Back in Black
“So the first film is about Stark.” groaned Clint but Natasha sent him a look to silence him.
“Tony? You okay?” murmured Rhodey to his petrified best friend. Tony looked at his eyes panicked but in a second it was gone, replaced by the usual public mask.
“I’m fine, let’s just get this over with.” Everyone else who had noticed Tony’s reaction was confused, minus Natasha, Bruce, and of course Rhodes. This was of course because of the frequent wipes that Tony had done of his file before the fall of SHIELD.
When the screen comes to life, there's a wide view of military vehicles driving down a dirt road in a desert area. AC/DC's 'Back in Black' can be heard,
“We should have known, the opening track’s AC/DC, of course, it’s Tony.” smiled Bruce. Tony gave a weak smile back.
The words 'Kunar Province, Afghanistan' appear on the bottom of the screen.
The shot changes again to show a radio on the floor of one of the vehicles, the source of the music, then shifts to someone holding a glass of scotch.
“And yet another indication it’s Anthony.” chuckled Thor.
The camera moves up to reveal Tony Stark, dressed in a suit and sunglasses, getting awkward glances from the soldiers in the vehicle. Trying to relieve the tension and break the silence, he begins to speak.
"I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial. This is crazy. What did I do?"
There are more awkward glances from the soldiers but no one says anything, so he continues. "I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk?" Tony turns to look at the soldier next to him, who has been trying very hard not to make eye contact with the intimidating billionaire, "Hey, Forrest!"
Steve couldn’t help himself.
“You shouldn’t disrespect the soldiers Tony.” Tony just shrugged.
“Just trying to ease the tension.”
"We can talk, Sir."
"Oh, I see. So it's personal?" He looks away from the nervous soldier in mock offence, until the soldier driving the vehicle answers.
It always is. Thought Wanda bitterly, then caught herself. She glanced at Vision hesitantly almost as if he could hear her, which was stupid, he couldn’t, right?
"No, you intimidate them."
"Good god, you're a woman. I honestly… I couldn't have called that. I mean I'd apologize but isn't that what we're going for here?" This earns him a smile from the soldier next to him and he continues, "I thought of you as a soldier first."
“Tony,” sighed Natasha disapprovingly as several of the others chuckled lightly.
"I'm an airman." She corrects him.
"You have, actually, excellent bone structure there. I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?" This earns him an honest laugh from all the passengers. "Come on, it's okay, laugh!" The soldier in the passenger seat turns around,
“Smooth save,” chuckled Sam. This was just typical Tony, playboy/womanizer extraordinaire.
"Sir, I have a question to ask."
"Yes, please."
"Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's maximum cover models?"
Clint gave a low whistle,
“Damn,” Quill said impressed. Gamora just sighed and flicked him.
"That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else?"
The soldier next to him raises his hand a bit hesitant, earning him a look from the billionaire. "You're kidding me with the hand up, right?"
“Tony,” scolded Steve, Tony just rolled his eyes and grasped his hands in an attempt to hide the shaking.
"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?" He asks, hand still slightly risen.
"Yes. It's very cool." Tony responds and the young soldier smiles, pulling out a camera and handing it to the one in the passenger seat.
“See I can do nice,” Tony smirked at Rhodey.
“I never said you couldn’t.”
“It was definitely implied.”
They scoot closer together and Tony adds, "I don't want to see this on your MySpace page." The soldier smiles and holds his hand up in a peace sign, "Please, no gang signs," He brings his hand down and the billionaire looks over at him, "No throw it up, I'm kidding. Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace."
“What does that mean?” asked Mantis curiously.
“I use to be a weapons developer for the military,” Tony explained. Mantis gave a soft
“Oh,” and Rocket’s eyes gleamed. He was liking Stark more with every sentence.
The soldier in the passenger seat seems to be struggling with the camera.
"Come on, hurry up," The one posing with Tony says, "Just click it. Don't change any settings." Suddenly the vehicle in front explodes, causing everyone to jump.
At the loud explosion amplified through the room at least half of the people leapt to their feet. Bucky’s eyes were wide and he was very confused for several seconds. Tony groaned and put his head in his hands which wasn’t that easy since he was shaking so much. Rhodey wanted to comfort his friend except he knew, from experience that Tony hated being touched (especially on the back) when he was freaking out. Peter’s eyes were wide in fear as he gazed at the screen having drawn his legs up to his chest.
"Contact left!" The driver shouts as pieces of the exploded vehicle land on the hood of their own. "Contact left!"
"What's going on? What have we got?!" The look on Stark's face is pure panic, but the soldiers ignore his question. The female soldier steps out and is immediately shot down.
The passenger grabs his weapon and yells into the back,
"Jimmy, stay with Stark!"
The soldier complies, yelling to the horrified billionaire,
"Stay down!"
"Yeah…" Tony gasps, his eyes wide with fear as he sinks further to the floor. The other soldier is out of the car now, setting up his gun on the hood of the vehicle when he is also shot, cracking the front windshield and splattering it with blood.
Groot was looking at the screen with a mixture of fascination and horror on his face, the usual teenager then.
"Son of a bitch!" Jimmy readies his weapon now and gets out, closing the door.
"Wait, wait, wait! Give me a gun!"
“Yeah, give him a gun,” yelled Quill at the screen. Tony plugged his ears with his fingers in an attempt to block out the screams.
"Stay here!" Jimmy shouts back through the glass window. When he turns around, there's an explosion, killing the soldier instantly and piercing holes into the side of the vehicle, allowing rays of light to stream in. There's a ringing sound as Tony looks around contemplating his options. Finally, he opens the door and stumbles out of the vehicle.
“Don’t get out you imbecile.” groaned Shuri, she had heard about this when researching Stark Industries, to pass the time and find out more about the outside world’s first superhero in decades, when she was seven. Everyone was staring at the screen in horror.
Tony's running away, explosions happening all around him. He dives behind a rock for cover and pulls out his phone to send a message when a bomb lands next to him. He looks over, only to see the words 'Stark Industries' written on the side.
“Crap,” groaned Steve. Tony looked up unable to help himself.
“Language,” he smirked at the annoyed look on Steve’s face before attempting to look back at the screen.
Tony's eyes go wide as he struggles to stand up and back away, but the rock he took cover behind is in his way and it's too late. The bomb goes off and he's sent flying backwards into the sand. He's sprawled on his back, the ringing having returned.
Stark got hit? Wanda thought He was supposed to be the one blowing people up with the bombs, not being blown up himself.
His eyes are scanning the area around him all while trying desperately to stay open. He grunts in pain and tilts his head up to look at his chest; crimson red is bleeding through his dress shirt. He rips it open to reveal a bulletproof vest, the blood seeping through. There's a pained gasp and the screen fades to white.
Tony groaned again as his chest stabbed with phantom pain, he rubbed the glowing light of the new Arc Reactor.
“That’s how…” Sam whispered shocked. “Why you needed…”
“The arc reactor, yes,” muttered Tony.
“How bad was it?” asked Bucky his skin pale.
“Whole lotta shrapnel, straight to the heart,” Tony grumbled. Those who didn’t know about the purpose of the original Arc reactor were shocked and sickened. Dr Strange was curious though.
“Why didn’t it kill you?” Rhodey, however, answered this time, probably to spare Tony from the bombardment of questions.
“Stark Industries weapon designed to, um, prolong suffering. Intended for the bad guys, terrorists and what not. The shrapnel takes a while to reach the organs.” People were once again shocked.
There are voices in the background speaking in different languages, the white screen slowly fading to some kind of cloth. The view changes and a bag is ripped off of Tony's head. There are cuts on his face, dry blood smeared around them. A group of men are standing behind him with weapons, and he has to blink a few times as his eyes adjust to the light and his ears register the voices around him. He turns his head to get a better view, and his face is one of complete panic once again. There is a brief shot of someone holding a camera and filming him before the focus returns to Tony and pans out. His chest is bandaged and there is blood seeping through. He's tied to a chair and the men surrounding him are holding their guns to his head, while one is reading a sheet of paper and speaking a different language.
“Not looking my best there” joked Tony feebly.
“Who were they,” asked Drax. “The ones who captured you.”
“Group of terrorists called themselves the 10 Rings,” Natasha said, Tony looked at her blankly, she gave him a supportive smile.
“Why did they want you?” asked Scott. Tony grimaced, Jericho, The Jericho, build me the Jericho, the missile you demonstrated, no, no, no, water, so much water.
“You’ll probably find out.” With that Tony closed his eyes, everyone stopped their questioning and glanced at each emotion’s ranging from worry, to anger, to indifference (or their attempt at it), Tony, as usual, pushed any emotion down into the depths of his soul, preparing for the hour or so of bad memories that were coming.