Hey guys! I'll be trying to insert a tad more humor and character growth and nice stuff like that into the story from now on. Just a heads up. Also, sorry for no update yesterday, I was busy helping plan a party.

This chapter contains highly confusing time-travel discussions. You have been warned.

When Taylor and Tyler landed at Stark Manor, they were hurt, tired, dirty, hungry, and brain-raped. It definitely showed, because after Tyler rang the doorbell and Pepper came to let them in, she screamed. Loudly. It was a testament to Tony Stark's brilliant engineering that the nearby windows didn't break.

Taylor smiled weakly. "Hi. Can we come in?"

Pepper nodded wordlessly and directed them to the sofa. "I'm guessing this is your brother?" she managed after a moment.

Tyler waved. "Yeah... whoa, trippy color scheme," he muttered, stumbling a little as Taylor guided him inside. She wished the drugs SHIELD had used to sedate him would wear off. Her brother was already prone to long, semi-sensible rants that sounded like runaway trains of thought. Now he was like that, but minus the actual thought.

The twins plopped themselves down on the sofa and stared into oblivion for a couple minutes. Pepper hovered awkwardly nearby, clearly wondering if she should stay and cater to their needs or leave them to recuperate on their own. Tyler clearly wasn't in the mood to order anything, so Taylor took charge.

"Waitress, we'd like a change of clothes, two large cheese pizzas, some blankets, an ice pack and the TV remote, please," she muttered. Pepper tossed her the remote and grabbed a phone to order the pizza. Taylor could hear half of the phone call, and it made her smirk.

"Hello, Fibonacci's? I'd like to order two large cheese pizzas. Delivery, please. 10880 Malibu Point. Yes, Tony Stark's house. No, it's not for him. No, you won't be asked to make change for a thousand. Alright, thank you." She hung up the phone and smiled at the siblings slumped over the couch. "It'll be here in about fifteen minutes. That's the great thing about Fibonacci's, they're super close by."

Tyler opened his eyes blearily. "Aren't they in California, though?"

Taylor squealed and hugged her brother, overjoyed that he seemed to be returning to conscious thought. "We are in California, goofball. It's Dad's old house."

"Oh."

Taylor was concerned. Usually her brother would react to that sort of revelation in a more extreme way then just 'oh.' Then again, he had just been through government hell in SHIELD's basement, so she wasn't sure she could blame him. She did hope her excitable, ingenious brother came back soon, though. His genius might be the only thing that could get them back to their proper time.

"Heads up!" Pepper called, and Taylor raised her hand to grab the ice pack out of the air, sighing in relief as she pressed it onto her self-inflicted burn.

"You have good reflexes," her mom noted as she draped blankets over the twins. "I'm sorry, we don't have any clothes in your size. I can go buy some later today, if you like," she offered.

Taylor smiled. "That would be great."

Pepper left, presumably to go catch up on her other duties as Tony's assistant, and Taylor and Tyler were left alone, hugging each other on the couch, thoroughly bombed out of their minds. However, Tyler was not, in fact, as shell-shocked as he appeared. He had suffered some degree of trauma in being exposed to his old- very old- tormentors, and he had immediately remembered his old tactic for getting them to get frustrated and leave him alone- curl into a ball and do absolutely nothing, and live just inside his mind. That had included eating, however, and he was pretty sure he had burned about a billion calories as Junior. He was thankful for his twin, ordering him a pizza just for himself. That was nice of her.

He slowly smiled, returning his sister's hug. She was obviously surprised, not expecting him to be awake yet. "Whoa, you're awake? Are you okay?" she asked, patting him down for injuries.

"I'm fine, Taylor. Trust me. It was really scary, though... I was only there for a couple hours and I already hulked out. I hope Auntie and Uncle are okay..." he added in concern.

Taylor patted him on the back. "Don't worry, I saw Uncle when you got given back to me, and he mentioned going to visit Auntie. They're both alive, don't worry." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Oh, God. What would happen to us if we accidentally killed one of our parents in the past?"

Even coming out of a haze of drugs and trauma, Tyler could answer that. "It would be a paradox. If we kill our parents, or do anything to prevent them from eventually meeting, becoming a team, and then creating us, we cease to exist. If we never exist, our parents still live, and we're born, but then we kill them in the past and are erased again. It can't happen."

Taylor was visibly confused. "Can you explain that in English?"

"Um, Terminator is one of your favorite movies, right?"

"Duh!"

Tyler had already known this- along with The Matrix, Terminator was one of the few movies that both he and his sister loved, although he was pretty sure he was the only one who fully understood both of them. "Okay, what would have happened if the T-800 had succeeded in killing Sarah Connor?"

"John Connor would never be born and the human resistance never existed."

"Well, that was what it wanted, right? To ensure that John is never born. But if John is never born, what happens?"

"Skynet rules the world and we're all fucked."

Tyler snickered. That was just like his sister. She wasn't dumb, it was just that she immediately leaped for the easiest and most practical answer, instead of his more philosophical debates. "Not quite. If John is never born, there would be no need to send a Terminator back in time, right?"

"I guess..."

"But if the Terminator doesn't go back, what happens?"

"Sarah gives birth to John... ohhhhhhh. I get it, I get it."

"So, the situation is impossible. That's called a time paradox, and they are the main reason time travel should be impossible. It's way too dangerous," Tyler finished.

Taylor shrugged helplessly. "Bit late for that now, isn't it?"

So, that's Chapter 7. Should be a bit more of what the story will be like in the future. Tell me if you like it by reviewing!