(This starts sometime in between Iron Man 1 and 2, but I'm not going to exactly follow the MCU timeline. Most of the events will still happen, but the time difference between them will be different. Please note that this is not one of those fanfics which simply add an extra character to the events that happened in the movies. There will be a few scenes that you are familiar with from the movies, but they are not a major part of the story.)

Rosie's alarm rang at 6:00 and she stretched out an arm to shut it off, before sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up to see a text from her father.

Dad: Morning. I had to go out of town for a week. Some urgent work came up.

There's enough food in the fridge for about three days. I've put some money in your account too. Use it to order takeout or go shopping for groceries. Don't get into trouble at school.

Sighing, she dragged herself out of bed, and got ready for school. At 7:00 sharp, she was running out of the house in jeans, sneakers, her favourite Harry Potter T-shirt and hoodie, school bag on her shoulder.

Deciding that she needed the exercise, Rosie decided to walk to school instead of taking the subway. She had been pulling out her earbuds and phone to listen to her newest playlist, when the loud screeching of wheels caught her attention. An expensive-looking blue car veered dangerously round the corner and the faint wailing of police sirens was getting louder.

Rosie realized that the car was going to crash into the sidewalk right where a woman and a toddler were, so she moved as fast as she could, shoving them out of the way just as the blue car veered onto the sidewalk and hit a railing with a crumpling of metal. Thankfully, she wasn't directly under it like the woman and her kid would have been, but a large part of the broken railing fell on her leg. It was unbelievably heavy and she felt atleast one bone crack under its weight.

Two men jumped out from the front of the car. Cursing under his breath, the taller man opened the back door before dragging someone out from there. Rosie let out a gasp when she saw the cloth covering the person's face and his bound wrists. He also seemed to have been drugged, based on the unsteady walk. The captive was wearing an expensive looking suit, complete with blazer, waistcoat and tie.

The other man looked around as the people on the sidewalk ran away in fear. His gaze fell on Rosie who was desperately trying to lift the heavy weight off her leg, and the look on his face sent chills up her spine.

He ran towards her, and she felt rough hands grabbing her and forcibly hoisting her up from under the debris. The sirens were getting louder and louder by the second. Her ankle got caught on something and as the man yanked it free, she felt pain blossoming up her leg from her foot. Rosie prayed that nothing had been broken too badly as she was pulled up roughly, and her leg nearly gave way under the weight of her body. A cold object was pressed to her temple, which she realised was a gun.

In her peripheral vision, Rosie saw a few police cars stopping, and officers getting out of them and pointing guns at her captor. He shouted out, "Put down your guns and this little girl won't get her brains blown out." He pressed the gun against her head even harder, and she heard a soft 'click'. The man's hand tensed on her shoulder, and he yelled again. "I SAID, PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!"

She assumed that the person with the bag on their head was the original victim, and a chase had resulted in the current situation. She began to struggle as much as she could and pleaded, "Let me go, please. I don't want to get hurt. Please... I was just going to school-"

"SHUT UP! I'm not the man to listen to your pathetic whimpering, girl. Say another word, and I'll shoot you in the head!"

One of the cops set down his gun, and held his hands up in the universal "I'm unarmed" gesture, before slowly walking towards them. Rosie could see her vision blurring around the edges, and she assumed she was going into shock. Her leg was hurting worse than anything she'd ever felt before and she was getting woozy.

"Stop Moving! Another step, and I'll shoot!" The man yelled once again. The cop immediately stopped in his tracks. "Alright, let the kid go, and then we can talk. Okay? I'm Deputy Leeds, the officer handling this case. We can come to a compromise. Just let the kid go."

"Not happening, Leeds. You and your whole team will move out of my way, so that we can get to your car, and won't move a muscle till we're out of sight. Get it? I won't hesitate to shoot this one if a single cop moves even an inch. She isn't as expensive as he is." He pointed to the other hostage, who was also being held at gunpoint by the other thug.

"What's your name, kid?" the man growled in her ear. Knowing that her dad was an important man, and she could be held for a lot of ransom, Rosie blurted out the first name that came to mind, "Michelle Anderson."

"Oh is it? But I feel like you're lying to me, Michelle."

Rosie didn't get scared easily, but that tone freaked her out. She knew that whatever was coming wasn't good. The other man let out a laugh. "We've got someone with something to hide! Looks like we've got ourselves another nice little hostage."

"I'll ask you again. What. Is. Your. Name?"

"Rosanna Woods."

"So that's why you look familiar. You, Rosanna, are my new favourite person." The other man leered.

"Move!" He snarled at the cop, pressing the gun harder against her head. Rosie began to whimper from the combination of the pain in her leg and fear, while her vision got blurrier and blurrier. Deputy Leeds was forced to move, but he locked eyes with Rosie, giving her a reassuring smile. She gestured as best as she could with her eyes and expression, which her captor couldn't see, towards her abandoned school bag, hoping the cop got the message. She mouthed "Tracker".

His expression didn't change much, but she saw a tiny gleam of hope in the cop's eyes. He ordered his men to stand down and move away, allowing her captor to drag her into one of the police cars and dump her in the back with the other hostage before tying her up and gagging her as well. All this while, the other man kept his gun pointed at her head, ensuring that the police won't do anything.

As the car started moving, Rosie could feel the pain in her leg worsen. Something was definitely broken. Black spots danced in her eyes, and she passed out from the pain.

Rosie had no idea how much time had passed when she woke up, in a dark room that was lit by a faint blue glow. The gag had been taken out of her mouth, and her hands and feet had been untied. Craning her neck, she saw that the glow was coming from the chest of the other man who was with her. She recognized her fellow hostage who still seemed unconscious. The blue glow, though... Was that what she thought it was? If it really was one, then...

"Mr. Stark?" She called out. "Mr. Stark? Are you awake?" The man stirred. "Mr. Stark!" She called out again. He jerked upright from where he was slumped against the wall. "W-W-h-h-o? W-h-ere?"

Rosie crawled towards him slowly, trying not to put pressure on her injured leg, and sat down next to him. Raising her bound hands, she pulled the bag off of his head. As the light illuminated his face, Rosie confirmed that he was Tony Stark.

He looked wildly around, before his eyes fell on her face. "What day is it?" He croaked in a hoarse voice.

"I don't know. Are you hurt, Mr. Stark?"

"No. My mouth is numb. Why is my mouth numb? Who the hell are you? Why the heck do you sound like a kid?"

She gave a small giggle. "I am a kid, Mr. Stark. My name's Rosie."

"They kidnapped you too, huh? Have any idea why?"

"I was just going to school when the car they were driving with you in it crashed, and a railing fell on my leg. I think they took me as insurance that the police wouldn't follow them."

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Nope. They took my watch and phone. They got me at around seven on Tuesday morning, I don't know how much time passed after that, though."

"The last thing I remember was getting into a car to go to the airport with my friend in the middle of Monday night. I was supposed to be on my jet right now. Pep's going to kill me for getting kidnapped again. Will anyone come looking for you?"

"My dad isn't in town, and no one's checking up on me for three days. I don't see my school organizing a search, so no." She began to ramble on, as she did when stressed. The significance of the situation was finally hitting her.

-------------------

Tony Stark just sat there, ignoring the kid who was freaking out, and thought of ways to get out of there. He suddenly remembered the tracker he'd planted on himself after the last time he got kidnapped, and searched for the watch he always wore. Not there. He groped around in the dark for his shoes, to look for the chip embedded in the soles. Not there. Tracking dot on Arc Reactor? Broken. Hoping against hope, he checked if he still had his belt buckle. The final tracker was supposed to be there. Tony could feel the cracked and burnt surface of his iron man buckle. They had known about all of them.

He suddenly began feeling the same helplessness he had been while in the cave. The memories of the dark, musty, old cave came flooding back. He could feel the phantom pains in his chest, where his reactor was, and remembered the Ten Rings. The display in Afghanistan, the attack, the 'Jericho' missiles, all came flooding back. He remembered Yinsen, to whom he owed his life and could never have escaped if not for the doctor who had given his life. This time, all he had were his wits, and a kid who he did not know anything about.

The realization that he wasn't going to get out of this situation hit Tony like a brick, and he began hyperventilating, imagining the horrors in store for him. He relived the pain, the anxiety and the weakness from Afghanistan. Imaginary sounds made him flinch, expecting a Ten Rings member to come into the room and-

"-Stark! Mr. Stark! You aren't there! It's just us! You and me, Rosie. I'm not here to hurt you! Please, Mr. Stark, it's just me." He heard someone say. Taking in a huge gulp of air, Tony saw his vision beginning to clear, a fuzzy outline in front of him. When had the flashback begun? Tony struggled to breathe, his breaths coming in short gasps that left him dizzy and unfocused. "Follow my instructions! In... out! Breathe in and breathe out! Breathe In and breathe out! Yeah, exactly like that! Come on, Mr. Stark, you can do this. In... out. In...out."

His vision completely cleared, and he saw the dimly lit room, and a small figure in front of him. Rosie, he remembered. The two of them had been kidnapped. He'd had a panic attack and the girl had managed to snap him out of it. "I'm fine. Back off, kid. Personal space."

She moved away, but he heard a faint groan. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" The concern he felt surprised him. Tony Stark, feeling concerned for a teenager he had met ten minutes ago? Impossible, it must have been the after-effects of the flashback.

"I think my ankle is broken, possibly dislocated. Can't feel my toes, either. I'm not sure cuz I can't see anything clearly." Tony felt guilty for his selfishness as the first thing she had done was ask him if he was hurt, while he had basically insulted her. With a sudden burst of kindness, he called out to her, "Come closer. The light might just be enough."

She slowly crawled closer before extending her leg and taking off her shoe which had been damaged quite badly. He saw her wince and bite her lip in pain as the shoe came off. The sock was in tatters, and she managed to rip it off. Tony was horrified when he saw her foot. Three of her toes hung limply, while a fourth was pointing the wrong way, her foot had swollen up to what looked like double its size. Rosie's ankle was purple, and swollen just like her foot. He could guess that her whole leg was hurt quite badly based on her winces when she touched it.

"My foot's pointing the right way, so not dislocated. Toes are definitely broken, ankle might be too, seeing that I can't move it." She poked her calf. "Ow! Might be a surface fracture, or ligament tear. I can't walk without support. Just great." She huffed. Tony was amazed to see her matter-of-fact attitude and quick diagnosis. He suddenly had a newfound respect for the girl who was so calm with a broken foot and had actually kept her wits about her to pull him out of a flashback and stave off a subsequent panic attack.

"Where did you learn this, kid? I don't think they teach this shit in high school."

"I don't know about high school, Mr. Stark. I'm in eighth grade. I learnt this on my own from books and a nursing program at the Bellevue. I've always wanted to do my bit for the community, and with all you superheroes running around, this was the only way I could think of right now."

The more Tony listened, the greater his resolution to help this girl escape became. For the first time in his life, Tony realized what it meant to have kids and care for them. He could feel his supposedly non-existent dad instincts awaken, sending him the message: Injured child, comfort and protect immediately. Injured child, comfort and protect immediately.

And that's what he did. "So you know how to make a splint?" She nodded. "I can cobble together a makeshift one from whatever's left of my shoe, sock and hoodie. My hair tie will come in handy. Something stiff to place on either side of my foot... is there anything else in the room?"

He turned, letting the light from his reactor sweep across the room. It was small, maybe ten feet across, and the same in length. There was a small table in the middle, and Tony could see the faint outline of two doors on the far wall. Getting up, he walked over to the table and found an empty metal bowl and plate on it. The table was made of thin strips of wood nailed together, which gave him an idea. He grabbed the plate and used it as a lever to pry off the nails and pull two medium sized strips of wood free.

Tony watched, impressed, as she worked on the splint. Tying it off with a strip of cloth she had torn from her hoodie using her bare hands, Rosie secured everything with a braided leather band that was in her hair. "Done! This'll have to do for now. I'll need a proper doctor ASAP cuz broken bones can heal improperly and have a permanant effect on my leg. All I can do now is elevate it and hope for the best."

She took off her other shoe and dumped her hoodie on top of it to make a small raised pile of clothes on which she placed her foot. "How long do you think we'll be here?"

Tony frowned, thinking. "Until the ransom is paid. All the trackers and tech I had is destroyed, and you don't have one, so no one's coming to find us anytime soon." What he didn't add was that the darkness of the room was messing with his brain and rendering him unable to think properly. Tony had to use all his concentration to keep himself from another panic attack. The kid had already pulled him out of one and he wasn't going to let her see another. Plus, she couldn't walk, meaning that he couldn't guarantee both of them escaping and he wasn't planning on leaving her behind.

Suddenly, she grabbed his arm. "I'm scared of the dark, Mr. Stark. Are we ever going to get out of here?" He raised an eyebrow at the action, but didn't push her off, assuming that she had a motive for doing so, and a few seconds later, his suspicions were confirmed.

She was tracing words on his arm under the guise of needing his support. Tony inwardly smirked at her brilliance. Listeners. Tracker in hairband. Told cops. Might rescue soon.

He patted her hand, and started rambling on about how they would get out to waste time while he thought of an escape plan. Cautiously, he traced words on the back of her hand. Will escape. Find doctor. Good idea. Tony decided that when they got out, the first thing he would do was offer the girl a job, or at the least, an internship.

He was still feeling a little out of it from whatever he had been drugged with, and he could see that Rosie was almost nodding off, her body shutting down to help deal with the injury. "How about we take a nap now? Your leg's dealt with, I'm still quite dizzy. I don't think anything's going to happen." He suggested.

She agreed and let go of his arm before leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes. Tony waited for a few minutes till he could see her breathing even out, before falling asleep himself, and dreaming about being rescued.