AN: Here is the updated version of chapter two. Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review :)


Chapter 2

Pain. That was all he could feel as he came back from unconsciousness. Pain and cold. He breathed in slowly and felt something blocking that air.

He felt around his nostril for the obstruction and found something that felt like a plastic tube. He grabbed the tube and began to pull, feeling it move up his throat in an uncomfortable manner. When it was finally removed he sucked in air greedily and immediately felt how dry his throat was.

He gazed around the room and spotted a cup of water on a stand near the bed he was laying on. As he tried moving his frozen joints he caught a glimpse of an older man standing not far away from him shaving. Shaving? It seemed odd to him in general, if he was where he thought he was, that this man seemed so calm and just went about doing such a mundane task as shaving to look presentable. Ignoring the man for the moment, he reached for the cup nearly grasping for it, but it fell from his feeble, rigid grip. He could see a canteen and tried to reach for it when something pulled on him, making him stop.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," the older man warned.

He turned back to see what was stopping him to see a car battery with thick cables attached to it. Following the cables, he found they were attached to something round and hard on his chest. He tore at the bandages on his chest, desperate to find what was on him. What he found horrified him. A device covered in wires and screws was inside him.

He looked back to the battery to verify what he saw. On the other side of the battery more cables reached out to none other than Lieutenant JC Alwin. More than that, she had a similar tube in her nose and another thicker tube in her mouth that connected to more machinery that looked almost as old as Tony. That was when the gravity of the situation sunk in. Something worse had happened.

"What the hell did you do to us?" he asked as he stared at the device in a mirror. After being filled in on the events prior to finding himself in his dark cave of a prison, Tony wanted to know why they were still alive.

"What I did?" the old man asked with a chuckle. "What I did was to save your lives. I removed as much of the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's heading toward your atria septum. Want to see?" the older man said removing a small jar from his pocket. "A souvenir. Take a look," he said tossing it to him. "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."

After turning it a few times in the light he could tell that it was definitely from his own weapons. He remembered when they were designed. He remembered when he had approved that design and put it into production. His stomach churned. Coming out of his thoughts he turned his attention to more important matters.

"What is this?" he asked tapping the device.

"That is an electromagnet powered by a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart."

"What about JC?" he asked.

"Her lung cavity was damaged badly by the same barbs. She's lucky she wasn't dead when she came in here. None of the barbs hit her spine or central nervous system as far as I could see, which is a small miracle. Even if she wakes up soon, she won't be able to breathe on her own for some time. She's lucky they had the ventilator, antiquated as it is. I have to admit, even with what I did, I'm doubtful she will survive for very long," he said glumly.

"What are her chances?" Tony asked looking for some kind of hope.

"If she were in a proper hospital, she might actually be able to recover. In here it'll be a miracle if she lasts another day."

"She's had worse odds. The last time I saw her she was in a coma," he said, staring at her unconscious body. Seeing her like this was like Japan all over again. He had seen her lying in that hospital bed, tubes inside her the same way as now. The only difference between now and then was that they were in a dirty cave instead of that hospital. He didn't see many other differences, not even the circumstances that put her here.

"We were attacked in Japan by a group of radicals. JC was my bodyguard then, too. I had never seen fighting like that before outside of a movie. She was shot three times, stabbed, and thrown down a flight of stairs. She lost consciousness on the way to the hospital. Her coma was so severe she was never expected to come out of it, even if she managed to survive her other injuries. But she made a full recovery. She's a fighter. She'll get through this," he said as he stared up defiantly at the doctor.

"I know you want to look on the bright side, Stark, but the bleak reality is that-"

He was cut off by a sudden banging on the door and someone yelling at them in a foreign language.

The older man rushed over to Stark saying, "Do as I do." He put his hands over his head in the classic surrender pose. Tony did the same as a heavy set man walked into the room with several guards.

"They have my guns. How did they get my guns?" Tony questioned as he noticed the designs of their weaponry. There was no mistake. He could even see a tiny logo on the side of one of the scopes. It made his stomach lurch even worse than before.

"Did you not hear me? Do as I do!"

The heavier man began spouting off in a foreign language in what looked like some form of greeting.

This was clarified with the stranger's translation. "He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America. He's honored.'"

He went on about something else.

Again a translation was provided. "He wants you to build the Jericho missile for him. This one," he said showing Tony a picture of the missile.

"I refuse," he said flatly. They had already stolen God knew how many of his weapons. He wasn't about to just give them one more.

This enraged the man. He began spouting orders to the guards sending them forward to grab Tony, but they were stopped by the stranger.

He began spouting off in the same language Tony did not understand. As he did so, he pointed from Tony, to JC, and then to the battery. Tony could only guess what he meant.

More orders were shouted at the older man, and then everyone left.

"What was that about?" Tony asked relaxing his arms.

"You have two hours to change your mind. Otherwise, they will force me to find a way to disconnect her from the battery and keep you alive."

"What are you saying?"

"There was only one battery but two of you, so I had to figure a way to share. The only way was to make a circuit between the two of you."

"Basically what you're trying to tell me is that if either of us breaks the chain, both magnets will shut down? How do they expect you to fix that, if I refuse?" he demanded.

"There is a way, but it would be better if I not tell you. You have enough on your mind for the moment. I suggest you use your time wisely."

Neither of the current options presented to Tony were very appealing. On the one hand, he could refuse and have JC killed. If he continued to refuse, the stranger who saved his life would more than likely be next. After that, they would probably resort to torturing him or killing any other innocent person they could find until he agreed, maybe both. Eventually, they might just kill him and resort to trying to steal the missile. On the other hand, he could accept and give a terrorist group enough power to kill thousands or more, if they so chose to.

"How can I choose? Either way, someone is going to die. The only difference is how many. How do they expect me to decide?"

"They already know which choice you'll make. They are merely providing incentive for you make the decision faster."

"You can't expect me to do this. Thousands will die, maybe more."

"How many do you think have died already? They don't care about human loss, or haven't you already figured that out? At least by accepting, you will have the chance do something about it."

"It doesn't matter. They're going to kill us all whether or not I choose to do this, and even if they don't, we'll be dead in a week," he said miserably.

"Then this is an important week for you, isn't it?"

The old man was right. Alive, Tony had the chance to do something right. The only problem that he could see was when JC woke up. He was definitely going to get an earful for this one.

The next morning Tony was spouting off a list of supplies he would need. He had been provided with a good list of his own weapons that they had in their possession, all of which made Tony sick. After the initial shock and bewilderment of how they had gotten so many of his weapons he began to formulate a plan to at least stall them.

With several missiles in his possession he began to disassemble one, looking for a specific part. "So, what do I call you?" he asked the older man. He remembered that he had forgotten to do so much sooner.

"My name is Yinsen."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too."

With all pleasantries aside he continued his work.

"This might go faster, if you included me in the planning process," Yinsen said after several minutes of watching Stark. Tony ignored him for a moment tossing aside a piece of the missile after retrieving the small fragment of metal from its insides.

"What is that?" Yinsen questioned.

"That's palladium, .15 grams. We need as much of it that we can get, so why don't you start breaking down the others," Tony replied, putting aside the thin piece of metal.

Tony then went about making a ring in one of the smelting cups that had been provided. The only problem he was having with his plan was the issue of making two devices. If there was not enough palladium to build two, he would have to think of something else that hopefully would not get his head ripped off by JC.

Half an hour later, Yinsen had finished breaking down all the missiles leaving a small pile of silver strips on the table.

"What happens next?" he asked.

"You did the operation, so you tell me how big her magnet is," he said without taking his eyes off his work.

"Why is that important?"

"Is it the same as mine, bigger, smaller, what? It's important enough," he replied tersely.

"Hers was not nearly as large as yours, so I'd say it was maybe half the size of yours."

"Are you positive? I need definite answers here, Yinsen," he asked impatiently.

"Yes, I'm positive. Why is any of this important for the Jericho?" he queried.

"How much palladium did you get?" Tony continued, ignoring Yinsen's question.

"Approximately 1.95 grams," he answered.

"See if you can't get them to hand over three more missiles exactly like those," he said finishing the ring for the second cup.

"If they can't give us anymore?"

"Then we are royally screwed," he answered curtly and went on to making another piece of the device. He felt bad about the way he had spoken to Yinsen. The man had saved his life, and this was how he treated him in return. He figured he would apologize later, but right now, time was of the essence.

Over an hour later Tony was still trying to figure out a solution to their problem. There were no more missiles that they could get palladium from. They were over a gram short, and that made quite a difference. At the moment he was trying to find a way to compensate for the difference.

The only options he could see would be for JC's to be incomplete or for both to be incomplete. A plan was beginning to formulate in his mind, but the only way for it to work would be for his to be complete. However, it did leave a great margin for failure. By his calculations, JC would be lucky if her device stayed active for any prolonged period of time. If it died before they got back home…He didn't really want to think about that.

There was the option of making hers complete, but that idea was quickly shot down. He would need a steady source of power for his idea to work. Any kind of power failure and it would be game over for all three of them. There was that, and the moment she heard of it, JC would yell at him for putting her safety above his own. Of course, if she found out hers was incomplete, she would call him an egotistical pig and possibly inflict physical pain. It didn't matter what he chose. It was inevitable that JC was going to yell at him.

Two days later with the issue of the devices resolved, it was time for them to be activated. Putting the last pieces together they both lit up, much to Stark's surprise.

"Those don't look like a Jericho missile," Yinsen noted.

"That's because they're miniature Arc Reactors. I have a bigger one powering my factory at home," Stark replied.

"What kind of power could they generate?"

"If my math is correct, which it always is, about three gigajoules per second."

Yinsen stood for a moment doing his own calculations for a moment before saying, "That could run your heart for fifty life times."

"Or something big for fifteen minutes." Stark passed him several thin pieces of paper, each one laid over the other.

"What is it?" Yinsen asked.

"Lay them out flat and see," Tony said.

Yinsen took them over to a better light source and did as instructed. He turned back to Tony, eyes wide in astonishment. "Do you think it's possible?"

"It won't be easy with us like this, but if you can get us hooked up to these," he said pointing to the reactors, "It will go much faster."

"But, what about your friend? I thought you said there wasn't enough palladium?"

"I know. The sooner we get this finished, the sooner I can get back home and make one that will really work."


Day five came and still JC had not regained consciousness. Tony was beginning to get worried. She may have had an Arc Reactor in her back, but there was no telling how stable it was. If they got out…

No. Not 'if'. When, Tony reminded himself. When they got out, he was going to build a better reactor for her that would definitely not short out. He just had to get them out of here first. Hopefully, with his plan, they would do just that.

He began cutting at a piece of metal that was to become a piece of the chest plate when he heard groaning and sounds of struggle. Yinsen had advised that JC be restrained so she wouldn't hurt herself trying to remove the breathing tube, even put something between her teeth to keep her from biting down and damaging it. When Tony saw that she had nearly torn free from her restraints he hastily turned off the cutting torch and ran to her cot to hold her down.

"Easy, JC! You're safe," he said quickly trying to get her to calm down.

She either wasn't paying any attention to him or just didn't care about what he had said, because she continued to struggle even harder, jerking her head back and forth which caused the tube to pull at the equipment nearly knocking it over. Yinsen caught it before it fell.

"She'll have to be sedated, Stark. She's going to damage her trachea," he warned urgently.

That seemed to catch her attention. She looked wildly at Yinsen like a scared animal before turning her gaze on Tony. Seeing the fear and terror in her eyes was almost enough to scare him. He had never seen her genuinely terrified of anything before. She had faced down a small army without even a moment's hesitation, yet here she was practically cowering. Whether it was because Yinsen had threatened sedation or that she would hurt herself, he didn't know.

"No, not yet," he said to Yinsen. "JC, you have to calm down. He's a doctor. He's just trying to help. Okay?"

Her body was still trembling but she managed a small nod of her head. Some of her fear subsided when she seemed to realize that she wasn't in any immediate danger.

"That's it. It's okay," he said to her before turning to Yinsen. "Is it safe to get that thing out of her?" he asked.

"We can try, but I don't know if her lungs are strong enough yet."

JC looked at Yinsen with confusion before turning to Tony with a stare that demanded an explanation.

"You were hurt in the attack. Do you remember?"

She looked thoughtful before nodding again, but she seemed unsure of it. He wasn't surprised. Most of the details were still pretty hazy for him, too.

"The mortar that exploded had barbed shrapnel. It damaged your lungs. You haven't been able to breathe on your own for five days now," he explained gently. Her eyes went wide for a moment as the gravity of the situation sunk in for her. "I know that thing probably doesn't feel too good, but you might still need it. He's gonna try, but if he says it goes back, it goes back. Understood?"

She gave him an impatient eye roll before nodding her agreement. It almost made him smile. There was the JC he knew so well.

"There will be some discomfort. You'll need to stay relaxed and hold very still, all right?" Yinsen said as he prepared the tube for removal.

She nodded and let her body go slack. Tony released his grip on her at Yinsen's signal and let the man do his work. He pulled the tube out slowly and methodically. JC shut her eyes, grimaced, clenched her hands into fists, but she didn't budge an inch. When the tube was completely removed she gagged and took several uneasy, raspy breaths.

"My nose," she said hoarsely, referring to the other tube that had been used to get food to her stomach.

"Not yet. We'll just have to put it back in, if this doesn't work. How do you feel? Dizzy? Lightheaded?" Yinsen questioned.

"No…it's hard…but…manageable," she pushed out between gruff breaths.

"I'd like the other tube to stay for a few more minutes, just until we're absolutely sure you won't need the ventilator. I'm sure you don't want to go through replacing two tubes," Yinsen said.

"Thanks," she groaned.

Yinsen gave her a small smile before walking away to give Tony a few minutes alone with her.

"You sure you're okay? Your idea of getting shot only counts if you have to pull a piece of lead out, so humor me a minute and think about what a normal person would say."

"I'm fine," she said irritated as she began tugging at her restraints. "Untie…please."

"Sorry about that," Tony apologized as he began undoing the knots. "We wanted to make sure you didn't just yank the tube out. Nearly accomplished that anyways. I forgot how persistent you were."

As if to prove his point she immediately grabbed the tube from her nose with her free hand and practically yanked it out before he or Yinsen could do or say anything to stop her.

"You're hopeless, you know that?" he said flatly as she gagged.

"Don't…like tubes," she responded. "Why…we still…alive?"

"These things," he replied, tapping the glowing reactor in his chest.

"No," she said with a waving hand. She looked like she was about to clarify herself before she let a confused, "What?"

"Not all the shrapnel could be removed. It's trying to tear our organs apart. These magnets are keeping that from happening," he explained.

"My back…it's there…right?" she asked as she fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment.

He nodded.

"What…do they want?"

"They want the Jericho missile, the one I demonstrated."

She contemplated his response as her eyes began scanning the room. It wasn't long before her gaze found the security camera in a corner above the door. Satisfied with her examination she looked back at him.

"Why…me?"

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"Alive. Why?" she clarified.

He knew the reason, or at least had an idea. He wasn't sure she'd appreciate that reason, so he opted for avoidance. "Yinsen saved you. You almost didn't make it."

"Not…what….I meant. Terrorists…why are they…letting…me live?"

So much for avoiding the question. Option two: lie.

"I don't know. Guess they don't see a point in wasting the bullet," he said.

Now she glared at him. He didn't know what gave him away. He had an excellent poker face, one of the best. Nevertheless, she knew.

"Liar," she growled. "Truth. Now."

He gave a defeated sigh before saying, "Incentive, I think. When I tried to refuse them, they wanted to torture me. They couldn't because we were liked through a battery. If one of us disconnected, we'd both die. There was a way to keep me alive. But it would have meant you died."

"You're building…a weapon…of mass destruction…to keep me…alive? Seriously?" she asked cynically.

"What? You think I'd rather see you dead? What kind of man do you think I am?"

"The kind…that could…care less. Or…did you forget?"

Try as he might, Tony couldn't stop the frown that formed on his face. Despite what had happened in the past, he never wanted her to die. He couldn't believe that she would think that. Sure, he had been a jerk to her, but that didn't mean he wanted to watch her or anyone else die.

"I made a mistake. It doesn't mean I don't care," he said sternly.

"Still…a horrible…liar."

"Get some rest. This conversation's over," he said with a glare and stood to go back to his work.

"Like hell," she ground out as she tried to pull herself up from the cot. Tony quickly turned on her and restrained her.

"You are not moving from this spot," he scolded.

"Let…go," she snarled with a feral scowl.

"He's right, my dear," Yinsen chimed in. She turned her scowl on the man which made him visibly flinch. "Your injury was severe," he said more timidly. "Any exertion right now could re-open your wound and kill you. You must rest and give yourself time to heal."

She didn't look pleased at that fact, but she conceded and settled back down. Tony released her and again moved back toward his work. He didn't get very far when she reached up and grabbed his sleeve.

"Wait," she wheezed.

"What?" he asked tersely without turning back to look at her.

"You're not…actually…doing it…are you?"

He stole a glance over his shoulder to see that she was no longer scowling but looked genuinely disturbed at the thought of him building weapons for them. He turned and leaned over to face her at her level.

"What do you think?" he challenged.

She stared him in the eye with a look of judgment. When she finally made up her opinion she asked, "Then…what…are we doing?"

He smirked. At least she didn't think he was a total idiot.

"I'll tell you, but only if you get some rest," he offered.

"Don't need…more rest. Rested…for five…days."

"You don't get much of a choice. I'm sure Yinsen would still be willing to drug you, if that's what it takes," he teased. Tony had only meant it as a joke, but that wasn't how she took it. She grabbed him by the collar and snarled at him, that hint of fear returning to her eyes.

"Not…funny," she growled.

"Take it easy, JC. It was just a joke. Why does that bother you so much?" he asked. Now that the mystery of what was behind her fear had been revealed, he wanted to know why it scared her so much.

She looked like she regretted her reaction now since it would mean having to explain herself. He knew how much she hated talking about anything that was personal to her. He could barely get two words out of her back in Japan. But back then he had done it more out of annoyance than actual curiosity. Now he really wanted to know.

"Doesn't matter," she huffed and released him.

"Obviously it does. What is it?" he pressed.

"You…don't know. You've never…been…like that," she replied cryptically.

"Like what?"

"A coma," she admitted after another moment of hesitation. "It's like…you don't…exist. Drugs…they put me…in that…place. Don't want…to go back. Please…don't make me." She was near pleading by the end, and Tony could swear that he saw tears forming, but he was sure she would deny it, if ever asked.

He had no idea what that had been like for her. He had always thought that being in a coma was like sleeping: you might not be aware of reality, but it wasn't scary; there were dreams and other happy things that kept you from thinking about the fact that you weren't really part of the world anymore. What she was hinting at was something he didn't want to imagine.

"I promise. No more drugs," he said solemnly. Judging by her reaction she seemed to believe him. That was the first time that he could remember that she had ever done that. "Try to get some rest. You'll need it, if you plan on helping us any time soon."