during tony stark's capture, word about this incident had spread throughout the military force in Afghanistan, James Rhodes and the colonel ordered a search party to search for tony stark, so far they haven't had much luck, wherever the terrorists that captured tony stark were, they sure were well hidden from the rest of the military...regardless Rhodes wouldn't give up, and continued looking after issuing helicopters to fly above the desert lands...

meanwhile at the cave the next day, tony and yinsen began work on the armor sketched on the blueprint, they gathered scrap metal pieces from the nearby boxes, and have set up a secret workspace of their armor hidden from the security cameras, tony was at a blacksmith section of the workshop and was banging his hammer on a hot piece of metal on the anvil, the banging of the hammer echoed across the room as the hot piece of metal was soon forged into what looked like an iron mask...

at the blueprint table, tony and yinsen were also going over how the armored suit would be combat-ready

"Mr. Stark," said yinsen, "I think if the suit would draw power from your arc reactor, it should be able to run for hours,"

"let's hope your right yinsen," said Tony "it will take a lot to connect it and power the suit though,"

"we will have to work fast, however," said yinsen "we can hotwire the reactor on your chest, and the suit will almost become a pacemaker,"

"that may have to be so, yinsen," said Tony "but what could we do for weapons to get past all those guns though?"

"We must use what we could find," said yinsen "we will also need other equipment as well for this suit,"

"like a radio?" suggested tony "so we can communicate?"

"correct," said yinsen "but we must do what we can here,"

"you got it yinsen," said stark as he walked over to the pile of stolen stark technology weapons and looked for what could be best suited to fit the armor...

outside the cave, the ten rings' henchmen were gearing up for an assault on the villages nearby, to terrorize and kill all those standing in their way, trucks carrying the troops were getting in their seats, the guns were being loaded onto a supply truck, and they were still waiting on Raza to give the mobilization order,

"Raza sir," said one of the troops, "everything is ready"

"Excellent," said Raza "all that's left to see Mr stark give us those new weapons he is making us,"

"But sir, it has been some time now," said one of the henchmen "has he not followed through"

"If he hasn't then he's more stubborn than we thought," said Raza "we'll give him 5 hours, but if we don't get our weapons, we'll torture him"

"yes Raza," said the henchmen as he turned to leave to join his fellow troops

meanwhile, within the cave, tony and yinsen were still hard at work, they were assembling the legs of the armored suit as they wielded pieces of metal together, while they were building the legs they managed to find a few weapons that could fit into the armor, two flame throwers, small missiles, powerful magnets, and plans for jet boots on the legs, which they were currently working on,

"so yinsen?" asked tony "if we're gonna have these jet boots on, how will we activate them?"

"we will place activation triggers on the arms so your hands can reach them" explained yinsen "this will also allow you to use your flamethrowers as well,"

"that's a great idea yinsen," said stark as he was putting the finishing touches on attaching the jet boots to the legs, "that takes care of the boots, now for the rest of the legs,"

"right, Mr stark," said yinsen "we still have much work to do,"

but as tony worked on the rest of the legs, he was thinking deeply about yinsen's words, and about his father, Howard stark...

it was 2 years before tony stark become CEO of stark industries, he and Howard were at the house right now, bonding between father and son, Tony had just opened the door to see his father sitting on a chair,

"Hi dad!" called tony waving to Howard

"Welcome home, my son," smiled Howard as he greeted tony "how was your day today?"

"It was really good!" said Tony as he sat next to his father "I made a lot of friends today!"

"that's great to hear, tony," said Howard paying close attention to tony "my day at stark industries was great as well!"

"What did you guys make today?" asked tony

"what we're hoping will revolutionize the clean energy industry" explained Howard "the arc reactor program,"

"the arc reactor program?" asked tony "what is that dad?"

"why it's a project to make the arc reactor energy worldwide," said Howard "one that will eliminate fossil fuels, cure the waters, and protect the environment,"

"that's so cool!" cheered tony "it must be a lot of work!"

"it is, tony," said Howard "I dreamed that one day, it would become a reality, even after I step down as CEO..."

"step down? Asked tony "what do you mean dad?"

"tony, there will come a day when I have to step down as CEO," said Howard sadly "nothing lasts forever,"

"But, if you step down, who will take your place dad?" Asked tony

"I've asked myself that very same question many times my son," said Howard, thinking over who will be the next CEO "I've thought it over many times, but they all decided the heir of stark industries, shall be...you"

tony stark immediately stared wide-eyed at his father, tony stark, to be his father's successor of stark industries!? "me?" he muttered in shock "but, dad, are you sure?"

"I'm sure" nodded Howard "I have much faith in you, my son,"

"But dad," said tony nervously "I don't even know if I could even run a business right!"

"I know you will be able to one day my son," reassured Howard "everyone has to know where to start"

"Yeah, but will I be as good as you as CEO of stark industries?" asked tony "I'm not you dad,"

"no, you're not tony," said Howard, putting a hand on his son's shoulder, "you are your own person, I know that someday, you will drive stark industries to the future, as well as live your life, my son..."

"Thanks, Dad," said Tony as he and Howard hugged each other, ever ready to face the future...

metal pipes were being welded together as the arms of armor were being connected, alongside attaching the flamethrowers on the armor, they were at the gauntlet section right now,

"with these flamethrowers, we'll roast them alive," said Tony as he attacked the pieces together, "they'll definitely be helpful,"

"don't forget Mr stark" advised yinsen as he wielded a few more pieces together "we are also adding powerful magnets to repel their weapons,"

"those too yinsen," said Tony "they'll go on the gloves of the armor,"

"understood," said yinsen as he finished wielding the pieces of the left gauntlet together "we still have much work to do, our captors would love it,"

"they would," said Tony, as he gathered the new few pieces for the next body part "but it's not for them, it's for us, we're getting out of here,"

"I know," said yinsen as he continued working "and what happens with this after it's done?"

tony wondered for a second about the armor and concluded "you know...I think there's gotta be more"

"more armor like this?" asked yinsen "that would be reasonable, this is a work of art,"

"it's not even finished yet and I agree with you yinsen," said Tony, putting the finishing touches on the flamethrower arms, already thinking about what he will do with the design of the armor if he returns to stark industries...

a few more hours passed, the arms were soon completed, all that was left was the torso of the armor, yinsen and stark went through various transistors and figured out how to connect the arc reactor as the power source to the rest of the armor, they even found metal plates which were bulletproof and applied it onto the armor, they've applied touch-sensitive magnets to the gloves of the armor, even small missiles to the arm gauntlets alongside the flamethrowers, tony and yinsen grabbed all they could to apply to the armor, they soon got started on the helmet, in which the mask was forged from earlier...

finally, the suit is ready, it was time to armor up, tony then started to slip on a leather bodysuit, yinsen assisted him as he puts it on, then they started with putting on the armored legs, they were a snug fit for tony despite the bulky appearance, but they knew they had to work fast, for Raza and his men are soon to notice...

back at their post, Raza and his men were growing impatient, what was keeping tony so long?

"rrr...where is stark?" growled Raza "he and the doctor should have come out with the weapons a long time ago!"

"maybe he and the doctor are taking a break or are trying to back out," suggested one of the henchmen

"if they are, they will be punished for it!" said Raza standing up, "let's go to the cameras, they will tell us everything,"

Raza and his men then headed for the cave, meanwhile, tony and yinsen had just put on the torso of the armor and hooked up to a laptop to charge up power for the armor, they were now just starting on the arms, they knew they had to work fast, Raza and his men went to the security cameras and opened the footage to find, yinsen and tony were not there!

"Mr. Stark, and the doctor!" cried Raza "they're gone!"

"where did they go!?" Panicked one of the henchmen "don't tell me stark's dead!"

"no...there must be something else going on in there..." thought Raza "search the area! If stark and yinsen are planning something, put an end to it, but do not kill Mr stark !"

"Sir yes sir!" Called all the troops, they then ran towards the large metal cell where tony and yinsen were being kept to put a stop to their rebellion,

inside the cell, the armored suit continues to power up as yinsen finished putting on the helmet on tony, the laptop also showed the percentage of both system upload, and overall power being transferred into the armor

"yinsen," said Tony "how much longer till we're ready?"

yinsen looked over to the laptop to check the percentage, "the charge is at 65%"

"got it," said Tony, praying the armor would charge up in time

the men closed in, their guns trained at the door they then banged on the large metal door,

"HEY! OPEN UP!!" the men shouted while banging on the door

tony and yinsen jumped at the sound as they heard more hard banging, yinsen looked over the readings on the laptop and it read 73%...74%...75% the good doctor realized, the armor wouldn't charge in time...

unless...

"yinsen," called tony "I don't know if we'll be ready in time!"

"...we will be, Mr stark," said yinsen turning to him

"what do you mean?" said Tony as yinsen turned to him "they come in here, and they'll kill us!"

"no, they won't," said yinsen, then turning towards the door "I will buy you time"

"wha-what do you mean yinsen?" said Tony "they have GUNS on them, they'll shoot you dead!"

yinsen only looked at tony "I know..."

"yinsen, you're going to get yourself killed!" said Tony "the suit won't be ready! we've been through so much together!"

"I understand that," said yinsen "but Mr stark, your life is more important than mine, I was taken from my family by them...but I won't let them take you from me, the heir to stark industries and my good friend, no, a brother to me..."

tony's eyes nearly teared up, staring at his friend, even though they were together for a short time in the cave, he came to realize he could not ask for a more selfless man "yinsen..."

yinsen stared at tony, eyes filled with nothing but determination in the face of death, and a willingness to protect his friend even while trapped by demons like the ten rings...

even the sounds of the banging on the large metal door didn't tarnish that gaze as yinsen finally spoke "stark...don't waste it...don't waste your life stark..." he then ran towards the metal door to hold off the terrorists

"yinsen!" shouted Tony, tears in his eyes as he watched his friend being ready to sacrifice his life for him...

the large metal door slammed open as the men trained their guns, yinsen then threw a large box at them, frightened by this, one of the men dropped their guns, yinsen grabbed the gun and fired the various shots in the air while shouting "you scoundrels!!" while the men tried to shoot at him, yinsen quickly hid behind a nearby crate and continued shooting in the air, not wanting to kill the terrorists regardless of what they have done, due to his doctor's oath, to save a life, not take it, regardless, yinsen bought as much time as he could for tony to power up, a terrorist got behind yinsen and punched him from behind, knocking him down,

"traitors!!" the henchmen cried and they started to circle yinsen planning on what to do with his fate...

as yinsen sacrifices his life, tony waited anxious for the suit to finish powering up, the charge was at 89% he then starts to think about the time Howard stepped down from CEO of stark industries...

the news of Howard stark's retirement was tragic, for his wife, maria stark, and her son, tony, the family sat down at a table a few hours later after Howard stark returned from the events...

"dad...I can't believe this..." said tony sadly "you stepping down as CEO..."

"I know tony..." said maria "I wish I didn't come to this either..."

"but as I said before tony..." said Howard "nothing lasts forever..."

"well...I guess this means I will be CEO now, right?" worried tony

"yes my son," said Howard

"I know you will do well tony," said maria

"But mom," said Tony "I just don't think I'm up to this,"

"But you can do great things out there tony," said Howard

"but dad! I'm not you!" said Tony "I'm just a kid, even though I graduated high school and college years ago... I don't know if I'm up to this..."

"tony," said maria "I know that you doubt yourself so much, but I know you can do this,"

"yes, my son," said Howard "you are your own person, and you have your own life to live, you don't have to take over as CEO if that's what you want, but I know you have a great talent and potential within you, my son..."

"potential?..." said tony "in me? but, I can only make art, technology is a byproduct,"

"and that's why you were chosen as CEO my son," said Howard stark, placing a hand on tony "because of your talent in art, engineering, and technology, I know with those talents you will lead stark industries into a brighter future..."

"I support you fully tony" smiled maria "and like Howard said, you have your own life to live, and you have your own choices to make, hopefully, they will be the right choices, with stark industries as well as humanity, we will always be looking after you..."

tony teared up "mom...dad..."

"make us proud...my son" smiled Howard, as his son tony then lunged at him for a hug, it was returned by both parents, tony stark as of that moment...has become the new owner of stark industries...

at the cave, as yinsen was being held up, tony's armored suit was still charging up as the percentage on the computer rose...

97%...

98%...

99%...

100%...

then suddenly, most of the cave lights went out, and the men were confused, while inside the cell, tony's mask fell and his arc reactor shined, as his newly activated suit glowed to life,

"YINSEN!!"

to be continued...