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Chapter Text

Loki strolled down a busy lane on the planet of Sakaar. There were many humanoid aliens, he noted. All along the sides of the road, there were vendors selling various items in various languages. Luckily, as a god, Loki had a basic understanding of many of the tongues. None of them really seemed to catch his eye, except a single one he had noticed an hour prior from the high floors of the Grandmaster's Tower. He made his way down the lane, ignoring calls to try and catch his attention. He knew the tricks. Some of the vendors could ensnare your mind for a minute, just long enough to swindle you out of all your money and leave you dazed, confused, and penniless with some worthless knick-knack in your hand after.

Finally, he found his way to the vendor he was looking for. Nobody had a stall for about four feet on either side of it - out of fear more than respect. He stole a look at it - Perfect; the thing he had come for was still there, if the magic radiating out from the tent was any indication. He walked up towards the entrance. The sign above it read "True Magic" in faded Midgardian script, and he nodded in affirmation. It was the truth, after all. He walked forwards, not allowing himself to be dissuaded by the flashing lights and small noises the different items and creatures around him let out.

The vendor poked his head out from the back as the Aesir god entered the shop. Green eyes moved around the shop, doing anything to avoid staring at the man too soon. The man spoke loudly, his voice echoing around the tent and seemingly surrounding Loki, who tried not to let the fine hair on his arms raise. He didn't know what the vendor would be like, and he didn't want to risk showing weakness in front of a powerful entity. "Welcome to True Magic! Spells to spark an interest, love potions, fortunes-" There. In the corner was a small figure hunched over a table, carefully plucking vials and scooping them into cauldrons filled with various liquids before placing them into a satchel on her waist, a small bag which seemed like it couldn't hold more than one or two of them at a time but took more and more nonetheless.

And she exuded magic. She was what the Asgardian had come searching for. Loki waved his hand and interrupted him. "Spare me your mindless drabble. How much for the girl?"

The vendor's eyes narrowed in annoyance, both at being interrupted and at the stranger's request. The girl was, after all, the creator of all the items in his shop. "She's not for sale."

"Everything is for sale. Is that not your policy?" Indeed, it was. A sign above the counter proclaimed the very statement.

The vendor realized that the man would not be swayed by a simple denial. "She isn't. You can leave, now." When the green-eyed man didn't move, he tried to appeal to his sense of morality, although he doubted that such a thing existed. "Trading sentients isn't a good practice to partake in." He wasn't afraid, no, definitely not afraid of the shimmering green eyes that held nigh-infinite wisdom, almost a mirror to the girl's... In fact, now that he thought about it, they might've even been siblings for all their similarities. He was simply trying to avoid a ruckus.

"Spare me the bullshit." Loki said with a hum, letting a glint of his teeth show. "You have her as a slave. I am here. Neither of us believe that."

The man grit his teeth in response. "I won't sell her to you." He ground out, finally taking a direct stance.

The Aesir god grinned in response. "Then I shall simply not pay." In a flick of his wrist, a silver dagger appeared. Another flick, another dagger. The vendor grinned. He was fine with that.

"Girl!" He called. In an instant, the flaps to the stall closed so none could look in. "Defend me." The girl who Loki had spotted earlier shimmered into existence. She had pitch black hair, which was a galactic oddity, pale skin, and dull green eyes covered by dusty glasses that stood out on a 5'3" form. A mask covered the bottom half of her face, as well. She wore a tattered grey dress that went just past her knees, exposing her bare feet. Most noticeable were the silver manacles that connected one wrist to another. Oddly enough, the manacle disappeared at one section on each wrist, almost seeming to act like bracelets more than fetters, but Loki knew better, for he had seen them once before in a place that he'd quite like never to return to.

The manacles were held together by the wearer's magic. Not only that, she also had a matching pair in her ankles. They were meant to constrain the wearer's magic flow, causing them immense pain and keeping them under control, and the fact that she was wearing four when most magic users would've been completely nullified with a single one...?

Loki's vision tinted red. 'How dare a sorceress be treated like this?' He mentally raged, using a great deal of willpower to keep his face blank. The girl was obviously a magical being, her use of invisibility, telekinetic abilities, and floating stature all evidence of this. More important, however, was the Obedience Disk implanted in her neck, the same kind that the Grandmaster used on his gladiators.

Without warning, the girl attacked. Raw magic - no, raw power surged through the air. She was perhaps one of the strongest magical beings Loki had ever encountered, even with most of her magic bound. Luckily, though, he was ready. The force sent at him was dodged, and he slipped through space and attacked the girl from behind. Her dulled eyes met his as she whirled around faster than Loki could blink. His dagger hit the silver chain and clanged off. He jumped backwards and looked around.

A shield had formed around the vendor, further proof of the girl's power. Loki growled lightly, gritting his teeth. He would have to keep attacking the girl, which was far from his desired outcome. Suddenly, he had an idea. Jumping through space again, he directed another attack at the girl. It was once again blocked, but this time, he brought his other hand around and struck her neck. Godly aim holding true, he pierced directly through the Obedience Disk with his other dagger. Quickly, the girl's eyes gained a little bit of light, and the shield around the vendor dropped.

The disgusting pig's eyes widened, his miniature-sized brain realizing that it had just lost his most prized possession, and that his life was now in grave danger. He started making a dash towards the nearest thing he could find - Unfortunately for him, since he hadn't allowed the girl to make weapons, he had nothing of note. A dagger pierced through the man's neck, killing him instantly. Quickly, Loki retracted the blade and cleaned it. The mortal wasn't worthy of staining his silver.

He turned the girl, who was now staring at him expectantly. He looked at her for a second, and then realized she would naturally need assistance in getting the manacles off. He strode over and apologized quietly before making a small slice through the shackle on her left wrist, using godly precision to ensure that he didn't touch her skin.

The metal slipped off and the girl, to her benefit, didn't make a sound. Loki saw a flash in her eyes, however, which told him that she felt the air on her raw skin all too well. He did the same with the other hand, quietly apologizing again. He then repeated the process with her ankles. Once all of the cuffs were off, a flash of light occurred. For the first time in many years, the witch's power was released. Almost instantly, the rings of raw skin on her wrists and ankles healed, as well as the wound in her neck. Her hands flew up to her jaw and fumbled with the device, and her mouth broke open as the mask over it fell off and she gasped for air, the first sounds that Loki had heard from her.

'The mask must've been clenching her jaw in place. It makes sense. Words would make an incantation much, much stronger,' he thought, barely suppressing a grimace at the thought. He needn't have her think that he was disgusted by her; it would make her trusting him that much more difficult.

The girl, once she had stopped gasping for breath, softly opened her mouth. "... Thank you..." The words were quiet, and her voice was hoarse, as if it hadn't felt water in a long time. Loki dipped his head. The girl started making movements with her hands before pulling inwards, and almost instantly, two bracelets appeared on her wrists. Both seemed to be made out of wood, perhaps... Elder? Loki knew not.

Again, the girl seemed to be rejuvenated, and the magic that had been flowing freely throughout the air started to diminish, as if the bracelets were collecting it... or, rather, compressing it. "How long have you been stuck here?" The girl's head turned back to him.

"That depends on... what year this... is..." Her throat was burning. A few more hand motions, and the bracelets glowed. Out of nowhere, fresh water floated in the air, then dropped into a cup that appeared when she held her hand out. Finally, after many many years, the burning in her throat was subdued. Loki watched this display with interest.

"You humans seem to have decided on 2017." The girl thought about it for a few seconds.

"That doesn't really sound right, considering I... left in 2002." The girl's voice had cleared up, and it came out crisp and... warm, somehow. Loki found it enticing. The girl moved her hands, the bracelets around her wrists giving off a faint amount of golden light, and a complicated clock appeared before her. After a few moments of studying it, she finally came up with, "Five years, give or take a couple months, I think."

Loki frowned in displeasure, thinking about how miserable the days must've been. For a non-immortal or... he peered at her form warily, an immortal of lesser age, at least, five years was a significant chunk of time. "Do you know who I am?" The girl shook her head.

"No. Do you know who I am?" She questioned. Loki shrugged.

"To an extent. I know that you can do magic, and that you seem exceptionally strong. I am Loki, of Asgard. You are...?"

"Rose Potter, and I'm from West Country, which is uh, Southwest England. On Earth," she added belatedly, seeming to realize it wasn't particularly likely that she was on her planet at the moment. She titled her head, as if she was trying to remember something, and then her eyes narrowed as she succeeded. "He has-had something of mine." Loki looked at her, calculating. A Midgardian. Explains the sign.

"Had something of yours?" He questioned.

"Two things, actually." She nodded, taking a step and staggering, her legs unused to the voluntary motion. In a moment, the Trickster God was by her side, making sure she didn't fall. The girl grit her teeth and forced her legs to straighten and carry her weight, though they were shaking nonetheless. She shook off his hand. "I'm fine," she protested, and Loki didn't argue. She didn't seem like the type to want help from others, and forcing the issue definitely wouldn't help endear him to her.

Rose walked the rest of the way over to the fallen body of her former captor, and then knelt down. She looked at the corpse for a few moments, then held her hand out above it. Something on the top half of his person began to shake, and, all of the sudden, a small locket slipped into the girl's outstretched hand which she firmly grasped, and the movement stopped as a small stick made its way to her waist. Green eyes gazed at the corpse for a few more moments, and then Rose stood back up and spat on the man's chest.

"Good riddance," she muttered, and then clasped the locket around her neck.

"Are you ready to go?" Loki asked, now that it seemed like the girl had gotten what she wanted. When she nodded, he spoke again. "Follow me."

Chapter Text

In a room near the top of the tower that had been gifted to him by the Grandmaster, Loki closed the door behind the short girl who had entered behind him. "I'm slightly surprised that you actually followed me. What if I were to try and kill you?"

Rose gazed at him with incredulous eyes. "It's obvious you weren't planning on killing me. You wouldn't have gone through all the effort to save me," she stated matter-of-factly. "Besides, there's quite a bit worse than death."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Like?"

Green eyes rose. "Come on. Surely you have an idea or two. I can easily see that your aging is abnormal, I have to assume that you've seen your fair share of terrible things, Mr. Loki."

The Asgardian pondered this response. "I... suppose that is certainly true. However, death is still rather bad, no? At the very least, I'd like to avoid it." He paused. "And what have you seen that's worse than death?"

She raised an eyebrow, as if the answer was obvious. "Being puppeteered around with no free will with some of your most valuable possessions and only hope of getting home stuck with a man who wants to exploit you however he can, for one. Besides, I owe you a Life Debt. If you wanted to kill me, I'd have to accept it, I reckon." She sounded mildly put-off by this fact, but more as if it were just a rather unfortunate inconvenience than her life being hung in the balance of an immortal she had only just met.

Loki accepted this answer with a nod, choosing not to push on the fact that she seemed to have more examples hanging off of her tongue. "So, if I asked you to call me 'My Lord', you would have to?"

Rose's mouth twisted into a frown. "If that is what you wish, My Lord."

Loki looked at the girl in shock. "And if I asked you to climb into bed with me? How old are you, anyway?"

"I am nineteen. And if that's what you wished, My Lord." The black-haired teen answered with a grimace, visibly unhappy with the idea. It wasn't much of a struggle to understand why, Loki thought, even if he was quite sure that he could make it worth her while.

Which wasn't the point, of course. "Well," Loki stood up and clapped once, "luckily for you, I do not wish for a concubine." Some of the tension in the witch's body faded, and she was willing to look him in the eyes again - and my, what a fascinating shade of green her irises were. Loki would've stared for a chance to study, but he was willing to remind himself that they were on something of a time limit. "How long have you been nineteen, and how long does this debt last for?"

A wry grin crossed the girl's face, and Loki got the feeling that he had just earned a bit of respect from her for something he wasn't quite sure of. Detecting her elongated lifespan, perhaps? "Longer than I've been a slave," the pale-skinned girl replied, "and until I save your life, or repay you in a manner equivalent, My Lord."

Loki chuckled with a bemused air about him. "How can you repay someone for a life?"

Rose rolled her eyes, disdain immediately visible. "Welcome to the impeccable logic of wizards, My Lord."

Loki exhaled, shrugging. "Alright, well I need your help with something, actually." The Life Debt was actually far better than he could've hoped for. It seemed that, for once, perhaps, luck was turning out on his side of the coin without him wresting it into submission.

Rose's head perked up in interest. "What is it, My Lord?"

While it was something that he might've wanted once, now, Loki just shook his head in irritation at the title. "You can stop calling me that, now. It gets on my nerves, to be quite honest with you." Based on the smirk that formed on the girl's lips, this was the wrong thing to say. "Alright, my idiot brother is trapped fighting in these thrice-damned pits, and I kind of need to get him out to deal with the end of the world for my planet." Rose's eyebrows raised.

"Huh. I never thought the Life Debt would be finished so quickly... My Lord." She smirked, her sass shining through.

Loki just shook his head, having already expected the teasing honorific from what he had gathered of the girl's personality. "So, are you in or out?"

Rose's smirk just deepened. "If you've been listening, you would've realized I have to be in. Although, make no mistake..." She leaned in and her lips thinned as her voice grew serious. "The instant I finish this quest or save your life... I'm out." The last two words were spoken with such finality that Loki had no choice but to agree.

"Deal." A grin formed on his face; he did quite like someone that was not as willing to just jump in front of whatever bullet was zooming at others. His mind flashed to Midgard's Avengers with an admirably low amount of distaste. Speaking of Avengers... "So, my brother, he's gotten himself into such a stupid situation that he's made it even more difficult to rescue him..."

Up in the Hulk's room, Thor sneezed himself awake. The handmaidens around him picked up their bowls of water and scurried away, leaving behind their rags. Thor looked around. "Damn it Loki..." After all, whenever something happened, it was always Loki's fault.

"So... let me get this straight... You and your brother are gods?" The witch questioned. Loki nodded his head in response.

"You seem to be taking this whole situation rather well."

"Occlumency." She replied, as if that answered everything. Loki looked at her with a look that was clearly indicating that it didn't.

"I'm sorry, Occlu-what?"

"Occlumency." Rose repeated. "It's a type of mind-magic. It helps me control my emotions." She explained. "I'm actually kinda freaking out up here," she pointed a slender finger at her head, "but it's right useful for staying calm in stressful situations. Beyond that, it's not like we didn't - don't? - have gods where I'm from." She twitched her nose. "You're not the strongest entity I've met."

Loki wanted to bristle at the implication, but paused as he pondered her words. Based on her own power, it seemed that if she had met an entity stronger than herself, they would've definitely been stronger than him. He decided to choose a safer topic, which he felt was a wise decision. "So, back on the topic of overthrowing a small government..."

"So, you have a plan, right? And it's not downright barmy?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Really, we just wait for him to go mad and rampage like he usually does. With any luck, he'll get the green brute involved in his schemes. What we need, however, is a way off this god-forsaken-" He was cut off by an announcement.

"Sakaar, hear ye. Attention please. I have some bad news. My beloved exalted champion has turned up missing. Take to the streets. Celebrate my champion." It was the Grandmaster. "It seems that that criminally seductive Lord of Thunder has stolen him away. There is another part of this mission if you choose to accept it. Find the one who calls himself Thor and return him here."

Loki said some words that would've made Frigga wash his mouth with soap. Once he calmed down, he began to think out loud. "That makes things... a little more complicated." Suddenly, a head poked into Loki's chambers.

"You have been summoned by the Grandmaster. Your little... friend is free to come as well."

Rose frowned in mild annoyance as the woman left. "Did she just insinuate that I was a prostitute? What is she, bonkers? I'm not even into men, for Merlin's sake!"

"Well, in her defense, you are wearing next to nothing." Loki's comment was taken into consideration as Rose tilted her head.

"Well, it's not like I've got any dosh, mate. And-" She paused, considering. "-Blimey. I'm a witch. I forgot that I was a witch for a mo'." The girl's eyes stilled for a few seconds, perhaps reliving a memory, and then she shook her head. "Do you happen to have any spare cloth?"

Loki tilted his head in confusion, pulling out a few items from his pocket dimension. "A few fine suits, although I'm not sure I'd call them spare considering they're-"

As he was speaking, Rose had grabbed the wand out of her pocket and had pointed it at the suit. Before his very eyes, the fabric transformed into a slightly more feminine, business-casual looking top and bottom, though it seemed to retain its same color and material.

The green-eyed god stared at it in a bit of bemusement. "Well, they were Armani," he said as Rose grabbed the items out of his hands, "but I guess that now they're- Woah, woah, woah! A bit of a warning, please!" He groaned as he turned around, covering his eyes exaggeratedly as Rose changed between her tattered dress and the new clothes she had crafted. "You'll have to tell me how you did that. Even I can't do that, I just form solid illusions to switch things around."

"I probably can't teach you, then, I think we have very different types of magic. Which, Hekate help me, there's entirely different types of magic. Hermione'd have a field day with you, I reckon. I'm finished, by the way. Have you got any trainers? Or, I s'pose, based off of the clothes you've got, any Oxfords?"

"I've not the faintest idea what 'Oxfords' are, but I do have shoes, yes." He materialized a set a shoes from the same place he had gotten his suit. "Please don't change around these, too, they were expensive. As were the suits, but something tells me I can't just ask you to change them back."

Rose sniffed. "Those are Oxfords. And, fine, I won't change them, but I can't promise you'll be getting them back in mint condition, either." She grabbed them out of his hand. "Also, like I said, I'm done. You don't have to keep staring at the wall like some knockers are going to send you to Hel."

Loki winced. "No, I'm doing that to myself, I reckon." The dull note aside, they made it out of the room, with Rose now in a functional set of clothes, a simple pair of trousers and a vest that was well-suited to the planet's warmer climate. "And yet, no brassiere," Loki noted bemusedly.

Rose just raised an eyebrow and, instead of answering, retorted, "Merlin, how old are you? I've never heard anyone call a bra that, and I've literally been around centuries-old ghosts."

Loki guffawed. Every time he thought he had the witch across from him figured out, she managed to surprise him.

Chapter Text

The two met up with a carefree, dark-skinned woman, who immediately noticed Rose and took an appraising glance up and down.

"Well, two weeks, your morals lasted longer than most did. At least she's good-looking, though, and, for that matter, doesn't even look like she came from the street." She took a gulp of alcohol from a large jug she was carrying and threw it behind her haphazardly, all while a certain black-haired girl rolled her eyes. This was the second time in ten minutes she had been insinuated as a whore, and, really, that was their fault for being unobservant.

The witch mouthed 'Can I knock her out?' at Loki, who just shook his head, although a smirk played on his face as he seemed to entertain the idea in his mind. His eyes shifted towards the newcomer. "If you really think that's what she is, Scrapper, you're even less observant than I gave you credit for."

The woman cocked an eyebrow, but before she could respond, the doors in front of them opened and eight guards escorted them into the glorious room, all wearing high-tech outfits.

Loki walked on the right, the woman (Scrapper?) was on the left, and Rose was a pace behind them in the middle. Walking towards the Grandmaster, they could hear him yell, "I'm upset!" which forced Rose to stifle her laughter. However, as they got closer, she was barely able to control her facial features. "I'm very upset." The Grandmaster repeated, as if he was a kid... or maybe, as if they were kids. "You know what I like about being upset?" He continued. "The blame. Right now, that's the mindset that I'm in. And you know who I'm blaming?"

Loki raised his hand and interrupted, "Grandmaster, I can-" He was interrupted right back.

"-Hey! Don't interrupt me." Rose was very, very lucky she had Occlumency to keep herself from laughing, but from the looks of it, neither Loki nor the other woman seemed to be having any trouble keeping a straight face.

"Here you are." The woman who had intruded into Loki's room walked up to the Grandmaster's side and held a golden stick with an orb on the end of it out to the Grandmaster. The Grandmaster just looked at her like she had grown two heads.

"Why are you handing me the melt stick? He was interrupting. That's not a capital violation." He deadpanned. The woman brought the stick back to her side and glared at Loki as if it was his fault. Which, to be fair, it kind of was. Rose resisted the urge to give her a one-finger salute anyway. "Where was I? My precious champion has come up missing. And it's all because of that Lord of Thunder. All because of him. Your brother," he reminded Loki, as if the Asgardian might've forgotten. "Whatever the story is. Adopted, or complicated, or, you know." The silver-haired man waved his hand dismissively. "I'm sure there's a big history that I don't want to hear about. And, your contender..." He pointed at Valkyrie, who looked like she couldn't care less.

"My dear friend," Loki started, spreading out his hands in what seemed to be an attempt at an appealing gesture. "If you were to give me twelve hours, I could bring them both back to you." When the silver-haired ruler didn't respond, Loki sweetened the pot by adding a single word: "Alive." Rose agreed with this offer. Twelve hours would give them plenty of time to escape. However, that was when the woman decided to finally contribute to the conversation.

"I could do it in two." Rose's eyes flashed with annoyance, and she grit her teeth to keep from hexing the woman.

A facepalm was barely averted when, after a pause, the dark-haired god countered, "I could do it in one."

"Let's stop there." The Grandmaster halted them by sticking a single palm out. "You know what? I woke up this morning thinking about a public execution. But for now, I'll settle for this sweet little... uh... eheh... 'Who's gonna get him first?' Oh, and that girl you have behind you. Who is she?"

Apologetic green eyes looked back at Rose, and she understood why Loki was sorry as soon as he began to speak. "Just a little sweetheart I picked up an hour or two ago. We were about to have some fun." Loki replied quickly. Rose's eyes twitched, but she only bit her tongue and smiled sweetly, trying as best as she could to appear like some mindless bint and definitely not the magical equivalent of a nuclear warhead, before looking down to check her nails as she reinforced her Occlumency shields. Although, as was often the case when she worked on her Occlumency, she thought about Snape, and then she got annoyed about that slimy git, too, even though he had already been dead for about a decade.

Appeased by her act, the Grandmaster lost his interest, waving her off without concern as he looked back at Loki and the woman. "Alright, whatever. So, you're on the clock." He shooed them away. "Go, go!"

"What have you done, Scrapper 142?" Loki asked the woman apparently titled Scrapper 142 as soon as the three of them were behind closed doors, cornering her against the wall.

"I don't answer to you, Lackey." She responded uncaringly. "Go have fun with your whore or something, all you'd do is screw me over."

"It's Loki." He replied, tongue clicking in disdain as he shifted into the woman's personal space. "And you will answer to the Grandmaster." It was an empty attempt at intimidation, and it seemed that the intoxicated woman figured so, too. Behind them, Rose was starting to get very annoyed. Loki and the scrapper exchanged a few blocked blows before the dark-skinned woman brought her hand towards Loki's face. Rose, trying to get shit done with their now very limited timer ticking down, stepped in and grabbed the fist with magic, surprising both other occupants of the hallway.

"First off, not a whore. Second off, stop this useless blithering-" Rose started saying, but she was quickly interrupted.

The brown-haired woman quickly broke her hand free, cutting Rose off right as Loki's head snapped towards the girl. "Stay out of this!" Both of them yelled at her.

Rose stopped and raised an eyebrow, but took two steps off to the side and shrugged her shoulders. "Your funeral," the Brit muttered.

Focusing on the woman, Loki growled, "Why would you help my brother escape with that green fool?"

"What makes you think I helped him? I don't help anyone." The scrapper pulled out a dagger to match the knives Loki had pulled. Loki took the bait, and engaged her. Seeing the weapons clash, Rose got ready to engage if it appeared Loki was unable to match the woman, readily aware that she didn't have to since Loki had told her not to help him. Despite the lack of obligation, her 'saving people thing' had already started to kick up once she had heard about what was happening on Asgard, and, as they said, the rest was history.

They parried blows for a few seconds before Loki caught the woman's wrist, and disarmed her blade, casually remarking, "You're a Valkyrie." The woman seemed enraged by this, knocking Loki into a wall. Even as he slammed into the stones, he quipped, "I thought the Valkyrie had all died gruesome deaths." Rose tilted her head, decided that Loki wouldn't be in any life-threatening danger for a few slams (and definitely deserved them), and chose not to Transfigure the wall into something softer as the woman grabbed the Aesir's head and knocked it back into the building repeatedly.

"Choose your next words wisely," was all that she growled in response.

He did not. "I'm terribly sorry. Must be a very painful memory." Loki grabbed the woman's head, and they both stopped and stood still for a few seconds, and Rose watched them warily, unsure of what was happening. A few seconds later, they both seemed to snap out of whatever scene they had been in, and the woman reared back to punch the green-eyed god.

That one could definitely do some damage. "That's enough." Rose thrust her hand out, and the alcoholic's arm was stopped in mid-air. Their eyes met.

"Ooh, you're far more than just some common whore, I was right." The dark-haired woman's mouth twisted up in an intrigued smirk. "Consider me impressed, darlin'."

Rose glared at the woman in response. "Not your 'darling', and not a whore at all. In fact, I'm just a really knackered girl who would love nothing more than to take a week-long nap, and I'm really not in the mood for dealing with some squabbling tots." As if in challenge, the valkyrie tried to bring her other arm around to punch Loki, but that one was caught too. With a flick of her wrist, Rose sent the warrior flying into the wall before Transfiguring some metal binds out of the structure to keep the woman in place for a few moments, then jogged over to Loki. "Are you okay, My Lord?" She held out an arm to pick him up.

"My Lord?" The brown-haired woman laughed as she ripped her arms out of her metal binds - Rose hadn't expected her to get out that quickly - and then pushed her way off of the wall to land in a crouch on the ground. "Lackey, I didn't realize you were the type!" She howled humorously as she got up. Both magicians shot glares at her.

"Thanks to this bitch, we're now severely cut on time, My Lord."

Loki groaned and popped his back. "Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that, Rose?"

Rose smirked. "I don't recall that, My Lord."

The valkyrie was laughing even harder now, seemingly having forgotten their altercation already. "Oh, I think I like you. Rose, he said your name was? I'll remember it," she said, tapping her temple as her other hand travelled to her waistband where she had yet another bottle of alcohol, which somehow hadn't broken in the fight.

Loki was glaring at the both of them. "Oh, come off it, you two. We must go find my brother. And, as much as I hate it, we need his help to get off this shithole. And, since we're gonna become enemies of the state once we find him, we should probably try to make it fast."

Chapter Text

Finding Thor and the Hulk would've been nearly impossible save for an incredible stroke of luck, normally. Somehow the Hulk had managed to be stealthy enough to be constantly tracked, and Thor's face was not easily findable because of his helmet and face paint the day before. Luckily, or, rather, thankfully, they didn't have to rely on luck.

"Point Me to Thor Odinson," Rose incanted. The Point Me spell had been a genius invention by Hermione (who had decided to create an entire spell instead of learning Astronomy to tell the directions), and it had been thoroughly modified so that it didn't only guide the caster north. Instead, as Rose held one of her bracelets out in front of her, it pulled towards the direction of the desired object.

"That's quite useful," Loki remarked. "What are the limits of your magic? I am heavily restricted in what I may do; mostly gathered around space and light manipulation."

The black-haired witch shrugged. "I have access to a lot of spells, I guess. They can do a lot of things, but I have some basic limits, and I'm also restricted by the amount of energy I can store to use. It regenerates over time, though." The bracelet in her hand started to pull in a certain direction, and Rose looked towards her two partners-in-crime. "Let's go."

"I see you've gotten a haircut, brother," Loki grinned as he snuck up behind Thor, who jumped at the sound. "And what is that ridiculous disguise you've got on?"

"It's for hiding my face," the God of Thunder defended, weakly miming covering his face with half of the garment. "It's kept me out of trouble thus far. Except, you're here, now. So that's that, I suppose."

The sound of an apple crunching filled the alley. "Easy there, gladiator," the valkyrie (whom Rose had decided to call Valkyrie, since she had yet to learn the woman's actual name) piped up, sitting off the edge of one of the buildings surrounding the Asgardians. "He's not here to turn you in. Theoretically."

"He can't be trusted," Thor protested, pointing an accusatory finger at his brother. "He is quite literally the God of Trickery."

"Guilty as charged," came the succinct reply. "However, you seem to fail to realize that I, too, would like to not spend the rest of my life on this shithole colosseum of a planet. Full offense," he added, offering a faux-placating hand towards Valkyrie, who only snorted in response. "Also, not to imply that I don't like your company, although I don't, but you don't happen to know where the brute is, do you? Big, green, hurled you into the ground a dozen or so times last night, way more useful in life or death situations?"

The blond winced at the reminder. "Well, about that... Banner?" He called out, and a small head poked out from an alcove in the alley.

"Um... Hello...?" An awkward voice came. "I guess it's safe, then?"

Thor grunted. "Close enough to it, I suppose."

This seemed to be good enough for the owner of the head to walk out into the alley, proving to be a small, scrawny man who apparently had recently gotten some new clothes. "Erm, well... Hello."

Loki stared unbelievingly. "This is the Hulk? This is the beast that managed to beat me? This..." He waved his hand out at Banner. "Elderly man?"

"Hey!" The man drew back, offended. "I'm not elderly! I'm 46!" He frowned. "I think? It is 2015, still, right?"

Thor winced. "Not quite. 2017, in your Midgardian years. But, hey, that means you have two birthdays to make up once you get back to Earth," he pointed out, trying to sound upbeat. A thought occurred to him. "Also, not to sound horribly suspicious of you guys or anything, but how did you find us?"

"Glad you asked," Loki grinned. "We had a little bit of help from a new friend!" He flourished his arms upwards to where Valkyrie was sitting. A moment later, a new face peeked over the ledge.

"'Ello, all," Rose greeted. "I do magic."

Thor frowned. "I don't have the best record with magicians."

Green eyes blinked. "Erm... I'm sorry to hear that?"

"You are weird," the Asgardian decided.

Rose raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I'm the weird one? Bloody rich coming from the bloke wearing what looks like leather armor and a babushka's shawl for a hat."

The untransformed Hulk did a double take. "'Babushka'? Wait, are you from Earth?" The Brit nodded. "Wow! That's... wow...!" An awkward silence ensued for a few moments, before it was broken.

"Yeah..." The girl said, staring at him oddly.

"Hate to break this fun little meet an' greet up," Valkyrie said, pausing to take another bite of her apple, "but we're kinda fugitives from the law right now, and as far as I've heard, Mr. Inferiority Complex over there is trying to get everyone to Asgard because Hela has returned."

Loki sneered at the nickname, rolling his eyes. "I don't need your armchair psychology, thank you very much. And," he turned back to Thor and Banner, "she's correct." He paused. "Not on the complex bit. We need to get to Asgard, and I have something that vaguely resembles a plan."

Loki currently stood typing in the code to yet another door while Thor waited. "Hey, so, we need to talk."

Thor responded, "No we don't."

"Yes we do, brother." Loki put a hand on Thor's shoulder. The blond god looked at his brother, raising an eyebrow. "When we get out of here, do we actually have a plan? I've been operating under the assumption that you had some sort of idea in mind when you broke yourself out, but now that I recall the one or two thousand times you've decided to go in hammer first, head second, I figured I might as well ask."

The two got into the elevator that had come down, ready to head to the ship bay. Loki was fidgeting, while Thor had crossed his hands at his waist and was looking quite at home in the small contraption, which was odd for him.

"Yes. We go to Asgard, defeat Hela, I claim my rightful place as King of Asgard, and you can... go illusionate some people." Thor made up the word casually.

"There are three things wrong with that plan, brother. First off, you have lost your weapon, which she destroyed while defeating us like it was child's play. Second off, she was unable to defeated by O-... Father, even. And third-"

"I grow weary of your voice brother. We must get out of here first." Suddenly Thor whirled around with his arm out, making Loki look at him confusedly. "Usually there is a knife there. Why was there no knife there?" Loki glared at him.

"I wasn't planning on betraying you. The girl I found is a natural-born magician, the strength of which hasn't been seen in millennia! It is in my favor to get her off of this planet, and, as much as I hate to say it, my greatest chance of that lies with you. So, please, for once in your life brother, trust me!"

"I have trusted you countless times, brother! I trusted you when the dark elves came, as well, and you used it to try and pretend to be the King of Asgard! My trust and love only goes so far, Loki, and I have misplaced it in you far too many times." Thor was breathing slightly heavy as he finished his speech, but his frame was still calm and his face was even.

Loki thought about this for a second. "That's fair. But, please, brother - and when have you ever heard me say please - believe me, just one more time."

Thor laughed slightly. "Give me a single good reason why-"

"Thanos." Loki interrupted. "Thanos is coming."

Thor paused. "Thanos, the Mad Titan? I've heard stories of him, but Father seemed to believe that he wasn't a threat." He stood still for a moment. "Although, with Father gone, it's possible that he's ready to make his move."

"He's been making a move," Loki said with a sigh. "Thanos is the person who recruited me to lead the Chitauri invasion on New York. He gave me the Mind Stone."

"The Mind Stone? Brother, Asgard has been searching for them for years, and the only three I've seen were your Scepter, the Ether, and the one Stark implanted into Vision."

"Implanted? An Infinity Stone? How- Why- When-" He shook his head, black curls falling around him as he did. "No, no, never mind. Regardless, if he has an Infinity Stone, this 'Vision' is in danger. Thanos is seeking them out. He sent me to Earth, where there were multiple of the stones at once, and since I failed, he will most likely be going in person. And, if he gets all of them... He will be the ultimate power in the universe. A God. A very real, very sadistic God."

Thor considered this. "If he recruited you to do his bidding, he mustn't be very strong," he reasoned. "Or else, he would've made his move himself."

"He's strong. Stronger than me. Stronger than you. Stronger than maybe all of the Avengers together." Loki replied. "That's... that's why we need her."

"Need who? I'm lost here, Loki. Stop speaking in riddles."

"The magician, the witch I found, who helped us find you and Banner. She is very powerful, and I have only scratched the surface of it. She owes me a Life Debt, and I plan on cashing that in to help us stop that... that lunatic."

The elevator started moving upwards.

"That girl? I thought she was just some street rat that tagged along, to be quite honest. She didn't look like all too much."

"Don't let her hear you say that. She nearly murdered Scrapper 142 out of annoyance. By the way, did you know-" Loki was interrupted.

"That she was a Valkyrie? Yes. It was kind of obvious." Thor deadpanned.

"She told you, didn't she?"

Thor hummed. "Indeed she did, brother." The mindless banter between the two brothers was... new, to say the least. Thor slapped Loki on the back, and an odd silence ensued. "Hey, let's do 'Get Help'." Thor broke the silence a few moments later.

"What?" Loki responded.

"'Get Help'!"

"No," Loki flat-out refused.

"Come on, you love it," Thor said, appealing to his adopted brother, or, at least, trying to do so.

The God of Mischief shook his head rapidly, attempting to dissuade the opinion with a grimace. "I hate it."

"It's great. It works every time." Thor wasn't wrong, it always had worked.

"It's humiliating," the trickster replied.

"Do you have a better plan?"

Loki stared at the blond with incredulity. "A better plan for what, you moron?"

"For taking care of the people guarding the ship bay, of course. We're doing it," Thor decided.

"We are not doing 'Get Help'."

The elevator dinged as they reached the ship bay.

"Get help! Please! My brother, he's dying!" Thor shouted as the doors of the elevator opened. "Get help! Help him!" He continued, and proceeded to chuck Loki at the group of guards who had accumulated, knocking them down like bowling pins. "Classic." Thor chuckled.

Loki grunted as he got up from the ground. "Still hate it." He had to admit that it was effective, however, but only to himself. His brother's ego didn't need to be fed. "It's humiliating," he repeated.

"Not for me, it's not." Thor responded. "Now, which one's the ship Valkyrie told us to get?"

"The Commodore." Loki responded, pointing straight ahead at a luxurious, golden spacecraft.

"Right."

The two walked towards the aircraft.

"Though I'm not sure it's the best choice, to be quite honest," Loki said to Thor, who sighed in response.

"Loki," He said, exasperated as he turned away from his fellow Asgardian and turned towards the control console, expecting to see his brother raising some sort of alarm.

"Yes, brother?" Loki spoke again, still in the same spot. There was nobody at the control console. Thor looked back at his brother in confusion.

"Huh?" He was visibly confused by Loki's actions. "What was that ominous sentence for, anyway? Why are you not ringing the alarm to alert everyone I'm up here?"

"We are going to have an entire space fleet after us the instant we start moving, which is why the only way we're getting out of this is pure luck. I know I've betrayed you many times before, but seriously, brother, things are different this time... bigger, I'd say." This was apparently the wrong sentence, because Thor took this as a sign that his prankster of a brother was simply invisible. He activated the obedience disk that he had planted on Loki.

However, he was surprised when the figure that he had assumed was a clone next to him started spasming as he fell to the floor. "You truly didn't plan on betraying me, did you?" Thor pondered, looking at the fallen form of his brother writhing on the floor. He switched off the disk, allowing Loki to gasp for air.

"Allfather above, I already told you!" The black-haired god shouted after a few moments of recuperating. "Thanos is a much bigger enemy than anything you have ever faced before! If he gets all the Infinity Stones, he can obliterate half of the life in the universe with just a snap of his fingers! I have already lost Mother and Father, I will not lose you as well!"

The blue-eyed, muscular man hummed in surprise, finally seeming to understand. "I had a big speech about you never changing brother, that you would always be the God of Mischief, but... you seem to have proven me incorrect. And all this talk about Thanos... this is bigger than you and me. That would require all of the Avengers together. You realize that you are not their favorite person, correct?"

Loki nodded. "I am aware of-"

"Perfect." Thor crushed the device in his hand, and the disk fell off of Loki's back. "Let's go."

Chapter Text

Loki rubbed his now-sore back, but stood up for the second time in as many minutes. Thor's privateering of the Commodore proved to be much easier than expected; apparently, Thor had distinct knowledge of spacecraft controls to an unexpected degree. It was only after he had figured out how to control the spaceship and they were out of the Hanger that they were spotted.

"Loyal Sakaarians," the Grandmaster's voice spoke through some intercom throughout the city. "The Lord of Thunder has stolen my ship and my favorite champion, and kidnapped a close friend of mine." The Grandmaster continued. "Sakaarians, take to the skies. Bring him down. Do not let him leave this planet." Well, there went the idea of the Grandmaster not letting his ship get shot down.

Quickly, more spaceships filled the sky, the citizens attempting to claim part of the bounty set on Thor's head. Just in time to thwart the efforts of the ships shooting at the Commodore, Valkyrie, in her own cruiser, shot down the ship closest to Thor and Loki, which went careening down into the city beneath them.

"Good shot!" Banner, who, along with Rose, had climbed aboard the woman's vessel as part of their plan, shouted towards the pilot, his hoarse voice echoing faintly.

The woman's nose twitched, as if she held a certain amount of disdain for the man. "Thanks," was all she said in response. Her attention flicked to the dashboard, and she turned on the communicator device that had been linked to the Commodore thanks to her role in bringing the Grandmaster his favorite champion. "Oi, Lackey, open the doors," She spoke through the device to the Asgardian duo.

"My name is Loki," came Loki's scathing bite as he flicked a switch that opened up the rather fashionable doors of the Grandmaster's spacecraft. "Done."

"And yet you follow orders so well," the brunette simpered saccharinely over the microphone, making the green-eyed man roll his eyes, though she couldn't see it. "I hope that you're tougher than you look," Valkyrie spoke to Bruce as the top cockpit opened up.

"Why?" He responded, confused, over the rush of the wind around them. All of the sudden, his seat ejected him straight into the loading area of the Commodore. Or, rather, the ceiling of the loading area. He nearly fell back out, but Loki was by his side in an instant, helping him up. "Thanks..." He gasped out, trying to regain his breath.

Behind the Commodore, the two ships were now being shot at by the Head of the Grandmaster's Guard. After getting over his shock of being helped by Loki, Bruce shouted, "Shouldn't we be shooting back or something?"

"Yes, we should," Thor responded. "Where are the guns on this ship?"

Loki's mutter was instant, "That's what I was trying to tell you, you oaf, there aren't any."

Over the communication device, Valkyrie's voice came, "It's a leisure vessel!"

"What?!" Thor was beyond confused at this point. "Why wouldn't a ship have guns?!" He bellowed.

"Grandmaster uses it for his good times, orgies and stuff," She spoke, smirking as she did, expecting her words to hit at least one of the occupants harshly.

"Did she just say the Grandmaster uses it for orgies?" Bruce gasped, still recovering from hitting the roof of the ship at a velocity that would've evaporated every atom in a normal human's body.

"That she did," Loki replied, getting back into the copilot's seat.

"Don't touch anything," Thor grunted, still annoyed about his lack of ability to fire back on those chasing them. He careened quickly, sliding the ship between two buildings. His face lightened slightly as an explosion echoed behind them, indicating a ship that hadn't been able to clear the gap.

Back on Valkyrie's ship, Rose was focusing her magic. All of the sudden, a bolt hit one of the engines, causing the craft to lurch. "Keep it steady, you wanker! Who taught you how to fly?" Rose yelled at the pilot, who smirked in response.

"Oh, I knew I liked you," Valkyrie muttered to herself. Multiple warning lights flashed throughout the ship, indicating that they were about to start rapidly losing the rest of their systems, and their velocity along with it. "Alright, we're abandoning ship!" Valkyrie yelled backwards, unbuckling herself from her seat.

"Fucking hell," Rose swore, abandoning her casting attempts and running to the cockpit where she grabbed onto Valkyrie's arm. With a press of a button, the two shot out of the roof. The sun caught Valkyrie's hair, and Rose tilted her head, experiencing a moment of calm as their velocity stagnated. Far below them, an explosion rocked the sky as another ship failed to follow the Asgardians. "You know, you're pretty cute."

Before a response could be formulated, a crack sounded out through the air as space condensed and Rose and Valkyrie were spat out into the interior of the Commodore, tumbling over each other, finally ending up with Valkyrie straddling Rose. "You weasel!" The former warrior hissed. "A bit of a fucking warning?"

"It was quicker this way," the black-haired teen justified, and then slid out from under the woman.

Valkyrie scoffed and then snorted, her face twisting as she started trying to hold back a laugh as she shook her head and sat back. "Geez... You know, Vǫlva, you've got a lot of energy. And you're a flirt."

"I do my best," the green-eyed girl winked, sticking her tongue out. "Flirting is fun." The conversation was then interrupted by the shields of the vessel taking another hit as another Sakaarian shot at them.

Thor hissed in irritation. "I should probably go and take care of that. Brother, take the wheel." He jumped up and left the ship without waiting for a response. Loki clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Of course, brother, it'd be my pleasure. Thanks for confirming I know how to pilot advanced alien tech before handing me the controls to the contraption," He muttered to empty air, transferring the ownership of the controls to his side of the cockpit. Below them, Thor ripped off the top of a ship, sending it careening to the city below. Rose, who had taken to watching, felt no small amount of pleasure when she watched the tent that had been her home for the past half-decade get crushed by the wreckage. Her hands started to move, the Elder bracelets on her arms giving her a pleasant tingling feeling as she started working with her magic.

Non-verbal magic had become incredibly easy after the time with her mouth... incapacitated, so to speak. An 'Engorgio' charm on a piece of metal took another ship out of commission, no match for the sudden velocity at which the scrap expanded. Her ownership of the Elder Wand allowed Rose to increase the size far beyond what anyone else would've ever been able to, with her enormous magic core assisting her even further.

Looking out the bay, Valkyrie pointed a small pistol at a ship, concentrating before squeezing the trigger. A massive bolt of energy left before causing an explosion on the front of the ship that cascaded into many more explosions, taking the vehicle out of the dogfight.

Next to the burning craft, Thor repeatedly bashed through the shell of another ship, causing mass engine failure, leaving the craft to fall into the water as he pounced off of it, sending the nose of the craft into a spiral.

The only ships left pursuing them now were the Head of the Guard's ship and a few smaller spacecraft which were most likely better suited for light travel.

Bruce, wanting to feel useful, rushed to Loki's side, and shouted, "Okay, come on! There's gotta be a gun on this thing!"

He made to press a button, but Loki stopped him with a cautionary arm. "Don't touch anything."

Rose agreed with the sentiment. Beyond not wanting Banner to mess anything up with random controls, she wanted to deal with the woman herself. The Guard Captain reminded her quite a bit of Umbridge, and, well... she had called Rose a whore, and was trying to kill them. So, this was just fair play, honestly.

"Accelerato Momentum." She incanted, causing the other woman's craft to speed up uncontrollably. She may have overcharged the spell a slight bit as Loki pulled the Commodore over the debris of a fallen ship. Rose didn't relish in death, but she appreciated the look on the woman's face as she realized she was doomed.

Thor jumped to a small ship and tore off the cockpit and threw the pilot out, before taking his place. Valkyrie landed next to him, and her presence was accompanied by an explosion off to the right as the ship she had just left blew up. They looked at each other and smiled, the ship accelerating to take them directly under the Commodore. Once they had reached the same speed, they jumped up simultaneously, landing face to face with each other as the hanger doors closed. "You know, we work pretty well-" Valkyrie rolled her eyes and cut him off.

"You're not my type, darling." She spoke, and walked towards the front.

Thor trailed behind after a second, muttering, "But... I'm everyone's type..."

Ignoring the interaction, Bruce announced, "Guys, we're coming up on the Devil's Anus!" Rose rolled her eyes and barely managed to keep from laughing at the name.

The Commodore started entering the wormhole, random bits of scrap scraping the ship. "Here we go." Valkyrie spoke, having taken her place in the pilot's seat, relieving Loki, who was visibly stressed from his duties. The ship started receiving heavy turbulence, causing the people in the cabin to rock around violently. Bruce was thrown against the wall, while Loki was a bit more lucky having already been standing against it. Thor and, of course, Valkyrie were in the seats, and were not affected as badly.

Rose had also been thrown against the wall, but had been caught my Loki and hugged close. Nodding a thanks to him, she concentrated on casting a Protego Maxima around them, which would temporarily keep them safe no matter what happened. Well, hopefully; the witch had never tested it against the vacuum of space, and she wasn't all too eager to try, either.

The shaking increased as they progressed through the wormhole, to the point where Rose had to concentrate heavily to make sure her shield held. And then, as quickly as the vibrations had started, they stopped, and the Commodore was out. Red lights flickered silently throughout the spacecraft, no doubt signaling the external damage dealt to it. Bruce, Valkyrie, and Thor had long since passed out. Rose let go of the shields.

"That barrier was... Quite powerful," Loki spoke, breaking the silence. It was an understatement, really.

"I'm pretty strong, I'd reckon, and those shields were small compared to what they sometimes protect. And, well, everything becomes stronger when you can use it correctly." Such as her Accelerato Momentum spell. Originally used for powering vehicles such as trains, simply overpowering it had led to the head of the Guard's destruction. "I used to be-" 'a child soldier' was what she had been about to say, but somehow she didn't feel like that would land particularly well with the man, "-in a war, and I had to get pretty good at using spells quickly and cleverly. It... It took me a long time to realize that killing was sometimes the necessary answer. And, it doesn't feel good," she paused, "but sometimes it's the best option."

"Right you are," Loki agreed, trailing off after, looking at the others. Rose felt the mutual understanding pass between them; she wasn't saying everything that she could, but she didn't need to. Next to her was a man who had felt, had learned exactly what she was saying firsthand.

"Should we wake up the others?" She asked him, following his gaze to the muscular blond sitting in the captain's seat.

"No... I'm rather enjoying the silence for the moment." And so, they let the others stay unconscious for a few minutes.

Embarrassingly enough for the Asgardians, Bruce was the first one to wake up, although the other two followed mere moments later. In front of them, by some miracle (or perhaps magic), was Asgard. Valkyrie recovered quickly, piloting them up to the city. "I never thought I'd be back here..." she murmured.

"I thought it'd be a lot nicer," Bruce spoke as he got up. Once again, his back was sore. "I mean, not that it's not nice." He tried to backtrack. "It's just, it's on fire." And, to Thor's horror, it was.

Luckily, Valkyrie interrupted, saving Bruce from putting his foot even further in his mouth. "Here, up in the mountains," she spoke, looking at a hologram on the center console. "Heat signatures. People clustered together," the fighter continued, and then concluded as the topographical generation focused on a different, smaller dot, rapidly approaching the cluster. "Hela's coming for them."

"Okay, drop me off at the palace and I'll draw her away," Thor replied with confidence.

"And get yourself killed?" Valkyrie responded with incredulity.

"The people trapped down there are all that matters. Besides, I didn't know you cared." He rumbled with laughter with the second sentence. "While I'm dealing with Hela, I need you two to help get everyone off Asgard."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Bruce asked. Loki seconded.

"I have a man on the ground." Thor replied mysteriously.

A few moments later, the spacecraft touched the ground of the palace. Thor pulled out a gun that he had found in the cargo hold, as small as it was. 'Hopefully it shoots something other than confetti.' Rose thought sardonically. She wasn't very confident in the probability. "There, now the ship has a gun."

"We'll take it from here, brother." Loki replied, coming up from behind Valkyrie, who nodded in approval.

"Good luck." The son of Odin intoned, before walking off the ship. Valkyrie seemed conflicted for a second.

"Your Majesty!" She called, causing the God of Thunder to turn around. "Don't die." He nodded at her as the ship lifted off. He thought he heard a thump behind him, but when he turned around, he saw nothing. As the ship drifted away, the trio aboard it could hear the rhythmic thumping coming from the Throne Room, meaning that their half-baked plan had been put into action.

And, as they had anticipated, the Goddess of Death appeared quickly.

Chapter Text

While the ragtag bunch of Asgardians and Midgardians had been enacting their plan, the group of people in the mountains had made their way down to the Rainbow Bridge far faster than any humans could have, all the while being led by a dark-skinned, orange-eyed warrior.

Above the bridge leading to the Bifrost, the Commodore appeared, lone gun blazing as it shot at the wolf Hela had left to guard the transportation device. Bruce was piloting the ship, and Rose was standing in wait while Valkyrie fired. Marching down from the palace grounds, Hela's undead army appeared, led by Skurge, the former janitor. "Heimdall!" He shouted, his voice carrying. "The sword!" Heimdall looked at him, looked down at the weapon that served as the key to the Bifrost in his hands, and looked back up without saying a word.

At his steadfast defiance, Skurge shouted and Hela's army charged, and those who were left of Asgard readied their weapons. Morale was slim, though; many Asgardians left alive were not warriors, as those who had been brave enough to fight had already perished against Hela.

Green eyes scanned the bridge and the two forces rapidly getting closer. Splaying her palms out wide and cracking her neck, Rose exchanged one last bit of banter with Valkyrie. "If I die, do me a favor and kill whoever killed me, yeah?"

Valkyrie snorted. "If you die. Don't waste your breath, Shortstack. We both know you'll be fine."

The witch shrugged. "Still, just in case. Cheerio!" Rose said as she stuck one foot over the open hanger door then gave a small hop as she jumped out of the ship, using a Cushioning Charm to soften her impact as she fell. She made it to the Rainbow Bridge below her and landed quickly, bouncing onto the bridge and then popping back up from the softened ground. Magic shimmered around her as she landed again, enshrouding her like a cloak, and the battle stopped for a few seconds as everyone around her stopped to figure out what she was there to do.

For a moment, she looked like Hela, with her dark attire, black hair, and a notable aura radiating off her that made everyone that was her target feel the need to run and hide. Ever the experienced fighter, Rose knew that her best bet to end this quickly was to take advantage of the confusion.

"Electrica catena," the witch called out, electricity sparking out of her bracelets. As she twisted her wrists, bolts of lightning exited from both of her palms, shooting towards the closest of the Death Goddess' warriors, causing them to convulse as they were hit. As the electricity passed through them, it then bounced to another dark figure and hit them, too, continuing the chain.

After a few moments, she cut off the power flow and took a deep breath as she stood up. Around her, the soldiers that had been hit began to crumple into ash, having been roasted to nonexistence from the voltage running through their bodies. Exhaling, Rose cracked her neck while she realized that she was still being stared at. She stared back, her sharp green eyes taking a moment to observe the people she was working with, and popped a smile. "Well, right-o. Let's fuck 'em up, yeah?"

A large cheer echoed from the Asgardian forces.

The Throne Room was still gorgeous, but decidedly less picturesque with the rubble and blood that was strewn everywhere. In the middle, two of the late Allfather's children fought. Ironically enough, the physical throne was right next to them, but, in the face of their confrontation, it meant no more than a place to rest one's legs.

The blond had acquired Gungnir whilst waiting for Hela to arrive. The legendary spear had lost most of its power with Odin's death, but was still a marvelous weapon, perfectly sharpened and durable enough to cut through stone like warm butter.

Despite his inexperience with the weapon, Thor held the upper hand in the fight. He was sticking to ranged attacks, making to poke at Hela, and was putting enough strength into the action to occasionally break through her defenses, leaving ichor to drip down from various small wounds. Hela, on the other hand, was having difficulty getting close enough to the God of Thunder to land any solid blow.

This all changed, however, when Thor landed a strike to her upper breast that Hela didn't guard, which let Gungnir penetrate her skin slightly. Instead of being shocked, though, Hela smirked. Before Thor could retract his arm, her hand shot up, and one of her blades cleaved through the haft of the spear, leaving Thor holding nothing more than a bejeweled stick and a surprised expression on his face, which quickly turned to pain as Hela pressed her advantage.

"Here's the difference between us." The woman mocked as she shoved her younger brother against a pillar. "I'm Odin's firstborn, the rightful heir, the savior of Asgard. And you're... nothing." She lifted him higher, choking him as she spoke dismissively. Instead of finishing him, however, she threw him to the ground behind her, taking her time to strut around the room. "I could finish you. But... I have waited millennia for this. If I wish to be slightly selfish in my victory..." A wicked smile crossed the goddess' face. "Well, who could blame me?"

"You have saved nothing," Thor snarled, his blond hair whipping around as he shoved himself to his feet. "You mean to destroy Asgard." He threw a heavy punch at the woman, who merely leaned back to dodge. Using his momentum, the God of Thunder twisted himself around for a roundhouse kick. Hela threw herself out of the way, having been surprised by the attack, and glared at the man opposing her as she landed in a low crouch.

"Even if I wanted to destroy it, Asgard is mine to decide the fate of!" Growled the fallen princess. "I built this empire. I put blood and everything I had into serving it, into serving the Allfather, and in return, he cast me aside and banished me for thousands of years!"

The Prince of Asgard shook his head. "That does not mean that you have to spend your life destroying everything that he built!" He shouted, enraged at the mere idea of his city, his home, his people being slaughtered like sheep for refusing to bend their knee to the goddess. "Simply being the first-born gives you no such right to rule these people!" He spoke from the heart, helping himself come to realization as he himself was saying it. "Blood is not what gives you the ability to rule. It is compassion, kindness, and the willingness to make decisions to benefit the people that you are leading. Being a ruler isn't a way to take power away from your people, it's a way for you to give it back to them; to protect, to lead, and defend. And... I will defend my people!"

A hazy look entered the god's eyes, and, a moment later, he roared. Lightning struck down, shattering the ceiling and landing on the man's body, electricity crackling around him and surrounding him like a wreath as he embraced it. "And..." He spoke slowly, evenly. "If defending my people means I must kill you... Then I shall do my best."

"Big words," Hela growled, narrowing her eyes, "but a parlor trick is far from enough to beat me, child." She rushed forward, striking at Thor with an onslaught of blows. As opposed to before, however, they were much more evenly matched now. Each strike from a blade was parried by an electrified forearm, static dissipating into the air with each hit. Whenever he threw a blow, Thor's strikes were imbued with the power of lightning, increasing their range and causing a few burns just by proximity. "I... will... not... lose!" The Goddess of Death finally screamed as she rushed forward, increasing her tenacity.

It practically happened in slow motion. She went in for a strike on the god's midsection, and Thor moved to parry once again. However, Hela abandoned the attack halfway through and instead threw a single blow at the off-balance warrior's rear leg, sending him stumbling back. Then, to follow up, the fallen goddess dashed forward and struck her brother again, sending him landing onto the throne, where he coughed and heaved up ichor, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried and failed to catch his breath as his strength began to leave him.

Slowly, assuredly, Hela caught her breath. "I... will admit..." She spoke slowly, finally taking a deep inhale and raising up her hands and twisting, chains of darkness crawling out from the shadows and pinning the muscular blond man to the throne. "You put up a better fight than expected, little brother. But, in the end, this is always how it was going to be." She walked closer slowly, pulling the head of Gungnir out of her body with a sickening pop, her fist clenching out what remained of the legendary weapon's handle.

Thor let out a grunt and tried to tear his way out of the chains, but with a twist of her hands, Hela tightened the chains so that the muscular arms thumped back against the golden chair. "How ironic, for Odin's favorite child to be decapitated by his favorite tool. A fighter beaten by a trick so simple, even a blind man could see it, his vision obscured by delusions of honor and righteousness... Farewell, Odinson," she finished, mocking her enchained opponent. The Goddess reached back, ready to make one, final cut along Thor's neck.

Suddenly, a dagger embedded itself in her side. She shrieked, losing her concentration, and threw herself to the other side of the room as the chains holding the God of Thunder disintegrated.

"Luckily, I'm not blind." Loki spoke, appearing from the shadows. "Sorry, brother, but there was no chance you were beating her."

"Frost-spawn," the black-haired woman spat in disgust. "You are not a fighter, we both know this. You use trickery to do your bidding, but in a head-on conflict, you pale in comparison to your brother. But, you already knew that, didn't you?" She goaded, trying to get the man to come at her.

The God of Trickery refused to rise to the bait, merely chuckling. "Quite right you are. And that is why, instead of me trying my hand at this one... We will be taking our leave now." He grabbed onto Thor's arm, and within an instant... They vanished.

At the entrance to the Bifrost, the wolf seemed to have gained a resistance to the bullets being shot. "This stupid dog won't die!" Valkyrie complained, taking a moment to appreciate how Rose was carving through her enemies. However, the wolf was galloping towards the Asgardians, the only one standing in its way being Heimdall and that meant that something needed to be done... and fast. Bruce piloted the ship over the bridge.

"Everything's gonna be alright now. I've got this," Bruce declared as he got out of the pilot's seat, somehow having managed to find and engage the autopilot function.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Valkyrie responded over the wind, throwing a wild, confused look at the pale man who was walking towards her slowly, looking somewhat like a strong breeze would blow him off the edge of the pocket dimension.

"You'll see!" He shouted, and then the scrawny man... Jumped out of the Commodore. He slammed into the ground, causing everyone on the battlefield to stop for a second, even the wolf, and causing Valkyrie to wince.

'Performance issues?' Rose thought from the other end of the battlefield. The wolf nudged the body, deciding it was definitely a corpse rather than a threat, and resumed its gallop towards the Asgardians. Right as it was about to reach Heimdall, who readied his sword, it was suddenly stopped in its tracks. With a roar, it was tossed back, revealing the Hulk in his big, green glory.

Valkyrie looked at him, blinking. 'Wouldn't it have made more sense to shift on the way down?' She wondered. However, in her distraction, a few of the undead warriors had somehow made their way on the Commodore, and she jolted back to reality as she rushed back to the cockpit to shake them all off. Below her, the wolf charged again, and was caught by the Hulk. However, their combined momentum sent them hurtling off the bridge.

The Commodore quickly made its way to an emergency landing on the battlefield. The warriors on it, realizing their position, started swarming Heimdall. A ship burst into the sky above Asgard, though, and a man who seemed to be made of rocks jumped out of the side and landed on the Rainbow Bridge, slamming down a large club that created huge shockwaves as he did, completely destroying some of Hela's minions.

Offering a wave, the rock-man greeted the golden-eyed warrior. "Hey! I'm Korg. We got a note from some 'Lock' dude telling us to come here and meet a... Hidal?" Korg pulled the note out of his pocket and offered it to the Asgardian. His carefree nature was entirely contrary to the fighting going on around him, which he seemed perfectly at ease with. An arrow bounced off of his cheek and into the water, and all he did was scratch at the hit spot with his free hand while staring at the guardian of the Bifrost.

Tired eyes scanned the note quickly, instantly recognizing the loopy scrawl. "Loki..." Heimdall breathed out, looking up at the palace. "... I seem to have misjudged you."

Chapter Text

Aforementioned god was rapidly approaching the Rainbow Bridge with his wounded brother in tow. Hela was fast on their heels, though, exploding through the palace doors with tendrils of darkness trailing behind her. "You will not escape from me!" She hissed. "I am the Goddess of Death, and the Queen of Asgard!"

Stumbling along the bridge, Thor groaned. "Is that how I sound whenever I talk about it?"

"A bit less maniacal," Loki responded, "but about right. Maybe a bit heavier on the 'holier-than-thou' bit, I suppose," came the off-handed addition.

The blue-eyed God sighed. "I can't believe you managed to endure that without stabbing me."

"I did stab you," his brother reminded him. "Many times, in fact."

Thor nodded. "Justified."

Loki snorted in response. "That's what I always said, but, for some reason, my plight was consistently ignored."

They had just made it to the bridge when their pursuer caught up to them. "Weaselly runts," she growled. "You can't-" She cut herself off with a snarled scream as the two continued their trek down the bridge rather than stop to listen to her monologue. "Stop running from me! I am the Goddess of Death!" Hela repeated in anger. "What are you two the gods of? Hammers and jokes?!"

Ignoring his adoptive sister, Loki called out to the figure who seemed to be single-handedly fighting half of Hela's army. "Rose! We've got incoming!"

The Brit's head shot towards him, and she nodded quickly. She took off at a run and made it over to the godly duo in record time and wasted no time before yelling at Loki. "Oi, thanks for leaving us you tosser! Bugger," she gasped as she took in the state of Thor's body. "Am I healing or fighting?"

That question was answered as Hela once again exploded through Asgard's infrastructure, stepping down on a staircase of tendrils that were placing themselves underneath her feet as she stepped. "Finally... You can run no longer, Asgardians," she gloated.

Loki, obviously panicked, shrugged his head over his shoulder. "That answer the question?"

"Lovely..." Rose said sarcastically. "Bloody hell. You go on, mate. I've got this one." She walked warily towards the woman, who was regarding her with no small amount of disgust. "Fuck are you, some sort of My Chemical Romance spokesperson?"

Hela blinked. "Some sort of- What?" She shook her head. "Never mind that. No Asgardian can possibly hope to stand against me! Get out of my way and kneel, and I'll consider sparing your pathetic life." The witch giggled before regaining her composure, but the act still pissed the self-proclaimed 'Queen of Asgard' off. "Has your brain broken, you imbecile?"

"No, no..." Rose replied, still finding it slightly humorous. "It's just... I'm not an Asgardian." And, with those words, she sent a bolt of red magic at Hela, who braced herself to block it. The Bombarda, however, exploded upon contact, sending the Goddess slamming back into the wall behind her.

The self-crowned woman spat out a small amount of ichor and shook her head as she rose to her feet. "Oh, I am going to enjoy killing you."

Thor and Loki looked behind them at the sight of Rose blasting Hela into the wall. "Doing better than us already," Loki remarked.

His brother grunted. "We weakened her, obviously. I stabbed her in the shoulder, and you got her in the side."

The God of Trickery shrugged. "I suppose. So, want to say what that little haziness you got after that speech back there was about?" He raised an eyebrow expectantly.

The blond sighed, breathing deeply. "Father talked to me. He... he said he was proud. Of us. Something about being glad that I 'finally understood what he had been trying to teach me'. But... mainly, he reminded me that Mjolnir was always meant as a focus for me. It was not the source of my power. And, he reminded me what power was always meant to be used for."

Loki nodded, remembering the teachings the Allfather had tried their best to imbue into them both. "Power is for defending the things you care for."

A watery smile was sent Loki's way as Thor nodded. "Like your people... and your family. Because family is not decided by blood." He suddenly clasped Loki into a deep hug. "True family is the people you choose to keep the company of."

Loki let out a choked agreement. Not because he was overcome with emotion, but because his brother was hugging him tightly enough that he couldn't actually breathe.

Below the embraced duo, in the rushing tides, the Hulk and the wolf were still fighting. The wolf chomped down on the Hulk's leg and swung its head around, tearing him through the depths of the river before the Hulk decided he had had enough and slammed his fist into the beast's nose, sending it reeling off of the edge of Asgard into the abyss as it unclamped its jaw to howl in pain. The green giant nearly followed, but managed to grab onto a rock and haul himself back up.

As the last of the warriors were being destroyed, the ship that the gladiators had arrived on was being used to evacuate the Asgardian people. Skurge looked at his battleaxe in disgust as he finally comprehended what he had almost done by bending his knee at the first sign of trouble and betraying his people. He grabbed a cloak and wrapped it around his head, disguising himself as people began to be ushered onto the ship, and allowed himself to be herded along to safety.

"I've figured out who you are," Hela murmured as she took in Rose. The witch gave an expectant raise of her eyebrow as she waited for the Asgardian to finish her sentence. "You're the one that my domain has been talking to me about ever since I returned. An intruder... One who doesn't belong in this existence. An anomaly, one which must be rectified. You're the supposed 'Mistress of Death'."

"And you're the supposed 'Goddess of Death'... I guess it does have a ring to it. Maybe I'll nab it once I'm done..." Rose thought aloud. Suddenly, black spears made of darkness shot at her. Rose destroyed them with some simple Bombarda charms. They weren't strong, but they were sharp and fast. While they wouldn't kill her, they would certainly hurt. "Excuse me, I was speaking. No need to interrupt. Honestly, people these days." She rolled her eyes and sent a few curses in reply, her left hand not leaving her hip in a sassy pose.

Hela had learned her lesson, using more dark tendrils to block the curses instead of assuming that they wouldn't cause her any damage. "While you are no goddess, you are certainly still strong. Why don't you join me? What can these fools offer you? I rule over our shared domain. You would be a valuable assistant to me. I could-" She was cut off by Rose rolling her eyes and giving her answer.

"Give me everything I want beyond my wildest dreams? Please, heard it before, no thanks. You villains all have the same lines. Do you get them at the same villain store or something?"

This only seemed to serve to enrage Hela, who created many more tendrils and seemed to throw them at Rose by tossing her arms forward. "Oh, just fucking die already, then!" The goddess rushed forward behind her projectiles as more shadows formed in her hands, swords materializing in her grasp, only for Rose to jump backwards and land in a roll for even more distance, and the Brit took aim, holding her wand with one hand and supporting her arm with the other.

"Confringo! Oppugno!" The Gryffindor yelled, causing a large, powerful explosion, destroying the tendrils and reaching through to knock Hela backwards and sliding into the bridge, the goddess having been taken by surprise by the different nature of the spell. The Oppugno spell then took effect, and the shards of the weapons she had previously been using were sent back towards her, and Hela howled as the small shards embedded themselves into her body.

"Haven't you figured it out?" The Brit chided, her tone patronizing as she walked forward and her neck craned down to look at Hela. "Hasn't your domain been telling you the truth, rather than these delusions you're choosing to spew?" The Mistress of Death began to crouch downwards slowly, the skin on her right arm beginning to pale as black veins slowly began to spread through it. Rose didn't pause, though. Her vision was starting to tunnel in on Hela, and the noises of the battlefield began to get quieter and quieter as the sound of blood rushing through her head grew in intensity.

Something Hela saw in her expression seemed to scare the goddess, as she began to panic. "Stay away!" She yelled. "I will kill-"

"You know you can't kill me," the dimension-traveler interrupted, her voice oddly flat, with her blood-red eyes staring, unblinking, unceasing, at the Asgardian. "You've heard what Death has been trying to tell you the entire time I've been here. To bow... to kneel. Because... you may be the 'Goddess of Death'... but you are merely given power by the domain. Whereas I..." A slow smile spread across Rose's face. "I control it. Now... be a good girl... and die." Death raised one... pale... hand...

Hela's scream was cut off like the snip of scissors across a string.

Their victory was short-lived. Honestly, they had so little time that Loki still hadn't been able to ask Rose exactly what she had done to defeat Hela. He had been looking away at the time, and for a single moment, the world had frozen and flashed black and white. The average Asgardian wouldn't have been able to see it, but he was an expert with miniscule moments and incredibly adept at noticing the slightest changes in the environment.

Worried, he had looked over at where the two had been fighting... only to see a smoking crater. And, in front of it, was Rose, who was holding one arm out and breathing heavily. In front of his eyes, she collapsed to her knees, and then fell face-forward into the ground. Around them, the last of Hela's minions collapsed onto the ground and disintegrated, as did the remains of the already-slain monstrosities, the dust floating into the wind and falling into the sea surrounding the Rainbow Bridge and Bifrost.

"Is it... over?" Thor murmured softly.

"I... believe so, brother."

Thor scrunched his eyebrows, confused. "But... Ragnarok? The prophecy... I don't understand... Asgard was destined to be destroyed."

"Perhaps we've finally gotten a break, then?" The God of Trickery shrugged hopefully.

The God of Thunder shrugged back in response. "Perhaps..." He stilled for a moment. "What is that? A rescue ship, perhaps?" Loki turned, confused, to see what his brother was looking at, and froze in fear.

"Oh no..." He spoke solemnly, before his voice became urgent. "Brother! Tell them to get out of here! Leave! Get them to leave at once!" He pointed at the ship of gladiators. "Valkyrie, grab the green one!" The woman nodded, immediately springing into action.

"Go, brothers!" Thor heeded at once, yelling as loud as he could. "Leave for Earth! Heimdall, guide them!" The orange-eyed warrior nodded seriously, and the Asgardian citizens didn't need to be told twice, and the ship's engines began to scream as fuel was pumped into them. "Now, brother, who is that? Why is that ship so scary?"

Loki was practically paralyzed with fear, but he forced himself to move. "Come, to the palace. That's our only chance to survive this." He started moving, only stopping to grab Rose's unconscious body.

"Loki!" Thor called from behind them. "Who is that?!"

Loki paused for only a moment. Then, he spared a single second to stare at the visage of the Sanctuary 2 that had just entered Asgard's airspace. Then, he spoke only one word, and he tried to ensure that it carried as much weight as possible. "Thanos."

Chapter Text

"How is he here?" Thor called, pacing frantically as he waved around Surtur's sword. "How did he know where to find us? And why can we not get a break for two minutes?" With Mjolnir gone and access to the Aesir's armory, he had made the choice to get a new weapon until he had the chance to get to Nidavellir. While the sword was far from his trusty hammer, it was eternally sharp and also wreathed in hellflame, which would do quite a bit of damage to anyone unfortunate enough to meet the sharp of its blade. Loki, meanwhile, had made his own trip into the vaults, although he had not yet explained what he had gone for.

The God of Trickery hummed. "He has many resources. No doubt, monitoring energy is well within his capabilities, and Hela's death was probably more than enough to send out a signal to anyone who was looking for it."

"What sort of resources?" The blond god inquired, giving a few practice swings with the sword, appraising its balance. His nose scrunched as he stared at it, disliking it as a whole, but resigned himself to needing it.

"Any and all. Technology, magic. He's created an entire empire for himself just based on his strength and his bloodline. He was able to..." Loki licked his lips, which had suddenly become dry, "convince me to lead the strike on Midgard. He's obsessed with the Infinity Stones, and with recreating the original Infinity Gauntlet. His main mission... is to wipe out half of all life in the universe with the idea of saving the other half. If you ask me, it's far more complex than necessary, but... Well, I suppose he didn't ask me."

Thor paused in his pacing and turned to Loki with a look of confusion on his face. "Then why did you help him out?" The Asgardian stared for a few moments at his black-haired brother. "If you disagreed with him, why would you assist him? Why would you invade Midgard?"

Loki's jaw clenched. "I said he convinced me, did I not? Enough of this."

"He used the Scepter on you." It was not a question.

"Shut up!" The black-haired immortal's patience finally ran out. "He is dangerous, and he is here. That is all that's important."

Blue eyes stared, unconvinced. But, thankfully, Thor decided to not push the matter. "... Fine. What is he after? You said... the Infinity Stones? The Infinity Gauntlet? As far as I recall, we have the Gauntlet in the armory... is that what you went to go get?"

Loki shook his head, still flushed with anger. "No, you blithering fool. That Gauntlet is a cheap imitation of the myth's. More likely, he is after the Tesseract."

"That blue cube? The one from Earth? Ah, is that why he sent you to get it? Because it's an Infinity Stone?"

"More or less," the God of Mischief replied tersely. "An Infinity Stone is contained within it. And, on that subject, the Scepter contained one as well. He sent me with one to get the other, and since I failed, he was left with neither, which probably means he's eager to regain them, which could be what he's here for... Or, perhaps, he wants to eliminate me for failing. Or maybe both. Hela's conquest was far from quiet, after all, and the Mad Titan is the pragmatic type..."

Thor was poised to respond, but, instead, the palace doors banged open as the Hulk bounded in. "Hulk strong!" The green giant roared as he entered, with Valkyrie in tow.

"Welcome back, you two. Glad you could make it-" Explosions cut Loki off as the room rumbled, and the ground began to tremble.

"What the hell was that?" Valkyrie yelled out as she regained her balance.

"The start of an offensive," Loki growled out. He stared at Rose. "It'd be quite nice if she'd wake up. It'd make this a whole lot easier."

The last member of the Valkyries stared at her comatose comrade. "What happened to her? Does she have an injury?"

The black-haired God shook his head. "No, not one that I can see, at least. She seems very, very tired, though, but her pulse is strong. Her forehead is burning up, though."

Valkyrie rushed over, sliding onto the ground as she began to check Rose over. "She is burning up a little, yeah. But... the rest of her body is as cold as Hel, especially her hands. It's gotta be some supernatural sort of sickness."

"Brother..."

"What now, oaf?" Green eyes glared.

Thor was stroking his chin as he leaned on Surtur's sword. "Doesn't... this sort of seem a bit like mother's illness after she saved us from those High Elves when we were kids?"

"She saved you," Loki countered. "But yes."

"She saved both of us," Thor replied. "We both were caught behind enemy lines. And, if I recall, we both stayed by her bedside afterward." Loki glared, but the son of Odin didn't slow down. "And, didn't the court healers say it was magic sickness? Because she had used too much of her energy?"

Loki worked his jaw as he thought, eventually begrudgingly nodding his head. "You're... correct." He frowned. "That's not good. It took Mother over a week to recover from that."

"But she wasn't in the prime of her power, nor do I believe that even she was as strong as this witch seems to be," the God of Thunder countered. "If we can hold out for a few hours, she might be able to wake."

"A few hours? Brother, the city is being torn to pieces out there! Forget hours; they'll destroy the fortifications within thirty minutes!"

"And?" Valkyrie took her canteen off her hip and took a long swig. "The people are already evacuated. The city was already destroyed and on fire thanks to Hela's takeover. What do we care about this stupid chunk of rock? With enough time, it'll regenerate anyway, so long as the core isn't destroyed."

The Trickster clenched his teeth, flipping a dagger through his fingers; a nervous tic. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, given how easily you seemed to turn your back on it."

A glare was sent his way, but Thor quickly stepped in. "Enough! We can not fight amongst ourselves. We need to figure out a plan. Hulk," blue eyes turned to the green giant, "do you think you're capable of fighting again?"

The transformed Dr. Banner grinned. "Hulk is strongest! Hulk will fight anyone!"

Loki clicked his tongue contemplatively. "Do... do you think we could draw him down here, and then try to fight him? He's got quite a bit of an ego on him, although he tries hard to hide it."

"Didn't you say he was dangerous, brother?" Thor countered.

"Can't be more dangerous alone than that battleship is, and a damn bit more hittable, I reckon," Valkyrie reasoned. "I like it. Now... How do we get him to come down here?"

The God of Mischief grinned as a plan began to form itself within his mind. "Oh, well, there comes the fun part. We show him exactly... what... he... wants."

"I change my mind, this was a stupid idea," Loki shouted out behind him as he held the Tesseract out to open air. If the ship really wanted to, it could blow him to pieces right then and there, and that would be it unless he could react fast enough. And, given that lasers moved at the speed of light... he probably wouldn't be able to react fast enough.

"You're doing great!" Valkyrie responded. "Just go ahead and keep not getting murdered!"

"I'm try-" The god's retort was cut off by a beam coming down from the ship, right at Loki...

Just to land about fifteen meters away. "Loki Laufeyson..." A deep voice ground out. "Delivering the Tesseract to me? I seem to recall that it was supposed to be retrieved years ago. Six, if I remember correctly."

Loki winced through a grin. "Yeah... About that, I was thinking about a bit of a trade."

The purple-skinned alien tilted his head downwards, staring down at the Asgardian stoically. "A trade, you say? I'm curious... What would stop me from just killing you and taking that stone off of your body?"

The black-haired man made a little flourish, bringing his arms together. When he pulled them apart, the cube had disappeared. "Well, I wouldn't know personally, but I've heard that taking things out of a dead man's pocket dimension is a bit difficult."

Thanos grunted, the first show of emotion that had come from the encounter. "I see. I remember, this is why you were useful... Arrogance and tricks." When Loki didn't react to the barb, the titan sighed. waving a hand dismissively. "Fine. Speak."

The trickster's lips curled upwards. "Delightful. So, as I was saying... You can have the stone. But, before that... You give us twenty-four hours to prepare. And then, we fight. You, or one of your Order, versus one of our fighters. If our fighter wins, you let us off this planet and leave Asgard alone. If you win, our lives are yours to do with as you see fit."

The Mad Titan made a noise that sounded suspiciously akin to a laugh.

Green eyes narrowed. "Is there something funny about that?" His ego was a dangerous thing, but the connection he held to Asgard, which was usually kept under a layer of ice and contempt, had defrosted in the past two days and was rearing its head.

"No, no... Well, perhaps slightly," Thanos said, exhaling as he finished. "You seem to be under a misconception."

"A misconception?" Loki frowned. "Well, go on, then, do enlighten me."

"I don't care about your planet, if you can even call Asgard 'yours'... It means nothing to me, nor does destroying it." Thanos leaned forward towards his former underling. "And you, Loki Laufeyson... mean even less. I care not about your past, or punishing your uselessness. I care not about your future, either, nor do I care if we were to encounter again. You and your friends hold no more danger to me than a cockroach does to a tiger... You may be able to survive pretty well, but at any time... I could crush you under my foot." With frightening speed, the Mad Titan stomped, cracking the ground beneath him.

Loki opened and closed his mouth, thinking about what to say. After a few moments, he finally formulated a sentence. "Very well... So... What does that mean for our little trade?"

"It means you and your companions' lives mean nothing to me, dead or alive. Let's skip the delay; you give me the Tesseract, and I'll leave this planet and your miserable lives intact. Or, you can try to resist, and I can blow this planet's core to smithereens with you and your friends trapped on it and tear the Infinity Stone from your frozen, lifeless body." The alien's voice didn't change at all as he spoke, emotion having no place in his assertion.

"Certainly a charmer, aren't you..." Loki murmured under his breath. After only a moment, though, he nodded. "It's a deal, then." Slowly, carefully, he removed the Tesseract from his pocket dimension; the real one, not the one he had shown the Mad Titan before, and placed it on the ground before slowly walking back up the steps towards the palace.

Thanos didn't waste a moment in striding forward, picking the cube up off of the ground and crushing the outer shell with brute physical strength, leaving shards of glass and the Space Stone in his gloved hand. Again, not wasting time, he plucked the Stone out of his hand and slotted it into the Infinity Gauntlet, feeling the energy rush through him. Thanos grunted heavily, working his jaw as the energy flowed and then ebbed.

After a few moments, he spoke again. "I admit, I expected you to attempt to trick me with a fake Stone. I am a man of my word, though..." He grunted, considering his choices. "I shall leave your planet and your group alone, although I give no such assurances if we run into each other in the future. And, remember, Laufeyson..." The Mad Titan's voice gained a threatening tone. "The universe's smartest god is as little of a threat to me as its smartest human. And, trust me... I have thoroughly examined both."

Loki expected the purple-skinned giant to leave the instant that he had gotten what he had come for, but instead, the tyrant had paused after his last sentence. His nostrils flared, as if tasting the air as he looked up towards the palace. "You have something... Someone..." An odd glint entered the man's eyes, indecipherable even to the Asgardian in front of him. "She is Death."

"Hela is dead," the green-eyed god refused, taking a wary step back towards the stairs. "She was the Goddess of Death, and now she is dead." There was nothing - no one - else the Titan could mean, right?

Still, the murderer shook his head. "No, no... Death can not die." He took a single, shuddering step towards the palace.

"You gave me your word!" Loki rushed out, the words flowing out before he could stop them. He couldn't help it; the fear was a primal, innate reaction to the visage of the conqueror in front of him.

Thanos stopped, looking conflicted, and his face contorted with anger and disgust as he considered his opportunities. Eventually, he settled burning eyes on Loki, the most emotion the god had ever seen the alien display, and grit his teeth. "If I find her again, she is mine." Without another word, the Space Stone shined as a portal came into existence and Thanos stepped through it, disappearing instantly. Almost immediately after, the portal closed behind him. Loki blinked multiple times in shock, and then slowly, his knees shook before he fell down on the steps to the palace. Before his eyes, the Mad Titan's ship exited Asgard's atmosphere, leaving only fires rampaging in the city as a sign that it had been there in the first place.

And still, the words 'She is Death' echoed through his head.

She is Death.

"How did you even know that giving him it would help you?" Valkyrie asked, curious. "He could've just taken it and killed you, or continued bombarding us afterward."

Loki's mind was not on the conversation. He was ruminating, still, over the one he had had only minutes ago. As practically an aside, he explained, "Thanos is many things, but he keeps his word so long as it doesn't go against his interests, and he doesn't make deals he doesn't plan on upholding. The man views himself as a visionary, a prophet. He may not see himself as the hero, but he certainly thinks of himself as righteous. And, he is so certain of his victory that he believes he may choose the way he obtains it."

It was quiet for a few moments as the group processed the information. "So... now what?" Thor asked softly, making his way next to Loki, who was still sitting on the steps, looking up at the space the Sanctuary 2 had occupied.

The green-eyed god was silent for a few moments. "I'm not quite sure. I didn't really think that interaction would go that well, to be quite honest, despite all I said about him. We... have somehow managed to subdue Hela, and I'm pretty sure this hunk of rock is going to take months to regenerate itself back to stability, never mind how long it would take for the Bifrost to become operational again. Also, unrelated," he held a finger up, "I can not believe that you all simply left an Infinity Stone out in the open in the vaults, perfectly ready for anyone with access to grab it."

The blond man considered this. "To be fair, we're in a pocket dimension that was protected by near-immortal warriors, and it was in the heart of the palace, which is a fortress in-and-of itself. Speaking of pocket dimensions... I don't suppose that you have any more of those silly little passageways that we used last time to slip between the realms, perhaps? Because, as far as I can tell, we're currently stuck on Asgard with no ship and no Bifrost."

Loki shook his head. "All out of tricks, I'm afraid. However, I do know what we need to do, however possible; assemble some sort of group, perhaps calling together the Avengers together, in order to stop Thanos. And, to do that, we need to get to Earth."

A new voice piped up. "Well, I can tell you how we can do that," Valkyrie announced, holding up a glowing green beacon while accompanied by Dr. Banner, who appeared to have lost his hold on the Hulk form now that the battle was finished. "Hitchhike."

Chapter Text

A ship arrived through the pocket dimension's metaphorical doorway, holding in it a group of people who were as physically diverse as they were in personality. A man was arguing with what appeared to be a talking raccoon, while a green-skinned woman had her hand on her forehead in exasperation.

"Pretty lights..." Came the voice of a woman with antennae. She was pressed up against the glass, staring at the many flickering lights of the city.

"Oh my God..." The captain muttered. "Those aren't lights, Mantis, those are fires. Well, fires are lights, but, you get what I mean!"

"Looks like we're not getting paid..." Rocket growled in annoyance.

"Well, you don't know!" The captain replied. "Maybe the people asking for help are kings or something and are willing to give us some moolah for our work, ya dig?" He snuck a glance at Gamora. "Which, again, isn't the point."

The green-skinned alien sighed in exasperation. "It loses its value the more you say it, Quill."

"Ya know, for a massive planet with a distress beacon coming off of it, I'm noticing a distinct lack of... anything," Rocket noted absently, having moved next to Mantis to peer through the glass.

"I am Groot."

The raccoon clicked his tongue. "I mean... They probably won't have any handheld consoles for you, but you've got a point. We might as well just go ahead and land outside that big building in the center, yeah? And we can wait for people to show up, and, while we wait..." He shrugged amicably at Quill, who scratched his chin.

"I think that sounds like a pretty good idea, yeah. So, as captain, I'm gonna say that we're engaging landing procedures!" The man exclaimed.

Rocket glared. "Who decided you were captain? I literally just made the entire plan, and I know how to pilot this thing ten times as well as you do."

"That's not true. I'm way better at flying than you are. Remember how you nearly got us hit by an asteroid last week?"

"Hey!" The raccoon pointed a finger at the man. "'Nearly hit' isn't hit. And that was only because I was the one who was navigating us through the asteroid field, because I'm the one that's better at flying."

"Not true! It's because I was busy making Burnt Ends!"

"What the hell even are 'Burnt Ends'? They sound like some sort of health hazard," Rocket said, scoffing as he finished, making a move towards the cockpit, only to be stopped by Peter shoving a leg in front of him.

"Hey, don't knock on Burnt Ends! They're a Missouri special, and we need something, unless the Cardinals got good again in the past fifteen years since I last checked. Besides, hey, let's just ask the others! Gamora, do you think I should be the captain?"

"Boys..." Gamora groaned, sinking her forehead into her hands, but didn't offer any further protests.

Quill smirked. "Great!" He made his way back to the cockpit and started pushing the throttle forward, but was stopped suddenly by Rocket's hand pulling it backwards.

"The throttle is for the captain only, Quill," the raccoon admonished. "So, you should let me do my job." The brown-haired man rolled his eyes and grabbed Rocket by the scruff of his collar. "Hey! Whaddya' think you're doing?! Put me down!" The animal demanded.

"In a moment," Quill replied, still smirking, and the Benatar entered Asgardian airspace.

Thor, Loki, and Valkyrie stood on guard while the spaceship landed, with Bruce standing over Rose's unconscious form, attempting to look threatening. Considering he was no longer in his irradiated form and instead was a scrawny, middle-aged human, he left a lot to be desired on that metric.

As the landing gears of the ship touched solid ground, blowing dust, leaves, and small bits of rubble around the plaza in front of the palace, the trio tensed and prepared for a fight if worse came to worst. The dock opened slowly, folding out into a set of stairs that extended to the ground. Out of the darkness of the ship, a group slowly descended.

"Did somebody call for help?" A deep voice questioned. "The Guardians of the Galaxy are here."

"Why are you deepening your voice, Quill?" The gray-skinned man with red tattoos on his face asked, turning to the brown-haired man who had spoken originally.

"Shut up, dude!" The first man, apparently named Quill, hissed quietly. "You're ruining my entrance."

The gray-skinned man frowned. "I am merely-umph!" He was cut off as an elbow was driven into his stomach.

"I'll take it from here, since apparently you two forgot what we were here for," an annoyed green-skinned woman said, sending a glare at Quill as she did, who looked properly mollified. She turned to the Asgardian group. "We are the Guardians of the Galaxy. We received an alert that a distress beacon was sent out from this location. When we got there, a gateway was open and seemed somewhat unstable. Are you the ones who sent out the distress beacon?"

"The barrier must be struggling due to all of the damage to the core," Thor muttered under his breath, and sheathed his sword as he did. "Yes," he replied, louder, and stood up straight. "I am Thor of Asgard, and this is Valkyrie, also of Asgard." He waved an arm at Valkyrie, and then pointed at Loki. "That one is Loki, also of Asgard, and my brother."

Brown eyes narrowed as the woman stared at Loki. "Laufeyson. Last I remember, you were busy being a discarded puppet, rotting away in some cell somewhere."

Loki's eyes twitched. "Gamora. I would talk about what I last remember of you, but that would imply that I ever cared about what you did."

"Brother, you know this woman?" Thor asked, cautiously turning .

The black-haired Asgardian snorted. "Yes. She is Thanos' beloved little assassin child."

"Was," Gamora corrected frigidly. "I left that life behind years ago. And you're Thanos' pet megalomaniac."

"I prefer the term 'sovereign', and like you, I left that life behind once the power of that stone wore off." The two continued staring at each other pointedly, with Thor and Quill both tensely glancing between them in concern.

The tension began to rise as the air thickened, until... "Congratulations on getting a backbone," Loki snarked with a grin.

"Congrats on your balls dropping," Gamora snapped back as she broke out into a toothy, predatory smile.

The rest of the group watched the interaction in confusion. "So, things are fine? We're fine?" Thor asked, trying to comprehend the situation in front of him.

"I... think so?" Quill replied. "I'm not really sure what just happened, but I don't think we're going to start trying to murder each other any time soon, so... Want to explain what happened up to this point?"

A large raccoon climbed up to the gray-skinned man's shoulder. "And do you have any gold?" He paused. "Holy shit, is that a corpse?" The small animal stared at Rose's still body, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"No, she is alive," Thor assured. "However, a battle was just fought here. She is recovering from her fight."

"Uh, yeah, we can see that," Rocket snarked in return, waving his arm at the many fires going on surrounding the palace.

Quill smacked the raccoon on the shoulder. "Knock it off, shithead," he muttered under his breath. Raising his head to look at the Asgardians, he said, "We're willing to give you refuge or transport you to a spaceport of your choice... for a price," he added.

Thor stroked his beard for a moment. "We will... accept this. What is your price?"

"500 Units," the brown-haired man answered evenly.

Thor seemed lost by this declaration, but Loki stepped in. "We don't have Units here. However, we can offer you gold." He pulled out a gold bar from out of his pocket, holding them out to Quill. "Three pounds of pure, refined gold. Does that sound fair?"

Peter opened his mouth to speak, but, before he could, Rocket snatched the bar out the black-haired god's hand. "No take-backs," the raccoon warned, shoving it towards the sentient tree boy, whose branches curled around it absentmindedly while he played on some sort of game console. "So, where ya' jackasses heading?"

"Midgard," Thor answered, stroking his chin. "Well, I need to go to another place, but we're sort of in an urgent hurry and I'm not sure how well our focus can be split at the moment."

"'Midgard'? Never heard of it," Rocket replied, putting one of his small hands up to his chin.

Bruce moved forward. "Hi, er, uh, sorry to interrupt, but I think he, uh, meant Earth? Have you guys heard of Earth?" The scientist in him looked immensely curious about the people in front of him, and the raccoon in particular seemed uncomfortable with his attention.

Gamora raised an intrigued eyebrow, stepping protectively in front of Rocket. "Yeah, we can take you to Earth. Anywhere in specific, or do you want us to just take you to orbit and then push you out the back?" She paused. "Please let it be that second one. I have a bit of pent-up anger to let out."

Thor and Loki shared a look, and this time, Loki took the lead in speaking, staring at the green-skinned woman as he did. "Well, we need the assistance of a magician. So... We need to go to a place called the Sanctum Sanctorum, which is in a place called Greenwich Village, New York."

Chapter Text

"At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then... Boom." An Asian man spoke, a magical flurry of sparks appearing in the air. At the same time, a loud hum began to fill the room, shaking the floor of the building, and it seemed to be coming from outside.

"What... is that?" Doctor Strange asked aloud softly, his signature cape coming to him immediately as he began to float in the air, facing the entrance to the Sanctum Sanctorum.

"Bad news, perhaps?" Tony asked, a raised eyebrow. "I might have to rescind your invitation to the wedding, you know, if you brought me here only for something to immediately go wrong. And a contracting fee, of course, if you end up needing my help."

Both of the sorcerers ignored him, the hair on their necks standing on end as a familiar presence made itself known. "I thought you got rid of these guys," Wong complained.

"I thought I did, too!" Strange shot back, looking vexed at the situation.

"Anyone gonna clue me in?" The billionaire asked, still having yet to move from the chair that he was sitting in, looking quite comfortable in his athletic clothes. "I'll wait." It turned out, however, that the man didn't have to wait for long. A group of people made their way through the front doors cautiously, and Tony was immediately on his guard. "Loki," he spat. His suit materialized around him as his nanotechnology converged into their respective armor pieces.

"Wait, Tony," Strange warned, holding out a cautionary hand. "He's holding something."

Loki was indeed carrying a large mass in his arms, wrapped in a large, lime green blanket. "I know we didn't part on the best terms last time," he said, "but I'll forgive you for making me fall through an infinite loop for half an hour." His gaze fixed on Stark. "Tin Man," he greeted with a slight nod of his head. "Parted on slightly worse terms with you, I recall."

"Get lost, Horns." Stark pointed one of his repulsors at the god, but paused when he saw exactly what he had in his arms. "Jesus Christ, did you kidnap a kid?"

"I didn't kidnap her," the man scowled. "She helped us defend Asgard, and now she's got magic sickness. So, we brought her to the almighty magicians of the realm in the hopes that they'd have something to cure her."

Doctor Strange was silent for a moment, and when he did speak again, his voice was contemplative. "Something... Something's different about you."

"My brother has had a change of heart," came a deep, booming voice as a blond man walked through the doors in the front. "He has changed for the better."

"All due respect, Prince Goldilocks, but you've been wrong about your brother before," Tony quipped, narrowing his eyes inside his suit as his fellow Avenger showed his face for the first time in months.

Thor shrugged. "I know. Alas, I can not help but implore you to at least let him speak. We come with important information about a grave threat, too."

"Two minutes of a break?" Wong muttered under his breath. "Please?"

Narrowing his eyes, Stephen warily levitated back to the ground. "How about I get you all some drinks, and you can join the presentation?"

"Like I was saying before I was interrupted, at the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. And then... Boom. The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe." Wong moved his hands to further his little magical movie.

Loki snorted. "Interesting choice of words."

Wong glared at him, but chose not to respond to the jibe, instead continuing his explanation. "These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence," He stopped, and Doctor Strange assumed his role.

"Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and..." he stopped speaking and started performing gestures next to the pendant around his neck, revealing a glowing green stone. "Time."

"Tell me his name again," Tony asked aloud, seemingly uncaring about being in such close proximity to one of the most powerful objects in the universe.

"Thanos. He popped up on our universal threat radar years ago; then, last month, he was upgraded to a higher tier of threat, and then, earlier today, he was bumped up again. Now, he's the most urgent and dangerous threat to Earth that we know of," Strange explained. He looked at Thor, Loki, and Valkyrie contemplatively. "Speaking of, I saw that Hela disappeared. Good job on that."

"'Twas hardly us," the blond Asgardian replied. He looked over to Rose, who was still sleeping. "The lass practically took care of her, single-handed."

"And who is she, exactly?" Tony asked. "She looks a bit like me, to be honest," he said with a stroke of his chin. "I wouldn't be surprised. Badassery runs in the genes, after all."

Loki shook his head. "She is not of this realm. I - We found her on Sakaar, which is where we were stuck for weeks when Hela interrupted our travel through the Bifrost." He explained. "I could tell she was a magician from miles away, and I also knew she was trapped. She was being held captive with an obedience disk and blackmailed through confiscation of some of her physical possessions."

"And, so, what, you freed her out of the good of your heart?" Rocket chipped in, munching on some cookies that Strange had procured for him. "I don't know much about you, but from what I can tell, you ain't that type of guy, pal."

The frost giant winced, unable to deny it. "Not exactly. I wanted her assistance in defending Asgard and defeating Hela. She's... extraordinarily powerful," he admitted, looking towards Strange, who sighed in response.

"He's right, she is powerful. She should be waking up soon, too, based on her vitals." The man took a sip of coffee. "That being said, she was also added to the threat radar earlier today, and I'd like to ask her quite a few questions when she comes to. Specifically about what you said about her being in the wrong time - as far as I know, I'm the only one with any dominion over time, and I've never met her before."

"She's on your threat radar?" Valkyrie scoffed. "Shortstack's a lot of things, but a threat to the planet? Sounds like a load of bull."

"Perhaps," the Sorcerer Supreme ceded. "However, I'd still like to talk to her. At the very least, if I can figure out what happened to her, I might be able to send her back to her own time."

"Right, another potential mass murderer that we'll just toss into the timeline and let her be someone else's problem. What a great solution," Tony muttered sarcastically.

A soft whimper made itself known. "Mass murderer...?" Rose asked softly, stretching and yawning as she woke up, feeling around for her glasses. "Why am I wrapped in Slytherin colors? Damn hat..." She muttered the last part softly.

"Oh, and Sleeping Beauty is British," Tony muttered. "And yeah, a mass murderer like your magic-y friend over there." He pointed at Loki accusingly.

Finally finding her glasses and sliding them on, Rose's green eyes followed the finger to Loki, and her eyes narrowed. "You're a mass murderer?"

"Rehabilitated," the trickster god raised his hands in surrender. "And, in my defense, I wasn't exactly in my sound mind when the Chitauri invaded."

Tony scoffed. "'Invaded', like you didn't deliberately open a portal to let them directly into the heart of Manhattan. Like you didn't kill Coulson, or use mind control to turn Barton and Selvig into your slaves."

"Mind control?" Rose's eyes narrowed. "Use of mind control is forbidden where I'm from."

"I was-"

Gamora interrupted him. "Loki was forced into doing it thanks to Thanos' use of the Mind Stone." The green-skinned alien looked at Loki, and the two of them seemed to have a silent conversation using their eyes alone. "Thanos used the Infinity Scepter on him, and then commanded him to lead the Chitauri against your people in order to acquire the Infinity Stones on this planet."

Tony's eyes narrowed at the alien. "And how do you know that?"

Gamora tensed up, and Quill stepped in. "Thanos is her pops, and before you get angry, we hate him, too. We're gonna try and stop him too, cause, like, I like the universe, too, man, okay? We're all on the same side here." He spared Rose a glance. "I think."

Rose looked clueless. "Who the bloody hell is Thanos?" She did a once-over of the assorted Guardians of the Galaxy. "And, speaking of, who in Merlin's pants are you blokes?"

Chapter Text

Rose was now sitting with a cuppa, courtesy of the wizards sitting across from her. "Do you really think that you'll be able to send me back to my timeline?" She asked, a bit of hope present in her voice as she received her first bit of good news since she had gotten stuck out-of-place.

"It's all a matter of finding the right spell," Strange affirmed with a nod. "It might take a few days, but the Mystic Arts are varied and powerful. No matter what sent you here, I'm confident that I can send you back. And, if there isn't a spell that exists, I can make one, although that might take a bit longer."

A smile broke over the girl's face. "That sounds... wonderful," the Brit admitted. "But as far as I can tell, we don't have a few days, based on what Thor and Loki-" she cut herself off with a glance at the man, who winced at her intense gaze. Rose was still unhappy with finding out that he had been, at one point, a murderous tyrannical lunatic. "-Said. And, you definitely won't be able to use the Stone if you don't have it. Which means..."

"Your help in fighting Thanos would be invaluable," the Sorcerer Supreme completed her thought readily, having also come to that conclusion.

Tony held up a gloved hand. "Woah, woah, woah; didn't you say she was in your magical book of intergalactic threats or whatever? Even if she's cute, I've had pretty redheads try and murder me before, and trust me when I say I'm not eager to repeat the experience."

"Well, to be more accurate, she appeared for a few moments and then immediately fell back off of it," Doctor Strange elaborated. "I've never seen the radar do that with anyone before, but she's not on it right now, and that's what's important. We need to defend Earth, and it's going to be far easier if we have everything that Thanos wants. If we know where he's going, we can set a trap."

Bruce agreed. "He's right." The scrawny man turned to his fellow genius in the room, getting his attention. "Listen, Tony... Vision is out there with the Mind Stone. We need to find him."

"It's not that easy, Bruce..." Tony sighed in response. "Vision's been off the grid for a fortnight. I don't know where he is."

The scientist's eyes widened. "Oh my God, you lost another super-bot, Tony?"

"Another?" Rose couldn't help but ask.

The billionaire's head whipped towards her. "Oh, none of that judgment, thank you very much. Keeping track of sentient AI more advanced than any human could process is actually a pretty difficult thing, especially when you're trying to let him figure out what being human is like so he doesn't go insane like the last one. Speaking of which, I didn't lose him. I gave him some freedom, and he's sorta like a... rebellious teenager; going off the radar, hosting orgies, spending millions on sports cars, stuff like that."

The Brit raised an eyebrow. "Fuck kind of bonkers teens did you have? Spilling dosh to get people to like you or something?"

Tony shrugged. "Honestly, I have no clue what the words coming out of your mouth mean, and I'm pretty sure I'm fully sobered up from Malta, considering my last trip there was two years ago. Maybe I'm having a stroke. Hey, Strange, you're still a neurosurgeon, right? If I'm having a stroke, would you fix me up?"

"Only if you promised to shut up while I was doing it. I'd ask for after, too, but I don't think you're capable of that. And, please, it's Doctor Strange. I worked hard to get that degree," the Sorcerer Supreme shot back.

Tony snorted. "'Worked hard', yeah right. You and your eidetic memory worked so hard to memorize your textbooks, I'm sure."

"That's enough! And, while we're counting, I have an M.D. and seven Ph.D.'s. Which isn't the point." Bruce shook his head. "Tony... Thanos is coming... who could find him?"

Tony sighed again as he realized the implications of the single answer his brain cooked up. "... Probably Steve Rogers."

"Well, just ask him to find your hopefully-not-a-murder-bot for you, then," Rose huffed. "I don't see the big deal."

"No, of course you don't," Stark agreed, agitated. "You don't know anything about the Avengers."

"I know that it's easier to fight a madman with friends than on your own. Or, at least, it was when I did it," she whispered, her words quiet. Tony's rebuttal died in his throat, and he stood, silent for a moment, unsure of what to say in response to that.

"Just call him, Tony!" Bruce finally exclaimed, tired of the holdup. "We're on a timer, here. The Hulk was scared of him, and he wasn't even fighting him. The Hulk. Big green guy who lives to fight? Remember him?"

"All right, all right, don't go crazy on me, Jolly Green..." Tony muttered. Keeping an eye on the girl across from him, he took the flip phone out of his back pocket, remembering when he and Rhodey had received it. It seemed like a lifetime ago, now... "Flip phone..." He scoffed. Steve's contact information came up immediately, the only number registered in the device. His finger hovered over the dial button.

All of the sudden, in the distance... a rumbling noise. Trinkets around the Sanctum Sanctorum rattled. Tony looked around confusedly, his gaze settling on the Keeper of the Time Stone's forehead, Rose's eyes right behind his. "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be blowing your hair, would you?"

"They better not be trying to tow my ship!" Quill yelled, jumping up and running towards the outside, the rest of the group following, including Rose, leaving her blanket behind. Tony made it there first, throwing the door open. All of the sudden, the screaming that had been muffled increased tenfold as people were running for their lives. Everything was in utter chaos.

Making his way outside, Tony yelled back to Strange, "Hey! Might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!" The group arrived on the street to see the mayhem occurring, Quill's mask coming on.

The Sorcerer Supreme disagreed. "Might wanna use it." Rounding the corner, the group found the cause of the pandemonium; a gargantuan space ship blowing 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts throughout Greenwich Village as it hovered above.

"Friday, evacuate everyone south of 43rd Street, notify first responders," Tony ordered his AI assistant. Ever since Jarvis had been absorbed into the consciousness of Vision, he had found himself in dire need of help. He mentally dismissed her response as soon as it came, focusing on what was going on in front of him.

Strange sent a strong pulse wave throughout the streets, banishing the dust from the air. "Keep your guards up," he warned. "We don't know who-"

A blue light shone down from the spaceship, transmitting three figures that landed down the street from the assembled superheroes. "Hear me, and rejoice," Ebony Maw spoke the instant the beam faded, launching into his speech like a pyramid scheme associate.

The three figures all looked quite different from each other. The middle one was small, and floated in the air a few meters in front of the other two. The one next to him wielded a glaive, and was glaring at Gamora with a piercing gaze. The green-skinned woman glared back.

The last of the three enemies was a brutish alien, covered in armor and holding a massive weapon that seemed like it was made of futuristic technology.

"Be thankful..." The alien continued, "that your meaningless lives are now contributing to the balan-"

The alien was cut off by Tony speaking up. "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta' here. Do you take rainchecks for when... I don't know, Hell freezes over?" Tony asked sarcastically.

Thor winced. "Unfortunately, Hel has already frozen over. Just a few hours ago, actually, when Hela died. Bad luck for the souls there, I suppose. Or, perhaps, good luck? They were all suffering."

Tony gave Thor a sidelong glance. "Wait, really? Shit, I'll have to find a new imposs- wait, Hell is real? Fuck, guess that means I owe that bishop fifty-grand..." The billionaire muttered, clicking his tongue as he thought about the religious implications of the statement.

"Stonekeeper," Ebony Maw ignored the conversation going on. "Does this chattering animal speak for you?"

"Certainly not. I speak for myself," Tony raised an eyebrow as Strange responded, but let the slight slide, noting that there was a more pressing issue. "You're trespassing in this city and on this planet," Strange's hands lit up with magic circles, as did Wong's.

"He means get lost, Squidward," Stark made a reference to the cartoon, which was lost on every person there for various reasons.

Ice-blue eyes stared at Tony, neither of them moving for a moment. "He exhausts me," Ebony Maw finally spoke dismissively to the hulking figure beside him instead of responding to the billionaire, who seemed to agree. "Bring me the stone." The alien spoke his affirmative, clunking his weapon into the ground.

"Point Break, Mass Murderer, Radiologist's Wet Nightmare, you guys want to take a crack at him?"

Loki grinned, recalling the... fun sessions that the man had had with him before Thanos had acquired the Scepter and used it on him to break his will. "It would be my pleasure."

"And I shall aid," Thor growled, lightning cracking around him as he drew Surtur's sword, clenching his other fist as he did.

Bruce nodded hesitantly. "I guess... Don't think my doctorates will help here." As soon as he finished talking, his skin started to turn green and muscles started to appear from nowhere before their eyes.

Iron Man grinned at the responses he got and continued his orders. "Spacemen, Mr. Pointy seems to have some beef with you all, so I'll leave him to you. Flower Power, Venerable Doctor," the title was said with no small amount of sarcasm, "you're with me." Rose frowned at the new nickname, but accepted the request, while Strange just shook his head and sighed. Stark double-tapped the insignia on his chest, his suit forming around him. "Alright, big guy, let's rumble."

Chapter Text

Tony flew in first, sending a blast at the floating alien. Without a care, the man waved his hand and the energy beam flew off to the side, impacting a building and sending brick crumbling to the ground. "Oh, of course he can redirect pure energy," the billionaire muttered with a scowl.

Strange backed him up, flying in with his cape. Following a series of hand movements, glowing whips appeared out of the air, hurtling towards Ebony Maw. In response, he levitated backwards, but the ropes followed, at which point he thrust his hand up with a scowl and a section of the road flew up to block the ropes, which shattered on impact, after which the asphalt was sent flying at the wizard, who flew out of the way.

"Can't wait to see how they justify raising my taxes for that one..." Tony hummed. "Hey, listen, Clawhead, the city planning commission worked hard on making this street look as terrible as possible, you can't go around messing things up." His chest repulsor lit up and shot a beam towards the alien.

Growling, Ebony Maw wrapped his hands around the beam and braced himself as the attack hit him, only for the energy to become stored in between his open palms. Tony realized what was happening a moment too late. "Oh, shit-" He was cut off by the energy of his own attack being sent back at him and braced himself for the impact.

"Protego!" Rose called out, holding what seemed to be a narrow stick in her right hand. A barrier formed in front of Stark and the energy blasted into it, dissipating harmlessly. Rose grit her teeth as she poured a bit more power into the spell, reminding herself of just how dangerously low her reserves were.

Stark looked over at her appraisingly. "Maybe you're not a serial killer. Thanks, Sabrina Spellman," he gave her a new nickname. "Do you actually cast magic with a wand?"

Rose's right eye twitched. "Do you always talk this much?" She turned towards Ebony Maw, who had become preoccupied with Doctor Strange, using telekinesis to drag him along the exterior of a row of houses. "I wish I had my broom..." She muttered under her breath. "That would make this so much easier."

"And you ride around on a broom? You're a walking cliche, Bridget Bishop. And, no, usually I talk more, but I got interrupted while I was on a jog so I'm a bit out of breath," the man quipped. The thrusters on his feet flared, and he started making his way towards Strange and the alien attacking him. "If you can't fly, why don't you be a good little teenager and wait for me to get back?"

Rose, ignoring the hero, had already started running over, and while she was on her way, picked up some pieces of rubble with Wingardium Leviosa that followed alongside her as she ran. She caught up to the battle within a few moments, and while Ebony Maw was dealing with Tony's surprise attack, the black-haired girl thrust her arm forward and hurled the rubble at Maw.

The pieces of debris caught him off guard and slammed into him, far too fast for the alien to react, sending him crashing through the wall of a building.

Tony murmured under his breath, "Jesus fuck, Friday, remind me to not get on her bad side," he told his AI. With a sidelong glance at Strange, who was groaning in pain but still very much alive, he nodded over to Rose. "You think you can get him up and working?" He didn't wait for a response but heard the girl shout an affirmative anyway, instead powering up his hand thrusters and aiming them at the downed telekinetic inside what appeared to be a small cafe, thankfully evacuated. Before he could release his attack, a small mass slammed into him from the side. It didn't dent his armor, but it still banged him off-course.

"What the- Kid?!" He got a good look at the projectile that had hit him, only to see the suit that he had helped make for Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man.

"He-ey Mister Stark, what are you doing here? Oh, God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you, I promise! I got thrown by some big dude with a hammer. Did you know Thor is here? He got some new weapon, it lit itself on fire and everything, it was so cool and I'm rambling and I'm gonna shut up now."

Iron Man stared at the blabbering teen. "Kid, what the fuck are you doing here?"

"We were on a field trip to the Met! And then some massive space donut appeared out of thin air and I thought I might be able to help!" The boy jumped to his feet. "Mr. Stark, watch out!"

Tony whipped around to find a wall flying directly at him, not enough time left for him to get out of its path. Already running from her position across the street, the British witch left the sorcerer's side in order to help out her ally. "I've got you!" Rose called out, jumping for him and stretching our her arm until her fingertips were touching the suit, and then the world swirled and a large snap sounded out. All of the sudden, Rose and Tony were on the other side of the street.

"Suit charged to 214%," Friday intoned. Tony's eyes widened as he tried to reorient himself while not losing the shawarma he and Pepper had gotten midway through their exercise as nausea threatened to overtake him.

Once his stomach's rumbling died down, Tony said, "I don't know what you just did, Little Miss Wizardess-" The philanthropist was interrupted by Rose's growl.

"My name is Rose, you nutter, so stop calling me anything else. And, stop trying to have a chinwag in the middle of a fight, or else we'll both end up dead." She dropped her hand from his suit and raised her middle finger, rolling her eyes.

Tony blinked inside of his suit, sliding his eyes towards the girl. Pepper would like her, he was sure. He'd better make sure they never meet unless it was over adoption papers. "Noted. Anyway, you gave me more than enough power to do... this!" He pointed his chest at the surprised Ebony Maw, and a large beam shot out, knocking the wizard backwards through the building he had just tried to throw at Tony. A loud yelp was heard from Doctor Strange, and then the man was seen being hurtled by his cloak with Ebony Maw racing after him, informing the group that Tony had somehow just accidentally hit the alien into their ally.

Tony blinked, looking over at Peter, who had sprung up off the ground. "Wait, didn't you say you got thrown-" Suddenly, Cull Obsidian's hook burst out of the building, heading towards Tony. It was impacted by a bolt of blue light that thudded into it, leaving it suspended in the air, not moving forward nor falling to gravity.

"Wait, is the pretty glowing lady a witch or something?" Peter asked, looking back and forth between the hook and Rose, who had her wand pointed at it.

The witch was indeed glowing slightly, although she didn't seem to realize it. The bracelets around her wrist were constantly rotating, and were glowing the same shade of blue that her Arresto Momentum spell had just been. "'Ello, I'm Rose. I'm sure you're right lovely to talk to, but right now these streets are chocker full of aliens, and we should probably focus on them, yeah?"

The eyes on the hero's suit sized her up. "Y-yeah, you're right!" He laughed awkwardly. "So, what are these guys' problems, Mr. Stark?"

"Uh, they're from space," Iron Man started explaining, "he came here to steal a necklace-"

"-Infinity Stone-" Rose interrupted.

"-from a wizard."

"Infinity what?" As he asked that, the hammer-claw started moving again, and the far wall of the building, where it had come from, exploded into pieces as Cull Obsidian stepped through and punched Spider-Man in the side, sending him flying back. "Ouch! Mr. Stark, this guy hurts!"

"Then don't get hit, kid," came Tony's nonchalant response.

"If you lot're quite finished already," Rose helped Peter up, "we have an alien to kill." All of the sudden, Doctor Strange, or more accurately, his cape carrying him, flew by the quartet, with Ebony Maw chasing behind him.

"Kid, that's the wizard, get on it!" Tony ordered Spider-Man.

"On it!" The superhero replied, swinging quickly after the unconscious neurosurgeon.

Rose turned to Tony. "Where the bloody hell are Thor, Loki, and the other one?"

As if he had heard her question, the blond Asgardian slammed down into the ground with a knee, multiple small wounds on his body. "Worry not, for I have returned! Loki is helping the other group, as they apparently had a fourth person hiding in the shadows, the cowards..." The man scoffed.

"Why does everyone insist on having some sort of storytelling session while we're fighting?" Rose asked into thin air, pointing her wand at Cull Obsidian, who was charging forward. "Bombarda! Bombarda!" Both spells impacted the brute, who merely grunted and continued to run through them, then proceeded to ram into Rose, who was caught by Tony, saving her from slamming into a wall.

"You're welcome, by the way," the hero said before setting her on the ground. "Thor! You take the side with the hammer, I've got the other one. We'll take him at the same time."

"As you say, Metal Man," Thor nodded before dashing forward and slamming his sword against the hammer claw, while Stark went in for a punch as his suit's right arm turned into a piston. The brutish alien, however, caught the blow, but struggled against both attacks as force kept being sent into them.

"Bombarda Maxima!" Rose called out, running up and pointed her wand directly at the alien's midsection. A yellow light was seen, and then a large explosion went off. Cull Obsidian howled in pain before his voice went silent, and both Thor's sword and Iron Man's arm met their mark with no resistance. It was ultimately unnecessary, though, considering the alien's entire midsection was missing.

"That's... a hell lotta power." Tony's eyes were wide inside his suit. Immediately, he cursed. "Shit. Maybe I shouldn't say that, now that I know the place is real... Still have to decide what that means about God. Flower Power, you alright?"

The girl was down on her knees, breathing heavily. "Y-yeah," she coughed out. "Just a little bit low on magic. Still recovering from earlier. It's been back-to-back fights, pretty much."

Stark nodded, then turned to Thor. "You go find the others, I'll stay with her and make sure she gets back on her feet fine."

The Asgardian nodded. "Make sure that she does. My brother would have my head if I let her die," he warned, "and yours." He jumped off, no longer able to fly without his hammer but still plenty physically strong.

"Uh, Mr. Stark, I'm being beamed up." Looking around wildly, Tony saw a bright blue beam shining up into the air, contrasting harshly with the gathering clouds.

"Hang on, kid," he replied into the comm line. "You gonna be fine if I leave you here?" He asked Rose, who nodded shakily.

"Y-yeah. Just... give me a mo', and I'll be up there with you. You gotta go help the kid, right?" She asked. When Stark nodded, she waved him off. "Don't worry about me, then. Go, go!"

Having gotten the approval, Tony immediately started "Give me a little juice, Friday," Tony ordered his robotic assistant. The hero rocketed away from Rose, who sat, gathering her breath for a few moments.

Footsteps pounded her way, and Rose raised her guard warily.

"Witchy lady!" A voice shouted out, and green eyes searched to find one of the Guardians of the Galaxy rushing towards her. Or, rather, three of them, actually. Quill, Drax, and Mantis were all running towards her frantically, waving their arms. "We need your help! Do you have any way to get up on that donut?"

Rose pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the ache in her arms that she knew were probably already bruising. "Yeah, where's Loki? Where are the rest of your people?"

Quill stopped, panting as he was out of breath. "They - they got Gamora. They had some fourth chick who showed up, and she separated Loki from us, and then the dude grabbed Gamora and ran for it. They had an extra ship, too, and they left orbit. Rocket and Groot went after them, and they left before we got on the ship. I don't know why they were targeting her, but we've got to get her back."

The Girl-Who-Lived clenched her teeth, knowing that what she was about to do might drain her of even more magic. "Okay... Okay, well, everyone, hold onto each other. I'm gonna try and teleport us onto the ship."

"Try?" Mantis echoed. "And what if you fail?" The quartet grabbed hands regardless, though, and Rose gave them a lopsided smile.

"Let's just say... If I fail, you're not gonna have a lot of time to be worried about much of anything."

Quill's eyes widened. "Wait, wha-" A loud crack filled the air.