Arc III Age of Ultron - The end of Ultron

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor said as he looked at the fleeing bots.

"We can't let'em. Not even one. Rhodey!" Iron Man said while lifting off.

The Avengers once again split up for the remaining three tasks; eliminate all Ultron bots, finish evacuation to the helicarrier, and protect the core so Ultron doesn't drop the floating city before they were done.

As one of the few that can fly easily, Eli joined Vision and War Machine in destroying all the remaining bots. Almost done, they noticed the quinjet flying above the city, shooting at random times but so far they didn't notice anything weird about it, maybe Jessica and Sharon found the quinjet before arriving at a life boat and used the quinjet instead to flee.

Seeing no other stragglers in the air, Eli flew back to the city, close to one of the last lifeboats to get a look at the situation. He saw all Avengers save for Wanda and Tony present, so he quickly got a bad feeling about who was flying the quinjet.

The last civilian turned out to be a frightened little boy who hid behind an overturned car, Clint ran to him to drag him on the lifeboat. Then, the quinjet lined up to shoot down the street with Clint still on it.

Realising the danger the archer and the kid were in, Eli quickly cast a protection spell on both as high caliber projectiles ripped apart the street around them. They both had their eyes closed. Clint was surprised he didn't feel any pain.

He looked up to see what was happening, only to see a bleeding Pietro looking like a sieve in front of him.

"You didn't see that coming?" Pietro whispered as he fell forward.

Clint's and Eli's eyes widened in disbelief. Clint laid the kid down next to him as Captain America and he hurriedly kneeled next to Pietro to check his vitals.

"You idiot!" Eli scolded as he landed next to the three heroes in a heavy thud with glowing green eyes.

"They were protected with a spell. Nothing would have happened to them!"

Eli laid his glowing hand on Pietro's back, and the blood immediately stopped flowing out of the gunshot wounds all over the speedster's body.

"Jessica! Come over quickly, drop some of your blood into one of the wounds! There's too much damage for my spell to fully heal him!" Eli shouted to the safeboat Jessica and Sharon were in.

"Hey hey, you even healed Nat's decade old 'surgery'. Save him already," Clint pleaded from the side.

"That was Loki's Scepter, I only channeled it! It was a freak accident," Eli said as he concentrated on the healing spell.

"You sure?" Jessica asked as she arrived next to them, dagger in hand.

"Either he dies or he dies, I don't see any other option. His fast metabolism should be able to handle it. There's no time for a lab test," Eli said as he began to sweat heavily. He took out a miniature metallic injector, and Jessica deeply cut into her hand.

Ten big drops of Jessica's blood and an injection later, Pietro's wounds began to very slowly, but still visibly heal. However, instead of extremis' usual red heat signature, the wounds on his body glowed in a pale lightning blue.

"Put him on a lifeboat. He won't wake up any time soon," Eli said as he slumped down. Clint and Steve got to work and moved the boy and Pietro on the lifeboat.

Taking deep breaths with Jessica rubbing his shoulder in worry, Eli looked up to the quinjet. The Hulk had just lept up from somewhere in the city and landed in the open jet. A moment later, the figure of a ripped apart Ultron main body fell out and crashed into the city plaza.

With a lingering look on the quinjet, Eli noted that Hulk did not turn it around and did not come out. Something was up, but he was still on a floating rock above the clouds, so that was something to worry about later.

"Go back to the lifeboat, guard it in case we missed some bots. You're one of the few able to fly. I'll go check on Wanda and Thor," Eli said as he stood up with a groan.

"Please, don't argue, Jessie. I know we're both exhausted, but I can take the heavier hit," Eli said as he stretched his back and put a hand on her cheek.

"I'll kill you if you dare to die here," Jessica declared as she moved toward the lifeboat after a long staring contest between the two.

As he moved closer to the center, the city suddenly dropped. When he looked toward the drill interface, he saw the ripped apart figure of the Ultron main body that the Hulk had thrown out of the quinjet holding the interface in his only remaining hand.

Wanda, on the other hand, laid unconscious and bloody next to it. Eli flew on a collision course at full speed toward Ultron and nailed the metallic body on the ground. He couldn't make it out, but Ultron tried to say some mocking last words as he powered off.

Thor arrived a few moments later and saw Eli check on the unconscious Wanda.

"Quickly, get her out of here. Stark and I are about to blow this rock to dust. You best not be on it when it happens," Thor said, readying his hammer overhead.

"Promise me you'll make it out then. You still owe me that talk you wanted to have with me," Eli demanded as he touched his ear to remove his scarf.

"Talk to you later, father," Eli added, throwing Wanda over his shoulder, Shatterstar already back in its necklace form.

On his way out of the city limits, Eli picked up Vision, who was looking for leftover survivors like Wanda, and they arrived close to the helicarrier shortly after.

When they landed on the runway, a gigantic lightning storm gathered above the quickly falling city. Like a lightning rod, it all landed in the city center, and the city-turned-meteorite began to disintegrate into a gigantic storm of dust and pebbles.

"I hope Thor and Tony make it out alive," Eli said softly, as if in prayer, as he laid down Wanda on the helicarrier.

"I shall go now and look for them after I have dealt with the last of Ultron," Vision on the side said as his yellow gem began to glow softly.

"I'll fly ahead th- ugh," Eli wanted to follow Vision down, but instead, his exhaustion finally caught up to him.

First, he fell to his knees, then he fell face first into the floor, unconscious. Vision looked at the young Asgardian and judged the boy was just too exhausted.

"No worries, son of Thor. I will find your father," the android softly said as he phased through the helicarrier and flew away.

"So kid, where'd you get the extremis from?" was the first thing Eli heard when he woke up again.

"Don't dare presume I would allow you to interrogate my son just after he woke up, Stark," Thor's voice sounded out in the room Eli was in.

"Well, there's a bipolar witch in the next room who isn't sure whether to be happy her brother was saved or angry that he turned into a blazing blue human torch so one way or another he will have to answer some questions," Tony argued back.

"Where am I?" Eli whispered with his eyes still closed.

"Back in the states, Avengers compound," Tony answered.

"I'm not an Avenger..."

"Well, tough luck, kid. The position isn't hereditary, but you just saved Earth from certain extinction. Again. That makes you an Avenger," Tony quipped.

"Ugh, how long was I out?"

"Barely 12 hours. Consider it a long, deserved sleep," Thor told the still tired boy.

"Did everyone make it out?"

"Yeah, no casualties on our team. Your girl is pissed though. You didn't tell her how to take off her magical armor, and sleeping in it is apparently uncomfortable. At least going to the bathroom was possible," Tony joked.

"She'd just have to calmly think about taking it off and gently pry the breastplate away from her skin. Calm and gentle aren't her strong suits, though," Eli explained, slowly opening his eyes.

What he saw was the snickering faces of Thor and Tony. Behind them was Jessica glaring at him from a couch she had apparently slept on.

"Jessie, how are your wounds? Why are you on a couch and not a hospital bed?"

"Nice try asshole," Jessica shot back as she breathed out a long, relaxed breath. She did as Eli just explained and took off the armor. A slight blush appeared on her face because all of a sudden she only stood there in a thin tanktop and shorts so short they could pass as panties.

"I forgot we were just relaxing alone on our roof when you gave me the armor," Jessica said, trying to appear calm as she held up the breastplate to hide her lower body.

"There's a track suit in the cabinet over there," Tony pointed, and Jessica quickly grabbed whatever was on top and ran into the bathroom to get dressed.

"So? Do I get an answer on the extremis thing?"

"Yeah, Maya Hansen is alive," Eli immediately answered, and what followed was a minute of silence.

"What the shit do you mean she is alive!? I saw her bleed to death when Aldrich Killian shot her in the stomach," Tony shouted.

"Magic?" Eli supplied with a shrug.

"Are you kidding me? You were there and left me chained to a bed?"

"Uh, when you say it like that, it really sounds like a dick move," Eli chuckled.

"I couldn't explain it in a way that wouldn't make it sound like a dick move!"

"Well, you had my number and didn't call? To be fair, I wanted to save Pepper before Killian put extremis to the test, but I made a wrong call and didn't arrive in time. For that, I am sorry," Eli defended himself with a sigh.

"We'll have a nice long talk about that some other time. Can you get me the data on what Maya did to extremis so I can try and fix whatever you did to speedy?" Tony said with a glare.

"Uh, no, I don't think so. But I can do you one better and get her here?"

"Why do you make it sound like a question?" Tony asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well, do you hold a grudge? Will you have her arrested?"

"... no," Tony said after thinking about it for a long moment.

"She'll probably want that in writing. Do you have my phone? I'll send you an emergency contact for Maya," Eli offered.

A few jokes later, Tony left with Maya on her way to fix Pietro, and Thor and Eli were left alone in the room. By the sounds of it, Jessica was enjoying a shower after finally getting the armor off. And she took long showers.

"So," Thor said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. Eli took a deep breath.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Elias Collins, but my Asgardian name, if you would allow it, is Elias Thorson. Amora gave birth to me in her exile in Midgard year 1997," Eli said as he sat up on the bed.

"Why?" Thor asked with a complicated look as he regarded his son.

"Why not tell you? My mother Amora made that her final wish. And I didn't really know how to tell you," Eli said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Amora... why would she not allow me to know about you?"

"She had her reasons for doing what she did to you, but... her feelings for you were genuine. She didn't want to make things complicated for you by burdening you with a son you didn't... want," Eli explained with down-turned eyes.

"It's family, there's no place for want or need... family is family... How did she die?" Thor asked after two minutes of quiet contemplation with tears in his eyes.

"She did something very noble and selfless, probably for the first time in a long time," Eli said with a sad sigh.

"Motherhood must have changed her greatly," Thor said with a low chuckle.

"She was a complicated person, but she was also an amazing mother," Eli concluded with a fond smile.

"Finally, you two idiots talked it out," Jessica said as she entered the room again with wet hair and her new Avengers tracksuit.

"Uh, that's my girlfriend Jessica, by the way," Eli introduced.

"Well met at last, Lady Jessica. You make quite the formidable ally on the battlefield," Thor went toward Jessica and shook her hand with a bright smile, which Jessica awkwardly returned.

"Uh, we've been talking for hours now, didn't we? Remember? We each sat on one side of his bed and talked about your son's life for literally hours."

"That is true, but my son had only introduced you with your...alias? Wow, I only now see what you did there. Very clever," Thor said with a boisterous laugh.

"By the way, Thor. Has my grandmother woken up yet?" Eli said as three were talking about Asgard.

"Grandmother? Oh, yes. Wait, no, she did not. But her recovery has gone well. The healers expected her to wake up by the end of the year at the latest. Haha, I only now realize that you acted in defense of your family during the invasion. You have the makings of a trickster, like your uncle Loki," Thor said, patting his son's shoulders.

"Would you allow me to see her? Grandmother, I mean?"

"Just lift your magics so Heimdall can see you. I will personally tell him to answer your every call for Bifrost travel," Thor immediately offered.

"Uh, sure? Kinda just wanted to ask for a one-way ticket, though a personal bifrost chauffeur service does not sound all too bad."

"Don't joke about something like that. I bet this Heimdall has better things to do. Isn't he like the grand protector of Asgard with the all-seeing eyes or something?" Jessica scolded as she slapped the back of Eli's head.

"Oh? You have heard of Heimdall?" Thor asked with a lift of his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Misty gave me a crash course in Asgardian history and politics. Misty is someone Amora trusted with her life. She looked after Eli when Amora passed away. She's Asgardian, too," Jessica explained, hiding the fact that she was also a Valkyrie. Misty should be able to decide on her own who knows about that particular secret.

"Alright, I think I am ready to get out of bed now. Have you guys eaten anything yet?" Eli asked to divert from the topic. He was in the same boat as Jessica. He did not want to linger on the topic of Misty. She has made it clear; she wants nothing to do with Asgard for the time being.

After eating together in the Avengers cafeteria, which was bursting at the seams because of all the new personell they apparently hired, Jessica excused herself to get an interview with Steve Rogers done. He had officially invited her to the Avengers.

And though she had asked to remain a street level hero in New York for a little bit longer and only be called for bigger missions, Steve still insisted on inviting her. She had been a huge help during the mission in Sokovia and their team was a little barebones with the Hulk M.I.A., Hawkeye and Iron Man more or less retiring and - which was news to Eli at that point - Thor going off world.

Jessica reluctantly agreed to staying on Earth. As a new Avengers prospect and an increasing crime rate in New York, she didn't want to leave for a month or two.

The two were saying goodbye to each other outside, waiting for someone when they heard Thor, Steve, and Tony walking toward them.

"Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. And once all these pieces are in position-" Thor explained his reasoning for leaving.

"Triple yahtzee," Tony guessed.

"You think you can find out what's coming?" Steve inquired.

"I do. Besides this one, there's nothing that can't be explained," Thor said, gently hitting Tony's chest.

"You ready, son?" Thor asked Eli.

"Keep going like this, and you might wear out the 'son', father," Eli joked with a wink. Thor had been calling him son every second sentence, even Tony had noticed.

"He's ready. Just make sure he comes back in one piece," Jessica said with one last kiss on Eli's cheek as she shoved him towards Thor.

"Stay safe! Keep your identity hidden! And tell Misty I'll miss her!" Eli shouted as Thor lifted his hammer, and the father and son duo was whisked away with a beam from the bifrost.

The ride in the bifrost was weird. It felt like they were flying in a bright rainbow colored tunnel for the longest time, but when they stepped out of it, it felt like no time had passed at all.

"Hello Thor, hello Thorson," a golden-armored figure called out as he pulled out a beautiful longsword out of some kind of console in the middle of the gigantic dome they arrived in.

"Heimdall, meet my son! Elias, meet Heimdall," Thor shouted out in excitement. He wasn't all too sure about this whole father business. For the longest time, he second-guessed everything he did, and even when he was pretty sure who Eli was, it still took a life and death event for him to finally speak up.

Now, though, he was feeling giddy being able to present such a fine son to all his friends and family.

"That's some nifty magic to hide you. Your mother has taught you well, boy," Heimdall said with an appreciative nod. Eli only smiled in return. He decided he would like this Heimdall. He'd like anyone that would appreciate his mother like that.