They'd been instructed to dump the girl somewhere far from the base, and then go into hiding. Agent Callahan didn't understand why they didn't just kill the girl and dispose of the body, but he knew better than to question his superiors.
"Think this is good?" Agent Jennings asked, pulling over to the side of the road underneath an old bridge at the edge of the city.
Callahan nodded and climbed out of the vehicle, opening the van door and pulling the girl out. He dragged her underneath the bridge and laid her on the dirty sidewalk before pulling out his knife and slicing through the metallic band around her arm. A drop of blood trailed down her skin as he accidentally nicked it, but she didn't stir. Callahan sheathed his knife and ran back to the van, jumping into the passenger seat and closing the door as Jennings revved the engines. The tires squealed and the van drove away, leaving Morgan Stark alone in the city.
~~~
Tony had knocked something off his desk, and was on his hands and knees searching for it when Friday told him, "Boss, Morgan Stark's tracker is back online."
"What!" Tony said, sitting up so fast that he smacked his head on the desk. "OW!"
Rubbing the back of his head, Tony pulled up the holodisplay and stared in disbelief. Sure enough, a red dot labeled Morgan Stark had appeared on the map. It looked like she was in the industrial sector.
"Friday, tell Steve and Nat to suit up! Now!"
"They've already been notified and are on their way, boss," the AI promised as Tony activated his own suit. He was about to go storming out of the lab when suddenly another dot pinged on the screen. It was on the other side of the city as Morgan's, and labeled Peter Stark.
Just then, Steve and Nat came running in. "You found them?" Cap asked, his voice heavy with hope.
Tony pointed at the screen. "We need to split up. You go get Morgan, I'll find Peter."
The two heroes nodded, serious looks on their faces as they turned and ran for the Quinjet. Tony followed them up to the helipad and jumped off the edge, pushing his suit as fast as it could go as Friday guided him to the tracker's location.
After several long, tense minutes of silence, Friday spoke up. "He's coming up below you, sir."
Tony slowed down and dropped to the ground, landing hard on the cement before running forward. "Where? Where is he?" He moved forward into the alleyway he'd landed in front of, retracting his faceplate so he could see with his own eyes.
"The tracker signal is coming from five feet directly in front of you."
Tony's brow furrowed in confusion. "Well, I can see five feet in front of me, and Peter's not here." He took a few more steps, and then he noticed it.
The tracker was sitting on the dirty cement. Tony fell to one knee and picked it up carefully, blinking back tears when he saw the blood on the tiny device.
"No," he breathed, "no, this can't be right! Friday, scan for lifeforms!"
"You are currently the only one here, boss," the AI informed him. Tony couldn't help it. He shouted in frustration and slammed a fist into the ground, cracking the pavement. His mask reformed around his head, and as if on cue Steve's voice came from the comms.
"Did you find Peter?"
"No," Tony said angrily, "just the tracker. It was a trick."
"Well, we're coming up on Morgan's location. We'll let you know what we find." Steve paused for a second before adding, "I'm sorry, Tony."
Tony didn't respond, just blasted into the air and flew back in the general direction of the tower. He was only about halfway there when Steve started shouting over the comms.
"Tony! Get over here now!"
"What is it?"
"It's Morgan--she's here!"
"What? Morgan? Is she okay?" Tony asked, hoping the answer he got was the one he wanted.
"You'd... better come see for yourself," Steve said grimly.
And then Tony was back to pushing his suit as hard and fast as it could go across the city. In a matter of minutes, he could see the Quinjet lifting off the ground in the distance. Before long he was angling himself to slow down as the back ramp lowered to let him in. He didn't quite stick the landing, but he was so far beyond caring. The ramp shut behind him and his suit disappeared, letting Nat and Cap see his face as Tony approached his daughter strapped into one of the seats.
She was unresponsive, and everything about her screamed I'm not healthy! Her hair was tangled and her eyes were sunken, the skin underneath them dark from poor sleep.
Tony kneeled in front of her, gently stroking her head. "What have they done to you?" he whispered, his heart breaking more and more the longer he looked at his daughter. Nat came and knelt beside him, carefully wrapping some bandaging over a small cut on Morgan's arm.
"What's wrong? Why won't she wake up?" Tony asked, turning to Cap.
With a resigned sigh and a mournful look on his face, Steve sat down in the seat opposite Morgan. "I don't suppose you remember when Peter passed out from starvation a few months ago?"
"Of course I remember that," Tony said, confused. He looked at Morgan again and his eyes widened in realization. "They were... starving her?" Cap only frowned in response, and Tony felt his anger rising.
Whoever had done this, he was going to find them. And he would make them pay.
~~~
Once Morgan realized she was waking up, she wished she could just go back to sleep. She didn't want to spend another second in that horrible cell worrying about Peter. She didn't want to keep pretending her stomach was so far past the point of mere hunger that she was just in constant pain.
Wait...
Her thoughts started to race. Something was different. Instead of continuing to feign being asleep, Morgan forced her eyes open, blinking rapidly at the bright light that greeted her. Why didn't her stomach hurt so much anymore? Why was it so bright? Where was Peter?
She noticed a beeping sound getting louder and faster behind her, and as the world around her came into focus, so did the noise.
Along with the beeping of a monitor were voices. Familiar, relieved voices. Morgan squinted up at her parents as they wrapped her in a tight hug. A sob escaped her mouth as she began to comprehend where she was, and Tony and Pepper pulled away, worried they were hurting her.
"Is it really you?" she choked. Tears began streaming down Pepper's face.
"Yes sweetie, it's really us."
Morgan pulled them close again, relishing the smell of Tony's cologne and Pepper's perfume as it started to sink in that she was safe again. She was home.
"Where's Peter?" she eventually asked, breaking away from the hug and looking towards the other beds in the room to see if he was there.
Tony's face faded from a smile and Pepper dropped her gaze to the ground. "We were hoping you'd be able to tell us."
"He isn't here?" Morgan asked in horror. "Wait, what happened? How am I okay, but not him?"
"Your trackers came back online a week ago. You were passed out in an industrial area all by yourself, but all we could find of Peter was his tracker." His tone was angry, but Tony kept his face surprisingly calm.
"A week ago?" Morgan cried, her heart sinking. She hesitated. "How long have we been gone?"
Pepper blinked back tears. "Almost a month."
Morgan swallowed heavily, trying not to let the gravity of the situation weigh her down. "Dad, they were doing horrible things to him. They cut out his tracker, they," she leaned forward, holding her head in her hands as the words started coming faster and faster, "they shocked him they were doing all these horrible things to him and I couldn't stop them! I was useless and he kept getting himself hurt to protect me!"
"Hey, hey, kiddo," Tony said, grabbing her shoulders, "focus on me. Breathe in and out, like this." Although he didn't want Morgan to have a panic attack and hated that she was clearly traumatized, a part of him was more worried about the fact that Morgan seemed pretty convinced that Peter was still alive. Finding the tracker all by itself had had Tony spiraling silently into his own fearful thoughts, worried that it meant Peter had been killed. He hadn't wanted to burden anyone with his anxieties, especially not Pep, but now the stress was lifting ever so slightly.
Peter was still alive. There was still hope of rescue.
Tony guided one of Morgan's hands towards him, resting it on his chest as he breathed slowly with her. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. Bruce needs to check up on you really quick, and then after that we're going to have a talk and see if you have anything that will help us get closer to finding your brother, alright?"
Morgan nodded, her eyes shut tight as she focused on breathing with him. "Okay."
"Everything's going to be alright," Pepper said gently, resting her hand over Tony's and Morgan's.
Morgan wished she could agree, but a sinking feeling in her gut had her thinking that things were going to get much worse before they got any better.