Chapter Three
She awoke in a dusty, dark cavern. Her head was pounding and her vision slightly blurry. Where was she? Where the hell was Tony? She at up in a rush, looking around quickly. Her eyes focused on a stranger sitting with his back to her. She got to her feet slowly, picking up a sharp rock.
Creeping forward, she was about to hit the stranger over the head, but Tony's voice stopped her.
"Charlie, he's a friendly." She spun around, catching sight of Tony on another cot. "Tony!" She rushed over to him, stopping when she was about a foot away. She looked him over, spying every cut and bruise. He had a car battery hooked up beside him, wires traveling under a blanket that he had wrapped around it.
"Tony?" He pulled the blankets aside, allowing her to see a small electric device attached to his chest. "Oh my god," she whispered.
"Come on, Charlie," he teased "I always thought you'd enjoy seeing my chest." She gave him a look and eh smirked, pulling the blanket around himself again. At least his humor was still intact.
At the sound of footsteps, Charlie looked over her shoulder to see the stranger joining them.
"Hello," he greeted softly.
"Hello… how long have I been asleep?"
"A couple of days," the man answered. "I'm surprised you made it. You had a pretty bad fever."
Suddenly weak at the knees, Charlie sat down beside Tony
"What?" she managed to get out. Her voice was tiny and so unlike her. Tony nudged at her shoulder as her hand went to the locket around her neck. "Why are we alive?" she asked.
"They want Stark to recreate the Jericho missile."
"I'm not going to do," Tony bit out. "People are looking for me. For us."
"We've had this conversation, Stark! They will never find you in these mountains. Is this how you want to go out? Is this how you want her to die? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark?" At the word die, Charlie's heart started to race.
"They're gonna kill us anyway," Tony said. "And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week."
"Dead in a week?"
"I've got shrapnel heading for my heart. This deice thing is keeping it from moving as face as it normally would." Tears threatened to fill her eyes and she yanked her head away. She hoped that Tony didn't see them, but from thew ay his body tensed, she knew she didn't fool him.
By the next day, Tony had agreed to build the missiles and was directing men where to put the equipment while she watched, and the stranger translated. Charlie mostly kept to the side while Tony and the stranger dismantled the missiles. Never had she felt so useless, but Tony had directed her to only help when he asked, and he hadn't asked.
Days passed, probably weeks. Charlie tried not to keep track. She learned the stranger's name was Yinsen. He was from Gulmira, which he said was a nice place. He had family awaiting back there for him, much like Charlie knew Avery was waiting for her.
"How many languages do you speak?" she asked.
"A lot," Yinsen answered. "But apparently not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian." Tony looked up from the missile he was working on.
"Who are these people?"
"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." Tony shook his head, tossing a piece of metal in the air. He lightly kicked the last of the missile parts away.
"Okay, we don't need this."
"What is that?" Charlie asked.
"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so, Yinsen, why don't you go back down the other eleven?"
As time wore on, Charlie watched as Tony became desperate, and instead of building a missile, he was deadest on budling a miniaturized arc reactor. According to him, it would keep the shrapnel out of his heart for years. It worked, but he didn't want it to just work for his heart. He wanted to power something even bigger. Something huge. A completely metal suit that he would use to get through the men keeping them captive. It was nearly complete, and they were pressed for time.
The only thing Charlie looked forward too was when they went to sleep for the night or when they played a board game. It became a night ritual, to play a round or two. Charlie knew that Tony got a big annoyed when she kept winning, but he did brush it off most of the time. She played a lot of games with her brothers growing up.
Charlie was sketching on an extra piece of paper when the large metal doors were forced open. She froze in place as Tony and. Yinsen put their hands above their heads. A man, one Charlie recognized as the leader, Raza, walked into the room. He spoke in a language that Charlie didn't understand, but apparently Yinsen did. He responded and Raza sneered. He had his men force Yinsen to his knees as he looked to Charlie.
She refused to shy away as he pranced over to her. He stood in front of her and they locked eyes.
"Such pretty face," Raza said in broken English. "Pity." He went to walk away, but turned back, striking her across the face. She cried out as she felt her lip split. She raised a hand to her face as Raza strode past Yinsen to pick up a coal from the fire. The men holding him forced his head down onto the table.
"What does he want?" Tony asked desperately. "What does he want?" The coal was carried over to Yinsen and the man hesitantly opened his mouth. "I need him!" Tony shouted. He darted forward, stopping only when gun were pointed at him. "I need him," he repeated. "Good assistant." Raza nodded, signaling his men to set Yinsen free. Yinsen took a shaky breath as he translated Raza's last words.
"You have until tomorrow to assemble my missile."
As the door was slammed shut behind them, Tony dashed over to Charlie. He grabbed her chin, looking over her face. Her lip was cut, a few drops of blood spilling down her chin. She stared up at him.
"I'm fine, Tony," she promised. She gave him a small smile. "I promise." Tony took a deep breath but nodded.
"Come along, Charlie. We've got work to do."
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