After a good nights sleep and something that requires a bed, too, but no sleep, Eli lounged around on his home's roof to relax the next morning. Dressed in nothing but some shorts and sunglasses, he absentmindedly played some songs derived from old 8-bit video game tunes on a guitar.
It was something Jessica had dared him to try, and he had a lot of fun doing it. He always enjoyed Jessica's nostalgic smile as he nailed another new song from her childhood, back when everything was alright.
He wasn't paying all too much attention to the song when he saw his phone light up on the desk, indicating a new message from one of his favored contacts. There were only six of those. He looked at it shortly after and smiled at the message sent by 'Big sis'.
[Thanks for helping out the team. They were all shaken, and I don't know what would have happened to Bruce if you didn't stop the twins. Thor looked out of his wits, left for somewhere unknown. Lucky coincidence that I was visiting Laura. Turns out Clint's newest child will be a boy. So no sisters-for-life-pact between Eliza and a little Natasha junior, like I hoped. Clint said something stupid about an arranged marriage though, guess who's drinking his food from a straw today ;)]
"Who put such a bright smile on your face today?" Eli looked behind to find Jessica standing in the window dressed in a tank top and shorts.
"You, of course, or don't you remember last night, 'Jewel'?" Eli asked with a taunting smile.
"Ugh, asshole!" Jessica shouted as she picked up a pillow and threw it at Eli with a bright red blush. Eli had cashed in his 'condition' immediately after they arrived home.
"Don't lie. You enjoyed yourself too. I was there," Eli quipped with a wink.
"So why smile while looking at your phone? Please don't tell me you took naughty pictures last night," Jessica argued as she moved the guitar away and laid down in Eli's arms, moving his hand so he patted her head.
"Those pictures are not on my phone. No, Nat just sent a text. She was where the Avengers went to get their shit together."
Jessica didn't even care about the pictures if they existed, so instead of pinching Eli for his sass, she just kept enjoying the head massage. If she were a cat, she would be purring right about now.
With eyes squinted in contentment, she watched Eli type his response.
[Thanks for the heads up. If Tony's not in the right mind to ask for help, please reach out. Don't want to have to move planets because a little girl messed with his iron mind. Better yet, tell Clint to reach out :P]
"The hell you mean 'move planet'?" Jessica asked as I hit send.
"I mean, you've heard him at the party, no? If Ultron wins, that means extinction. I'd rather be somewhere else before that," Eli said as if it wasn't a big deal.
"You know what? Same. I'd much rather stop the evil murder robot, though," Jessica mused.
"So? Want to officially join the Avengers then?"
"Ugh, I don't think I'm ready for the actual big leagues."
"Lets wait until they reach out and help as best we can then. To do that, we need to be in top shape," Eli said as he ran a finger over her knee. The wound had closed without any scars before they even reached New York.
"Please, no more Asgardian super work out," Jessica whined.
"What's so wrong with squatting with a horse on your shoulders?"
"First of all, whatever you had me squat last time was not a horse, that was a horse shaped tank with wings. Secondly, that's not even Asgardian. You made that up after watching that Disney movie. You didn't even get the pantheon right. Dude's greek, not norse," Jessica argued.
"That movie is over a millenia younger than my father. What if the writer stole it from a story his viking era ancestor passed down through the ages. Also, never tell Misty your opinion of her noble steed."
"Quit the dramatics, that's a bunch of horseshit and you know it," Jessica laughed.
As the couple joked around and relaxed on the roof, hours went by. Before the sun went down, Eli disappeared for a short moment and came back up to Jessica with some snacks and the green breastplate from his mother's secret stash.
"Here, I wanted to give it to you on your birthday and our one year anniversary next month. But if you're going to fight a murder bot that wants to end all life on Earth, maybe you should wear it early," Eli explained as he handed it over.
"You sure?"
"I mean, I still don't know how you feel about my first gift, the dagger, but yeah. It won't protect anything just sitting in my glass showcase. I know this green isn't really your color, so I could change it. I could have something else made, too, if you don't want this one. Just not for a potential fight this week, so bear with it," Eli said as he handed over the piece of armor.
Still dressed in just shorts and a tank top, Jessica gently pressed the breastplate against her body and as she wanted to ask how she should fix it to her clothing, a green light began to shine from the armor and softly embraced Jessica's figure.
A few moments later, Jessica was now dressed in a form fitting armor that exposed her legs, because her new high heeled boots might have included shin guards up to her knees, but the metal-plated leather skirt with slits on both sides of her legs still left plenty of her thighs bare. The armor, too, left her midriff lightly exposed. Her arms were bare, too. At least the breastplate did not come with a boob window and, while not constricting, still protected her neck like a turtleneck.
"Your mom had style, I'll give her that. This feels more like a slutty halloween costume though."
"I'll be honest with you, I did not know it could do that."
"So you gave me a magical artifact and you didn't know what it does?" Jessica said as she glared at Eli.
"It was all under control. Come over, I'll fix what you don't like about it," Eli said as he conjured a mirror and pulled Jessica in front of it.
A roll of leather from Asgard and a few spells later, the armor looked different. The metal parts were a deep purple, while all leather parts were black. It didn't even look like leather though, more like skintight spandex.
No more exposed midriff, the arms were covered and while her boots' heels were lower, her thighs were covered in black leather now.
"Yeah, this looks much less like I'm a stripper," Jessica said as she admired her new form in the mirror.
Her hair color was back to her natural black and she wore her scarf-mask. The look really was complete now, a little too much like a mediaval fantasy knights armor all-in-all, but it could look much worse.
"Okay, glad you like it because we ran out of time," Eli said, holding up his phone. On it was a message from 'Robin Hood', Clint had laughed for an hour when he saw the name in Eli's contacts. Apparently, it was an inside joke from him and Nat in addition to the obvious archer reference.
[Cap just entered Avengers Tower with the twins in tow. Come quickly in case this is a code red working its way into becoming a code green.]
"Remember our promise. You'll come with, but you won't try fighting the twins head-on," Eli said as he quickly went down to change into something more appropriate. Going in just shorts was a no-go.
"Lets move," Eli said as he picked up the newly dressed Jessica.
As they reached, Eli got another message to quickly come to the quinjet.
"-but the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out," Steve explained to the full team on the quinjet.
"Hey guys, you ordered some extra hands?" Eli said as he lifted his invisibility.
"Mr Collins, how curious I couldn't see you?"
"Uh, magic? Who are you? Did it turn out the twins are actually triplets?" Eli asked the red man he had never seen before. He looked human, but at the same time he positively didn't with all his crimson red skin.
The shining yellow stone in the tip of his widow's peak was the last clue Eli needed that this was something else. And when he checked, this beings surface thoughts were so vast, it felt to Eli like he was looking into the mind of an entire population.
"No, I am not related to Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. For now please call me Vision," the...android? explained.
"Sure buddy. So the wonder twins changed teams I take it? Or are you all in cahoots and want to unmask me in a group effort?" Eli asked in a joking tone.
"I'm afraid this isn't the time for jokes, Tempest. Ultron is about to wipe out all life on earth. We're going to Sokovia to free Sharon and put an end to Ultron. We'd be happy to have you and your partner come along," Captain America said in a no-nonsense tone as the twins looked at Eli with very complicated eyes. Eli nodded to Jessica in response.
"Hey, where are you going, kid?" Tony asked as Eli left the quinjet.
"You realize I fly faster than the quinjet, right? So what would happen if I push it along for some extra speed? Didn't you just say we have a world to save?" Eli asked as he stood outside to wait for the ramp to close and the quinjet to lift off.
"If he's pushing for extra speed, I call not-it for being on the sticks," Eli heard Clint say as the engines readied for take-off.
A few hours later, Eli pushing the quinjet along, entered Sokovian airspace.
The team split up as Steve, Pietro, Wanda, Jessica and Eli went to evacuate the civilians. Clint found a high place for recon, Thor and Bruce went to look for Sharon.
Vision and Tony were searching for Ultron. According to Wanda, he liked the town's church for its geometry, so that's where they went.
The evacuation was going well at first, Eli used some of his powers to give the populace some tailwind. That was until an Ultron bot began shooting into the civilians. The Ultron bot screamed for Eli to show himself or Ultron would use all his bots to suicide bomb the innocents.
Eli felt Ultron might be bluffing, but he couldn't risk it. He lifted his invisibility and was immediately swarmed by bots from all sides. Instead of blasters, they used some kind of energy blades that managed to draw blood from Eli.
While he was dodging as best he could and rising in height to keep the fight from the fleeing Sokovians, he split apart Shatterstar and began decimating the robots as best he could. That went well until the earth began shaking.
From his vantage point, Eli could clearly make out a ring around the city forming as the shaking suddenly stopped. Everything inside the ring began...floating up.
"Uh, guys? The city is starting to fly," Eli said as he caught his breath. The Ultron bots gave him some breathing room as they flew away to gather somewhere else.
Eli's eyes started to glow in pale green light as he tried to push the city back down with winds. He might have improved his telekinesis in the last four years, but the city was clearly too big to use this power to push against whatever Ultron installed to make the city become airborne.
The city's ascent slowed down, at first it did. But then the power Eli had to use was too chaotic to be meaningful. Instead of helping Sokovia with his actions, buildings began to crumble so Eli immediately stopped.
"*Good thing you stopped, kid. I was about to advise against you using wind to slow it down. Got anything else in your arsenal to help? Magic portals for the civilians or something?*" Tony conversed with Eli via his earpiece.
"I can, but I can't keep it open for as many people as there are on this rock. Ultron won't give me the time to set up a big enough, stable portal for everyone. Keep it in mind as a last drastic measure," Eli responded.
"*Eli, incoming!*" Jessica screamed in his earpiece.
Looking behind him, he saw the Ultron flying at him with high speed. But not as one of his random bots, no this appeared to be a Vibranium main body.
He raised his arm with the vambrace to block as the rapidly approaching body of Ultron began shooting a 5-fingered laser at him and he started regathering Shatterstar. Before all shards gathered to form a sword, Eli was swatted higher into the sky by a mighty swing of Ultron. He felt something crack as he spat out some bile but quickly regathered his wits because he saw Ultron following him.
Ultron was about to hit him again, when Eli finished a barrier spell to parry the punch to the side. The barrier broke immediately, which was odd, but Eli couldn't think about it just yet.
For the third swing, Shatterstar was finally complete and Eli blocked the swing with the blade as a metallic clang rang out in the city.
"You are a fool to try and stop me, Asgardian."
"Oh, so you finally learned what I am? I wonder what database held that nugget of information," Eli said as he took deep breaths and backed away from Ultron.
"Why do you even care about what I do to this planet, it is humanity that is doomed to evolve or fail, not Asgard," Ultron said in a mocking tone.
"Even if I didn't care, would you stop at one realm? My grandfather didn't," Eli huffed with deep breaths.
"Grandfather... no matter. You won't be able to stop me, not when I have lured you and your father away from what truly matters," Ultron said with glee in his voice.
Eli looked down and saw Thor flying towards the two of them with rapid speed, he could even make out the clear worry in Thor's eyes. He also saw a gigantic S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier appear out of the clouds next to the floating city.
Ultron was still mocking their efforts when Thor arrived and hammered the robot away.
"I'd like to have a word with you once this is all over. So please do not die," Thor said with worry and other complicated emotions in his eyes.
"Wait, he said something about luring both you and me away from something. Don't follow, something more important must be going on!" Eli shouted as Thor was about to follow Ultron he had just swatted away.
Thor and Eli made their way down again and saw some Avengers and Jessica gathered near the church where the drill interface was located. Jessica's arms were littered in cuts that were glowing a deep red. Extremis was working overtime to heal the little injuries. Slowly the Ultron bots began gathering in the surrounding plaza.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor taunted Ultron as both he and Eli landed.
As if on cue, the number of bots doubled moments later.
"You had to ask," Steve said with a sigh as he stood protectively before Sharon, who looked like she was about to pass out.
"First chance we got, take Sharon to the carrier, Alias. You, too, look like you need a breather. Where's the twins and Clint?" Eli asked as he looked around.
"Getting the civilians on the life boats. Tony's still figuring out a solution, probably guarding the helicarrier," Steve explained.
Suddenly, Iron Man landed in the middle of the group and Pietro arrived with Wanda is his arms.
Before he could say anything, two identical Vibranium 'main bodies' floated down to address the Avengers.
"This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?" Both Ultrons said at the same time, spreading their arms as even more bots arrived in the plaza.
"Like the old man said, together," Tony said looking at Steve.
The fighting started as a literal horde of bots tried to reach the drill interface. Thor and Vision each took on one of the Vibranium Ultron models and Eli, since he couldn't release Shatterstar with allies close by decided to use the move he used to end Klaue.
Eli cocked back his arm and with a throw obliterated tens of bots standing in a line in the plaza. The sword flew in an arc back around towards Eli thanks to his telekinesis, taking out a few bots on the way back. He was about to throw the sword a second time, when the Vibranium main body of Ultron that Thor was fighting dropped down towards him with a glowing red arm.
Eli managed to stop the cut Ultron wanted to inflict, but the sheer might of the swing and the energy contained in the claw drew deep scars into the Uru vambrace he was wearing and forced Eli on his knees.
As he gathered his wits, Thor arrived behind Ultron, smashed him to the ground a bus length away from Eli and began to channel his lightning into the Ultron main body. Iron Man arrived next to Thor and shot a beam from his chest into the struggling robot.
Eli slowly stood up, took a breath and turned to Ultron. His eyes began to glow in emerald green instead of pale green, showing he was charging up his magic instead of his 'source' and he held up his sword between both hands as it began to float between his palms.
The sword gained a golden-green hue and started rapidly spinning along its length until Eli was finished with his spell. He released the sword just as Thor and Iron Man stopped their channeled attacks and the sword pierced through this Ultron's energy core. Instead of blasting through the body, the sword kept drilling into Ultron as the entry 'wound' began to increase in size. It eventually engulfed even the head of this main body as it fell to the ground.
The sword slowly floated back towards Eli's hand as both Thor and Iron Man looked at Eli in astonishment.
"What? Want to ask why I didn't just do that before?" Eli asked drawing in deep breaths. His exhausted eyes were answer enough for Thor, so it was Tony's turn to speak up.
"Just make sure you have enough juice left for an emergency exit, kid."
After the friendly advice from Iron Man, both he and Thor went to assist Vision in defeating the last main body of Ultron.
This time, they channeled three attacks into him, Thor with his lightning, Iron Man again with a repulsor beam from his chest and Vision cast a high energy beam from the Mind Stone on his head.
Thor had explained to the Avengers and later to Eli during the flight that Loki's Scepter used to house one of the six infinity stones and since Eli knew they were used to give the twins their power, he no longer wondered what that power up was after the Battle of NY.
The last main body of Ultron couldn't tank the beam for long and eventually fell to its knees, with most of one side melted from the combined efforts of three Avengers.
"With a little bit of hindsigh-" Hulk smashed the last standing main body away before growling at the rest of the bots who started backing away.