"Tony Stark, give me my home back!"
"Tony Stark, you got my family killed. You're a butcher!"
"Tony Stark!"
"Tony Stark!"
…
"No!"
Tony jolted awake from the nightmare, staring blankly at his surroundings. The wails he could hear so clearly felt like they had only just faded from beside his ear.
"Are you alright, Tony?" Yinsen sat up from the bed nearby.
Tony rubbed his temples and forced out a strained smile.
"I'm fine."
The heavy dark circles under his eyes made him look so haggard he was practically dying, but now that he was awake from the screaming, he had no desire to sleep anyway. Better to hurry and finish the Iron Suit.
Yinsen looked like he'd been woken up by the noise too, and didn't go back to sleep.
A little later, a steaming cup of hot chocolate was set beside Tony.
"This is…?"
Tony was genuinely surprised. He'd been captured here for a long time now, and he'd already gotten used to the terrible food: that sticky dough, and fresh fruit or meat only once every month. As for coffee and chocolate, the things Americans needed most, there was none at all. There was only water, and even the water wasn't very clean. In the beginning Tony had been stubborn and refused to eat. The terrorists ignored him. After starving for a few meals, Tony licked the plate cleaner than a dog.
No human being could resist hunger with sheer willpower. When someone was starving to madness, they could even shove dirt into their stomach. There was no need to force him to eat.
"I spent quite a bit of money to trade for it," Yinsen said with a smile. "You haven't had any energy lately."
Tony paused, his throat itching. The shift in Yinsen, from hostility when Tony first arrived to this now, hit Tony hard. He didn't know what to say, only swearing silently that he would definitely get Yinsen out with him, so Yinsen could return to his daughter.
He didn't say much, only a quiet thank you. Tony downed the hot chocolate in a few gulps, and immediately felt like he'd come back to life. He knew it was just psychological. In reality, that single cup of hot chocolate couldn't possibly provide the calories he'd needed lately, but it was enough.
Fired up, Tony Stark threw in a full hundred percent and started forging the Iron Suit. The moment the hammered steel suit finally took shape, Tony's heart surged with excitement.
Then, right at that moment, furious explosions and gunfire erupted outside.
The beast soldiers outside went completely wild, machine guns sweeping, bombs flying, grenades tossed. In no time, they'd turned the area into a blazing battlefield of ruins.
"What's going on?" Tony was utterly confused. Had the terrorists outside turned on each other?
But before Tony could seize the chance to put on the Iron Suit and fight his way out, a rocket screamed in.
Tony didn't know why, but in that instant, it was like he could see the rocket moving in slow motion. Of course, his own speed, and the speed of everything around him, felt even slower.
The rocket spat fire as it spun, and Tony saw the Stark logo printed on it. His pupils shrank.
Boom!!!
The rocket hit the wall and exploded. The blast instantly blew Tony's hope, the Iron Suit, into scraps. Tony and Yinsen were both thrown into the air and slammed into the wall. Tony Stark crashed heavily to the ground.
Before he could even process that his Iron Suit had been blown apart, he saw it. A piece of shrapnel was embedded in Yinsen's left chest, blood spilling out and staining Yinsen's clothes black.
"No! No, no, Yinsen!"
Tony struggled to rise. Yinsen shook his head weakly. At death's door, he gave a smile that would carve itself into Tony's bones, one he would never be able to forget.
"Tony… keep going…"
After that, Yinsen's head tilted to the side.
It was like a bolt from a clear sky. Tony froze there, completely lost. He didn't even react when a group of people rushed in. He just stared blankly at Yinsen's corpse.
Then, without any resistance, he was hauled up and dragged out. On the way out, Tony Stark saw corpses all over the ground, the bodies of the terrorists who had threatened him before. Then a hood was thrown over his head. He couldn't see anything, only felt himself being shoved onto a helicopter.
The moment Tony Stark was gone, the beast soldiers who had been playing dead immediately climbed to their feet and dug the scorching bullets out of their wounds.
"Why the hell were you spraying me with a machine gun just now? Didn't we say pistols only!"
One beast soldier, full of holes like a honeycomb, berated his companion. He wouldn't die, as long as his head wasn't destroyed he could regenerate.
But it hurt like hell, alright? Next time, he was going to shove a grenade into that bastard's body!
The helicopter hadn't been flying long before it landed.
Tony Stark had no idea the whole helicopter had already been teleported by Zod to a second interrogation room, carefully prepared just for him.
A short flight time was what made sense. It wasn't like a bunch of terrorists would hop on a helicopter and fly super far away just to come pick a fight.
After Tony Stark got off, the hood was removed. He was in another place where yellow sand filled the sky, but this one looked more formidable than the last group's territory. No wonder they had been able to wipe out that first group of terrorists. It also meant Tony seemed to have fallen into the hands of another group of terrorists…
Then Tony Stark saw it again. Rows upon rows of Stark Industries weapons.
His expression turned ugly instantly. One group of terrorists having them was bad enough. This group had them too!
Were Stark Industries weapons serving justice and America, or serving terrorists?
The moment he thought of the weapons he'd been proud of, slaughtering rebels and innocent people every day, Tony Stark's conscience was dragged back into interrogation and condemnation once again.
"They found out you're Tony Stark. They want you to build an Iron Suit for them."
A "Yinsen No. 2", about the same build as the previous Yinsen, and only somewhat similar, was brought to Tony Stark's cage by the terrorist leader to serve as translator.
Truthfully, Tony Stark didn't even need a translator anymore. These days, from listening in on Yinsen No. 1 talking with the terrorists, Tony had already grasped most of this unfamiliar language system. Everyday communication was no problem at all.
But looking at that translator who resembled Yinsen, Tony still didn't refuse.
"Tell them, impossible."
His Iron Suit had just been blown to pieces. Yinsen was dead. Tony was drowning in grief and disgust for the world, and his temper flared right up.
/-\
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