Iron Woman

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

Toni wakes up immediately panicking after she notices that she is strapped down and there are people above her performing some kind of procedure on her. She then is knocked out by what is assumedly a chloroformed rag.

Later she wakes up abruptly taking a few deep breaths and then notices a tube inside her nose and pulls it out grimacing. She then looks to her right and notices a cup of water. She reaches out to try and grab it but ends up knocking it to the floor instead. She then looks to her right and notices a man shaving. She goes to move and realizes there is something attached to her.

The man as he continues shaving says "I wouldn't do that if I were you" and she then notices that she is connected to a car battery. She rips off the bandages on her chest to see an electromagnet in her chest.

Later the two are sitting by a fire. Yinsen is making food and whistling while Toni is using a mirror to look at her chest.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Toni asks while looking at her chest. "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 then pulls out a small glass bottle and says "I have a souvenir. Take a look". He then tosses the bottle to Toni who takes it and looks at the shrapnel as he says "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"

Toni then asks "What is this?" about the device she is attached to. "That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart. Hmm?" the man tells her as she zips up the jacket she's wearing and looks at the camera on the ceiling with anger. "That's right. Smile. We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern"

"Sorry, I don't remember" She tells him. "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" He tells her.

"While I was out they didn't uh.. touch me. Did they?" Toni then asks him nervously. "No, they didn't. I made sure you were covered and stayed with you the whole time" He tells her. "Thank you" She replies with relief.

She then asks "Where are we?" while looking around. They then get interrupted by voices from the other side of the metal door as it is being opened. The man starts to panic and says "Come on, stand up. Stand up! Just do as I do. Come on, put your hands up" Toni follows his lead as men with guns enter.

"Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?" Toni asks shocked and confused as to how they have her weapons. "Do you understand me? Do as I do" Yinsen repeats. One of the men starts speaking in Arabic and Yinsen translates saying "He says, "Welcome, Toni Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America" The man speaks in Arabic again. "He is honored" The man speaks in Arabic again "He wants you to build the missile" The man speaks in Arabic some more. "The Jericho missile that you demonstrated" The man finishes speaking and hands Yinsen a picture of the Jericho missile. "This one" Yinsen finishes translating.

With a hard look on her face, Toni says "I refuse" The men then drag her to a large tub of water and hold her head down in it as she panics and tries to break away for air they pull her up for a second and she gasps for air before being pushed down again and while underwater she hears Peter in her head yell "Mommy!" The men then pull her out of the water, put a bag over her head, and escort her out of the cave. They then take the bag off of her head and she squints as she opens her eyes to see a lot of men, tents, and her guns.

They show her around the small valley and then the man who was speaking before speaks again in Arabic and is translated by Yinsen who says "He wants to know what you think" "I think you got a lot of my weapons" Toni says which Yinsen translates to the man who then has Yinsen tell Toni "He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials" 

Then the man speaks Arabic again and Yinsen continues "He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free"

"No, he won't" Toni says fake smiling as she shakes the man's hand. "No, he won't" Yinsen agrees as the man continues to smile not understanding what the two said.

A while later Toni and Yinsen are sitting back in the cave in front of a fire and Yinsen says "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 Toni 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" Toni says dejectedly. "Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it? Hm?" Yinsen asks which strikes a chord with Toni.

Later she directs the men where to put things as Yinsen translates. She "If this is going to be my workstation, 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 and for god's sake, I'm a woman I need a proper bathroom and sanitary napkins." She finishes making all the men around turn red in embarrassment. 

Later Yinsen and Toni start taking apart a missle and she asks him "How many languages do you speak?" "A lot. But apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian" He answers. "Who are these people?" Toni asks.

"They are your loyal customers. They call themselves the Ten Rings" he says and then pauses for a second and then says to Toni. "You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process" "Uh-huh" Toni says as she pulls apart a missile. "Okay, we don't need this" she says throwing the piece backward and focusing on the piece she's holding in tweezers in front of her. "What is that?" Yinsen asks.

"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?" Toni tells him. Later the two are working and Yinsen pulls a cup holding hot metal out of the fire. Then Toni says "Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this" "Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?" Yinsen assures Toni.

"What do I call you?" Toni asks as the man pours the metal into the mold. "My name is Yinsen" "Yinsen. Nice to meet you" "Nice to meet you, too" Yinsen smiles. Toni then puts together a device while Yinsen watches her. Once it's done the device gives off a blue glow. Yinsen comes over and says "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" She explains. "But what could it generate?" He asks. "If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second" "That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes" Yinsen realizes. "Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes" Toni agrees.

She then brings him over to another table with a bunch of paper in her hands. "This is our ticket out of here" She tells Yinsen "What is it?" he asks confused. "Flatten them out and look" she says. Yinsen flattens the sheets out to see a drawing of a metal suit "Oh, wow. Impressive" Yinsen says in awe.