I've decided to start a teenage Parker fic. So, enjoy reading! :)
She draws a star with her finger, against the frosty window. Staring out at the streets below. A seventeen year old with no real home – at least she's out of care now. 'Care' they call it.
Jumping down from the window pane, she sits on the creaky bed. "C'mon, Archie." She's expecting a new job today – it's been three solid days without one, and Parker is going bored out of her mind. The snow outside is falling thicker and faster, but watching it just makes her want to fall asleep.
A knock at the door echoes throughout the empty rooms around her. This place she stays in is one of his many abandoned buildings he owns, and he fixed this one up just for her. It's a small, disused factory. Very cold in winter, but Archie managed to find some heaters. 'Find' being the key word.
"Come in!" Her voice chirps, as she stays lying on her bed. Her leather jacket is pulled tightly around her body, and a fortress of blankets lay scattered around her.
"This job isn't too urgent, so –" Archie is drawn to a halt, as an eager trainee practically bounces from her bed in anticipation. He continues, " – so, you should at least wait until the flurries stop. I'd like you to go and retrieve this... I'd like to sell it to an eager client of mine uptown." He hands her a folded piece of paper.
"Awesome, thanks!" Parker is already pulling her boots on, poking her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.
"You'll freeze!" Archie counteracts, stopping in front of the doorway before she can bound down the rickety stairs behind him. She glances at the address on the back of the worn out paper. It's only two streets away.
"I'll buy coffee," she ducks under his arm, and proceeds to run down the staircase taking two steps at a time. Running outside into the fresh air, the snow hits her face like a sheet of cold ice.
"Hmm, maybe I will freeze." Parker mumbles, folding her arms over her chest as if it'll somehow help to warm her. It isn't long before she's outside the building that holds this precious bracelet – kept in a safe, two floors up. Should be totally easy.
"Shit," with shaking hands, the lock pick is proving hard to handle. Finally the wooden door gives a comforting click, and it swings open. She heads inside, coughing from the dust. Rich people, huh? All these disused buildings where they keep their overflowing supply of precious, expensive stuff.
Reaching inside her bag, her hand grips a flashlight. The beams of dim yellow light dance across the old fashioned walls, and the creak of her footsteps were the only sound to be heard. Surprisingly, the door at the top of the stairs wasn't even locked. "This is like something from a horror movie... If I die here, I'm suing you, Archie." She whispers, placing her hand on the cold, metal handle of the door ahead of her.
The room she enters resembles an old, attic. It's full of vintage furniture, just sitting there.. Collecting dust. There's a rustic looking wall safe at the far end of the room, and a trek of old looking obstacles in her way. "Who even keeps creepy looking dolls like that?!" Parker edges further to the left, wanting to avoid anything that resembles Chucky in any way shape, or form.
Once she's reached the same proximity as her target, the flashlight takes place in-between her teeth as she retrieves what she needs to crack the safe in front of her. That same, satisfying click sounds within five minutes, and a grin plays upon Parker's face. Inside the safe is exactly what Archie said – how did he even know this stuff? She places a hand inside, and reaches for the emerald bracelet. It sparkles from the little light that's inside the room, coming from her flashlight.
Another easy job done. Being only nineteen years old, and having been trained by Archie Leach since she was nine, Parker felt like soon enough she'd be able to steal anything in the world. She'd always dreamed of it being just her, going where she wanted... No therapists in the way, or social workers. She was now closer to that goal than ever before, thanks to her trainer.
Sliding back along the icy streets, she suddenly feels an impact with someone ahead of her. Oops. "Sorry, uh - my bad." Parker picks herself up from the floor, only to see someone holding something that belonged to her... Well, kind of.
"Hey, that's mine!" She tries to grab it, but the girl simply holds it higher. "Doesn't look like it's in your price range, honey." She flicks a strand of brown hair over her shoulder, and Parker's eyes narrow.
"I'm taking it back to a friend." Her teeth clench, as the girl laughs. She seems to be around the same age as Parker, but she's a lot taller.
"Weird, because I'm pretty sure it belongs to my friend too." This is the last thing the mystery girl utters, before taking off into a run. Parker soon follows suit – what's she going to tell Archie about why she lost his merchandise? That she dropped it after bumping into someone, and they stole it off her? He wouldn't give her another serious job for months!
The girl turns another corner, and it leads into an alleyway. Ha! Surely she's cornered now... But, as Parker's feet carry her around the bend, she slides her way straight into another door.
beep. beep. beep.
The incessant, shrill noise of an unidentified beep begins to fill Parker's ears. Her eyes are closed, and as soon as they begin to open a burning, whiteness temporarily blinds her vision.
"What the...?" She rubs her eyes, and as everything slowly blends back into one image, she now knows where she is.
"It's alright, honey. You're in hospital," someone whom Parker presumes to be a nurse begins to reassure her, and starts bustling around her bed. Oh no. This was even more embarrassing than just having to explain to Archie how she lost the bracelet.
"Can I get out of here?" Parker groans, trying to sit up. The nurse stops her, and laughs.
"No, no! You were brought in with a concussion and almost broken nose... The cop who took you here seemed pretty confused as to why you were out all on your own, and we couldn't find any contact details in your wallet." Parker's eyes widen.
"The cop?!" She yelps, immediately sitting up. Bad idea – overwhelmed by dizziness she collapses back down again.
"It's alright, I suggested waiting until you wake up to hear your explanation. He got called off half an hour ago anyway... So, who can we contact to come get you?" Thankfully the nurse didn't seem to phased about her reaction. Must've assumed it was confusion from the concussion.
"Oh, uh... My uncle, I know his number." Parker quickly tells the nurse. As much as she didn't want to call Archie, she'd rather get out of here and then deal with the shame afterwards.
It wasn't long before Archie turned up. He had to answer a lot of questions, and fill in a fair amount of forms for the hospital. He's a great liar, and a good job too – or getting Parker out of the ER would've proved rather difficult with social services getting involved.
"Come on, dear. Let's get you home." Archie speaks loud enough for the nurse to hear, as he gestures to the wheelchair beside Parker's bed.
"I don't need a wheelchair," she scoffs, chewing on the candy bar the nurse gave her to bring up her blood sugars.
"I'm playing the caring uncle, for the love of Christ get in the chair." Archie sounds stern, and Parker almost chokes on the piece of candy bar she just swallowed. Obeying her mentor, she gets into the wheelchair and ignores the heat in her cheeks. This is the most embarrassing day of her life, by far.
Once they're both out of the hospital, Parker let's out a breath of relief she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. "Tell me what happened, from the start." Archie demands, holding his car door open for her to climb in. Parker takes a deep breath, and then begins to go into detail about how she certainly made an arch enemy today.
Thankfully, Archie doesn't seem too mad. He's more mad about the fact Parker chased this mystery thief through snow filled streets, and then managed to wind herself up in the ER. The 'I told you so' speech probably wouldn't mean she'd avoid doing this again, and Archie knew this. He dropped her off at the factory, reassuring her that his client wouldn't mind too much. Besides, Archie would probably get the bracelet back himself. He didn't really need Parker anyway... Did he?