Claire watched him step inside and the door seal behind him but when the second door opened he felt a wave hit him and the pain caused him to drop to his knees, his senses screaming at him as he felt like he was being pulled in every direction. He didn't even realize he had cried out in pain.

It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

It felt like Hell.

Like fire- no- acid burning through every inch of his being.

Like someone was pulling him in a hundred different directions as much as they could but also like he was being compressed by immense pressure from every side.

There was so much noise- too much noise-

He felt sick. He finally understood why this had been so hard for Kasey to deal with. He could barely stand any of it, and yet she had dealt with all of it, being her size and age. Pushing himself back up, he clasped his hands over his ears and pushed his way towards Kasey. He had to get to her.

As he pushed through it, it seemed to lessen back down considerably, making it a bit more bearable.

He reached the bed Kasey was on and could hear how weak she sounded. Her heart was dangerously slow at this point, almost non existent again. She was breathing slow, deep breaths and was unresponsive to him showing up next to her.

Claire had panicked when she saw Matt go down but Tony stopped her from going to him as he started to steady back out.

He was glad that it was bearable, but his focus was on Kasey. He moved his hands away from his ears and reached out, gently taking one of her hands in his. "Kasey, I don't know if you can hear me over all this noise, but I'm here."

Her hands were cold to the touch compared to his and she didn't respond to the touch at all.

Her heart best picked up just a bit more, still dangerously low but her breathing became a little weaker as well.

Matt cursed under his breath. He hated how cold her hands were. He kept his hands around hers, hoping that she'd warm up, even if it wasn't going to help. For now, all he could think to do was talk to her. Hope that some of his words got through to her. So he talked. He talked about how they were stabilizing her, how she was back at the tower, and a bunch of other small things to keep himself talking.

He heard her breathing become a bit clearer and her heartbeat start speeding back up to a safe pace as he talked.

He felt a slight shudder course through him but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time.

Matt was filled with hop when she started to steady out. He continued to talk, finding himself talking about mundane things, like how the firm was going, Josie's, and how Karen called to check up on them.

After a bit he started to hear her move around, a weak voice coming from her. "M-matt?" She asked, starting to come around again but she was out of it.

It seemed like he could hear the static in the room increase. "Kasey." He smiled. "You're at the tower, Tony built a stabilization room-" He was cut off mid sentence by his own cry, a sharp and heavy pain rocketing through him. It felt like he was being pulled in a million directions at once.

Kasey tried to push herself up when she heard his cry but fell back onto the bed, her heart starting to race. "M-Matt?!" She cried out, only being able to listen fearfully.

Claire swore and turned to Tony. "We need to get him out!" She told him firmly.

Tony gritted his teeth but after a minute, he seemed to calm back down, still trembling from the glitch. "Matt, you need to get out of there." Tony's voice told him through the speakers.

Matt stopped, trying to catch his breath from the glitch attack. He swore he could still feel his own heart skip a couple times as he steadied himself. "D-don't get up Kasey. Just rest while you stabilize."

He tilted his head towards the speaker, before turning back towards Kasey. "Ask me to stay and I will."

She was shaking and tears spilled down her face as she tried to get up again but couldn't. She was too weak...

"I-I-" He could hear the fear in her voice despite how weak it sounded. He heard the way her heart had dropped, almost like his did and her breathing grew unsteady.

"Matt, what are you doing?!" Claire called out, watching him look back at Kasey.

Matt heard her heart and breathing, and let out a sigh. The lingering effects bothered him, but he knew that she was panicking and didn't want to leave her alone. "Kasey, I will stay with you as long as you need me to. You don't have to go through this alone."

Kasey hesitated, hearing Claire calling out to him. She wanted him to stay. She desperately wanted that comfort but to hear what had just happened- it terrified her.

She reluctantly shook her head. "Y-you..." she took a deep breath, her breathing evening out and her heart starting slow a little but was still racing.

"You need to go..." She muttered softly, tears still streaming down her face.

She needed him safe... people other than her needed him to be safe...

She couldn't ask this of him... she wasn't supposed to even be here...

No one needed her here like they needed Matt to be.

"Kasey..." Matt could hear a twinge of something sad in her voice. He didn't quite know what it was, and didn't quite get time to process it before another glitch episode was upon him. This one was worse than the others, as it felt like he had been sucker punched right in the lungs, and was unable to suck in even a single breath.

Matt fell to his knees, gripping onto the bed for dear life as he waited for the pain to be over. How Kasey had survived any of this, he'd never know. The pain was indescribable, but the thought of Kasey dealing with it alone was unbearable.

"Matt!" She cried in horror, hearing the distortions and she finally pushed herself up and reached out for him, wanting to do something to help.

She pushed off the bed and down next to him and wrapped her arms around him, trying to at least be of some comfort to him but two minutes into it still not getting any better, she started to move to try to pick him up.

"You need to get out of here-?!" She started but when she started to grab his wrists, she found she couldn't and her hand phased right through.

Her eyes widened in fear. "Matt?!"

But he had glitched out, disappearing from the room and ending up on the floor a few feet away from Tony and Claire, still glitching out a bit.

Claire whirled around her eyes wide when she heard him hit the floor. "Matt!" She ran over to his side as fast as she could.

It was disorienting, to say the least. He could feel her pass through him like he was air. He tried to speak, but the only sound that came out was another warbled cry as he moved from the room to the floor near Tony and Claire.

Being outside of the room helped somewhat, but pain continued to wrack through his body. He couldn't do much besides lay there, try to breathe, and wait for the pain to subside.

Claire knelt next him, fear in her eyes. "Matt-" She had no idea what to do so she resorted to rubbing his back like she did Kasey, just letting him know she was right there.

Tony swore under his breath, watching the whole thing, glancing back at Kasey who looked thoroughly terrified and quickly spoke up. "Kase, he's out here. We got him. He'll be okay." He reassured her but Kasey hardly responded to him, sinking on the floor, trying to fight off a breakdown.

Claire glanced up at Tony and back at Matt. "Hey, just keep trying to breathe, okay?" It didn't seem to be subsiding by much which was beginning to worry her.

Matt's breathing came in short labored breaths, as he tried to keep calm. Of course the whole situation had freaked him out somewhat, no sane person would be calm after that. If he had to describe it, it would be like he was put into a blender and popped back out whole.

Claire kept rubbing his back and talking to him as he calmed down more and more. She was worried about him and what could've happened had it been much longer.

Tony was still trying to calm down Kasey but her heart beat spiked hard and dangerously as she fell into a panic attack.

"K-Kasey-" He started, hearing her heart spike. He knew she was panicking again, but wasn't quite at the level where he could push himself up to go talk to her.

Claire looked up a bit but Matt glitching again made her turn back to him. "Shit- Tony why is it still happening?!"

Tony looked over, eyes wide. "It should be calming down! Maybe because of his stress about Kasey???" He offered with a shrug. "But Kasey is having a panic attack and I'm not sure how to calm her down."

"T-tell her I'm f-fine!" Matt seethed through gritted teeth, his words distorted. If he could calm her down, even by lying to her, he'd be okay with that. He didn't want her to end up glitching as bad as he had again.

"I tried that but she didn't respond but I'll try again." He turned back to the speaker. "Kasey, I need you to calm down. Matt's right here. He's alright."

She didn't respond as she continued to panic.

Claire kept her arm around Matt, scared he'd disappear on her like Kasey did.

"She's still panicking." Matt cursed, his breathing starting to steady out somewhat. Whatever that glitching was, he didn't want to experience that again after this, and he especially didn't want Kasey to experience it again. The thought of going back crossed his mind, but he didn't trust himself to move quite yet.

He felt another minor one ripple through his system and Claire frowned. "Let Tony take care of Kasey. Focus on trying to get this to stop if possible."

Tony sighed. "Kasey? Can you hear me?"

Kasey finally looked up a bit. "T-Tony??"

He sighed in relief. "Yeah. Matt's okay. He's out here with us. I know that was scary but I need you to try to relax, okay?"

Kasey seemed relieved to hear that and gave a small nod. "O-Okay-" but now that she wasn't completely frantic, she felt dizzy. "I-I don't-" She tried to get off the floor but ended up collapsing unconscious once again.

"Shit! Kasey?!" She didn't respond.

"Dammit-" Matt didn't know how he'd be able to focus on that, when Kasey seemed to be struggling in the other room. He heard Tony panic, which did very little to quell his own panicking. "Was that from the d-destabilization or-?" He couldn't even finish the sentence, but it was clear what he was asking.

"No- She's showing as stable for the time being- it's her heartbeat that seems to have dropped again-" He explained. "Kasey, can you hear me?" He tried again.

She slightly stirred but stayed unconscious but Tony took it as a good sign.

"Come on, Kasey. You need to get up!"

But instead Matt heard her weak heartbeat go near silent again.

Matt furrowed his brows and groaned, forcing himself up. "Her heart-" He panted, his condition not worsening or getting better. "It's going quiet again-"

Claire was quickly on her feet too. "Matt! You need to sit down!" She told him, watching him in worry.

He heard Kasey's heart try to pick up only to drop again.

"Claire, she's suffering in there, I can't sit here and listen to it without doing something about it." He told her. He hated causing her to worry so much, and knew he was probably stressing her out beyond all reason, but he had to help Kasey.

"But you're going to kill yourself!" She argued back, grabbing onto his arm in a non-injured place. "You can't help her if you can't even move in there!"

Tony had Friday bring one of the suits inside the room to try to help Kasey, giving her a small shock which seemed to get it back to a safer level and remain consistent for now. He sighed in relief. "Friday can help her somewhat with the suit but I'm not sure for how long."

"It seems to be evening out for me." He still felt weak and exhausted, but the glitches came in lessened waves as opposed to earlier. He listened to Kasey, hearing the consistency. "I'll wait for now. But if she worsens again, I'm going back in there."

About ten minutes later, Matt seemed to have reached a stable point for now.

Claire refused to leave his side during this time and Tony monitored Kasey and Friday who came in and out for breaks and resets.

Everything seemed to have calmed down until he heard her heart slow again and then drop into that warning zone.

"Claire..." Matt began, using it as his only warning before he started towards the door. While he still stumbled from his leg, he moved quickly and with purpose. "Keep an eye on her vitals!" He told the two, dipping into the hallway once again.

She didn't have time to try to stop him. "Matt! No!" She called back, going after him and grabbing his arm. "You can't! You're pushing yourself too far!" She told him, her tone begging him not to. "What if you can't get out this time?"

It was enough to make Matt pause, but he easily pulled himself out of her grip. He moved gently enough as to not hurt her or force himself away from her. "I'll come back, I promise. I just need to help her."

Claire hesitated as he carefully pulled free and very reluctantly stepped back out of the hallway. "I'll be right here." She replied, letting Tony close that door and reopen the other, Matt feeling the change almost instantly once again.

Matt hadn't expected the change to happen so soon. He barely had time to register anything before the destabilization set in. Static and noise filled his ears, and he stumbled towards Kasey once again. Once she was stable, then he'd leave. But he needed to get her there first.

But he could only make it a few steps outside of the hallway before the pain became too much and sent him to his knees again. He couldn't hear Kasey over all the noise and the pain that flared through his system.

Claire's eyes widened. "Matt!" She pressed her hand against the door. "Tony! Let me get him!"

"That's risking you too!" Tony argued.

"Damn it, Tony! Let me get him!" She snapped at him, making Tony flinch back in surprise but hesitantly closed the door and opened it up for Claire to step inside.

She quickly did, listening to the door close behind her, her heart racing, unsure of what she was about to go through but the searing pain through her entire body sent her to the ground, tears flowing hot and fast as she gasped desperately for breath, a cry of anguish coming from her.

Matt continued to suffer on the floor but a new noise made him wrench his head back towards the door. She had followed. Oh god Claire had tried to follow him.

"C-Claire!" He stuttered out, the pain keeping him grounded for the moment. "Go back-!"

Claire managed to shake her head. "N-No!" She argued back. "I'm n-not going to l-leave you in here!"

Tony however disagreed with that. "Oh yes you are." He shut the room off from the hallway again, making Claire gasp for breath as it lessened immensely.

She turned to look at him as he came over. "You aren't going back in there."

"And you're going to let Matt stay?!" She argued.

"I didn't say that either. Friday, help him."

"Of course." The suit walked into the hallway as Tony dragged Claire out of it and set her down and let Friday into the room.

Friday placed a metal hand on Matt's back. "I am here to help." She told him.

His condition improved somewhat, and he moved away from Friday's hand. Pushing himself up, he took a couple steps back from the suit. "I'm in here already, I might as well stay until she's stable again. After that, I'll leave."

"Then let me assist you over to her. Your leg is still broken." Friday pointed out. "And there is no guarantee if she will stay stable when she does stabilize."

Claire was regaining her breath on the floor, listening to them. She desperately wanted to go back in and get him out but she knew he'd fight with her over it... Even if it meant he might get killed in the process.

"No, but we need to find a setting that will keep her stable." He wasn't exactly knowledgeable in this whole thing, but he figured once she stabilized, they could keep her in the room until her wavelengths or whatever matched up with their universe's. Then it would've been like she belonged there. He accepted the AI's assistance, just in time for another wave of pain. This one was less than before, but it still hurt like hell.

Friday kept him from collapsing on the ground. "I still recommend leaving. It is not safe for you to be here."

Claire finally got to her feet and when she saw Matt double back over in pain, she moved back to the hallway. "Tony!"

"I am not letting you back in!" He told her firmly.

"Anthony Stark you will let me in there to get him out of there right the hell now or so help me I will make you suffer the worst pain you have ever experienced in your life-" She threatened him, her tone sharp and venomous.

Tony's eyes widened at the sheer audacity coming from her and hesitated. "Claire, I can't-"

"Let me in the damn room. Now."

Tony relented, seeing he wasn't going to win this argument and let her back into the hallway, hesitating before letting her into the room again.

Claire took a sharp breath but it wasn't as bad this time around and she approached Friday and Matt. "We need to go, Matt." She told him, her tone more firm than begging for him to agree.

Matt felt sick to his stomach and was finding it difficult to catch his breath. All of these ups and downs were throwing both him and his senses for a loop. At this point, he didn't know if he'd even be able to make it to Kasey and be able to calm her down without collapsing himself.

"Fine." His body seemed to agree with him, as he got enough strength to support himself and face Claire. "You shouldn't have risked yourself for this." His voice was still tired.

She crossed her arms. "And you shouldn't have either!" She argued back. "Friday and Tony can take care of Kasey-"

"Uh, guys?" Tony's voice came through the speakers. "Her heart just jumped dramatically from really low to the point its trying to beat out of her chest-" He told them and Matt could hear it pounding hard and dangerously fast and her shifting around a little but still unconscious.

"You've got to be kidding me-" Matt groaned, turning towards Kasey, then to Claire, then back to Kasey. Before he or anyone else could persuade him otherwise, he took a hold of Claire's hand, pulling her towards Kasey. "Maybe I'm not enough. Maybe she needs both of us."

Claire stumbled a bit but followed after him as he brought her over. "W-What-? Matt, we can't-" she weakly argued cause she wanted to help Kasey too. But at the risk of losing all three of their lives?

She hesitated before pulling free, making sure not to be too rough about it. "Matt- We're risking our lives even having this conversation-!" She suddenly felt the sharp pain flow through her body and cried out in pain, wrapping her arms around herself and trying to stay on her feet.

Matt turned back towards her, regret washing over him. Those distortions must've been messing with his mind. He never should've brought her further in. How could he be so stupid? Now he had two people he cared about in danger instead of saving the one he knew he could. "Claire!"

He stepped back towards her to bring her back out, but collapsed to the floor with a shout. "Friday, get her out!" He yelled, desperate to fix his stupid mistake. His lungs burned and his body ached, feeling like it'd rip apart at any moment.

Friday moved to help Claire but she pushed her away, standing up a little straighter, her arms still around her waist. "I-I am not leaving y-you in here alone!" She stubbornly told Matt, forcing herself over to help him up. "We're e-either staying here or we are l-leaving."

Friday glanced between them before turning to Kasey. "Her heartbeat has dropped low again." She informed them, making Claire look towards her.

Matt pulled himself up with the help of Claire, and he pulled her close. "I can't lose you both. I can't promise that you'll come out unharmed from all of this if we stay." Matt told her. He desperately wanted to help Kasey, but he would never forgive himself if he allowed Claire to stay, and have her end up getting severely hurt. After all, what if they did it all for nothing? What if they stayed, and it didn't make a difference anyway?

She was a bit surprised but returned the embrace. "Then let's let Tony and Friday help, okay?" She told him softly. "He can't adjust it safely with us in here with her."

Matt nodded, not really having the energy to go against her. "Okay. Let's let Tony take over then." Matt responded tiredly. Things seemed to have been stable for him, but as soon as he pulled back from her, the awfulness was back. As much as he resisted, he was once again pulled towards the floor.

Claire kept her grip on him, her eyes widening as she watched him glitch and crumple in her arms. "Matt!" She cried out before carefully but quickly lowering him to the ground, trying to figure out how to get him out of there before looking at Friday. "Help me get him on my back." She told her and Friday quickly did so.

Claire found herself surprised that she could even carry Matt this way, now having a hold of him like she was giving him a piggyback ride.

Tony also looked a bit surprised but watched her carry him into the hallway with Friday staying behind to help Kasey. He let them out and Claire looked at Tony. "Where's the medbay?"

"Oh, uh, down the hall, to the left, last room down that hall. Do... Do you need help?" He asked her.

She shook her head, already heading towards where he told her to go. "I-... I think I got it." She replied, unsure of how but she wasn't going to stop and risk dropping him.

Matt groaned at even the slightest movement, each touch against him feeling like fire upon his skin. His heart stuttered and skipped, sending shocks of pain through his limbs. He wasn't even able to process that Claire had picked him up so easily, or that he was being taken out of the room. His senses were overloaded and it felt like he was becoming closed off from the world around him.

Claire felt him grow a bit heavier and cast a slight glance at him. "Matt?" He didn't respond to her and she took a shaky breath. 'Just get him to the medbay.'

It took a minute or two but she made it and Kade looked up and quickly stood up, knocking her chair over and sprinting over to open the door and help Claire.

"Wh-What the hell happened to him?!" She asked, looking at how pale Matt looked in the bright room.

"I-" Claire hesitated, unsure if she should answer that. "It's a long story... Is there a private room I could tend to him in?"

"O-Oh! Yeah- Here-" Kade led her back out and to the hall, opening one of the doors. It looked like a small hospital room with everything all ready set up.

"Thank you." Claire carefully slid him off her back and onto the bed.

"Of course- Please, let me know if I can help at all- I'm Dr. Kade Lee." She introduced herself.

"Claire Temple. Thank you, Kade." Claire carefully worked on making Matt as comfortable as she could and trying to help get him stable again.

Kade nodded and headed back to the medbay area.

Matt, even while unconscious, groaned as he was moved. He really hadn't expected all of this to go downhill as quickly as it had. He should've, seeing as he kept going back for more.