Fighting for Nothing

Tony Stark stared down at the tracing paper laid out on the table in front of him, twisting the eraser-less pencil between his forefinger, thumb, and middle finger, squeezing his eyes shut and forcing them open every other second. He already had most of his latest design drawn, but the rest of it seemed to be a blur. 'Sleep. You need sleep,' he told himself, but shook his head. 'Sleep is a waste of time.'

Tony ran his fingers through his tousled hair in frustration, and put the pencil down on top of the half-see-through papers. He glanced over at his two sleeping "cave companions". Yinsen's breathing was heavy and unsteady, while Mary was nearly completely silent. Both of their backs were turned towards him, and he stared right back down at his work. "It's not impossible." He said aloud. "Nothing is impossible. The brain has an infinite capacity for knowledge. It's not impossible."

"Well, doesn't that depend on the situation?"

"Jesus!" Tony jumped when Mary's voice rang into the cave that had been nearly silent before. "I thought you were sleeping!" He looked over his shoulder at the teenager, sitting up on the make-shift bed and swinging her legs back and forth.

"Sorry. I was restless, and you seemed . . . Tense. So I figured you could use some company," she offered with a small smile.

"Company? I'm pretty sure we're all pretty 'accompanied' in a six by six cave, don't you?" Tony replied, opening his arms and laughing.

"That's a bit over-exaggerated, don't you think?" Mary asked, raising her eyebrows and hopping down. "I think it's more like seven by seven," she joked. Truth be told, the cave was pretty big; bigger than where one would expect most kidnappers to keep their victims. But, no matter which way you sliced it, it was pretty small.

Mary sauntered over to the table and looked down at the trace paper laid out on the table. "What is it?" She asked, moving them to turn towards her.

"Put them together," Tony ordered, and when she did so, it all pieced together: It was a suit. A metal suit.

"Wow . . ." She whispered, then looked up at Tony. "So what was it that's not impossible?"

"Making some finishing touches. There are places that could leave easy openings for them to strike, presuming of course the suit works in the first place," he said, running his fingers through his hair again.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing, so far. I need something - it's there, but I don't know what it is!" He said angrily, keeping his voice low enough not to wake up Yinsen from his sleep.

"I think you need some rest. You've gotten all of that done already, that's incredible as it is," she suggested, followed by a long pause. "We'll start building it tomorrow. Come on - All work and no sleep make's Jack a dull boy."

"There are two things wrong with that," Tony said, standing up and stretching his back. "One - I believe that it's 'all work and no play', and second, last time I checked, my name isn't Jack." He sauntered over to where Mary had been laying but moments ago, and sat down on the make-shift bed.

"Good night," she laughed. If there was anything she appreciated of what was coming out of this, it was that Tony still kept a light and happy heart. That was all one could ask for in a time like this.