"I'm sure they're looking for you two, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains."

The three of them were back in their prison cave. It was late and the air had grown cold; even with the fire they were still forced to layer up with what little clothes they were provided. Tony sat on one of the cots with Olive asleep in his lap. She was remarkably calm and terrifyingly quiet when they were locked back in the cave, but Tony was sure it was the shock of the situation. She had asked a few questions, mostly about the devices in their chests and where they were, all with a very quiet voice and absolutely no emotion in her eyes. Then she simply laid down in Tony's lap and closed her eyes. This was not like her, Tony knew. She did a lot for him out there in their world and she worked hard. He admired her work, always had, but he pushed her buttons just like he did with everyone else. They were close, but not like she was with Pepper, but none of that seemed to matter now. They were in this together and both of them were looking to each other for the only piece of home, of comfort they had in this sea of unfamiliarity. So when Olive's response to the information she was given was to cuddle up to him, Tony didn't mind. He wouldn't admit how scared he was, how much all of this freaked him out, but he was honestly glad to have her with him. She was the one who always accompanied him on his business trips; she kept him on track and worked her butt off to cover for him when he decided he wanted to play hookie for some event or award ceremony or whatever. She always had his back, no matter how much he pissed her off. For him, that was something that was hard to find. Everyone wanted to be friends of him because of his name, because of what he could do for them. She and Pepper, and even Happy and Rhodey, those were the people he felt most comfortable around. So after everything she'd done for him he let her fall asleep in his lap. She was out in minutes, and Tony sat there staring at the fire that the Doctor started, his arms resting on Olive's waist, playing with the hem of her shirt. He was only half listening to the Doctor talk.

"Look, what you just saw," he was saying, "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?"

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

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

Tony was quiet. The Doctor sighed.

"What about for Olive? Huh? This could be her last week on earth, too. Is this how you want her last week to be?"

Tony looked down at her sleeping figure, then at the car battery that they had sat in the floor in front of them, the one thing that would keep one of them alive for what was hopefully several weeks. Then an idea sparked in his head, something that might could keep them both alive long enough for him to them out of there.

"How long do you think that battery would last if it was only hooked to one of us?" he said.

"Um, I mean, a lot longer than it being hooked up to the both of you. Why?"

Tony didn't respond at first, he simply sat up a little straighter and carefully got out from under Olive, gently lying her head down where he had been sitting and covered her up. He looked up at their roommate with a smirk, "Like you said, it's an important week. Better get some sleep, then, huh?"

The next morning, or what he felt like was morning, Tony woke and sat up from his cot. It was so dark in that cave and there was absolutely no sunlight, he had no idea what time it actually was. His friend was across the room, still asleep in his own cot, and when Tony went to move his arm he found that he had gotten himself tangled in the wires that attached him to the battery. He sighed and analyzed the wires, still with a sense of guilt and sadness. Olive's sleeping form lay on the other side of the table, their battery the only thing between them. She was calm and sleeping soundly, something Tony was surprised to find soothed him. Hearing the panic in her voice when she was forced out of her coma the day before nearly killed him. He knew that he had a bad reputation, and that it seemed like he didn't respect people, even his closest friends, but he did. He had a deep, passionate love for those closest to him. It was he who had the problem; a problem getting close to people. He had been alone most of his life, that's all he knew and that's how he liked it. But he would admit to no one that he cared very much for who he considered close to him. Olive rolled over in her sleep and the thin blanket she had slid off of her shoulder, revealing the magnet in her chest. Tony looked at it then back at his, remembering what their Doctor had told him: how there was so much more shrapnel in her chest than his because he wore the vest. It killed him to think about it, but he also knew he had to do something about it. That battery wouldn't keep them both alive for long and he knew that. He already had a plan in order, but if he wanted to make it work he needed to get started as soon as possible. He started to sit up, ready to start fighting for himself and for Olive, even for their Doctor, but the wires stopped him. For a moment he forgot he was attached to Olive and he sighed. He really didn't want to wake her, but if they wanted to live long enough for them to get home, he needed to begin work immediately.

He slung his legs over to the other side of his cot so that he was facing hers and very quietly placed his hands on her shoulder. As soon as his hand made contact with her, her eyes shot open in a panic. She tried to sit up but he stopped her, shushing her and trying to calm her down. She was not handling the situation well, no matter how much she tried to hide it with her calmness last night, Tony knew she was lying. When she realized who he was she stopped fighting and sat still, taking deep breathes to calm herself. There were tear stains on her cheeks already and Tony continued to shush her.

"It's okay, you're fine, it's just me." He said. She glanced around, expecting those group of men to be there with them or something bad to have happened and she furrowed her brow when she realized it was quiet, even their roommate was still asleep. She looked to Tony, asking a silent question and he took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts before speaking. He knew that he pissed her off 99% of the time, but she cared for him. She'd had his back many times out there in their world of gossip and rumors that they lived in. If they wanted to get back there they were going to have to work together on this, "Do you trust me?"

Olive looked at him as if he'd grown another head, "Of course I do. Why on earth would you think I didn't?"

He was surprised by her answer but tried not to let it phase him, "Because this," he placed his hand on the car battery that connected them, "is not going to keep both of us alive for very long. At least not both of us together."

"Oh."

Tony could tell she was trying to put the pieces together, but he stopped her before she came to any drastic conclusions, "But I've got a plan. You're gonna think I'm crazy, but we're going to need to work together on this to make this work."

She looked at him and he could see the fear in her eyes. She was not a scientist or an engineer, she didn't graduate early from MIT or anything remotely close, but she wanted to trust him and to help him. With that fear she also had a sense of determination. She was hot-headed, stubborn, and determined. A lot like him in a lot of ways, and he was starting to notice that. A smirk grew on her face and she started nodding her head slowly, like she was giving herself a silent pep talk. He grinned and got to his feet, holding out his hand to her which she took without hesitation as he picked up their car battery and led her to a table nearby with some thin pieces of paper on it. With the car battery sitting between them, they took a seat and got to work on a very elaborate escape plan. An escape plan that would take them home, together.

They worked for several hours, undermining every single detail of their plan before their group of captures came in began yelling at them, waking up their Doctor. They were having all of Tony's weapons brought in and the two of them jumped up, making sure no one could see exactly what they were working on. The larger man from the day before came over, yelling at them in that same language that neither of them understood and the Doctor finally came over to join them, translating so that they could understand. He was actually asking what kinds of tools and things Tony would need to build the missile and he and Olive exchanged a look, both of them smiling as he handed her their battery and started rattling off a list of orders and tools to their roommate for him to tell their capture.

A few hours later, the three of them were left along with all of the weapons that their captures had collected from who knows where, all of the donning the all too familiar Stark Industries logo on them. The three of them were all sitting at a lit table, Olive and the Doctor sat watching Tony take apart one of the missiles they'd been given in complete silence. Tony glanced up at them, lingering on their cave-mate before going back to his work, "How many languages do you speak?"

"A lot." He replied, "But apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian."

Olive made a face, "Who are these people?"

"They are your loyal customers. They call themselves the Ten Rings."

Tony pulled out a long piece of the weapons innards and set in on the table, taking in the information he was being given. He looked at Olive and gestured for her to follow and she grabbed the battery and trotted behind him, getting down on her knees in front of a huge jet missile. Their Doctor followed and watched the two of them work for a moment, with Tony mumbling directions to Olive and her following without a complaint. The Doctor squatted down next to them and Olive looked up at him with a kind, but tired face and he felt for her. She was not made for this. None of them were and he sucked in a breath, "You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process."

"Yeah?" Tony pounded on the front of the missile and knocked the outer shell off, revealing all of the mechanics inside. He reached in and pulled out a small cylinder and gestured for Olive to follow once more. The Doctor trailed behind them, joining them once again at the lit table where Tony sat with a small pair of tweezers, carefully pulling a small piece of metal out of the piece of the missile he'd just retrieved. Once he got what he needed, he tossed the rest over his shoulder, shattering it on the hard rock floor behind him.

"What is that?" the Doctor asked. Tony held it up for all three of them to see.

"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?"

The man thinned his lips and nodded, already getting a feel of how this operation was going to work. Olive couldn't go very far from Tony so he would be doing a lot of the so called heavy lifting while she would be working very close with Tony, basically being an extra pair of hands for him, much like his machine's at home; something to bounce ideas off of. She may not have studied any kind of engineering or science, but she was a good student and she took directions well and asked a lot of questions, keeping Tony on his toes.

They lost track of how many days it took them to finish their project, pulling apart all kinds of weapons and machinery and Olive learned more than she ever thought she would about wielding and science and physics. She thought her brain might explode from all the information. Once they finally got enough palladium they melted it down and poured it into a circular mold that Tony had hand made out of cast iron. The process was the most stressful situation Olive had ever been in, and she'd been nearly blown up, kidnapped, and held hostage for who knows how long. The Doctor held the metal over the fire until it was a shiny, silver liquid and Tony watched over his shoulder to supervise, fidgeting nervously.

"Careful, we only get one shot at this." He reminded him.

"Relax." The Doctor soothed, walking slowly and steadily towards their worktable, "I have steady hands. Why do you think the two of you are still alive?"

Tony looked back at Olive standing as far away as she could, gripping their car battery and staying out of the way. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, 'he's not wrong' and they both turned their attention back to the task at hand. The Doctor poured the liquid into the mold perfectly and they all seemed to let out a held breath, relaxing their tense muscles as a reward for their hard work even though they had so much further to go.

"What do we call you?" Tony said.

"My name is Yinsen."

"Yinsen. I think you know me. This is Olive. It's nice to meet you."

Yinsen chuckled, looking at Olive and mirroring her confused face with a smile, "Nice to meet you, too."

Olive felt like it took ages for the metal to be ready. In the meantime, they worked on other pieces of the project, having it finished just in time for the palladium to finish. The rest was really up to Tony now. He worked well into the night for days, even moving Olive's cot closer to his work station so she could sleep and he could work. When he finished, he and Yinsen were the only two awake and he sat staring at the little blue circle glowing in front of him. Yinsen came to sit beside him and made a face.

"That doesn't look like a Jericho missile." He said.

"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor." Tony said, not taking his eyes off of it, "I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart."

Yinsen looked at him, "What about Olive?"

Tony looked at her sleeping form next to him, "Without it being connected to both of us that battery should keep her alive longer. And when I get us home, I'll have more tools to make her one of these."

Yinsen nodded, "But what could it generate?"

"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."

"That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes."

"Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes."

"What are you talking about?"

Tony looked at him and gestured with his head, leaning down to wake Olive. She rolled over and looked at him with weary eyes, but the look he gave her told her that it was go-time and she sat up without hesitation. She noticed the arc reactor on the table and stopped to admire it before letting the smile spread across her face. She hopped up and Tony had to grab the battery and catch up to her before she took off, gathering up all the design prints on her way to one of the other work tables on the other side of the cave. She rearranged them and looked back at Yinsen with the biggest smile.

"This is our ticket out of here." Tony said.

"What is it?" Yinsen cocked his head to the side but all he could see were different parts to what he thought was the Jericho missile. Tony and Olive looked at each other with triumphant smiles and Olive leaned down on the papers, "Flatten them out and look."

She pressed her hands down in the middle and spread them apart, revealing the designs for a large suit of armor a with muilti-weapon functionality. They had done the blueprints in parts on separate sheets so that the Ten Rings couldn't find out their escape plan. Olive looked up at Yinsen and noticed the hint of a smile playing on this lips. He looked over the blueprints, obviously impressed, and nodded at Tony, "You designed this?"

"We both did." Tony said, pulling Olive into his side like a proud teacher. She smiled up at him and they all took in the moment. They were going to get out of there, Olive could feel it in her bones. They still had a lot of work ahead of them, but they were already one step closer with their arc reactor power source. She took a quick deep breath and patted Tony's chest.

"Come on, let's get you fitted for your new battery." She said.

They returned to the arc reactor and Tony settled into Olive's bed while Yinsen prepared the reactor. Tony instructed Olive on how to detach him from the car battery, but just before she removed the last piece Tony grabbed her wrist to stop her. She looked at him with confusion and he was sure she thought she'd done something wrong. But she hadn't. She had done such a wonderful job with everything that he and Yinsen had thrown at her. Exactly like when she was first hired at his company, she jumped in head first and took everything they gave her without a complaint. He had the strange urge to tell her that, but Yinsen was waiting to install his new hardware and he slowly let go of Olive's wrist, officially detaching herself from him and moving out of the way so that Yinsen could do his part. Just as they predicted, it installed perfectly and worked like a charm. Tony sat up and examined their handiwork with a big smile. He stood and clasped Yinsen's hand in victory, happy that they'd managed a win in this horrible situation. He turned back to Olive and she was smiling at him, hugging the car battery still attached to her chest and gingerly holding the magnet they'd just removed from his. He gave her a look of sympathy and approached her, taking his old magnet and the battery out of her grip and setting them both on the table, silently removing his wires so that all was left were the wires keeping her alive. He would never show how horrible he felt. He wanted so badly to help her after everything she did to help him, but there was nothing he could do without more materials. He had promised himself when he devised their escape plan to get them both home and to keep her alive. She would not spend the rest of her life carrying a car battery around, especially considering the length of her life would shorten drastically if she stayed like that. He glanced over at her and she was tracing the circular magnet in her chest and staring at the battery. Tony placed his hand over hers, and in turn the magnet, and she looked up at him with a small smile.

"I'm going to get us home." He said, "And I promise to get you better."

She smiled and reluctantly slid her arms around his waist. He was shocked at first, unsure how to respond. In the many years they'd known each other they'd never had more contact than a professional handshake. A professional handshake for professional co-workers, or colleagues or whatever they were. It didn't matter, after this experience, they were both sure all of that would go out the window. He returned the gesture, resting his head on hers and hugging her frame with a tenderness he didn't think he'd ever shown anyone. He tried not to think about it too much.

After their small victory they all took the evening off. To be fair, none of them actually knew what time of day it was or how many days they'd been there, truthfully. But to them it felt like evening, so they took the time off. Their captures had given them a game board that Olive didn't understand the rules for and the boys sat down to play while she took some other blank pieces of paper they hadn't used and sat down to draw and watch them play. She hadn't done any kind of artwork since college, not having time once she graduated and jumped headfirst into the professional world, and felt maybe it was time for a few doodles. They all sat together under one of the only lights in the cave and fell into a mixture of comfortable silence and idle chatter.

"Good roll." Yinsen said.

"You still haven't told me where you're from." Tony replied.

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

"Do you have a family, Yinsen?" Olive looked up from her drawing and smiled at him, to which he gladly returned.

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here."

She smiled and returned to her work, unprepared for the next question, "What about you, Ms. Bexley?"

She didn't look up from her work, though her pencil strokes slowed and Tony was surprised to find that he was curious. She had never mentioned any family, though he also never thought to ask. She finally did look up and she had a soft look on her face, one that told Tony that there was a long story that she didn't much feel like getting into. Yinsen seemed to understand her answer and turned to Tony, "And you, Stark?"

He looked up at him and also shook his head, the ghost of a smile on his face at the thought of him settling down with a wife and kids. He didn't think anyone ever looked at him that way. He glanced at Olive and found her looking back at him, observing him with a knowing expression, or what he felt was a knowing expression. It made him think they had a lot more in common than he had anticipated. He turned back to Yinsen and shook his head.

"No?" Yinsen said. He sounded surprised, "So you're a man who has everything and nothing."

Tony gave a thin smile, as did Olive. The conversation moved on to much lighter topics and after a little while they all laid down to sleep. Though Tony laid down, he couldn't really sleep. This was the first night since they'd been captured to sleep without being attached to the car battery. He rolled over onto his side, being much more comfortable without all those wires hanging out of his chest, though he still had a hard time keeping his eyes closed. Thinking about not having any wires made him think of Olive. They'd left her cot a little ways away since they were no longer attached and could be more than a few feet apart, but watching her fidget and try and get comfortable made it hard to sleep. He was probably the only one in the world who knew how she felt right then. She was lying there with her eyes closed but she wasn't sleeping. Not well at least. He finally got up and moved his cot over beside hers and laid back down. That little bit of commotion woke her and she was surprised to find him that close. He wasn't facing her, but his cot was so close it was almost as if they were sleeping in the same bed. She smiled and rolled back over to get comfortable before falling into a deep sleep.