Co-Pilot
There was only a couple of them, to start. The red glow on the map showing the distress signal was beeping relentlessly, Thor’s heart matching it’s rhythm as he gripped the old, beat down sword in his hand. He could hear their growling over the faint hum of the commodore, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the icy steel of his sword’s hilt warming in his grip as it tightened.
“We’re coming in hot,” Bruce’s voice was faint in his ears as the ship started to slow; not to a halt, never to a halt; they always kept it moving in case they needed a fast escape, in case they needed to slip away before everything hit the brink of chaos. “On my count.” Bruce’s words were the only thing grounding him at the moment; he felt like a beast on the hunt, ready to be set loose, ready to knock the energy out along with the shock of his blade against his enemy’s chest.
“Wait, Banner,” Thor turned to him, a confident smile on his face. “Turn on your Midgardian pump-up music.”
Thor heard Loki scowl behind him, but he was too focused on Bruce’s fond smile as he started to search through the playlist on his phone. “Which song?”
“Play that one you always play. The one with the loud guitars.” Valkyrie suggested.
“That...Doesn’t really help narrow it down, Val.”
“Your choice!” Thor decided, patting Bruce on the shoulder, (maybe a little too hard), giving him a grin before turning back to the window. “We don’t have time to debate.”
“You’re right,” Bruce concluded, setting his phone down and going back to the steering wheel. “On the count of three, you guys go down.”
“3….”
Thor was never a fighter, never initially. He always waited for a reason, always tried to cooperate with the villain before engaging them more. But these monsters were rapant, tearing through villages without any care. They’d discussed it on the way over. There wasn’t any reasoning with them.
“2….”
Thor’s breath was hot, clouding the glass of the window. He could see them, torches in their clawed hands as they rampaged through the sand below, blood still on their overgrown k9s as they searched for more victims. Thor had never been on this planet, but just seeing innocent bloodshed made him emotional, made him want to send a storm right in the midst of those beasts.
“1. I’m dropping the floor.”
Bruce took one more look at the 3 of them, all standing in the middle of the ship, weapons drawn and eyes hungry, clustered together like a pack of wolves. He gave them a small nod, fingers hovering over the button. “Don’t die.”
Valkyrie was the first to jump, plummeting down with her sword plunging into the first monster she could find. Thor wasn’t long behind, dragging Loki along with him as he closed his eyes, letting lightning crackle around him as he sailed down into the sand. The air was thick here, pellets of small rock blowing in the intense wind. It was hard to keep their balance; it seemed that the air was only pushed a single way, and it was forceful to the point where Loki fell as soon as he landed.
The beasts looked odd, like a mix of man and wolf all enraptured in a shiny, ebony black skin. Valkyrie landed on one of the beasts, her sword breaking her fall through it’s back. She became a beacon, all of the other ones charging at her until she dropped down, grabbing the hilt of the sword that was still stuck in the beast and spinning it, knocking down every monster surrounding her.
“They’re weak little shits!” she shouted over the wind, not even turning to look as she jabbed her blade through another beast’s head. “Let’s get this done with!”
Thor let the wind propel him back, using the extra force to drive his sword along so many of the beasts that he lost count. He felt his hand vibrate along with the hilt, the shock of all the weight seeming to almost snap the weapon in half. He jabbed the sword in the ground, still with a couple of the beasts skewed in it, letting his lightning do most of the work as he focused on keeping his balance.
“Nonsense,” Thor answered, panting and smiling over at Val. She was still dealing with a lot of them, not even seeming to break a sweat as she slammed the creatures into each other. “I’m having fun.”
“No time to catch your breath, brother,” Loki warned, twisting one of the beasts’s wrists and jabbing one of his daggers into it’s chest, throwing another blade behind his back and letting it land point blank in one of the creature’s skulls. “You’re not a little prince anymore.”
Thor gave him a challenging look before he dealt with the beasts that were starting to crowd him. The electricity was practically bouncing off his fingertips, light blue lightning strikes jutting out like thin blades as he struck down multiple monsters with ease. He couldn’t help but look back up at the ship from time to time, watching as Bruce shot down the beasts that were still running toward them. He paused, beaming up at the commodore with pride, only to be reminded of his current surroundings when he felt jaws dig into his shoulder. He slammed his fist into the beast’s face, returning to the battle as easily as dipping back into a pool.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see more coming. Valkyrie was still doing good, and Loki had made several clones of himself that were each fighting diligently. Bruce was shooting as many down as he could, but they kept appearing out of nowhere, and eventually there were so many that he could barely see Val or Loki over the hoard. He felt the monsters pushing and pulling on him, those who managed to escape his lightning bolts digging their claws or teeth into his legs and shoulders.
One had it’s jaw locked on Thor’s side, another biting his ankle, and the best he could do was let them latch on as he fought all the others. The faint shouting of his friends was muffled over the bloodthirsty screeches of the beasts, and as Thor got piled up on, all he could do was close his eyes, feeling every part of his body start to tingle until-
All he could see was blue light, and all he could hear was the high-pitch scream of lightning striking down around him. Thunder rolled so loud that Thor’s ears went deaf for a moment, feeling every creature get thrown off him in the force of the storm that had formed around him. Their ebony skin seemed ashy and burnt as they went limp to the ground, the surviving ones seeming to run past the three of them, screeching and limping.
Thor yanked the one beast out of his side, kicking the other off his foot as he caught his breath. Loki and Valkyrie were safe, which he expected; sure, there were tons of them, but they weren’t a huge threat at all. The three of them were silent, catching their breath as the wind howled over them, sand pelting their skin and staining their armor.
“Why the Hell didn’t you do that in the first place?” Valkyrie was the first to break the silence and the first to move back toward the ship, patting Thor’s shoulder with a small smirk. “You waste my time, highness.”
Thor grinned at her before pulling his sword out of the chests of the fallen beasts, starting to walk back to the commodore. He felt shooting pains up his sides each time he took a step, but he forced himself not to limp. Their teeth still felt like they were lodged inside him, but he figured he’d rinse the feeling off with a hot shower back home. He was about to head back inside the ship when he saw Loki lingering, pulling a dagger out of one of the monster’s heads.
He backtracked, walking over behind his brother and patting his shoulder. “Loki, the fight is over, brother. Let’s go home.” He watched as he finally got the dagger out, thick black blood hanging from the blade. He seemed to study it, furrowing his eyebrows in a calculating silence before turning back to Thor.
“I don’t think we should be taking this so lightly, brother.”
Thor couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “Since when are you the precautionary type?”
“Since our sister.” Loki’s voice dropped to a more serious tone. Thor furrowed his eyebrows, the grin never leaving his face. What was Loki talking about? Hela had died with Asgard, she hadn’t been a threat for almost a year now.
“What does that have to do with anything? These are aliens, probably an invasive species, and we wiped them out before a bigger problem,” Thor patted Loki’s arm, starting to walk backwards and beckon him toward the ship when Loki suddenly grabbed his wrist, giving him a serious look that Thor had grown unused to. “You’re being dramatic, Loki.” Thor teased, hoping to lighten the mood, but Loki’s expression didn’t even twitch.
“We can’t just go around killing things without investigation.”
“It’s not our job to investigate,” Thor argued. “It’s our job to help. And we’ve done that. We don’t want to pry, Loki. Don’t worry about such...Little creatures.”
Loki opened and closed his mouth for a moment, letting go of Thor’s wrist once he seemed to settle on what to say. “You’re acting reckless.”
“You’re acting stuck-up.”
“What’s new?” Valkyrie’s voice cut through the brotherly tension. She was leaning out from the doors of the ship, shooting the two of them an annoyed glare. “Get your asses on the ship before I have to drag you on. There’s no deeper issue.”
“Told you.” Thor teased, grinning at Loki as they both approached the commodore.
“Can it, highness.” Valkyrie muttered before she returned back on the ship. Loki rolled his eyes as he followed him, instantly taking his seat when he got in. Now that Thor thought of it, he had been acting pretty bitter lately, and he couldn’t help but worry; he’d gone almost a year without turning on any of them, (unless you count eating Banner’s leftovers as betrayal), and Thor couldn’t help but become concerned with his brother’s adjustment.
He was about to inquire more before he heard Valkyrie and Bruce talking in the cockpit. Bruce sounded excited, and anything Thor had been thinking about fizzled away as he started to approach his two teammates.
“-And they didn’t ever see it coming. Do they teach you that stuff in training? That’s amazing!” Valkyrie was pretending to be annoyed with Bruce’s praise, but Thor could tell that underneath it all she was enjoying it; if she wasn’t, she’d be in the back of the ship chugging a beer right about now.
“Yeah, well, the bastards aren’t very subtle,” Valkyrie answered, leaning against the wall and popping some Sakaarian candy into her mouth. Bruce was still in the pilot’s seat, chair turned to face Val as she talked. He sort of looked like a kid talking to their idol, eyes bright and questions and praise firing faster than the guns on the ship. “If you were out there fighting, you’d know.”
“Nonsense!” Thor chimed in, making Bruce jump as the scientist turned his chair to face him now. Thor sat behind him, smiling as he leaned forward in the chair, elbows resting against his knees as he spoke. He saw Val roll her eyes, choosing to ignore it as he went on. “Valkyries are trained to handle that sort of thing, it’s like they have a sixth sense.”
“That’s- really cool…” Bruce turned back to look at Valkyrie, but by the time Thor had finished talking she’d already left to go to her own seat. He turned his head back to Thor, flashing a small smile that gave the god an odd feeling in his stomach. “You were amazing, too, y’know.” Bruce remarked, almost seeming a bit flustered as he moved his chair to face the commodore’s controls, starting to reroute the ship back home.
Thor’s smile was so wide he could feel his cheeks strain. “It’s nothing, really, Banner. I’m sure you could do it, with the proper training!” Thor patted him on the shoulder as the ship started to turn. Bruce gave him the same look he always gave Thor when he said this kind of thing, but Thor went on anyway. “Maybe you and Hulk could be my shield brothers.”
There was a far away look in Bruce’s eyes, a look Thor couldn’t distinguish as he moved his head down, looking at the steering wheel with a small smirk. “Yeah,” he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair and sitting up in his seat. “Maybe.”
Thor panicked a little as Bruce’s attention went back to fiddling with the controls. “Not that you need to, of course! Just a friendly invitation. You would make a great warrior, is all I’m-”
“Hey, co-pilot,” Bruce interjected, smiling up at Thor. The same feeling bubbled up in his chest as he looked back at Bruce, returning his expression. “You make a great warrior, just you alone. I’m happy to be your...Your…”
“Co-pilot,” Thor finished for him, his smile growing as he held his fist out to Bruce.
He felt butterflies when Bruce hi-fived his knuckles.
--------------------
With a little help from the bifrost, they were home shortly.
‘Home’ had started out to be a strong word. Returning to Sakaar hadn’t been anyone’s first idea; they needed a place where they could rebuild Asgard, a place where they could have their own areas, and so far, it had been working out nicely.
Bruce helped out with a lot of the architectural planning. They had started by clearing out all of the trash piles, and designing a vacuum that would intercept fallen items from the bifrost. Turned out that under all that garbage was miles and miles of unused land, and since the rest of Sakaar was still figuring out what to do with their parts of the planet, they didn’t mind the construction of new-Asgard on the other half of it.
They started building almost a year ago now, and with the help of some Sakarians and Asgardian magic, they were almost finished. It wasn’t as beautiful as Asgard was, but it was quite a sight; the vibrant colors of Sakaar went well with the golds of Asgard, and now at least the Asgardians had their own places, their own villages, and don’t have to sleep huddled up on a cargo ship.
It had been about a month since Thor had given the throne to Heimdall.
It hadn’t really been a tough decision; he was raised to be king, but when the time came for him to do it, he wasn’t fit for it. He couldn’t sit and command, he couldn’t be cooped up on a throne all day, planning dinners and ignoring real problems out in the cosmos. The people had been angry, at first, but they were soon realising how much better a king Heimdall was than Thor, (and Odin or Loki, for that matter.)
The ship glided over construction sites, whirring down slowly as they approached the large, garage like building where it slid into a parking spot. Thor was still as energetic when they landed as he was when they took off, smiling as he stood and quickly headed for the door. Everyone else on the ship looked exhausted, even Bruce, (but that wasn’t really a rare occasion for him).
“You were far away,” Heimdall had said when they reported back to him. He didn’t really orchestrate their little missions, but as their king, he needed to hear their version of what had happened. “Too far. It was dangerous, even for you.”
“That’s ridiculous! That was one of the shortest missions we’ve been on,” Thor chuckled, some of the servants gaping at how he spoke to Heimdall. He cleared his throat, moving his hands behind his back. “Your highness.”
“To be fair,” Loki interjected, stepping forward a little. “I warned him that there might be more to this than-”
“Yeah, after the fight,” Valkyrie interjected. “Shut up, Loki.”
Loki shot her a glare as Heimdall continued.
“Just don’t dig your nose in where it doesn’t belong. Not everything that happens in the cosmos is our business.”
Thor wanted to interject, to tell him he was wrong, to say there was always things in the galaxy that needed worrying about, that needed help that they could provide, but he didn’t feel like arguing.
“Yes, your majesty.” they all said in unison, Bruce being the most quiet of the four. Thor couldn’t help but notice how out of place he seemed; he looked older than anyone else here, (though he was only in his late 40’s), and he still wore midgardian clothing. Not to mention he was short, with barely any muscle on his body. For some reason, it was refreshing to Thor.
By the time their little meeting was over, the sun was setting. It looked nice on Sakaar; there were multiple moons, each of them slowly replacing the orange haze of the sun as the sky dimmed along with them. To Thor, it felt as though the night had just begun, but Loki, Bruce and Valkyrie were already headed to their rooms. He spent a couple minutes wandering around, trying to figure out something to do with himself. Bars seemed like a good idea, but he didn’t want to go alone. Hell, he didn’t want to do anything alone right now.
That’s when he found himself wandering over to Bruce’s lab.
They’d made him one when he started planning the architecture of Asgard, and soon, it looked a lot like the one Bruce had back on Midgard. Sometimes, Thor would join him there, watch him as he worked or talk to him until daylight came and they were both stumbling back to their bedrooms. Sometimes Thor had to force Bruce to stop working, to drag him to bed to get some sleep. He always said the same thing.
I don’t have time, Thor.
For some reason, that phrase was unsettling to him.
Sure enough, he found Bruce hunched over a table, poking at a tiny device with what looked like a sewing needle. His glasses were pushed so far up his face that Thor could see his eyes, narrow in concentration. He made sure his entrance was quiet; he’d already startled Bruce too many times, so he’d learned to just wait until his presence was noticed.
Thankfully, it didn’t take that long this time. Thor was about to slide into a chair when Bruce turned back at him, a small smile on his face.
“Thor,” he mumbled, pushing his glasses up and moving to write something down. “What’s goin on?”
Thor just shrugged, considering his answer as he walked toward Bruce, resting his arms against the table and peering over at him. He was staring down at the notebook intently, gray curls hanging over his face as he wrote.
“I’m...Not ready to settle into the night. Not yet,” Thor explained, hoping Bruce knew what he meant. The scientist just straightened himself up, adjusting his glasses and tilting his head at Thor, a gesture that made a smile quirk at the god’s lips. “I want to do something. I want to get my blood pumping.”
Bruce chuckled, carrying the notebook to the other table. “I guess that’s what makes us so different.”
Thor furrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t like that sentence, he didn’t like Bruce thinking that they were...Well, of course they were different. But something about it confused Thor. “What do you mean?”
“I mean...Asgardians, I guess. You guys are amazing. You’re always...Y’know, you’ve got so much vigor. Energy,” He explained, running his fingers through his hair as he studied the small device more. “I guess some humans are like that. But y’know…”
“No,” Thor walked closer to him, his elbow Brushing against Bruce’s as he laid his arms on the table. “Tell me, Banner.” he knew Bruce had a bad habit of bottling things up, of shortening his sentences and not giving Thor the full story. He wanted to earn Bruce’s trust, of course, but he still felt discouraged when Bruce shied away from topics.
Bruce paused, closing his eyes with a small, dry chuckle. “I mean...I can’t help feel a little out of place here, you know. Maybe Hulk isn’t, but...You don’t have to be afraid to tell me when I should go back to Earth.”
That hit Thor right in the chest. He found himself moving his arm around Bruce’s shoulders, giving him a pointed look. Bruce looked up at him, eyebrows raised in what could only be described as vulnerability. “Banner. You belong here,” he flashed Bruce a small, encouraging smile as he held his hand out to him. He saw Bruce’s expression start to change into worry, so he shook his head, softening his expression. The pink that clouded Bruce’s cheeks made Thor’s smile grow. “It’s alright. Let me show you.”
Bruce nodded, reluctantly sliding his hand into Thor’s.
Thor ignored the goosebumps that rose up his arm. He ignored the fact that taking Bruce’s hand was the best feeling he’d ever had.
He needed to show him that he belonged.