The Unknown Variable

Nothing belongs to me, but little Penny, Disney and JK have that wonderful pleasure.

I don't know when the dark figure in the corner disappeared; all I remember is him smiling at me sadly.

I've questioned my sanity many times, wondering if he was only a figment of my imagination. But truthfully, it did not matter one way or another if I was sane or not. I was going to follow my mother's last request, even if Pepper and other people didn't like it.

Sadly, we didn't have any anesthetics so Tony was awake and screaming a lot more than I would've liked. But thankfully, whenever Yinsen wasn't looking, I would let my blue electricity spark between my fingers and I would give Tony a small shock at the base of his neck to help dull the pain. I assumed it helped because whenever I did Tony would fade back into unconsciousness for a while.

It was all I could do to hope that Tony didn't remember any of this. Because I sure as hell wished that I didn't.

Yinsen had introduced himself as I helped operate on Tony. He had also explained that the battery he was using to power the electro magnet would only last about a week.

I had paused in thought when he said that… and he asked if I knew of a better way to power the magnet. I lied and told him I didn't. I would only tell if Tony didn't figure it out before the week was up.

Tony didn't like having answers handed to him, he liked to figure out problems for himself, and this would be the biggest one yet.

He also made a comment that made my eyes widen in surprise.

Sometime before

The magnet was in place, after many hours of bloody work that I was sure to have nightmares about, and I was helping Yinsen wrap Tony's chest.

"You look like him." Yinsen said suddenly. Before that we had mostly worked in silence. A few words had been exchanged here and there but we had kept a soft silence between us, until now.

"What?" I asked, shocked and confused, momentarily pausing in my work.

"You resemble your father greatly, unless I'm mistaken. He is your father is he not?" Yinsen asked me, talking in tone one would use when describing the weather.

My eyes widened as I looked at Yinsen's face; I wondered how he made the connection between two people he never met, when people who had known Tony for years had never pieced it together.

"He… he is, but how do you know?" My voice was full of suspicion and fear, wondering what would happen now.

"It is obvious, if you look close enough. You have the same eyes, nose and you get your curls from him as well. To most, your hair would direct the attention away from the obvious likeness. But I have good eyes and steady hands, and I notice these things." Yinsen said simply.

I was still frozen in shock, no one had ever said I looked like my father before. Sure Mom had told me I had his eyes, but everyone else I met had always said I resembled my mother most.

"Don... don't tell him. Please, he doesn't know." I finally said sending a pleading look to my fellow captive.

Yinsen stopped what he was doing and turned to me, "You would let a dying man stay in the dark about the knowledge that he has a family?"

His words hit me hard. It really wasn't fair to keep the information from Tony, and I had been wanting to tell him for a while, but I didn't want him to hate or abandon me like my mom and grandfather always feared he would.

I just wasn't sure enough of myself to tell him.

"I'll tell him, but you have to let me do it in my own time." I said to the man, looking down at my father who was lying asleep on the cot.

"I can respect that." Yinsen nodded, "But if you do not tell him, then I will."

I nodded and sighed. When had all my plans collapsed? I didn't know, but all I knew was that the game had changed, and so would the play.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Tony waking up. I looked at the man who was my father, and I was so happy that he was alive that I forgot that he didn't know. But how was I supposed to tell him now?

I couldn't just walk up and say "Hey Tony, I'm your daughter. I wanted you to know in case they kill us."

Oh yeah, that would be such a great conversation.

I watched quietly as Tony noticed the hole in this chest, and couldn't help but suppress a wince.

Soon, Yinsen was cooking dinner; I was sitting next to Tony on his bed. Only after Tony woke up did I remember the cube hidden within my hair, and was thrilled to discover that it was still there. I had pulled my hair down and hid the cube in my sleeve; I didn't want it to fall out and loose it, or have it discovered.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Tony asked, using a small mirror to look at the thing in his chest.

"What I did?" Yinsen asked him, looking up from the mush that was dinner. "What I did is save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, with your young assistant's help of-course, but there's a lot left, and it's headed to your atrial septum. Here, you want to see? I have a souvenir. Take a look."

Yinsen picked up a small glass bottle and tossed it to Tony. Tony was staring at Yinsen with thinly concealed shock, but he caught the bottle anyway.

As Tony examined the bottle Yinsen said, "I've seen many wounds like that in my village. 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 a defeated look on his face. I put my hand on his arm in comfort but he shook it off, refusing to acknowledge me.

"That is an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." Yinsen told him, stirring the glop in the pan.

Tony shifted uncomfortably and zipped up his jacket, shooting even farther away from me. I shot him a small confused glare. He was ignoring me for some reason, surely he wasn't still mad about the plane ride?

Tony swallowed as he noticed the camera in the corner. There were quite a few cameras on the walls that I had noticed during Tony's operation, but I had also found a blind spot.

Yinsen also caught Tony's gaze and told him, "That's right. Smile."

I wanted to say something to Tony, but I also felt that I should stay quiet. What was I supposed to say to my boss who was also my father who didn't know that I was his daughter; and that we were both most likely going to die here?

'Yup, my life is totally messed up. That didn't even make sense to me!'

"We met once, you know," Yinsen said, breaking the silence and Tony's dark thoughts. Usually my father had some kind of mask on, keeping his feelings hidden deep down, but now they were showing... and I could tell that Tony's thoughts were anything besides happy. "At a technical conference in Bern."

"I don't remember." Tony said absently, shooting another look at the camera.

"No, you wouldn't." Yinsen said, causing Tony's attention to fall back onto the man as he continued. "If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits."

"Where are we?" Toy asked softly, his previous attention no longer on Yinsen.

Just as Yinsen went to answer, voices came from the other side of the door, along with loud banging.

"Come on" Yinsen spoke quickly, quietly, and with fear. "Stand up, stand up!" Tony got to his feet as I jumped to mine, I grabbed Tony's hand on reflex but instead of shaking me off he gave my hand a light squeeze.

"Just do as I do," Yinsen hissed grabbing Tony's arm and pulling him a bit closer to the door.

"Come one, put your hands up." He hissed as Tony looked at him as the door opened.

My hands quickly went behind my head, but I didn't want to let go of Tony's hand. I know that it sounded childish, but I really wanted some assurance that everything was going to be ok... as ok as it can be in this situation.

I let the small cube slide down my sleeve and settle into a hidden pocket (more like a hole) on the outside of my bra.

Three men entered the room, two of them held guns and were flanking the middle heavy-set man.

"Those are my guns." I heard Tony mutter besides me, "How did they get my guns?"

I nudged him gently, aware that his chest was still sore, to get him to be quiet, now was not the time.

Yinsen had heard him through and said urgently, "Do you understand me? Do as I do."

The large middle man opened his arms and started speaking in another language, and I only barely caught the words 'Tony Stark'. As he finished his speech he nodded to Yinsen for translation.

I turned my attention to Yinsen, but kept my eyes on our captors as he said, "He says, "Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.""

Our captor started talking again, and motioned for Yinsen to translate. "He is honored."

More of the different language filled my ears, and I wished I knew how to speak anything other than English; it would come in handy right now.

My eyes narrowed slightly at our captors as I listened to Yinsen translate; I knew this wasn't going to end well. There wasn't much I could do either in this enclosed space, we were too outnumbered and Tony was too injured to fight.

"He wants you to build the missile; the Jericho missile that you demonstrated." He handed Yinsen a photo of the Jericho, and said "This one," as he showed it to Tony.

I tore my gaze away from the men towards Tony, and I had a feeling that he was going to be hard-headed. But that wasn't what we needed right now. What we needed was some cunning,

"Come on dad, tap into your Slytherin side." I thought to myself before mentally freezing in shock. "Where the hell did that come from?" I silently wondered.

I had no clue what a Slytherin even was, and my eyes narrowed in thought. The word seemed familiar, but at the same time, something completely new. Like a dream you forgot long ago.

There was a pregnant silence as we all waited for Tony to answer. My breath caught as behind our captors, the black figure reappeared, his face showing his worry.

Dread instantly filled my stomach. If the shadowy figure was worried, this was not going to end well.

"I refuse." My heart almost stopped at my father's words, and my blood ran cold at the look that came over not only the large man's face, but the black figure's as well.

But it was the figure's look that scared me the most; it was one of complete fear. But what did he have to fear?

Our captor waved his hand and Tony and I were yanked forward, fear now openly on our faces.

I screamed and yelled as I was once again pushed below the water. I had lost all sense of time long ago.

My lungs were tight with pain, and my fingers were sparking uncontrollably in response to my pain and panic, causing the water to be shocking my core.

Large waves of pain washed through my body as I soon became even more soaked. I had never been submerged in water before; I had never even taken a bath.

A large scream echoed through the cave as I was let back into the air, my back arched in pain and tears streamed down my face. Not for the first time, I wished that I had never been born.

Every nerve was on fire as I struggled to breathe; I could barely make out the dark figure at the edge of my vision. Strangely, I focused on him, as he was the only thing I could clearly make out.

I was back under the water once again and I struggled not to breathe, but I had lost almost all control over my body long ago. My lungs tried to take in oxygen, and burned as water filled my lungs.

My head swam and my vision faltered, I could hear my heart beat pounding in my ears. I didn't think I was going to survive.

Then, he was there, beneath the water with me, his face inches from mine. He reached his hand out, and my struggling stopped just for a moment as his cold, soft hand touched my face, and my vision faded to black.

Hey all, I hope you liked it, and thanks to all you wonderful people, you make me super happy when I see all the emails sitting in my inbox. I know, not as much of a revealer as last chapter, but it was longer! So that's good. Special Thanks to my Beta, Expecto Prongs, who is wonderful.

To the reviewer who said that, that was death, good eye. It wasn't that cryptic but I'm glad you caught on.

If any of you are waiting for an update for Sophi, well I'm trying, but this is just easier to write because it is less complicated. But don't worry I'm working on it.

Huh, 0.o, the first rainfall of the year just turned to snow… its April… in the south-west… this is beyond weird… O.O

Oh well
Hope ya'll enjoyed the ride,
Cp