your life and I'm damn sure that wherever he is, he is proud of what you did."

Tony says nothing his gaze still latched onto the man who saved his life. "Those words and that three months were what made me rethink my whole life. As much as I hate the kidnapping if that wouldn't have happened I never would have known about the double-dealing going on and stop the destruction."

Tony's face changes from that of devastated to murderous like the flip of a switch. The suit jerks violently as his glare leaves the body of his friend, and instead focuses on the outside of the cave.

"Shit Tones. They're so gonna have it." Rhodey says observing the look on his friend's face.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Sam says, "Again." He adds after a beat.

Steve practically felt a shiver run through his spine, Tony could be terrifying when he wanted to be.

The view changes, showing the entrance to the cave from the outside where men are standing ready with guns. Loud, resonating footsteps can be heard echoing off the cave walls. The men surrounding the entrance seem to grow increasingly nervous and rattled with each step.

Bruce muttered, "That's ominous as hell…."

A faint circle of light can be seen emerging from the darkness of the cave before a full suit of armour is revealed, dangerous and unnerving. The men stagger backwards a few steps but don't back down. Instead, there's a shout of command, and every man begins firing at the metal suit at once. The armour is a bit unsteady with the force of the bullets, but the man inside refuses to break or fall over.

"That is fucking powerful and you built in a freaking cave." Bucky shook his head and added, "I think I know now why HYDRA had you as an alpha level threat."

Tony looked like he didn't know how to react.

Natasha asked, "What were the others?"

Bucky looked conflicted for a moment before saying, "Clint was the lowest, no offence," Clint nodded, he understood perfectly,

"Then was Steve, next Banner, Thor, Natasha and Tony were equally placed. Thor because he was unpredictable and they didn't know much about his powers, Natasha obviously because she's a black widow and T-Stark"

Tony interrupted, "You can call me Tony."

Bucky smiled and continued, "Tony because of his brains, that was something you couldn't take from him, there were several previous attempts on you but either you or your protection hurt them. You were trained to fight, right?"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, when I was kidnapped four times by the time I turned six, Aunt Peg stormed up to Howard and yelled in his face, and dragged me and our butler away, and began to teach me how to fight."

Rhodey gleefully added, "He punched one guy in the face for me. It was brilliant."

Most looked shocked at the barrage of information. Steve though looked stuck on something but didn't ask and the movie continued.

The men stop firing their weapons when they see how ineffective they actually are. The mechanic's eyes can be seen through the slits of the mask, showing nothing but determination and resentment.

When the genius finally speaks up, his voice is low and threatening, "My turn."

Tony lifts his arms and flames begin to shoot out from his makeshift flame throwers. The fire spread rapidly, the men firing a shot or two before taking much-needed steps backwards. They're screaming as the blaze engulfs them and their camp, Stark turning the flames to their stockpile of his weapons. He burns them all, setting fire to every crate stamped with his name, every gun, man, and missile.

"I wasn't about to leave without destroying everything." Tony defended himself before anyone could say anything else.

"You don't have flamethrowers now, do you?" Sam asked a little nervously.

Tony chuckled at this, "No, no. It was a temporary thing, though…."

Rhodey interrupted, "I'm gonna stop you right there. You are not adding any sort of flamethrowers to your suit."

He then turned his glare to Sam, "And you stop giving him crazy ideas. I have had enough heart attacks to last me ten lifetimes."

A man on higher ground crouches in front of a stronger, more powerful gun, firing quick, consistent shots at the suit of armour. The flames stop shooting from Tony's arms now as the bullets ricochet of the metal. Other men join in again, shooting at the suit in rapid succession. One lucky bullet lands in the join of one of the knees, and the armour goes down, bullets still flying and the flames still spreading around him.

"No!" Bruce says. Tony reassures, "I'm right here Bruce."

Bruce gives him a weak smile.

Tony's not done yet, even when he's down on his knees surrounded by flame. He shoots another stream of fire, causing the crate near one shooter to explode, but bullets are still bouncing off the metal. The view widens and the explosives start to go off, the men just outside the blaze retreating. Inside the mess of explosions and fire, Tony finally gets to his feet, flipping a red switch on the inside of his left arm. There's another blast before the view widens, showing the chain reaction of every explosion.

"Please tell me you got out." Steve says.

Something bursts through the rising smoke and flame, veering away from the camp. The boosters in the armour abruptly stop, the camera showing Tony shouting as he's falling out of the sky, bits of the suit falling off.

He crash lands in the sand, the armour effectively falling apart and scattering. There's a pained grunt, the view panning forward towards a half armoured Tony Stark. He shakes off the mess of wires and metal that remains of the arms, before flipping off the face mask and throwing it aside. He's bloody and dirty and no doubt in pain, fresh blood staining his lips, "Not bad."

"Tony…how did you even survive that fall, it shouldn't be possible considering the height." Bruce says then hastily adds noticing the glares on him, "Don't get me wrong I'm glad you are alive but just how?"

Tony shrugs, "Honestly? I don't know, it hurt like hell and for a second I did think I had died but…"

The scene changes and he's walking through the desert, jacket draped over his head to block the unforgiving heat of the sun. His arms are bloody and his pants torn, though the arc reactor still glows through his dark green wife beater. As the billionaire is walking up a sand dune, the faint sound of an engine can be heard before a helicopter rises over the horizon, followed by a second. Tony looks up before he starts shouting and flaring his good arm, "HEY!"

"I thought I was hallucinating when I heard that engine." Tony admitted.

Rhodey said, "I never stopped searching for three months. Everyone thought you were dead. Frankly don't know how I wasn't fired, I argued with my superiors and disobeyed orders too, sometimes. Even Pepper lost hope, but I know you bastard would get out somehow. And you did."

Tony smiled and sing-songed, although he looked a little teary eyed as well, "You're stuck with me for life Honeybear." And he held up his hand for a high-five. Rhodey groaned but gave the high-five anyway.

The rest of the team watching smiled, the friendship between the both of them was inseparable. Steve was glad that Tony would always have someone like Rhodey on his side.

He keeps shouting until the helicopter lands, laughing like a maniac as he falls to his knees, the fingers of his raised arm forming a peace sign before letting it fall to his side. Men rush out of the chopper, a familiar face running in front of the group of men. Rhodey's face reveals his ease mixed with concern for his long-lost friend, "How was the fun-vee?"

"Really?" Natasha asks.

Rhodey says, "Couldn't think of anything better…and it was something I knew he'd have wanted to hear."

Tony agreed.

Tony lets out a forced laugh, relief flooding his features as Rhodey kneels down in front of him and rests a hand on his shoulder.

"Next time you ride with me, okay?" His voice is shaky and almost cracks, but when he gathers Tony in a firm hug, Tony leans into him, allowing his friend to support him.

"Never letting you ride alone again." Rhodey said again.

Tony just gave him a small squeeze on the hand. Their way of communicating. Rhodey understood just fine.

A/N Thoughts? The next chapter will be up on 12th April! Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows!