The rain came down hard, cold drops drumming against the metal roof of the abandoned shipping yard. In the distance, blue police lights flickered, painting the wet concrete in surreal, strobing hues.
Eli and Natasha stood atop a stacked shipping container, lying flat on their stomachs as they peered over the edge at the chaos below.
A group of armed smugglers had taken control of the docks. But the crates of stolen tech and weapons were a sideshow. The real problem sat in the middle of the yard, humming with an angry, unstable light: a massive alien engine core, recovered from the Battle of New York and very much still active.
Natasha lowered her binoculars, her voice calm and clinical. "If that thing overloads, the blast radius will take out three blocks."
Eli leaned forward slightly, rain dripping from his white hair. "…Great."
"You think you can shut it down?"
"Maybe."
She glanced at him. "That's not very reassuring."
Eli scratched the side of his head, a habit she'd already noticed. "Alien tech isn't exactly labeled. It's not like there's an off switch with a little picture of a sleeping Chitauri."
Natasha touched her earpiece. "Command, we have visual confirmation. The device is active and unstable."
A voice crackled back. "Understood. Extraction teams are ten minutes out."
Natasha looked at Eli. "We don't have ten minutes."
Below them, one of the smugglers glanced up. His eyes went wide. He shouted something in a language Eli didn't know and opened fire. Bullets clanged harmlessly off the shipping container, leaving small dents in the metal.
Eli sighed, pushing himself up. "Alright."
Before Natasha could ask what he meant, he jumped.
Not down.
Forward.
He arced over the yard like a missile, landing in the middle of the concrete with a thunderous crash that spiderwebbed cracks across the ground. The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, knocking over two nearby smugglers.
The rest froze for half a second. They just stared at the figure standing in the crater, rain steaming off his skin.
Then all of them opened fire.
The gunfire echoed through the dockyard like thunder.
Natasha moved instantly, sliding down the container ladder to support him. But when she hit the ground and rounded the corner, she stopped dead.
Eli was walking through the gunfire.
Not dodging. Not blocking. Just walking. Bullets flattened against his skin like they'd hit tank armor, dropping harmlessly to the concrete in a growing pile of spent lead. He didn't even flinch.
The smugglers looked terrified. One of them, braver or stupider than the rest, shouted something and pulled a rocket launcher from a nearby crate.
Natasha's eyes widened. "Eli—!"
The rocket fired. The explosion lit the dockyard like daylight, flames and smoke rolling across the ground in a violent wave. Natasha raised her arm instinctively, shielding her face from the heat.
When the smoke cleared, Eli was still standing.
Completely unharmed.
He brushed soot off his sleeve with visible annoyance. "…Rude."
Natasha stared.
She had seen enhanced people before. She had fought alongside Steve Rogers, watched him take hits that would kill a normal man. She had seen the power of Thor, literal god of thunder. But this felt different. Steve struggled. Thor struggled. They pushed themselves to their limits.
Eli wasn't struggling. He wasn't even trying. He looked like he'd just walked through a light drizzle.
The smugglers panicked. They ran.
Eli ignored them completely. He walked to the alien core, studied it for a moment, then lifted it with one hand like it weighed no more than a grocery bag. He turned to Natasha, a casual wave of his free hand.
"Little red bean, I'll be back in a while. You take care of the NPCs."
Before she could respond, he shot straight up.
The wind blades from his fan concept shredded the corrugated metal roof, leaving a gaping hole that rain immediately began pouring through. He was gone, a white streak disappearing into the clouds.
Natasha paused for exactly one second. Then she turned to the smugglers, who were still staring at the hole in their roof like they'd just witnessed a miracle.
She smiled. It was not a nice smile.
"So, boys," she said calmly, rolling her shoulders. "Shall we get started? Or you still watching the white-haired Rapunzel?"
That got their attention.
What followed was less a fight and more a demonstration. Natasha moved through them like water, every strike precise, every movement economical. The smugglers were armed, but it didn't matter. They were fighting someone who had been trained by the Red Room, who had spent years as one of the deadliest assassins on the planet.
Within minutes, all of them were on the ground. Some groaning. Some not moving at all.
Natasha straightened her jacket, barely winded.
Three hours later, Eli dropped out of the sky.
He landed softly this time, no dramatic crater, just a quiet thump on the wet concrete. The hole in the roof was still there. The rain had stopped. The police lights in the distance had multiplied.
He looked around the yard. Smugglers lay scattered across the ground in various states of unconsciousness. Some were zip-tied. Others were just… lying there.
"Where have you been?"
Natasha's voice came from behind him. He turned, a wary look on his face that immediately softened when he saw it was her.
"You've been gone for three hours."
Eli blinked. "Three hours? Really?"
She crossed her arms. "Really."
"I went to throw the core out of space."
Natasha's expression didn't change, but something flickered in her eyes. "Out of space."
"Yeah. I flew up to the Kármán line and just… hurled it as far as I could. It'll drift forever. No blast radius." He shrugged. "Problem solved."
She studied him for a long moment. Then: "The Kármán Line."
"It's a thing. Look it up."
Natasha let out a slow breath. She wasn't sure if she was impressed or concerned. Possibly both.
They stood in silence for a moment. Then her expression shifted, something almost playful entering her eyes.
"Little red bean."
Eli blinked. "Huh?"
"You called me that before you left. Little red bean."
"Oh." He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. That's… that's your name. I mean, not your real name. It's just—" He reached out, gesturing vaguely toward her hair, his fingers brushing a wet strand away from her ear before he seemed to realize what he was doing and pulled back. "Your hair. It's red. And bean is just… I don't know. It sounds cute?"
He winced. "That sounded stupider out loud."
Natasha was still standing where she had stopped. Watching him. Not with curiosity anymore. Not with amusement.
With something closer to caution.
Eli tilted his head. "…What?"
She walked toward him slowly. "That's pretty stupid."
He wasn't sure if she meant the name or the gesture. Maybe both.
She stopped close, studying him carefully. For the first time since they'd met, Natasha Romanoff looked uncertain.
Eli noticed. His expression softened slightly. "You're not mad at me, are you?" A little tease in his voice, but something genuine underneath.
Natasha crossed her arms. "I don't get angry that easily."
"…That's not a no, little red bean."
She stepped closer. Close enough that only he could hear her voice over the distant police sirens.
"I've spent my entire life around annoying people." Her green eyes locked onto his. "But you're something else."
Eli frowned slightly. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
Natasha considered him for a moment. The rain had stopped completely now, leaving the air clean and cold. Then a small smile returned to her face.
"Yes."
She turned and began walking back toward the containers.
Over her shoulder, she added, "Next time you decide to tank a rocket, though…"
Eli fell into step beside her. "…Yeah?"
"Warn me first."
He smirked. "No promises."
But as they walked away from the destroyed engine core, Natasha glanced back once more. Just once.
Because the thought had crossed her mind: If Eli ever decided to stop being a hero, there was very little on Earth that could stop him.
And that realization was both impressive… and terrifying.