Tony awoke with a start. The first thing he realized is that he didn't know where he was. The second thing he realized was that there was a feeding tube going through his nose. The attack came flooding back in a rush.

He coughed slightly, then began pulling the feeding tube out of his nose. He let out a short moan as the feeding tube got stuck, due to the tape on his nose. He pulled at it, then reached out and pulled at the tape until it came off and the feeding tube was free.

He took a few shaky breaths, and reached for the glass of water to one side of his bed. He only succeeded in knocking it off the table. He coughed a few times, his breath visible in the cold air.

He caught sight of a girl over by a mirror, braiding her hair. She didn't look more than ten, her figure just starting to develop. She was humming a tuneless song.

Tony reached for the jug with his other hand, but was held back. The sound of metal scraping reached his ears. The girl stopped, tying off her hair.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said, not turning around, but obviously watching him through the mirror. Tony turned to his other side to see a car battery, with wires leading under the bandages in his chest.

His breathing became frantic as he ripped the bandages apart to find that the wires were connected to a metal cylinder in his chest.

He took a few loud, shallow breaths, his mind trying to wrap itself around the metal plate in his chest.

The girl whistled as she made food in a pan that she was holding over the fire. Tony was sitting up on his pallet now, still in shock about his chest.

"What the hell did you do to me?" he asked. "What I did?" the girl asked, turning her head from the food to Tony. "What I did was to save your life."

Tony stared at her in shock. "I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum. Here, wanna see?" she asked, picking up a corked vial and shaking. "I have a souvenir. Take a look," she said, tossing the vial to him.

Tony caught it and held it up to the light. He could see the tiny fragments of metal rolling around it there.

"I've seen many wounds like that, around here," the girl said. "We call them the "walking dead," because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

"What is this?" Tony asked grimly. "That," the girl said, "Is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." She said this with a grim, tight-lipped smile and a nod.

Tony just stared at her as he zipped the jacket up. He looked to the corner, where a robotic camera turned to look at him. The girl turned to see what he was looking at. "That's right," she said, turning back to her cooking. "Smile." Tony just stared at her.

"We met once, you know," the girl said. "At a technical conference in Bern that my mother was attending." "I don't remember," Tony said in a low voice. The girl giggled. "You wouldn't. I was just a little girl. Plus, if most people had been that drunk, they wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on…integrated circuits."

"Where are we?" Tony asked, looking around. The girl was about to answer when there was a metallic ringing from the door, and a voice shouting in Arabic.

The girl dropped what she was doing and moved towards Tony. "C'mon, stand up," she hissed, motioning to him. "Stand up." When he did, she grabbed his arm and hissed, "Do as I do." She moved him so he was facing the door and said, "C'mon, put your hands up!" She lifted her hands and placed them behind her head. Tony copied her.

The doors opened and several men walked in. The one in the middle was obviously the leader and the other two were obviously thugs. They swaggered in. "Those are my guns," Tony practically growled. "How did they get my guns?" "Do you not understand me?" the girl hissed. "Do as I do!"

The leader threw up his arms and said something in Arabic, all with a smile on his face. The leader motioned to the girl. She took a deep breath and said, "He says 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America."

The leader continued on, saying something else that Tony had no clue what it meant. Still, the leader smiled. The girl said shortly, "He's honored." The leader rambled on in Arabic.

"He wants you to build the missile," the girl translated as the man continued on, unperturbed. "The Jericho missile you demonstrated." The leader handed a picture to the girl, gesturing towards Tony. The girl took the picture and showed it to Tony. "This one," she said.

Tony looked at the missile, the crown jewel of the Stark Industries freedom line, his most destructive missile yet. Tony thought a moment, the realization sinking in. "I refuse," he said coldly. The leader's eyes narrowed.