Hey everyone.
First off, thanks for all the follows and favorites and reads! They fuel how fast this story is updated and written.
On the subject of updating... the thing I was storing this story on suffered an unfortunate accident. I only have a few chapters left. Hopefully I'll be able to retrieve the stuff off of it. If not, don't expect quick updates. I'll do my best.
Ivy here.
I shoved past Ryan into the house, lowering Edward onto the ground.
"I'll call an ambulance." He moved toward the hall phone.
"No. No one can know we're here." I removed Edward's jacket as gently as I could.
"What, aside from being alive, you're a doctor now?"
"You're not helping, Ryan." The bullet hadn't hit him in the chest, thank God. It had hit him in the shoulder. "Look, I need you to do exactly what I say." I gave him instructions about what to do – I'm not a doctor, but I do have some idea of how to keep a person alive until a doctor arrives (I've taken first aid classes). Granted, I'd never tried it before...
I ran outside and set my teleporter.
A moment later, I stood inside a dark hallway, at the door of an apartment. I banged on the door.
There was silence for a long, horrible moment.
Then Dr. John Watson appeared.
He stared at me for a moment. "What happened?"
"My friend was shot. I need you to come with me, right now."
"Let me guess, can't get to a hospital?"
I shook my head.
"Give me a moment." He left the door open and headed into the apartment. "What happened?"
"Gunshot wound to the shoulder. I think there was an exit wound, but it was dark and hard to tell and there was blood –" I caught my voice rising and took several deep breaths. "Exit wound. Bleeding heavily. I had to drag him to my house. Conscious when I left, about a minute ago."
He reappeared with a bag in his hand. "Let's go."
I grabbed his arm and reset my teleporter.
A moment later, we were back in my house.
Edward still lay on the hall floor, Ryan pressing a cloth against his chest.
I reached up and flicked the light on as Dr. Watson bent down to examine him.
"Is there anything you need?" I asked.
He gestured at Ryan and told him to get some things. "You stay there," he ordered me.
I took a few steps into the living room and sank down into a chair, pulling the cord to close the curtains.
Jack here.
When the robots burst into the room, firing, we were among the lucky.
Miranda and I had chosen to dance in the corner of the room rather than mingle. I can't dance that well, and it's just embarrassing.
When we saw the robots, we made a break for the doors, pushing through them and sprinting out into the soccer field.
One of the robots flew overhead, firing.
Miranda grabbed my hand, pulling me off balance into the dirt.
My nose hit the grass with a crunching sound. Broken.
I scrambled up and kept running.
"Have any ideas?" I asked.
Miranda stopped suddenly and pulled something out of her dress.
I recognized it a second later as some kind of taser – one which I had modified for just such a situation.
She fired it and hit the robot.
It sparked and convulsed for a moment. Then it went dead and hit the ground.
"Nice aim."
"Nice design."
She aimed again and took out another one.
I stared at her. "Why did you even bring that to prom?"
"Because you never know what can happen. I went on a choir retreat and met a superhero in the woods."
I cringed inwardly. Oh, yeah.
"Don't see any more." Her face was white. "I just destroyed two of Tony Stark's Iron Legion."
"When I design a gadget, it works."
One of the robots' eyes lit up.
"You think it ends here?" asked Ultron's voice.
Miranda walked toward it. "No, I don't. I think it's only the beginning, you psycotic malfunctioning Starkbot."
Had I heard that right? Miranda mouthing off? It truly was the end of the world. Usually that was me or Ivy's department.
"It's only the beginning. You'll send more. And I'll destroy them all too. You were willing to shoot a bunch of people because of somebody who's already dead and a couple of people who weren't going to do anything to stop you."
"It was too great a risk. You kids –"
Miranda lost it. "We are not children. We might both be seventeen, but we are not children in any meaning of the word. If you know anything about us, you might as well know that."
Ultron was silent for a moment. "You might as well surrender now. It will make everything easier for you."
"Whatever." She shot the thing again.
The eyes went dead.
I just stared at her. "That was... what did you just do?"
"I'm not quite sure." She tucked it back into her dress.
"You're amazing."
"Aren't you sweet? You know, three years ago, I would have laughed at something like this. Now, I have to plan in advance for it. And just when you think it's over... we were all out of that energy. All that ability to travel between universes. We were done. Why now? Ivy's dead."
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "We can do it one more time."
People were crowding around us, keeping their distance from the robots.
"What happened?"
Miranda just shook her head and started crying. Tears streaked down her face and the only sound she made were choking, incoherent sobs.
She turned to me, quirked up the side of her mouth, and winked.
Crying. A surprisingly effective way to avoid having to answer difficult questions. Sadly, guys can't quite pull it off the way girls do.
I glanced back. "I... didn't do anything. I don't..." My words came out disconnected, as the reality of what had nearly happened settled in.
I pulled Miranda in a little closer. She buried her face in my jacket.
"Did anyone see what happened?" I called out.
There was a consensus of head shakes and quiet "no"s. Thank God.
Sirens sounded nearby.
"Is that something you made?" asked a voice.
"NO, I DID NOT CREATE A STUPID MURDERBOT!" I yelled. "Seriously, how idiotic do you think I am?!"
The crowd went silent.
"Sorry."
Miranda pulled away, scrubbing away the tears. "Is anyone hurt?"
She began sorting out everyone who had been hurt, going inside herself to find two people who'd been hurt.
I stayed outside, doing my best to check for injuries, using what I'd learned from Mom (a doctor).
After moving out one of the injured completely on her own, she sank down on the grass. Her blue dress was splattered in blood.
Her face was paler than before. Her hands were scarlet. Several smears of blood distorted her makeup – which had run and was all over her face.
She leaned over suddenly and threw up.
I grabbed her hair and pulled it off her face until she was done.
"Stay there," I said. "You've done enough for one night. More than enough."
"Edward's missing. And Carmen. You don't suppose..."
"No. We would have found them then. And I saw Carmen going out the doors a few minutes before, with... somebody. I'm not sure who. She probably just ran home or something, she lived near the school."
"I'll call her house – but then, she wouldn't answer the phone, probably. Actually, they probably don't know about her, so she's fine."
Ariel appeared a moment later. Her face was red and tear stained, and her skirts were ripped up.
"Has anyone seen Edward?"
I shook my head.
Miranda shrugged. "Mabe he's with Carmen – she was outside, I'm pretty sure she got away." Her phone buzzed. She pulled it outside. "Yes, she did. She just texted me."
Ariel knelt down in the grass and started bawling. "That makes three."
"Three what?"
"Edward still missing. And there was..." she took a shuddering breath. "A girl from my biology class. And Meg."
"Meg?"
"The girl who played Meg with me. In that musical. Both dead."
Because of us.