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-Infinity Heart
-Paring(s): Tony Stark/OC
-Rated: T for language and slight adult situations
-Movie-based
Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man. The characters belong to Marvel studios and Stan Lee. I only own the OCs used
Chapter Five:
"Taking Action"
"..We don't have time left to regret,
It will take more than common sense,
So stop your wondering, take a stand.."
~Hold On, the Jonas Brothers
The next day, Tony was on the move. When the terrorists came, he started off right away with the material he needed. The doctor stood by him and managed to interpret it all.
"If this is going to be my work station, I want it well-lit. I want these up." Tony barked, as various items were brought. "I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools." They brought it all that he requested, showing that they were at least true on their word about that. The genius wasted no time, taking one of the missiles from the large selection. Then placed it in front of him and began unscrewing the top.
"How many languages do you speak?" he asked the physician.
"A lot. But apparently, not enough for this place." informed the older man as the billionaire took out the inner workings. "They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian.."
"Who are these people?"
"They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings." Once that one was done, he moved to another; it being a different kind.
"You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process." the doctor noted.
"Yeah. Uh-huh.." Stark said, taking the other weapon's top off before pulling out the inside. He took the device to the table where with small forceps removed a tiny, flat rectangular piece. "Okay, we don't need this." The device was discarded to the side.
"What is that?"
"That's palladium, zero-point-one-five grams." he stated, "We need at least one-point-six, so why don't you go break down the other eleven?" The older man listened, assisting in their removal. When all eleven were presented, Tony began making a sort of molding while the doctor placed the pieces into a smelting cup to melt in the fire. Since the car battery hindered him, he trusted the physician to pour the melted metal on the mold.
"Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this."
"Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive, huh?"
The genius then asked, "What do I call you?"
"My name is Yinsen." the man answered.
"Yinsen. Nice to meet you." Stark at last greeted properly.
Yinsen smiled at him, finished pouring the liquid metal. "Nice to meet you, too."
It didn't take long for the cast to form and when it did—creating a thin metal circle—Tony went to work on his first plan of action. Several days of diligently placing and forming, a new device was made. Hooking it to the electricity grid that generated the work lamps now in the cave, the dull device was slowly given power until the lights dimmed and it glowed like a single star in an empty night sky.
"It's beautiful.." is what he imagine Tegan would say if there. But instead of the young woman, Yinsen stood at his side, staring with amazement.
"That doesn't look like a Jericho missile."
"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor." Tony stated, tapping it. "I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart."
"What could it generate?" inquired the doctor.
"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."
"That could run your heart for fifty lifetimes."
"Yeah.." the billionaire agreed, "Or something big for fifteen minutes." With that said, he stood, grabbing several sheets of tracing paper and showing them to the other man.
"This is our ticket out of here."
"What is it?" Yinsen questioned, seeing only doodles drawn on each sheet.
"Flatten them out and look." Stark said, doing as such. The doodles combined to show a full drawing of a weaponized metal suit.
"Oh, wow.." the doctor uttered while observing, "Impressive." Tony smirked, glad to see he approved of his little side project.
Pepper and Happy walked into Tony's house with bags full of groceries. It had been a couple of days since she came and had decided to cook for the grieving heiress since she knew she wasn't eating well. They headed to the kitchen and placed everything on the counter.
"You go check up on her." the bodyguard told, shooing her away. "I've got this." The assistant nodded and went to the lab. There, she was once again surprised but for an entirely different reason. Tegan, instead of being on the couch, sat on a stool in front of the machine dubbed Dummy. Her wavy hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and she had replaced the sweatshirt and pants for a faded Pokemon t-shirt and ripped jeans. Combat boots covered her feet to protect them from any accidental tools dropping. What surprised her more was to see Joven standing beside her.
"Joven, sweetie, hand me the drill now."
"Sure thing." he said, reaching over towards the table and picking up the power drill. It was given to the heiress and she gave her friend a wink.
"Alright," she said, bolting shut a panel on the machine. "You are all a-go, Dummy."
"Tegan?" Pepper said then. The young woman turned along with the man and smiled when seeing it was her.
"Pepper! Hi there!"
"Well, you seem better.." the other woman noted, walking closer.
"Yeah, I feel better. I've been keeping my mind busy." Tegan told, standing and heading over to Tony's desk. "I've also been making sure everything is up to par here. From Dummy to the cars, even Jarvis."
"Yup, she's returned to her workaholic self again." McBride smirked, seating on the stool now.
The strawberry blonde gave a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad. I was getting worried about you."
"Well, no need to worry anymore. I'm back to normal." she assured, "So what do I owe this visit? More trouble from dear old Stane?" Obadiah had been the only one out of the board members to have a bit of a problem with Pepper being in charge. He didn't like the idea so much that he tried to come visit Tegan in person but instead, received a video chat from the heiress with Pepper present.
"You will do as I have instructed, Stane. I don't give a rat's arse if you are the co-founder. My order, my rules." Tegan had barked viciously at the older man. "You will assist Pepper in anyway without input and not issue any order unless approved by her and myself for the time being." A sculpted brow raised. "Are we clear now?"
The man looked like he wanted nothing more than to curse her out. "..Crystal." he agreed with strain.
"Good." she smiled sweetly, "Get the hell out of my face then."
Pepper shook her head, smiling from the memory. "No, I brought food. I was planning on cooking you dinner, if that's alright?"
"Sure..sounds great." the female prodigy replied, sounding distracted. She was currently standing in front of one of the computers, typing away.
"So..what caused the change in character?" Potts asked.
The brunette glanced at her then; a wide grin on her face. "You were right. Tony wouldn't want me to be moping around. He would want me doing something. So, that's why I've recently programed Jarvis to survey Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran—the three countries where Tony could have been taken."
Pepper's brown eyes grew in size. "Why would you do that? Rhodey and the army are already searching for him."
"They're not going as fast as I like." Hayes pouted, rolling her eyes. She and Tony both hated it when Pepper went into her 'scolding mother' mode. "Besides, Jarvis is far more advanced than the government's system. Any sign that could be triggered to Tony, he'll noticed before them."
"Tegan, that's a little crazy!"
Tegan shrugged. "Yeah, it may be, but this is the only way I can feel like I'm involved. I can't just sit here anymore." The assistant glanced at the artist for help then.
He just raised his hands. "I tried talking her out of it already. You know as well as I do how stubborn she can be." Pepper stared at them both before heaving a defeated groan.
"I see your point." she stated, "I guess I much rather you do this than try to be out in the field looking yourself.."
The young woman smiled in thanks. "I'm glad you—"
"But, you have to promise me, you won't get caught." the older woman pointed at her, giving a fierce gaze. "I know well that what you're doing is indeed illegal somehow."
"I promise." the female genius deadpanned, doing the scout's honor pose.
"Good. Now that that conversation in over," the other woman smirked, "What would you like to eat?"
With Yinsen's medical skills, the mini arc reactor replaced the electromagnet with no problem. Now, taking a break, the two played a game of screw board with bolts and rings.
"You still haven't told me where you're from." Tony noted after doing a good roll.
"I'm from a small town called Gulmira." Yinsen stated, "It's actually a nice place."
"Got a family?"
"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here." The other man glanced at him then. "And you, Stark?" He was quiet for a long while and Yinsen took it as a no. "So you're a man who has everything..and nothing."
"Actually..I do." the genius stated finally. He lifted the ring that sat at the base of his throat, wearing it now. "This ring belongs to my successor. Tegan's her name. I took her in after meeting her during a field trip at my company."
"I was right. It was sentimental then."
"It was her mother's and she gave it to me for good luck..I guess it has done its' job so far."
The doctor leaned close."Is she part of your reason to escape?"
Dark eyes peered intently at the gleaming ring. "Yeah..she is."
"Then, we need to get back to work." Yinsen smirked, standing.
The terrorists continued to check up on them either by coming to the door and peeking through the slot or from the monitors connected to cameras placed in the cave. All they suspected at first was that Tony and Yinsen were hard at work but as the weeks rolled by, they started noticing that the pieces being made didn't quite look like something from the Jericho. Their suspension lead to the two getting a visit from the leader of the Ten Rings himself—Raza. They knew something was different when there were more guards then usual and the man who usually talked to them stayed in the back. Even so, the genius and doctor stood quietly with their hands behind their heads as Raza strolled towards them, appearing sinister.
"Relax." he told in perfect English, glancing from the younger and older men. They listened, lowering their arms. The leader then walked up to Stark and observed the arc reactor.
"The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine." the man stated suddenly, moving away to survey other things in the cave. "An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire."
"But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons, rules these lands." The billionaire was calm until he saw the terrorist picked up his sheets with the suit design. Yinsen noticed and subtly told him to not panic. Raza placed them down, much to Tony's relief, and moved to stand in front of Tony again. "And soon, it will be my turn."
"Why have you failed me?" he spoke in another language, addressing the doctor.
"We're working." the older man replied, "Diligently."
The leader headed over to him then "I let you live. This is how you repay me?"
Yinsen shrugged weakly. "It's very complex. He's trying very hard."
"On his knees." the leader ordered as he went to the heater. Yinsen was grabbed and forced down. "You think I'm a fool? I'll get the truth."
"We're both working." The man had picked up one of the embers with metal tongs then.
"Open your mouth."
"What does he want?" Stark asked, knowing their situation was getting bad.
"You think I'm a fool?" The doctor's head was turned and placed down on a small iron anvil. "What's going on? Tell me the truth."
"He's building your Jericho." Raza told him to tell him the truth again and he repeated the same answer. The burning ember was getting closer to his face with each same response.
"What do you want? A delivery date?" the genius questioned, taking a step towards the terrorist. Guns were pointed at him then and he was told to stop. He listened in defeat. "I need him. Good assistant."
Raza dropped the ember onto the anvil and ordered before leaving. "You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile."
"Oh, you're going to get your missile, alright." Tony thought, glaring at his retreating back. Once the terrorists were gone, the two men got back to work finishing the suit. They worked all through the night, making sure the cameras only saw them and not the pieces worked on. Once the suit was done, Stark was prepped. With him being the only one with an arc reactor in his chest, he had to wear the suit and clear a path for him and the doctor to get through safely.
"Okay? Can you move?" Yinsen asked him once the chest piece and arms were attached. He nodded. "Okay, say it again."
"Forty-one steps straight ahead. Then sixteen steps, that's from the door," the billionaire restated as the older man worked connecting other pieces to the suit. "Fork right, thirty-three steps, turn right." Meanwhile, Raza was looking at the monitors and could only see Yinsen working.
"Where is Stark?"
"He was here a moment ago." told one of his men.
"Go look for him." he commanded. Two other men rushed out of the room and towards the door that the kidnapped men were behind.
The slot opened and their names were shouted. "Yinsen! Yinsen! Stark!"
"Say something. Say something back to him." Tony whispered quickly.
"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't—"
"Then speak Hungarian."
"Okay. I know.." the doctor sighed, trying to remember what little Hungarian he knew.
"What do you know?" He finally remembered how to say 'one moment' and told the guard before continuing working. But the guard proceeded to shout at him. When he realized Yinsen wasn't listening, he gestured towards the other guard to open the door. But what they couldn't see was that on the other side, it was rigged with a detonating device. The door exploded, sending the men flying back. The leader watching the monitor saw the explosion too and shouted orders fast.
"How'd that work?" Stark asked, unable to see the damage.
"Oh, my goodness. It worked all right." Yinsen said with awe, staring at the aftermath.
His acquaintance smirked. "That's what I do."
The doctor looked back to the suit. "Let me finish this."
"Initialize the power sequence." he was instructed instead.
"Okay." He turned to the out-dated laptop. "Tell me."
"Function eleven. Tell me when you see a progress bar." The man pressed the button and the bar popped up onscreen. "It should be up right now."
"Yes—"
"Talk to me. 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." Yinsen turned back to him, picking up the power-wrench again. Shouts from the terrorists could be heard faintly, and growing louder, then.
"Every other hex bolt." the genius told calmly.
"They're coming!" the doctor said in a panic. "They're coming."
"Nothing pretty, just get it done." the younger man said, trying to ease his friend. "Just get it done." The older man managed to finish and peered back at the progress bar. It was only half-way done and from the shouts that grew closer, more time was needed.
"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" Tony reminded, not seeing the bar.
"We need more time." Yinsen muttered before looking back at Tony. "Hey, I'm gonna go buy you some time."
"Stick to the plan! Yinsen!" But the man didn't listen and ran to the entrance, picking up one of the discarded guns and rushing off. He fired the gun in the air, scaring the approaching terrorists further away. It had worked but he had gone too far. He stood helpless at the entrance of the main cave with several of Raza's men and himself aiming guns towards him..
"Ahh~" Tegan yawned, stretching as she stood in front of the monitors. It had been two months since she and Jarvis started surveying for signs of Tony. And so far, there hadn't be any luck but she wasn't one for quitting just yet. One of the many traits her and Stark had in common.
"Madam, you should rest." came the A.I.'s concerned response.
"I'll rest later. We're close..I just know it." she dismissed tiredly. The young woman had been having a gut feeling all day that her caregiver was close to being found.
"If you continue on, you run the risk of collapsing and being sent to a hospital." Jarvis informed adamantly. "Please, rest. I have everything under control."
"Fine~!" the female prodigy sighed in annoyance, walking away from the screens. "Then don't wake me unless it involves Tony so that means don't allow anyone inside the house and don't answer any phone calls—which should be sent to voice mail—until I'm up. Got it?"
"Yes, madam." She sat on the couch and laid down, covering herself with the thin sheet. Gray eyes stared absently at the TV screen currently on CNN for a few moments before they drifted close.
"Goodnight, Jarv.."
"Pleasant dreams."
Back in their cave, the progress bar had finally finished and the all the lights went out as power was drained into the suit. A group of terrorists soon arrived to the darken cave. Two cautiously walked inside, looking around. A bright light shone on one when he moved in front of the laptop and turned to look where it came from when he was struck hard and thrown back. The others standing at the entrance fired inside but struck no one. They glanced at each other in confusion when a large metal suit appeared in front of them. They fired again but were tossed aside just like the first one. Tony, inside the suit, headed forward. Bullets ricocheted off the bullet-proof armor and more men were taken out.
As he got closer to the entrance, they tried to block him in with doors but he punched away them. The terrorists ran in fear. Stark went to strike one running away but his arm got stuck in the stone wall. He hurried to get it out before he was attacked but one of the men came up close to him as he struggled and aimed a pistol to his head before firing. Luckily, the headgear he wore was bullet-proof as well, so the slug bounced off and hit the other man instead. His arm came free and the genius proceeded towards the exit. There, Raza stood waiting with a projectile gun and on a pile of bags laid Yinsen, injured.
"Yinsen!" Tony shouted.
"Watch out!" his friend warned just as a small projectile was shot towards him. Tony pivoted just in time and the rocket became embedded into the wall. He then readied his own and fired at the leader. It hit the wall right beside the terrorist and the blast forced him down, knocking him out. The billionaire went towards his friend.
"Stark." the doctor called softly.
"Come on. We got to go." he told hurriedly after lifting his face mask. "Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."
The injured man shook his head weakly. "This was always the plan, Stark."
"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up." Stark urged him.
"My family's dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark. Just like you will get out of here and see yours." he said, "It's okay. I want this. I want this."
"..Thank you for saving me."
"Don't waste it..Don't waste your life." And with that, Yinsen passed away. Fueled further with anger and determination, Tony pulled back down his mask and stepped towards the exit. More men stood poised waiting for him outside. When he appeared, gunfire ensued but once again none of the bullets hit him.
"My turn." he said once they stopped and sprayed fire at them. Some became ablaze along with his weapons lying about.
Stark walked forward, still sprouting fire towards the enemy and on the weapons. But as he was doing that, one of the terrorists used a high-powered machine gun. It distracted him and gave the others chance to shoot at him also. One bullet managed to damage the leg of the suit, causing him to go down on his hands and knees. The assault continued and he knew then that he had to get out of there quick. Spraying more fire on the weapons, they finally exploded, allowing him enough cover though the bullets still came. A switch was flipped on his arm and thrusters came on and shot him up into the air. The genius flew out of the mountain cavern and in the air a few feet before the thrusters shut off, plunging him down towards mounds of sands below. Luckily for him, he landed and came out okay but..that was another thing for the suit. Most of it laid around him in pieces, scattered in the sand.
Tony threw off the mask and slumped with relief and exhaustion. "..Not bad."
A few hours after Tegan had fallen asleep, Jarvis—who continued to scan the areas instructed—was alerted of an abnormal phenomenon in the mountains of Afghanistan. An explosion of some kind had occurred there. Investigating further, he zoomed as best he could without getting detected by the government. Fire was all he could make out in a small craven area, so instead he searched the perimeter. In the desert outside of the mountains, a figure of a man could be made out walking in the opposite direction of the explosion.
"Sir.." Jarvis uttered before looking to Tegan. From his camera eyes, he saw her sleeping peacefully for the first time in a month. Deciding to go against her orders of waking her, the AI instead called the only man that could help.
"Tegan, that you?" came Rhodey's voice on the other line.
"I'm afraid not, sir." told the advanced machine, "But I have orders to call you when whereabouts of my master have been found.."
Tony didn't know how long or far he had been walking in the desert but the heat on his over-exhausted body were having toll on him. He gripped Tegan's ring to give him strength and the will to go on. But just when he was about collapse in the sand, something flew over his head, creating a dry breeze that hit him. His tired brown eyes glanced up and saw two military helicopters flying low above.
"Hey!" he cried out, waving his arm to be seen. One of the helicopters landed then. With relief, he knelt in the sand and gave a peace sign towards the group piling out. Among them was his friend Rhodes.
"How was the 'fun-vee'?" his friend asked when standing in front of him. All Stark could do was chuckle. "Next time, you ride with me, okay?" James knelt too and hugged him. Tony just closed his eyes, glad to know he was out of harm's way at late.
"I'm coming home, Teg.."
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