Disappearing Act

by Screaming Purple Duck

Two years ago, Tony Stark's 16 year old daughter was kidnapped at the local park. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to find her location. No such luck. Two years have passed and now they've got a lead on the missing girl who had been forced into slavery and sold to a very controlling elderly man. Hawkeye has the lead. Is he going to rescue the girl, or is she done for?

1. Prologue

-Prologue-

James stood, silently looking over the small graveyard. This family plot never appealed to her; decaying corpses of past family members all placed strategically so. She much preferred the animosity of public graveyards; the miles of straight, narrow rows. How odd that the everyday "normal," person could walk past their graveyards on a daily basis and not appreciate them.

She wondered, briefly, if that was how the everyday normal life worked. Walking past things that she would gladly kill to obtain. Animosity. Freedom. The word themselves sent tingles down her spine, making her flesh crawl in anticipation. The things she wouldn't give to live just one day as a normal, everyday human being. For freedom.

Heavy footsteps could be heard on the stone walkway. Her skin began to crawl, the feeling of dread settling comfortably into her body. She drug her lifeless eyes from the few rows of shiny, granite slabs to the wrought iron gate. Her body began to shake as she watched the man hold the gate open. She knew what would happen next. It always happened.

"Miss Stark," the large man said, purposefully avoiding meeting her gaze. "You know how much he despises not finding you in your rooms."

James sighed and looked over the cemetery once more. Oh, how she would kill for just one moment of freedom. One moment away from the crazy old man who now controlled her life. One moment with her father again. How it was possible to miss one person so much, she did not know; but she felt the sorrow and loss deep within the marrow of her bones.

"Please, Miss Stark," the man said, breaking into her innermost thoughts. "Come inside. It'll be easier on everyone involved if you just come back inside."

The young woman sighed and turned away from the plot. Two years she'd been here. Four months since she'd finally been allowed to step outside; feel the sunlight kiss her skin. She glanced wistfully at the treetops that she could see over the concrete wall that surrounded the estate. How lucky those birds were.

She obediently walked through the iron gate, making sure to not touch the guard in any way. After all, it wasn't his fault that she was stuck in this hellhole. There was no point in making another life miserable. As she approached the door, she glanced up to the main window. He stood there, stooped, glaring down at her. Her body involuntarily shuddered. His eyes on her body alone were hard enough to deal with.

With a shaking hand, she pushed the door open and stepped back into hell.