Jessica stopped trying when she woke up a third time. It had been hard for her to go to sleep, and when she finally did, she was shaken up by a nightmare involving her father and a huge explosion. After two more attempts she gave up, sitting down on the bed Mr. Stark had provided her. 

It was a nice room, she had to admit that. It obviously wouldn't bother her to stay in the compound. A big nice bed, big nice windows, big nice desk and two doors that she guessed to be the bathroom and a possible dresser. Even though she hadn't seen them, she expected them to be big and nice.  She stared at the plain empty walls and dreamed about how they could be decorated. She used to have posters of her favourite bands back in her room. 

What will happen to my home?

The thought instantly popped into her head. She was his father's heiress, and since she was apparently gone as well, there was no one left down the line. Her father never had any siblings, and he had no one else. As for her mother, she never met her, as she died while giving birth and her family refused to stay in contact after that. 

She felt tears falling down her cheeks, as the memories of her father wildly appeared in her mind. But the memories made her feel happy and warm. What made her cried was the certainty that she would never be able to create more memories like those. 

She kept crying until, eventually, she succumbed to exhaustion, effortlessly embracing the nightmare to come.  

__

"Okay, let's start." Tony clapped his hands as Jessica followed him into an isolated room. Its dimensions were giant and the walls were made of some kind of metal, probably bulletproof. It was perfect for what Tony had in mind. He had Jessica dressed in some sort of workout clothes, with special padding in her chest, core, back, wrists and knees. 

"But I haven't had any breakfast..." The truth was that Jessica was really tired. She hadn't had too much sleep the night before and even though she didn't know what time it was, she could tell it was early in the morning.

"You don't need it." Mr. Stark stopped in the middle of the room and turned around to face the girl. He stretched out his right arm and a moment later something came flying. In a few seconds his arm was covered in his Iron Man suit. "Show me your hands." Jessica did as told. Her hands looked like always. Her veins were not dark like they did when she touched Tony in the hospital.  "Touch my armour."

Hesitating, she first placed her index finger on Mr. Stark's protected forearm. Then, she slowly let her whole hand rest on the cold metal. They waited a few seconds and then Jessica lifted her hand. She looked at it to find it as it was before. Nothing had happened. She thought that maybe it would only work with direct contact on the skin. 

"They seem normal." 

She looked at Tony after a few seconds. "So, what now?"

The man had turned around and was walking away from her, almost to the other side of the room. He was touching something on his Iron arm. 

"Let's try the other thing."

She did not know what he meant. "What thing?" 

Suddenly, the man turned around and from his arm a sharp blade fired up towards her. Jessica was surprised when, in a matter of seconds, she had dodged to her left and caught the blade with her right hand. She felt her heart beating faster than ever before. In shock, she looked at the blade and then at Mr. Stark.

"Oh my God! Wha- That could have killed me!"

"But I knew it wouldn't." The unconcerned tone in his words made Jessica to look at him in disbelief. "Let's move on, I'm getting bored." In a moment, he had his whole suit on. It had come flying in parts. "Punch me." He demanded before his helmet went down and she couldn't see his face anymore.

"What?! No!" She refused. "I'm not going to punch you. Your suit is made of Iron, I will break my hand and my arm."

"That's actually not accurate, it's made of gold-titanium alloy-" He couldn't finish the sentence. Hearing him correcting her made Jessica to roll her eyes and actually punch him in his stomach. Since he didn't expected and thanks to her enhanced strength, the Iron Man flew across the room. Jessica thought that was actually really cool. Her hand hurt a little bit, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. She watched how the Iron Man started his flight stabilisers to prevent him from reaching the floor. He then started flying in her direction, extending his arm, but before he could do anything, the teenager jumped, reached his hand and, as she turned around, she pushed him down.

"Alright, next-" He gasped for air as his helmet went up and he tried to stand up. "Next thing."

"Oh, c'mon! I was starting to enjoy that."

"Don't play with fire, kid."

Jessica tried to remember what the scan had said. Apart from the super strength and reflexes, it had also said that she was immune to radioactivity. "Are you gonna drop a nuclear bomb on me and see if I survive?" 

"Let's try to not have to get to that situation, like, ever. Alright?" His tone was rather serious. Jessica nodded and then pressed her lips into a thin line.

"What else is left?" 

"Manipulation..." Mr. Stark scratched the back of his head as he looked down. "I - actually - still haven't figured that out. So that means we're done." He walked out of the room while the suit removed itself from his body by parts. She followed him, still having questions.

"But what about my hands?" 

"Oh, yeah." He made it to a desk with lots of devices and tools on it. He grabbed something and showed it to the young girl. "I made this for you."

"Gloves...?" She took them into her hands. They were black leather gloves, quite stylish actually. 

"Those are special gloves." He explained. "Once you put them on, they adapt to your skin. They look like skin, they feel like nothing."  "It's really hard to get them off unless you press this bottom on the inner wrist. As long as you wear them you won't hurt anybody." 

"Wow! Thank you, Tony." Jessica was truly grateful. She could not believe what was happening. 

"And there's one thing left I need to tell you." That drifted the girl's attention away from the gloves. "You see, I'm very good with people." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "And I can see that you're a good kid. You mean no harm and you wish to not hurt anybody. I've..." He stopped, trying to find the accurate word. "arranged something that will let you go back to a simple, normal life. You'll go back to high school, finish your lasts years there-"

"Year." Jessica corrected him, earning a confused look from the older man. She explained herself. "I'm turning eighteen next summer. This is my last year."

"Alright, so you finish your last year and after that you decide. You could go to college, I have a few contacts that could get you in MIT, or you could go straight to work. But... if you want to work with us, we'd be delighted to have you as a member of the team." He extended his hand, waiting for her to shake it. "Deal?"

Jessica took a moment to process the words. Did Tony Stark just told her that he would get her into MIT? She felt overwhelmed. This couldn't be happening. She shook his hand, unable to speak due to her excitement. 

"Perfect!"

He padded her on the shoulder where he had his hand. Then he turned around, but before he could leave, Jessica came back to her senses.

"Wait, but- Where will I live?" She asked. "I cannot keep on living here. It's too far away from my high school."

"First of all, yes, you could." She rolled her eyes. "Second, you're changing high schools. Remember, you're dead. I've found you somewhere to live, at least until you turn eighteen. I'm not stupid, I won't let you live alone in New York."

"Fine, then. Thank you, Mr. Stark." She finally said. Mr. Stark considered the conversation over, but it wasn't. "Who is it?" The man before her had just told her he wouldn't let her live alone, therefore the girl concluded she would be living with someone else. "Who am I living with?"

"Yeah, about that...  Are you any good pulling off accents?"

She gave him a weird and confused look. "I might if I tried... Why?"

"Let's just say, I told these people you were from another country studying here thanks to an internship."

"What internship?"

"The Stark Internship."