Wee Little Stark

chapter 4

hapter 13

Notes:

thanks again for all the love you guys are sending my way!

head's up, there's some violence toward the end of the chapter. it's detailed but not graphic if that makes sense? like i'm not going to wax poetic about gory details like one of the Saw movies.

Chapter Text

Tony watched in frozen horror as Stane's hand moved in front of his face, dropping onto the arc reactor, twisting Tony's only tie to life free from his chest with a sick pop!

The sheer agony in his chest was only compounded on by the pain of Stane's betrayal, his worry about Pepper, and his devastating need to know that Darcy was safe. As if he could read Tony's mind, Stane paused in his evil monologuing with a roguish smile.

"Ah, yes, Miss Stark! Such a smart girl, if a bit reluctant to carry out her destiny as a Stark. No worries, Tony I've left her out of this, for the moment. I have no quarrel with your daughter." Stane paused as he stood, wiping his shoulders of imaginary dust and smiling down at a paralyzed Tony, "She could prove most useful to me, after all. So once this is over, I'll retrieve her from where I had her sent and get started on making her my perfect little ally."

Tony's body recoiled at Stane's words, fighting against his bonds to that he could protect his baby girl from this monster's hands. He continued to struggle with more vigor when Stane gave him a filthy wink as he turned on his heel, Tony's life in his dirty hands.

Moments later Tony found himself stumbling down the mansion steps to his lab, every few feet falling and earning another bruise that paled in comparison to the burning ache radiating from the hole in his chest. He couldn't let it stop him, even as he was brought to his knees in pain, crawling to his destination. He let thoughts of Darcy fuel him over to the shelves, tears pouring from his eyes his hands missed their target, but trying again and again. His baby girl needed him. He can't fail her now.

Even as his determination grew, black spots danced across his vision as he reached a final time for his first arc reactor Pepper had displayed on the shelf. Tony could feel the moment his body surrendered, wanting nothing more than to fall under the spell of the pain and sleep. He was saved though, by DUM-E.

Beautiful, wonderful, stupid DUM-E who was beeping his concerns at Tony as he held out the glass container. Choking on a sob as he grabbed the box from DUM-E's claw, hope filled Tony's chest for the smallest of moments.

Slamming the glass on the floor to free his only chance at stopping Stane and saving his kid, Tony thought back, wondering if there was a way he could've stopped this from happening or if they were all just screwed the moment he set foot back in the states.

Tony choked on sand as he crash landed, the suit breaking around him as he rolled down a sand dune. Once the bottom of the hill he spent a minute or three laughing hysterically, clutching his ribs.

"It fucking worked!" He was breathless, in pain, and desperately trying not to think of Yinsen's final moments that gave him the window to fly from the cave they were being held in.

His laughter trickled off from full-bellied guffaws to small barely-there chuckles, stopping completely as he felt the shockwave from the fortress in the cave being blown sky-high.

Sobered once more, Tony slowly pulled himself so that he could sit up, pulling the last bits of the metal suit off his body. He stood with his hands on his hips, looking around the desert that appeared to be identical no matter which way he looked. Turning to peer over his shoulder, Tony could see the pieces of the metal suit leading away from him like a trail.