I was distracting myself with a painting, something which I am getting quite good at, while dad was playing a game with Yinsen.

"So where are you from?" He said trying to start up a conversation.

"I'm from a small town, called Gulmira. Its actually a nice place."

"Got any family?"

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you Stark?"

"My daughter , right there. She's all I got." I couldn't see dad's face as I was sitting behind him, but I could see Yinsen's. And he looked proud, if anything else. Why I don't know.

"When I had first met you, I had thought , that you were a man , who has everything, but nothing. Now looking at you and your daughter, I feel you do have everything."

I was getting bored , so I joined in on the game the two men where playing , which was similar to snakes and ladders.

————

The construction was going quite well. The parts had been made, just needed assembling. Dad was the one who was doing the molding, and all the tough work, one thing that surprised me even though he was a weapons builder. The determination that shown through his eyes, was never there before.

It's like he had found a purpose. A purpose as to what to do in life. And let me tell you, this new found determination is beautiful.

We were now in the final testings of the leg brace for dad's suit, when there was a shout from outside the door. Fear gripped me, as the people started barging inside the room. Shakily I lifted my arms up to my head, as I saw dad doing it , and then shifted behind him slightly.

Slowly, the bald man came out from the crew of people. He was as menacing as before. A scar was on his face, which made me fear him more. God, how much of a scaredy cat am I ?

"Relax"

That one word, nade me feel exactly the opposite as it's meaning. Although I still lowered down my hands warily, after looking at Yinsen and dad.

The man slowly came up to me and dad, and after looking for a whole minute on me, cane up to dad's level, and looked at him, more specifically the arc reactor. His hands touched the reactor for a second when he started speaking.

"The bow and arrow, once was the pinnacle of strength. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of the Alexander the great, and four times the size of the Roman empire. ―"

Then he took up the plans i had drawn, making me sharply look at Dad, who just reassured squeezed my hand.

"―But now whoever holds the latest Stark weapons, rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn."

Then he started talking with Ginseng in another language. And then suddenly, all it took was one second for me to be ripped from my dad's embrace, and put in a choke hold by one of the men. Yinsen was also bent down as the bald man took out a hot charcoal piece from one of the mines. He kept asking him something, which Yinsen denied everytime, yet the bald man didn't believe it.

I tried yelling out, but that only made the person holding me, tighten his grip on my throat, making me feel suffocated. Slowly but surely the oxygen supply was being cut off from my windpipe , and I knew if I didn't get enough air soon I could go on to asphyxiation.

Dad, clearly seeing the dilemma Yinsen and I were in, and shouted . "Alright stop! I need him , good assistant."

The man, looked gravely at him , and then me , and again at him.

"You have till tomorrow, to make my missile."

With that he started going out. I thought we were free, but then his men started dragging me along with him. My protests were muffled but my dad's weren't.

"Hey! Give me back my daughter! I'll assemble the missile, give her back to me !"

"We are keeping her for now, leverage you see." The man was smirking as he and his men took me outside, ignoring dad's protests and my cries.

°――――――°

As soon as I was outside the cave, a black bag was put on my head and I was roughly shoved into a jeep. The whole ride was very bumpy, as I kept banging my head on the upper end of the vehicle as the men kept a tight grip on my shoulder, which would definitely add another injury to my already long list from this great adventure / torture.

It might have been hours or mere minutes, when I was shoved again, this time, to the ground. I could taste the sand and the heat was unbearable.

The bag was ripped from my head as I rolled my eyes, trying to keep my head from being knocked away from my body. Feeling slightly nauseous, I looked around and all I could see was suffering.

We were in a makeshift hospital, where many men were laying , wailing as they clutched there gruesome wounds. Women could be seen scurrying around trying to patch up as many as they could, but judging from the bandages , I could see they didn't have the knowledge neither the experience for it.

"Heal them. Or we will kill you." The man, who introduced himself as Raza , said and then left with his men. Some were still with me, presumably to keep me from fleeing, as they roughly pushed me forward.

These men and women in front of me weren't soldiers, I realised. They were mere citizens of this area, and were forced into recruitment. They weren't wearing any uniforms , and I even saw a couple trying to flee but were caught and again brutally beaten.

At that I soon went to work. This is what I am meant to do , and I will do my best to save even one life if possible.

°~~~~~~~~°

Tony's pov

"Give me back my daughter!

Those were my words as I kept saying as I was banging the door from where they took my poor, innocent daughter.

Sobbing, I slid down the door as Yinsen came up to me.

"I-I can't do this! The-they took her and God knows what they will do to her! I-I was supposed to protect her , and I couldn't even do that ! I had one purpose in life , and that was ripped away from me! Its over Yinsen. Everything's over!"

"Hey! Do not give up Stark! You here me? Your daughter is out there, and I bet she is still hoping that you will come and save her. So get up, and built that suit so you and I can go and rescue that girl. You got it ? Now get up." He orders as he pulled me up.

"Y-yea, she would have wanted me to work . You're right. Let's go"

With a new light in my eyes, I set to work.

–––

The suit was soon ready, and all I had to do was put it on.

Yinsen was tying up the loose strings , when we heard the people trying to get in. But that soon ceased as there was a large blast, and then silence.

"How did it go?" I asked Yinsen, him knowing I was taking about the bomb.

"Oh my goodness, it worked alright."

"Now, initialise the para sequence."

I was giving him more instructions when he realised that we needed more time. I knew that myself, but I knew if we sticked to the plan we would get out safe.

"Stick to the plan, stick to the plan!" I yelled at him but he went out, guns blazing in both his hands.

Soon the para sequence was complete. The lights went completely out. Game time boys.

I turned towards the door as I heard the footsteps of some men coming in. As they saw my silhouette, they started firing. I waited with bated breathe but released it when I found I didn't get hurt. Guess the plan is working.

Soon there firing stopped.

"My turn." I said, and all hell breaks loose.

---------------

I turned to the entry point when I heard a weak cry. Looking around , to my horror , I saw Yinsen lying in a pool of his blood.

"Yinsen!" I yelled at him, horrified.

"Watch out " he weakly replied , as I turned around and dodged a rocket coming towards me from Raza. I turned and gave him another small missile in return. Once he was under a pile of rocks, I turned to Yinsen.

I rushed up to him and pulled down my mask.

"Stark" he weakly called out. I know we can save him, once I get him to Sofie, she can fix him. He will return to his family.

"C'mon. We gotta go. Move with me, we got a plan, we stick to it."

"This was always the plan stark."

"C'mon, you are gonna see your family, get up." I can't lose him, after all this he will reunite with his family.

"My family is dead, and I'm going to see them now Stark. It's okay , I want this. I want this. "

Tears sprung up in my eyes, I already caused so much death, I don't want to be the cause of yours too! I wanted to scream out. But the truth was, that Sofie isn't here. And Yinsen is dying, all because of me.

Mustering up a small smile, I softly said to Yinsen, "Thank you for saving me and my daughter."

"Save her, save your salvation , Stark. A-And Don't waste it, don't waste your life."

Those were his last words, and after that all I saw was red. He didn't deserve this, he didn't deserve this at all.

With that I went out, and even though the fire and the gun did nothing to me, my fire and gun did everything to those kidnappers. Destroying every weapon of mine these tyrants had and rescuing my daughter, was my sole aim.

Fire was everywhere. On my weapons, on the soldiers , everywhere. Snipers were trying to put me down, and with my missiles I blew then to pieces.

Finally when every weapon was destroyed, I enabled my flight controls and flew out of there. It was an exhilarating experience, one which lasted from about five minutes. Then I was free falling , fast, to the ground.

I landed face first in the sand, and all the pieces of the suit were haphazardly lying around.

Taking out the mask, I threw it away, painfully putting my head down, "Not bad."

Soon I was out of the suit , and with my jacket on my head, I started walking, walking anywhere , far from the cave and out of this desert. The scorching heat was too much, but the thought of my daughter kept me going.

How am I supposed to rescue her? I looked everywhere yet she wasn't present at the base. Raza must have taken her somewhere else. I need to find her.

Soon I heard some whirring sounds. To my joy, those were helicopter sounds, and as I looked up , the sign of the US Air force greeted me. With a happy yell, I waved at them, flashing a peace sign.

I was still deliriously laughing when Rhodey greeted me.

"How was the fun - vee?" If he noticed the lack of my daughter, he didn't mention it.

"Next time you ride with me okay? And where's Sofie?" His eyes were concerned, I was too for my daughter.

Tears again sprung up and he noticed it, as he pulled me into a hug, both crying for the still lost girl.

"My baby girl."

**********