Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Tony Stark had always known that life wasn’t fair. He knew before he’d started to read the Harry Potter books in his late twenties and got drawn into the world of magic; the battle of the Chosen One against noseless Voldemort, and the constant demand for Butterbeer, and other hilarious outrageous demands. Like, having friends and going through betrayals. Tony liked Harry, how could he not? It was so easy to sympathise with him and reading about him dying – but then to be alive again? It had made his heart soar. Back then it was all Tony needed after the death of his parents, it was a perfect distraction while he tried to do his best as CEO of Stark Industries and Obi lending him a hand or five. There had also been Pepper who made sure he survived, ate more than just cheeseburgers.

It used to be good. And he had fucked it up, hadn’t he?

He had thought he was doing good, that he was finally doing better but –

A dry laugh escaped him. It seemed that a Voldemort could only be redeemed with his death, after all. Ah well, he did hope he would be more of a Harry than a Snape. Alas, it seemed his story would not go that way. That was fine.

He knew he was asking a lot of Pepper but– he held onto the glass ceiling, a grim determination settling in him – it would be better if Obadiah and he went out together. The only hope at this point was that Pepper wasn’t going to hold herself responsible for his death. She could worry about other stuff. Like, that no one was going to hurt her or made her life more. Take care that his Platypus would be doing all right without him. Oh, and that the weapon manufacturing was still put on hold but honestly, he trusted Pepper. She was amazing.

So, yelling at her to just press the button and blowing them up? Surprisingly easy.

The arc reactor glowed intensely –

It was blowing up. All he could think for a moment was, ‘That looks like it’s straight coming out of a bad science-fiction movie.’  Then, everything became bright in the dark sky –

He closed his eyes. Accepted his fate.

It was hot, his suit had been hit –

He opened his mouth in a silent scream, the brightness vanished, city lights were all that was left.

The Iron Man suit was heavy. His chest hurt.

Was Pepper all right?

The first thing he saw was Obadiah tumbling over the edge, falling into the arc reactor below him and –

Fire.

Good riddance, he thought numbly, and his limbs felt heavier than ever. Was this how he was going to end? In a fire, of all things?

Everything started to hurt. It was as if his heart got pierced by Dum-e’s claw, with the same clumsiness but far, far deadlier and he wanted to scream –

But all that came out was a gasp, something warm ran over his lips, dripping.

Oh no.

The arc reactor was flickering.

Truth was, Tony didn’t want to die just yet. Despite his brave words in the beginning, he felt like his story had only just begun and it couldn’t be over yet.

Everything was silent around him. He didn’t hear the traitorous clacking of stilettos somewhere, there were no voices, only him under a dark sky and his lonesome light that flickered out and, he exhaled with too much blood on his lips, stayed out.

Was this poetic justice, he wondered? His payment for his mistakes in the past? A life for thousands of oth–

Round 1

He woke with a silent gasp on his lips. It was dark around him, only yellow light was glowing above him. He was still in the cave, the cave. His chest hurt. His head was pounding. Coldness spread in him, and he pulled the thin blanket closer around his body, careful as to not to jostle the cables which –

Tony’s eyes widened dramatically.

He was still in the cave. He sat up, a hand reaching up to where the auto battery sat in his chest.

“Why-“ He shook his head. Something was wrong. He thought he had gotten out of the cave?

“Stark?”

“Yinsen?” he asked, his voice shaking.

“Yes.”

He was alive. He was alive and – he wasn’t dead, he wasn’t laying in a cave somewhere, dead and buried by stone.

He inhaled shakily. “I had a weird dream.” A quiet confession. It had been so realistic. The heat on his face, the fire around him; the last glimmer of life in Obi’s eyes when he dropped, weighed down by the heavy suit –

Were his dreams always this realistic and he’d just forgotten about them when he was drunk? He smiled without feeling particularly humorous.

“Sometimes dreams can be a warning.” Yinsen’s thin voice broke him from his stupor. “What did you dream about, Stark?”

“My godfather,” Tony started to explain. “That he betrayed me.” His eyes flickered to the nearest camera and lowered his voice to a whisper, so low that Yinsen almost didn’t catch it. “That he put me here.”

Yinsen’s eyes widened.

“The reactor worked though,” Tony continued, his voice rough. “And back home, he tried to kill me and Pepper.”

Yinsen had been dead in his dream, he realised. Dead. Tony had failed him in this and Yinsen; Yinsen had wanted to die. He swallowed.

“Yinsen-“

“Yes?”

“Do you miss your family a lot?”

A small smile slid on Yinsen’s lips. But it was big enough that Tony saw it and understood. He thought. When his dream was right, then –

“I do, yes.”

“Yinsen.” Tony stared at him until Yinsen looked directly at him. “Can you promise me not to get killed in this endeavour?”

Because out of them, Yinsen was the better man. He was the one who knew what family meant. The driving force that saved Tony, kept him sane and didn’t betray him once. He knew that this wasn’t a simple thing to do. Were Yinsen to tell on him, then the Ten Rings would let him go, most likely. Because betraying the other for something better? Not something unheard of.

Saving your own hide first was what mattered. Then, if you could, then you could look after the others. Tony remembered that lesson vividly when Howard had been fed up with people trying to kidnap him for ransom and put him in a workshop where he learnt how to behave during a kidnapping and, even better, to try successfully to prevent it.

Sorry, Dad, Tony thought with a trace of mockery, but they didn’t cover how to get out of a cave in a foreign country when you were abducted by an organised crime ring. At least he knew how to get successfully out of ropes and could break door locks open with a hair pin or a knife.

Happy had taught him later how to break bones or maim them. Because he was Tony Stark, he wouldn’t be seen running away screamingly like everyone told him to do.

He couldn’t even do that in his dream, apparently. A memory of him setting everything and everybody ablaze here made him grin in contentment. It had felt so good, all the rage he had built up on the inside – letting it out and making it all burn, and he went off with a loud kaboom and he had been free –

Even when he thought for a moment that he was dying. It had been terrifying, but he had gotten away and the explosion must have been so severe – someone saw, took notice –

He should have taken a better look at where the cave was, in his dream. He remembered it was close by Gulmira, the village where Yinsen was from but otherwise? He had no idea. In his dream, he’d gotten out of here. This time though - he would take Yinsen with him and then take a closer look at Obi. See for himself what his dream had been about. Maybe it was just his overactive brain, giving him a villain when the other ones had already been defeated. He hoped that this was the case.

He noticed Yinsen hadn’t replied to him.

Sadness washed over him. He could try, he could try to get Yinsen out of here, show him his gratitude for saving him and hooking him up with a car battery. And he would succeed, he promised himself that. Ho Yinsen would not die in this cave, not for as long as Tony Stark had a say in this matter.

“I really miss cheeseburgers.”

Yinsen chuckled quietly. “Then we better get started on the suit so that you can get your cheeseburgers.”

“A man after my heart.” Tony winked at his fellow prisoner, then stood carefully up from his makeshift bed, the car battery safe under his arm. That little fellow would stay a while longer with him. He couldn’t wait to get back home and figure the Iron Man suit out all over again. The plans for it were still in his head. It was like a wonder.

“Super realistic dream,” he muttered, put the battery down and reached for a pair of grasping pliers. “That’s the lack of cheeseburger, I’m sure.”

“Absolutely.” Yinsen opened the MRBM on his side.

Ah, he had forgotten. Tony looked up from his MRBM. “Good morning.”

“Morning, Stark.” Yinsen shook his head with a smile.

It were small moments like this, this small exchange of, ‘Good morning,’ and other banalities like: ‘Please, thank you, you’re welcome,’ and, ‘Do you want a hand, can I help you?’ They helped to remind Tony that there was a world outside where those things were normal.

And here?

Here he heard them only when they came from his or Yinsen’s lips, their captors yelled and demanded things in Dari, and they weren’t nice about it. It made Tony wonder and hope that he was a better boss, that he wasn’t as rude to his employees as the Ten Rings were. But he was sure if he ever was bad that either Pepper or Rhodey would slap him and tell him to get down from his high horse. His mouth twitched.

Tony Stark, appreciating the smaller and more banal things in life like exchanging pleasantries on his own. When had that last happened?

He focused on his MRBM. He had later time to think about that more, for now he had to create a fake missile. But at the same time he also worked on his suit.

He knew the movements; he knew the schematics by heart and Yinsen was an exceptionally good workshop partner. Didn’t talk too much unless the situation or atmosphere called for it, Tony held his mouth also shut during working, out of fear their observers could start to think they had too much time and used it rather for talking than working. Not like that Tony wouldn’t rather talk but he preferred to avoid their punishments. One time, in the early days in his captivity, he had talked and rambled because that’s what he did when he was nervous.

And he was nervous, all right? You weren’t captured everyday by a terrorist organisation and put under pressure by them and yourself even more so because you wanted to cheat them out of their weapon and escape from them. Possibly even making them pay for them hurting and abducting you but that was just Tony. He wold not go out quietly.

~ ∞ ~

The thing was, Tony had thought he had been doing good. This time, they didn’t threaten to burn Yinsen’s tongue when Raza visited them and shooed them into more action with his haughty sneer; his overconfident smirk. He hadn’t taken a closer look at their plans. Only shot into the air as warning. Tony really tried not to laugh out loud because it reminded him of the story Peggy had told him once. Tony wasn’t sure why but comparing Raza to Peggy who’d taken a shot at Rogers’ shield because he’d been flirting with someone else was just– hilarious. Perhaps it simply was what he needed after three months in the cave.

He had done the same thing as in his dream. They’d figured out the weak spot of the cameras and built the suit there, Tony had made the computer faster by cutting data from the memory. Everything was gone but for the program that would run the suit. He kind of wished Jarvis would be here to do the job.

Yinsen had still insisted on “Buying him time,” as he called it, had taken one of the guns laying on the ground and ran forward.

Tony didn’t even have the chance to yell anything after him because Yinsen was already gone. Dread was settling in the pit of his stomach, and if it weren’t for the suit then he wouldn’t be standing anymore. His knees felt weak.

Please, let me be wrong about this one. Please.

His suit got released and Tony walked forwards, as fast as he could with the suit because he couldn’t allow himself to be too late, everything second counted, he couldn’t delay, he had to – he had to find Yinsen and get him to safety.

Fire sprung from his arms and the soldiers screamed when they were flayed alive.

This time, Tony didn’t feel satisfaction or tasted the flavour of victory in his mouth. All he could taste was spit and a sourness that told him nothing good would come from him when he opened his mouth next.

Yinsen.

It felt like he was trying to run through a swamp, it didn’t get forwards. It felt like every step took him a lifetime and some.

Five steps forwards, turn to the right, shoot. Three steps forwards, left, twenty forwards.

There was light at the end of the tunnel.

His heart clenched and his breathing stopped for a painful moment when he saw someone laying on the ground –

Not again, please, not again, Tony pleaded. For the first time in a while, he hoped that someone out there was able to hear him and decided to grant him his wish. It was futile, he knew that because there was nothing and nobody over him, there was no extra-terrestrial being that was looking down on him. There was nobody who judged him, this was just life.

“Don’t waste your life,” Yinsen whispered before he died in Tony’s arms. Again.  

He felt so cold, so bad, this wasn’t –

Why all this theatre, all this planning when it was for nothing?

Don’t waste your life. It was so easily said and Tony, he swallowed and stood up, leaving Yinsen behind as he walked up to the exit of the cave, he knew that he would try his best to follow this advice, this plea. Because if Yinsen died for him, then –

Then he could make sure that he’d follow this sentiment and do his best to follow it.

~ ∞ ~

Rhodey saved him from dying of heat in his newfound freedom. Tony couldn’t say he’s ever been that relieved to see his buddy and helicopters from the military before but he –

Rhodey was his friend, he was his friend, he didn’t have bad intentions.

He smelled of cigarettes and his hugs were still the best; they were almost as good as Jarvis’ hugs used to be.

“You’re safe,” Rhodey said repeatedly, his warm hand resting against Tony’s back and –

Despite the terror he felt, the tiredness slowly settling in him as the adrenaline ebbed away and his fingers stopped trembling, he knew he could trust him. Because Rhodey was genuinely worried about him, he was relieved to have him back, had actively searched for him –

“Missed you,” he mumbled in the dark green uniform and allowed himself to sag forwards.

Rhodey caught him with ease.

Home.

“And I need cheeseburgers,” he mumbled when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like someone getting choked up and honestly, they could cry later when they had cheeseburgers and Tony didn’t smell like he was coming from the deepest pits of hell.

“Sure,” Rhodey said and they stood up. “You look awful, do you know that?”

Tony blinked. “Thanks. That’s what a man wants to hear after a sunny holiday in Afghanistan.”

“You know the next time you take a few days off, just go to Malibu and stay in your house, yes?”

“That’s boring.”

“But safer.” Rhodey raised a brow. “When Pepper gives her ‘okay’, maybe I’ll bring a fun-vee.”

Tony chuckled quietly.

“Let’s get you home, yes?”

“Sounds like a great idea.”

Honestly, the insides of a helicopter have never been before looked so good. And invitingly.

“What about your heap of scrap?”

“Don’t insult my ‘scrap’.” Tony made quotation marks to that word. “That scrap saved my sorry ass. And to answer your question, I want that back at my home.”

“Sure, buddy. Everything for you.”

Tony buckled up in the hard seat and leant back.

Everything had happened so fast. His heart was beating rapidly, and he pressed a hand against where the reactor sat. Good thing that baby had survived the trip, otherwise –

He didn’t dare to imagine how the “otherwise” might look like. Probably with a lot more blood, a not so beating heart anymore and a slightly colder welcome than the one he got now. Ah and his Platypus would have probably cried over him. A real Romeo.

Better not. He liked the image of Rhodey alive better than him dead.

~ ∞ ~

“Tones?”

Someone shook his shoulder gently. “Tony? Man, I need you to wake up for a bit. We’re at the base.”

“Already?” he mumbled and blinked slowly awake.

“Yeah.”

Rhodey sat crouched before him. “You fell asleep within minutes on the flight.”

“I need my beauty sleep.” Tony blinked again, then unbuckled with slow movements. “Shit.”

“Did you sleep well at least?”

He stood up. “Can’t remember.”

“Do you want to shower-“

Shower. Tony shivered.

No, no – he did not want to shower, thank you very much. Just thinking of water running down over him, the cold wetness on his face and he couldn’t get air anymore. Water was filling his airways and he was drowning, drowning and there was no way out –

He would die here, and they didn’t care, not with the way they were holding him under water and he –

He had to fight – even with his bound hands there should be a way and they pressed him deeper and held him down, and even more down –

“Tony. Hey, hey, Tony.”

“Don’t-“ he bit out when he felt a hand on his shoulder – “Don’t touch me-“

The hand withdrew. “I’m not touching you.”

He nodded. Yes, he could feel that. No touch. Not any longer. He was safe, wasn’t he?

Why was he here? Where was he?

“You’re at a base of the military, Tony. We just got you from the desert. You are safe here. You’re with me, Rhodey. Your Platypus. There is no water here, not even close. Can you understand me?”

“Yes.” He took a deep breath. “I do.” Again. “I’m all right.”

Rhodey looked unconvinced. “Sure.” He held a hand out. “Do you want to go to the restrooms and get some of the blood of your face there? A jet should be here soon that will take us both back home, does that sound good?”

“Must be the best thing I’ve heard in ages.” Tony took the offered hand with ease, gripped it tightly and then walked forwards with Rhodey.

What was just a small freak out in the middle of a military base, right?

He couldn’t wait for the jet to arrive.

~ ∞ ~

One of the first things he saw when he finally had good American soil under his feet again was that Pepper was crying. His tough and strong Pepper, crying. At the airport, no less. In public.

“Tears for your long missed boss?” he joked because he didn’t like seeing people cry.

He didn’t know what to do in those situations and he had the tendency to make the situation even worse.

Obi. He wasn’t here yet.

“Pepper,” he said in a low tone because it needed to get out and if not now, when then?

“Tony?”

“I need your phone.”

Because he couldn’t tell her just yet what he was suspecting. Obi was approaching too quickly.

“Did you get the video?” he asked her in a hurried pace.

“What video?”

She got no video. A cold fist settled around his throat.

“The one I sent you on the flight to Afghanistan. It was about cats.”

She blinked. “Tony, are you all right?”

“I just didn’t want to see you cry. Mission accomplished, I’d say.”

Her laugh sounded sweet in his ears and welcome. It was a nice change from all the darkness and the harsh reality he had been forced to face the last few months.

And it seemed as if it wasn’t just over yet. There had been a video, he was sure of that. He remembered the red blinking of the camera, the muzzles of guns far too close to his face for his liking and –

No, something must have happened to stop the video from getting to Pepper, Rhodey, and JARVIS. And he had the dawning realisation that he knew what had happened to it. Or should he better say, who?

“You did,” she laughed, and it didn’t sound as wet as it did earlier.

Good. He pulled her into a hug.

“I need a press conference.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t react, but the Ten Rings made it clear that there’s a mole in the company.”

“All right, I can arrange a press conference. But shouldn’t you go to a hospital first?” She pulled back, looking him into the eyes worriedly.

“Later. This is more important than me, Peps.”

She nodded.

Then Obi approached him and –

It was so difficult not to flinch when a heavy pawn landed on his shoulder and squeezed it.

He could be the traitor, Tony reminded himself with bitterness. He was the traitor in the dream. Normally, he wasn’t superstitious but – the dream had been right with Yinsen, with the weak spot of the camera, who said it also wasn’t the case with Obi? And that the video – he knew they had recorded one – had never reached Pepper who was his private assistant. It should have.

He greeted Obi with a smile, cracked a joke to keep up pretences and ate the burger Happy had gotten for him. Seeing Happy, Rhodey, and Pepper at the same time, it was just too good to be true. And it helped to drive the point home that he was safe. They wouldn’t hurt him. He hoped. Nothing was safe yet. JARVIS was informed of Tony’s plans concerning the weapon manufacturing and bought more stocks of SI, making Tony more powerful in his stand – he couldn’t risk being banned from the board. And he warned him in the same moment of a possible mole and told him to take a closer look at Obi’s files.

The conference was fun, in a certain way. Announcing that SI would shut down the weapon manufacturing and promising to turn towards green energy was received with many shocked reactions and Everheart was certainly looking at him with lots of doubt. Ah well, she’d start to believe him soon.

Was it a mistake to rely that strongly on a dream?

Happy drove him home, Rhodey and Pepper staring at him in a shocked silence. Nonetheless Tony knew he’d done the right thing. He would not repeat his past mistakes, he was better than that.

“A mole?” Pepper said as soon as they were back in his mansion.

“Yes.” Tony dropped into his couch with a sigh. “A mole.”

Rhodey shot up. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“I had different things on my mind, Platypus.” He attempted a smile. “This is not allowed to leave the room, do you understand? There’s a ploy at work and I already told JARVIS to look at files that could help us out.”

“Tony,” Pepper began slowly. “Are you sure there’s a mole in the company?”

“Not only a mole,” Tony said, “but also a traitor.” He arched his brows. “While I was with the Ten Rings, I got to see weapons from Stark Industries. My weapons in the hands of the enemy. Someone’s been selling them under the hand.”

It took them only a second. “Obi.”

“Exactly. Why do you think he isn’t here, despite his expressed wish at seeing me and making sure I’m doing all right?” Exhaustion was running through his veins. Today had been an extremely busy day. “JARVIS, did you find something?”

“I did, Sir.” The AI sounded angry.

“Show it to daddy,” Tony mumbled.

And with that he saw the video he was starring in as the sexy male lead and bile rose in him.

“Tony–“

“Yeah, I know the make-up isn’t all that pretty in the video but I had other things on my mind.”

“The military has never received that video,” Rhodey stated and he sounded like Tony felt; Lost and betrayed. No wonder, actually. He only looked horrible, but it could be worse.

“Neither has Stark Industries.” Pepper looked pale.

Tony had this urge to tell her everything was all right but – he couldn’t. Because it wasn’t, not yet. “Did you find more, buddy?”

JARVIS showed them files with bills that had never landed in Stark Industries’ folders. There were accountings of weapons sold Tony hadn’t authorised: Patriot PAC-4, multiple kinds of SI’s Launch MRBM systems, special forged and created Combat Uniforms – some of them brand new and not even authorised yet to be sold, Modular Tactical Vests. Seven months ago, there was a sale of a M151 spotting scope – wonder why.

“That doesn’t look good.” Rhodey blinked.

“I took the XMGM-287 off the market over a year ago.” Pepper stared coldly at the bill floating in front of her. “And we haven’t sold officially UMP45s in a while either.”

“That’s what I was thinking too.” Tony closed his eyes. “And I haven’t officiated the sale either. We know what that means, Pepper.”

She nodded, her face set in stone. “We have enough proof to get with that to the board and exclude him from there. The FBI and CIA are also probably interested in this.”

“Don’t forget about the military,” Rhodey said slowly. “It would be useful to know to where the weapons have been sent so we can counteract.” He looked to Tony. “And you’re-“

“I won’t make new weapons, Rhodey. I won’t. Not even for you. This, this cost me too much. And I was too careless. No,” he shook his head. “There will be other ways SI can help the military but not any longer with weapons.”

In his dream this hadn’t happened. In his dream Rhodey had left after the weapon conference and Tony had to come to terms with the fact that his decision had angered his best friend. He understood, on a certain level. But this time he had made sure that Happy wouldn’t let Rhodey leave like that and get him in the car. Obi hadn’t even gotten the chance to speak at the podium after JARVIS had helpfully turned the micro off. A disaster, Tony was sure. His mouth twitched. Then, he yawned.

“God, Tony. You must be tired.” Pepper looked at him with wide eyes. “I’m sorry we shouldn’t have kept you awake. You just arrived.” She sounded sorry.

“I slept on the plane.” He waved her off. “But bit more sleep and rest would be nice yes.”

She nodded. “Yes. I’ll take control of this, we see you tomorrow?”

Alone. He would be alone in the house. “I-“ He didn’t want to be alone, he realised. He didn’t want to be alone in this great house where the only companion he had was JARVIS and nobody else. Maybe this was wrong. Shouldn’t he want after three months in the cave some solitude and peace from others? But the thought of being alone for himself and nobody close by, it didn’t sit well with him.

“Can you stay?” he asked quietly. Shame rose in him. He was Tony Stark; he could be alone –

“I can stay.” Pepper sounded gentle. “No problem, Tony. Rhodey?”

“Sure. But Tony, you really should try and get more sleep than the two hours on the plane, yes? You won’t be able to catch the mole when you’re not well rested. All right?”

“Yes, mom.”

~ ∞ ~

He slept for whole four hours, then woke up and went into his workshop and created his miniature arc reactor. When it was done he stared at his small blue miracle. It looked as pretty as he remembered it. And he had remembered correctly from his dream. Somehow this wasn’t normal, Tony guessed with a bitter smirk on his lips. Nobody should be able to remember that much from a single dream that had been months ago. And still, everything was in his head, he even could still remember the moment Obi tried to get the arc reactor from his chest and called him his “golden goose”. It was horrible.

And now, now it seemed that his dream had been right about Obi. His godfather, his mentor after Jarvis had died and left him here. It wasn’t –

What had he done to deserve such betrayal?

 It cut him deep to the core, his trust and faith in the man disappearing quicker than a MRBM could be launched. No way this was fair. Wasn’t it? A small voice in his head asked. Don’t you deserve that for all the things you did to millions of others? Maybe. His hands shook and he put the arc reactor down.

“JARVIS?” he asked into the quiet of the workshop, The Band’s ‘The Shape I’m In’ playing barely audible in the background. “Dum-E won’t be able to exchange the reactor in my chest, will he?”

“His claw is too big,” Jarvis replied. “I’m sorry, Sir. But I can wake either Mr Rhodes or Mrs Pepper, if you want me to?”

“No.” Tony shook his head. “Let them sleep. Who knows how much they need it, right?” He rolled his shoulders back. “I’ll just wait until they’re up and have a coffee in them, yes? Did my pile of ‘scrap’ already arrive?”

“It was delivered late at night, Sir. I allowed myself the freedom and let Dum-E and U bring it down here.”

“Good thinking, J.” Tony nodded in approval. “All right, scan the baby and then we’re getting down to work on a successor until one of the sleepyheads is up.”

It was still a disaster like in his dream when Pepper exchanged the reactors – but well, a bit of going into cardiac arrest hadn’t hurt anybody so far, had it? Then they had a coffee upstairs, Rhodey joined them and looked awake and Tony pretended he had been in a shower. Really, thanks for washcloths and perfumes, it really helped him to appear cleaner than he was and well, he needed to figure out how to wash his hair, he couldn’t use until all eternity dry shampoo. Although it smelled nice.

Then a few agents of the FBI and CIA got invited into his house which, well, weird, got several copies of what JARVIS had dug up and then left with a few friendly words. Obi got arrested within minutes. The military still wasn’t amused about Tony’s decision but they better got used to it. And honestly, if they turned to Hammer Industries’ now, then they really were sore losers. SI’s stock was falling again after the reveal that one of the most powerful hands in the company was a “traitor to the states” and yeah –

It could be better.

But his new suit was getting along nicely, Pepper was working with him and JARVIS to get the stock up again. Tony might have bought a bit more and by that, accidentally kicked one of the board members who hadn’t liked him overly much anyway off board and then the others held their mouths shut.

It was fun to see people listening to him when he had to pull out his big guns, for a change.

He went to Gulmira as soon as the suit was completed, helped the people out and thought of Yinsen. Is this what you wanted? He didn’t know but he hoped that he was living up to Yinsen’s expectations nicely.

What he had forgotten about was this noisy agency called “Supreme Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division”, short, SHIELD. Like okay, they thought they were important but Tony just forgot about them and honestly, he didn’t like that. It was never a good idea to forget an agency that considered itself as more important than it actually was.

They told him to keep “Iron Man” a secret, and he politely told them “No” by announcing on the press conference about the Iron Man suit which was affiliated with SI already that he was Iron Man.

Pepper rolled her eyes at him, a gentle smile on her lips. The SHIELD agent looked like he was going to explode on Tony later; but hey, he had sect and champagne and his friends, what did a small agency matter to that?

He went to bed slightly tipsy, the new arc reactor resting peacefully in his chest and this time, this time nobody had tried to remove it. He had done better than thought. Obi would face a lifelong sentence in jail, his lawyers had ensured him of that, and the PR marketing was already making sure that SI would soon shine again in a better light. Well, Tony did that part by being Iron Man and privatising World Peace. Was he a bit full of himself?

Maybe a bit but to be honest, he was allowed to. He was a superhero.

He fell asleep.

The Infamous Round 2

The air was cold when he woke up.

Weird. Malibu wasn’t cold around this time of the year, was it? Well, not in his experience and he lived there for a while now. The day he chose to pursue the house laid already like, eight years in the past. Birthday present to himself for reaching the wonderful thirty years. Not everybody thought he’d ever get that old and wow, he was already closer to the forties than most would’ve better.

Including himself, on some dark days. There were a few of those. When it felt like the house was too big for him, when his phone was silent and JARVIS’ voice coaxed him into getting a shower and then into the workshop and ordered him something to eat because Tony just didn’t have the strength for it. When he invited the mailman inside for a lunch because he needed company, needed a distraction and sometimes the workshop just didn’t cut it. Not even Dum-E’s butchered milkshakes were enough to chase the hollow feeling in him away. Or U wanting to play ‘Fetch’ with him and threw one of his hammers through the air like it wasn’t a tool that could hurt should someone come in at an unfortunate time. But people didn’t enter his workshop just like that.

When he was thinking about it, the air not only felt cold but also felt damp. And his house didn’t smell like someone dumped a huge pile of mushrooms next to his head or stuffed wet socks under his sweater. Because that was how it smelled. Just, disgusting and honestly, was JARVIS trying to cook again for him?

“J,” he mumbled and turned his head a bit away from the pillow so his AI could understand him. “Please take the mushrooms of the oven, yes?”

There was no response.

“Jay?”

Someone else answered. “Stark?”

That voice.

He shot up like he was bitten by a dog, his eyes wide and stared towards the direction the voice had come from.

“You’re not in the States. You’re in Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan. That voice. Yinsen.

“Yinsen?” he asked, hoping he was wrong. Please, please, please, let me be wrong.

“Yes. It’s in the middle of the night, I think. We went to bed a few hours ago.”

It was Yinsen. His thin voice, it was so familiar and it sounded so real. Like this wasn’t a dream.

Could dreams smell, though? He pinched himself.

His heart started to beat rapidly, tha-thunk. Tha-thunk, tha-thunk, thunk, thunk. Pain.

“I’m not in Malibu,” Tony realised slowly, and he stared at the weak light in this room. The smell was stemming from the cave. The cave he’d thought had left a bit ago. “This is not a dream.”

Yinsen sat down next to him on the bed, the weak yellow light reflecting in his eyes that had probably seen too much of the bad side of life. “That’s correct.”

“I thought I had gotten out of here.” Tony licked his lips. Tried not to get overwhelmed by the crushing realisation that this was real, not the dream where he had gotten Obi arrested and had been safe.

Strange. He could still taste the champagne from last night in his mouth. The sweet-sour taste and the small bubbles that prickled on your tongue – it was too realistic to be a dream. And yet, he felt pain.

“Something’s not right.”

Yinsen tilted his head.

“I think I have a major flashback, sorry. Either that or my dreams are able to see into the future now and I can taste and feel pain in them nowadays.”

“Maybe you just need more sleep.” Yinsen sounded worried. “Your mind is starting to play tricks on you, Stark.”

“Is it?” He had done everything right, hadn’t he? Made the Iron Man suit, got out of the cave, Yinsen was still dead but he could change that, couldn’t he? Had gotten Pepper and Rhodey to listen to him, SI had stopped the weapons and he was trying to become better by being Iron Man. What more could he do?

The cave was too damp. It was too damp, too close, too tight, he was under pressure, there were things he needed to do –

“I need to get out of here.”

“Yes.” Yinsen patted his shoulder. “Do you want to start now or try to get more sleep?”

“How about now?” They stood up, flicked on the switch, and got more light in their workshop and started to take the MRBMs apart. Again. The movements were memorised in Tony’s mind.

While he was doing his job and thanked Yinsen quietly for helping him and wished him a “Good morning” he thought about the dreams. He had gotten out once before. And died because the arc reactor blew up. Which led him to waking up in the cave – then he died in his bed, after rectifying a lot of his mistakes and getting cuddles from his Platypus and Pepper.

Had he done something wrong?

Was this his personal “Groundhog”? He hoped it wasn’t. But –

He couldn’t exclude the possibility, not after what he’d gone through and had experienced. Not when he still remembered the schematics for the miniature arc reactor and knew exactly this time where the cave was located, because he had taken a look at a map from the military before he’d flown to Gulmira.

Okay so, assumed this was Groundhog, then he had to do something better this time.

Right.

There was only one way to test if this was right.

Pepper would kill him if she ever found out. And then bring him back to life just to kill him again. Well, he probably deserved it then.

If this was Groundhog, then everything reset with his death – and because he did something wrong. He put the gripping pliers down. The MRBM looked cold in the yellow light. All right.

“So in case this goes wrong,” Tony started, “then I’m really, really sorry and I hope you can forgive me in the afterlife.” And the others too. Ah well. Worth a try.

“Stark, what are you doing?”

“It’s for science,” he replied easily, then banged at the door. “HEY!”

“STARK!”

Ah well. Did you know it was not recommended to let a Tony Stark get close to you? He let the soldiers in, stole one of their handguns and, well, hopefully this would work.

He pulled the trigger.

Epiphany, The Third.

Unbelievable. He’d just shot himself in the head. And was still alive.

“Hallelujah.”

He sat up with a grin.

“Stark?”

“Yinsen, my friend.” Tony laughed. He was alive. “Good morning.” Without any hesitation Tony pinched himself. Yeppers, that hurt. He just pinched himself too hard.

Okay, status. He was alive. He remembered waking up yesterday and putting a bullet in his head. Carefully he touched his temple. There was nothing. No scar tissue, no trace of dried blood and more importantly, no hole either. Well when he was back at Malibu, he should let JARVIS take a look at his brain if there wasn’t a bullet hiding inside of him. But if this was like a true groundhog then there shouldn’t be one. But it was always better to make sure than not. He traced the shape of his ever-growing goatee. Ah well. There was that. He had shaved that back at home. It was back full length.

Probably no bullet in his brain then.

“If we get back to the States, I need you to go with me for a cheeseburger,” Tony declared with a stupid grin on his face. “Really, I need one right now, not just the porridge we get here.”

“A cheeseburger sounds delicious.”

“It does.” Tony sighed. “Okay. Good. Time to get started on the missile, don’t you think?”

“So much vigour.” Yinsen chuckled from his makeshift bed.

“Happens. Let’s say I feel inspired.”

This was Loop three, if Tony had counted right. He knew how to get out of the cave, now he only had to make sure Yinsen survived it too. He could experiment a bit. If it failed, he would come back here. For a moment he thought about stealing the handgun again and shooting Raza but honestly – he didn’t know his way around the cave overly well and who knew where Raza was right now?

A snigger fled his lips when he realised it wouldn’t even matter – he could try again without further ado. The possibilities, they were endless. Infinite, no stop. Only forward, and faster, trying new ways out until he found the golden equilibrium and then, then he would be done with this looping, dying, and resurrecting. Oh, he could go and take a dive from the roof of his house, couldn’t he? With a sheet wrapped around him and just see if he’d survive. According to his calculations he would when the sheet had a certain expanse. Of course, it was pure coincidence that every sheet in his house fit that criteria.

It wasn’t because JARVIS didn’t trust him one bit, no. His AI was extremely clever and just a little bit of a motherhen.

And that was how he got started on sorting the MRBM out again, took the ring of palladium out and then did his job. The Ten Rings didn’t suspect a thing.

~ ∞ ~

For Tony it was like their game of cat and mouse had changed – he wasn’t the mouse any longer but neither was he the cat. He was the human. And could take the mouse out and the cat if he wanted to. His name was Tony Stark and he was back in the game.

He’d just needed a small groundhog for this and honestly, when he was back and had gotten Obi into jail, he should ask Pepper and Rhodey to sit down with him on the couch or –

Oh, on the floor was even better. Sit down and cuddle pile on the floor and watch Groundhog and then, when the outro music was playing tell them he was Phil Connors and this was his movie plot. Would be fun, for sure. Tony couldn’t wait for their faces. They’d laugh over him and cackle, but eventually, they’d give in and would start to see he was right.

Five steps forwards, turn to the right, shoot. Three steps forwards, left, twenty forwards.

He got out of the cave this time with Yinsen under his arm, he’d placed a small trip hazard close the door and that was what made him get his scientist.

But Yinsen got killed by shards of the suit in the desert. Tony hadn’t noticed. He remembered the frantic shaking and still had the smell of blood in his nose when his life saver was bleeding out, right in front of him, impaled by a sharp titanium alloy back part from his suit.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as Yinsen’s eyes fluttered shut. “I thought I was saving, not killing you.”

Regret. Burning and intense.

It was what was fuelling him like aerosol in a plane. “I promise I’ll do better in the next loop.”

Because he would not get this riddle solved and Yinsen was still dead. Yinsen had to survive. Was that selfish? Maybe. Was Tony selfish for wanting the man who had saved him, to see him alive and kicking for longer? Definitely.

But it would be crueller to leave Yinsen to his fate here in the desert where he either would be buried by falling stones when he got killed by Ten Rings or die here because of the suit and the scraps. Why would he let that happen when there was a possibility that Yinsen survived? And Tony hadn’t found that possibility yet, yes and he’d probably needed JARVIS to do the maths for that but he would find it.

There was always a possibility.

He piled the suit together and carried Yinsen atop it. No way Tony would let him stay here in the desert. Of course he could tell Rhodey that there was a corpse laying in the sand, waiting to be recovered but –

He wouldn’t leave a man behind. That wasn’t who Tony Stark was. He still remembered Aunt Peg when she told him of Captain America who hadn’t left a man behind either, even when it would have been better. But he hadn’t. And Tony, despite all the jealousy he’d harboured for the man, admired that trait. Well, jealousy and anger that Howard had paid closer attention to him than to his own son but that was just what happened when you were ‘just’ Tony, the –

Yeah, he wouldn’t go there.

Rhodey found him around the same time as he did in the first loop, his arms heavy and welcome around Tony. He let out a relieved sigh and cuddled closer to his Platypus. He would stop this loop at the base. Not here, not in front of Rhodey. Even when he wouldn’t remember, there were things Tony chose not to do to his friends. Yinsen, sadly, had to see because there was no other way. But that was the only time he had to see Tony dying, he promised himself.

A gun was easily found in the base.

He hoped the cleaning service could forgive him for making such a mess in the restrooms.

Four.

Cave.

No hole in his head.

Amazing.

Loops were fantastic. This was his fourth. Right?

Right.

Mission for this loop: Getting Yinsen out of the cave and get him to American soil and American cheeseburgers, alive and whole.

Everything was possible.

“Morning, Yinsen.”

“Morning, Stark.”

“Why are you even awake? Isn’t it like, early?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Yinsen sounded awake. Huh. Did he even go to sleep just yet? Probably not. Bad Yinsen. “You might be familiar with the concept of nightmares?”

Oh. “Yes.” Tony cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. Do you want to- to talk about it?”

“I don’t know.” Yinsen sighed.

Tony pulled his thin blanket tighter around him. It felt cold, out of sudden.

“The usual nightmares.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Tony swallowed. He felt out of his depth here. Somehow.

“It’s all right.” 

Silence.

“Do you need a distraction?”

“Please.”

“All right.” Tony sat up straight in his bed. “Do you want to hear a story? I promise I know some good ones.”

They didn’t survive the story.

Their observers obviously thought who could talk could also work and somehow, things got out of hand and Tony –

Well, he knew this was it for this loop when blood started to seep from his body and his heart rate started elevating and it was getting black in front of his eyes.

The Fifth.

He couldn’t ask Yinsen about his nightmares. He wasn’t allowed to. Not when he wanted to get out of here.

So he stayed silent for a few minutes more and then tried an older tactic.

“Hallelujah.”

“Stark?”

Same old, same old.

Ah well, he was starting to get a hang of things, and he was only on his fifth loop. Really, he was doing amazingly, given the circumstances. He just couldn’t offer comfort to Yinsen at night. That sat heavy in his chest when the realisation kicked in and burned itself in his mind. He wasn’t allowed to help. Not now, anyways. And maybe it was better not even to try in the first place.

He could ask Yinsen about his nightmares when they were at a different place, one with less weapons, for example. Jarvis would slap him for giving in so easily and Aunt Peg would stare at him from disappointed, big eyes.

But what was he supposed to do? Wasn’t it better to deny comfort now and get out alive and then make it up later? Or was that like putting a band-aid on an open fracture? With a shoddy cast, most likely. If he wanted to get out of here, he had to stay realistic about things. Maybe he could ask Yinsen about his awake state later this day, but honestly, wouldn’t that even be worse? Yinsen would wonder why he hadn’t asked him to begin with and well, what was Tony supposed to say about that then?

There was no possibility he’d answer with, “No, sorry man. I had a dream where I asked you about you and then, we died maybe an hour later. Good talk, let’s go to the missile now, yes?” How would Yinsen look at him then?

Like he’d lost all grip on sanity. Not something either of them needed right now. No.

They went to work. A movement here, a few twists there. Lunch time. Yelling. Same old hat.

Back to work. Sleep.

Wake up, wish Yinsen “Good morning,” getting laundry ready, lunch, work, sleep.

Nothing new.

~ ∞ ~

A few days passed.

“Don’t die on me here, Yinsen,” Tony stated bluntly before he pulled down the visor and started to hammer on his helmet.

If Yinsen replied, he didn’t hear it He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it.

Sleep.

Work.

Raza was here.

Dinner.

“Don’t die,” Tony repeated, then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Waking up and doing the last few touches on his suit.

And slowly, slowly he started to get nervous. His mind ran scenarios he hadn’t lived before and Tony just wanted to forget them. He would get Yinsen out of here.

“Remember what I asked you not to do?” He asked and tried not to look to closely at his tripping hazard. That was his last trick to get Yinsen to stop. If he walked out first and Yinsen walked behind him in a secure distance, everything would be all right. Tony knew that as certain as he knew English and how to prepare Spaghetti Bolognese, a recipe from his mom. And honestly, one of the few things he remembered about her.

Maybe he should also get Spaghetti when he was home again. Cook a huge amount of it for Yinsen, Rhodey, Pepper and Happy. They deserved it, after all. And food always soothed upset stomachs.

Yinsen looked at him for a moment. “I can’t promise you anything, Stark. But,” he hesitated. “I’ll try.”

Good. He mouthed a quiet, “thank you” before he got into the suit and Yinsen locked him in, hoping that it would be enough to get them both out of here.

Again, Tony was stuck to watch how Yinsen started to program that turned the suit alive. This part always made him nervous. Because almost nothing could go wrong here – apart from Yinsen not tripping and by that, dying earlier. Tony hoped that this time everything could go smooth. The earlier he could break free from his circle of dying, waking up, dying, repeat, the better it was. For everybody involved, not just him.

Sleeping in his bed and not having to fear to wake up in the cave again – it sounded almost like a wonder. A dream, so good that it only could be true. There was no other way, this had to succeed.

The idiots stormed the door again and got blown up. Yinsen stayed at the desk.

He stayed right where he was and didn’t try to run away.

There was silence, the angry voices in the background getting slowly louder but there was no need to act just yet.

93 percent.

94.

95.

Yinsen got nervous.

Tony saw it. His hands were clutching the table behind him close and he stared at him and the computer in a hurried pace, his eyes more white than brown, that fast was he looking.

96.

The voices grew louder.

“Get-“

97.

“-Ready, Stark. We only have this one shot.”

No, we have more, Tony thought but didn’t say anything. It felt like he was about to vomit. He didn’t want to. But he wanted this to succeed so much that he couldn’t stay calm, his heart was beating, and it would take the hundred percent to get him into a calmer state.

98.

When he had no choice anymore but to act and his mind settled, a cold peace settling in him.

99.

Soon, very soon –

100.

And his heart calmed down. He stepped forward, raised his arms, and left the cave. Was he like this Greek hero who went into the underworld to get his dead beloved back and wasn’t allowed to look back? Tony couldn’t allow himself that mistake either – he had to go forward, steadfast and never changing, no looking back. Yinsen was old and grown enough to take care of himself, he knew what kind of weapons Tony had on the suit and could guess where he was safely out of reach.

With a grim satisfaction Tony burned a bunch of soldiers. Who used his weapons like there was nothing wrong with that, a few G36KV here, a couple of G36C here and a few other idiots thought they could try to shoot him SG 552s and get away with it too.

Tony answered with his loyal flamethrowers and the few Rocket Launchers that were built into his suit. Yinsen was still behind him, following him through the chaos.

Five steps forwards, turn to the right, shoot. Three steps forwards, left, twenty forwards.

They were getting out of here.

They were close.

Tony walked faster in his suit, the metallic sound of each step resonating deep in him, clonk, clonk. Clonk, clonk. And in between there was the sound of shoes hitting on sand, so soft, Tony only heard it when nobody was screaming which was rare. But the few seconds where he heard them? It was like bells announcing their freedom and each more flame was an obstacles; less to their goal. There was no stop. Forwards.

Clonk, clonk.

Was it troublesome that he was that calm during a battle and didn’t feel an ounce of regret for killing so many people again and again? Probably. But he couldn’t start caring about them now. They didn’t care about him either. If they hadn’t realised who he was in the first place, they would have killed him at the fun-vee and been done with it. They might look like humans, but something had made them believe he wasn’t one. Yinsen was a quiet shadow, walking after him in a hasty step, never slowing down. Good. He wasn’t supposed to slow down in the first place.

Light.

Tony burned everything that stood in front of him. There would be no survivors.

“Stark.”

He turned around and pulled Yinsen in his arms, then took off, sending a last blast of fire and let it consume every weapon they had taken from him and dared to use against him and others. In less than an hour this camp would be empty and void of life, like it was supposed to be.

Hopefully Yinsen wasn’t getting a sunburn up here.

Then, they were falling, and falling and –

6.

No.

No, no, this wasn’t right.

Tony stared into the yellow light. Turned around and screamed into his pillow. They had been so close, so vexingly close! Why –

The landing.

The landing must have killed him.

No.

Again.

He would go again. And think more about how to get Yinsen out of here alive.

“Hallelujah.”

“Stark?”

Same old hat. May the odds ever be in your favour. The cat can’t catch you here. There was no stop.

Talking. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

It was like learning formulas and equations in mathematics and physics, learned the laws for both subjects and for chemistry too because it could be useful, right? That was what he did. He learned this morning by heart and did the same things again.

And he hoped he’d start to understand how to get out of here before he lost his mind or his brain became too tired from everything. There was only so much of repetitions he could do before he started to lose focus and got fixated on other things which were new and shiny and all that.

Sometimes his brain wasn’t any fun.

The air tasted like wet socks, left, and forgotten in the rain and Tony could swear he could feel the dampness getting into places it shouldn’t.

There. That was it. Exactly that. His brain started to lose focus and shifted it elsewhere.

He told Yinsen again not to die in the same moments – he hoped, it was after a laundry where they accused him of making it brown when it had already been brown. A desperate wish that was enough. It had to be enough. He didn’t want to change things all too much when there was a chance it was enough. Too many variables could be confusing, and he was just a human, not a JARVIS; he was clever and intelligent but there was – even for him – a limit to everything.

They built the miniature arc reactor.

Then the suit.

Nothing new. No changing of plans even when Tony knew by now a way to make it happen faster but – too many cooks spoil the broth, right?

Five steps forwards, turn to the right, shoot. Three steps forwards, left, twenty forwards.

Yinsen was behind him, his Eurydice – yeah, Tony had finally remembered her name and he was Orpheus. But hopefully he would be doing better.

He crossed his fingers mentally because he couldn’t in the suit.

They took off.

Please let us survive, let us survive –

They hit the hot sand.

~ ∞ ~

Rhodey ushered them into the helicopter a bit later and Tony didn’t dare to let go of him just yet. Rhodey was holding him tightly, there was this faint feeling of adrenaline slowly leaving Tony’s system.

“Missed you, Platypus.”

“Next time you’re going in my fun-vee.”

“I think I just might.” Tony squeezed him a last time then pulled back. “Rhodey, this is Ho Yinsen. He saved my life in the cave. Yinsen, this is Rhodey, who usually saves my life.”

A smile flitted over Yinsen’s face. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr Rhodey.”

“Oh, nothing with the Mr crap.” Rhodey held his hand out. “Really, you saved Tony’s life, don’t ‘Mr’ me. Call me Rhodey.”

“How long is the flight?” Yinsen required as they buckled up.

“Bit over an hour until we get to the base. A jet is on its way to it and will take Tony back to the States.”

“You’re coming with us, Yinsen?” Tony stifled a yawn.

He nodded.

That was all Tony needed before he could allow himself to fall asleep. He had gotten Yinsen out. They were both alive and out of the cave. The Ten Rings couldn’t hurt them here. Now he just had to take care of Obi again – which was easier because he knew how.

The question only was if something would change because this time he had Yinsen with him. But he’d saved Tony’s life so he doubted it.

Could it really be that easy?

At the base he went to the restroom – this time without a gun hidden in his rag clothes – and tried to clean his face. It was just water. It was stupid to look at the sparkling running fluid coming from the tap and think it would hurt him. Slow steps, he reminded himself. It was all about slow steps.

He wetted his hands and first washed the grime off them. There were traces of motor oil slowly disappearing. Then, face.

Close your eyes and hope for the best, Tony.

He splashed a bit of it in his face.

Cold.

Wet.

Waterdrops were running down his face. He could breathe. He took a step back. There was nobody stopping him from taking a step back and running away from the water. Breathe. This was not in the cave. Face wash was easy. It’s a small step for me but a bigger one for the rest of my life, he thought almost cynical. Slowly he started to clean the rest of his face, rubbed the smudges away until he looked as pristine again as he left. It was a lie, he knew. His hair was still looking oily from the sweat that had started to set and dry under the helmet; as of now he wasn’t brave enough yet to go and wash his hair. He knew there was going to be dry shampoo in the jet.

Yinsen and Rhodey were waiting for him when he emerged from the restrooms in the hallway.

“You’re sending my pile of ‘scrap’ to my home?” He asked Rhodey to avoid an awkward silence and an uncomfortable silence.

“I did, yes. JARVIS says he’s looking forward to seeing you again.”

“Awww.” Tony laughed quietly. “Good. The jet-?”

“Should be here in a bit,” Rhodey replied. “Do you want to eat something or go to a medical check-up first?”

Yinsen’s eyes flitted to him. There was an unspoken question in his eyes.

Right, the arc reactor sitting in his chest.

“I’ll let a doc at home have a look at us.” Tony’s stomach grumbled. “And I think my friend agrees with me here.”

“He really does.” Rhodey laughed.

Turned out the food in his jet was better than the one at the base. Not, that it was bad food, per se but the porridge at the base wasn’t the best. And someone said they’d mostly gotten porridge in the cave and nobody wanted to upset their stomachs, so, porridge it was.

Tony indulged himself with some nuts he found in the minibar. Delicious. The salty taste of nuts, the sweetness when he bit on them again and the earthly flavour mingling with it. It was almost as good as Jarvis’ cooking, just perfect, and on the borderline of it being too much. But Tony didn’t care. Food. Food and from that, what he wanted. No regulations, no restrictions, no set times.

This was what freedom tasted like and Tony couldn’t get enough of it. He found a box of instant coffee and where he’d normally scoffed at the blasphemy of pre-made and pulverised coffee – there was nothing that could top a mug with freshly brewed and pressed coffee – now Tony was more than thankful for it. The air was filled with the typical aroma of coffee and Tony felt more at ease.

Coffee. He needed and wanted more of it. But, for the time being he carried the three mugs back to Yinsen and Rhodey who were talking quietly about something but stopped when he approached them. Traitors.

“You’ve got coffee on board?” Rhodey arched a brow.

“Yep.” Tony grinned and flapped down in the seat. “Coffee is always aboard. I just don’t drink it on the flight usually because then I want to go to work.”

“Which you can’t on the plane.”

“Obviously.” Tony closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of his coffee. It was perfect. Coffee for the Tony and the world was in balance yet again. It was a simple matter but coffee had always been what made him feel better; made him feel awake, and therefore, alive and well. Well, of course he got some sort of coffee in the cave but it had been mostly tea and really, Tony was happy if he’d never had to taste that brew again. What did it matter to him that it was ‘healthy’, huh? He never had liked tea before why should he start now?

~ ∞ ~

Pepper was at the airport and waiting for him. Same words, same reaction. Happy had brought cheeseburgers.

Same press conference, Everheart was still or was it again? sitting on the same chair and stared at him with a morbid curiosity he didn’t like. Obi was close by. Cheeseburger. A heartfelt bite. He thanked Yinsen first for getting him out of the cave – after all, he had manners. Sat down on the ground and asked the reporters to do the same. And again, they followed his words. Sometimes he liked press conferences.

Shocked reactions when he told them SI would stop manufacturing weapons. JARVIS killed the micro when Obi tried to say something. He got arrested not even twenty-four hours later and this time, Yinsen had even given statements to the agents from the CIA and FBI as to what he’d heard Raza and the others speak about, he had more intel on them than Tony had ever believed to be possible. Ah well.

He started creating his Iron Man suit and Yinsen helped him to exchange the arc reactor. It was nice not to be sent into a cardiac arrest, to be honest. He knew it wasn’t Pepper’s fault and he had asked a lot of her. Not everybody liked to reach into a chest hole and take and exchange things. Not everybody was a mechanic. That was normal. Good thing that Yinsen had calm fingers and yeah –

Yinsen was now definitely on his list of people he could trust with exchanging valuable and sensitive materials and didn’t mind him playing around in his body. Ah. Life was wonderful.

“If you don’t mind,” Yinsen said slowly, “I don’t think I ever want to do this again.”

“Awww, Yinsen. But we’re so close to another and just starting to get more comfortable.” He threw in a wink for good measure.

“Stark.” Yinsen sighed but there a smile on his lips. “I think it’s time you start learning exchanging the arc reactor by yourself, don’t you?”

“That’s true. But why should I when I can have you do it?”

“Stark.”

“You can call me Tony, you know?” Tony tilted his head. “After all, we are friends, aren’t we? And I like my friends to call me by my name.”

“Tony it is, then.”

~ ∞ ~

He was in his workshop with Yinsen when the news reported about Gulmira. Yinsen’s home.

“I think the suit is ready for a test drive, isn’t it?” Tony looked at his friend who nodded slowly. His eyes were blown wide and he was staring at the screen like his life depended on it. No surprise. Tony pondered in the back of his mind how many of the people in the village Yinsen knew – and if any of them had been in the short reportage right now. There hadn’t been many things he could do for Yinsen as a show of his gratitude, right now he was staying at a hotel nearby – because he didn’t want to stay at Tony’s, which, well, fair – and came by every so often because –

Because Tony needed him. He was his friend and they were supposed to stay close together, on orders of the Central Intelligence because of a possible threat coming from the Ten Rings and Obadiah’s leftover but crumbling kingdom. Ah well. There were worse things that could happen. Like this.

“Jay, can you take care of Yinsen while I’m gone?”

“I don’t need a caretaker, Tony,” Yinsen admonished him softly.

“He’s not a caretaker,” Tony replied quickly. “He’s just here to make sure you get everything you want and need while I’m gone for a short business trip.”

He got a disbelieving snort. Well, nobody could say he hadn’t tried, right?

A few minutes later he took off in the sky and flew towards the country he had left just some days ago – Afghanistan.

It was funny that the Ten Rings thought they could just go and harass the people from Yinsen’s village like there wouldn’t be any sort retaliation from Tony – or Yinsen because he was with Tony. Or were they simply as stupid as that? Maybe. Who knew with them. They had captured him too, knowing who he was and well –

They only needed to take a close look at how good things had gone out for the ones who were in the cave at the time of the break-out, right?

Were they honestly –

Yes, there was smoke coming from the mountain. They were threatening children.

He landed without a sound, and as soon as the shooting started, he kicked the first dude in the stomach, shot the next few ones with his repulsors. The ‘pew’ sound resonated warm in his ears, and honestly, did they think he was outpowered because they were holding guns now at the heads of civilians? He bared his teeth, knowing nobody could see it but it helped with the rage that was building up inside of him.

But let them think they got you. He lowered his arms, the repulsors went quiet and he used his automatic targeting system to get the bastards with his launchers. It was a moment of pure poetic when they fell to the ground quietly and didn’t even twitch a last time. A kid ran to his dad. Bless.

“Sir, the house to your left.”

“Someone in there?” He thought about doing a “knock knock” joke but then decided to simple push his arm through the wall and pull the bastard out.

“He’s all yours.”  

Poetic Justice and all that. And while Tony recognised him – he had gotten part of his revenge already and he figured, the villagers deserved some as well.

He’d just targeted one of his Jericho Missiles Obi had sold and was about –

He fell from the sky within seconds.

Shot down like a bird. Not nice. With gritted teeth he stood up, stepped aside the missile shot at him and riposted the friendly greeting with one of his rocket launchers. American hospitality. And then, finally, he took out the Jericho Missiles.

Well, the flight back was how Rhodey found out about Iron Man – he wasn’t all too happy about it but Tony could forgive him.

Yinsen was elated that his village was safe.

~ ∞ ~

A few days later Tony took out more nests from the Ten Rings and hoped it was enough. JARVIS couldn’t find any more locations and Yinsen didn’t have any more intel.

There was a press conference – asked to be held by a few journalists and Pepper had agreed – and well. Tony tilted his head as some geniuses flat out told him he was Iron Man. There was no imposing speech, no nothing. And he simply confirmed the truth by declaring, “I am Iron Man.”

~ ∞ ~

Again. Tony stared at the man who stood in his living room like he had any right to do so. Again, he’d forgotten about SHIELD. Because who else could it be? The CIA had more style than to send a man clad in an overexaggerated leather coat into his house. Well, there also was the fact that Pepper had mentioned SHIELD a lot over the span of the last few days, ever since the press conference.

But Tony hadn’t paid a lot of mind to it, he was concerned with building a newer and better suit – there was always room for improvement – and if he had gotten out of the Groundhog circle. This loop had lasted already a bit longer than the previous ones. Tony wouldn’t complain if this was over already. What was supposed to be wrong still? He was alive and out, the Ten Rings were defeated and the few who were left over had crawled back into the holes they were supposed not to have left in the first place. And, most importantly, Yinsen was alive. He had done everything correct, hadn’t he?

“You think you’re the only superhero in the world, Mr Stark? You’ve become part of a bigger universe. You just don’t know it yet.”

Ah, sweet. “Who the hell are you?”

“Nick Fury. Director of SHIELD.”

He’d called it. He’d freaking called it.

“I’m here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.”

“Sorry, the what?” Tony’s mouth twitched. “I didn’t know there was something to avenge, Mad-Eye. Are you sure you’re not a bit late for that anyway?”

“What if I tell you it has only just begun, Iron Man?”

“Is that a threat?” Tony went to the kitchen. “Because let me tell you, I neither like people breaking into my house and butchering with JARVIS’ code – buddy, remind me to take a look at the security breach, yes? Nor do I like it when those people who break into my house, think they can get away with it too and then have the gall to threaten me. You know what happened with Mad-Eye in the seventh book? No?” Tony took an apple and looked it before looking back up to Fury.

“He died. Many people with eyepatches do. It’s like an omen. An Omen of death.” He winked at him.

“Are you threatening me, Stark?”

“No, no.” Tony shook his head. “That was a warning for the sort of people who break-“

“-Into your house, yes, understood.” Fury started to sound annoyed.

Good, Tony thought grimly.

“Is everything a joke to you, Stark?”

“Most things are.”

Fury stared at him from his one eye.

“You were saying?” Tony said, pleasantly before he took a bite from his apple.

“Nothing.” Fury shook his head. He turned on the heel and walked to the front door, his leather coat blowing behind him like a dramatic piece.

Tony wanted one of those as well.