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.