Ariel here.

Our arrival at the tower was greeted by Dr. Banner rushing out to help us get Edward inside.

We all went upstairs to the destroyed area where the party had been.

"Is anyone else hurt?" asked Clint.

Jack rattled off a very medical sounding answer that I believe approximated to "we're all just traumatized, but thanks". I guess he learned that from his mom?

"Now, can anyone explain what happened?"

Jack did, including the bit about how Miranda had dealt with the robots.

"How and why did you design something that powerful?"

"The how is easy, I'm a genius. I didn't know it was strong enough to cause one of those to malfunction, though – nice to know it can though. The why... because I could. I wanted something powerful enough to do that if I needed it to."

Clint addressed Miranda. "And why did you have it with you?"

"Because I try to be prepared for everything."

"Including murderbots showing up at your prom?"

Her face tinged slightly red. "Stranger things have happened. Paranoia is only paranoia when you're wrong. And I wasn't wrong, was I?"

Clint conceded her the point with no further comment.

"I don't understand," I said. "Why did Tony's Legion attack us?"

"Does the word Ultron sound familiar to anyone?"

Jack and Miranda raised their hands in unison.

"And you didn't warn us?"

"Spoilers!" said Miranda in a weird British accent.

There was a long silence, broken only by Jack's hand slamming into his face.

"Wrong time for a Dr. Who reference."

"Seriously?" asked Clint.

"Ivy had the right idea. Bad things happen whenever someone tries to change time."

Clint groaned. "Wake. Up. There are two of your friends dead. Ivy's boyfriend was shot. This is not 'the right idea' or anything even remotely close to that."

"I'd love to see you argue that out with Ivy." Miranda's tone was soft, but dangerously close to breaking point. "This had nothing to do with our hiding the information. It was because we knew it at all. It actually be safer to keep our mouths shut in this case."

This was a side of Miranda I'd never seen. Ivy had rubbed off on her.

Clint glared at her.

I thought now would be a good time to intervene. "Clint, I think everyone just needs to take a break for a little while. We're all exhausted."

He nodded and withdrew.

"Where did that come from?" I asked Miranda. "I have no idea what you're hiding – it's probably better that you do – but you've never done that. Ivy did that all the time, but..."

"I'm sick of this. I want to go back to being a normal girl who does normal things and whose boyfriend doesn't get shot by crazy Russian spies!"

Dottie shot Jack. Right.

"Listen. Let's go up to my room. We can sleep in there for a few hours."

I led the way up to my room and laid out my blankets on the floor for Jack and Miranda.

As I did so, I began to sing "I've got No Strings" from Pinocchio.

"Stop it!" screamed Miranda. "Stop it!"

I stopped. "Yeah, you definitely need sleep. Just a minute." I dug through the drawers of my bedside table and pulled out a bottle of sleeping meds. Don't ask. "Here."

Yeah, yeah, I know, I shouldn't give people things like that.

She took the proffered pills and swallowed them. She lay down and fell asleep in less than twenty seconds.

Jack's eyes widened. "Was that the right dose? Because I've taken sleeping meds and they usually don't work quite that fast."

"She was having trouble staying awake on the way here, remember? The pills were just to make sure she slept for a long time. She needs it."

Edward here.

These following events are deeply embarrassing to relate. Please remember that I was on a lot of pain meds.

I lay on my back on the table, with Dr. Cho checking over all my injuries.

"What did you do after you left your school? Did you crawl to a doctor's office or something? Some one treated you between last night and this morning."

"Well, Jack does live pretty close to the school, and his mom was home that night. But no. She called one that she knows."

"She?"

I had a strange feeling I shouldn't say anything, but ignored it. "She. The... girl. She's sooooo pretty."

Dr. Cho laughed. "What did she do?"

"She dragged me to her house and got a doctor."

Luckily, I think she thought I was talking about Carmen.

"Who was the doctor? Because no one told me anything about that?"

"I don't know. It was all kinda fuzzy and she didn't turn the hall light on, they just had a flashlight. She didn't go far... then again, she does have that teleporter..."

Dr. Cho paused for a long moment. "What?"

"Yeah. She showed it to me when I saw her last. It can take her anywhere."

"How much blood had you lost?"

"Too much."

She turned her attention to one of the monitors. "You're lucky. This girl's helping you saved your life."

"Not the first time she's done it."

She looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"They didn't tell you about her? About Ivy?"

"Ivy who?"

"The prettiest girl I've ever met. She..." I didn't finish because Dr. Banner came in.

"How's he doing?"

"Surprising well. Rambling about somebody named Ivy who I think he has a crush on."

"Ivy was an old friend of his."

"Did you know her or something?"

"Somewhat. I only met her a few times." He picked up a tablet off a nearby table. "She was one of the first gifted that S.H.I.E.L.D. found. I don't know all of the specifics, but she said she could travel into alternate universes. It was a big secret at the time, but she's dead now and we've been a little more free with who we tell."

That was wrong. Not dead. "Hey..." I said, starting to push myself up. Pain shot through my shoulder and I dropped down again.

"Alternate universes?" echoed Dr. Cho.

"Nothing to worry about, though. Now she's dead, no one can go back and forth anymore, and they're not peopled by aliens or anything. They all have people like us. She came from an alternate universe, but her biology was the same as ours."

"Not dead," I said. "Not dead."

There was a moment of silence. "What do you mean? We went to her funeral. You were there. Everyone was there."

"Not dead," I stupidly insisted. "She was the one who got the doctor."

Dr. Banner nearly dropped his tablet. "What are you talking about?"

"Not dead," I insisted, and continued to ramble on. "She brought me to Carmen's. Carmen knew too. No one else. Ivy's been alive this whole time. You never saw the body, did you? That's because there was none."

Dr. Banner and Dr. Cho stared at each other for a long moment.

"I think he lost more blood than we suspected," said Dr. Banner.

"What do you think happened?" asked Dr. Cho. "Because we still haven't accounted for who treated him before – he'd be dead by now without that attention."

"No, what was that he was saying?" Black Widow's voice, but I couldn't see her.

"We think was hallucinating earlier, he thinks Ivy was the one patched him up, then took him to where Barton brought him from. Of course, that's impossible."

"Ivy?" her voice cracked slightly. Footsteps, and she leaned over me. "Are you sure it was Ivy?"

Something was wrong. Why shouldn't they know? "Yes."

"I have to look up a few things."

I'm so sorry about that, Ivy. So very, very sorry. So extremely sorry.

Guess who learned a very important lesson about backing things up. It's gone. Twenty chapters are gone. Be patient as I upload slowly. I'll do my best...