"This is the Asgardian refugee vessel. We are under assault, I repeat, we are under assault- engines are dead, life support failing... Requesting aid from any vessel within range. Our crew is made up of Asgardian families; we have very few soldiers here. This is not a war craft."

Alarms were blaring from every direction, red lights flashing and people running around like mad. A frighteningly large spaceship had been spotted rising in front of the Asgardian refugee ship, The Statesman, and warnings were quickly sent to the few remaining warriors to begin evacuation when Loki had recognized who's ship it was that had intercepted them and quickly explained the situation to the others. It was not a ship he'd soon forget...

Thor and Loki ran down the halls of the ship side-by-side, each carrying a small child in their arms as they tried to herd their people to the escape Pods. They'd nearly made it to the Pod docks when the vessel rumbled beneath their feet, the walls trembling from cannon fire. Everyone froze in their tracks, a few of them losing their footing and stumbling to the floor before being quickly hoisted back to their feet by another fellow Asgardian standing nearby. Thor breathed heavily beside Loki, his one-eyed gaze steeling. Loki had never seen him look so much like a leader as in that moment. A true king of Asgard.

"Valkyrie," Thor snapped, and the woman immediately turned to him, shoving her way unceremoniously through the crowd of people to reach his side. "Follow Loki. Take the people to the ships and launch immediately. I want as many brought to safety as possible," he instructed, prying the small, frightened child from his arms to hand the boy off to a nearby healer woman. Valkyrie opened her mouth to protest against not following him into the battle, but Thor raised a hand to stop her. "Now," the Aesir king interrupted, "The people need protection. Heimdal shall go with you."

Thor turned from the Valkyrie maiden, one blue eye quickly roving over the frantic crowd to assess the best plan of action. His thunderous voice rose above the din of the outside blasts, echoing off the steel walls. "Half of the strong and able, come with me. The other half, follow my brother and the Valkyrie in safeguarding the young and weak. They will take you all to refuge, and I shall join you once the threat is gone and all is safe once more." Thor unsheathed a sword from his side and raised it high in the air, a shout upon his lips. "For Asgard!"

"For Asgard!" Loki echoed, raising his free fist, and the cry was soon taken up by every Aesir tongue, and even a few enthusiastic stragglers.

"For Asgard!" Korg shouted, pounding a fist in the air as he added, "Go get him, better Doug!"

Thor took off at a run down the halls they'd just come from, followed by a few dozen warriors, all with swords raised and voices crying out in defiance of their enemy's attack. Loki watched his brother's retreating figure with a sense of dread. Transmissions had been sent across the universe, asking for help, but Loki knew it was no use. He knew Thanos- knew him better than most others. And he knew how this was going to end. In blood. They'd traded one grave for another, it seemed. His thoughts raced faster than he could keep up with, and it was beginning to give him a headache. Even he didn't see a way they all got out of this alive... But at least he could do what he could to save the few who could go on.

Loki shifted the child on his hip, gently pushing the young girl's face into his chest in an effort to shield her from the horror and chaos going on around them, and ran down the halls after Heimdal and the Valkyrie as she shouted, "Come on, let's move!" Once they got to the Pods Loki hurriedly handed the small child off to Brunnhilde. "Here, take her."

"Where are you going?!" Brunnhilde shouted over the noise, taking the child and balancing the girl on her hip. The toddler began to cry after leaving his arms, but Loki stroked her hair soothingly and leaned in to murmur something to her under his breath- an old incantation his mother had used on him countless times to help him sleep after a night terror- and she promptly quieted and fell asleep, her head lolling on the Valkyrie's shoulder. The shield maiden couldn't decide if she was thankful that he'd calmed the girl down or angry that he'd used a charm on the child. With all the screaming going on around them, she was leaning towards the former...

"I'm going to help Thor," Loki answered, already turning to jog back the way they'd come. "Don't turn back; get them to safety!" he called over his shoulder and broke into a run, dodging the people crowding the halls to get to the pods. He was planning on joining Thor on the defense, but first he needed to do something. He darted to his tiny room on the upper deck of the ship and slammed the door behind him, dropping to his knees to search under his cot. Loki rummaged around and growled in irritation as he threw pieces of trash and debris over his shoulder. He hadn't had time to tidy his quarters up yet, and the shaking of the ship as the shields got pelted by Thanos' cannons didn't do anything to better the state of things either.

At last, he found what he was looking for and pushed himself to his feet. "Not the best, but it'll have to do..." he muttered, flattening out a piece of clean-ish paper and scratching on it with a broken stick of coal. Loki folded the paper neatly and laid it on his upturned palms, closing his eyes and muttering under his breath in an ancient language: One he knew well. Concentrating on his task wasn't exactly easy with the mayhem going on around him, but the spell was simple enough and he'd been in worse situations. After all, he was the God of chaos...

The paper on his palms started to smolder, and once he was done with the chant he opened his emerald eyes once again and watched as the note burned away completely in a shower of green sparks. "Time to call in my favor, Darling." Satisfied that his message had been sent, Loki threw his door open to run out, but a dark-skinned figure stood in his path, golden eyes seeming to gaze right through him.

"You called her." It wasn't a question. Things rarely were with Heimdal. He saw nearly everything, and he wasn't an easy one to fool, though Loki had managed it in the past.

"I did." Loki saw no reason to lie. He searched the Guardian's eyes, looking for any trace of anger or reproach, as he had often found there- Heimdal had never been a very good friend of his- but he found none.

The Asgardian only nodded. "Good. We need any assistance we can manage." He stepped to the side to let Loki pass through the door, and after a split moment of hesitation Loki exited and walked quickly down the halls with Heimdal beside him. Loki wasn't the least bit surprised the Guardian had defied Thor's orders to stay behind, and Loki could hardly berate him since he was doing the same. This day, at least, they were allies; united by their shared cause.

"I will go assist Thor. You retrieve the doctor and meet me there," Heimdal said, leaving no room for argument, though Loki had no intention of it anyway. Heimdal was better suited to help Thor see where the attacks were coming from, and Loki was better at convincing people to do things they wouldn't usually do; like go against an insane Titan in the hopes that you could beat him down. But as much as Heimdal could see with his gifted sight, Loki had seen something he had not, and he knew what would become of their situation. He only hoped he could bring the best possible outcome to fruition, with as many lives spared as he could manage.

Shaking himself from his thoughts and schemes, the Trickster nodded his approval of the order. "Where is Banner?" he asked quickly. Once the order had gone out to evacuate the ship and start loading onto Pods, Bruce had suddenly disappeared. Though with his...condition, he could hardly be blamed. He had begun to look a little green when Loki saw him last.

Heimdal took but a moment to respond, his golden eyes catching the whereabouts of their comrade in seconds. "His room. Lower level."

The two men came to a T in the hall and each looked to the other and gave a nod before taking their respective paths. Heimdal to the left, and Loki to the right, nearly flying as he jumped down landing after landing of stairs until he reached the correct level and once again broke into a run down the maze of open doors. He halted in front of the only room with it's door tightly shut. No doubt the man had locked himself up in the hopes of keeping his Beast from hurting any innocents in their mad scramble for safety.

Since the situation hardly called for trivial things like knocking, Loki kicked the locked door in roughly, making Bruce jump back and collide with the wall. The mortal man eyed the Trickster warily and Loki noticed that the veins in his neck were pulsing a poisonous green, though it was obvious that Bruce was doing his best to hold the transformation back. "What's going on out there? Is this you? Did you plan this?" Bruce asked, taking a step closer and lifting his fist threateningly.

Loki had told the "Revengers" a small part of what had transpired between himself and the Titan so he could make it clear to them just how dangerous Thanos truly was and convince them to run while they still could. Bruce was no doubt worried that Loki had decided to work for his former master once again, and though Loki couldn't exactly blame the man for his assumptions, he also couldn't help sneering. "If I were the one firing on the ship, do you really think I'd be here, fetching you, instead of getting off said ship? The one man who can toss me about like a doll?"

"I won't hesitate to do it again."

That got an eye-roll out of Loki. "Then why would I be here, hmm? Why not just leave you to burn with the rest of them? Are you people really that dense?" He sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. "As I said, I'm here to fetch you. We're being attacked; Thor needs help. And with who's coming, it'd be better if he had the Green Beast beside him, yes?."

The doctor hesitated. "And the others? The-the kids and everyone?"

"All safely boarding the transports as we speak, with your 'angry girl'."

Bruce nodded and moved to follow Loki, running a hand through his short brown hair in a nervous gesture. " Ok." He let out a deep breath. "Y-yeah, ok. Let's go..."

Loki raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. He'd thought it was going to take more to convince the doctor to help, but he supposed Banner had little choice in the matter anyway, since it was either fight or die. Loki turned back the way he'd come and began sprinting in the direction of Thor, with Bruce trailing just behind him.

Up stairs and down halls they ran, Bruce only barely able to keep up with the Trickster god in his mad dash to help his brother. They'd nearly made it to the cockpit when the ship lurched with a loud Boom and Loki had to pause and plant his hands against the walls of the narrow hall to stay upright. Bruce, unfortunately, wasn't quite as steady on his feet and was sent sprawling, his skin flooding with green as he groaned in the effort to hold back the Hulk.

Loki looked back at him in alarm, his breaths coming quicker now. A blast that large could only mean one thing: the shields were down. Any further blasts could do considerable damage to the ship, not to mention anyone who happened to be near when they went off. His mind immediately went to Thor and his stomach filled with dread. They needed to hurry. Loki went to Bruce and pulled him to his feet none-too-gently, gripping his shirt collar tightly in both hands and glaring daggers at him. "Hold yourself together. Both of you," he said harshly. "If you lose control now we've no chance of stopping Thanos." Bruce nodded mutely and Loki dropped him, a deep scowl set on his face. "Good. Now follow close behind me and do as I say."

Loki started down the hallway again with renewed speed, barely slowing even to slide around corners. He had centuries of practice and could move quickly with skill and grace, but Bruce, who was neither as skilled as Loki nor as lithe, banged into every corner and tripped over his feet trying to pick up speed again. Loki burst through the doors to the cockpit, with Bruce just seconds behind him, and a panicked Thor jerked his head around at the loud bang of the doors to look across the room at his brother.

"Loki? What are you doing here? I thought I told you to-"

A loud explosion cut the Thunder god off, the windows behind him bursting inward in a fiery shower of glass as the steel shell of the Statesman ripped apart like tinfoil, flames licking the air. The group of warriors assembled in the large room were all harshly thrown from their feet by the wave of impact. Loki and Bruce flew back through the open doors and collided with the wall of the hallway, a sickening crack telling Loki that the Mortal had more than just the wind knocked out of him.

Loki lay on the floor, gasping for a moment as his lunges began to call back the air that had been stolen from them. He couldn't help thinking just how very much he was fed up of constantly finding himself in situations like these. It seemed to him that he was cursed after all. A groan emitted from the crumpled form beside him and he was quickly brought back to his senses, and the situation at hand. Loki pushed himself to his feet and offered a hand to the doctor, not really waiting for the man to find his center of gravity again before jerking him up. Bruce put a hand against the cool steel of the blackened wall to steady himself, still gasping in air as he twisted his spine just slightly, realigning it again with a slight pop that made Loki wince.

Loki's gaze darted from Banner, through the ruined doors into the cockpit where he could make out bloodied bodies and twisted steel littered everywhere. He knew it wouldn't be long before Thanos and his minions came to finish the job, and reclaim their missing stone. Though he worried whether Thor had made it out of the blast alive or not, if he was going to make sure there were survivors after this he had to think clearly.

"I have a plan, but timing is everything." Loki glanced back at Bruce and cocked an eyebrow. "Think you and Hulk can get along long enough to kill this bloody bastard?"

Bruce grinned in reply, and his face started to shift until Loki was looking up at the yellow teeth of the beast. "Hulk listen to puny god."

Loki's responding smirk would have been terrifying on the Devil. "Excellent."