Hello, narrator is switching over to Ariel now.

I had been staying in New York at Avengers Tower for the last week. After falling onstage and spraining my leg, my brother had suggested that I take some time off to heal.

So I had been in New York, spending time there. I went to see a couple Broadway shows and did all the touristy stuff that people do in New York.

I was on my way back from watching Wicked when my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi, Ariel," said Natasha. "We need you to come back to the tower right away. Clint's been shot."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"He should be, if we get him back in time."

"I'm on my way."

My ankle had mostly healed and I practically ran the rest of the way to the Tower.

I got there just as they were landing and loading him off.

"Is he going to be okay?" I repeated.

Natasha nodded. "Dr. Cho has that new machine, remember? He'll be fine."

Yes, the one that made skin cells. Only in a comic book universe...

They rolled Clint past me. I wanted to go after him, to ask if he was okay, but I'd just be in their way. He'd be fine.

Maria Hill came past us, into the Quinjet.

"All set up Boss."

"Actually, he's the Boss," said Tony, gesturing at Cap. "I just pay for everything and design everything, make everyone look good."

"And you do it really well," I said, walking in after her. "Hi. How did it go?"

"We recovered the scepter."

"Excellent." I guess the team would be splitting up now... why does everything have to end? I hate endings.

Still, I'd see them again, right? I belonged to this universe now. It was my world. A world where I had family.

I followed them back inside.

Natasha was waiting outside the infirmary, waiting for them to let her in to see Clint.

"I guess the team won't be together anymore," I said.

"There's still a few more days until we officially disband."

"If... if she was still around, I would know what was going to happen next. I can't stand not knowing." I used to think nothing is worse than knowing and being unable to stop it. Now I think not knowing is worse. The dread and anticipation... I think that's worse.

"If Ivy was still around, a lot of things would be different."

"You used to teach her, didn't you? You would stop in and give her lessons once a week or something?"

"When I wasn't away, yes. When we let her go, S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted someone to keep an eye on her, help her build connections with them. I took a look at her history and offered. You knew each other for a while."

"Sort of. We met in Kindergarten, but we never got to know each other. Then we both started ballet at the same time, but she advanced beyond me and we were put in different classes. After that, we joined the same choir and just never talked."

"Yes, the ballet. There was a few things about that which were strange. I talked to her instructor once, and he said she was one of the best students, but that she quit suddenly and no one knew why."

"Well, she never exactly sat me down and told me, but between me and Carmen we have our suspicions. Since Ivy and nearly everyone else involved is... deceased, I don't think she'd mind. Ivy actually hated dancing. Her parents put her into it when she was six and wouldn't let her quit. When she was fourteen, I think, Carmen and her were part of a performance of Swan Lake or something. I was sick for a while and couldn't go. She fell onstage. She wasn't hurt, but the day after, she came into the school and announced she wasn't coming back ever. She'd been doing badly and been unable to focus on anything lately, and Carmen said she'd been just waiting for it to happen. She'd never really enjoyed dancing anyhow. Unfortunately, it turns out she hadn't told her parents about wanting to quit and had done it on spur of the moment frustration without asking them."

"Sounds like something she'd do."

"I don't know much about what happened next. All I know for certain is that they didn't take well to the whole thing. I think they wanted her to be a ballerina. They were always really into the arts. Her family relationships weren't that stellar, as you might have noticed."

"Them throwing her out of the house was a dead giveaway."

Then they'd all been murdered. All except her brother. I hadn't heard anything from him since, he was probably hiding out. Come to think of it, I hadn't heard much from anyone since that. Edward was searching for a college to attend, Miranda was saving money to go on a trip to London and planning to study English Literature, Jack was going to college already, Carmen was getting ready to attend ballet school here in New York... and what was Sharon up to? No one seemed to have heard anything from her since she moved.

As if someone had read my mind, my cell phone rang. Strains of "Waltz of the Flowers". Carmen. "I should take this. I've been here for a couple days and I haven't visited Carmen yet." Carmen was at the school for a couple days, checking things out.

I walked away and answered. "Hey, Carmen. How's New York?"

She burst into excited chatter about the school, the instructors, and the other students she'd met, then a brief pause. "Oh, are you going to be at prom?"

"Wouldn't miss it." It was the same night as the big Avengers party, but like I said, I wouldn't miss it. "You got a date?"

"No, not really, but I have promises of a few dances from the guys who go to ballet with me. You?"

"Edward."

Silence. "What about..."

"As friends. Strictly friends. Do you think Ivy would want all the guys in school who liked her to lay off dating?"

"Since that would be pretty much all of them, no. But..." Carmen hesitated. "Too soon?"

It had been a year already since Ivy died. "As friends. Despite what Tumblr and the internet will have you believe, I am not madly in love with Edward. We have no romantic tension – it's called acting. Actually, we don't really have any tension. Usually."

Silence for another moment.

"Let's not talk about this right now. Sorry. It's just that it hasn't been very long."

"Okay. I do get where you're coming from, just so you know. See you at prom?"

"See you at prom."

I hang up.

"You can see him now," said Dr. Cho.

Natasha and I entered the room.

Clint was awake, with the machine fixing his injuries.

"Isn't modern technology wonderful?" I said.

"Ariel?" said a voice from nearby.

I turned around to see a familiar face I'd never expected to see here. "Jack? What are you doing here?"

Jack grinned. He crossed the room, using his crutches. "Internship. Of sorts. It's complicated. I just got here about five minutes ago." He gave me the best hug he could while still holding onto his crutches.

"How's the leg?"

"Getting better as long as I do what Mom tells me to do." He greeted Natasha and Clint.

"Internship?" asked Natasha.

"I'm not sure what all it entails yet, I haven't really started yet. Basically, I think he wants a helping hand for him and Dr. Banner on some project he's working on. Someone who understands enough to help with little things, but doesn't understand enough to tell anyone specifics."

"Doesn't understand? You're a genius, Jack."

"Genius or no, a lot of this will be beyond my levels of understanding. Being a genius doesn't mean I know everything."

We chatted a few more minutes, then he left.

"Who is that?" asked Clint.

"Jack Lewis. Ivy's friend? He's dating Miranda Pond?"

He relaxed slightly. "Speaking of your male acquaintances, when am I going to meet your singing teacher?"

"It's not quite that simple, Clint. He doesn't want people to know who he is, and I need to... warm him up to the idea of telling someone. I'm sorry, but I keep my word."

I left quickly, climbing back to my room.

My hand mirror still lay on the table next to my bed.

"Miss Dalton," said JARVIS, "I know you've forbidden me to tell him anything, but –"

"I will tell him, JARVIS. In my own time, when I've warmed him up to the idea. In the meantime, you are forbidden to tell him or hint at it in any way."

JARVIS went silent.

I sang a sequence of notes and pressed a jewel on the mirror.

Erik – you may know him as the Phantom of the Opera – sat on the other side.

It's a long story. No, seriously, it's two of these stories long. I'll explain it all in the story later, if you're patient, otherwise read the rest of this series.

"I've been waiting for you, Ariel." There was a brief pause. "I trust there was a good reason. We will begin with your scales today."

Piano notes sounded and I began to sing, going up and down.

It would take rather a bit of warming up for both of them.

Jack narrating now.

The whole internship thing was sudden. One day, I was just minding my own business, doing stuff at college, and the next day I got a call saying that Tony Stark wanted me for an "internship".

When I talked to him on the phone, he said there was a project going on that he needed multiple people to help with. Presumably, he wanted a new set of eyes. And I strongly suspect that he thought that, if Ultron was going to be a problem in the movie universe, I would tell him. Honestly, I think that's the main reason I was there. Just because Ivy was dead, though, didn't mean the non-interference policy was.

Mr. Stark explained the concept of Ultron to me as he showed me around the lab.

"You want a peacekeeping robot that's job is to protect humanity?" I asked, as if I didn't understand perfectly. "Sounds like something out of a movie. A comic book movie, even." And we all know how this kind of thing works out in the movies.

Seriously, what was Mr. Stark thinking?

They put me to work right away as their project commenced.

My duties turned out to mostly consist of minor stuff. It was mostly just getting them things they needed and keeping them supplied with coffee. Seriously, there was a lot of coffee involved.

Ariel stopped in once, blissfully unaware of what Ultron was or would become. She didn't ask what Mr. Stark was working on, but instead handed me her cell phone. "Miranda has something to say to you. Can you spare him for a moment?"

Mr. Stark nodded.

I took the phone. "Hey, Miranda. Is something up?"

"You have a way out that night?"

"Yes, of course. It's prom and I promised to take you, I made sure to arrange for that night off. I'll be there well in advance, promise."

"Take care of yourself."

"Same to you."