Iron Woman - (Fem Iron man X Pepper)

Chapter 5 - Captured

I wake up and groan as I feel a tube in my nose. I rip out the tube as I realize I was in some sort of cave. I reach over in pain for a cup on a table but fail. I notice a man standing and shaving as I reach again, being stopped by wires.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The man says.

I look down to see a battery, I hurry and pull off the bandages, seeing something inside my chest.

The man helps me up and sits me by a small fire, he hands me a mirror...as if he read my mind. I stare at my chest as he makes food. I was wearing a loose sports bra and sweatpants, and a loose jacket draped over me. "What the hell did you do to me?" I ask.

"What I did? What I did is to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum. Here, want to see?" He pulls out a bottle of shrapnel. "I have a souvenir. Take a look." Tosses the bottle to me. "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?" I ask, referring to the circular metal device in my chest.

"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart. Hmm?" I instantly zip up the jacket wearing and look at the camera on the ceiling. "That's right. Smile. We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern."

"I don't remember." I shake my head.

"No, you wouldn't. 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?" I ask.

Suddenly we hear loud voices from the other side of the metal door as they open it. "Come on, stand up. Stand up! Just do as I do. Come on, put your hands up."

I do as he says as men walk in with guns. "Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?" I ask.

"Do you understand me? Do as I do." A man starts speaking in another language, the man beside me translates for me. "He says, Welcome, Y/N Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America...He is honored.....He wants you to build the missile.....The Jericho missile that you demonstrated. This one." He shows us a photo.

"I refuse." I hiss.

Suddenly they grab me and put my head under water to drown me
The men pull me out, put a bag over my head, and escort me out of the cave. I could see a lot of men, tents, and my guns. The same man speaking Arabic before speaks again. "He wants to know what you think."

"I think you got a lot of my weapons." I say.

"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free."

"No, he won't." I smile and shake the other mans hand, as if to agree.

"No, he won't."

I sit down by the fire and stare blankly ahead, "I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains. Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Y/N Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"

"Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week." I sigh.

"Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it? Hm?"

I finally decide to give in..but I had other plans.  "If this is going to be my work station, I want it well-lit. I want these up. I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools."
After getting all our supplies we start taking apart weapons, "How many languages do you speak?" I ask.

"A lot. But apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian."

"Who are these people?" I ask.

"They are your loyal customers, ma'am. They call themselves the Ten Rings. You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process."

"Uh-huh." I pull apart a missile. "Okay, we don't need this."

"What is that?"

"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?" I ask. I had a plan to survive.

I watch as he pulls a piece out of the fire, "Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this."

"Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?" He asks.

I look up at him, "What do I call you?"

"My name is Yinsen."

"Yinsen. Nice to meet you." I smile.

"Nice to meet you, too." I sit back down and start putting the pieces together, it wasn't perfect but it will have to work. "Whoa. That doesn't look like a Jericho missile."

"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart." I nod.

"But what could it generate?"

"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second." I nod.

"That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes."

"Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes." I look over at him and take out papers I had drawn, "This is our ticket out of here."

"What is it?"

"Flatten them out and look." Yinsen flattens the sheets out to see a drawing of a metal suit.

"Oh, wow. Impressive."

I grab the Arc reactor, "Alright...can you-" I point to my chest. I take off my jacket and sit back as Yunsen carefully puts in the new Arc reactor. I suck in a deep breath and gasp for air as I stand.

"Are you-"

"I'm okay....I'm okay." I nod, feeling better now that I don't have to carry a battery with me. "You still haven't told me where you're from." I catch my breath.

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place."

"Got a family?" I ask.

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"

I look away. "No."

"No? So you're a woman who has everything and nothing."