Thankfully for Loki, it wasn't long before a group of the former slaves appeared and undid his electrocution. When he gasped in relief, he turned over, stood up, and faced a large blue rock man. "Much appreciation to you," Loki said, confused at the group now standing before him.
"No problem," Korg replied, "my name is Korg, this is Miek. We're about to jump onboard a spaceship and get out of here. Want to come?"
Loki looked them over and answered, "You do look like you're in desperate need of leadership."
Korg said, "Thank you."
Together the group of them found the largest ship and judging by the amount of commotion going on outside, Thor had clearly already left with Valkyrie and Bruce. Not knowing who they were, the fleet let them skirt by with ease to the portal they needed. Meanwhile, Loki changed his outfit to all black and donned his signature horns.
When they arrived to Asgard, the fight was on. Thor and Hela had taken to the palace. Black swords and lightning were exchanged. Citizens of Asgard, lead by Heimdall and Frigga, were huddled along the rainbow bridge. Black knives had cut through the Bifrost, destroying it completely. With nowhere to run, they had nearly given up hope before a snip appeared in the mist behind them.
"Your savior is here!" Loki proclaimed from the open door.
There were gasps and relief and excitement. "The prince has returned!" someone shouted over the cheers.
"Did you miss me?" Loki asked no one, "Everyone, get on the ship!"
"Loki!" Frigga exclaimed, hugging him tight, "Thank you for disobeying and returning home."
He said, "It was Thor's idea. Where is he?"
"Creating a diversion," she answered, pointing to the palace. Black knives and lightning burst out in every direction. Meanwhile Hela's army of the dead fast approached them, dead Asgardian soldiers stretched for miles.
Loki conjured his knives and stood on the rainbow bridge in anticipation. Just then, the largest lightning strike ever exploded out of the sky and struck the palace. Loki couldn't help but smile as Thor leapt out of the balcony window, missing an eye, and pulsed with electrical energy. It was so powerful; dozens of dead soldiers fell instantly without Thor raising a finger.
He cleared the way and made it over to Loki. "Still think I'm useless without my hammer?" he asked rhetorically.
Behind him, more soldiers ran in. Loki used the rainbow bridge to create a massive wave, knocked them all off and down into the water and rocks below. "Still think I'm the God of knives?" he asked rhetorically.
"You're late," Thor snarked.
"You're missing an eye," Loki replied.
The Hulk and Valkyrie came up from behind the soldiers and bashed them together repeatedly, giving the citizens of Asgard a better chance at escape onto the ship.
"Everyone who managed to flee the city has made it aboard," Heimdall said, walking up to the group of them. He turned to Loki and said, "I saw you coming."
"Of course you did," Loki replied, "where is Hela? Giving up?"
"She's headed for the vault," he said ominously.
Thor said, "If she gets any one of those artifacts in her possession, we're all doomed. I'll intercept her-"
"No," Loki said, "I'll intercept her inside the vault, you get anyone you can find still hiding in the city onto the ship!" He turned and saw Odin's steed, the eight-legged Sleipner, ready to charge into the city. Loki mounted him quickly, no time for a saddle or bridle. "I'll return as soon as I can!"
"Loki!" Thor shouted as he ran off.
Meanwhile Loki rode Sleipner all the way to the entrance of Odin's vault. As he dismounted, he said, "Good boy, now, return to the ship and save yourself." He shook his head. "Don't worry about me, I'll get out of here alive, I promise. Go!" He slapped him and made him run.
Inside the vault, he watched as Hela made her way to Surter's crown. "It must hurt," Loki said sincerely, "knowing you were born strictly for political gain."
Hela scoffed. "Oh please. I don't need a pampered prince raised in a golden palace to offer me any sort of manufactured sympathy. As if you of all people could ever understand what I've been through."
He insisted, "We are similar. I too was raised for political purposes; the only difference is mine never panned out. At least you're Father's success story. We haven't had a war with Vanaheim for millennia thanks to your birth."
"Don't pretend we're anything alike," she replied hastily, "I can't claim to know anything of your upbringing, Loki, but Father clearly loved and cherished you. I saw the massive statue he had built in your honor. It's a bit egregious if you ask me."
"I built that myself," he corrected.
She shrugged, not seeing the difference. "He still let you."
"He was exiled at the time," he explained, "he had no say in its construction."
Now she was confused. "What?"
Loki said, "It's a complicated tale. I faked my death, usurped the throne for myself, stripped him of his powers, sent him to Midgard with false memories, and pretended to be him for the last five years. During which time I built myself a statue in my own memory. Still think it's egregious?"
Hela stared at him. "Well," she finally said, "perhaps we do have our similarities. Is that why you're here? To join your big sister in her slaughter fest?"
"I'm here to ask what exactly you plan to get out of doing all this to us," he replied. He stepped up to her and saw the artifacts their father collected over the millennia and stopped his eyes on the tesseract for a moment.
"If the Asgardians won't let me rule over them alive," she answered, "I'll take them all to hell with me." She grabbed Surter's crown as Loki dove for the casket sitting on its podium. He took it and aimed it directly at her. She demanded, "What do you think you're doing with that?" She paused as he turned blue before her eyes. "You're Jotun?"
He replied, "As I was saying before, I was raised for the political purpose of bringing peace with Jotunheim. Set the crown down, Hela."
She stepped in front of the eternal flame, crown in hand, "Ice me and the eternal flame and all of Asgard will freeze over and slowly spread an eternal winter throughout the nine realms, killing everyone but the frost giants. Is that really what you want?"
"Step away from the fire," Loki commanded, slowly inching forward, "and I won't have to freeze you or the eternal flame."
Hela shot out a massive black sword in his direction, but he froze it in midair. She moved closer to the flames, daring him to freeze them both over. Just when Loki feared for the worst, thunder rolled and roared directly above the vault. The ceiling broke open and Thor crashed directly overhead onto Hela, lightning exploding in every direction. Surter's crown crashed onto the ground.
Loki threw the casket down and grabbed the tesseract, knowing there was no way they were going to make it out of there in time if she got back up.
"Hela, you didn't have to do all this," Thor said, standing between her and the crown, "why can't you see the error in your ways?" He couldn't help but remember what it was like trying to talk Loki out of taking over Midgard years earlier. It felt so similar, knowing that they were lost causes but not wanting to give up hope.
"Don't mind me, I'll just take this entire realm to hell with me." She grabbed the crown of Surter and tossed it into the eternal flame.
Loki shouted, "Thor, we have to get out of here!" He showed him the tesseract and together, the two of them teleported themselves onto the ship with everyone on board. It still sat at the end of the Bifrost.
"We have to get out of here!" Thor shouted, "Asgard is lost! Go!"
With him at the controls, the ship moved away from the asteroid as Surter burst out from the palace. His fire melted the entire building and as the prophecy showed, he plunged his sword into Asgard and it was instantly incinerated from the flames. There was no question Hela died along with anyone else still trapped within the city. The Asgardians could only look on in horror as their home disappeared before their eyes.
Frigga whispered, "Oh, this is terrible."
Loki said, "I suppose now no one is Asgardian."
"We'll endure whatever comes next," Thor said sadly.
"About that," Loki warned ominously, "there's this mad man from Titan I've been meaning to tell you about."