Author's Note: Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. That was fun. Moving forwards. Last Chapter of this one. There will be a follow up story. I own nothing.

39. So What Happens Now

Another week passed and before anyone knew it, it was time to head back to school. Piper had been dreading going back to school since the last month of school. She had missed a few days because of the fall of SHEILD and the injuries she'd sustained but after that everyone had avoided her at school. Even the teachers had avoided her. Only her team, Harry, MJ and Eddie had still even spoken to her. But the team was still upset at her for not sharing the fact that SHEILD had been compromised, though Ava seemed to have warmed back up to her. She'd barely interacted with the boys outside of training and patrol all summer. She hadn't seen Harry since they had both been rescued from Hydra, and lucky for her Glen went to a different school.

She hadn't spoken to Glen since that night on the roof of his apartment building. She couldn't. She did care about him, it wasn't love, maybe if they had a few interrupted months it would have been but it wasn't. But that didn't mean she didn't care about him. They had grown quite close during their time helping Dr. Connors work on the Lizard formula. But she knew what happened when people got close to her, and it was never good. So she did what she did best, she ran and hid, burying herself in her work.

Dr. Connors had been moved to Dr. Cho's facility, he was still in a medically induced coma, none of them were sure if the gene cleanser had worked completely. Piper still felt guilty, she was pushing herself harder and harder in training. If she had just been a bit faster then maybe Dr. Connors wouldn't have taken the formula. She hadn't stopped blaming herself for it since it happened, no matter what anyone said.

Pepper insisted that she dress nice for the first day back at school. It was her last year after all. She wasn't sure what she would be doing after high school, maybe MIT, maybe ESU so she could keep up her Spidey time. But no matter what she was not excited to arrive at school. Tony insisted that he would drive her to school. She was dressed up in a nice pair of grey jeans, a white top with a black lace overlay and a grey suit jacket that matched her jeans. She took a deep breath. Tony laid a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to go, you could always test out." Piper shook her head.

"I've made it this far, I can get through the last year." Tony nodded as Piper clicked off the door lock. Happy had already dropped the rest of the team off at the school. Taking a deep breath Piper stepped out of the car and slung her bag over her shoulder. Several cameras clicked around her as she headed into the school, waving at her dad over her shoulder. The team waved at her from their lockers as she passed, it was odd knowing there weren't SHEILD agents around every corner. Mary Jane Grinned and hugged her tight when she spotted her.

"I was so worried that you wouldn't be coming back!" Piper smiled.

"I'm wondering why I did." Piper said as a few other phone camera's clicked around her. MJ shook her head.

"Ignore them. This is just sped up Karma." Piper raised an eyebrow at the redheads words as they made their way down the hall comparing schedules. "They used to ignore you, you were practically invisible. Now they're invisible to you!" Piper shook her head.

"That does not sound like a good solution MJ." MJ shrugged as they wounded the corner and Piper accidently bumped into someone knocking the books out of their arms. She didn't spot who it was until she knelt to help them gather their books. Liz Allen's dark eyes rolled at her as she snatched back her folder.

"Well if it isn't the newest celebrity here at school. You really think that just because Iron Man adopted you makes you better than anyone? Cause it doesn't." Piper was about to snap back at her when someone stepped between them.

"Lay off her Liz, it's getting old." Piper stared as she realized who it was standing between them. It was Flash, wearing a black t-shirt under his lettermen jacket. He was facing away from Piper towards Liz a disapproving look on his face. Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You're defending Parker? The hell happened to you this summer?" Piper didn't voice it but she was wondering the same thing Liz was. The Flash she knew had been picking on her for years. They had briefly been friends when they were kids but then he'd gotten teased for hanging out with a girl.

"Maybe I realized there are bigger things in life than shoving people in lockers. Maybe I decided to grow up, and you should to." Liz blinked at Flash as the crowd that had gathered around them let out a low noise.

"Whatever, don't expect me to date someone who hangs with losers." Flash didn't even seem to blink as Liz walked away. Flash turned around and smiled slightly at Piper.

"Hi." Piper blinked at him for a moment which he seemed to take as a que to continue. "Listen, this has absolutely nothing to do with your dad. But I anted to say, I'm sorry. I've been a… well a dick to you for years. And I was wrong to do that." Piper blinked again and spoke.

"Why are you apologizing now?" Flash glanced down, fiddling with the edge of his shirt.

"Something happened to me this summer that made me rethink the way I've been doing things. I've got a lot of apologizing to do, but you were one of the first people on my list." He smiled slightly. Piper blinked at him for a moment then let herself smile slightly.

"That was very big of you Flash. Apology accepted." Flash grinned and nodded.

"Thanks." They stood in an awkward silence. MJ grabbed Piper's arm and began to lead her away. Flash waved and walked away. Piper shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure that's the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me." A familiar laugh behind them put a smile on Piper's face.

"I am very curious what trumps being adopted by Iron Man on the weirdness scale." Piper hugged Harry tight and smiled at him.

"Flash Thompson admitting he was a dick and apologizing for it." Harry raised an eyebrow at her as he slung his arm around her shoulder, comparing his schedule to hers.

"Yeah ok that's pretty high up on the weird scale." Piper nodded, MJ waved as she headed up the stairs. Harry and Piper had first period together and headed off for it.

"I will admit though, if that's the way senior year is going to go I think I can live with it." Harry snorted a laugh as they entered the classroom. He sat down behind Piper and checked his watch. The bell rang and the teacher began to hand out his syllabus. Harry grinned to himself as he checked his watch again. It wasn't displaying the time. It was displaying a progress bar as several hidden machines put together something he hoped would mean that he could protect Piper and make this school year the best of them all. He grinned again as she passed him a pen and smiled back at him. Yes, this year was going to be the best.