Okay, this is a long chapter so it took me all day, but I do hope you enjoy! And never apologize for spam comments. I loved it.

TW- Gore?

IDon'tOwnMarvel

I followed after him down the hall, feeling every bit of guilt about having to lie while he looked quietly pissed. The elevator only lightened the load a little. He pressed the button on the wall with still and an unreadable expression. The second I dared to look in his direction with just my eyes under the clearly tense environment, his hand shot out again, grabbing me by the neck and pushing me back against the wall.

All I knew for a moment was the hard glare he had trained on me with my heart beating fast in my chest. I didn't miss how the grab around my neck was not applying deadly pressure, but rather being used to make a point.

"Lie to me again," He snarled, "I dare you. Why won't you set us free?"

"I can't!" My eyes went wide from the attack and I held on tight to the arm he was using to pin me. "Loki, it's like the bi-frost! I can't just leave!"

"Why not?" He squeezed a little.

"If I leave, then I have to leave you behind." I blurted, staring back between his eyes for some kind of mercy. "People will die. Your people. You're going to lead an army. You can't do that if you're not here to help your brother."

His eyes flickered between mine, narrowing a little when he didn't detect a lie. "An army?"

"Of sorts." I rubbed my neck when he finally let go to step back.

"Going after Hela is a death sentence." His eyes stayed narrow and suspicious of me. "Why would I ever run into a fight I didn't start? Thor is plenty capable of doing that enough for the both of us."

"They love you in Asgard." I replied weakly, our elevator stopping on the correct floor. "Without Odin…you want to leave your brother alone to lead them to safety?"

"I don't care for my brother that much." He pressed the button on the wall to shut the doors again. "

"I'm just telling you what I saw." I pressed the button to let us out. "You don't have to listen, but I'm taking the sling ring to Asgard with me and Thor and Bruce. If you want to leave when we get there, I'll make you a portal to wherever you want to go."

He harrumphed and shook his head, leaving the elevator with me following behind. "Vexatious."

Loki and I sat down in the viewing room of the tower and I sort of ignored the fact that he had me by the throat a moment ago as soon as the Grandmaster walked in too. I inched myself up close to Loki to hide a little and avoid having the ruler of this hellhole want to sit down right next to me too.

Loki looked at me suddenly after we had sat down, our faces a lot closer than I had expected. "Bruce?"

"Banner." I blinked and opened my mouth in an 'o'. "You didn't know that."

"Bruce Banner?"

I held up a hand, patting his chest awkwardly. "Don't, um, freak out. Really, you won't have to see the Hulk again in person. He's just…the champion this guy talks all about."

Loki's jaw tightened at that and he looked ahead again. "Again with the warnings."

"Sorry." I winced, watching his reaction for a moment longer before deciding to leave him alone while the Grandmaster spoke behind us and the Hulk came crashing through a door in the arena below us.

The Grandmaster walked by us to go sit down on the couch too, sending us a look that was followed by Loki summoning my knee into his hand via some green magic I wasn't prepared for. He held my leg just above the knee, crossed it over one of his legs as if we were some kind of couple that just couldn't get enough of each other.

"Really?" I asked mentally, keeping my eyes on the area.

"Really." He replied in my mind. "Do you want him asking you to come sit with him?"

I went quiet at that, making Loki's face hold barely the shadow of a smirk that I was sure I saw. At this point, we'd gone back and forth so many times that I couldn't tell if Loki hated me and was ready to stab me in the back, or if he was looking out for me. This close to the endgame, and with Thor coming out and the battle starting, I don't think it really mattered.

His grip tightened and loosened a little as the fight continued too, but he seemed almost disinterested past a point with his eyes not actually focusing on the match. I saw Thor light up and then watched the Grandmaster pass us both a look before zapping him with the remote. It was all over so fast and Loki was up again when the Grandmaster tried to approach us.

I didn't hear what he was whispering, but I could still sort of feel where his hand had been holding onto my leg moments before. It was a weird feeling. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I tried to scratch it as if that would alleviate the feeling.

He nodded me along after passing a smirk back at the Grandmaster. The Elder passed me a friendly wave too while Loki took to the same method of ushering me by collecting my hand and using it to push the small of my back forwards out of the room while he walked behind me.

"Okay, no more fake marriage today." I sighed in relief back in the room while making sure I'd packed everything.

Loki nodded, standing still while having spent the time just watching me pack. "Could I propose an alternative to blindly running to our deaths?"

"Sure, but I'm not gonna humor it."

"Staying here." He said, looking out the window. "I'm sure with a little assistance on your half, I could…remove a certain man from power."

"You don't want to stay here." I shook my head, making a small portal on the floor and kicking my bag into it before closing it right back up. "It's a literal garbage planet. Do you want to be forever known as Oscar the grouch?"

"I don't know who that is."

"That's probably a good thing." I marched to the door next. "I need to go get TC-"

"Wait, wait-" Loki jogged down and held an arm out in front of me to stop me from leaving.

I sighed, looking back up at him. "Thank you for keeping me away from the Grandmaster, but I won't stray from the timeline."

He pursed his lips and dropped his arm again. "Where do you need me?"

"Nowhere until the Grandmaster calls you." I patted his chest again, fixing his collar before turning to leave. "I'll see you again in a bit. I have a quinjet to get to."

"You can't stay here?"

"I could," I slipped halfway out the door, "But I really want to see-"

"Want?" He pulled me back in by my arm. "You're leaving me here."

"I'm not." I shook my head. "I promise. I just want to see Bruce."

"You can't hold off on one deranged beast for another moment?"

"What are we going to do with another moment?" I challenged back, putting my hands on my hips. "No, I don't have to go yet, but I really…"

"Really, 'what'?" Loki tilted his head back at me, mimicking my thinking look. "Really need to abandon me with the Grandmaster alone."

"See, I know you're stalling because you can tell that I'm not lying to you." I jabbed him in the chest playfully with my finger. "I'm not leaving you here. I just wanted to see Bruce when he first showed up. I figured he might need the support. Being on an alien planet with Thor and all. Plus, I need to get my best friend."

Loki opened his mouth to say something else, only to be interrupted by a thump on the door. We both looked and the door thumped again. He waved me back a step and I didn't need to be told twice, letting him answer the door while I stood behind it. He looked around outside and I just looked down at the new movement by my feet. Down on the floor crawled in the hefty scarlet colored Bearded dragon.

I grinned upon seeing him and Loki just frowned hard at TC.

"Hey, Buddy." I stooped down and held out an arm to let him climb up across my shoulders. "I was just coming to get you. I didn't forget."

He hummed in mild annoyance while I just rolled my eyes.

"See?" I gestured to my friend, looking pointedly at Loki. "You made him worry."

He nodded before looking back up at me. "So you'll wait with me now?"

This convincing attitude of his had me sitting down to wait for the Grandmaster to call us about the missing champion and Lord of Thunder. TC sat on my shoulders and Loki sat on the counter in the kitchen while I did another reading of our future. I had to introduce TC to Kevin and I was pretty sure they got along well enough. Kevin wasn't trying to kill him or give him a paper cut (as he had done to me several times in the past), so I called it a win.

Late afternoon came and we were summoned to talk to the Grandmaster about his runaways. He heavily implied punishment…at least for Loki and Valkyrie.

"You, oh you just bring them back whenever, I know you will." He pointed at me with a smile. "Then, ah, I'll be the grateful one. You catch- She catches my drift. Good luck."

I smiled back, getting an annoyed roll of the eyes from Valkyrie before we were sent off. Loki caught up with her fast.

"What have you done?" He demanded, getting grabbed by the woman and shoved up into a wall.

"I don't answer to you, Lackey."

I stopped still nearby and just watched. "Do we have to do this- Oh, okay."

I took a step back when Loki flipped her around and she then pushed him back. Knives came out shortly after that and I got to watch the two of them try to beat the other up. Valkyrie got him back up against a wall while I leaned against another one to watch.

"Help?" Loki looked at me, getting a shrug in return.

"You're the one antagonizing." I crossed my arms. "And wasting time. Don't you dare do the mind trick on her."

It could not have even been twenty minutes before Valkyrie was tying up Loki's unconscious self in her apartment.

"This one?" She pointed at him, giving me a look while TC had settled back on my shoulders. "There's got to be at least a thousand better men on Asgard."

I furrowed my brow back at her. "What?"

"Your boyfriend." She gestured vaguely at him then, stalking back to the door. "A blind rat could have found you a better one."

"He's not my boyfriend." I replied, giving her an estranged look. "I met him, like, two weeks ago."

She snorted with a smile, turning to go back out. "Ha."

"It wasn't a joke." I muttered, rolling my eyes too and turning to find the bathroom in this place.

The last thing I needed was to have to pee while we were making our great escape. TC politely waited outside though. We were friends, but not close enough for that. He was watching an awake Loki too when I came back out.

"I told you not to." I shook off my wet hands, rolling them over my clothes. "Maybe you'll listen better and not take the tesseract too."

"Can you read others with the cards?" He asked, completely throwing away my original subject. "The ones attached to your hip."

I reached down to touch them with a nod. "Why? You want a reading?"

He just looked at me, giving me the answer I needed as I pulled them out.

"Alright, Kev," I sighed, starting to shuffle the deck. "Do me a solid here for the God of Mischief?"

Loki stared at the deck and a card fell out, landing on his knee. I pocketed the deck and picked the card up, flipping it over to show us both. On the card of Death was a skeleton of Loki holding a scepter. He looked up at me slowly and I gave him a deadpan look back, knowing how he was reading it.

"It's not what you think." I looked at the card straight on too. "The card of Death is one of the most promising in the whole deck. I don't know what you asked, but the statement is very clear at the top. 'A transformation and the death of old habits'."

"I'm dead in that drawing."

"Yeah, it's about new beginnings." I shook my head at him, tucking it into my pocket too with the others. "The drawings aren't literal. It's a positive card. I'd listen to it."

He nodded at me again. "One more."

I raised an eyebrow at him, crossing my arms again.

"Please?" He painted on a smile. "Allow me another question."

"Fine." I held up a finger, pulling the deck back out. "One more."

He looked back at the deck while I was shuffling and another card fell out pretty quickly. I picked it up to look at the Tower with him.

"Destruction and Chaos?" I looked at him. "You asking about Ragnarok?"

"Possibly." He looked away again, "Thank you."

"Oh," I smiled teasingly, buckling the pocket back up on my hip with the cards. "Was that gratefulness I heard? A 'thank you'?"

"There's no need for that." He grumbled at my teasing. "I was being polite."

"I didn't think you knew how to do that." I snickered, picking TC back up for my shoulders and then sitting down on a stool I found. "It's no problem. Kevin Feige here can get bored if I ignore him all the time."

Sitting around with Loki wasn't so bad. I was mostly just anticipating the arrival of our other guests though and waited very anxiously to see Bruce again. That was my main goal today, so I wasn't surprised when my first instinct upon seeing him step in was to run to him for a hug.

He tensed at first, not hugging me back right away before pushing me back to look at my face in shock. "Lincoln?! Wha- When did…You look older."

I bit my lip with a big smile and nodded. "I'm so happy to see you."

"Ultron was…two years ago?" He gasped again, looking over my face. "Oh my god."

I just wrapped him back up in another tight hug.

"Oh," He sighed shakily, hugging me back finally. "You're all grown up. With the earrings and…short hair. Is that Loki? What's he doing here?"

Thor chucked a bottle that bounced off Loki's head. "Just had to be sure."

"I missed you so much." I held on to Bruce like he was the last thing keeping me up right now. "You don't even know."

"Did you ever make up with Tony?" Banner winced, "Man, I'm sorry about what he said. He does that sometimes- saying hurtful stuff he doesn't really…believe. Hey, how old are you?"

"Twenty one." I smiled, pulling back out of the hug finally. "I'm a grown up."

"I see that."

He looked back at Loki then and stared between us awkwardly for a moment with Thor.

"Oh come on." I looked back at them. "What?"

"Loki, are you making friends?" Thor asked, frowning too and looking at me suspiciously. "Good job brother. I'm proud of you."

I looked back at Loki with a smile. "We're friends?"

"You really can't portal me onto a planet habited by cannibals?" He asked back, eyeing his brother after looking at me.

"A lot can happen in weeks." Thor actually smirked a little, making my smile fall too while Bruce gave me a worried look. "No need to be ashamed."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of." Loki replied, looking straight ahead.

"Yeah," I agreed with him. "He called me vexatious on our walk in. That didn't sound very nice coming out of his mouth."

"Vexatious." Thor repeated in a mocking pitch, looking at his brother with a big smile.

"Hey, Lincoln," Bruce grabbed my arm again, keeping his voice low. "I don't think it's such a good idea to be that friendly with non-humans. I know you're sorta grown up now with the weird earrings, but-"

"Oh my god." I shut him up, "It's Loki. Do you even hear yourself?"

He shrugged innocently.

"No need to paint it as a harsh label." Loki frowned too. "I quite like my name."

I held up a hand back at the god. "I didn't mean it like that. You get it though."

"Vexatious." Thor giggled again, giving Loki a big smile and opening his mouth to say more until Val interrupted.

"Alright." She clapped her hands together. "We need a plan to get out."

"Easy." I pointed out the window. "Devil's Anus with the Grandmaster's party ship. It can handle it, though, I might also have a few tricks I can try to avoid dying on the way. Are we settled? Great. TC, get us some drinks to go."

"Party ship?" Thor gave me a skeptical look.

"Great plan." Valkyrie popped open the top to another bottle. "If we could even get to those ships. The Grandmaster keeps them well guarded."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I moved over to hold my hand out, smiling at her. "I'm the one who knows the future. We are going to steal the Grandmaster's party ship and fly it through the Devil's Anus. Wanna know why? 'Cause I've seen you do it. Loki-"

I pointed back at him when she didn't shake my hand. "Stole us some access codes and he was just about to tell us."

Everyone turned to look at him and he just rolled his eyes. "It was an accurate description, Thor, nothing more."

"What?" Thor grinned again. "Vexatious?"

"Access codes," I counted them out on my finger. "Ship, Devil's Anus, big ass gun on the spaceship. Are we ready?"

"Do we have to take Loki?" Bruce gave him another skeptical look while I picked TC back up to put on my shoulders. "I mean, he still looks about ready to kill us."

"Yes." I gave him a small glare. "Come on. No need for criticism. Loki is coming and that's final."

"She would defend you, brother." Thor nodded at Loki with an approving smile. "How kind?"

"Please spare me the opinion." Loki blinked at his brother, passing a small look back at me while I gestured between them wildly.

"Okay, you two need to knock it off with the side conversation. This is serious."

"Well, I say we need to start a revolution." Thor put his hands on his hips, smiling at me too. "If you follow my lead, we can exit this planet safely through the Anus all together."

"Great," I smiled around at them. "I'm going to wait in the ship. This part doesn't require me."

"Don't." Loki snapped his head to look at me. "So help me Allfather if you leave me here-"

I waved at him. "Bye. Love you. Not like that, but I do."

"Jackie."

"Loki." I blew a kiss at Bruce next. "See you soon. I have something else to get."

I didn't, but I also didn't really need to be around for Loki and Thor's brotherly moments, nor did I have any desire to get to the ship in the long way, so I dropped through a portal on the ground and closed it back up immediately, landing myself in the ship. Laying flat on the ground out of sight was my first plan of action and TC was happy to crawl off and give me an unamused stare.

"What?" I shrugged at him. "I'll see them in a minute."

I could just sense the sass he was giving me.

"Well, some of us need some alone time." I rolled over to lay on my back with TC crawling up onto my stomach and chest. "Do you really think months have passed on earth? It doesn't sound right to me. It was only a minute for Thor."

TC rested his head on me, giving me a comforting hum.

"Yeah, thanks." I smiled, petting down his head to his back. "I know you're here to support me. I'm here to support you too if you have any lizard problems. You are by far my favorite part of this universe. You know that?"

Peter walked into the living area compound Saturday morning in March, smiling a little when he saw Pietro. The man, like always, looked up fast from the couch before frowning and getting up to leave.

"Good morning." Peter tried to smile politely. "Is Mr. Stark around?"

"His lab, probably." Pietro grumbled, walking by him to go down the hall. "He never leaves."

Peter followed him down the hall, adjusting his backpack over his shoulder on his way and taking a turn opposite from Pietro. He found the elevator easily and pressed the basement level lab. It stopped on the floor above that though and Steve stood outside the elevator, waiting with a towel over his shoulders.

"Hi, Captain Rogers." Peter smiled at him, actually getting a smile back this time.

"Hey, kid." Steve stepped in after him. "Ah, Tony might be in a bit of a mood today. Maybe you wanna start upstairs to see what Bucky is up to."

"Is Mr. Stark okay?"

Steve nodded, pressing the button to go up after they stopped on the lab floor "He is. It's just been a little while since Lincoln and he's been talking to Shuri about adjustments to her suit."

Peter hummed quietly back at that, shifting awkwardly beside the man and looking away. "Do you have any news?"

Steve gave him an apologetic smile. "No, sorry. We all miss her, but Strange said she'll be back soon."

"Okay." Peter looked up at him briefly. "I have something to tell her, so it would be nice if she was around soon."

"News?"

"Sort of." Peter got off the elevator with him and turned to go towards Bucky's room. "I have some history homework I could do right now though. Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Rogers."

"No problem, kid." Steve tousled his hair, making Peter smile at the gesture before turning happily to go walk down the hall to Bucky's room.

He hesitated outside of Lincoln's, stopping his trip to look at the door and its little sticker of Michael Scott dressed as Prison Mike pasted above the doorknob. He only stood there for a moment, but that moment was enough for him to sense something behind the door. A gold shine caught his eye from the crack on the bottom of the door and his heart nearly leapt out of his chest when he pushed the door open to look.

The remnants of a gold portal closed up near the ceiling and rained down gold sparks that dissipated before they hit the floor. On the ground laid a freshly dropped backpack, making Peter smile as soon as he recognized it.

"Hey."

Peter whipped around at the voice, nearly scaring himself when Pietro stood there looking at him with a small glare.

"Don't go in here." Pietro reached to shut the door, corralling Peter back out. "It's not your room."

"I know." Peter bit his lip nervously. "I just- I saw a portal."

Pietro stopped and looked back in the room before his eyes fell immediately on the new backpack in the space. He zoomed over to it and picked it up with a growing smile.

"Parker."

"Yes?" Peter stood up straighter, awaiting instructions.

Pietro nodded him away. "Go get Stark."

"Yep, I will- I will do that." Peter couldn't help but smile bright to himself.

This was a promising development in the case of 'Missing Lincoln'. He was more than excited to bring the new information to Tony Stark- a man he knew would be happy to hear that she was still kicking.

"Where's Loki?" I asked, sitting down in the other chair in the cockpit while Thor took over the one with controls.

"He chose to stay behind." Thor replied, passing me a small look. "He is…not very trusting. Patience is needed sometimes."

"Hm," I shook my head, "That's alright."

Thor looked at me for a moment longer before turning back to the controls and flipping a few switches. TC wiggled up onto my lap and sat down comfortably while we picked up speed, shooting down the tunnel.

"Ah," I smiled apologetically at my friend and I could sense his immediate distrust from how I was looking at him. "Sorry. I'm not taking any more risks with you."

Making a portal and then dropping my best friend very unceremoniously through it was not my favorite thing that day, but some things had to be done. I wasn't letting him anywhere near Hela, and he'd be far safer on earth in the Compound.

"What was that?" Thor asked, looking back skeptically at where TC had disappeared. "Where did he go?"

"Home." I shook my head, holding on tight with one hand and pointing as a ship started to fly towards us. "Ah, look out!"

Let me tell you, flying around in a ship like that would be so much better if I was actually in control. I did not get control though until Thor was ready to go out and fight too and Bruce and I were the only two in the ship.

"Oh, Lincoln." Bruce winced when I climbed into the driver's seat with a grin. "Maybe that's not such a good-"

I laughed, turning us in a sharper way than I intended and dodging us around a rock formation. Ships tailed us closely, shooting at us and driving up my anxiety a little while I tried to keep us from being hit. A ship started to corner us from the left and I winced, looking around for an escape before they shoved us into a mountain of garbage.

'Quisibas laucoa.'

I blinked at the voice having appeared again before shaking my head and repeating what it said in a moment of blind trust. "Quisibas laucoa!"

Bruce gave me a concerned look right before a green portal opened up ahead and both our eyes went wide at the creature that came flying out. The rows of teeth protruding through slimy and wet skin wasn't even the worst part. I think the bunches of eyes was what really drove home my horror.

It jumped up through the green portal and took a massive bite out of the ship beside us, dragging it crashing down back into the green portal. The portal disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared and both Bruce and I fell silent, flying in total quiet for a moment to process that thing.

"Wh-"

I held up a hand at him. "Nope."

As we approached the Devil's Anus finally, Val and Thor came back inside and I let her take over to prepare for the trick I had actually planned.

"Alright," I stepped back to stand between the two seats and slip the sling rings on my fingers as we approached the Devil's Anus. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."

"What?" Bruce gave me an estranged look when I started to make a circle ahead of us to Asgard.

"Lincoln?" Thor looked back at me too while Val just grinned and sped up towards it. "What is that?"

"Our way out!" She zoomed through it, and pulled up fast, giving me little time to close the portal before I was pressed back against the wall behind the two front seats.

Yeah, I winced from the pressure of feeling my stomach drop. TC would not do well on this.

As soon as we leveled out, I blinked at the sight, almost looking on in shock at the fictional land I never could've imagined I'd see in my lifetime.

Val looked just as taken-aback and took a careful breath. "I never thought I'd be back here."

"I thought it'd be nicer." Bruce muttered, getting a smack on the arm from me. He opened his mouth in offense, "Ow. You never hit Tony."

"That's because I like Tony." I frowned at him. "And he knows not to say hurtful shit these days."

"I thought you hated him."

"Uh, yeah, it's also been two years." I shook my head in annoyance, looking back out the front window with a softer voice. "But yeah, I might've been expecting less fire too."

Crushed and crumbling buildings were strewn out below us with smoke billowing up from a good many of them. It was deserted and my heart broke a little with guilt, knowing that I had been so desperate to avoid being a part of this. I didn't have any right to leave them alone in the first place or even think that I should. A new need to help came up in my chest, reminding me of my purpose in this universe. I was here to help and I would be damned if one incredibly attractive goddess of Death tried to get in my way.

Family matters my ass. I took a careful breath. I'm making this personal.

"Here, up in the mountains." Valkyrie pointed at a small map on the dashboard. "Heat signatures. People clustered together. Hela's coming for them."

Thor stepped back from the console, determination written on his face. "Okay, drop me off at the palace and I'll draw her away."

"And get yourself killed?" Val turned to her king.

"The people trapped down there are all that matters." He said, voice grim. "While I'm dealing with Hela, I need you three to help get everyone off Asgard."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Banner asked, looking to me for an answer but getting one from Thor.

"I have a man on the ground."

"Heimdall." I clarified right as we landed outside the palace. "He's super cool."

"That he is." Thor agreed, hopping off the ship.

Thor jogged inside, leaving me alone with a questioning Bruce.

"So are you friends with Loki now?" He asked, frowning at me a little. "I think we might need to catch up for real after this. You know, if we can get back to earth."

"We'll have a chance." I smiled back, "It is really cool to see you again. And we can go back to earth after we get all the Asgardians out of here. Tony misses you."

"Yeah," Bruce wrung his hands together while I watched Thor walk back lugging a massive gun over his shoulder. "How's everyone else? Nat? Clint?"

"Everyone's fine." I assured him casually, "They all miss you. I promised you'd be back, but I don't know if Natasha ever forgave me for letting you leave in the first place. I could only convince her by telling her that you left to save lives elsewhere."

He smiled a little at that. "She's worried about me?"

Val walked between us, breaking up the conversation on her way to talk to Thor and take the big gun from him.

"What's with the-" Bruce gestured at my outfit and then put his hands up to his ears. "And the…"

"Oh," I put my hands up to my ears too. "That's Kevin. Again, it's been a while. You missed a lot."

Valkyrie looked back at me from where she was standing with the gun and I sat back down in the driver's seat. It honestly was not that hard to drive when we were in the air- probably programmed for an idiot to be able to drive it. However, taking off had me trying to remember which switches Thor had flipped. It was a bit rocky at first and I may have gone a bit faster than I wanted at first, knocking Bruce right over before I could level us out.

I looked back at Val again when we approached the Bifrost and couldn't help the small smile that reached my face when I saw her in uniform and positioning the gun over the open door. She smirked back at me and I looked away fast at that.

"I'm sorry Loki didn't want to come along." Bruce leaned his hands on the other seat.

"No you're not." I thought back to where he hopefully was now, almost praying that he would listen and lead an army.

"You seem to trust him." Bruce mentioned next, "Which…I wish I didn't have to tell you is possibly a bad idea."

"I trust the chain of events."

"He is the literal god of lies." Bruce watched me carefully while I just stared out the front, holding the ship steady in one place. "Maybe- And I know it's been a while, but we could put our trust in the god that didn't kill hundreds of people in New York City?"

"That wasn't him." I muttered, looking over the very simple buttons on the console. "He was being mind controlled."

Bruce furrowed his brow and pursed his lips at that, passing a look back at Val before moving over closer. "Link, sometimes bad people try to avoid blame by making up excuses and stories."

I gave him a deadpan stare, blinking once. "I'm twenty one, Dr. Banner."

He just stared back, very sure of his side. "Have you spoken to a professional at all-"

"Oh my god." I waved him back a step and got up. "You drive. We are not doing this now."

"I can't drive a spaceship." He took the steering wheel anyway and sat down. "Lincoln?!"

"It's fine. We're not going anywhere yet." I gestured over the console vaguely, walking away to join Val. "Just use one of those PhD's."

"Those aren't for flying alien space ships!"

Val nodded towards the other side of the space ship. "We have company already."

I looked out through the open hole and my heart fell through the floor. I could practically feel the color draining from my face.

"Oh," My voice came out shaky. "That is a big fucking dog."

Fenrir stood at the far end of the bridge with those dark green eyes while the civilians started to run onto the bridge from the burning city. I could practically feel the low growls off that thing resonating in the air. The people barely made it a tenth of the way onto the bridge before Fenrir started to run directly towards us with the Asgardian people in its sights.

"Spin us around!" Val shouted, actually getting a timely response from Bruce as he turned the ship to give her full access to shoot at that thing.

I tried to bury the sick feeling in my stomach as I knew what I needed to do.

"This stupid dog won't die!" Valkyrie yelled, catching me right in the gut with her words.

I was not going to like this.

With a running start and the ship already moving away from the dog, I jumped out and shouted a familiar spell that had helped in the past. Wings caught my fall and I landed gracefully on the bridge with that damn dog not even considering slowing down.

A shield was summoned and I planted my feet hard on the ground, preparing for the full weight of the beast. Unfortunately, I wish I could've prepared for the tears of terror that started too as soon as that dog had it's jaws gnashing just feet from my face, threatening to break through the barrier that I had to reinforce with my own power at the risk of a bad headache. The shield wasn't any dinky old thing either, so reinforcing it had me almost immediately feeling the effects.

I have been training to take on heavier loads of my power for the past two years, but I'd never be perfect.

"Oh my god," I whimpered to myself, trying not to look as I did my very best to hold that thing back. "Come on little voice guy. Give me something."

Nothing but the snarls of Fenrir and the scared murmurs of the people back behind me. It's claws tore into the shield and I looked up in time to see the damage it was doing with my power not being enough to repair it in time. I felt like this might be it now. Maybe I was destined to die at the jaws of a mythical beast while trying to defend Asgard.

Then, the snarls disappeared and my shield broke. I dropped to my knees, catching my breath over the sound of a high pitched whine. I didn't really want to look, but when I did, I caught the sight of the Hulk swinging Fenrir by his tail and throwing him back on the bridge. A wash of relief flooded me and I got back on my feet, smiling a little back at the grin Hulk sent me before he turned and ran back at Fenrir for more.

"Alright," I looked to the other end of the battlefield where Hiemdall was dealing with undead soldiers. "Time for me to come to someone's rescue. Just gotta get through the crowd."

I took off towards the people in my own run.

'Atadam'

"Oh so now you help?" I scoffed, almost tripping when the deck of cards on my hip, smacked my side with full sass. "OW! Kevin?!"

'Atadam'

"Yeah, got it." I shook my head and sucked in a sharp breath out of preparation before shouting that incantation.

I started going up, my feet landing on metaphysical steps and reminding me far too much of Mordo's magical shoes as I managed to run across an invisible bridge over the Asgardian people. Two electrified swords materialized in my hands next by a spell I actually knew before I jumped down to join Heimdall against the undead soldiers.

The first thing I learned about continuous hand to hand contact back at the sanctum was to never use both arms at the same time unless you needed to. Knowing that, I tried to last as long as I could with one arm before needing to switch to the other. Cutting down skeletons was no joke and I was mildly unprepared for how draining it was, even fighting alongside Heimdall and then Valkyrie.

The man made of rocks that I knew so well appeared too, getting the most excited smile out of me in my tired and winded state right after he blasted a hoard of dead from in front of us.

"Hey man. I'm Korg. This is Meik." Korg gestured to his alien friend. "We're going to jump on that spaceship and get out of here. Want to come?"

"Taika Waititi!" I laughed, looking back at the new group of soldiers coming towards us fast. "Oh god."

"You called?"

I turned again to give the ship that Loki showed up on a look. "Oh you're so funny. Happy to see you. Not surprised though."

Loki smirked from the opening of the ship, looking right at me before opening his arms to welcome the Asgardians. "Your savior is here!"

"Drama queen." I scoffed, watching him march himself through the moving crowd as they all rushed to get on board.

"Someone has to rule after my brother gets himself killed." Loki drew two knives. "And a very wise deck of cards promised me a new beginning."

I smiled and shook my head, catching my breath and drawing out a golden staff now so that I could properly roast these guys instead of just slicing them up. The less effort the better.

I have to admit, it felt pretty good squaring up to fight these monsters with a god on my side. Well, about as good as fighting rotting skeletons with slimy skulls could feel.

Fighting a mob of undead Asgardian soldiers had not been on Loki's initial list of things that he wanted to do that day, and yet, here he was, tearing them down alongside Heimdall, a fake Eternal, various aliens, and a Valkyrie.

Jackie was the one who had the most of his attention during this battle. As a human, it seemed unlikely that she would last very long on the battlefront, but she was nothing if not stubborn. Even after the staff broke and dissipated into gold sparks, she didn't hesitate to fall into hand to hand combat, throwing balls of energy and grabbing skulls to roast them through with a simple spark of purple. It was almost mesmerizing to see how she anticipated these moves around him. She could've been dancing.

Minus the dark undead residue staining parts of her outfit.

Loki stabbed a dagger through the skull of a soldier that almost jumped on the Kronan man at the same time that the battlefield came to a complete halt. A monstrous lightning bolt had captured everyone's attention as it blew soldiers to pieces and into the water if they had stood too close.

A smile reached Loki's face. Took him long enough.

Thor flew down onto the bridge, cuing Loki to go right back to what he was doing while some of the soldiers were distracted. He got through a few before they snapped back to their mission too and started to fight back again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jackie's knees buckle under a hit from a soldier that she just barely managed to stop. He wanted to send her to the ship, but there was no way she'd listen if he tried. She tapped her head and shook it out like it was hurting her.

He turned away for only a moment to handle two soldiers, only for the familiar voice to chime in at the last second.

"Loki!"

She jumped at a soldier that had appeared behind him, breaking off its arm and dodging a hit before gripping the front of its skull and frying it. The skeleton dropped and she smiled, all proud of herself.

"What would you do without-"

Her face dropped in shock, as did Loki's when the tip of an undead soldier's staff protruded from her abdomen. Loki reacted before she did, throwing a knife at the skull of the soldier and catching Lincoln before she fell sideways. When the soldier fell, the staff dislodged and Lincoln reached to clutch the side of her that started to ooze blood with shaky breaths.

"Alright," Loki wrapped her arm over his shoulder with a huff. "Of course I'd have to save you too. Humans are so uselessly fragile."

She nodded stiffly, clutching his shoulder with even her hands trembling. "It's okay. It doesn't hurt."

He dragged her back towards the crowd of Asgardian people and grabbed one of the actually living soldiers.

"I need Lissa." He handed her off carefully to the man. "Immediately, please. She's midgardian."

"Tony's gonna be so mad." She whined, looking back up at Loki with tears in her eyes. "Don't you dare take it."

He shut his mouth, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "I won't."

"Hello, dear." A woman took me off the hands of the Asgardian warrior. "Good job holding that. Let me see now."

I had to bite back where I wanted to sob from the tearing pain in my side. It ached up my side of my ribs and down my leg, pulsating with pain across places the wound never even touched. I could breath, but not without pain, so surely crying would make this so much worse. Doing my best to hold it back, I turned my eyes back to the entrance of the ship to be a little distracted.

The ship hummed and started to ascend, making me feel a little relieved while the woman started whispering something to herself and replacing my hand with hers on my side. The most horrific thing followed the inhuman screeches from outside. The woman turned her fingers inward and dug them into the wound, erupting the appropriate scream of pain from me. She placed another hand over my mouth.

She was trying to kill me.

"Loki!" I managed to beg, my head still pounding from before and my eyes spotting over from the unmatched pain.

I could feel her fingers pushing on the sides of the wound and every last dam broke. I stopped trying to hold back my response and panicked, turning to beg for the one person I thought might save me.

"Oh hush." She scolded, holding me down while I writhed to get away, tears flowing like rain.

I got no help from the other Asgardians around, making me wonder if any of this was worth it if they were just here to let me die at the hands of a crazy woman. God forbid I do anything to help people in this horribly ungrateful universe. My vision bottomed out finally and I saw the darkness as a mercy, letting it take me away from the pain.