He was okay. This wasn't Afghanistan. This was the good ol' United States. He was okay. It was fine. He just needed to get out of there. Nothing to worry about. No terrorists after him or his tech.

A gun went off behind him, followed by footsteps. No terrorists, just Hydra.

He pressed himself against the wall as the many footsteps went silent.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Tony felt his body go rigid. He was okay. He would be fine. This wasn't Afghanistan. It was a cave, it was damp, of course, there would be some dripping water. They weren't going to drown him.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

He could feel his breath coming in short gasps. He couldn't do this now. He could almost see the cave opening. He would be fine, he just had to get out.

The footsteps started again, coming closer. There was shouting, probably in English or German, but all he heard was Arabic. His hands went numb and his legs became extremely unreliable. His breathing began to come in even more intense gasps.

Boots rounded the corner, Tony was losing control of himself. A man stepped forward grinning widely. It was Razza. He was here, in this cave, they were going to catch him. No, not again.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

They were going to drown him. He couldn't, not again, not again. Ignoring all common sense, he made a sprint for what he hoped was the exit. He didn't get very far before he was pinned against the wall. He tried to get free but it was useless. He was useless. Razza stepped forward, gun in hand. It was over. He was dead. The Ten Rings had won.

He couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't think, couldn't feel, couldn't hear. He closed his eyes. His world was ending, he was dying. Somewhere in his brain, he heard a gun go off, well, at least he wouldn't die of a panic attack.

Nothing happened. He kept waiting for the impact, but it never happened. He opened his eyes when he heard the sound of metal clanging against something. He was surprised to find himself sitting on the floor. The person pinning him to the wall must have left.

The clanging noise made a reappearance and he saw a red, white and blue disk slide across the ground. Tony watched in silence as Yinsen fought the Ten Rings. No, Hydra? And it, wasn't Yinsen, Rogers? The disk, no, shield, landed next to him. Before he could return the shield, a gun went off and Steve Rogers fell to the ground.

Tony's eyes widened and he wanted to call out to him, but he couldn't find his voice. He crawled over to the fallen soldier. He was back to gasping for air. He put a shaky hand on Steve's throat, searching for a pulse. There was none.

The smiling murderer jerked him roughly to his feet. 

He was not okay. Hydra had him. Steve was dead. He was not okay.

~ ~ ~

If it is unclear, "Razza" is not actually Razza. Razza is dead. It is just who Stark's panicked mind has decided to see. 

In the prompt, it had to be an intense life or death situation ending with a cliffhanger, no dialogue. So, I hope I succeeded in writing and intense story following those guidelines. 

Let me know what you think!

God bless,

Trekkiehood