Spencer had never been so grateful to see the ground. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally landed in a field near a small city, somewhere in Norway. A large building was directly in front of them, its golden color looked displaced among the average homes of the village on the other side of it. But Spencer wasn't concerned with any of that. She stepped off the ship, and immediately fell into the grass, closing her eyes as she laid on her back. As much as she sometimes detested Earth, she was more than happy to be home once more. She had enough space adventuring for a little bit.

"You just going to lay down there, or are you going to help us unload the ship?" Tony inquired. Spencer opened her eyes to see her friend hovering over her, an amused look on her face.

"Oh," she answered, sitting up, "I'll help. Just give me a minute to breathe in the fresh air and what not."

"Take your time," Brunnhilde chimed in. "Korg and Miek have already started to unload our belongings to our respective rooms. In the meantime, the three of us should speak to Heimdall and see if the others have returned yet."

That got Spencer back on her feet. Her friends. How she missed them. Saying she was beyond worried about them was an understatement. Anything could've happened to Anja and Layla on their respective space quests, and she would never be able to forgive herself if the worst occurred. She needed to make sure they had beaten the odds and arrived back here safely.

"Let's go!" she exclaimed, starting to walk towards the large building.

Brunnhilde and Tony quickly started walking too, catching up with her in only a few moments. She saw them appear to her right from the corner of her eye, but she kept her focus on the building in front of her.

"You don't even know where you're going," Brunnhilde said with a laugh.

"This building, obviously," Spencer answered, pointing at the golden palace-like structure in front of them.

"Lucky guess," the Valkyrie responded. "Best you let me lead the way, though. Heimdall is likely guarding the new access to the Bifrost we were constructing."

"What?" Spencer replied.

"Well, with Asgard destroyed, we needed another way to move quickly between the realms. So construction on a new Observatory was high on the priority list," Brunnhilde explained as they continued through an archway and into the palace.

"Makes sense," Spencer said with a nod.

"Hopefully we don't have to use that," Tony went on.

"Mm, only time will tell," Brunnhilde answered. "Us Asgardians will likely use the Bifrost to keep an eye on the realms we just established alliances with. I don't suspect that you Midgardians will be responsible for that. You all have your own alliances to deal with."

That reminded Spencer. She pulled her phone from her pocket, checking the signal. Sure enough, she finally had reception again. She glanced over to make sure Tony wasn't paying her any attention, and then she opened her contacts. Spencer scrolled through them quickly, coming to a stop towards the bottom of her contacts list. Her finger hesitated over the name Steve Rogers for a moment before she tapped it and brought up her text messages.

Hey Steve. It's Spencer. Long time no see, and all that. Sorry about the airport fight. We kinda have a crisis at hand right now, and it's going to need ALL of us to fix it. This is world ending. We need your help, now more than ever. Please message me back.

She hit send. And then to cover her tracks she opened up the group chat with her parents and typed up a message to them too.

Hi guys! Made it back to Earth in one piece! Still waiting on Anja and Layla, so I'll give you an update when I know more about what's happening. Love you!

Just as she hit send on that message, Tony's voice caught her attention. "Texting your parents?" he asked.

"Yeah," Spencer answered, looking over at him as she stowed her phone back in her pocket. It wasn't a total lie. "Thought I'd tell them I was alive and all."

Tony nodded. "Good idea. I should probably text Pep and Rhodey."

And that was the end of the conversation as Tony pulled out his phone. Spencer wanted to take a sigh of relief but didn't want to draw any more attention to herself. She didn't need Tony knowing she was texting Steve. Not yet. She needed to talk to Thor when he made it back and made sure he was on board with it before bringing it to Tony's attention. They were going to need all of the Revengers to convince Tony- and likely Anja too- to talk to Steve and the others again.

The three of them continued to walk in silence through one of the archways leading into the golden building. Spencer glanced around, amazed at how quickly the remaining Asgardians were able to build such a remarkable palace in such a short amount of time. Or had they been gone longer than she thought?

Spencer quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket. She stared at the date in disbelief. April 18th. How had they been gone for four months? It didn't seem like that much time had passed. Spencer paused. She guessed between traveling to the three realms and back could've added up. Not to mention the time they spent idle on Vanaheim, between the storm and talking with the Guardians.

She shook the feeling, instead putting her attention on the text message that just popped up. It wasn't the one she was hoping for, but she was still happy to see Mom pop up on her screen.

Glad to hear you made it home, sweetie! I hope you had fun in space! We'll talk all about it later. Please keep us updated on Anja and Layla.

Spencer smiled. Her mom always tried to see the bright side of things. Even a venture to space that she was told was going to be dangerous.

Will do. I'll call you guys tonight.

Spencer hit send and put her phone back in her pocket just as the three of them entered a large round room. She glanced around, taking in what she assumed was the Observatory. Standing near a pedestal in the center of the room was a man Spencer presumed was Heimdall, standing tall and proud as he guarded the reconstructed gate to the Bifrost.

"Welcome back," he greeted.

"I see there's been some major progress around here," Brunnhilde started, smiling at him. "The palace looks great."

"It is far from finished, but we are off to a great start," he responded. He paused for a moment, looking at Spencer and Tony. "Who are your friends?"

"These are Tony Stark and Spencer Grey," Brunnhilde introduced, gesturing at each of them. "They're Midgardian friends of ours, and accompanied us on the journey to the other realms."

The man nodded. "Pleasure to meet you both. I am Heimdall, the Gatekeeper and the Watcher of Worlds. Welcome to New Asgard."

"It's nice to finally meet the legend himself," Spencer replied. "We've heard a lot about you. Thor told us a lot of stories."

"That he did," Tony echoed.

"Speaking of Thor," Brunnhilde cut off, "has he returned? Or has Loki?"

Heimdall shook his head. "You are the first to arrive. Do I even want to know where exactly the two of them ran off to?"

"Thor went to Nidavellir to forge a weapon," Brunnhilde explained with a sigh. "He took our friend Layla and some new acquaintances of ours with him. As for Loki, he, our other friends, Anja and Bruce, and the other half of our acquaintances went to Knowhere to try to take possession of the Aether."

Heimdall sighed, exasperated. "Those boys will be the death of me."

"Ain't that the truth," Brunnhilde agreed. "I was hoping they would have beaten us back here, but I see that was too much to hope for."

Heimdall opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a large bolt of lightning striking just outside the archway leading out into another field. The clap of thunder that followed hurt Spencer's ears. The sun was out when they landed, though, so that could only mean one thing...

The four of them rushed to the archway to see the cause of the blast. Standing in the center of scorched grass, was Thor, Layla, Rocket, and Groot. Spencer was relieved to see all of them looking to be in perfect health. She wasted no time running up to Layla and pulling her in a tight embrace.

Her friend hugged her back, laughing a little. "Well nice to see you too, Spence. Glad you made it back okay."

Spencer released Layla from her hug. "I'm glad you made it back okay."

Layla smirked and glanced over at Thor. "The only one who had any problems was this big lug here. Decided to take on the full force of a star. But he got his damn weapon so we should be good now," she explained.

Spencer looked at Thor, who was now talking with Heimdall, Brunnhilde, and Tony, while Rocket and Groot stood nearby. Sure enough, he was leaning against a large ax. It certainly looked like the promising Thanos-killing weapon Thor had described to them back on Vanaheim.

"What a dumb space Labrador," Spencer replied. She saw the others head back inside the Observatory so she started to follow suit, Layla close behind.

Layla smiled. "How long have you been back?"

Spencer shrugged. "I dunno? Maybe an hour tops?"

Layla didn't say anything for a moment, but Spencer knew what she was going to ask next. "What about Anja?"

"Nothing yet," Spencer answered quietly. "I'm... I'm worried."

The smile on Layla's face faded into a frown. "I was afraid you were going to say that. I hate not knowing what's going on with her."

"Same," Spencer admitted. "But she's with Loki, so she should be fine."

"It's that that I'm worried about," Layla replied.

Spencer frowned. So Layla was just like Tony and didn't trust Loki. Spencer was on the fence about him, but she was trying her best to give him the benefit of the doubt. Surely he wouldn't let anything happen to Anja?

Spencer opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a disembodied voice filling the room.

"Heimdall! Bring us back!"

It was Anja's voice! Spencer turned to look at Heimdall, who looked thoroughly confused. "It's Anja and the others," she explained quickly. "She sounds like they're in danger. Bring them back, please!"

Heimdall merely nodded, and wasted no time as he moved to a pedestal in the center of the room. He drew the long sword on his back and placed it in a slot on the pedestal, turning it. The large circular door on the far wall opened, and a bright, rainbow colored light emanated from it. A few moments later, three figures skid into the room. Once the bright light from the Bifrost ceased as Heimdall turned his sword once again, Spencer was able to finally see who arrived.

Sitting awkwardly on the ground was Anja, one arm supporting Loki's upper body while the other was extended, allowing her to hold tightly onto Bruce's hand. They all looked like they had been through hell. Bruce was unconscious, and was only clad in some torn pants. Spencer figured he had Hulked out. Judging by how beaten and worn out Anja and Loki both looked, she thought that was a safe assumption.

It was Layla who was at Anja's side first. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"

If looks could kill. "No, I'm not okay," Anja spat, pushing Layla's hands away from her, releasing Bruce's hand. She stood slowly, her and Loki supporting each other in the process.

Spencer finally saw the full extent of the damage then. Anja's clothes were ripped and slashed in several places, showing some minor cuts and bruises underneath. Her biggest injury was an oval shaped scorch mark on her left temple. Spencer looked to Loki. He had some bruising in some places around his neck. His armor was almost as bad off as Anja's clothes; one side appeared to have been pelted with something small and sharp. What the hell had happened?

"We need to get medical attention, now," Anja emphasized, breaking Spencer from her thoughts. "We'll tell you what happened afterwards. Someone carry Bruce."

Spencer watched as Thor walked over, and lifted Bruce over his shoulder with ease. He looked to Heimdall. "Lead the way my friend."

As the group of them made their way to wherever the infirmary was, Spencer pulled her phone out of her pocket to text her mom back. She figured now was as good a time as any to update her on her friends' arrival.

Layla and Anja are both alive. Layla is perfectly fine. Anja is a bit scuffed up, but should be fine once we treat her minor injuries. I'll keep you updated. Love you!

Spencer hit send and then put her phone back in her pocket. She had only walked a few feet when she felt her phone buzz. Her mom must've replied already. Seemed pretty quick for her mom, but Spencer pulled her phone out anyway.

But it hadn't been her mother texting her back. She stared at the name, almost forgetting for a moment she had even texted Steve Rogers to begin with.

Hey, Spence. Call me when you can.

*****

Hey everyone! Sorry it took me so long to post an update! I wanted to try to stay a few chapters ahead of what I was posting for this story, so I was mostly waiting until I finished the chapter I was working on before I posted this one. I have admittedly been a bit distracted the last few weeks. I finished up one of my other stories, and then got hyper-focused on the other current work in progress. I think I wrote like five or six chapters in the course of a couple weeks? It was insanity.

And work has been hell the last few weekends, so I have been coming home and mostly napping instead of writing. We're in the middle of a long stretch of heat, and working outside for half the day is super tiring. The kennel was full last weekend for the first time since the pandemic started and it was very strange to say the least. We are normally full for the 4th of July holiday, but with everything going on, I didn't expect it to be a normal holiday. 2020 just has no chill.

Anyway, now that I am down to two stories, I should realistically bounce between the two of them in terms of writing so I should be getting more written in both of them soon.

I hope all is well with everyone, and that you all are staying safe out there.

Hope to update again soon!

~arty_writes