3rd Person POV

After Hulk's final blow to Thor had been softened ever so slightly by Ash's staff taking most of the hit, the battle was declared over and Hulk stood by as two gladiator nurses started to take Thor away to his room as he "requested," however some guards were starting to take an unconscious Ash away in a different direction.

"No take!" Hulk started to growl before the Grandmaster appeared in one of the doorways to the arena and walked over saying in a faux calming tone,

"Hey hey don't you worry big guy, I just need a little word with your.. daughter..."

Pinching his thumb and index finger when he emphasized 'little' and Hulk growled,

"No hurt Tiny Blaze..."

"Of course not. We'll have a little chat and then we'll bring her right back."

He kept a smile on his face until he turned around and it fell as he muttered,

"There goes that plan..." Knowing his original plan of discarding Ash was no longer an option before swishing his cloak and walking out of the arena, avoiding the occasional bloodstain in the dirt and knocked-out tooth.

A little while later, Ash woke up to find herself on a couch in the VIP box above the arena and she bolted upright when she heard the Grandmaster's voice say,

"Hey there sunshine!"

Seeing the Grandmaster sitting on a mini couch across from her with his second in command, Topaz, standing there holding his signature Melt Stick, Ash jumped to her feet and reached back for her staff on her belt holder, only to find it wasn't there.

"If you're looking for your fancy stick, it's uhh... where's it again Topaz?"

"We were going to have it destroyed but the Champion insisted he take it." She answered in a bored tone.

"Wow, you really mean a lot to him.. don't you?" The Grandmaster leaned forward with his hands clasped together under his chin.

"What do you want from me?" Ash was done with his condescending attitude as she demanded to know, "If you're not 'offing' me like you said you would if I wasn't already killed by the Champion then obviously you have something else in mind for me."

"Strong and perceptive I can see how one relates to him but not really the other." The Grandmaster commented before finally getting to the point,

"Normally, given that you're his daughter, adoptive clearly, I would want to keep you away from him to keep him from going soft, but I also need to make sure my Champion is happy so he can continue making 'The Contest of Champions' worthwhile to watch. So, I will continue to honor his wish and let you go, but if, at any point I see him start to falter in battle..." He looked over to Topaz and she took out an Obedience Disk controller behind her back, and before Ash could react, she took a knee as the shocks ran through her body and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out in pain.

"Well I don't think a smart girl like you needs another clue to figure it out."

Ash growled slightly through her clenched teeth as she stood back up and was escorted out of the VIP box by a guard that led her through a maze of hallways before they arrived at a large room with white and red geometric designs on the wall, large furniture all around including a bed that looked to be made from the skull of a large creature, and Ash could see Thor being treated by two gladiator nurses.

Just as the guard left, she turned away in time to see a red transparent barrier come up to block the exit and she huffed through her nose before jumping in surprise as she heard Thor yell in surprise and saw the gladiator nurses running out past her, startled from his outburst.

She turned back in time to see Thor pulling his armor chest plate back on before she ran to him and hugged him tightly as he told her surprised,

"Woah woah it's alright."

"I'm glad you're OK, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to save you..." Ash admitted as she released him from her death grip.

"Do you know where we are?"

"If I had to guess... we're in-"

A splash caught their attention making Ash frown and finish her sentence with,

"-his room..."

And they both turned to see Hulk in a hot tub mostly concealed in shadows.

"Are we cool?" Thor asked cautiously, holding his hands up in a non-threatening manner.

Hulk grunts to indicate an 'I guess so' kind of response that Thor responds to with a thumbs up while muttering,

"It's Hulk in a hot tub."

Looking around the room a bit more before he asked,

"So how long have you been like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like this. Big, green...stupid..." Thor questioned, half expecting Ash to defend him but was surprised when she didn't and she just stood there with an uncharacteristically bored expression on her face.

"Hulk always Hulk."

"How'd you get here?"

"Winning."

"You mean cheating? Were they wearing one of these when you won? How'd you arrive here?"

Hulk mimed a plane crash with his hand landing in the water before saying,

"Quinjet."

"Yes. Where-where is the Quinjet now?" Thor questioned and just as Hulk was starting to stand up Thor was quick to cover Ash's eyes as he muttered,

"That's naked. He's very naked." And Ash just stood there with her eyebrows raising in questioning disgust as she heard Hulk's footsteps pass them as Thor continued to mutter, "It's-it's in my brain now."

"Quinjet."

Thor walked over to the window with Ash by his side, her eyes still covered until they were both facing to window, as they looked out over the endless trash heaps to see that the Quinjet was indeed in the distance mostly unburied and didn't look like it had sustained too much damage in the crash.

"Yes! I'm getting us out of here." Thor started to speak excitedly as he went back over to the table, putting his arm guards back on as he talked, "This is a terrible, awful place. You're gonna love Asgard. It's big. It's golden. Shiny."

"Hulk stay." Hulk stated plainly as he bit into a large fruit making Ash's frown deepen even more as she rolled her eyes a bit while Thor started to protest,

"No, no, no. My people need me to get back to Asgard. We must prevent Ragnarok."

"Rag-na-ruh?"

"The prophesied death of my homeworld, the end of days, it's the end of-"

"Yaaahhhh..." Hulk let out an exaggerated bored yawn before Thor tried to bargain,

"-if you help me get back to Asgard, I can help you get back to Earth."

"Earth hate Hulk."

"Is that why you left the team, left me?" Ash questioned bitterly as she crossed her arms and faced away from him even as Thor continued to argue,

"Earth loves Hulk. They love you. You're one of the Avengers. One of the team, one of our friends. This is what friends do. They support each other."

"You're Banner's friend."

"I'm not Banner's friend. I prefer you."

"Banner's friend."

"I don't even like Banner. 'I'm into numbers and science and stuff.'"

Ash gave Thor a half-lidded, unamused stare at the bad imitation of her adoptive father before Hulk told him,

"Thor go. Hulk and Tiny Blaze stay."

"Oh now you're thinking about me?"

"Fine. Stay here. Stupid place. It's hideous, by the way. The red, the white. Just pick a color."

Ash used her fingers to rub circles on her temples in irritation at Thor and Hulk started arguing about who really won the fight while she was thinking to herself,

Something tells me we're going to be stuck here a while...

"Thor go!"

"I am going." Thor snapped back and Ash's eyes snapped open as she reached out to shout,

"No wait!"

*ZAP!*

Unfortunately, she was too late in warning Thor about the Obedience Disk parameter and winced as she heard Thor fall to the ground stunned while Hulk laughed,

"Thor go again!"

Ash facepalmed at Hulk's comment as Thor stood back up and Hulk muttered,

"Thor home."

Before grabbing his battleaxe and armored up to head out saying,

"Hulk trains."

"That's great. Have fun." Thor muttered with sarcastic enthusiasm.

"Hey big guy." Ash heard Valkyrie's voice from down the hall and peeked out to see Hulk walking off with her to go train.

"Angry girl."

"What have you been up to?"

"Winning."

"Grrr..." Ash growled in annoyance as she walked back into the room before her eyes widened when she saw her staff propped up against the rack of booze and hurried to grab it, relieved that she was able to get it back when she saw Thor standing by the window whispering to himself,

"Heimdall, I know you can see me. I need you to help me. Help me see."

"Thor what are y-" Ash placed a hand on his arm and gasped when his eyes opened to reveal they were now a golden color and in her mind's eye she saw she was with him in another place.

"I see you. But you are far away." She turned to see a man standing there with the same golden eyes Thor had a moment ago, assuming that he was the one called Heimdall, Ash wondered at her surroundings, huge buildings that looked to be gilded and detailed with gold, catching and reflecting sunlight, but she could feel the hostile atmosphere of the area and could "smell" the smoke rising from a few building in the distance.

"Is this Asgard?" She questioned, catching Thor's attention as he turned around to see her there.

"Ash? How did you-?"

"It would seem your Chrysinthean friend has regained the capacity to access her Infinity Stone based abilities." Heimdall answered Thor's question, only to make Ash question,

"My abilities come from-?"

"Every Chrysinthean's abilities and your very existence originate from the Infinity Stones."

"Does he-"

"Yes I see the future."

"Heimdall," Thor brought their attention back to the present issue as he asked, "What's going on here?"

"Come see for yourself." Heimdall walked over to a group of people who were huddled against the wall, hiding from someone or thing as he explained, "I'm providing refuge in a stronghold built by our ancestors. But if the garrison falls our only escape will is Bi-Frost."

"You're talking about evacuating Asgard?" Thor questioned and Ash asked,

"Isn't there another way off the planet?"

"'Fraid not, we won't last long if we stay. She draws her power from Asgard and grows stronger everyday. Come on." Heimdall directed the last part of his statement to the people he was leading to safety and they ran ahead as he stayed behind a bit to tell Thor,

"Hela is ravenous. If I let her leave, she'll consume the Nine Realms and all the cosmos. We need you."

"I'm working on it, but we don't even really know where the hell we are."

"You're on a planet surrounded by doorways. Go through one." Heimdall unsheathed a large sword and wielded it as Thor quickly asked,

"Which one?"

"The big one!" He answered right before swinging the sword right through where Ash and Thor stood before they both "woke up" and were back on Sakaar.

"That was weird..." Ash looked around before her eyes caught onto the shine her staff was emitting before it dimmed back down.

"Your powers come from the Infinity Stones?"

"I knew my people and I had some kind of connection to them because of our last encounter with the Mind Stone, but I didn't know it was because we're somehow derived from them. I don't remember being taught this back in the training grounds..." Ash looked down in frustrated thought as she racked her brain trying to remember if any of the lessons she had been taught would give her any more answers, but came up empty.

"Hopefully Heimdall can give you more answers but first we need to figure a way off this horrible planet."

"I'm guessing by the 'big one' he means that one." Ash pointed out the window to a huge stormy red wormhole in the far distance before she continued with, "But unless we get these disks off, we're not going to be able to make it two feet away from the building and we need to get my suit and Kimoyo bracelets back otherwise my radiation's gonna mess with the Quinjet's systems."

"Wait a minute this whole time you've been exposing everyone including me to deadly radiation?" Thor questioned in a slightly panicked disbelief-filled tone.

"Deadly for humans, luckily you and the other fighters here on Sakaar are more resistant to it, but it'll mess with the Quinjet once we get to it so I need to get my bracelets and suit pin back from 'Valkyrie' if we're.. going to.. get out of here..." Ash started faltering a bit at the end of her sentence looking like she was about to doze off right then and there with her eyelids drooping before shooting back open.

"You should get some rest, we'll have a better chance of figuring out how to get out of here once that big brain of yours is fully rested." Thor grinned lightly as he ruffled Ash's hair and still managed to get it into her eyes, even with its shortness, as she smiled back before finding a spot near the wall to lay down.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright like that?" Thor asked, motioning to her position.

"At least I'm actually able to lie down and I'm not half-soaked in water, that's how I've had to fall asleep whenever I got sent to solitary." Ash told him with a raised eyebrow before turning back to face the wall and eventually falling asleep as night started to fall outside.

Shortly after, Thor managed to find a ratty blanket lying around and draped it over Ash as she slept, and, while he was looking down at her peaceful face that had signs of still-healing scars, he made a promise to himself that he would get her off this planet that had already caused her so much suffering and get her back to the safety of Earth if it was the last thing he did.

A while later, after Hulk had returned from training with Valkyrie, Thor had once again tried to pry the Obedience Disk off with his fingers but was unsuccessful as it remained attached to his neck before Hulk noticed and spoke up,

"Thor sad."

"Shut up." Thor responded turning away before Hulk got up and shoved him to the side yelling before the two started arguing,

"THOR SAD!"

"I'm not sad, you idiot! I'm pissed off! Angry! I lost my father! I lost my hammer!"

"Whining and crying. Cry like baby."

"You're not even listening!" Thor kicked a stray object around before Hulk retaliated by throwing a shield,

"Don't kick stuff!"

"You're being a really bad friend."

"You bad friend!"

"You know what we call you?"

"No."

"We call you the stupid Avenger."

"You're tiny Avenger!" Hulk swung a battle axe head toward Thor but missed and embedded itself into the wall right above where Ash was sleeping and she jolted awake yelling,

"Ah! What the heck?!"

"What, are you crazy?" Thor yelled, partially out of annoyance for him originally being the intended target of the attack and partially out of protectiveness for the narrowly avoided decapitation of Ash.

"Yes." Hulk answered simply, not giving Ash a second thought as he picked up a mace, clearly more upset at Thor before he retaliated with,

"You know what? Earth does hate you."

This made Hulk more upset as he sulked over to the side, making Thor instantly regret what he said and looked over to Ash seeing her shaking her head at him as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, but was still unharmed from the incident. The two of them went to sit next to Hulk even as he tried to protest,

"No."

"I'm sorry I said those things. You're not the stupid Avenger. Nobody calls you the stupid Avenger." Thor apologized and Hulk accepted with a hesitant,

"It's okay."

"You just can't go around throwing shields at people.... could've killed me and Ash."

Hulk looked to Ash as she looked up at him with an apprehensive look that faded to a light smile as he gently nudged her side with his hand as he spoke,

"I know. I'm sorry. I just get so angry all the time. Hulk always, always angry."

"I know. We're the same, you and I. We're just a couple of hot-headed fools."

"Yeah, same. Hulk like fire, Thor like water."

"We're kind of both like fire."

"But Hulk like real fire... Hulk like raging fire... Thor like smoldering fire..."

"I think you're both forgetting I'm actual fire." Ash inputted as she clicked her fingers enough to make a few sparks to match her hair as it glowed faintly similarly to dying embers before dimming back down as the three of them chuckled.

"Hulk, I need you to do something for us."

3001 Words

AN- Being posted a little later than usual, but still on time more or less and keeping the update streak going! ^^ Only four more chapters after this and then Ragnarok will be all wrapped up and leading into the Spark Sisters Infinity War, Endgame, and additional story segments :D

Hope you all have a good night and a good weekend, I'll be making my palisman for my Halloween costume, little hint there ^^, this year so hopefully I'll be able to submit a photo of the draft sketch and end result before next weekend. What, if you are planning on it, are you all dressing up as for Halloween?

Until the next chapter, Bye!