"Are you okay?"
Raiden was pushed into the cave where they were being held, landing hard on the ground. Yinsen quickly rushed over to help him up, concern evident in his voice.
Before Raiden could respond to Yinsen, the guard tossed a bandage and a bottle of medical alcohol to Yinsen and said, "Don't let him die." With that, he shut the cell door.
"Are you alright?" Tony also came over and asked.
"I'm fine, I won't die. This little injury doesn't need bandaging," Raiden said, pushing away Yinsen, who was about to tend to his wounds.
However, under Yinsen insistence, he eventually gave Raiden a simple treatment. What Yinsen didn't notice was that the moment he finished bandaging Raiden, the wound on Raiden head had already completely healed.
After being bandaged, Raiden waved his hand dismissively at the two of them and walked alone to his corner, where he lay down and fell asleep.
Tony and Yinsen exchanged a glance, then sat down nearby, leaning against the stone wall, closing their eyes in deep thought.
.......
It was night—or at least it should have been night. In this cave where daylight never reached, the distinction between day and night was meaningless.
Raiden was still sleeping in the corner. If Tony hadn't checked Raiden breathing midway, the two of them might have thought Raiden had suddenly died.
In reality, Raiden was just circulating the energy within his body. The energy he had absorbed today was almost equivalent to what he had accumulated over a year in this cave. But it wasn't enough—far from enough. It wasn't even enough to let him escape this hellhole.
At the same time, Raiden couldn't disturb Tony and Yinsen. At least, based on the vague plot in his mind and his own judgment, this period should be a crucial moment.
In front of the fire, Tony sat staring into the flames, while Yinsen paced nearby.
"I'm sure they're looking for you, Tony Stark. But finding you in these desert? Impossible," Yinsen said.
He walked over and sat across from Tony, looking directly at him.
"What you just saw… is your legacy, Stark. Your life is now in the hands of those murderers, those demons. Do you think you can just walk out of here? Do you think they'll let you go?"
Yinsen stood up, turning his back to Tony. "Is this the great Tony Stark's last act of defiance? Or are you planning to do something?"
"Do something… Why should I do what they say? 'They'll kill me'… you, and him. Even if they don't kill us now, they might do it in a week," Tony said emotionlessly, still staring at the fire.
"If that's the case… then this is a pretty important week, isn't it?" Yinsen turned around and crouched in front of Tony, speaking with deep emotion.
Tony gaze flickered as he looked into the fire
........
In the corner, Raiden was almost falling asleep listening to this.
'Come on, man, you're Tony Stark, Iron Man! Summon that last bit of stubbornness, transform already!'
Raiden was waiting. He was waiting to see if Yinsen talk no jutsu could ignite Tony Stark will to survive, pushing Tony onto the path that would eventually make him a hero—the extraordinary path of a mortal standing against gods.
But now… it seems Yinsen has succeeded!
"If this is my workstation, it needs to be well-lit, and I'll need all these tools—welding equipment, acetylene or propane, a soldering station, a helmet, goggles, a molding cup, and two sets of precision measuring tools," Tony spoke with determination and confidence to Yinsen, who quickly translated for the fat man.
Inside the cave, the place was bustling with activity. The terrorists were moving various tools and parts around, setting them up in the cave. They also installed electric lights—lots of them—and, of course, added several surveillance cameras.
Raiden couldn't even find a place to stand. Wherever he stood, he felt like he was in the way.
'Maybe I can go out for a walk? Get some fresh air? Give these guys some space?' Raiden thought to himself. Following the principle of not causing trouble for others, Raiden headed toward the cave entrance, only to be promptly sent back with a rifle butt to the face.
'Fine, just wait until the day I get out of here. I'll beat the crap out of you all, one rifle butt at a time.'
...
It has to be said, these guys were quite efficient. In less than a day, they had everything ready for Tony, and as soon as everything was set up, Tony immediately began his 'work'
And so, the three of them worked together in the cave for survival, and over the course of two days, they became friends.
At the well-equipped workbench, Tony was disassembling a missile while Yinsen observed, ready to lend a hand whenever needed. As for Raiden… Raiden was in charge of holding the light. Lighting was crucial!
"How many languages do you speak?" Tony asked Yinsen, his eyes fixed on the missile.
"Many, but apparently not enough here. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Persian, and Russian," Yinsen replied, watching Tony disassembly process.
"'Who are those people?' Tony asked as he removed the missile head.
"'They're your loyal customers, sir,'' Yinsen joked half-seriously. ''They call themselves the Ten Rings.''
"I haven't seen any of them wearing ten rings,'' Raiden remarked.
The Ten Rings—Raiden had a vague recollection of them, but it was almost nonexistent. Over the endless years, his memories of the Marvel universe had become hazy, let alone something like the Ten Rings, which only briefly appeared in the comics and was merely mentioned in the movies.
If it weren't for the fact that Raiden often used his magic to mentally replay movies in 3D to entertain himself during those endless years, he wouldn't even remember who Tony Stark was.
Even so, he only had a rough idea of the movie plots. Not to mention, he wasn't even sure if this was the world of the movies or the comics. Did this world have the X-Men? Raiden was completely unfamiliar with the X-Men.
While Tony was disassembling the missile and reworking it, through the surveillance cameras, two monitors displayed every move of Tony Stark and the others. A fat man, along with a few companions, was watching intently.
The fat man patted his companion on the shoulder and said, "Keep a close eye on them." After that, he joined the others in a game of dice.
"Don't you think it would be more efficient if I helped?" Yinsen squatted beside Tony and said, glancing up at Raiden, who was standing above them playing with a lighter.
"Hmm,'' Tony muttered, bending down. He punched the head of the missile, pulling out a component and then detaching a small part from it.
Tony casually tossed the component aside and held up the small part with tweezers, saying to Yinsen,
"This is 0.15 grams of palladium, but we need at least 1.6 grams. So, you might as well go get eleven more of these."
After saying that, Tony looked up at Raiden and said,
"Raiden, perhaps you could come down."
"Of course," Raiden replied with a smile as he jumped down. He just wanted to see how Iron Man was born.