Hela did stop at the next gas station—a new-ish, red and yellow Shell in a town of maybe four thousand. Heat rose off the nearby highway in hazy columns, and the dull rush of passing cars echoed through the lot. Everything smelled like baked dirt. The white cement lot was dusty but mostly intact, a sharp contrast to the endless, scrub brush desert running in all directions.

Hela slammed the car door and wrinkled her nose at the thick desert air. It had to be pushing ninety degrees. Maybe a leather jacket hadn't been a good fashion choice.

Thor scooted out of the passenger seat and flipped his shades down, looking around almost sun-dazed. "Where are we?"

"Halfway to Vegas I would guess." She pulled out her wallet and tapped on the glass of the back window to catch Loki's attention. "Hey, kid. You need a drink?"

He shook his head.

She pointed to Fenris, his pink tongue lolling out of his head as he panted against the heat. "Take him for a walk then."

Loki held up his thumbs, clipped a leash onto the dog, and opened the door. Hela blinked, and Fenris was halfway across the parking lot with Loki in tow, beelining for an Astroturf square with three palm trees. An abnormally green patch stranded in the middle of the desert. Fenris ran back and forth with his nose to the ground and paused to huff loudly over a clump of grass or a dirt clod, little to no regard for Loki, who trailed behind like a small grey moon in orbit around the black mutt.

Hela started pumping gas and slid her fingertips into her jean pockets, elbows akimbo. On the other side of the car, Thor stretched and groaned. If he was sore now, he was in for a rough few days.

The gallons and the price climbed, and Thor made no move to go inside. Just stretched and watched a dust devil kicking up in the distance. This was awkward. At least in the car they had reached a tolerable silence. She should probably say something.

"So…" She flipped her own shades down, and the desert dimmed a few shades. "What are you into these days?"

Thor craned his neck and stretched his shoulders. "What?"

"When I left for college, you were into astronomy and dinosaurs. So what's your thing now?"

His forehead creased. "I don't know. I don't have… a thing."

"Do you play football or rugby or something?"

"Hockey."

Not really a surprise. Thor was well on his way to being stupidly tall and reasonably strong. She remembered hockey—never played it herself, but most of her friends growing up did, and it usually ended in split lips and sweaty gear, conquests that held little appeal for her even though she'd bloodied plenty of smart mouths and snot noses in her youth. At that point in her life, she'd been more interested in following Odin around like a puppy, in being a cutthroat business mogul.

With a blink, she realized her thoughts had wandered, something she'd caught herself doing more and more since Frigga's panicked midnight call had dragged her back into this family. She glanced back at Thor who was running his fingers through longish blond hair.

She ran her tongue over her teeth and grimaced at the grit she found. "So what else?"

Thor frowned. "What do you mean 'what else?'"

"What, is hockey your whole life? You eat, sleep, and breathe it?"

He blinked at the sudden harshness in her tone, the cutting edge always at the ready. Try again.

"You got any other hobbies? Stuff you enjoy?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I like books."

Surprised, Hela nodded. "Books are cool. Got any to keep you busy on the road?"

"Yeah. Mom can't read on the road; she gets sick, but I'm fine."

The pump clicked off. Hela grabbed her receipt and waved to Loki, who waved back and went back to keeping Fenris' leash free of his legs. Thor headed inside, and Hela held out her hands. "Where are you going?"

"Bathroom." He didn't turn around.

"Why didn't you go before…"

But he was already inside.

"Ugh. Loki!"

"What?"

"We're leaving."

"Kay!" He pointed across the highway to a lofty Starbucks logo. "Can I get coffee?"

Hela jabbed a finger at the gas station and mouthed, "Coffee. Right here." But the kid rolled his eyes. "Nah, I want good coffee!"

Hela rolled her eyes, got back behind the wheel, and pulled ahead into a parking space. A few minutes later, Thor got back in with a fistful of beef jerky sticks, and Fenris hauled Loki into the backseat. The younger brother caught his breath and peeled off his grey hoodie, leaving his black hair spiked in all direction. It had been cold in pre-dawn LA, but now he looked a little flushed from his quick walk. "Okay, let's go get coffee."

Shifting her sunglasses to the top of her head, Hela glanced in the mirror at him. "We'll get coffee, but we're not stopping every thirty minutes so you can pee. I can't miss my meeting."

"I'm not five." Loki screwed up his nose and whipped out his phone.

Hela pulled out of the gas station, crossed the bridge spanning the freeway, and pulled into the long line for the Starbucks drive-through. After sorting out their order, Thor turned to Hela and sniffed. "So… what's your thing? You like buildings?"

"Not particularly, no."

"But Jordon said you guys did architecture. Like designed skyscrapers and hospitals and stuff."

"Oh. No, I don't do any of that. I just run the business end of it."

A frown furrowed Thor's forehead. "So you're like a manager? Why don't you—"

"COO. I'm senior management."

The car in front of them rolled forward, and they pulled up to the screen where the boys got frappuccinos and Hela ordered a coffee, black.

"Why don't you work for Dad?" asked Thor.

Hela curled her lip back and half-shrugged. It was a fair question, but Thor still seemed well aboard the S.S. Odin and Asgard. "It didn't work out."

Loki leaned forward. "Why are you in LA though?"

After her mom died, Odin had raised her in the business—took her to board meetings, investor meetings, conferences, everywhere when he was building Asgard, Inc. He'd spent her entire life calling her his right-hand man, meant for great things, only to change his mind. Dear old Dad molded her in his image only to decide he didn't like what he saw. She smiled, lips curled back from her teeth in a sneer. "I was too ambitious, picked up too many of his flaws and bad habits. Odin he wanted to be a philanthropist-man of the people-but I didn't get with the program and it got embarrassing."

Thor frowned. "So, you got mad cause he was giving away money?"

Hela's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "I got mad because he's a hypocrite. He met your mom-oh, she was nice enough-but suddenly he decided the corporate ladder wasn't enough. He wanted a happy home and a happy family. So he went to all those charity dinners and dances, smiling with Frigga on his arm like he hadn't spent the twenty years orchestrating corporate takeovers and playing with shell companies and firing people who got in his way. You don't get as rich as Odin without screwing a few people over. A lot of people."

So rather than stay for the soft jazz parties and plastic smiles, the screaming fights and slamming doors, she'd left for college and had never come back. Got her MBA, landed this job, carved her own path to success. She had more than her fair share of flaws-bitterness, power lust, a cutting tongue-but at least she owned how terrible she was. She'd never tried to gild it over with pristine family photos and fundraiser balls.

Thor leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms sullenly. Maybe she shouldn't be talking smack about Odin with everything that was going on, but it was a little late to bite it all back.

Thor leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms sullenly. The window squeaked open, and the barista leaned out. "All right. We've got a black coffee no cream, a caramel frap, and a chocolate frap?"

"Yep."

"Do you and your kids need any drink holders?"

"They're not my kids," Hela snapped.

The barista blinked. "All right. Well, have a great day." And the window squeaked shut.

She passed the drinks back, got back on the freeway, and speed through to desert towards Vegas. Hela stared at the road and tried not to brood. For another twenty minutes, they drove in awkward silence, punctuated only by Loki's slurps and Fenris' yawns.

Then Thor shifted and took a deep breath. "Science is cool, too. I'm pretty good at that."

Hela glanced sidelong at him and managed a smile. "Regular renaissance man."

"He just likes it cause of Jane," said Loki.

Thor whipped around and threw his empty coffee cup in his brother's face. "Shut up!"

Hela glanced in the mirror at Loki, who sat with his knees pulled up to his chest to support his phone. She raised her eyebrows. "Who's Jane?"

"A girl from school."

"A friend," Thor said more aggressively. He fished in his bag, whipped out headphones, and slumped down to listen to music. He could make himself surprisingly small.

The highway didn't take them through Death Valley, but Hela was pretty sure she could see it out her left window, and even with the AC running it was hot as hell. Loki peeled off his t-shirt and dunked the whole thing in the cooler to wet it with the melted ice before shimmying back into it and pulling out a handful of ice for Fenris to lick.

In Vegas, they grabbed In-N-Out 2x2 burgers and shakes, and Hela refused to detour down the Strip however hard the boys wheedled and begged. Then they turned north into Utah, the desert fading to red rocks, then plains, then green stretches that climbed higher and higher until they were driving in mountains, and the further north they went the lower the temperature came until they could stop blasting the AC. Loki and Thor passed in and out of consciousness, stirring only for the occasional bathroom break or to read or watch videos on their phones or to just stare into the distance. Fenris hopped from the seat to the floor and tipped his water dish twice before he finally gave up and laid down with his chin on Loki's knee.

Around seven they entered Provo, a suburb city at the base of snow-capped mountains, Hela cruise-controlled down the six-lane highway, keeping up with traffic. She glanced in the mirror. "Hey, Loki."

He pulled off his headphones and looked up. "Yeah?"

"Wanna call your mom? Let her know we're going to stop soon."

Hela glanced down at the speedometer and noticed the check engine light glowing on the dash.

Thor pulled off his headphones and shot her a worried sidelong glance. "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"Like… like burning?" Another look.

Hela sniffed. Something did smell, like burning and smoke. She looked at the car ahead of them, an old rusted clanker. Was it what smelled? Was it her car? Eyeing the dashboard again, she slowed down and moved over a lane. White smoke bubbled from under the hood. Her hood.

Thor jerked back in his seat. Hela slammed on the brakes, and they pitched forward, seatbelt biting into her shoulder and knocking the breath out of her, and Loki and Fenris yelped. White-knuckled on the wheel, she moved over another two lanes and pulled onto the wide shoulder, close to the cement barrier and far from the screaming traffic.

Hela grabbed her purse and threw open her door. "Out. Out, out, out!"

They sprang out of the car and scrambled a safe distance up the road. Or at least, what she thought was a safe distance. Cars didn't actually explode like on TV right?

"Is everybody okay?" She half-looked at the boys, half-watched the car.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think so." Thor had the back of his brother's shirt balled in his fist, ready to spring away should the car burst into flames.

Loki wiggled free and backed up a couple more steps, phone out and recording. "Mom is not gonna believe this."

"Mom is going to have a fit." Hela snapped her fingers and pointed to the ground beside her. "Fenris, here."

Barking, the dog sprinted back and slid into her leg, almost knocking her over. Hela rubbed his head to steady herself. What a disaster. It was day one, and they still had a thousand miles left; how was she supposed to get to Chicago now?

Eloquent to the last, Thor put his hands on his hips and looked over the smoking car. "Well, shit."

Back again! Infinity War was rough, guys, but I'm back, and gosh darn it, these disaster children are getting a happy ending. Thank you all for reading and waiting for the next chapter. Your reviews are amazing!

Happy belated birthday to ERJasandrea13!