When Aubrey was five, her mother enrolled her in dance classes to bring her out of her shell. Karen had seen how much her daughter struggled to make friends and she figured putting her in dance classes would help her meet other girls. The entire plan was a massive failure as Aubrey ended up standing awkwardly in the back of the room while the other girls twirled around in their pink skirts. But Aubrey vividly remembered her first (and only) dance recital.
She remembered the nervousness as she stood up on that dark stage, right before the lights flashed on. She remembered the silence, save for the heavy, erratic breathing of her peers. And then, as the music started, and the girls started dancing, Aubrey remembered the panic wiping out every recollection of the dance moves.
She had stood there, her heels pressed together, and a stage smile plastered on her face. She couldn't move. Aubrey was completely frozen. The girls danced around her, shooting her strange looks as she willed her limbs to move. She could hear the audience chuckle, which only made her face turn a bright shade of red. After about ten seconds -which felt like a lifetime on stage - Aubrey finally managed to make her limbs moved. The rest of the dance had gone off without a hitch and her mother assured her that she had danced beautifully. But it was too late. The embarrassment had seeped deep into her flesh and settled in her gut. From then on, Aubrey had a lifelong terror of the stage.
The fear followed her throughout her life. When she had to defend her thesis in front of her committee at MIT, she had stumbled over her first few sentences before recovering. When she graduated, she spent an awkwardly long time shaking the dean's hand because she could not make her body do anything else. It was like when all eyes were on her, she had a ten second delay before her body accepted the message from her brain, screaming at it to move.
And now, as Aubrey lay on her cot, staring at the roof of her hell, those moments were all that she could think of. The plan to unleash Tony's weapon was in motion; today, they would attack. Nearly every second of their day was planned perfectly. After monitoring the Ten Ring's activity for the past month, they figured out the precise times that they would be busy. They tested the response time of how long it took the men to rush in with guns if they suspected anything (which had not been a fun experiment for Aubrey). Tony had given them time ranges, but they knew that they did not have much wiggle room.
If one thing went wrong - if someone was watching the camera feed a little too closely - their whole plan was a bust. They had gotten too far for the plan to fail. Because if it did, they all knew there was no recovering. Raza and the rest of the Ten Rings would never allow them to try again. They would be lying somewhere in a shallow grave, waiting for the scavengers to pick them apart.
But these were all things Tony, Aubrey, and Yinsen couldn't control. No matter what, there would always be a risk that they would fail. Uncontrolled variables in an otherwise flawless plan. Aubrey's real fear was that she would be the one to ruin the plan. What if when the Ten Rings broke that door down - which they knew would happen - Aubrey had a ten second delay? What if she wasn't able to play her part? What if she froze up long enough for bullets to rain down on them? And as they lay there, bleeding out in the dirt, they would all know it was Aubrey's fault.
"You ready, kid?" Tony asked. He was already awake, looking over at his blueprints one last time.
Aubrey suspected that despite his cool nature, he was just as nervous as she was. She had noticed his restlessness when she also failed to fall asleep.
Aubrey sat up, nodding once as she ran a hand over her tangled mess of red hair. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"That's good enough for me."
Aubrey threw her legs over the side of the bed. She took a moment to twist, causing a loud series of pop's as her back cracked. Yinsen, who was tying his shoelaces up as he sat on his own cot, gagged at the sound. It only made the girl snort in amusement. She stood finally, coming over to Tony's side to stare down at the blueprints.
"So what's the plan?" she asked, trying to keep her movements natural, in case the men watching the camera picked up on their tension.
"You know the plan," Tony quipped.
She did. They had gone over it a thousand times already. They had all the pieces to the suit, they would just need to weld it together, with Tony in it. Aubrey could recite the steps in her sleep, but she still felt the overwhelming dread that something would go drastically wrong. That somehow, one major detail had slipped away from her, and their plan would snuffed before they even put the suit together.
Aubrey glanced to Tony, and then to Yinsen. There was only three of them. Three people... against an army.
But, there was still hope filling her chest. Quality over quantity, she decided. They weren't just any three people. Tony Stark. Mastermind billionaire. He had already proved how valuable he was by building a miniature arc reactor - something that should have been impossible - for his own body. If he could do that, he could get them out of there. And then there was Yinsen. The humble doctor. Adept enough to save a man's life in a dungeon with a car battery. Once again, doing something impossible in a hopeless situation. And finally, there was Aubrey herself.
When she reflected on her own contributions, she wondered exactly what she was doing to help the team. Would they have been able to pull off the escape plan without her? Probably. But she was smarter than most of the men they would be up against - probably Raza himself. And she was angrier. That had to count for sometheing. The black monster in her chest had to be worth something. That monster that was killing her from the inside out wouldn't allow her to fail.
They would escape, or she'd kill Raza trying. There was no other option.
They got to work, meticulously putting together the pieces of Tony's suit. Each time she checked the time, they were right on schedule. Aubrey thought that this would make her calm down, but it only made her fears escalate. It was going too well... something had to go wrong. Something always went wrong. But still, the minutes ticked by, and the suit started to take form around Tony's body. The chest piece they had hidden in the corner. The weapons they had pretended were for Raza. Everything, piece by piece, was coming together.
Seeing the suit up close made Aubrey let out a breath of awe. Working at Stark Industries had never prepared her for something like this. The suit was the future. She knew as she stared at it, that this single moment would make history. How many people could be saved with technology like this? How much radioactive fallout could be prevented with something so targeted... so precise, unlike a missile?
As Yinsen continued to help Tony slip into the suit, Aubrey started on her part of the plan. If there was one thing she knew, it was weaponry. MIT taught her engineering. Stark Industries taught her design. But these past few months of working under Raza's thumb had taught her how to hurt the most amount of people with the least amount of resources. She set to mantling a bomb against the door. It was set to explode as soon as the door opened. If they swung it open, as she was sure they would, they'd die quickly. If they were slower, they may only lose their hands.
Aubrey turned back to Tony. The suit was nearly complete, but he was still missing important pieces. They worked silently, bolting Tony into the metal... the tank of a suit. As soon as the arms were attached, the loud banging against the door sent Aubrey jolting forward. She shared a wild look with Yinsen.
"Keep going," Tony ordered. Their eyes met. "Aubrey, initialise the power sequence. Yinsen, keep going."
As Yinsen tightened the hex bolts, Aubrey darted to the computer. She tried to ignore the sound of fists against the door, and refused to look over at the bomb threatening to explode if they made the wrong choice. She knew they would open the door... but the thought of being so close when it happened still terrified her. She started on the computer. It was a similar program - or at least a more rudimentary version - to the one used at SI. She was able to type in the code swiftly. Only once the progress bar began loading did she let out the breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding.
Just as she did, the door swung open and the cave exploded. Aubrey shieled herself with her arms as she was pushed back from the blast. She was far enough that she was out of harm's reach, but couldn't help but cough as a dust cloud filled her lungs. Sparing a quick glance to the doorway, she saw two men lying dead on the ground. She knew it was sick, but she felt the smallest twinge of satisfaction. Those two lives were meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Yet two evil men had just been taken off the earth from her weapons. And from that, she felt pride.
"They're coming. They're coming," Yinsen repeated to himself. His hands were shaking as he tightened the bolts. It seemed he was going over each part more than once. The suit was together; all they needed was power.
Aubrey looked back at the progress bar, the satisfaction leaving her body. "We're only halfway. It's not enough power... not nearly enough."
"We need more time," Yinsen muttered. His wild eyes settled, and Aubrey saw the decision being made in his head. Her heart dropped.
"Stick to the plan," Tony said evenly. He was powerless to stop Yinsen. He was trapped in the suit, with no power to move. But Aubrey... she could do something.
"I'm going to buy you some time," Yinsen announced.
The man darted forward, and seconds later, Aubrey was on him. She threw her entire body at him, tackling him to the ground. He was taken off guard, or else he would have never fallen from the near skeletal girl's attack. They landed roughly against the ground, as Aubrey did her best to pin him down. "Yinsen, we have enough time," she pleaded.
There was a determination in his eyes that Aubrey had never seen before. Under that, there was also a sadness. The type of sadness that blackens one's heart; the type that scars. How had she never noticed it before? She wasn't sure whether it was shock or understanding that made her grip on his shoulder soften, but seconds later, Yinsen had gently pushed the girl away and scrambled to his feet.
They both spared a look at the progress bar on the screen. Sixty percent. Not enough time.
"Let me do this, Aubrey."
She didn't argue as he ran down the hall, stumbling to pick up a gun as he did. Aubrey stared after him, wondering if she should go too. Tony needed more time, and they knew that more men would be coming. She should go, she realised. But she was a coward. She'd rather hide behind Tony and guarantee her own safety than risk it all to give Tony more time.
"Aubrey, whatever you're thinking, I need you here. You need to stick to the plan," Tony said firmly, as if reading her thoughts. "The suit's not finished."
Aubrey turned to him, seeing the fresh desperation in his eyes. He understood what Yinsen had done, but he needed Aubrey there. Maybe she wasn't a coward if she stayed; maybe she was necessary. The girl pulled herself to her feet, stumbling back towards Tony. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she forced herself to remain calm. She had to do this. She couldn't have a ten second delay.
"The helmet," Tony said. He didn't need to explain. Aubrey grabbed the hevy helmet and slipped it over his head, fitting it into place. She spared a glance at the computer. The power was growing, and the lights above them flickered. She was quick in her movements as she bolted the helmet down.
Just as the final bolt was tightened, the lights went out. Aubrey stepped back, glancing one last time at the computer to see the progress bar was full. Tony had full power. She stumbled to the ground as Tony's chest lit up in front of her. At the same time, she could hear boots hitting dirt as a group of men finally reached the door. Aubrey didn't see Yinsen with them, but she didn't allow herself to think of the dark possibility.
The room was dark, broken only by the flashing lights of guns firing. Aubrey hid under the table, her eyes squeezed shut as she held her breath. She could hear him now. The whirring of his suit, the work bench shifting as he thundered past. And then the sickening crunch of bones breaking as Tony's metal fists slammed into the flesh of his enemies. She peeked out from under the table, watching as he slammed one of the men into the stone wall.
Tony didn't hold back. Aubrey realized then that she wasn't the only one holding onto rage from her long stay in captivity.
After Tony took down the last man, Aubrey saw that he stilled. She could only see his silhouette, with the faint glow from the arc reactor embedded in his chest. She watched, eyes wide, as he looked down on the men he had just taken out. Were they dead? Aubrey wondered briefly if he was stunned over his first kill. Finally, he started moving again, towards the sound of guns firing. As he thundered away, Aubrey realized that he had taken the moment to feel the power of the suit.
To feel what it was like to be invincible.
Pulling herself from her cover, Aubrey ran after Tony. She picked up a gun from one of the dead men. The fact that she had no idea how to use a gun briefly crossed her mind but she banished it. Aim and pull the trigger. How hard could it really be? Besides, it seemed that Tony was more than happy to do the bulk of the fighting for her.
Tony reached a new tunnel, with Aubrey close behind. He stopped abruptly, nearly causing Aubrey to run into his back. At first, her stomach dropped; was the suit malfunctioning? But she quickly realised it wasn't the suit that had made Tony stop. It was the man standing merely ten feet away, a gun in his hand as he screamed out a stream of insults at his captors. The gun fired quickly, but it didn't appear that Yinsen was aiming at anyone in particular. He was just firing, and if he killed someone, so be it.
After only a few more seconds of watching him shoot, the firing ceased. Yinsen's chest was heaving, as he scanned the tunnel for anyone left. When he found that the coast was clear, he turned to look at his friends. Aubrey almost found the scene heartwarming for some twisted reason. Yinsen, the gentle man who had acted almost like a father to her in these recent months, had been prepared to risk everything in the name of helping them escape. And here they stood, reunited and ready to face Raza as a team.
It wasn't until Aubrey heard the loud fire that she realised that they weren't alone. Too late.
Aubrey could only stare as she watched Yinsen's body flinch back as a bullet tore through his chest. At the same time, Yinsen's gun sparked, with four shots firing quickly before falling silent. The man who'd shot him instantly fell to the ground, dead. There was a moment – the longest moment of her life – where Yinsen had continued to stand, and Aubrey naively convinced herself that he'd be okay. And then, he collapsed onto his knees, the gun falling to his side. Finally, his chest hit the ground, and red blossomed from the hole in his back.
Aubrey made it to his side first, flipping him over quickly. Her hands pressed against the red stain forming on his chest, as she stared into his dimming eyes. "No, no, no," she whispered. She didn't look, but she heard the crunching of dirt and whirring of machinery as Tony came to crouch down next to them. They could both see the life fading from Yinsen's face, but Aubrey wasn't yet ready for the loss.
"Hey, we're almost out of here, just stay with us," Aubrey pleaded. Her face cracked as tears slid from her eyes. "This wasn't part of the plan."
Yinsen shook his head once, a familiar sadness filling his face. "I was never going to leave this place, Aubrey."
"C'mon, you're going to go see your family," Tony urged. He stopped when Yinsen shook his head one more time.
"My family is dead. I am going to see them now…" he trailed off. Aubrey flinched back, shocked at the revelation. There was a short pause, as the information sunk in. And then, a soft smile graced the dying man's face. So gentle - the upward tug of his lips - as if Yinsen were picturing his family in front of him right behind Tony's shoulder. "It's okay... I want this. I want this."
Everything Yinsen had done to save them, had been with the knowledge that he would never have a home to return to. He saved Tony and Aubrey without the hope of escaping. He helped build the suit, knowing that it would never reunite him with his family. When Yinsen had first been captured from the Ten Rings, he knew that this would be the place he would pass.
Tony seemed to recover from the confession faster than Aubrey. He nodded his head, a new resolution crossing his face. "Thank you for saving my life."
Yinsen let out a short breath. "Don't waste it. Don't waste your life."
And then he was gone, leaving Aubrey with a horribly empty feeling in her chest. Yinsen had been there from the beginning; for a long time, he had been the reason she hadn't completely spiraled in captivity. And now the idea of him simply being gone was just… it didn't make any sense.
Don't waste it.
His words would haunt Aubrey as she stepped away from the body, turning to Tony with a new determination. Losing simply wasn't an option anymore. If not to escape for themselves, they needed to escape for Yinsen. Because he had seen something in Tony that made dying worth it… Aubrey wondered if he had seen the same thing in her.
They took off down the hallway again, Aubrey holding Yinsen's gun in shaky hands as she followed closely behind Tony. Even if Yinsen had directed the words only at Tony, she had a new resolution to live up to the words.
Don't waste your life.
Hadn't that been what Yinsen warned her about. Hadn't he been concerned that she was wasting away in that prison, filled with hopeless thoughts of revenge and violence? No, his death would not be meaningless. Aubrey and Tony would get out of that hell hole, and they would make it worth something. So they moved forward, a new fire under their feet as they vowed silently to avenge the man who had sacrificed his life for them.
Tony was efficient in taking down the enemies. A swift hit to the head left one man crumpled on the floor. Breaking through a steel door like it was made of wood. Swinging his arm so hard that it got stuck in the stone walls of the tunnels. As Tony struggled to pull his arm from the stone, a man crept up behind him, a handgun shaking in his grip. Before Aubrey could call out to Tony, a bullet fired from the gun.
Aubrey flinched, squeezing her eyes shut just as she heard a body drop to the ground. Had it really been that easy to kill him? She didn't want to open her eyes, terrified that she'd realize how alone she really was if she opened them. So she stood like that for a few seconds, trying to drown out the carnage around her with peaceful thoughts.
"You coming, kid?"
Aubrey's eyes flew open, her breath halting in her chest. Tony stood there, his mask lifted and his arm free from the stone wall. In front of him, the man lay motionless. Blood trickled from the small hole in his forehead. Aubrey looked back to Tony, realizing what had happened. The bullet had ricocheted from Tony's suit, through the man's head. She should have known what would happen the second she saw the gun. They had made the suit bulletproof. They had made sure of it.
Aubrey let out a shaky breath, and with it, the terror that she had lost both lifelines. "Yes," she whispered out. And once again, they took off.
Yinsen's death was fresh in her mind, clouding her gaze and making her stumble. But still, she pressed on. She couldn't fail. She wouldn't fail. With each step, she thought of the people she would embrace when she finally made it home. Jean. Her parents. Hell, she'd hug anyone with a smile on their face. As long as she was away from this place. As long as there was no possibility that Raza could drag her back.
And for a moment, Aubrey actually believed it.
She had let her hope grow too much; it had become an unchained beast that Raza's men recognized and had to kill before it got out of control. They were so close to freedom. The light was close enough that Aubrey could reach out and feel the warmth on her fingertips. They were free.
Almost.
Because just as she had reached the opening to the cave, she remembered that Tony wasn't the only powerful man in the camp. And he sure as hell wasn't the only man with weapons; Aubrey had made sure of that.
She didn't hear the BOOM, she just felt herself getting blasted back and a ringing filled her ears. Dust filled the air, and then her lungs. Aubrey coughed, the cave tilting around her as she reached her hand forward, coughing hard. She vaguely recognizes that Tony has shot his own miniature missile towards Raza. He must have died, but the feeling isn't as relieving as it should be. Because then, the pain set in. Her whole body felt a deep ache in her bones. When she tried to move, to sit up, her breath hitched as her ribs stung. And then, as if the pain receptors in her leg was slower to respond than the rest of her body, she understood agony in its truest form.
It was a thick, sloppy pain. Bloody. The type of pain that tears through your skin and crawls towards your heart. It knocked her breath from her chest as a sob escaped her throat. She didn't want to look, but human nature took over.
She didn't recognize what she saw at first, she only saw red. Blood everywhere, pooling around her left leg. A piece of shrapnel - was it a piece of Tony's suit? - had buried itself through Aubrey's shin, coming out the other side. Looking at it made her feel like she needed to pass out. The bone splintered where the shrapnel had cut through, only a small portion of the bone remained intact.
Aubrey let out a scream, her voice breaking in coughs and wet gurgles as she sobbed from pain and fear. "Please, please, no!" she cried out. She wasn't sure whether she was begging God or not. But she pictured her mother, who used to come to hold Aubrey's face in her hands after scraping her knees on the playground. She felt her heart wrench; that's what she needed. She needed her mother to come to her, to hold her face and whisper in her ear that everything was going to be alright. That the pain would go away once she put a Band-Aid on it.
Instead, Aubrey was met with a iron face, as Tony crouched in front of her. She couldn't see his eyes but she could feel his panic. She could hear his quick breaths under his suit as her looked down at the wound. Yinsen was dead. Who would help Aubrey now? "Please..." she repeated. Her voice was quieter now, the shock starting to set in. Was the sun starting to set? The cave suddenly seemed darker.
"Kid, your leg... I can't-" Tony choked on his own words. "You'll bleed out if we leave it like this."
Aubrey suddenly understood what Tony was saying. "No," she begged. "No, no, no! Not like this. Please, Tony!"
There was a moment of silence. Aubrey had thought Tony was thinking of a plan to save her. Wasn't that what he did best? He was meant to be one of the smartest men in the world. He could think up anything. He would be able to think of a way to save her. But Aubrey was too dazed to realize that his hesitancy wasn't in thought. She didn't see his hand creeping towards a charred machete that one of Raza's men had dropped before his imminent death. She didn't know that Tony had already thought up a plan to save her until the machete swung through the air, slicing through the remaining bone.
Aubrey let out a shrill scream as a new wave of pain wracked her body. She felt the betrayal moments later. "Why?" she gasped, falling into Tony's metal arms.
But Tony wasn't done yet, and Aubrey, even in her dazed state knew this. She knew that the blood was continuing to spill out of her body, onto the ground. With each second passing, she grew weaker. They would need to find a way to stop the bleeding.
Aubrey was too weak to flinch as bullets rained down on them from outside the cave. Raza and his men were advancing. The bullets hit Tony's suit, and ricocheted from his back. Now was the time for Tony to show them his own little trick. From both hands, flames shot forward, scorching the men and melting their weapons. Their screams could barely be heard over the whooshing of flames from his suit.
He pointed one of the flames towards the metal shrapnel that had cut through Aubrey's leg in the first place. He heated it until it's a bright red colour, and only then did he slow his attack. He didn't give the girl any warning before the remaining stump of her leg was pressed against the hot metal, instantly cauterizing her broken blood vessels. This time, Aubrey didn't cry out. She whimpered, but couldn't manage more.
With one fist still shooting flames forward, the other looped around Aubrey's waist and picked her up. Her eyes were open but she fell limply over his arm like a rag doll. Everything felt like some sort of dream now. The feeling of metal under her spine was distant, and the brightness of the sudden sun shining on her was hazy. Everything around her was far too hot and loud.
Crates filled with SI weapons exploded as the screaming men scramble from Tony's line of sight. It felt like the danger had suddenly disappeared, but the rational part of Aubrey knew that couldn't be true. Bullets whizzed past her, some hitting Tony. Sparks flew across her skin, but her body was numb to it. She could feel the way his body jerked around, trying to hide her from the weapons.
Another whimper left Aubrey's mouth as she's dropped onto the dirt ground, Tony falling over her on his hands and knees. His body protected her from the bullets raining down on them, but even in her state she knows it can't last. Either Tony will have to make a move to take down the men with guns, or they'll fail. There was fire everywhere now, and he couldn't stop the heat that burned at her skin.
It felt like the world was exploding around her, but Aubrey was too weak to save herself.
Aubrey stared up, looking at Tony's mask again. In the sunlight, she could see through the slits in the suit. She could see the turmoil in his eyes. And she knew exactly what he was thinking. "Don't leave me," Aubrey whispered.
But their plan had fallen apart the second Raza had blown Aubrey's leg off. She had already lost too much blood and there was too much destruction around them to come up with a new plan. Their escape had always meant to be simple. One option. Aubrey and Yinsen would hold onto Tony and pray as his suit launches them into freedom. It was always too simple and Aubrey realized that too late. Their single fatal flaw was not giving Aubrey and Yinsen the power to save themselves. Because now, both Tony and Aubrey knew that she was far too weak to hold on long enough to get to safety. There was no scenario that didn't end with her falling to her death.
"Please," Aubrey begged, tears slipping from her eyes. In her state of confusion, she knew that there was no option other than Tony jetting out of there. There was too much fire, too much chaos. If he stayed, they would both die. She was not sure that Tony could hear her over the carnage around them, but she knew he understood.
There was a pause. It must have only lasted for a second, but to Aubrey, it lasted a lifetime. And then, "I promise I'll come back for you."
She didn't have the strength to argue. She could only watch as her only hope for survival stood up. And then, she finally slipped into the darkness.
A/N: got a little woozy writing the scene about Aubrey's leg if I'm going to tell you the truth. Hope ya'll enjoyed! Definitely an action packed chapter.