Aspen Blue and Tony Stark opened the first file regarding Stanley and Marie Blue three days ago.
Those three days consisted of Tony scanning each photo and the form for any way to find a location, and Aspen keeping herself busy. The man insisted on going through every photo and having Friday scan them before moving on to the next file, and Aspen decided it was best not to argue with him.
Tony didn't allow her to look at the pictures the whole time, so her job was to simply sit there and entertain herself. It's very safe to say that Aspen Blue was incredibly bored.
Peter had to return to school the day after his talk with Tony, but that didn't stop him from coming to the tower after school everyday for an "internship," as she told Aunt May and his friends. Really, he was there to see Aspen and help Tony in any way that he could. Right now his help wasn't really needed though, for the computer was doing most of the work.
After Aspen had passed out, Peter convinced Tony to let her say with him in the tower--at least until they found her parents. The girl, of course, tried to decline the offer, but then Peter revealed to his mentor that Aspen would be paying for her motel room illegally, so Tony Stark then forced her to stay.
Aspen didn't really mind, though. This way she was closer to the research that was going on and more protected. She and Tony both knew that searching through these files could lead Hydra right to them, so in the end it really was better for her to stay in the tower.
She got her own room in it, which was nice. Tony even said she could decorate it however she liked, but she opted not to. She didn't think she would be there very long and didn't want to get attached to the living space.
"Hello, Aspen!" Peter called, walking into her room with his hands behind his back and a giddy smile on his face.
"Oh thank god, I was bored out of my mind." She said, powering off the phone that Tony gave her. (He really only bought her the device because she threatened to steal one if she didn't, but no one needs to know that.)
"I have something for you." Peter said, nearly bouncing up and down with excitement.
"What is it.." She said uneasily, afraid of what the boy might be holding.
"Ta da!" He exclaimed loudly, holding out an object in front of him.
She stared at it with an unamused face then pursed her lips, looking up at the boy.
"It's a succulent!" He said, still smiling like an idiot.
"I know what it is, dude."
Peter rolled his eyes and set it down on her bedside table. "I know you said that you didn't want decorations in your room, but it's just so bland in here I had to do something."
Aspen looked at the plant and allowed a small smile to grow on her face. "It is kind of cute.."
"See! I knew you'd like it." Peter said, poking her on the face. "What are you gonna name it?"
"Name it?" Aspen questioned, raising both of her eyebrows.
"Yeah," he said like it was obvious, "you gotta name it or else it will feel neglected and die."
She sighed and rolled her eyes at the dramatic boy. "Fine, it's name is plant."
Peter groaned and bely flopped onto her white bed. "You're no fun!"
"And you are an oversized child."
"I'm naming it then." He said, shooting up and crossing his arms.
"Go ahead."
"Hmmm.." He said, thinking desperately hard. "How about Barry?"
"Barry the succulent." Aspen repeated, taking a seat on the bed next to the boy. "I like it."
Peter smiled like a mad man and help up his hand for a high five. Aspen rolled her eyes for the thousandth time and high fived the boy lightly.
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you!" Peter sad, turning and facing the beautiful girl next to him. "Mr. Stark is letting me keep the suit!"
Aspen's head snapped in his direction and she gave him a wide smile. "Really? That's so exciting! Now you can fight crime and not look like you're wearing pajamas!"
Peter had shown Aspen his old costume, and regretted it in the exact moment. She made fun of him for it almost daily, and nothing was ever going to stop her.
"Yeah, yeah. But now I have all this cool tech to explore and use. I'll be better at helping people!"
"I think you were just fine at helping people before.." Aspen said quietly, sharing her opinion on all of the new technology Tony provided Peter.
"What? Oh, yeah I guess." He said with shrug, pulling himself out of a Stark-tech-filled daydream. "But I just think this will be better." He nodded in confirmation and Aspen pursed her lips, turning her gaze to the floor.
Of course she was proud that Peter did well enough in Tony's eyes to keep the suit, but part of her was worried. She knew that the tech had the capability to blind people--especially an innocent fifteen year old boy--and she was afraid that that would happen to Peter. She didn't want him to rely on Tony Stark too much, just like she told him in the past.
She decided against voicing her thoughts, however. Instead just smiling and patting the excited boy on the back.
"Aspen?" Tony Stark's voice called over her room's speaker system.
"Yeah?"
"I think I found something." He told her in a confident tone.
Both teens eyes went wide before they jumped up and ran to the room they knew Tony was in.
"What did you find?" Aspen asked as soon as she entered the area.
"When Friday scanned the image of the report form, she found something." Tony said, pulling up the image with hesitance.
Aspen chose to look away from the screen. She was still completely uneasy when it came to the whole I-have-been-watching-you-your-whole-life thing.
"What did she find?" Peter voice the question they were both wondering.
"A location to a Hydra base." Tony said, allowing a smirk to grow on his face.
Peter and Aspen's mouth's dropped, ecstatic about the news.
"Are you serious?!" Aspen said, the biggest smile she had ever had on her face.
"No, I lied. Yes I'm serious!" Tony said cockily, extremely proud of himself.
Then, Aspen did something that surprised them all (mainly herself). She lurched forward and threw her arms around Tony Stark, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you so much." She whispered, squeezing him tighter before pulling away.
Both Peter and Tony smiled at the girl. They knew that she hated hugs and people in general, so for her to willingly throw her arms around someone meant that that lucky person had done something incredible.
"Hey, a promise is a promise." Tony said, patting her shoulder gently.
"So, when are we going?" She asked, ready to leave as soon as possible.
"Yeah, there's no we. You two are not invited." Tony said, pointing at the teens in front of him.
"What?!" They exclaimed at the same time, only one was much angrier than the other.
"It's too dangerous. Aspen, you know that if you go back to a Hydra base and they find you, they will capture you and make sure that you never leave again." Tony said sternly to them, but Aspen wasn't having any of it.
"I don't care! You know how much this means to me--this is my family we are talking about! I am a super soldier Tony, I have strength and skills that I can use to fight-"
"Who taught you those skills, huh?!" Tony interrupted, "Don't you understand that if you go in there they will know exactly what you are going to do? They programed you, Aspen! They gave you that strength and they taught you how to use it, so they sure as hell know how to stop you."
Aspen stepped forward, her face showing pure rage as she glared at the man. "I am going." She said with a pause between each word, "Even if you didn't let me, I would find a way to follow you there. We both know I'm completely capable of that, and am one hundred percent willing. So either you let me go with you, or I'll go on my own terms. It's your choice."
Tony stood firm for a minuet. He then slouched, realizing that there was no possible way he could convince her to stay.
"Fine, you can come. But you have to train first. We'll leave once I think that you're ready."
Aspen nodded, deciding not to argue any further in fear of angering the man.
"I-I'm coming too." Peter weakly stated.
"No you're not." Aspen and Tony said at the same time, shooting the boy down immediately.
"Yeah, I know." He said looking down at his shoes and scuffing them against the floor.
"But you are going to train." Tony said, catching the boy's attention. "If I'm going to be leaving you here to protect New York then you have to be ready."
Peter smiled wide at his mentor's words and nodded. Aspen almost rolled her eyes at how easy it was to please the boy, but refrained from doing so. She simply smile and gave him sarcastic thumbs up instead.
"So, who are we going to be training against?" Aspen asked as she and Peter followed Tony down the hallway.
She couldn't see the man's face, but judging by the tone of his voice when he spoke, he was most definitely smirking.
"A good friend of mine."
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(A/N: hello, yes, don't mind me giving you a happy, playful chapter before it all turns to crap)