HOPELESS ☾Peter Parker - 1

ONE

Aspen Blue watched as the rain drops slid down the cool glass of the taxi window and took a deep breath in. She hadn't been to New York since she was 13 years old, and now, at fifteen, it felt strange.

The yellow car came to a stop and she turned to the driver, paying him and giving a soft smile. She grabbed her bags from the back then turned to face her new home: the magnificent Forest Inn. She chose to stay there for many reasons, but one of the most convincing was it's cheap price.

Aspen walked to the separate building where the front desk was located and prepared to buy herself a room. The young girl expertly spoke and paid for it using her totally-not-fake credit card and her yes-i-am-eighteen ID. It wasn't like she hadn't done this before, for the girl had been on her own for a year now. At first the lying bothered her, but now she could go through with credit card fraud as easily as she could drink hot chocolate--and she drank that stuff religiously.

Aspen Blue made her way to room 93; her brand new, smelly home. The girl would be staying in Midtown Manhattan until she got exactly what she has been chasing for a over year, and she wasn't going to leave until she got it.

The very first thing the brunette did when she entered the bland room was hang her (mostly black) clothes up in the closet and set up her things on the bathroom sink. She looked at herself in the mirror and stared into her dark brown eyes. Her eyes once shone with nothing but joy and happiness, and their now deep wood-color used to be more of a glowing caramel. All she saw now when she looked at herself was a worn out figure covered in scars and ugly red cuts, not the beautiful young girl she used to be.

She sighed and turned around, exhausted from the traveling she did earlier that day. Hitch-hiking was not an ideal way of transport, but it was the cheapest. She knew how to drive, but she honestly never liked it--she would much rather be riding passenger with the wind flowing through her hair.

As much as she wanted to, Aspen knew she couldn't go to bed yet. She needed to prepare for the personal mission she would be starting the next day. The tall girl grabbed her (stolen) computer and began working on the program she had been developing for two months. She entered a series of numbers and commands and pressed the final button, finally completing the application.

With a small smile, the young Blue plugged her small, black flash drive into the port of the device and downloaded her work onto it. Satisfaction filled her veins when the download was complete and she quickly pulled the small rectangle out and looked at it, her grin growing.

The first part of her mission was complete. But now she was faced with the much more difficult step: social interaction.

Deciding that she had had enough for the day, Aspen shut the computer and put it on the bed side table, but she kept the flash drive in her hand as she got ready for bed, for she couldn't let anything happen to it.

Aspen's brown locks flowed over the white cotton pillow as she attempted to go to sleep. Her mind was racing and her heart pounding in anticipation for the next days events. The wheels in her head were already formulating a plan as she rested, yet it eventually became too much, and she was pulled into a deep, nightmare filled sleep.

☾

The young Blue's eyes stared up at the tall building in front of her as she sipped her searing hot chocolate. She was never a fan of coffee, unlike her mother who was completely addicted, but as a child she wanted to be included in the boiled-drink fun so Marie Blue gave the girl hot chocolate instead.

Aspen watched as people rushed across the streets and down the sidewalks as if they had no time to do absolutely anything. They all moved robotically and harshly as if they were being controlled by some outside force, and Aspen found it amusing. She never like to rush anywhere, for she would much rather take her time and stop to smell the roses. Her past days taught her to appreciate life, and she always made sure to take nothing for granted.

The coffee shop she was at was located perfectly across the street from the building she was currently examining, and she was trying to decide how and when to take action. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm their always cold state.

The Avengers tower loomed above her and she glared at it with disgust. She had studied that dreadful building for months, and knew its every corner and exact layout, but in order for her plan to work, she needed way to get in undetected. Her actions couldn't be suspicious or else nothing would go right, and she wasn't an idiot, she knew that if she ninja-rolled into the camera-filled building someone would most definitely stop her.

Her eyes scanned the area, hoping to find her ticket through the doors when something caught her attention. A boy was sprinting towards the tower when the contents of his bag spilled out all over the ground. She watched as he scrambled the pick up all the papers and books, and almost laughed when he fell once and dropped everything a second time.

He would have to do.

Aspen quickly crossed the street then walked towards the clumsy boy. She could hear him mumbling under his breath, but he stopped and looked up when her shadow cast itself over him.

"You look like you are having the struggle of a life time," she stated with a warm (fake) smile, bending down to help him gather his runaway items.

"I, uh, yeah I guess," the boy nervously scratched the back of his neck and gave a small grin to the girl, "I'm just in a h-hurry I guess, I don't want to keep Mr. Stark waiting." He mumbled and stuttered as he spoke, but still managed to make eye contact with the beautiful girl.

"I'm Aspen Blue," she said sticking her hand out for the blue-sweatshirt clad boy.

"Peter Parker," he said with a smile. "Listen I'm sorry but I gotta go," he began to walk backwards towards the doors and tripped a little, causing Aspen to laugh lightly.

"I'll see you around!" He called and pushed through the glass before turning and sprinting through the halls childishly.

The young Blue began to smirk as she turned back around, "you bet your britches you will," she mumbled to herself, reaching to give herself a rewarding pat on the back.

Without Peter Parker knowing, Aspen had placed a small tracker inside his back pack that would show her his exact location no matter where he went.

She had just found the perfect way into The Avengers Tower, and it was with someone who had a direct link to Tony Stark.

Everything was going perfectly.