So, this is Elements. It's a collection of the, for lack of a better word, elements that built up and burned down everything that embodies Toni Stark.

The first 'element' is a closer look at Toni's time in Afghanistan. I could go further, and I might, because she was there for three months, but after creating the reactor, Toni's mind is driven by the single thought of escape, and it doesn't seem very interesting to write.

But before that, the moment in which Toni was still searching for a way out of that desolate cave - as you can infer, it was a pivotal point in history for Toni. I think it deserves some recognition.

So, here's an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Alloy, Yinsen, which leads into some more Toni whump.

"I've seen many wounds like that in my village," the self-proclaimed doctor continued, with an edge to his voice that told Toni he was serious despite his light-hearted tone. "We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

Toni clenched her jaw. She wasn't ready to die in a week. She gripped at the car battery, and glanced down at the painful contraption in her chest. "What does this do?" she asked him quietly.

"It's an electromagnet, hooked up to your car battery. It keeps the shrapnel from entering your heart." Toni exhaled, almost laughing, and an incredulous smile broke out on her grim face.

The man raised an eyebrow at her strange reaction, and she shook her head, looking down. "The ingenuity of it," she explained, "in a fucking cave with terrorists." Her little smile twisted bitterly, and she glared at the ground.

. . .

"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile." The doctor told her, and Toni didn't answer. "He wants you to make a list of materials, to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free."

She quickly realized that she'd need more than a week to do this, whatever 'this' was (she wasn't building a missile, no point in that). Toni leaned against the rock wall, eyeing the missile parts that had been dumped on the floor an hour ago.

"You'll need to start working soon," the doctor commented from where he was stoking their fire. His name was Yinsen. He'd told her earlier, and for once, Toni decided she'd make an effort to remember that name. "Our friends don't tolerate procrastination."

Sucking in a deep breath, Toni's chest convulsed. Ah, right. She couldn't sigh in self-pity anymore. Her ribs had been carved up a bit in the surgery that jammed a hunk of metal into her chest cavity. She ran her finger along the gauze-concealed wiring, and followed them to the heavy battery she'd set on the ground. "Well, I can't really work one-handed," she spat out. "And it's even harder to work for terrorists when you'll be dead in a week."

Yinsen's look told her how much he disapproved of compliance. Toni rolled her eyes. "Then this is a very important week for you, Stark."

"I can't do anything like this, Yinsen." Toni argued. Her fingers squeezed around the battery painfully. "And why should I anyway?" Her resolve was disintegrating faster than Toni could comprehend. "I'm just going to die, none of this matters," her eyes were burning. She almost told herself not to cry, not to show weakness but... it didn't matter, nothing did.

Tears splashed onto her shirt carelessly, for the first time in eight years. She hadn't cried openly since Howard and Maria's funerals.

She almost expected Yinsen to come over to her, to console her. Toni braced herself to snap at his sympathy, but it never came.

"Then give up." His voice was icy. Toni's head shot up in shock. He gave her a harsh look. "Give up, and prove that you're as pitiful as everyone thinks you are. Is this how the great Toni Stark wants to die? Weak, broken, in an Afghan cave?" he demanded. Jumping to his feet with more energy than Toni thought possible, he pointed at her fiercely. "I can believe it."

Toni opened her mouth to protest angrily. He spoke before she could get a word out."You think differently? Prove it, Stark."

Her hands curled into fists. "I'm not weak," she hissed. "I just need more time, I can't - "

"Then make more time!" Yinsen implored, gazing directly into her dark eyes.

Toni stared, lost. "Make more time?" Her eyes drifted to her own chest, the electromagnet that was slowing the shrapnel in her heart. The car battery needed to power the magnet was restrictive, bulky, and not powerful enough.

New task: make a new power source that's smaller, portable, and most importantly, stronger. The solution materialized before her mind like it always did. It was easier than the usual task, because Toni already knew how to make a stronger power source. It just needed to be modified to be portable, and created with the scarce materials available.

Alright, not as easy as usual, Toni conceded, running through the materials she could substitute or change. But not impossible.

"Okay," Toni said shakily. "I can do that."

Filled to brim with nervous energy, Toni hovered over Yinsen. "Careful!" she couldn't help but remind him as he carried the crucible back to the workstation.

"I am," Yinsen assured her smoothly, as if he'd done this a thousand times. He had never done it before though, so his easy tone was actually deceptive, which made Toni even more nervous in turn.

"We've only got one shot at this," she couldn't resist adding, though it was completely unnecessary. She'd given him an intense crash course on arc reactor energy, and Yinsen knew the risks.

Not looking away from the precise amount of palladium he was pouring into a ring, Yinsen smiled gently for her. "Relax, Stark. I have steady hands. Your life attests to that."

"Yeah," Toni said distractedly, staring at the cooling ring of metal. "And I suppose my prolonged existence will prove that again, 'cause this won't work if we get the palladium wrong."

"Has anyone ever told you how cynical you are?" Yinsen asked pleasantly.

Toni thought of Rhodey. And Pepper. And Happy. "'The day wouldn't be complete without a healthy dose of Toni angst.'" she quoted sardonically.

Yinsen noticed. He set down the empty crucible, and Toni settled herself onto the barstool. "Who said that?" he asked curiously.

Plucking a pair of tweezers from a cup of grimy tools, Toni smiled sadly. "Jim Rhodes. He's... he's my best friend." she refused to refer to him in the past tense, because that would imply she wasn't going to see him again.

She had to see him again. And Pepper. And Happy. Damn it, she had to make it back to them.

They both held their breath as Toni reached out with the tweezers. Slowly, she transferred the paper-thin ring to the modified reactor shell. Simultaneously, the two of them sighed when it slipped into place seamlessly. Yinsen's hands settled on her shoulders, and he patted her in congratulations.

They easily put together its last components, and moments later, the reactor illuminated the room with a lively blue glow. Toni stared at her creation with wide eyes, unable to look away even as her eyes teared up. Yinsen's arm around her shoulders tightened in a half-hug. She could feel his ribcage, and her chest was throbbing uncomfortably from the electromagnet, but she hugged him back all the same.

"Quite ingenious, for a battered young woman in a cave with terrorists," Yinsen muttered proudly, before releasing her.

Allowing her lips to curve into a smile, Toni sighed and settled into a decrepit dentist's chair (or at least it looked like one, she wasn't too sure). "Come on, Doc. I think I'm due for an upgrade."

I think the next short story will be a multi-chapter story about Toni's time at MIT. Or, more specifically, the day leading up to her parents' deaths. I've decided to add a bunch of cameos to the whole event, which are blatantly suspicious and foreboding to the reader (and me) but overlooked by Toni because of the traumatic accident that killed her parents...

Unfortunately, I won't be posting anything for the next two weeks, nor will I be able to work on anything. (Such is life)

But, please, feel free to give me pointers, insult my work, let out your inner fangirl in a review, etc. I'll respond to questions, too.