Chapter 5
About an hour later, both men were shoved on back through the door, hoods still on their heads, an ominous click of the door's lock sounded behind them.
I hadn't moved from the ground, being unable to get up and move. Tony ripped the hood of his head and quickly made his way over to me, still carrying the car battery.
He lifted me up and into his arms after setting the battery down, his head nestled into my shoulder, his arms wrapped firmly around me, supporting most of my weight.
"Jasper." He whispered into my hair before pulling back just enough to firmly kiss me.
Desperation and panic passed through us, I put as much hope into the kiss as I could before I pulled back to cradle his face.
"I love you." I whispered, my eyes wide with desperation as I scrutinized his face, making sure he was okay.
He had the steely look back in his eyes, "I'm going to get us out of here."
He promised me and I believed him. I always believed in him and he always believed in me.
"Where did they take you?" I asked as Tony lead me to the cot to sit down.
He gave me a troubled look before replying, "They have our weapons, they want us to make them the Jericho Missile. That's not going to happen. I have a plan."
His words only reassured me a little, his plans either turned out to be very good or very bad.
Hours later, I'm assuming, the door opened again and equipment, missiles, and other tech stuff was brought inside. Soon the cave was filled with stuff, Tony yelling commands as to where to put stuff as I watched on from the cot. It wasn't long before the men cleared out again, locking the door behind them.
Tony was disassembling a missile, the old man wasn't far behind, trying to help.
"You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process."
Tony just ignored him and continued to mumble to himself, "Okay, we don't this." He carried a chunk of something over to a work table, carefully extracting pieces. He lifted something out of the metal, I couldn't see very well from my angle.
"What is that?" The old man asked.
"That's palladium, 0.15 grams." Tony pointed towards the other missiles. "We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?"
The old man just nodded and went to work.
I felt useless just sitting here, my hands itching to be productive. "Tony, I need to do something. I'm not completely helpless, my hands still work."
He looked at me, sighing, a pensive look on his face; he carried papers and an ancient laptop over to me, his car battery in his other hand. "I need you to keep this from the old man for now. I don't trust him yet."
I nod solemnly and he smoothed out the papers. Each one had individual diagrams on them but combined it revealed a giant robot. "Tony, how is a giant ass robot supposed to help us get out of here?" I ask him, a little exasperated.
"It's going to be powered by a tiny arc reactor that is also going to replace the car battery hooked up to my heart. That's what the palladium is for, so I don't die before we can get out of here. The suit is going to be equipped with weapons and hopefully be able to fly a little. I need you to code a program that will direct the power of the arc reactor throughout the suit."
I was used to my husband's hairbrained ideas but this was insane. "You're going to wear this thing?"
He nodded, his eyes were filled with desperation, "Both of us. You're going to be strapped in there with me. It's the only plan I have where I can be sure you won't get hurt."
My eyes soften and I give him a small smile before cradling his face. "We will both be fine. We are all going to get out of here. Darcy is probably panicking right now and crocheting up a storm. Pepper is probably demanding they find us and starting her own search team. There are people out there who look up to us and if you think this giant robot suit can get us out of here, I will believe in you, just like I always have and always will. Now give me that prehistoric laptop and lets get to work."
Tony gave me a short but deep kiss before leaving me the laptop and going back to work.
The old man was carrying the liquid palladium over to the mold as Tony looked on cautiously.
"Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this."
The old man scoffed, "Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?"
As the palladium was poured, Tony finally had the common courtesy to ask the old man for his name. "What do I call you?"
The old man glanced up at him before answering, "My name is Yinsen."
Tony just nodded, "Yinsen. Nice to meet you."
Yinsen gave a little smile. "Nice to meet you, too."
That was all that was said on the subject as both men went back to work and I delved back into coding, frustrated with the ancient technology.