….
The days and weeks in captivity blurred together for the trio of foreigners.
The only way to measure time was by the dim light that occasionally filtered through the cracks in the cave walls.
The terrorists who held them - members of the Ten Rings - made their demands clear:
They wanted a weapon, a missile like the one that had taken down Stark's convoy.
Tony, despite the tight-lipped arrogance he often exuded, had no intention of building them one.
Instead, he worked.
With Yinsen's help, and now Jin-Ho's, he designed something completely different. Something that would get them out of here.
….
Sweat rolled down Tony's forehead as he crouched over the circuit board.
Sparks flew when the soldering iron touched metal.
His eyes narrowed in concentration.
Jin-Ho stood across the makeshift worktable, arms full of wires and jagged scraps scavenged from old weapons. He kept silent, trying not to break Tony's concentration, though his mind whirred at the sight before him.
He knew exactly what they were building - the miniature Arc Reactor.
The clean-energy miracle that would one day sit in Tony's chest, not only keeping him alive but also powering a suit that could change the course of history.
Without looking up, Tony muttered. "Hand me the capacitors, the blue ones, not the green."
Jin-Ho quickly passed them across the table, Tony gave him a brief glance, then bent back over the circuit.
"You are being unusually quiet?" Tony remarked, his voice low and distracted, but with a thread of curiosity running through it.
"I am just trying to stay out of your way." Jin-Ho replied, adjusting the pile of wires in his arms.
Tony gave a crooked half-smirk. "Smart move, most people don't realize when it's best to keep their mouths shut."
Jin-Ho chuckled under his breath. "I have seen enough to know when someone is in their zone, you don't interrupt that."
Tony froze mid-tweak, screwdriver still in hand, then cut him a sidelong look. "Seen enough? You are seriously giving me the creeps, like you are some kind of fortune teller."
Jin-Ho muttered under his breath, almost too low to catch. "Smart bastard…"
Tony arched his brow. "What was that?"
"Nothing." Jin-Ho waved it off quickly.
From the far side of the cave, Yinsen observed his work. "That doesn't look like a Jericho missile."
"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor." Tony explained. "I got a big one powering my factory at home."
The technology was revolutionary.
Tony had managed to recreate, in miniature, the same arc reactor technology that powered his main facility in California.
The implications went far beyond keeping him alive.
"So…" Jin-Ho tilted his head, lips twitching. "Does that make you a cyborg now?"
Tony paused mid-adjustment, looking mildly offended before conceding. "…Huh. Technically? Yeah, per textbook definition."
Jin-Ho smirked. "Cool. I always wanted to meet one."
Tony gave him a flat look. "Congratulations, kid. Dream achieved."
"But what could it actually generate?" Yinsen asked, curiosity overtaking him.
"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."
Yinsen was astounded by the numbers. "That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes."
"Yeah." Tony replied with a meaningful look. "Or something big for 15 minutes."
Jin-Ho leaned forward, studying the glowing reactor. "So… that thing, the Arc Reactor… it's keeping the shrapnel from killing you?"
Tony leaned back, gave him a look that mixed suspicion with pride, then tapped the little prototype with his knuckle.
"Bingo. Since a few shards of my own merchandise decided to make my chest their permanent vacation spot, this beauty—" another tap, sharper this time. "—is the only thing standing between me and an open-casket funeral."
Jin-Ho tilted his head. "It just seems… a little too advanced. Especially for a cave with a box of scraps."
Tony finally looked up from the reactor, narrowing his eyes. "You don't sound anywhere near as surprised as most people would be if they saw this for the first time."
Jin-Ho met his gaze without flinching. "Should I be? Remember what I told you, I am not from this world."
That earned a low chuckle from Tony as he shook his head. "Right, right, I almost forgot. That's your angle. Out of all the stories you could have cooked up, you decided to go with an interdimensional traveler as your grand introduction?"
Yinsen asked, a bit curious. "So, Jin-Ho… are you actually an alien?"
His tone was half a joke, half genuine curiosity.
Jin-Ho replied sincerely. "I am not sure what name you would give me. Where I came from, we had our own. But yes… I think I am human too. Just… not quite the same kind of human as you."
Tony simply smirked. "Different, huh? Sure. Fine. But let's get something straight, if you start calling yourself 'The Chosen One,' I am done. I have got enough on my plate building a murder toy for terrorists without also dealing with a wannabe messiah."
Yinsen chuckled, shaking his head as he reached for another wire. "You keep me guessing. Either you're crazy, or you're an excellent liar."
"I don't know about crazy." Jin-Ho said with a small, proud grin. "But I have always been confident in my lying abilities."
Tony rubbed his temples and let out a dry sigh. "Can you two please not joke around while I am working on a miniature nuclear reactor?"
Jin-Ho smirked. "Sure."
They got back to work.
….
Tony Stark had always been confident.
Arrogant, even.
But as he examined the blue glow of the Arc Reactor embedded in his chest, something inside him shifted.
For the first time in a long while, he wasn't invincible nor was he untouchable, and worst of all, he wasn't ignorant anymore.
He had seen the weapons outside - His weapons.
And the people holding them weren't soldiers fighting for freedom, they were murderers.
Terrorists, using his genius like a blunt instrument.
Jin-Ho sat cross-legged on the floor, absentmindedly fiddling with a piece of scrap metal, though his eyes never really left Tony.
He had seen this moment before, on a screen, in another world. But living it alongside Tony, watching the cracks form in real time, it carried a weight that no movie could replicate.
"They are using my work." Tony murmured, voice hollow.
Jin-Ho didn't answer right away. He let the silence hang, giving Tony the space to sit with it.
After a beat, Tony gave a bitter laugh. "I built these things thinking I was protecting people. You know? Putting power in the hands of the good guys. Turns out, I was just—" He stopped, running a hand down his face. "I was just feeding the machine."
Jin-Ho interrupted him with a sudden chuckle even he himself wasn't expecting. "Tony… that look really doesn't suit you."
Tony's brows pulled together. "What look?"
"That one." Jin-Ho gestured with the bit of scrap still in his hand. "The broken man routine. The drowning-in-guilt face. You have been wearing that smug grin since the second I met you. You are not built for sulking."
Tony gave a dry laugh, short and humorless. "Maybe not. But it hits differently when the mirror finally swings back. I thought I was making the world safer, kid. Turns out I was just… giving murderers better toys to play with."
Jin-Ho leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You made weapons, that's what you do. You are an engineer, a creator and you didn't handpick who used them. You didn't ship crates out to caves yourself."
"That's the excuse I have been feeding myself for years." Tony said sharply, tapping the arc reactor in his chest. The faint hum filled the silence. "But this? This is the invoice, itemized, signed, and shoved right into my chest."
Jin-Ho didn't flinch at the outburst. Instead, he smirked faintly. "Then maybe it's time you stop being a supplier, and start being the guy who actually decides where the power goes."
Tony stared at him, eyes narrowing as if testing the weight of his words. "Big words from someone stuck in the same hellhole I am."
"The difference." Jin-Ho said evenly. "...is, I didn't build the bomb that dragged me here. You did. Which means you are the only one who can make sure it doesn't happen again."
For a moment, the cave was quiet except for the distant drip of water and the low hum of machinery. Tony's mind worked, conflicted, before finally he let out a slow breath and leaned back against the wall.
"You know… you are wasted in this cave, kid. You should be up on a stage, headset mic, audience eating out of your hand. TED Talks. Motivational posters. Hell, I would even make the merch."
Jin-Ho smirked. "Doesnt suit my appearance. But if you are done sulking, maybe we can build something they won't see coming… Something that shuts those terrorists up."
Tony's eyes flickered, the faintest spark of his old arrogance creeping back in, though now tempered with something sharper. "Something they won't see coming… Yeah, I think I like the sound of that."
Jin-Ho smiled. "Now that's the Tony Stark I have been hearing about."
Tony grinned without looking up. "Buckle up, kid. You wanted action? You just signed up for the greatest garage build in history."
Yinsen, who had been quietly soldering a wire, chuckled. "You two make an unusual team."
Tony shot him a look. "Unusual's the polite way to put it. But if this kid doesn't have a meltdown in the next forty-eight hours, I might actually let him hang around."
Jin-Ho rejected. "Gee, no thanks."
….
Then they begin to work again
A plan had taken root.
It was impossible, reckless, and relied on the hope that the terrorists would remain oblivious until it was too late.
But it was their only shot.
Tony sketched out designs for a suit of armor - one capable of withstanding gunfire and brute force.
Jin-Ho studied the rough blueprints and marveled at Stark's mind in action. He wasn't just a genius. He was a force of nature.
"The metal plating needs to be lightweight but durable." Tony muttered, crossing out a section of his notes. "Strong enough to take a hit but flexible enough to allow movement."
….
.
[To be continued…]
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