CHAPTER TWO
Toni woke up, dressed in unfamiliar clothing. She had her arms bandaged. She noticed that she could not feel her legs. She sat up slowly, and gasped as she saw that she had no legs from below her knees.
"You are lucky," A man said shaving in the mirror. "The car you were in protected you from shrapnel, unfortunately your legs were shattered in the accident, and I had to amputate them. I have braces to help you stand, but I thought I should wait until you woke up." Toni looked up and noticed a CCTV camera in the cave. "That's right. Smile. We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern." He said, approaching Toni with two metal pegs, with webbed tripods on the bottom as feet.
"I don't remember," Toni said.
"No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits," the man told her, sliding her stumps into the braces. Toni then also realized her hair was much shorter; in fact, the majority of it was shaved off. She sighed.
"Where are we?" Toni asked.
Then a group of men entered the cave. "Come on, stand up. Stand up! Just do as I do. Come on, put your hands up." The man said, putting his hands on his head. Toni tried to stand up but lost her balance on her legs and fell forward. One of the captors approached her and yanked her to her feet, holding her up.
"Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?" Toni asked, looking at the Logo.
A captor started speaking, the other man translated. "He says, 'Welcome, Miss Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America. He is honored. He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated. This one," Yinsen motioned towards a box.
"No."
Later, she was having her face thrusted into a tub of water and yanked out, she gasped for air before being shoved back underwater for another minute. She finally agreed.
They pulled a bag over her head and carried her outside, her pegs stumbling around on the uneven rock. When they got outside, the bag was pulled off her head violently. A man spoke in a foreign language, motioning at a pile of Stark Industries weapons.
"He wants to know what you think," The man who could translate said.
"I think you have a lot of my weapons," Toni replied, evening her footing so she wasn't leaning on one of the captors.
"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho Missile. He wants you to make the list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free," the translator said.
"No he won't," Toni said somberly.
"No, he won't," The translator agreed.
"Can you tell him that it will take a while, and I will need food and water? I can't work very well when I am dying," Toni asked. The translator told the man, he replied.
"He said all you will need including food, will be given to you," The translator translated.
TWENTY MINUTES LATER
Back in the workshop, Toni spoke to the translator. "I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains. Look, 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 Toni Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?" The translator asked.
"I'm going to do something about it… what is your name?"
"Yinsen."
"Well, Yinsen, I'm currently formulating a plan, ever heard of Penelope, wife of Odysseus?"
"She unwove her bridal shroud at night, delaying her marriage to another man so Odysseus could return to her, but you cannot delay them for three years," Yinsen said.
"I can't, but a month or so, maybe," Toni said. She motioned at the captors and Yinsen, to translate. "If this is going to be my work station, I want it well-lit. I want these up. 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-" She continued.
Finally, when she was alone, she started disassembling the weapons.
"How many languages do you speak?" She asked.
"A lot, but apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, and Russian."
"Who are these people?" Toni asked.
"They are your loyal customers, Sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings. You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process," Yinsen said.
Toni laughed, fishing out a small part of the missile. "We don't need this," She said, tossing it aside, holding a small bit with pliers.
"What is that?" Yinsen asked.
"Palladium, 0.15 grams, we need 1.6, so break open the rest of those missiles for me, Yinsen," Toni instructed.
After working for a few hours, Toni was done. "That doesn't look like a Jericho missile," Yinsen observed.
"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. If my math is right, and it always is, this baby generates three gigajoules per second. It is the key to pulling a Nancy Drew."
Toni grabbed a bunch of pieces of paper, and lined them up and flattened them.
"Impressive," Yinsen said.
"First- we need to do the legs." Toni said. "I can't work very well falling down all the time."
A while later, they were fitting legs onto her, while playing backgammon.
"Good roll," Yinsen nodded as he screwed her braces onto her leg.
"You still haven't told me where you're from," Toni said.
"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place," Yinsen said softly.
"Got a family?"
"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?" Yinsen asked.
"I have a fiancé," Toni said. "His name is Piper."
Then, a group burst in.
The seeming leader, who was bald, and spoke English, started to lecture, "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. 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. And soon, it will be my turn. Why have you failed me?"
"We are working very diligently," Yinsen said.
"I let you live. This is how you repay me?"
"It is very complex, she is working very hard."
"On his knees," The guard commanded. Another forced Yinsen to his knees. The seemingly leader guard grabbed a hot poker, "You think I'm a fool? I'll get the truth."
"We are both working," Yinsen said.
"What's going on?" Toni asked.
"I will get the truth," The guard said. "Open your mouth."
"We are working!" Yinsen exclaimed
"You think I am a fool?" The guard asked.
"What is going on?"
"Tell me the truth!" The guard roared.
"She is building your Jericho," Yinsen repeated.
"Tell me the truth!" The guard roared, forcing Yinsen's head on the anvil.
"He is!" Toni said. "I need better legs, so I don't fall down," She said softly. "It is very hard, especially as a woman, to lift such heavy stuff. He is a good assistant, I will be done in two weeks, I promise."
"Two days," The guard dropped the poker. The entourage stepped out.
The next day, Toni and Yinsen worked harder than ever getting the suit assembled. "The eye holes are large, a bullet could fly in there," Toni noted. "Maybe I could add grating…"
"You don't have time to make details," Yinsen reminded her.
A while later, Toni was being fit into the armor by Yinsen.
"Okay? Can you move? Okay, say it again," Yinsen asked, programming.
"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, then 33 steps, turn right," Toni told him.
A guard started banging on the door, yelling in a foreign language.
"Say something. Say something back to him!" Toni whispered frantically as the helmet was lowered onto her head.
"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't..."
"Then speak Hungarian," Toni pleaded.
"Okay, I know," Yinsen said. He tried speaking broken Hungarian, but the guards opened the door. That door had wired explosives, killing or at least maiming the guards.
"How'd that work?" Toni asked.
"Oh, my goodness. It worked all right," Yinsen said.
"That's what I do," Toni replied.
"Let me finish this," Yinsen returned to the program.
"Initialize the power sequence," Toni commanded.
"Okay."
"Now!"
"Tell me. Tell me," Yinsen stuttered.
"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now. Talk to me. Tell me when you see it," Toni instructed.
"I have it."
"Press control one," Toni said quickly.
"I have it."
"One and Enter. One and Enter. Come over here and button me up, every other hex bolt" Toni said rapidly. Yinsen obliged.
"They're coming!" The man exclaimed.
"Nothing pretty, just get it done. Just get it done. Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?"
Yinsen checked the progress bar, only at 50% "We need more time. Hey, I'm gonna go buy you some time," Yinsen said, grabbing a gun and running, shooting at everything.
"Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan! YINSEN!" Toni yelled. After half a minute, the bar was 100%.
Unfortunately, the guards had come, she punched the closest one, making him fly across the room and collapse against a wall the rest opened fire. The room was dark, so they stopped, thinking she was dead, until Toni barged through the two of the guards, smashing them with the heavy bulletproof arms of her suit. The final one opened fire, but she punched him to the ground. More guards came at her, yelling and shooting, when they came close enough, she knocked them away. Soon, instead of running at her, the guards ran from her. They locked a door, leaving one behind, he yelled as Toni knocked him aside. Toni then began beating on the iron door, denting it with every hit. She finally burst the doors open, knocking three of the four guards on the other side out.
She hit at another guard, her arm getting wedged in the rock; she cursed and struggled to loosen it. The guards ran away from her. Then she heard a gunshot, and a guard beside her dropped. He had tried to shoot her in the helmet, and the bullet reverberated and hit the attacker in the head. Using her flamethrowers, she freed her arm and continued on her merry way.
Toni found Yinsen lying on the ground, mortally wounded.
"Yinsen!"
"Watch out," Yinsen rasped. The guard from a few days ago had a rocket-launcher, Toni dodged the shell and it blew up against the wall behind her, rocks bounced off of her suit. She then let one of her rockets at the man, who ducked, but was struck with debris.
"Stark." Yinsen rasped. Toni approached and lifted her face-plate.
"Come on. We got to go. Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it," Toni said softly.
"This was always the plan, Stark," Yinsen replied breathlessly.
"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up," Toni urged him.
"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark. It's okay. I want this. I want this," Yinsen's breathing became heavier.
"Thank you for saving me," Toni said.
"Get married, have children. Don't waste your life," Yinsen said as his dying words. Toni snapped back on her mask. It was time for her to burn some marshmallows.
She stepped outside, the heavy suit creating vibrations in the rock. The men called out and opened fire; the bullets bounced and ricocheted off of her armor. Luckily none of them were aiming at her eyeholes. After twenty seconds of firing, the men stopped, in awe at the inability of their semi-automatic rifles.
"My turn," Toni hissed.
Her flamethrowers set off, creating a great fireball that cremated several men in close proximity, and the rest stumbled backwards, away from the flames. The fire spread, many men's clothing was set afire. Also set alight, were the vast amounts of weaponry surrounding the cave's mouth. Toni made sure that she set ablaze every crate and pile of Stark Industries weaponry.
Sniper automatic guns on the mountains started shooting at her, which made her stumble backwards. In the pause, the surviving men aimed at her, one hit the joint of her arm, paralyzing the suit, she slowly started to concave under the array of bullets. She tried shooting flames in all directions, hoping to burn someone, to reduce the amount of guns firing at her. Then, the stored weapons in the piles started to go off, because of the fire. Sparks started, along with small fireballs. She flipped a switch and pressed a button on the inside of her left arm. The feet of the suit blasted smoke with small jets used for propelling the Jericho, and she shot into the air just as the Ten Rings terrorist camp became a massive fireball.
With the propel from her suit, the shockwave of the blast and the fire, she shot over the mountains in which the camp was, and then hurtled to earth, hitting the sand and letting off a giant cloud of dust. Her suit became several separate pieces, but she was okay for the most part, and alive. Her smaller legs that she had built had also survived the blast, along with the Arc Reactor, whatever she would use it for. She lay in a pile of sand, metal and wires. But she knew that she had to keep moving. She spat blood from her mouth where she bit her tongue and climbed out of the dirt. Slowly walking across the sandy desert.
HOURS LATER
She walked, despite the fact she was hungry, thirsty, and badly sunburned. She tied her jacket around her head, and ripped her pants so they bore most of her legs, including her makeshift prosthetics. Two USAF helicopters flew through the air. "HEY! HEY!" She screamed. The helicopters landed.
USAF soldiers, including Rhodey jumped out. "How was the fun-vee? Next time you ride with me, okay!" Rhodey told her, hugging her. "What happened to your legs?" He asked.
"I lost them in the accident," Toni said breathlessly.
"She needs water," Rhodey said, motioning towards his men. They handed him a medical first aid kit, including a flask of water. Toni took it and drank it quickly.
"You're a lifesaver," Toni said.
"Let's get you home," Rhodey told her, helping her into a helicopter.
MANY HOURS LATER
The UCAF-17 landed later at Edward's Air Force Base in California. They wheeled her out in a wheelchair, having removed her prosthetics for "military" reasons. A blanket covered her stumps. Seen above her blanket, was a green long-sleeved blouse. Her hair was now only two inches long, and was sleeked back so the tips graced her nape. Rhodey rolled her down the ramp. Toni motioned towards the ambulance. "Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them," Toni said. She was wheeled to right in front of Piper. "Your eyes are red, have you been crying?"
"I told you to stay safe," He said, crouching to eye level.
"Well, I'm very stubborn," Toni replied, smiling. The pair shared a soft kiss. Happy grabbed the handles to her wheelchair and pushed her to the limousine. Piper helped her get in the backseat. Happy climbed into the driver's seat.
"Where to, ma'am?" Happy asked.
"Take us to the Hospital, please, Happy," Piper answered.
"No."
"No? Toni, you have to go to the hospital," Piper said sternly.
"No is a complete answer," Toni crossed her arms.
"The doctor has to look at you," Piper tried to persuade her.
"I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other-"
"That's enough of that."
"-Is not what you think. I want you to call a press conference now."
"Call a press conference now?"
"Yeah?"
"What on Earth for?"
"Hogan, drive, cheeseburger first."
After getting a cheeseburger at Burger King ("I wanted an American Cheeseburger… just forget it, Happy") they arrived outside of Stark Industries main factory. Just after Toni was settled in her wheelchair, Obadiah Stane rushed over.
"Look at this! Toni. We were going to meet at the hospital!" Obadiah said, hugging her.
"No, I'm fine, never needed my legs anyway," Toni said.
"Look at you! You had to have a burger, yeah? Well, come on. You get me one of those?" Obadiah asked.
"There's only one left. I need it," Toni said, possessively setting the bag in her lap. Obadiah took her wheelchair, rolling it into the building.
Before the Press Conference, Piper was approached by a woman in a business suit.
"Mr. Potts?" The woman asked. She had dark brown hair in a bun, and large hazel eyes. She had a bony face, and an intense presence. She was dressed in a black and white three-piece women's business suit. And, despite her severity, she was quite good-looking.
"Yes?" Piper was off guard on how, in her heels, this woman was taller than he was.
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" She asked.
"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now," Piper replied.
"I'm not a reporter. I'm Agent Pippa Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Agent Coulson said.
"That's quite a mouthful," Piper said.
"I know, we're working on it," Agent Coulson replied awkwardly.
"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..."
"We're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Ms. Stark about the circumstances of her escape," Agent Coulson said.
"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" Piper suggested.
"Thank you," Agent Coulson inclined her head and stepped away. Just as Toni was wheeled on the stage.
"Can you just, get rid of the podium?" Toni asked. "It's too formal. Why don't you all just sit down?" Toni sat in her wheelchair in front of the group. "It's good to see you," She said to Obadiah.
"Good to see you," Obadiah said.
"I never got to say goodbye to dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. ... I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability," Toni said.
"Ms. Stark!" A reporter exclaimed.
"Hey Ben," Toni replied.
"What happened over there?"
"I had my eyes opened, and my legs amputated. But, most importantly, I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. The problem with having weapons is that they can be used by anyone. They are being used by people right now that do not have the best interests of the world at heart. You can't solve the world's problems with a nuclear deterrent, because weapons destroy things, they don't fix them. And that is why, effective immediately; I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."
The hall roared, reporters started screaming questions, and jaws dropped.
Obadiah stepped up as Toni wheeled herself away.
"What we should take away from this is that Toni's back! And she's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."
AN
So, Toni lost her legs, she didn't get shrapnel in her chest. In the original comics, Tony Stark crippled his legs, so I didn't pull what happened to her out of nowhere. This is going to change a large part of the story, for your entertainment, I hope. I also did make her say a bit more at the press conference, as women are more prone to talking more. (There are articles at psychology today if you don't believe me)
And yes, Agent Coulson is a woman. My Fan-cast for her is Famke Janssan.
SOURCES: inthei .uk /transcri pts/transc ript_iro n_man .htm