Hi! Please enjoy :)

Renewing my disclaimer: I mean no offence to anyone and don't own any part of Iron Man, Marvel, Characters etc.

In this chapter are scenes which are not in the film which I hope are plausible, trying to fill in possible gaps in the film, (explaining how he got a change of clothes and some fresh wounds etc, as you may notice in the films). Hope its not too graphic or upsetting or anything…

The thrashing had gotten Tony nowhere. They had just continued to dunk him under until his gasps for air grew louder but his body held limper. Then came the psychological element. He was hauled from the water and released from the men's grip to flop to the floor, desperate to breathe. Gasping and choking, he was left there in a heap. Yinsen was shortly taken out of the room, and as soon as Tony had gathered the air and fought his shaking to stand up the guards came rushing back in and roughly bound his ankles and wrists to a chair. This is where he stayed for a week. Without food. Without water. Without sleep. As soon as they had him sat there he tried to get out but escapology wasn't exactly his forte. The Ten Rings knew that the genius' will would be the hardest thing to break, and they didn't want to cause huge, uncontrollable amounts of confusion (and therefore failure of building the Jericho) instead of breaking his spirit, but enough to make him comply. They also knew his genius mind would bounce back pretty quickly, though probably not his character and stubborn attitude. At least this is what they hoped. It started off in somewhat understandable uncertainty, as Stark had no idea what they were doing now, but as soon as he almost fell asleep (which was pretty hard in soaking wet, cold clothes and with tender burns) he was met with a punch to the ribs which, though not hard enough to break anything, definitely woke him up… he didn't really notice the person come in though, for the light that was shone brightly into the room for the whole day, before he even drifted, was enough to keep him awake until he was pretty confused.

'So that's your game' He said, his intelligent mind soon snapping back into focus and realising his predicament. All he got was a snarl type noise and a kick to the shin in reply. He could just make out the figure, and noticed yet another gun. Darn. Well, it was to be expected. Soon it was getting well on for two days and a half. The guards seemed to be doing shifts of half days, and Tony had been trying to cope with a throbbing headache for hours now. He was getting a slight buzzing in his ears and a pain around the back of his eyes. I could stay up for a lot longer than this if I was engrossed in a project he thought. This was true, as once Tony had everything he needed to get to work, was in the right mood and had something interesting to do, sleep and food could go amiss, but now, seconds rolled into each other, each the same, rolling and merging into minutes. Each second of which was felt as he desperately wanted sleep. On what was the third and-a-half night, Tony had been kicked awake roughly four times, and they started playing incomprehendable noise through the grimy old speakers. And it was LOUD… he would have said he was used to loud music, but AC DC sounds good when played loudly. He could only liken it to white noise, but then again, his head had done a good job playing white noise for long before the speakers where introduced. His eyelids felt so, so heavy, his head felt heavy, his neck felt strained from slouching, his shins and thigh were aching from being kicked and kneed awake, his wrists felt sore from his bindings, his body shivered, his headache was deafening, like his brain had been shaken side to side and upside down, and lodged back in his skull at the wrong angle, his eyesight was unfocused, he was starving and parched, and even worse, all of his pain was heightened from days of sleep deprivation and cold, damp clothes. He was also extremely irritated… but also on the verge of giving up… at least - he knew he had lost the protection of his 'mask' momentarily - now he had to rely on his true, unexaggerated character and subconscious. Thankfully for him, his true character is still rather stubborn, though has more emotion. He really hoped his subconscious had taken all of the information that he found he was too confused to think about and was storing it until his consciousness could cope, for he seemed to be unable to think of anything, and if his subconscious had no 'backup' files filed then he doubted he could do much to do with engineering for the next couple of days at least, or until he got a few good nights sleep!

By the time of the seventh day, Tony could barely stay awake longer than eight minutes. And after the… what must have been twentieth time (within an hour) of jolting him awake with impact from a fist and knee, they decided to let him sleep. But Yinsen, watching it painfully unfold on a camera screen, held at gunpoint, knew that they knew they had not yet gotten him to break. He knew the man was just irritable, miserable and extra sensitive to pain and the cold. He felt that they must know that, and he didn't like what that meant… again - they were letting him sleep only a few hours so that it would be more 'fun' in their eyes when they beat him. As Yinsen had predicted, the bindings undone, the inventor was punched awake and promptly winded. Gaining his breath back he was just in time to receive a back handed slap round the face, the impact jolting his head to the side and his lip to split and start to bleed. Then - bad move: almost rolling out of the chair and onto all fours, he was open to attack. One of the men's feet collided with Tony's side pushing him off balance and onto his side. Then another one hit him in the ribs. Tony was aware, but confused and panicked at what was happening, and tried to get away from the man but was kicked down again. Yinsen was ushered in to watch, held away from Stark's aid by a guard, as the main, larger man came in to send threats. 'That Jericho will be built Stark' he said icily, in time with the other mans' kick. Tony groaned and tried to use his arms to push himself up. They were quickly kicked off balance and he was down again. 'Get up' the larger man said. Tony just rolled in on himself, on his side, wiping blood off his chin with his sleeve. 'I said get up!' The man said again. Tony tried but was defeated. Yinsen could just watch and hear the groans as they repeatedly kicked him in the stomach and legs. He hoped they wouldn't do any damage that would stop him from functioning normally, and he knew the mans lack of energy or ability to fight was simply because of the sleep deprivation and not serious injury at least. After a few more times, it seemed the higher ranking man had grown bored of watching Tony get repeatedly knocked down despite best efforts, and groaning, so he ordered the impact-dealing-guard to knock him out. With an added kick to the shin, that he did do.

Yinsen's P.O.V.

If I didn't know better, I'd almost have thought the man stupid… refuse!? Well, I guess he has more reasons than I do not to comply. I just hope I get out of here… or can get him out of here. I've seen that 'mask' he uses mainly in public… even around his friends, I'm sure, but that's not the man I see now. Anyone would think, if Stark was taken in an event such as this, that he'd just give them a good punch and worry about his beard growing too long. They don't think he has many emotions. But it really is getting to him… well, of course it would! But more than just the torture - he is realising how much pain he has caused people, and the terrors of the world. I'm not saying he was oblivious to it, but he ignored his feelings. He is, I think, now realising he was wrong to do that. He sees no way out. He must think that his 'mask' has created such a nasty image of himself that no one would care if he died. Maybe he doesn't care if he died. I almost felt I was thinking for him while I was forced to watch him being deprived of sleep. He is probably hating himself. For the weapons, for his jerk-ish ways, I must show him, tell him people care. Tell him not to give up. For I know he is a good man and can do much good to this world.

After he was out cold, I was able to aid him. I quickly ordered for some new bandages and dressing for his chest, some rubber to patch the faults in the reactor and battery, a less damp top and a jacket. I quickly got him in better shape and looked over his added wounds - some minor bleeding and graze to the left side of his face and around his ear, from the beating, a small cut to the right side of his forehead, some bruises to the thighs, some painful looking bruises to the shin, (they knew they wanted him in pretty good condition, so they wouldn't break anything… yet… not until he had completed the Jericho at least…) He also had bruising to his chest and stomach, (a split lip which had practically healed) with burns around his chest and reactor. His wrists looked a bit red also, but nothing any way near as major as what they could do to him.

…. .. …..

They left Yinsen to attend to the weak and vulnerable, beaten form of Tony Stark, and left the concrete cave of a room to wait for the limp body to wake.