Dropping in through space and time(I don't recommend it)
Chapter One: Dropping in Through Time And Space(I Don’t Recommend It)
I have never felt anything like this before, at least I’m pretty sure I haven’t, falling through a void of things impossible to describe. The pain of my very being ripped apart and put back together differently relentlessly assaulted my senses. The next thing I knew I was blacking out as my ears began to ring.
I awoke to a slight buzzing at the edge of my hearing and the feeling of sand in my clothes.
“Ugh…I hate sand, it gets everywhere, it’s like nature’s glitter, except you can actually remove every last trace of sand.”
I pull myself up, almost falling from how badly my body aches, and look at my attire.
I’m wearing a black long sleeve hoodie, a plain forest green tank top, and black camo cargo pants with brown boots. My body also felt more muscular than before? At least my gender didn’t change, I’m still male.
However, it’s strange how so much changed. Before I was wearing… um… and- and I looked like…
Wait… why can’t I remember anything? I do remember things like my favorite music and hobbies. But why can’t I think of any of my family or friends? Do I even have any? Why can't I remember anything important?
I can’t even remember my name! It starts to feel harder to breathe as panic takes over.
“Calm down me. I don’t need to panic in a desert with no idea of where I am.”
Slowly, I calm down and it becomes easier to breathe.
“So what if I can't remember anything? it’s not important right now and that annoying buzzing isn’t either. I need to find a shelter before a sand storm forms,” I say as I look around the desert with a sigh, “why couldn’t I wake up at a beach? it would be so much easier to find shelter that way.”
I walk around the desert for what I believe was a few hours before I stumbled upon a campsite, the men in the camp already had guns pointed at me.
Seeing no other option, I quickly raise my hands up in surrender.
The men talked in a language I didn’t understand before one got up and quickly punched me in the face, knocking me out. The last thing I saw as I went unconscious was a flag with a pair of crossed swords surrounded by a ring of circles.
For the second time, I woke up in an unfamiliar place, only this time I was in a cave of some sort and only my face was sore. I looked around the cave and saw an almost bald man sitting at a table rolling dice.
“Uh, hi?” I mutter groggily, sitting up on the bed I woke up on.
The man turns after hearing my voice and walks over while introducing himself.
“I’m Yinsen, and you are?”
I tried to remember my name again but I couldn’t, so I went with a name I found fitting.
“I’m Fragment.”
Without memories of my family and friends, I couldn’t really be me, could I? I'm just
… a Fragment of who I was.
“Strange name,” Yinsen comments.
“Where am I?” I ask, ignoring him.
“You’re in a Ten Rings base, they’re going to use you as a hostage in case this base is discovered.”
“Oh. Okay, so, I’m guessing any escape attempts will end in torture or death?” I ask rhetorically, refusing to let the implications set in. I could deal with that later.
“Obviously,” Yinsen chuckles.
It’s been three months since I arrived in this new world. I learned it was 2008, and I had bonded with Yinsen. The worst part of these three months was meeting the leader of the Ten Rings, he’s an asshole.
I was learning first aid from Yinsen when a bunch of Ten Rings soldiers rushed in, carrying a body with blood dripping off of it.
A Ten Rings member began yelling at Yinsen before gesturing to the body.
I look to Yinsen with an unspoken question.
“They captured Tony Stark but he was wounded by a missile and has shrapnel in his chest, we need to remove as much as we can, grab the car battery and electromagnet for me,” Yinsen orders seriously.
I nod and run around the cave to grab what he requested, as well as a bunch of cloth bandages.
“Here, I’m going to sit over there now,” I say, placing the requested objects on a nearby table. I couldn’t stand the sight of surgery. Plus, I'd probably be useless.
A few hours of surgery later and, according to Yinsen, around sixty percent of the shrapnel removed, Stark was asleep with an electromagnet in his chest.
I’m sitting at a table near the sleeping CEO humming some music while Yinsen shaves his beard.
I’m in the middle of the chorus as Stark wakes up. I pause my humming and turn to him.
“What did you do to me?” Stark asks accusingly as he examines the magnet in his chest.
“What Yinsen did was to save your life,” I say sharply, “he removed a good amount of the shrapnel from your chest but a lot is still in there, that magnet is stopping the shrapnel from reaching your heart, so don’t touch it and be very careful.”
Stark nods, still disoriented as he drinks from a glass of water.
“I’m Fragment, by the way, that’s Yinsen over there,” I introduce myself pointing to Yinsen who walks over with the bottle of shrapnel in his hand.
“Here’s a souvenir,” Yinsen jokes, handing the bottle to Stark.
Seconds later, some Ten Rings soldiers walk in, trying to get Stark to make weapons for them. Stark refuses and gets taken somewhere as a result. Hopefully, they won't aggravate his injuries, that would mean Yinsen would have to help him again.
If the soldiers aggravate his injuries too much, he’ll need another surgery and Yinsen said he wasn’t sure if Stark could even survive a second surgery.
It’s been a few days and Tony agreed to build weapons for our captors, but I can tell he must be planning something, especially after Yinsen’s pep talk from yesterday.
Tony was working on something involving the internals of a missile at the moment.
“So what are you doing?” I ask Tony.
Tony removes a strip of metal from the internals of a missile before turning to me and Yinsen.
“This is Palladium, 0.15 grams, I need 1.6 grams, Yinsen can you help break down those other missiles?”
“Of course, “ Yinsen says as he walks to the other missiles.
“How can I help?”
“I want you to strip the plating off of the missiles for me.”
“Got it.”
I pick up the missile Tony just gutted and start stripping the plating as asked.
“Tony really is a genius,” I internally commented.
Tony had made a miniature power source called an Arc Reactor and was now using it as a replacement for the car battery.
He was now showing us the blueprints for armor that would help us escape.
“Well, let’s get started on it.”
“Agreed, Amnesia boy.”
I laugh, remembering how I told him and Yinsen about my memory problems.
“Okay, Cyborg.”
Yinsen chuckles.
Two months later, we’re testing the right leg of the armor.
“I think the camera saw the leg, we should get ready for a visit tomorrow,” I worry.
“We just need to act natural,” Tony replies.
“He’s right,” Yinsen agrees.
It’s the next day, we were playing a dice game and, as expected, Raza and his soldiers walked in. Raza did a speech about how Stark weaponry is the modern-day equivalent of the bow and arrow back when Khangkhis Khan ruled all of Europe and how it will be his turn soon.
Once Raza was done with his speech he turned to Tony.
“Why have you failed me?” Raza asks Tony.
“We’re working. Diligently,” Yinsen answers.
“I let you both live,” Raza said walking towards Yinsen and me, “This is how you repay me?”
“It’s very complex,” Yinsen lied and told the truth at the same time, “He’s trying very hard.”
“Yeah, it’s very complex, we’re doing our best,” I repeat.
Raza sneered, “get them on their knees.”
Before we could say anything, two of his men were grabbing us and forcing us to our knees as Raza picked up a set of tongs that were holding a hot coal.
A manic gleam entered his eyes as Raza stalked towards us, “you think I’m a fool? I’ll get the truth.”
“A-all of us are working,” I implored.
Our heads were pushed further down and onto the anvils, closer to the hot coals, “I’m not a fool! What is going on? Tell me the truth!”
“He’s building the Jericho!” Yinsen and I said repeatedly as Raza continued to question us, bringing the coal closer to Yinsen’s open mouth. I could feel fear starting to take control of me as the coal only got closer.
Finally, Tony intervened, stepping forward, “what, do you want a deadline? A delivery date?”
The terrorists raised their guns, pointing them at Tony as a sign to back off, but a raised hand from Raza had the soldiers lowering their guns.
“I need them. They’re good assistants.”
Raza paused for a minute before dropping the coal… an inch away from Yinsen’s mouth. I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“You have until tomorrow to assemble my missile,” Raza sneers, before leaving the cave along with the terrorists.
We worked all day and night on the armor, not even stopping to sleep. Tony had finished the mask and I was screwing the armor plating into place.
An hour later and Tony was getting ready to put the armor on.
It took a few minutes but we got the armor on Tony pretty quickly. Yinsen and Tony were booting up the armor, while I just stood around. Some terrorists came to check on them and, finding the door locked, began banging on it, demanding to be let in.
I walked away from the door as they set off the bomb that we placed there.
Yinsen turned to the now open doorway, terrorists littering the path, “We don’t have enough time, I’ll have to buy us some.” he ran over to the dead terrorists and grabbed one of their guns before running off, shooting like a mad man.
“Damn it Yinsen, don’t die,” I curse as Tony called out to Yinsen.
Just then the armor booted up and the lights turned off.
“I want you to stay behind me as we go exit, got it?”
“Got it,” I answer.
We then made our way through the caves, Tony killing all the terrorists we encountered. Eventually, we got close to an exit only to see Yinsen bleeding out as he lay on a stack of bags.
“Yinsen!” I yelled as we rushed over.
“Watch out.”
Tony and I dodge a rocket fired at us by Raza and Tony fires back, hitting Raza right back in the chest with his own rocket.
I move back over to Yinsen.
“We have a plan Yinsen, we need to stick to it, we’re gonna take you to see your family,” Tony orders.
“This is what I want, my family is dead, I’m going to see them now,” Yinsen mutters.
“No!” I grab Yinsen’s hand as the buzzing in my head roars, so loud it drowns out everything else.
The next thing I know, Yinsen looks as good as new.
“What…” I ask, shocked. A quick glance around the room shows everyone else is surprised too.
I was the first to recover, pulling Yinsen to his feet.
“I guess you’re not going to see your family as soon as you thought you would,” I joke, trying to break the ice.
“Of course, my family wouldn’t want to see me so soon.” a determined gleam enters his eyes. “Let’s not waste our lives.”
“Agreed, now let’s get rid of those guys and get out of here,” Tony orders. He looks shaken, but now’s not the time to deal with that.
Tony walks forwards and activates the armor’s flamethrowers, setting the terrorists and their weapons ablaze.
“Grab on tight!” Tony says, flicking a switch on the armor.
Yinsen and I manage to grab on just before the jets send us flying through the air and away from the now exploding terrorist base.
After a few seconds, the jets fail and we fall into the sand. Yinsen and I recover first and help get the remaining parts of the armor off of Tony. We then walk through the desert for a few hours before we see a military helicopter, quickly waving our hands as we yell for help.
The helicopter lands and we are greeted by several soldiers including one who Tony seems to be close with, judging by how Tony hugs him. We all board the helicopter but I can feel the suspicious eyes of the soldiers looking at me and Yinsen.
The soldier who hugged Tony walks over to us and sits next to me.
“I’m colonel James Rhodes, who are you? And how long were you each captive with the Ten Rings for?” he asks Yinsen and me.
“I’m Ho Yinsen, and I was captive for eight months.”
The colonel nods before turning to me.
“I’m Fragment and I was captive for six months,” the colonel looks at me questioningly. I scowl before elaborating harshly, “My name is Fragment because I can’t remember anything important before waking up in the desert six months ago.”
He looks dissatisfied by the answer but I couldn't care less. “Alright, what do you two plan on doing once you are in America?” he asked.
“I think I speak for both of us when I say we would like to continue working with Tony?” Yinsen asks, turning to me.
I nod, I’ve got nothing better to do.
“I’ll go ask Tony if he is alright with that otherwise you'll need to find something else.”
The Colonel stands up but I grab his arm.
“Colonel, I just want to remind you, Tony has just been captive for three months and has seen his weapons used against him, he will have changed, so don’t expect him to go back to how he was before,” I advise.
“Right,” he nods before walking to Tony.
I see Tony and colonel Rhodes talk for a bit before he comes back over to us.
“Tony said that you guys are free to come live with him at his mansion, but I’ll be checking in on you guys every once in a while.”
The plane landed at the military base a few minutes ago, now Yinsen and I were following Tony as he shooed away a gurney. A red-haired woman walks over to us and Tony smiles upon seeing her.
“Hmm. Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?” Tony quips.
“Tears of joy, I hate job hunting,” the red-haired woman quips back.
“Vacation’s over,” He replies with a smirk.
“So, who are these two?”
“Pepper, these two are Ho Yinsen and Fragment, they helped me escape and will be staying with me for a while,” Tony introduces us.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Pepper smiled at us.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Yinsen and I smiled back.
We all enter the limousine and Tony has the driver stop by a KFC to get us some food, Tony also orders Pepper to set up a press conference.
We finished eating just as we arrive at the location of the press conference, whereupon we meet a bald man named Obadiah. Something about him seemed off, and I couldn't help but be suspicious.
There was nothing I could do about that now, though, so instead, I’ll just settle for being wary.