A Twist Of Marvel || Infinity War

54. Friends

The rest of Naomi's companions on the Quinjet hardly fared much longer than she did. Everyone onboard was knocked out upon entering into the wormhole. Valkyrie slept in her chair, her head limp, while her co-pilot Thor simply slumped against the control panel, his body randomly shifting levers and pushing buttons. The others were collected together on the floor- Bruce pushed against the wall with his legs propped up, his knees precariously balancing against each other. Naomi's head had been guided into the crook of Loki's neck, and one of his arms draped over her lap- his hand brushing against hers on the opposite side of her body.

The group would begin to stir awake as the jet slowly drifted in sight of Asgard, the planets slight gravitational pull tugging the ship toward it. Thor and Valkyrie would quickly regain control of the jet, re-firing its engines and moving in toward the central castle of the floating island. Loki and Bruce would turn their attention toward Naomi, who showed no signs of waking.

"Aren't you a doctor?" Loki asked Bruce, attempting to keep his head still so as not to disturb the unconscious woman. Bruce started at the question, even though Loki had intentionally kept malice out of his tone.

"Doesn't matter." Bruce shook his head, apologetic. "We don't have any medical supplies, a-and i'm not really qualified for this anyway." Loki huffed, and directed his attention elsewhere in response. From his seated position, he couldn't see through the pilot's window, though he could feel the light radiating from it.

"How far away are we?" Loki called out.

"Not far, we'll be greeted by father soon, no doubt." Thor responded, his tone light from seeing his home once more. Beside him, Valkyrie was quiet, and simply stared at the island with a soft expression.

Loki couldn't have claimed to have been excited at the notion of seeing his father again, but he kept himself from making any comments on it. Instead, he occupied himself by tenderly lifting Naomi's limp figure from the floor- denying help from Bruce. With her in his arms again, Loki suddenly remembered the sensation of her fingers running through his hair, his mood dampening because now her hands simply hung in the air, Naomi's strength to lift them dissipated. Thus Loki held her tightly against him as he stood in the jet, one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. In lieu of watching as the jet grew closer to Asgard, he studied her face- so peaceful she might have been sleeping- and vainly wished she would open her eyes.

The jet landed without any interference- it seemed that Heimdall had already seen their arrival, and gathered all necessary parties to welcome the princes home. When the docking doors opened, Thor was the first to step out, immediately greeted by his father, and the warriors three who had since returned to Asgard. Though the Lady Sif was still absent from her home, Thor accepted the presence of his friends that were there, and greeted them eagerly. Bruce, who had initially followed closely behind Thor on their path to the back of the jet, hesitated once he saw the golden light of Asgard, and the several warriors that awaited them. Instead of sticking by Thor, his most trusted friend present, Bruce instead gravitated to Valkyrie, who had concealed herself in the shadows of the jet, watching her home with a wary eye. She still wore her Sakaarian armor, choosing to shove her old Valkyrie equipment in one of the various trunks on board. Her and Bruce exchange some brief words- his obvious discomfort and awe at the new planet overrode whatever doubts and fears she had harbored, and the pair strode out the jet together, Bruce following a step behind.

Loki was last to exit, the unconscious Naomi in his arms. The sight of his father and the warriors three gathered in one place nearly repulsed him, the thought of so much disapproval at once clogging the air until he felt he was breathing it in. But he took another look at Naomi- who looked as though she were asleep in his arms- Naomi, who was still bleeding slowly- Naomi, who had never judged him, even with as much as she knew. His legs propelled him forward, and just before he exited the shade from inside the jet, Loki shifted his arms so her head leaned in to his chest, and he watched her hair fall over her face, obscuring her features.

He followed behind Valkyrie and Bruce, the four of them banded together as outcasts of Asgard, those who didn't belong and perhaps didn't want to. But that was not the point, because as they held together all eyes drifted from the king's golden boy toward the ragtag group. A woman with a fierce, and almost protective aura, clothed in unfamiliar armor, a man with graying hair and Midgardian clothes, who glanced about at everything wildly, and finally the estranged prince with a strange woman in his arms, her leg bandaged with the torn clothes of royalty.

"Prince Loki." Odin greeted, his eye narrowed against the strangers. "What strangers have you brought among us?" Loki didn't miss his father's accusatory tone, as though the blame only fell on him for brining strangers to Asgard. Naomi's limp form must have been obscured enough behind Bruce and Valkyrie that she wasn't noticed, as no one commented on the woman. As always, however, Thor stepped in before his father grew too publicly critical of his youngest son.

"Father, these are our friends!" Thor proclaimed, striding to their group with open familiarity. "This is Bruce Banner!" Thor slapped his hands down on Bruce's shoulders, brining all the attention onto him. Bruce started at the contact, and smiled shakily at the gathered Asgardians. "I fought with him on Midgard."

"He is a warrior?" Hogun asked, raising a skeptical brow at the apprehensive doctor who most certainly wasn't a warrior. Beside him, Fandral and Volstagg exchanged looks, agreeing that Bruce didn't seem the warrior type.

"Um, technically!" Thor smiled, and began to move on to his next introduction, Valkyrie. However the woman, who had been fiddling with the arm guard that covered her Valkyrie tattoo, stopped him before he told them her name.

"I am Topaz, my king." Valkyrie spoke to Odin, stealing a name from some other source that Loki didn't know. He felt however that Naomi might have known where the name came from, and was suddenly hit with a wave of apprehensiveness that he needed to get her to a doctor.

Before Odin was able to question Valkyrie, or 'Topaz' further, Loki broke away from the group and moved toward the castle with a hurried pace. To onlookers, his face was dark and stormy. The sudden reveal of an unconscious woman in his arms greatly shocked the Asgardian company, however Odin guessed the woman's identity after a short second, even if her hair covered her features.

"Loki, what is the meaning of this?" Fandral cried out, stepping in Loki's path. Cut off from his destination, the god of mischief glared down his roadblock, but Fandral was not deterred. Instead, his attention was focused on Naomi, and the man's reputation as a womanizer suddenly appeared to Loki. Invigorated to distance himself and Naomi from the blonde man, Loki moved to skirt around him, but Volstagg was there to fill the gap, and he was blocked once more.

"You halfwits! She's been injured, can't you see!" Loki hissed, holding her closer to him subconsciously. He might have spat out other unsavory terms at the warriors, but a pre scene at his shoulder distracted him. Valkyrie, staring down the warriors with unbridled confidence stood at his side, something Loki would have never predicted, but perhaps Naomi might've. Bruce stood at her side, which was predictable, but a small part of Loki appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

"She's been shot. She saved my life." Bruce spoke, calmly and with a touch of sternness. Volstagg, in front of Loki, looked over the scientist, before turning to Odin for instruction. Loki rolled his eyes at the warrior's need to be shown exactly what to do, but Odin surprised them.

"Stand down." He spoke to Volstagg, and the redheaded man complied hesitantly. As Loki passed through them, all three famed warriors evaluated him with suspicion, and their gazes fell to the unknown woman in his arms with the same look. It struck Loki then, as he quickened his pace to the medical center, that just by being associated with him, Naomi could become a target of suspicion in Asgard, and she was already on the king's bad side.

But he pushed the thought to the back of his mind, and with the rest of his companions following, including Thor, they collectively guarded Naomi on the journey to the medical ward, her limp form entirely unaware.