Pepper was sitting on the couch in the living room of Tony's mansion in Malibu. It was three in the morning, and Pepper couldn't sleep.
Tony had been especially off the rails lately, and he had actually admitted it.
"I'm a piping hot mess. It's been going on for a while, I haven't said anything." He had paused, "Nothing's been the same since New York. You experience things and then they're over and you still can't explain 'em. Gods, aliens, other dimensions. I...I'm just a man in a can. The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you moved in. Which is great. I love you, I'm lucky. But, honey, I can't sleep because I'm wondering if Ellie's okay. You go to bed and I come down here, I do what I know, I tinker."
Pepper felt bad for the man, she really did. And she understood what he was going through. The loss of Ellie had hit them both very hard, especially since it had been so unexpected, but he was going to have to get a hold of himself. He was going to kill himself if he kept not eating and sleeping.
The next day things went from bad to worse. The house was gone, blown up, and Tony along with it. Some part of Pepper hoped that Ellie didn't come back, just so she wouldn't have to see what her idiot father had gotten them all into.
Ellie was dreaming...
She was standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Someone walked up beside her, she turned, and it was Loki.
She looked away from him, and he looked at her in confusion, "Am I dead?" She asked.
"No," Loki told her and continued to watch her curiously.
"Then I'm dreaming," she said.
"I believe so," Loki said. He turned to face her, he brushed her cheek with his thumb. "You need to wake up," He told her.
For one cruel, sweet moment before she fully awoke, she thought he was alive, but then she remembered.
She woke with a groan. Her entire body was sore.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that Drax and Rocket were both there.
"Stark, finally, we've been waiting for you to wake up," Rocket said.
"We're alive?" She asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I know right. Weird," Rocket told her.
She laughed, "How'd you beat him?"
"Peter used the orb to destroy him," Drax said.
"With our help of course," Rocket added.
She smiled and sat up. Her arm was in a sling, which felt about right, judging from the pain in her right shoulder.
"We were wondering if you wanted to stay with us for a while, you know, until you're better" Rocket said as Drax led them down a series of hallways.
"I'd like that," Ellie told them with a smile.
Seven months later...
Tony was doing better, he was treating his PTSD, he was hanging out with the Avengers again. Only one thing was missing... but it was easy enough to smother those feelings with work, and so that was what he did.
In fact, they had just raided a Hydra base looking for Loki's sceptre, and they had found it. They were all in the Quin Jet heading back to Stark Towers when Jarvis spoke over the intercom.
"Mr. Stark, Ellie is at Avengers Tower."
"What?" Tony asked. The city of New York was now in their sights.
"She arrived approximately five minutes ago, she's waiting in your lab."
They landed at the tower, Barton was wheeled off, and Tony was sitting in his chair in silence.
"Aren't you... excited?" Steve asked.
"If she plans on staying," Tony said. Steve nodded in understanding. They walked out of the plane, and Tony made his way to his lab. Ellie was standing there, her hands folded behind her back, looking out over the New York skyline.
"Ellie?" Tony asked.
She turned to face him and smiled, she had a faint scar on her right cheek, and she gave off the impression of having aged, but otherwise, she looked exactly the same.
"Hey dad, it's good to see you," She said with a smile. "I saw you found the sceptre and I wanted to see it for myself."
Tony nodded, not really knowing what to say at first. "Do you- do you even know what we went through, what I went through after you left? You can't just keep leaving notes and disappearing!" Tony said.
Ellie smiled at the ground, "I've been watching Tony, I do know. You've done a really good job at cleaning everything up. And I... know I shouldn't do that, but it just makes it easier to go."
"So... you've been watching? Why didn't you come back during the Mandarin attacks?" Tony asked, "Pepper almost died."
"I know, and I almost did, but I was injured, I wasn't sure how much help I would be," Ellie looked off into the distance, "And besides, you had it handled, even if you thought you didn't."
"You were injured?" Tony asked.
Ellie nodded, "A piece of metal stuck itself in my shoulder when I crashed a plane. It was alright though, Rocket knows his stuff."
"You crashed a plane?" Tony asked.
"Yeah well, we were running after this gang called Nova Craps, which was a terrible pun if you ask me, but we thought they had Nebula, and Peter was unconscious, I would've waited, but then the Ravagers showed up, and they're still after Peter, so I took control of the Milano, but then-" She stopped talking. "I... Sorry, that probably made no sense."
"Yeah..." Tony said, "You're alright though?"
"I'm fine, all healed up," She said. "Is Barton alright? I saw what happened at the Hydra base."
Tony looked at her with confusion, "Why didn't you come and help us?"
"It seemed like you had it covered, also I was dealing with something," Ellie explained.
Thor came in with the sceptre and saw Ellie, "Sister, how goes space?" Ellie stared at him for a moment, and sadness flashed across her face, followed by anger, followed by nothing. "I... apologize, I didn't mean to-"
"No, it's fine..." Ellie said. There was an awkward moment of silence in which Tony looked between Thor and Ellie with confusion. In the back of his mind something clicked, the ring with the emerald he could still see on her finger, and Thor calling her sister? Tony knew something was up, but he didn't want to admit it to himself right now. "Space is good, never a dull moment."
"And how goes your quest for vengeance?" Thor asked.
"So far so good. I killed Ronan... or... I helped kill Ronan. I got a bit of a group together with me, they're helping me find Thanos," Ellie told him.
"Ronan the Accuser? Impressive, he is a mighty foe."
"I found another infinity stone," Ellie said.
Tony's eyes widened at this fact, "Tell me you didn't-"
"No, no of course not. If I had there would be purple in my eyes right now," Ellie said.
"Purple?" Thor asked, "You found the power stone?"
"Ronan had it, he was supposed to bring it to Thanos, but he had other ideas. I was... debating whether or not I should risk taking it. It's the most destructive, and I wasn't sure if I trusted anyone to keep it safe, but the Nova Corps has it now. It's in good hands."
"Good, I would not trust that power to anyone but you. If you feel secure in its safety then I do as well," Thor said and Ellie nodded.
Thor placed the sceptre down on one of the desks and Ellie looked at it, "Loki thought there was an infinity stone inside, but now that I look at it up close... it doesn't look like one."
"Perhaps my brother was mistaken," Thor said, "But then again, he always knew more than I about such things."
"He knew more than anyone," Ellie said. A sad look fell upon both Thor and Ellie's faces, and Tony once again got the impression that he had missed something. "I really wish I could ask him some questions right now."
"As do I..." Thor said with a hint of exasperation.
"Is everything alright on Asgard?" Ellie asked.
Thor shrugged, "There is no one but me to take the throne once my father passes, but I do not want it. Loki was always better at bureaucracy."
Ellie nodded, and the pair said no more.
"So, are you two going to stay for the celebrations?" Tony asked.
"Yeah sure," Ellie responded.
"Of course," Thor said.
"Come on, let's go check on Barton," Tony said after bringing Ellie up to speed on what he had been working on while she was gone. They walked into the lab in which he was laying under a machine, "Oh, he's flatlining, call it. Time?" Tony teased.
"No, no, no. I'm going to live forever. I'm gonna be made of plastic," Clint replied. He noticed Ellie was there, "Hey Ellie, how's it going?"
"Good enough I guess," Ellie said.
"So, how long are you staying?" Barton asked the question Tony was too afraid to.
"I need to be back in a week, and I also have something I need to do while I'm here, but that can wait for a few days," Ellie said. "But what about you? Are you feeling alright?"
"Me? Oh, I'm fine," He said and waved his hand to indicate nonchalance.
"Good, we can't have our Legolas dropping out on us now can we?" Ellie asked.
"If I'm Legolas, then who's Tony?"
"I was thinking Gimli."
Natasha snorted.
The Next Day...
The Avengers house party was full swing, Steve was introducing Ellie to Sam, Thor and Tony were bragging about their girlfriends, and Bruce and Natasha were flirting. All in all, it was shaping up to be a good night.
When most of the guests had left, the Avengers all sat down and began to talk about Thor's hammer.
"But, it's a trick!" Barton exclaimed.
"Not quite," Thor said.
"Uh, "Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power!" Whatever man! It's a trick."
"Well then be my guest," Thor said an gestured to the hammer.
"Really?" Clint asked.
"Go on," Thor said with a grin.
"This is going to be beautiful," Rhodey said to Agent Hill, who was sitting beside him.
Ellie was grinning beside Tony, who was barely keeping in his laughter.
"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony said. A round of laughter swept the table.
Clint gripped the hammer, took a deep breath, and pulled up. The hammer didn't move, not an inch, "I still don't know how you do it!" He exclaimed.
"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony asked.
"Well, please, Stark, by all means." Clint gestured toward the hammer.
Tony stood and Ellie snickered, "Some support would be appreciated kid," He said to Ellie, who hummed and nodded.
"Oh, here we go," Natasha said.
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony said. "It's physics."
"Physics?" Ellie asked.
"So if I lift this I get to rule Asgard?" Tony asked Thor.
"Of course."
"I will be fair but firmly cruel," Tony said as he attempted to lift the hammer. "I'll be right back."
Tony came back with a gauntlet from his Iron Man suit and used the thrusters on it to help him in pulling it up. Still, it didn't work. He then got Rhodey to grab his arm and help him. Together, the two of them using their suits were still not enough to lift the hammer.
When they sat down, Bruce stood. He tried to pull it, but it did not move for him either. He then pretended to turn into the hulk, and everyone just stared at him. "No?" He asked, thinking it was funny. Natasha shook her head.
The next person to try was Steve, "Let's go, Steve, no pressure," Tony said.
"Come on Cap," Sam cheered.
Ellie and Thor glanced at each other and Ellie raised her eyebrows, indicating that she thought he might be able to lift it. Thor's expression became slightly worried as Steve gripped the hammer. He pulled, and it moved, slightly, but he couldn't lift it.
Thor breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Widow?" Tony asked.
"Oh, no no. That's not a question I need answered," Natasha said.
"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged," Tony said.
"You bet your ass," Clint agreed.
"Steve, he said a bad language word," Hill said.
Steve turned to Tony, "Did you tell everyone about that?"
"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation?" Tony speculated.
"Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory," Thor turned to Ellie, "Why don't you try?"
Everyone turned to look at her, "Me?" She asked. Thor nodded, and she stood, "Just for the record I don't want to rule Asgard."
She pulled, and it lifted easily in her hand, she laughed and tossed it to Thor, who caught it with the same ease.
"I take credit for that!" Tony announced, "That's my parenting."
They were all laughing along when suddenly a partially broken down robot appeared in the entrance to Tony's lab.
Tony tapped on his tablet, "Jarvis, we need a reboot. There's a faulty legionnaire suit."
"There was a terrible noise...and I was tangled in... in...strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy," The suit said.
Ellie shared a glance with Steve, "You killed someone?" He asked.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices," The suit spoke again.
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded.
"I see a suit of armour around the world," It spoke with Tony's voice.
"Ultron!" Bruce gasped.
"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission,"
"What mission?" Ellie asked.
"Peace in our time." Suddenly other robots flew out of Tony's lab and began attacking them.
Ellie dove out of the way of a blast fired at her and looked around at the madness.
"Enough!" She shouted. She raised her hands and created points of space discontinuity (basically mini-blackholes), and destroyed most of the robots.
"That was dramatic!" The one remaining one said, "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?"
"There's only one path to peace... the Avengers' extinction," It said.
From behind Ellie, Thor threw his hammer and destroyed it.
Ellie turned to look at Tony, "What the hell did you do?"