Leah Stark - The Unknown Child

2.03.0

Trigger warning - Torture, memory loss, substance abuse

6 months after the auction

Leah's POV

I took a quick gasp as a cane out of the water once more. I remember cold, and then warmth and light and then my head being thrust in water. Tony. I miss him.

"I'll ask you again miss, what is your name?"
"I told you it's Leah Stark. I want to go and see my dad so let me go."
"Your name is asset L!" The man screamed. He was a skinny old man who wore a lab coat and had baggy skin that was red from years of drinking alcohol. His breath stank of old food and his teeth were corn yellow.
"Sir, if I may, I suggest brushing your teeth with toothpaste, not corn starch. I find it far more effective." I said sarcastically, daring to look him in the eye.
A younger man spoke up. "It appears that the Cryochamber did not have any effect on her memory sir, I would recommend wiping her memories."
"No we are going to freeze her again, one month. If nothing changes, then we wipe her. And I'll tell you asset L, the wiping process can be very painful."
"To be perfectly honest, I think I'd rather have my memories wiped and have no idea what I'm doing so I have some kind of defence that join you willingly when I have my conscious still intact. You know kinda like what you did to Bucky. I mean, the entire things parallel. This is HYDRA right?"
The people in the room looked at me speechless. It was like the name Bucky bought up so many alarms in all of their heads and it terrified them at the thought he is still alive.
"I'll take that as a yes. Also, I'm gonna keep remembering if you keep putting me in cryogenic freeze, so if we could get the pain over with, that would be great." I say ironically. However, everyone here, just like Thor who I had the pleasure of meeting for like one hour, they took it completely literally.
"Shit man I didn't expect you to actually think I was serious. And to be completely honest, cryogenic freezing sound pretty good right now." I rambled, panicking. When Bucky remembered about being wiped he wasn't okay for weeks after. He talked to me about it for a bit before asking to be alone. He said it was like getting everything erased. How it was all pulled to the front of your mind and then it was just shredded jumbled up prices of images you can't price together until you find the rest of the pieces. I struggled from the two strong men who had gripped my forearms and were dragging me to a chamber deeper in the base.
"By the way, what country are we in. I think seeing as I'm gonna be wiped anyway, it shouldn't be a problem telling me where on Earth I am."
"Your in Spain." The lab coat guy said as I was shoved and strapped into a chair.
"I mean, leather straps. So tacky." I taunted. "Personally I would have gone with a titanium alloy, looks great with the colour of blood, which I do believe you don't have a shortage of."
"Jesus Christ, just shut up already!" The man screamed.
"Haha. You sound like Clint after Tony calls him Legolas."
He shoved a price of balled cloth in my mouth and then a piece of metal captured my head in a vide like grip.
I could see everything I cared about move forward.
Sco... Sa... Wa... Vis...Na.. Cli... Bu... Stev... Bru...Tony... Ton.. To ... T
Who was that man? I could see the childhood abuse come forward but it never disappeared. The years in th... they took me in after mum died. They said they would make me stronger. I am stronger. What happened for the last year though. It's like it's all gone.

I sat up in a medical room, a heart monitor beeping steadily as I sat up and realised I had been handcuffed to the bed.
The man in the lab coat, Strucker, entered the room.
"Asset L, como te sientes? el accidente fue bastante malo." Asset L, how are you feeling? The accident was pretty bad.
I was confused. What accident?
"accidente señor?"
"no te acuerdas? fuiste golpeado por un camión durante tu entrenamiento, ¡casi mueres! Estaba muy preocupado." You don't remember? You were hit by a truck during your training, you almost died! I was so worried!
"Me disculpo señor. no volverá a suceder señor." I apologise sir. It will not happen again sir. I replied quickly.
"Continuarás entrenando mañana a las 0400 horas. No llegues tarde Asset L. Hail Hydra." You will continue your training tomorrow at 0400 hours. Do not be late Asset L. Hail Hydra.
He then marched out of the room and I was unrestrained and told to change into a tight fitting catsuit. It looked like
I trained in it once. Though it all seemed off. I couldn't remember the suit well. I barely remember training. And how come I felt like I could speak seven languages? I thought that maybe I didn't remember clearly because of the truck accident, but I didn't remember that even happening. I pushed it aside either way and continued to the cell. It was a small grey room with a bench bed and what I assumed to be a book I must have been reading before. It was on computer sciences. It seemed interesting, so as I heard the door become locked I began reading the simple computer book, even though there were many mistakes in the information.

Tony's POV
It had been 7 months. Seven whole months and no trace of my daughter. My Leah. I had been told by everyone that she'd turn up any day now, or she'd walk into the penthouse with a Starbucks and a pair of sunglasses and start talking about some insane adventure she went on before asking how everyone else was. The police told me they may have found a lead and were following it up, but it was false and a prank call by a bunch of drunk teenagers. I cried a lot that night. It felt like all hope had been lost.
Pepper was working almost every hour of every day and I was drinking constantly while attempting to find any sort of evidence to find any clue that might lead to her discovery. Alcohol consumed me again like it did before I became iron man, and S.H.E.I.L.D withdrew me from all missions. My days became a cycle of drinking, searching and sleeping.
It was a Wednesday when Steve, Bucky and Natasha had to pull me out of my circle of self destruction.
"Tony, you have to stop this." Natasha told me gently, almost mother like. It was the first time she spoke to me like this, like she did to Leah.
"What? Trying to find my baby girl? Trying to get back at the sick bastards who took her from me? Would you stop Natasha? Don't you want her back?"
"Tony, if she was here, what would she say? Tony we want to find her, we really do but your destroying yourself. If she saw you, she would not see her father but a man who was obsessed. Your tired, and you haven't eaten in over a week. Just give it a rest for one day, sleep, eat something, watch a film. Anything other than sitting at the computer and watching that footage again." Natasha explained.
"I need to find her Natasha. I need her back. I... I want her safe. I just want to hold her. She's my baby. She's just a baby. She didn't deserve this. She never deserved any of this." I had broken down, I was on the floor of the lab. Everything was aching.  My heart had broken. I felt 3 sets of arms surround me as I collapsed in tears. I had been distracting myself for so long that I hadn't realised how broken and torn up I was.
My life was in shambles and my relationship with Pepper was probably never going to be the same. I remember after a while of searching Pepper got tired and wanted us to go out, I refused and we'll she wanted to go on a break.
I was breaking down and ignoring it all. I was ignoring the destruction and the storm going on inside of my very body and now it was all hitting me at once. It was overwhelming. My body was wracked with sobs and the arms of my friends held me, telling me it was going to be all right.
Eventually, they took me out of the lab and it felt as though I could finally breathe. Bucky got the ice cream from the freezer while Steve put on Leah's favourite film. We sat through the film, which was me mainly trying to cry.
I remember taking her to go watch the stupid cartoon because she had never got the opportunity to go see a film with her mother. She was so excited and was jumping around like a rabbit on a pogo stick. She was smiling the entire time we were in line for popcorn and practically cried when I took her up to the vip seats.
When the film ended Steve and Bucky forced me to go to bed instead of going back to the lab. It was the first night since Leah disappeared that I got a full nights sleep.

Hooooooly moly! That was a train wreck of emotions! And of course Hydra decided to buy Leah and want to use her to fight the Avengers. How do you guys feel about the way the story is going?