Pain.
It was all Tony knew.
Pain. Burning. Shouting in a language he didn't understand. Bright lights. Burning. Agony. A cloth was pressed over his nose and mouth and he finally slipped into darkness.
When he woke, it was with a tube up his nose, and a horrible aching pain in his chest.
He was lying on a small camp bed in what looked like a cave, bandages wrapped tightly around his torso.
He coughed and rolled over, and caught sight of a man shaving in a corner of the room. Tony tried to roll over to reach for a glass of water next to the camp bed, but was stopped by a tugging on his chest.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The man said. He spoke English, but with a thick accent. Tony ignored him and glanced to his other side, seeing a car battery next to him, its cables leading into the bandages on his chest. In a panic, he ripped away the bandages, clawing at the metal over his heart. When he could finally see his skin, he followed the cables leading from the car battery to the... device sunk into his chest, the flesh around it red and scarred.
"What the hell did you do to me?" He gasped, clawing at the metal.
"What did I do?" The man chuckled. "What I did was to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed straight for your heart. Want to see?" He moved across the room and picked up a small plastic bottle, then tossed it to Tony.
He caught it and looked at the small pieces of jagged metal.
"I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them 'the walking dead', because it takes about a week for the shrapnel to reach the vital organs."
"What is this?" Tony asked.
"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it is keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." The man replied.
Tony looked around the room and caught sight of a security camera on one wall.
"That's right." The man said. "Smile! My name is Dr. Ho Yinsen. We met once, you know. At a technical conference in Bern."
"I don't remember." Tony said. He could feel his breath coming shorter, his chest tightening painfully.
"You wouldn't." Yinsen laughed. "If I had had that much to drink, I wouldn't be able to stand, let alone give a conference on integrated circuits."
"Where are we?" Tony demanded.
Before the man could answer, the sound of the large metal door being unlocked echoed around the room. Tony was hauled to his feet and dragged to stand against one wall. "Put your hands up!" Yinsen hissed.
With a shout, a group of men in turbans and ski masks walked in, shouting rapidly in a foreign language. The only words he recognised were his own name.
"He says 'Welcome, Tony Stark'." Yinsen Tony said, his hands on his head. "'The most famous mass-murderer in the history of America'." He continued to translate as the men in front of them spoke. "He wants you to build a missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated." He was handed a photograph of a missile Tony knew all too well. "This one."
"I refuse." Tony replied. He would not make missiles for these terrorists.
The next thing he knew, he was being dragged out of the room, and down a stone corridor to a second, smaller room. Before he could speak, his head was forced into a large basin of water and held there as he struggled for breath. He was pulled back up, and had enough time to gasp and splutter, inhaling much needed air, before his head was submerged again.
Tony lost track of how much time passed. He heard Pepper's voice as he gasped for air, and prayed to God that she wasn't in this place with him.
Finally, he was forced to his feet, a cloth sack over his head. He was frogmarched down a corridor, the car battery keeping him alive cradled in his arms. They stopped, and the bag was pulled off his head. Tony blinked in the setting sun, and looked around at the rocks and tents before him. He was pushed from behind and stumbled forwards into another man, and made his way unsteadily down the slope from the cave they had just exited. As he walked, his eyes fell on guns and weapons and boxes strewn around the area, all of them stamped with the Stark Industries logo.
Yinsen was stood in front of him, and translated when one of the terrorists spoke.
"He wants to know what you think."
"I think you've got a lot of my weapons." Tony said.
"He says, they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile."
Tony tried not to react as the turbaned man walked in circles around him.
"He wants you to make a list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free."
The terrorist smiled and held out his hand.
Tony smiled back and shook it. "No he won't."
"No he won't." Yinsen agreed.
Tony glanced around at the assembled terrorists, before he was forced back towards the cave. The heavy door was closed and locked behind them, and the two were left alone.
Yinsen began moving around, lighting a small fire, and Tony sat, staring into the flames, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.
"I'm sure they're looking for you Stark, but they will never find you in these mountains." Yinsen said, sitting down next to him. "What you just saw, that is your legacy. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"
"Why should I do anything." Tony argued. "They'll either kill me, or I'll be dead by the end of the week anyway."
"Then this is a very important week for you." Yinsen said. He kept glancing between the metal door and a battered pocket watch on a table next to him. "This is not just about you. Think of all the people that are affected by your weapons. Whole communities. Children. Their blood is on your hands."