Chapter 65

Afghanistan - 28 days ago

"I present to you Jericho"

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Even after the successful deal with the military and getting in the Humvee on the way back to the military base, somehow Toni doesn't feel that good, her mind going back to the conversation with Pepper.

"You know he loves you," Pepper's voice rings in her head as she traces her hand over the bracelet, reminiscing. She drinks a mouthful of vodka from her chilled glass and notices that the military personnel in the Humvee are staring at her.

"Oh, I get it. You guys aren't allowed to talk. Is that it? Are you not allowed to talk?" Toni asks with a smirk.

"I think they're intimidated," the military woman beside Toni comments.

"Be at ease. It's a hot day and the job is almost over. Relax a bit," Toni advises with a smile.

"I have a question, Ma'am," the man beside the driver speaks up.

"Please," Toni gestures with her drink.

"Is it true you're twelve for twelve with last year's Maxim cover girls?" he inquires curiously.

"Excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but thankfully, the Christmas cover was twins. Anyone else?" Toni responds with a smirk as everyone laughs along with her.

"Can I have a picture with you?" the military woman beside her requests.

"Sure," Toni agrees easily, putting aside her vodka and scooting over to her. The military woman hands her phone to the guy ahead.

Boom!

Just as the guy is about to take the picture, a massive explosion rocks them. Toni sees the Humvee ahead of them erupt in a fireball.

"What the—" Toni begins as the Humvee brakes, and she panics, trying to stabilise herself.

Boom!

The vehicle rattles again with an explosion nearby.

"Stay down!" the military woman beside Toni shouts, pushing Toni's head down. Toni watches as she and the other military personnel get their guns ready and exit the vehicle.

"Wait, wait, wait! Give me a gun!" Toni yells as the military woman gets out and closes the door behind her.

"Stay here!" she orders Toni through the window.

Pra-ta-tta-ta-ta!

Toni sees the military women getting shot through with bullets and dying.

Seeing how dangerous it is getting, with even the Humvee getting blasted by bullets, Toni opens her door and scrambles out to the side of the road.

Boom! Bang! Bang!

In the smoky chaos, Toni hurries to find cover behind a giant boulder by the side of the road, terrified and breathing heavily. She frantically takes out her phone.

Ding

A rocket lands beside her, and the colour drains from Toni's face. Before she can get away, the rocket explodes, throwing her back and rendering her unconscious.

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"Ughh," Toni grunts as she opens her eyes and looks around. She finds herself on a makeshift bed in what appears to be a cave.

"Drink this, Miss Stark," an old voice urges. Looking in the front, there is an old man who offers her a cup of what looks like tea.

"Who are you? And where am I?" she asks confusedly.

"I am Yinsen Ho, and you should brace yourself as the news I am about to tell you is not pleasant," he informs gravely.

Toni drinks the tea in silence, digesting what the old man has just told her.

"So my convoy was attacked, I was kidnapped, and now they've kept us in this small cave," Toni mutters with a worried face.

"No, Miss Stark, I was kidnapped and brought here some time ago. This is your personal space; I am kept in the one beside this. They brought me here because they were worried you might have been hurt in the attack. But you must be extremely lucky, Miss Stark; there was not a scratch on you," Yinsen explains with a raised brow.

Toni remembers the rocket that exploded before, and her hand instinctively goes to her wrist, where the invisible bracelet still rests. The Personal Shield Generator must have protected her; otherwise, she might have been dead by now.

"There is no luck involved," Toni murmurs in a complicated tone.

Before Yinsen can ask what she means by that, the metal door to her cave flies open.

"Stand up! Do as I do now!" Yinsen stands up with a start and puts his hands on his head.

Toni panickedly gets up too and puts her hands on her head.

"No, no, there is no need for you to do that, Miss Stark," a man declares.

Toni looks up and sees three men enter, two of them armed with guns and the third one, who looks like their boss, talking to her in a weird non-American accent.

"Welcome, Toni Stark, the greatest mass murderer in the history of America. It's a great honour. My name is Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar, you can just call me Raza," he introduces himself, then proceeds to look Toni up and down with greedy eyes.

Toni, who has her hands down now, feels uncomfortable with his gaze. Although they haven't touched her yet according to Yinsen and even her suit has not been taken off, she feels as if he is undressing her with his naked eyes.

"I must say that the pictures don't do you justice. You look much more beautiful in person, just like a real goddess of Death!" Raza remarks in an intoxicated tone. Toni feels disgusted with the way the man keeps praising her.

"The bow and arrow were once the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine, an Empire bigger than Alexander the Great," Raza continues as he gestures to his men, who then retrieve a picture from their pockets and hand it to him.

"Today...whoever has the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. Soon it will be my turn..." he declares with a smirk as he passes the picture to Toni.

Toni gazes at the picture in surprise, realising that it's of the Jericho missiles, and it appears to have been taken directly from the demonstration.

"I want you to build this for me—the Jericho missile you were demonstrating," Raza demands with a smile.

"… I refuse," Toni responds, avoiding his gaze.

The men behind Raza point guns at her angrily, ready to pounce on her, but Raza holds out his hands and stops them.

"You must have met this kind man, Yinsen, yes?" Raza remarks with a smile as he takes out a gun and points it at Yinsen's head. "If you say no again, I will shoot him dead. Think about his wife and kid waiting for him back at home." Raza threatens with a smirk.

Yinsen looks quite afraid with a gun pointed to his head. Toni looks at this scene, not knowing how to react.

"If that is not enough and you still don't want to obey me, then my men here," he continues, pointing at the men behind him, "have not had any women in some weeks, so they might just go out of control," he warns with a smirk. The men look at Toni with a hungry gaze.

Toni trembles at their looks and tries to shield her body with her hands.

"Now, this only happens if you are not useful to me. I properly take care of the people who are useful to me. So, if we understand each other, we will not have to go to that point," he questions, looking at Toni with a confident smirk. Toni looks down and nods her head slowly in fear.

"Excellent, Abu here will take you out and show you around," Raza states calmly as he exits the room.

One of the men points the gun at Toni and Yinsen to make them follow him.

After quite a while, Toni squints her eyes at the stinging sunlight, her expression turning into shock.

In a bowl of tall mountains, camouflaged tarps are furled, revealing skids upon skids of Stark Industries weapons dating back to 80s Afghanistan.

Toni staggers along, scanning the crates, with Yinsen trailing behind.

"How did they get all of this?" Toni murmurs in shock.

The guy ahead starts speaking in Urdu, which Toni doesn't understand.

"As you can see, they have everything you need to build the Jericho. He says make a list of materials. You will start work right away," Yinsen translates.

After a round, they are taken inside the cave again, but this time inside a door beside the one where Toni had woken up.

Toni enters inside and observes that it's a very crude workshop.

"I will provide you with everything, and after you are done making the Jericho missile, you both will be set free," Raza enters and tells them. "Do we understand each other, Miss Stark?" he questions her.

Toni nods her head in compliance. Raza smiles in satisfaction and goes out. Toni sighs, her gaze shifting upward to the surveillance cameras in the room.

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Toni sits beside the fire, looking at it absentmindedly.

"I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark, but they will never find you here," Yinsen speaks from beside her.

Toni's hands inadvertently go towards her invisible bracelet again. She deeply regrets taking out that positional device. If she had kept that in, then Luke must have definitely found her by now.

"What you just saw out there, that's your legacy—your life's work in the hands of these murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Toni Stark? Or are you going to try to do something about it?" Yinsen challenges her, seeing her just sitting there lost.

"Why should I do anything? They're either going to kill me or rape me," Toni responds absentmindedly.

"I overheard Raza's men discussing his plans to make you his wife. But he won't lay a finger on you until you've built the Jericho, so he has his weapon first," Yinsen speaks somberly.

Toni smiles bitterly, having already reached the same conclusion, staring into the fire with a sense of helplessness.

"You can't lose hope, Toni. Don't you have someone back home waiting for you to return?" Yinsen tries to appeal to her.

Toni's hand halts its unconscious tracing of the bracelet.

Toni whispers, her eyes blurred with memories, a name escaping her lips, "Luke"

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