A/N) I pretty much decided to stop posting here completely and to continue posting this story on another website I am posting this on... however recent reviews have made me reconsider.

HOWEVER, if I get one more review telling me to 'chop chop hurry up' for updates on this then I will delete this story from here and just will not bother to continue posting here. It is completely rude of readers to tell writers to hurry up, get a move on etc etc.

So, yes, if anyone hassles me again, via review or private message about updating quicker this story will be removed from the website.

FOUR

It was night and Tony and Yinsen were sitting in the cave, a fire burning between them. A beany hat sat on Tony's head. Yinsen said he was sure they were looking for Stark.

"I wouldn't be," muttered Wanda quietly.

"We were," confirmed Rhodey, ignoring Wanda's slight. "Every single day we searched. Any terrorist activity, we investigated. Every day brought us closer to you."

Tony smiled gratefully. Though he'd escaped on his own, the knowledge that Rhodey had never given up was heartening. At least someone cared. He doubted the Avengers would look for him now if he suddenly disappeared.

Wanda and Clint would probably throw a party, he thought.

Yinsen explained that they would never find Tony in the mountains. He leaned forward. "Look at what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark. 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?"

"Inspiring," commented Steve. But his expression fell when Tony's response didn't seem to show his enthusiasm.

"Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week."

"The electromagnet wouldn't have lasted much longer past a week," said Bruce.

"Yinsen would have probably had to operate again if it failed." Tony sighed quietly. He was sure the Ten Rings would never have let him die until he had given them what they wanted. They would have found a way to keep him alive, even with the limited technology available to them.

Bruce winced at Tony's words.

"Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?"

"It was." The beginning of Iron Man.

The scene changed to the cave cell bustling with activity. Tony was directing them, very adamant in his manner. He told them he wanted his work station well lit, he needed welding gear and that he didn't care if it was acetylene or propane. He required a soldering station and helmets and goggles. A smelting cup was needed as well as two sets of precision tools.

Tony was surprised at the lack of comment by his fellow Avengers.

Tony was working at a bench, examining the wires of one of the missiles.

"If they gave you your missiles to take apart, why didn't you just set them to detonate?" Bucky asked.

"Because it would have killed me too," pointed out Tony. "Plus, they had me on camera though they didn't really understand what I was doing. I could have gotten away with it if I'd tried, but I wanted to live."

"Sounds fair," agreed Bucky.

Tony asked Yinsen how many languages did he speak. Yinsen said a lot but it wasn't enough for this place as the terrorists spoke multiple languages.

Tony pulled something out of the missile and continued his questioning of Yinsen, wanting to know who their captors were and he was informed they were his loyal customers and they called themselves the Ten Rings. Yinsen told Tony that they might be more productive if Tony included him in the planning process. Tony vaguely acknowledged Yinsen's words.

"Why are you ignoring him?" asked Bruce.

"Because he's rude," sniped Wanda.

"Might have something to do with the fact that I was opening up a highly destructive missile that could have killed me if I'd fumbled with the wrong connections?" Tony quipped back. Her lack of intelligence was beginning to grate on him. Wanda was just looking for ways to put him down.

Tony drilled on the missile head and pulled off the top, pulling out a circular object and rested it on the table. Using tongs, Tony extracted a very small piece from the object before throwing the rest of it away.

"That's palladium. 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you break down the other eleven?" asked Tony.

"That's why I didn't answer straight away," stated Tony, folding his arms across his chest. "Delicate work. Much as I know you'd love to see me die, Wanda…"

"She doesn't want you dead, Tony." Steve spoke up in defence of her. "We're a team, regardless of our individual situations right now."

Tony looked at Steve incredulously. "Could have fooled me. I'm sure Barton thinks the same. We're not a team, never have been, not when we allow an outsider to tear us apart from the inside. Want to know why I really walked away from the Avengers, Rogers?" Tony indicated Wanda. "Her. Her joining the team made me walk away."

"The team doesn't need you, Stark," said Wanda twistedly. "It's better without-"

"Stop it, Wanda!" Steve shouted over her.

"I rest my case." Tony sat back and refused to meet Steve's eyes.

Tony and Yinsen were still being observed by their captors over the feed. Yinsen was holding a cup in some tongs as Tony poured some powder into it. Slowly, the other walked over to the table. Tony was anxious they got this right as they only had one shot of this. Yinsen reassured him that he had steady hands and queried whether Tony knew why he was still alive.

Tony walked beside him, clutching the battery in his left arm. Placing it on the table, he watched as Yinsen poured the mixture into the round cup.

"What do I call you?" asked Tony.

"Yinsen."

"Nice to meet you too."

"You never asked him his name until then?" Steve looked horrified. "Why not?"

"Do you think the usual standards of greeting someone new apply when you are in captivity?" snapped Tony, rolling his eyes. "I was rather preoccupied at the time."

"I would have still asked him his name… He did save your life!" Steve was admonished Tony had not had the courtesy to find out the name of his lifesaver.

Wanda was smirking and Clint was nodding along with everything Steve said, but Sam looked thoughtful, not showing whether he agreed with Tony's approach or Steve's.

Tony sat a desk using a small device to lift a circular ring and placed it on top of another small flat surface, on a metallic object. He welded it, using a battery to power the light in the circular device. A white, bluish light illuminated Tony's face.

"The Arc Reactor…" whispered Bruce. "Made from rudimentary materials…"

"Not many people would have been able to do what Tony did," stated Rhodey. "He could make anything out of nothing."

Yinsen leaned down over the desk, amazed at the device. A wire led from Tony's chest to the battery to the Reactor. He noted that it didn't look like a Jericho missile.

"That's because it's a miniaturised Arc Reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart."

"Miniaturising it extended my life expectancy. I wasn't kept back by the battery Yinsen had used," explained Tony. "It gave me more freedom to create what I really wanted to."

"Which was what?" asked Thor.

Tony smirked. "You'll see." Thor seemed to not have made the connection that this was where he had created the suit, despite the conversation earlier.

Yinsen asked what the Arc Reactor could generate. Tony explained that if his math was right, and that it always was, three gigajoules per second. Yinsen theorised that could run his heart for fifty lifetimes. Tony agreed.

"Yeah. Or something big for fifteen minutes."

"The Iron Man suit," realised Steve. He'd already known it but seeing Tony's brilliance at work was truly something to behold.

"The makings of a hero," said Rhodey.

"The makings of a traitor," said Clint loudly. Wanda smirked, agreeing with Clint's assessment.

"Clint," warned Steve.

Tony laid out scraps of paper on the table, switching the lamp on. He told Yinsen that this was their ticket out of there. Yinsen flattened them out and looked. He saw the designs for a suit of armour. Yinsen's face looked amazed and surprised at the same time. "Impressive."

"How long did it take to build?" asked Bucky. "You did it all by hand."

"A few weeks. Nowadays the production of Iron Man suits can be done within an hour," explained Tony.

"Useful if you know a threat is coming," said Bruce.

"Exactly why I have a production line ready to go if its needed. Protecting the Earth is my responsibility," said Tony. "I know something is coming. If I'm not prepared, we'll fail."

"Tony." Steve spoke quietly. "We'll do it together."

"Fail?" queried Natasha.

"Win," stated Steve. "We won't lose."

Tony's face twitched a bit. "I get the feeling if we're sitting here doing this, then we lose. Why else would they want us to see the future if we win?"

"Maybe the cost of winning was too high," observed Vision. "A cost that needs to be prevented."

"Maybe," murmured Steve, leaning back on the sofa, returning his gaze to the screen again.

Tony remained thoughtful. Much as he hated them having to go through movies about his own life, the thought had struck him the reason they had to do so, was because they needed to find a way to stop him from doing something incredibly stupid. Why else focus on movies showing Tony only and not the others? In a way he dreaded the last two movies but it was a long way to go before they got to that point. He shouldn't need to worry about it now.

The terrorists were observing Tony and Yinsen on camera. They saw Tony get off the bed and they could see the Arc Reactor shining brightly on his chest, emanating through his clothes.

They were playing a game, Yinsen laughing at the good roll. Tony noted Yinsen hadn't told him where he was from.

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place."

"Gulmira… Why does that ring a bell?" queried Sam. "There was something about that place and you…" He pointed to Tony. "What did you do and why do I remember it?"

Tony didn't reply. They'd find out.

Tony asked him if he had a family. Yinsen replied that he did and he would see them when he left this place. He asked Tony if he had any family. Tony looks up, his lips twitching as he glanced away, admitting he didn't have any family.

"Tony," began Rhodey, shifting forward on his seat a little. "You do have a family. Happy, Pepper and I are your family. The bots are your family. The suits are your children. You've never been without a family."

Tony nodded numbly. He could see that now. "I was very alone, Rhodey. I wasn't happy. Now, I feel like I do have a family. Pepper and I are doing great, really great, but back then… No, you may say I had a family but I didn't, no matter how close you were to me. I treated you badly, not as a friend. Afghanistan was the making of me."

"Tony-" Steve tried to speak but Tony cut him off.

"If you try to say the Avengers are my family like you said in that letter you sent, they're not. Barton and Maximoff hate me. You dislike me. Nat betrayed me. No, if the Avengers were family we would have sorted through the Accords like adults. Do you even know who stopped them from killing Barnes when they caught you in Bucharest? Me. I stood up for you. The kill order was only rescinded because I appealed to Ross."

Bruce held up a hand. "Wait. Ross? Thaddeus Ross? The one who wants me?"

"Yeah," answered Steve.

"It's complicated," Tony continued. "But the world turned against us, Bruce. We all made mistakes. I tried to work with the world to keep the Avengers together."

"But others disagreed," intoned Nat, nodding to Steve.

"Please don't make any judgements on who is right or wrong before seeing what happened," suggested Tony. "Thaddeus Ross' involvement was unfortunate. I hate the guy as much as anybody but sometimes you have to work with people you may not like to get things done. When the world turns against you, don't keep on fighting. It doesn't work."

"But something else happened," noted Bruce, looking at Tony and then at Steve.

Tony confirmed. "It did."

But no one seemed to want elaborate further.

"Shall we continue?" prompted Thor.

Everyone agreed.

Yinsen observed Tony was a man who had everything and nothing. Tony gave him a half-smile.

Three men were walking through the cave to the prison cell door. One looked through the peephole, saw Tony and Yinsen sitting there, and walked away.

There was a sound of a flare as Tony welding something together, wearing goggles so as not to injure his eyes. He was fixing a wire into a green canister. Men were watching over the security feeds, trying to figure out what part of the Jericho Tony was building.

"They're starting to get suspicious…" Sam said, his voice slightly worried.

A bald man looks menacing on as the Tony on camera tested out a leg piece as Yinsen watches.

"Shit!" Rhodey swore.

"Swearing, honey-bear," grinned Tony.

"Shut up, Tones," grated Rhodey. "You knew you were being observed. Couldn't you have tested the leg without being seen?"

Tony shook his head. "No. If I wasn't seen on camera they would come and inspect my work station. I had to be careful but not too careful." He tapped his chest where the Arc Reactor had once sat. "They knew I had made another chest-piece. I think they realised I was probably building other things as well as the missile. Not that I was building them the missile but I did have to make it seem like I was without arousing too much attention."

"You still did well to create a suit when you were being observed by your captors," said Bucky. "You had more freedom than I did. I never had the chance."

Tony winced. Barnes had suffered too: taken prisoner and brutally tortured and turned into the Winter Soldier. He may have killed Howard and Maria Stark but Barnes had, had no control over his actions. When this is over, I need to talk to him. "I'm sorry."

Barnes gratefully inclined his head.

Steve smiled slightly, feeling a bit better over this situation. If Tony could forgive Bucky, or at least make peace with him, then it gave him hope he'd be able to make things work between himself and Tony again.

The peephole opens again and a man shouted in Arabic. Tony looked up from his work as the cell door opens, and men with guns enter, gesturing at Tony and Yinsen to move away from their work. Both put their hands behind their head.

The bald man – clearly the leader of the group – walked in.

"Raza," informed Tony. "He was the leader of this faction of the Ten Rings." He felt the others should know his name, even though it didn't really matter as Raza had been dead for years, courtesy of one Obadiah Stane.

Raza told them to lower their hands. He walked over to Tony and opened the top of Tony's shirt with his fingers, inspecting the Arc Reactor in his chest. He spoke as he walked away from Tony. "The bow and arrow was once the pinnacle of weapons technology."

"Still is," said Clint proudly.

Tony doubted that but Clint was a master at it. He may have said something positive but he doubted Clint would appreciate it coming from him.

"It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine." Raza inspected Tony's desk. "An Empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and five times the size of the Roman Empire." Raza began to walk back towards Tony, then spotted the tracing paper and picks them up. "But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules the lands." Raza couldn't see anything worth noting on the paper and put them back. "And soon, it will be my turn."

"He's deluded," stated Clint. "He'd be stopped before he could make any progress on taking lands."

Steve nodded in appreciation.

Raza continued to stare at Tony. He spoke in Urdu and Yinsen answered that they were working. Raza said he let Yinsen live and this was how he was repaying him.

"Shit," swore Sam. "He knows."

"Something bad is going to happen…" muttered Bruce.

"You could say that…" Tony confirmed.

"He better not hurt Yinsen!" Thor growled.

Yinsen defended himself saying it was very complicated and that Tony was trying very hard.

"Yeah, that's not gonna cut it with that guy," warned Sam.

Raza ordered Yinsen to his knees. He was grabbed and forced down as Tony looked briefly away.

"You think I'm a fool?" stated Raza. "I'll get the truth."

"We're both working," explained Yinsen.

Raza turns and holds out tongs with burning coal.

"Open your mouth," ordered Raza.

"NO!" Steve and Bucky both stood up. Thor jumped up too.

Tony asked what Raza wanted and the terrorist reiterated again that they must have thought him a fool. Yinsen's head was placed on the rock and turned to the side. Raza demanded to know what was going on and to tell him the truth. Speaking in Arabic, Yinsen told him Tony was building the Jericho. He kept on repeating the answer to the same question, not yielding.

"Tony, you have to do something!" Steve turned to face his former teammate. "Please tell me you didn't just let this happen!"

"I'll be surprised if he steps in," added Wanda nastily.

Steve chose to ignore her comment.

"Watch and see," advised Tony.

Steve turned back to the screen.

Tony steps forward querying whether Raza wanted a delivery date. The other men in the cave raised their guns at Tony, who raises his arms. Raza looked at Tony, still holding the burning coal to Yinsen's mouth.

"I need him. Good assistant."

Raza put the coal down. "You have until tomorrow to assemble my missile." He threw the tongs away and Tony watched him and the others leave.

"Shit. That was close," breathed out Bucky.

"I did what I could to help," added Tony quietly. "He helped me. I helped him. I couldn't let them hurt him for something I'd done."

Wanda caught Tony's gaze. "You did what I didn't expect of you." Her voice had lost the edge to it, but there was still distrust in her eyes.

"You'd be surprised what you don't know about me. You may believe you know me but you don't." Tony turned back to the screen.

The scene changed to Tony in a green vest, his Arc Reactor shining as he hammered metal work into place, then putting a facial plate in burning water, bringing it out and placing it on a table in front of Yinsen, who was working with various wires.

Rhodey whistled. "The first Iron Man helmet. Rudimentary. But it worked."

"It got me out of there," shrugged Tony.

Tony is wrapping tape around his hands as Yinsen lights up the chest piece in the suit. He helped Tony put on jacket, gloves throat armour and a chest piece. He asked him if he was okay and if he could still move. He wanted him to repeat the instructions again. Tony rattled off the precise instructions of how their plan would work, of how many steps he would need to take to reach each stage in their plan. Yinsen continued to connect stuff up.

Outside the cell, in the monitoring cave, Raza looked at the camera feed into the cell. He couldn't see Stark. His subordinates said he was there a moment ago. Raza ordered them to go look for him. The men rushed off to investigate as Raza saw Yinsen on the feed.

The men rushed down the corridor to the cell door, opened the peephole and yelled for Yinsen and Stark.

"Tones… this is pushing it… Really close," winced Rhodey.

"Had no choice. I knew as soon as they noticed I wasn't on camera they would check on me. We had to time this precisely." Tony leaned back. "Besides, you know I got out."

"But to see it is another thing…" his friend pointed out.

Tony asked Yinsen to say something back to them however Yinsen didn't speak Hungarian which was what the men were using. They saw a view of the door with explosives set to it, rigged to explode as soon as the door opened. The men pushed the door open and it exploded.

Raza saw it happen on security feed.

"Shit," hissed Natasha. "Tony, get out of there!"

"I really hope that suit is working," swallowed Steve.

"It is," grinned Tony. At least he wasn't getting any more snide remarks from Wanda or Clint currently.

Raza yelled for his mem and they began to converge on the cell.

Tony asks how the explosion went. Yinsen looks and was shocked by the debris on the floor. Two men were dead and rubble was scattered all over the floor. He said it worked all right.

"That's what I do," said Tony.

"Can't say Tony isn't good at what he does," pointed out Rhodey. "Tony has many years of experience making things explode. His weapons never fail."

"They do," replied Wanda quietly. "The missile which hit our building failed to go off."

Rhodey frowned. "That's odd…"

"Why is it odd?" queried Sam. "Not all weapons are one hundred percent perfect. There could always be manufacturing problems that are not picked up."

"Not possible. Not at Stark Industries," intoned Tony. He glanced at Vision. "JARVIS monitored the production of every missile. None of my missiles were ever faulty. They always did what they were supposed to do."

"But it didn't go off." Wanda stood up and moved over to stand in front of Tony. "How can you say that when it clearly happened?"

Tony's lips twitched. "I think you'll find what was fired at your home was not a genuine Stark missile."

"What?" Shock spread across the young woman's face.

"Watch and see, Wanda," advised Tony.

"Wanda?" Steve asked cautiously. "Come on."

Wanda sat down again, her posture uncomfortable and it was clear she was mulling over Tony's words.

Yinsen finished setting everything up and Tony instructed him to initialize the power sequence. Yinsen loaded up an old-style computer that was quite slow. He asked Tony to tell him what to do. "Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now." Tony sounded slightly desperate. Yinsen told him it was and they saw a green box had appeared, slowly beginning to load.

"Come on…" whispered Bruce. "I don't know how you coped when everything was riding against you."

"Good thing we were deep inside the caves. Our cell was quite deep. Even if I'd got out without a suit, I would have been caught quite easily which was why I never tried to escape. I had to bide my time and wait until I was ready, though Raza did push me into rushing things."

Tony told Yinsen to press 'Control' and 'I' and then 'I' and 'Enter' together. He asked Yinsen to come and button him up. The terrorists were still rushing towards Tony's location. Tony continued to give Yinsen instructions. He needed to button up every other hex bolt, but Yinsen was aware they were about to be caught by their captors. The progress bar was slowly inching closer to one hundred percent.

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" Tony needed to know Yinsen would get out.

"We need more time," said Yinsen desperately. "I'm gonna go and buy you some time."

"Stick to the plan!" yelled Tony, still stuck waiting for the suit to finish powering up.

Yinsen grabbed a gun from one of the dead terrorists and ran off.

"Stick to the plan!" Tony yelled again. He could hear the sound of gunshots as Yinsen ran off down the corridor. Tony looked horrified by the turn of events. "Yinsen."

"He died, didn't he?" said Steve quietly.

Tony bowed his head. Yinsen's death still hurt. The man had saved his life but he hadn't been able to repay the gesture. "Yeah, he did."

"He'd be proud of what you've done."

"We don't know that. Yinsen isn't alive to see it," swallowed Tony.

The progress bar was only at fifty percent.

The terrorists were running down the corridor, only to turn and run as Yinsen comes by with a gun, firing it into the air. He arrived at the entrance of the cave and Yinsen stopped. Raza and his men all point guns at Yinsen.

Thor bowed his head. "Yinsen was a good man."

"He didn't deserve to die," added Steve.

Bucky shook his head. "He didn't."

Back in the cavern cell, there was a beeping indicating the suit had finally reached one hundred percent. The lights went out and a few of the terrorists run into the darkened cave. The center man pushed his comrade forward.

"Coward," grated Clint.

The men looked around anxiously as the lights dimmed and then flashed. A gloved hand was seen flexing its fingers. One of the men turns around and sees a shining white light, starts firing his gun but is thrown back. The other men start firing bullets around the darkened cavern. The stopped, looking for Stark, then their eyes widened as someone in big metal armour started to attack them.

Their bullets did not penetrate its shell.

"Bloody hell! It was bullet-proof?" Sam was shocked.

"Had to be," explained Tony. "Or at least give me a lot of protection. Naturally, the later suits I improved a lot. This was just a rudimentary version which was needed to get me out."

The terrorists continued to fire however Tony punches one out-cold. Then they saw the suit and the various weapons attached to it. There were gun emplacements, fire launchers, all moulded into the crude armour. Tony walked forward as the remaining men screamed. Tony continues to fire and attacks them, flinging them back. The rest started to flee and Tony started to follow. They shut the door on Tony hoping it would stop him.

"It won't work. The suit is more than capable of smashing through the door," observed Vision.

"I wouldn't want to be the terrorist trapped in the room with you," added Clint, perhaps one of the nicest things he had said to Tony since the viewing had started.

The man pounds on the door as the others behind it began to step back. All they could hear was screaming and then a loud clumping noise and silence.

"They might want to think about running…" pointed out Bucky.

"I think they hope a wooden door will stop Tony." Bruce shook his head. "Never ever kidnap a genius scientist and allow him to play with weapons. It never ends well."

Tony bashed the door down and a few began to flee whilst others rushed to attack Tony. He swings his arm and it gets trapped in the wall. Tony tugged, trying to pull the arm out. One of the terrorists approached, aimed at the metal head.

Rhodey held his head in his hands. "This won't end well."

The bullet rebounds and hits the terrorist in the head.

"Knew it," commented Rhodey.

Tony pulled his arm free and continued his journey through the cavern.

Raza is loading a rocket launcher and Yinsen was coughing in the background, clothes covered in blood.

"He's still alive?" Steve gasped. "Surely there is something-"

Tony shook his head. "No. I couldn't save him."

Tony yelled for Yinsen. "Watch out!" responded Yinsen, warning him of the impending attack. As Tony came into view, Raza fired the rocket launcher. Tony leaned back and the missile hit the wall. Tony released a catch on his arm and fires his own missile which exploded close to Raza, collapsing rubble onto the man.

"You didn't try to kill him?" Steve looked impressed. "After what he did to you?"

Tony shook his head. "No. Burnt him pretty good though."

Tony approached Yinsen and lifted his helmet up.

"Stark." Yinsen gasped.

"Come on. We got to go. Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."

"Oh, Tones…" whispered Rhodey. "He meant a lot to you."

"He did," replied Tony softly. Even seeing Yinsen's death again was getting to him. "He gave me a second chance."

"This was always the plan, Stark," said Yinsen.

Tony wasn't having any of it. "Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up."

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

Tony's face was twitching.

"I want this." Yinsen's voice was getting shallower and quieter. "I want this…"

Tony sighs, a slight smile crossing his face. He couldn't change Yinsen's fate but he could accept it. "Thank you for saving me."

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life."

"Those words…" began Tony, "were what made me rethink everything. It wasn't Afghanistan itself which changed me, it was Yinsen. He saved me when he shouldn't have done. Everything I've done since then is to try to atone for what I'd done before. I wasted my life building weapons because that's what Obadiah wanted. It never occurred to me until Afghanistan how damaging they were, how they destroyed people's lives…"

Wanda glanced at him curiously, her face slightly softening.

Tony watched as Yinsen died, and then he looked to the cave entrance, anger in his eyes.

Outside, the surviving men of Raza's group trained their guns on the entrance. Trembling footsteps echo and then Tony's menacing suit appears. The men shouted and fired bullet after bullet all at Tony's armour. He stood there, taking every hit. Then, the hail of bullets stopped. Tony raised his arms.

"My turn." And he let loose his flame thrower, spreading fire all over the camp, flaming all the Stark weapons stacked in boxes and the men who did not manage to avoid the flames.

"Remind me never to piss you off again," stated Sam.

Tony laughed. "If it helps, I do not use flame throwers on later Iron Man suits." Then he frowned, contemplating the idea. "Though it maybe something to consider for the next Mark up."

The suit walked through the camp. A machine gun stopped him in his tracks and the bullets started to take an effect upon the suit. Tony's legs gave way and he collapsed to his knees. He tried to fire more of his flame-thrower, increasing the blast. Everything is exploded around him.

Steve was leaning forward, watching, and waiting. "Tony, you need to get out of there!"

Tony flicked a red switch on his left arm.

As everything exploded around him, thrusters in Tony's feet propel him forward, through the blast and as he reaches the top of the arc, his booster withered and he started to fall headfirst towards the desert. Tony screamed and at the last minute he flipped onto his back and crash-landed in the desert.

Everyone flinched.

"That must have hurt," muttered Clint.

"It did," confirmed Tony. "I'd hoped the thrusters would have taken me further."

"How are you still alive?" Bruce asked incredulously. "The suit shouldn't have protected you that much, not from a fall of that height!"

Tony shrugged. "Lucky, I guess? I think turning in the air when I did absorbed most of the impact." Even he had been baffled as to how he had survived with hardly any injuries from that fall.

The suit was completed trashed, broken to pieces. Tony was in a ditch, pulling the Iron Man helmet off. Blood coated his face and neck. He sighs in relief. "Not bad."

"Thanks to you making such a noise out there, our scanners picked up on the explosions and we flew out to investigate." Rhodey patted Tony on the back. "If you hadn't escaped like that, we would never have found you."

Tony is partially running and stumbling through the desert in trousers and vest, with the jacket he had been wearing used to protect his head from the scorching sun overhead. Hot sun beat down upon him as he reached the top of the dune.

"How long were you out there for?" asked Steve, sounding concerned.

"A few hours," answered Tony. "But I was already weak, starving, and dehydrated when I started out… I wouldn't have lasted much longer if help hadn't arrived." He glanced gratefully at Rhodey.

Suddenly, two helicopters flew overhead.

Tony started to wave frantically. "Hey!" He was jubilant, raising his hand in the trademark peace sign and collapsed to his knees.

The helicopter began to land and five soldiers with loaded guns began to run toward him. One of the soldiers was Rhodey. His friend knelt down in front of him. "How was the 'fun-vee'?" Tony smiled and laughed lightly. Rhodey reaches for his friend's shoulder. "Next time, you ride with me, okay?" Rhodey's voice was breaking. Tony leaned in for a hug.

Rhodey was shaking his head. "You don't know how I felt when we realised, we had found you, Tony. I was this close to being sent home and the search for you being called off. Those three months you were gone were… hell. I shouldn't have let you go off on your own."

"Rhodey… it was my fault. But… if you'd been with me, you'd be dead," added Tony quietly.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I wouldn't have let them take you." Rhodey was adamant about that.

Tony didn't want to push the subject any further.

"The main thing, is that Tony survived," interjected Steve. "And he was found."

Rhodey nodded, agreeing with the Captain.

"The world would be a worse place without Tony Stark in it," said Rhodey.

"They don't agree with that assessment," pointed out Tony, nodding towards Wanda and Clint.

They both looked uncomfortable. Perhaps the events they had seen so far had made them rethink their views on Tony.

"It's alright," admitted Tony. "When I'm dead and gone, the world won't miss me. I've already come to terms with that." He gave them all a pointed look, telling them that no further discussion was needed.

Then, they all turned back to the screen and the movie resumed.

To be continued...

Please me know what you think!

A few points: In Civil War, Steve and Sam are told that the soldiers have the order to kill Barnes on sight. However, I find that hard to believe, because if they did have those orders, then once Barnes had been caught after the car chase, why didn't they shoot him then? There was equal opportunity to do so, yet the soldiers only captured them. I think the original order was to kill Bucky, but someone stepped in, on their behalf, and appealed for the order to be changed from kill to capture.

Wanda is also starting to have some doubts about her opinion of Tony too.

Tony's comment to Wanda about the missiles used were not genuine Stark missiles, I think there is some truth to this theory. More will be revealed.

The next chapter has already been uploaded as I didn't post last week.

Until then,

the-writer1988