"Mama tried to raise a lady but daddy won ; he raised a lady who doesn't take sh*t from anyone."

  "Ready ?"

  "Hell no," Harper said as she looked at her father. "Here goes nothing..."

  She pushed the door that led outside her house. The vultures where there, which wasn't at all surprising. Many of them took this opportunity to take a few pictures of the father and his daughter, the legend and the new blood. Both of them were wearing sunglasses despite the grey sky above New York City. The way to the car was barely ten meters long : she was asked about twenty questions.

  "Miss Stark, how does it feel, being Iron Man's daughter ?"

  "Why did you hide for so long ?"

  "Why say everything now ?"

  Each time, she chose to remain silent. She was almost biting her own tongue to prevent herself from saying something stupid. She wasn't even looking at the people who interrogated her, playing the arrogance card in order to be left alone. It didn't work. 

  "Harper, how are you feeling right now ?"

  That was the straw that broke the camel's back. 

  "I feel like someone who has to put up with people's bullshit barely an hour after waking up."

  The reporter looked both shocked and amused. She was indeed her father's daughter. Tony silently congratulated her with a tap on her back. She couldn't help but smile and, finally, she sat in the back of the car. Happy was already waiting for them.

  "Hey, Happy !" Harper greeted him happily. 

  "You seem to be in a good mood for someone who had to go through such a crowd," Happy noted. "You could say your popularity note just rose up."

  "I'm my father's daughter, so... Could we really stop this ?"

  Tony allowed himself to laugh wholeheartedly, happy to see her daughter joking. However, he knew that joking was her way of hiding her worries. No kidding : he'd raised her. He placed a protective hand on her knee when Happy left the street, followed by a few fierce reporters.

  "You're gonna be okay at school ? You can stay home if you want."

  "No. I told Peter I'd be there and the first one who comes to mess up with me will probably end up trapped in his own locker," she said.

  "But lockers are tiny."

  "I know."

  A mischievous grin appeared on her face and Tony sighed.

  "Let Parker be strong enough to handle my daughter's craziness," he prayed, looking up to the sky. "Seriously though, Harper, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Got it ?"

  "And don't do anything you would do," she finished. "I know, Dad. That's your favourite advice and I follow it strictly, obviously."

  "Easy with the irony, young lady," Tony said firmly but kindly. "It's rude."

  "And who's telling me that ? Oh, I'm being told it's the most sarcastic man of all times !"

  Happy, sitting behind the wheel, couldn't hold back a genuine laugh.

  "She's not wrong," he agreed.

  "Come on, Happy, back me up !" Tony cried. "Well, that's it. Damn it, those reporters came to school as well. I'll walk you there."

  "That's not..."

  "It wasn't a proposition. Come on, grab your bag."

Once more, Tony and Harper went through the crowd. There weren't as many reporters as they were at home and the walk from the car to the school was slightly less hard. Tony, with a hand on his daughter's back, told her not to answer to any question despite her will to shut them up once and for all. They finally got to the doors and were greeted by the Principal.

  "Mr Stark, nice to meet you. I'm the Principal here at Midtown High School." He introduced himself in a very formal voice. "I heard about Harper's situation and I want to personally inform you that reporters are strictly forbidden to cross these doors. I went to the police station myself this morning. And if Harper's identity triggers any problem amongst our students, teachers will act consequently to fix it."

  "Thank you very much, sir," Tony answered, eyes filled with honesty. "I guess I can leave, then. She's in good hands. Don't do anything stupid, okay ?" he told his daughter as he smiled to her.

  "You know me," she answered. "See you later, Dad !"

  Once Tony left, the Principal nodded to Harper before she shot through the hallways, looking for Peter. She was walking hurriedly : she couldn't wait to see him again. Not only had she missed him, but she was also terrified by all those eyes on her now, even though she had assured her dad she had it all under control. She found Peter leaning back on his locker while talking to Ned.

  "We don't even need to look to know you're coming, now," Ned told her.

  "Really ?"

  "Yeah. Every head turns at the same time," he joked, making Harper laugh.

  She hoped not to blush when she saw Peter and kissed him on the cheek. She didn't know if Ned knew about them (let's be honest : she was sure he did). Above it all, she wasn't keen on public display of affection. Honestly, she didn't even know how to act.

  "How are you holding up ?" Peter asked, visibly disturbed by the way everyone looked at them.

  "Honestly ? Not so well," she answered with a disgusted grin. "I swear to God I'm gonna end up burning the hell out of one of those reporters."

  Ned opened his eyes wide and Harper burst out laughing.

  "I'm not gonna do it, Ned, don't worry," she told him. "But if they think I could do it, then they might stop stalking me."

  "It's that bad ?" Peter asked.

  "I saw a tent on the sidewalk this morning. No kidding."

  "Wow, that's...huge."

  "What's up, losers ?" said a girl with dark frizzy hair.

  "Oh, nothing more than usual," Peter answered ironically.

  "We were talking about Harper's sudden popularity," Ned explained.

  "Oh, yeah, I heard about that this morning," the girl added. She didn't seem that interested. "We haven't met yet. I'm..."

  "M.J., right ? You're on the science team with Peter."

  Harper smiled warmly at her. She'd always felt close to her despite the fact that they'd never talked much. They were both sitting in the back of the class, answered the teacher's questions occasionally, and they didn't fit in any group at school. You could say they were both outsiders. Those four teenagers were meant to be friends.

  "I'm Harper. I'm..."

  "Iron Man's daughter, I guess."

  "I was gonna say 'happy to finally meet you' but yeah, that too."

  "It's pretty cool," M.J. complimented her.

  The bell rang, interrupting the presentations and making most students sigh. All of them walked to their classrooms, ready for another day of formulas and equations. As she looked at her timetable, Harper realised it was going to be a long day... Peter noticed her sudden lack of enthusiasm and let his two friends take the lead. Discreetly, he grabbed Harper's hand.

  "You can do this."

  She gave him a warm smile and sighed once more.

  "I feel like this day's gonna be long. The others too, as long as the news is still fresh. At least you're here. You'll make those days a little bit less distressing."

  Peter pretended to be shocked.

  "Just a little bit ?"

  "Okay, fine... A lot more than a little bit."

  And they laughed, hand in hand, almost not caring about the insisting looks of the other students.

  "Wow, she's not wasting any time," a blond girl whispered as she walked beside them.

  "Excuse me ?"

  She couldn't hold it in : Harper was a Stark and was incapable of letting people insult her without clapping back.

  "What ?" said the girl as she put on an innocent look.

  "Just say that to my face."

  The young Stark's request was met with embarrassed silence.

  "That's what I thought," Harper said. "Try not to speak up in the future."

  Harper and Peter started walking again and thought they were done with her. Well, they weren't totally wrong : she just didn't want to stand there without saying anything else.

  "And what are you gonna do if I say something else ?" she challenged her.

  "Oh, I don't know yet," Harper hesitated as she deliberately let her fingers fly in front of her face, a few sparks coming out from time to time. "I have so many ideas that I don't know how to choose."

  The girl looked at her hand with fascinated and scared eyes.

  "Careful, your extensions are burning."

  The girl started patting her fingers right away before she realised they weren't burning. Harper didn't even laugh ; Peter did.

  "Those aren't extensions !" she exclaimed as they were walking off.

  They were already far away, however, and now, a few students understood they'd better leave Harper alone. When they got to class, Peter sat with Ned and Harper decided to sit next to M.J. She seemed cool and Harper knew that it was time for her to open up to other people. If she could do it with Peter, she could do it with other students. She let a smile float upon her face.

  "What are you smiling about ?" M.J. asked, more curious than aggressive.

  "This whole situation. I think it's ironic. A week ago, I was no one and I was fine with it even though the fake identity stuff could be quite oppressive. Today, everybody knows my name and I'm starting to think Harper Grey was a name that didn't draw attention and that was really cool.

  "Yeah, it's true," M.J. agreed. "But hey, you're Iron Man's daughter so...you must have expected it, right ? And think about what you can do now."

  "What do you mean ?"

  "You have influence," she explained. "I mean, on the students. Think about it : people love Iron Man. You could do anything to them."

  "You're not wrong," Harper said, amused. "What do you have in mind ?"

  "Well, I don't know about you but I always wanted to give Flash a taste of his own medicine. He can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, don't you think ?"

  "Totally."

  The two girls exchanged knowing smiles : Harper knew they would be really good friends.