Book One - Part One: Dark Knight

Chapter Nine

Weeks Later: Elena walks past the old car battery that was hooked up to Tony, it sits abandoned on the table. She's filthy, more so then before, lived in mud and dust, her once white tank top is grey and faded and filled with little holes, she approaches Tony, bearded and filthy now, cutting metal flatstock with a torch. His shirt is cracked open, revealing the glowing RT device in his chest. He snuffs the torch, looks over his shoulder as Elena touches it, letting him know she's behind him as she passes. He watches as she moves to work at the work-bench, pulling a set of magnified googles over her eyes. Tony glances beyond her to Yinsen concentrating on building a backgammon board. Tony secretly begins filling a cylinder with gas from the torch. Yinsen flicks a glance at Tony.

"Stark, tell me what you're doing, and I'll tell you what I'm doing"

"Looks to me like you're making a crappy backgammon board" Tony counters.

"Crappy? This is Lebanese cedar"

"Is that where you're from, Lebanon?" Tony asks.

"I'm impressed you even know what this is" Yinsen pauses slightly and then; "How about we play, and if I win, you tell me what you're really making" Tony glances to Elena who flicks her gaze to him out of the corner of her eyes, Tony turns his attention back to Yinsen.

"'A; I don't know what your talking about. 'B' I was the backgammon champ at MIT four years running"

"Interesting, I was the champion at Cambridge"

"Please don't use 'interesting' and Cambridge in the same sentence" Tony argues and then cocks his head slightly. "Is that still a school?"

"It's a university. You probably haven't heard about it since Americans can't get in" Yinsen comes back with, Elena smirks a little.

"Unless they're teaching" Tony counters. The door-slat flies open. Abu again. He barks, more stern than usual. Tony stops, the secret cylinder he was filling clatters to the floor. Yinsen notices, looks at Tony. Abu, Ahmed and Omar enter, followed by Raza's guards. Elena and Yinsen stand and the three of them place their hands on their heads, rigid. Raza enters and looks to them.

"Relax" he comments in English. They lower their hands. Silence as Raza meanders, picking up and putting things down. He almost steps on Tony's secret cylinder, but then sees the washing machine. He shoots Abu a cold look and turns to the workbench and peruses Tony's onion-paper schematics of the missile. "The bow and arrow was once the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine" He pushes the schematics around trying to make sense of them. "Today...whoever has the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. Soon it will be my turn..." A beat as Raza looks back and forth between Elena, Yinsen and Tony. "What's really going on here?" Raza asks Yinsen in Urdu.

"Nothing. We're working" Yinsen answers in Urdu.

"It's been a long time. Where's the weapon?" Raza counter asks, again in Urdu.

"They're working very hard. It's very complex" Yinsen flicks a glance at Tony and Elena, who watch apprehensive.

"Get her on her knees" Raza orders in Urdu, Elena looks alarmed as Abu and Ahmed approach her. She is forced to her knees by them. Using tongs, Raza lifts a hot coal from the furnace and approaches Elena, she claws at the hand in her hair.

"No!" she snaps, Abu pulls harder on her hair and she screams in pain.

"Tell me what is going on?" Raza asks Yinsen in Urdu.

"Nothing! NOTHING is going on" Yinsen answers watching as Elena's eyes fill with terror, Tony shuffles his feet.

"Open your mouth!" Raza snaps at Elena in English, but she won't do it. Abu and Ahmed force her mouth open. Raza lowers the hot coal towards her mouth, Elena struggles against her captures hold whilst screaming. "Tell me now" Raza orders Yinsen in Urdu.

"They're building your bomb" Yinsen answers in Urdu. The glowing coal nearly at Elena's mouth now....then Raza drops the coal on the floor in front of her and leaves. Raza's men follow and slam the door shut. Elena slumps forward and lets out a choked sob as she reaches for her mouth. Tony moves to her and crouches.

"Wayne" he whispers. "Are you alright? Let me see" he reaches for her face, she pulls away from him.

"No" she shakes her head. "'M not okay" she sniffles keeping her head low. "I want to go home" she whispers, some of her age showing, she may be a level headed businesswoman but right now she's more like the 24 year old she is, or is she 25 now? She could have missed her birthday, she probably has, how long have they been here now? Tony nods and squeezes her shoulder softly.

"Yeah, we all do, sweetheart" she covers her face with her hands letting herself cry weakly.

"Now are you going to tell me what the hell you're really building?" Yinsen asks Tony who looks up at him. Their eyes hold, Tony nods and stands leaving Elena where she is, she'll move when she's ready. Tony switches on the light-board and lays schematic after schematic on the glass, revealing his plan, Yinsen looks surprised. "Finally, an idea of your own" Yinsen comments. 

...............

Elena lays curled up on her cot, crying, since she started she hasn't been able to stop, all of it just building up and finally snapping, the real danger she is in here. The real chance of her dying, of getting hurt. The chances of her seeing her father again, of seeing Dick or Barbara or Alfred....of watching her ridiculously large cat trying to fit inside of one of her family heirloom vases that barely hold flowers. It just makes her cry harder. Tony's hand finds her shoulder and she jerks slightly, snapping her head around to him. He motions for her to move over and she does letting him lay next to her, he turns her, and then wraps his arms around her back, letting her cry into his chest, the shine of the ark reactor lighting up her face as he looks down at her. He brushes her hair aside waiting for her to cry it out. Letting her work through it. When she's calmed, when her breathing evens out and the tears stop flowing he leans back only slightly to look down at her, his fingers brushing away the remnants of the tears on her cheeks.

"This plan is going to work" he whispers to her.

"I know, I don't doubt it" she assures him. "You didn't doubt me and mine plan" she taps the ark reactor. "'M not gonna doubt you or yours" he looks down at her surprised.

"Tell me something" he pushes slightly, brushing over the litter flutter in his chest hearing her having faith in him, pressure of it too, knowing that these two people are relying on him to get them out of here.

"What?" she asks.

"Anything" he offers. "Just tell me something" she sighs and shrugs.

"I have a cat" she admits.

"Daughter of Catwoman has a cat, not that surprised" she kicks him slightly. "Ow!" he complains.

"His name is Robin" she adds. "And he's the biggest cat you'll ever see" she points out, he smirks.

"Okay, now I have to meet this mythical beast" he teases back stroking her back. "I always wanted a dog growing up" he admits quietly. "I even tried to make a mechanical one" she looks up at him. "It set the living room on fire" she smirks a little. "By peeing"

"You made a robot dog and gave it the function to urinate?" she asks him, he nods.

"I was going for realism" he answers.

"Do I even want to know what came out the other side?" she asks, he smirks wider and shakes his head pulling a face. She chuckles a little. "Thanks" she whispers, he raises an eyebrow at her. "For cheering me up" she offers, he shrugs a little back. They share a look....

"You're welcome" he whispers back and presses his forehead to hers, both of them closing their eyes.