‘You should’ve let me do this!’ Loki shouted.

His words were barely audible over the shuddering booms of asteroids smashing into the Statesman. But even if they had heard him, Bruce was certain neither Brunnhilde nor Thor would have replied. They were wholly focused on ensuring that the asteroids that the Statesman’s collided with struck only the less vulnerable areas of the ship’s body.

They had spent four hours trying to work out the best flight path, but in the end, it had been a matter of choosing the least-worst option. The asteroid belt was too dense and too new. Over time gravity pulled smaller asteroids towards the larger ones, making navigation easier, but the process was barely underway here. And the Statesman was no Millennium Falcon either. It was too large and clumsy for manoeuvres now required of it.

Brunnhilde made a sharp dive to prevent an asteroid the size of a semi-truck flying into the ship’s windows. Bruce pitched forward and lost his grip, sliding across the floor until he smacked into the back of Thor’s chair.

Gritting his teeth at the throbs of pain emanating from his ribs, Bruce lifted himself up, just in time for the ship to veer to the right. Once more he slid across the floor. He swore, but this time he was able to catch the edge of the control panel. He found the flimsy handholds moulded on the base of the control panel and pulled himself to his feet.

On the other side of the room, Loki had given up on staying upright and had crouched down to the floor. The ship, clearly not designed for this sort of insanity, had seat-belts only on the two pilots’ seats, which was why Loki and Bruce now clung to the control panel handholds.

‘At least we have something to hold on to,’ Bruce muttered under his breath, fearing to imagine what it was like for the rest of the ship.

Bruce’s stomach lurched as the Statesman flipped upside-down, then righted itself no more than two seconds later. But Bruce no longer paid attention to the ocean of death Brunnhilde was attempting to navigate. Amid the nausea, the throbbing of his ribs and the sheer terror of their situation, something else stirred.

‘The sun’s going down. The sun’s getting real low…’ Bruce chocked out a laugh. ‘Yeah, the sun is fucking going down and not in a good way.’

The ship made a ninety-degree swoop, then the engines began to power down.

That's it. They’ve overheated again.

The sun is —

A muddle of white and brown suddenly dominated the view out the Statesman’s windows. The ship jerked up and down half a dozen times, then skidded to a stop.

Something beeped in the distance — the only sound to be heard.

Bruce sucked in several deep breaths until his heart began to thump at a more casual pace. He palpated his ribs. To his relief, none felt broken, merely bruised.

‘I take it, we’ve arrived?’ he asked.

Loki massaged his hands and cracked his knuckles. ‘Yes, we are still alive. Nice work, Valkyrie, a real smooth ride.’

‘Let’s get to work,’ Thor said, unclipping his seatbelt. ‘Everyone should know what they are doing.’

The trouble was, Bruce had nothing to do here.

He had been excited to set foot on an asteroid. How many people on Earth had ever set foot on an asteroid? For a man with as many PhDs as Bruce had earned, he could be profoundly stupid. The asteroid was little more than seventy miles across at its widest point — a misshapen hunk of ice and rock without any trace of an atmosphere. Hulk might have been capable of surviving such conditions, but Bruce Banner was certainly not.

This was why, dejected, he watched the mining team from the bridge. The asteroid was eighty percent frozen water, so they didn’t have to venture far.

They lacked the proper equipment for the task — fireworks and, rather alarmingly, cattle prods were the only things the Statesman had a surplus of. Instead, Loki used his magic to melt straight lines through the ice until he had cut out a large piece. Then the others, under the supervision of Brunnhilde and one of the few surviving Asgardian soldiers, moved the ice over to the ship.

‘Bruce, could you meet me down by the water tanks?’ Thor’s voice boomed through the ship’s comms unit about half an hour into their makeshift mining operation. ‘I might need your help.’

By the time Bruce made his way down there, there were two ten-feet tall blocks of dirty ice blocking the passage to the tank room. Careful not to slip on the puddles spreading across the floor, Bruce squeezed past the ice and into the room itself.

‘Thor?’ he said.

No reply came; Thor was pre-occupied. He held a small hatchet in his hand and was hacking rhythmically at another massive block of ice. Once he had the block in scattered pieces on the metal floor, he pushed the ice into the small opening of the nearest water tank.

‘Why are you down here?’ Bruce tried again. ‘I thought you’d be with Korg, making sure there’s no structural damage.’

Thor spun the hatchet. ‘Korg’s got it. I felt like a spot of ice carving.’

‘I don’t think a hatchet is the best implement for that sort of thing.’

‘But it is the most satisfying,’ Thor replied, then pointed at Bruce. ‘The reason I could use you down here… There are monitors along the wall. Can you see the one for this water tank and verify we are not inadvertently poisoning ourselves. It is possible the ice is contaminated with something, is it not? This should be an auxiliary water tank, I don’t want to mix this water in with the rest of our supply unless it’s safe.’

‘Sure, I suppose contamination is possible.’ Bruce examined the beeping and flashing screens that ran along the entire side wall of the room. ‘You know, you’re not quite like I remember you. More cautious, I think.’

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‘Loki has taught me the value of caution. Doubly so when he makes a suggestion.’

Bruce took a step back, still attempting to make sense of the monitors. ‘Do you think he’s hatching something?’

‘With my brother, I think it is best not to have any expectation that he will look out for anyone other than himself. No expectation, thus no disappointment.’

‘That’s harsh. He is your brother.’

Thor moved another block of ice into the room and began to break it down. They had been unable to find a way to lift up the top off the tank without causing damage, so Thor had to feed the ice through a hole barely a foot wide. But Bruce wondered if Thor was not enjoying the act of hacking it up, he seemed engrossed in the task.

When this block too had become chunks easy even for Bruce to lift, Thor spoke again, ‘I do not deny my affection for him, but as King of Asgard I must also recognise the potential danger of his presence.’ He glanced at the entrance, then turned to Bruce. ‘And I want the ex-gladiators off this ship as soon as possible. They stand apart from the Asgardians and they know how to wield a weapon. It’s too easy a target for Loki. Already they have staged a revolt once, with a few whispered words from the right person they could do it again.’

‘You know him best, of course.’ Bruce paused while he reached for the right words. ‘Just don’t go overboard with it. Caution is good, paranoia is not.’

Thor raised the eyebrow over his missing eye. ‘Loki faked his death and impersonated my father.’

‘As I said, you know him best. As to the water, I can’t make heads or tails of this script. Can you read it?’

Thor studied the monitors, then sighed. ‘System alerts all over. It can’t make a reading when the water is frozen.’

‘Technology. There’s always something.’

Thor squatted down by the water tank opening and thrust his hand inside. He breathed in deeply. Tendrils of white light sparked into existence, snaked across his arm and down into the water tank. At first, it was a rattle as chunks of ice banged against the tank’s steel sides. Soon it became an angry churn and the entire top of the water tank throbbed.

The sensors let out an angry series of beeps and Thor pulled his arm back, thin bands of lightning still flowing over his skin.

Bruce’s eyes fluttered over the now violent flashing of the monitors. ‘What was that for?’

‘I wanted to speed up the melting process. The sensors are displeased, but they can make the readings now. I’ll read them out to you,’ Thor answered.

‘Go on then. I just hope you didn’t muck up the calibration on the equipment.’

Thor went through each display and to their relief, Bruce found nothing alarming about the results. They released the water into the primary tank, then started breaking down the blocks that were building up in the walkway outside. Evidently, Brunnhilde pressed the mining team to work hard.

‘Thor,’ Bruce said. He had been meaning to speak to Thor in private and this seemed as good an opportunity as he was going to have before it became too late. ‘I wanted to talk to you about Earth.’

‘Are you concerned about bringing Loki back to your planet?’

‘No. Well, possibly. I’m more concerned about how your people will be received.’

Thor set down his hatchet. ‘I’m not sure I understand your meaning.’

‘You need to consider how your arrival will look to the governments of Earth. Another ship full of aliens appearing without a warning will send off all sorts of alarms,’ Bruce said.

‘Another ship of aliens? Are you referring to the Chitauri? We are not coming to Midgard to invade, we seek only shelter.’

Bruce reached for a way he could explain without offending Thor or Asgard. Having helped stop the Chitauri invasion, Thor became a popular figure on Earth and in turn, Thor had become fond of Earth. But for all the time he had spent on the planet, Thor had learned little of the darker side of humanity.

‘Thor, people on Earth are afraid of the unfamiliar. Although Asgardians might look like people on Earth, you are different.’

‘Despite what your ancient tales say, we are not so different. We are not gods. We are born, we live and die.’

Bruce scoffed. ‘You live for five thousand years. Five thousand years! Do you know what was happening on Earth five thousand years ago? The Bronze Age. And you can fall from the top floor of Stark’s tower and survive. You can even command lightning. Sure, you’re exactly like the average human.’

‘My strength exceeds that of other Asgardians.’

One of the former gladiators appeared at the doorway. ‘One more block ready to go.’

Thor motioned for the block to be shifted inside and picked up the hatchet. Bruce wondered suddenly if one strike of Mjolnir could have melted the entire block. Although Thor worked quickly with the hatchet, in his hands, it looked like a child’s toy.

‘How can any of the politicians on Earth be sure of that? Besides, they don’t need to be as powerful as you. Parts of Manhattan are probably still being rebuilt after the destruction Loki and the Chitauri caused.’

‘Then I will invite representatives from your planet onto the ship and let them see where we stand. That is if we are not too weak to stand by the time we reach Midgard,’ Thor replied. Although his words were steady and calm, he swung the hatchet with far more force than he needed.

‘You have to be prepared to be refused. It could be decided that three thousand individuals potentially possessing abilities similar to yours are too dangerous. It would not be the first time humans have turned away starving refugees at their door.’

Thor turned to look directly at Bruce. ‘And if I am not prepared? Sometimes a situation leaves one with few choices.’

Bruce’s breath caught in his throat. This, right here, was exactly what the governments of Earth would be terrified of when Thor reached the planet. Humans knew the capabilities of their own kind. They understood the balance of power in their world. The presence of beings like Thor, to an extent even Bruce himself, changed everything. It swept away all that they thought was certain and made clear that on the grand scale of the universe, humans were among the lowest of the low.

‘The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must, is that right?’ he said. ‘Realpolitik is something I’d expect from Loki, not you.’

‘Do you count us the strong ones in this scenario?’

Bruce bit his lip. ‘Not at the present, but you have the capability to be. Think of it this way. You find a tiger cub by your door. Do you take it in, feed it and raise it, knowing that one day when the cub is grown it might turn around and kill your entire family? Or do you suffocate it now, when it’s weak and ensure your family’s safety in the long term?’

‘So what you are actually saying — the strong will do what they must to preserve their power,’ Thor concluded and kicked a nearby chunk of ice into the opening of the water tank.

‘No, look —’

‘I thought the Midgardians more honourable than that. Very well, if not Midgard, what would you have us do?’

‘Well, I don’t know, what alternatives are there?’

Thor kicked more ice into the tank. ‘Unless we want to trade with slavers, none.’

‘Look, you are remembered fondly as one of the Avengers and Earth does owe you a debt. Asking for your people to be resettled on Earth is probably too much for Earth to stomach, but if you make a plea for supplies so you can continue your journey elsewhere, I think you’ll be supplied with as much as you need.’

‘Earth would make Asgardians a problem for someone else to solve. I see.’

‘Is there anywhere else you can resettle if you can reach it?’ Bruce said cautiously. The longer they spoke, the colder Thor’s tone became and he was all too aware that should Thor lose his temper, there was a risk Bruce too would lose control of himself.

‘There is Vanaheim. It’s sparsely populated and a similar climate to Asgard. It’s also four months travel from Midgard.’

‘If you’re properly provisioned, it wouldn’t be so bad, would it?’ Bruce said. ‘Maybe you can even send someone ahead and negotiate an agreement for your resettlement there.’

With an absent-minded nod, Thor moved one more block of ice from the corridor into the room.

‘Maybe,’ he said and brought up the hatchet to check its edge. ‘Maybe we won’t reach Midgard anyway. We still have to fly out of this accursed asteroid belt.’