Sacrifice
The snowy mountains are revealed, men huddled around a fire for warmth before switching to the security surveillance, where Tony is shown laying on the cot with Yinsen stood over him. A moment or two passes before the genius stands, the addition in his chest glowing with a bright, gentle, blue light, appearing larger than it actually is on the cheap cameras. He takes a few steps forward and the men share a handshake that could almost pass for a high-five.
A pair of dice is being rolled on a wooden board game, the two men gambling with silver bolts.
"Good roll, good roll." Yinsen praises the billionaire, reaching for the dice to shake them in his hand for his own turn.
"You still haven't told me where you're from," Tony mentions nonchalantly, lifting the lid off of a jar next to him.
"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place."
“Gulmira…” whispered Rhodey in shock.
“What is it?” asked Strange intrigued.
“That was where Iron Man made his first public appearance.” supplied Vision, Strange nodded in understanding.
"Got a family?"
"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here." Yinsen says, looking up from the board to face the billionaire, "And you, Stark?"
The two make eye contact for a brief moment before the genius looks down, taking his turn in their game before looking back up. He shrugs and replies with a quirk of his lips, "Nah."
"No? So you're a man who has everything, and nothing?"
Steve bit his lip, he hadn’t thought of that. About how the Avengers were quite literally all Tony had apart from Pepper in terms of friends.
“What about Rhodes?” asked Scott in confusion.
“And Lady Pepper?” questioned Thor.
“Well,” said Rhodey tiredly. “He must’ve thought I was dead after the attack, and Tony is a tad paranoid considering plenty of people are just his friends for his money and resources.” Clint winced slightly at that thinking about how no one ever thanked Stark for the weapons and the compound.
The leader from the beginning walks up to the door, opening the hatch quietly and peering inside. Satisfied to see that they are working, he nods in approval and turns away.
Suddenly, music can be heard over the speakers, and the camera is panning over a table full of supplies, some makeshift pieces of armour and tools forged from pieces of scrap. Some sparks can be seen flying from where Tony is using a blowtorch. When he turns it off, he lifts the goggles off his face.
“I always forget that Tony actually does this kind of stuff considering his labs and stuff are always so modern and, well, shiny,” said Natasha a soft fondness in her voice.
Their captors are seen huddling over the TV's again, holding up the picture of the Jericho and arguing in a different language as they compare it to the process on the screen.
"It doesn't look anything like the picture," complained one.
"Maybe it's been modified," another man suggests.
"The tail is wrong," The first man argues.
"It's just backwards." One reasons.
“How thick can you get?” asked Clint in surprise.
The bald man from before is back on the screen, fiddling with his ring yet again while staring at the monitor, his face twisted in a scowl as he observes. Tony can be seen swinging his leg, now encased in metal and wires.
The hatch is opened again and the men come barging in. Tony shuts off his blow torch and straightens up, both him and Yinsen instinctively raising their arms above their heads.
“Oh no, what’s gonna happen now.” wailed Shuri.
Raza, the main leader, walks in, glancing at the two men, "Relax."
Rocket snorted at that.
“Like that’s ever gonna happen”
They hesitantly put their arms down, and the leader walks up to Tony, pulling the collar of his tattered shirt down to get a glimpse at the arc reactor. "The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology."
Clint let out a cry of outrage and everyone rolled their eyes.
"It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great, and four times the size of the Roman Empire." He picks up the papers revealing the armour plans, studying them for a moment.
Tony gives a nervous glance to Yinsen, who makes a subtle gesture with his hand to calm down as Raza continues, "But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons, rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn." He glares at the billionaire for a moment before addressing Yinsen in another language that translates to, "Why have you failed me?"
“Crap,” muttered Clint.
"We're working. Diligently." Yinsen responds
"I let you live, and this is how you repay me?" Raza asks, approaching the Doctor.
"It's very complex. He's trying very hard."
The billionaire can be seen watching uneasily; clearly not happy that he can't understand what's going on.
“Since then, Tony spent a day or two learning several middle eastern languages.” murmured Vision absentmindedly.
"On his knees!" Raza orders and a man approaches, grabbing Yinsen by the arm and forcing him to his knees. He walks over to the fire picking up the tongs and grabbing a hot coal, "You think I am a fool?"
"We're both working."
"Open your mouth," He says, holding up the burning coal.
“No!” cried several people in the room, everyone else looked on in dismay.
"What does he want?" Tony questions, still standing helplessly on the other side of the room.
Ignoring him, Raza grabs Yinsen's head, holding the tongs in front of his mouth, "What's going on? Tell me the truth."
"He's building your Jericho," Yinsen pleads.
"The truth."
"He's building your Jericho!"
"THE TRUTH!" Raza raises his voice.
Tony steps forward in a moment of bravery, obviously fed up with the situation, "What do you want, a delivery date?" He asks, raising his hands in a placating gesture when every gun in the room is suddenly pointed at him, followed by a series of shouting. Raza looks up at the billionaire, who hesitates for a moment before speaking, "I need him. Good assistant."
Raza drops the burning coal in front of Yinsen's face, never looking away from Stark, "You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile." He threatens, tossing the tongs carelessly across the room.
“Oh, thank goodness.” sighed Strange in relief.
“Will he be able to finish in that time?” asked Wanda, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.
“Of course.” snorted Bruce. “When I was down in the labs with Tony he would start and finish several projects before I had finished one.”
The music starts up again and Tony can be seen hammering a piece of metal, the glow of the arc reactor visible through his tank top. He continues pounding the metal into place, each hit making a loud 'clanging' sound. He's dirty and it's obvious he's sweating from the work and the heat of the fire nearby but continues nonetheless.
“Wow, Stark is surprisingly buff,” commented Clint. Rhodey looked at him incredulously.
On screen, Tony grabs the metal with a pair of tongs, dunking it in a tub of water, where it starts to steam from the cooler temperature. When he pulls it out again, he sets it on the table in front of Yinsen, where it's finally visible as to what it is, a mask.
“That looks awesome,” smirked Rocket, eager to get put in jail again just so he could try something like this. Apparently understanding his train of thought Quill looked at him in hesitation but Groot grinned at him, the same thought definitely running through his mind.
The scene changes and Tony is taping up his hands while Yinsen is raising the chest plate in the background. He shrugs on his dirty jacket and a pair of rubber gloves. Yinsen straps a brace of some sort around his neck, and the next thing you know he's pulling the chest plate of the armour over the genius, the hole in the front fitting perfectly over the arc reactor.
"Okay. Can you move?" Yinsen asks, adjusting pieces of the armour. "Okay, say it again."
"41 steps straight ahead, then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right."
“He managed to memorize that while bagged?” said Natasha impressed.
Raza approaches the security monitors, leaning forward to inspect them, "Where is Stark?" He growls to one of his men.
“Oh no,” muttered Mantis, eyes widening.
"He was here a moment ago…”
"Go look for him!" He barks, leaning closer to inspect the screen, only seeing a wall they had set up and Yinsen working behind it.
The men ordered to look for Stark open the hatch yelling in, "Yinsen! Yinsen!"
"Say something," Tony hisses as Yinsen continues preparing the suit.
"He's speaking Hungarian! I don't-"
"Then speak Hungarian," Tony says, knowing they're running out of time.
Steve rolled his eyes at that. Smiling slightly but thoroughly worried.
"Okay, I don't-"
"What do you know?"
Yinsen shouts a reply to the men outside the door. One of them shouts back getting ready to open it. The camera pans down a bit to reveal an explosive rigged to go off if the door is opened.
Rocket grinned widely, leaning forward in his seat.
Upon seeing the camera go to static, Raza starts to yell to his men, sending more of them running towards the prisoners.
"How'd that work?" Tony asks Yinsen, who glances over the billionaire's shoulder to view the damage.
Rocket cackled and several of the other’s looked at him in concern.
"Oh, my goodness. It worked all right."
"That's what I do."
"Let me finish this."
"Initialize the power sequence," Tony says, and Yinsen turns around dropping his tool.
"Okay."
"Now!"
"Tell me, tell me!" The doctor leans over an older computer, awaiting instructions.
"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now."
"Yes-"
"Talk to me," Tony cuts him off, "tell me when you see it."
"I have it."
"Press Control 'I'"
"'I.' Got it."
"'I Enter' 'I' and 'Enter.' Come over here and button me up."
The men are running down to the room, and Yinsen is frantically trying to finish preparing the suit. "Okay, alright."
Everyone held their breath in anticipation.
"Every other hex bolt," Tony instructs, ignoring the yelling coming closer.
"They're coming!" Yinsen glances behind the armour.
"Nothing pretty, just get it done. Just get it done."
Nothing pretty? This is Stark we’re talking about right? Smirked Clint to himself.
"They're coming…" The doctor repeats, his voice full of warning and concern.
"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?"
Yinsen is staring nervously at the laptop, the progress bar barely halfway complete.
"We need more time." He states as he turns around, facing the billionaire with a determined look, "Hey, I'm going to go buy you some time."
“No!” cried Peter in dismay.
"Stick to the plan!" Tony shouts as Yinsen starts walking away from him, grabbing a gun from one of the dead men and shooting it inter the air, "Stick to the plan! Yinsen!"
“Oh dear.” sighed Mantis, putting a hand over her mouth.
The men are getting closer and closer, and they run behind a corner. There are a yell and a gun going off, and soon they're running back the way they came, Yinsen chasing after them. He follows them to a room full of men and stops when they all aim their weapons at him.
Everyone stared shocked at the screen, at how brave Yinsen had been.
The scene changes back to the room, where the laptop is sitting on the table. The progress bar reaches 100%, and the light flicker a few times before going out. There are men running through the now dark cave, towards the prisoner's quarters. They glance at the dead bodies before hesitantly stepping into the room. A rubber glove can be seen in the dark, squeezing open and shut menacingly. One of the men turns around when a bright blue light shines in his face. He looks up, and the source of the light moves, sending him flying across the room, the other men shooting bullets around the room.
“Thank god it finished loading.” murmured T’challa.
The men seem satisfied that they might have hit their target when the light appears again. There's more shooting, but the followers don't stand a chance. When the last one falls, the camera pans out to reveal the armour in its entirety for the first time.
“Holy shit.” whistled Scott. Rocket was a constant stream of maniacal laughter.
Tony starts to walk forward in the armour, the men down the hall firing at him, though the bullets only ricochet off the metal. One brave man charges for him, but the billionaire simply swings his arm, sending the man into the cave wall. He continues walking, Raza's followers eventually turning and running away once they realize they don't stand a chance. They close a door, locking one man out by mistake. He pounds on the metal, begging for them to open it and let him through as the armour is getting closer. The men on the other side ready their weapons hearing their friend scream, and then fall silent. There's a loud bang on the door, denting it, and they all take a few steps back. There are three more bangs, and the door flies open, landing on one guy and taking him down as the others run for their lives.
Quite a few people were shocked about how ruthless Stark was being.
The genius continues through the cave, swinging at one guy who comes around a corner but gets his arm stuck in the rock.
“Oh No,” cried Peter paling.
One braver man comes up, holding a gun to Stark's head, but the bullet bounces off the metal of the helmet and back at the shooter, killing him. Tony finally gets the arm out of the rock and continues on relentlessly. The scene changes to Raza loading a rocket into a rocket launcher, and aiming it at the entrance way where he knows Tony will appear.
Yinsen can be seen lying on stacks of rice. He's covered in blood and bullet holes and glances to the side when the armour finally appears at the entrance.
Everyone turned sombre, having grown to like Yinsen in the time spent watching.
"Yinsen!" The billionaire shouts.
"Watch out!" The doctor manages to choke out despite his pain, just as Raza fires the rocket.
Tony just barely avoids getting blown up and opens a latch on his arm to fire his own missile, sending crates and bits of rock down on top of Raza. Once he's down, Tony hastily makes his way to Yinsen's side, tossing a sack of rice off his friend.
"Stark…"
"Come on, we gotta go." The billionaire says, flipping up the faceplate of the armour. His face is gleaming with sweat, his hair sticking to his forehead, but it's clear to anyone that his eyes are sad and full of worry, "Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."
"This was always the plan, Stark," Yinsen replies in a near whisper, struggling to stay awake just a little bit longer as he slowly fades away.
“I do not understand,” said Thor sadly. Loki looked at him, but there was an uncharacteristic softness in his eyes.
“Yinsen wished to die, brother,” he said quietly to Thor.
"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up." Tony's voice is almost pleading, but the dying man before him shows no intention of moving.
"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark."
“Oh,” whispered Thor. Valkyrie had paled slightly thinking about the Massacre of the Valkyries to Hela.
Tony swallows hard as he listens to his friend.
"It's okay. I want this. I want this."
The armoured man sighs, trying his best at a small smile, "Thank you for saving me."
“That was quite remarkable, the way that he saved Tony,” muttered Strange offhandedly.
"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." Yinsen lets out a strangled last breath before his eyes close one last time.