HOPELESS ☾Peter Parker - 1

TWENTY TWO

It had been two days since Tony found Aspen's trigger words, and he had still not told her nor Peter about them. 

During that time he and the girl had continued to go through Marie Blue's computer, but the whole time Tony was trying to make sense of the girl's situation. 

She had explained to him that she was still training to become some sort of "new generation" of Hydra soldiers before Bucky broke her out. Tony was able to make the connection that Hydra had chose to do that to her after they realized that she had gained super strength when brought back to life, and she had confirmed his thoughts. 

Aspen explained to both him and Peter that, while she didn't know Hydra's exact plans for her, she did know that they originally didn't intend for her to be a soldier, it simply happened after she accidentally received powers. 

Tony quickly figured out that the girl had no idea about her trigger words, and he made the decision that it was better for her to stay clueless. 

He knew that the information would just make the girl more stressed, and he really didn't want that. Plus, he understood that the idea that someone can bend and control your mind can make you do crazy things; hell, he had experienced it firsthand when Wanda Maximoff entered his head. Tony didn't want Aspen to feel dehumanized, so he decided to shove the information into the back of his mind for the time being. 

"I'm bored." Aspen said, spinning in a circle in her chair.

"Call Peter." Tony suggested, not looking up from his computer.

"He's at school still. I already tried to call him and he yelled at me." The girl pouted, stopping the movement of her chair.

The girl had to take a second to stop herself from getting sick from the dizziness. 

"I don't know, kid. Go make friends or something. You are a sixteen year old girl for crying out loud." Tony mumbled, somewhat mockingly. 

"One: I don't have time for friends. Two: I'm fifteen, for your information." 

Tony spun around to face the girl with a smirk on his face. "One: that's depressing. Two: Incorrect. You are sixteen." 

"What? No i'm not-" she started only to cut herself off.

While she was talking, Tony had simply pointed to the calendar on his wall with a smirk on his face. 

"Huh. It is my birthday." She said with a blank expression. "Wait, how did you know that?" 

"You're file. Remember that time I tied you to a chair and then found out that you are actually dead? Yeah, I saw your birthday then and made a mental note." The man shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Aw, I'm touched." Aspen said placing a hand over her heart. "But it's not that big of a deal, I never have really celebrated my birthday."

The man just stared at her, so she shrugged and continued. "I never really had any friends to celebrate with so.."

"Enough, you're depressing me! We're going to do something fabulous. What do teenagers like these days, fancy cars? Skydiving? Drugs and alcohol? Whatever it is, i'll give it to you."

"Tony, what? Stop. I'm not doing anything for my birthday, I think it's kind of dumb anyways."

"But it's your sweet sixteen! You know when I turned sixteen, I met this blonde chick named Jess, or was it Tracy? Anyway, she gave me the best present ever, I mean her legs were wrapped around-"

"Oh my god, stop! Too much information! I'll let you do something for me if you never tell me anything about your personal life ever again!" Aspen shouted, making the man glad that his plan worked.