It wasn't looking good. She was throwing us around like we were dolls she grew bored with. I landed hard on my side for the third time as Thor got back up and charged her again. Keeping Hela distracted was not as much fun for us as it was for her.

A giant black spike came out of the water and through the bottom of the ship, effectively stopping it from getting to safety. I groaned when I saw undead soldiers climbing it to get inside.

"You've got to be kidding," I mumbled. As I tried to stand to hurry over, Val was thrown on top of me and I went back down hard.

We groaned and struggled to stand back up. "This is the worst," Val mumbled at me and I gave a short laugh in agreement.

I looked back over at the ship and saw the undead flying off and then someone jumping after, shooting them crazily with a couple of guns- Earth guns. I didn't think about it too long and refocused on Hela.

That was, until he yelled her name. It was a bold move and I wished it had ended differently than him getting impaled by a thrown knife.

Val was crawling towards her sword as Hela came closer. Even I was afraid of what she might do. Sitting up on my metal elbow, I tried to conjure up some energy to throw her way, but she threw a knife that went right through my flesh arm.

I let out a cry of pain and went right back down to the ground. 'Jesus Christ this hurts' was all I could think. Looking over at the knife, I saw blood seeping out of the hole in my arm and wished I was on Earth where hospitals existed. Or even on the ship where I could get something wrapped around it.

There was some kind of conversation happening, but I couldn't focus on it. The ship was flying farther and farther away, but I couldn't focus on that either. My sheer exhaustion combined with the blood loss was really throwing my brain off.

Everything quickly shifted, however. There was a loud rumbling and then a bright orange glow that spread across. I could make out Val hurtling over something and stabbing Hela in the back. Thor then created a giant bolt of lightning that caused the Bifrost under Hela to crumble and give out. She fell through and I almost went with her.

Luckily, I was smart enough to dig my metal hand into Bifrost and hold on as some Bifrost gave out under me. I felt a leg dangle but that was it and figured I wasn't in any immediate danger.

"Rey!" I heard someone call out. My head rolled in that direction and I saw Thor hurrying towards me. I removed my hand from where I was desperately holding on as Thor bent down to help me stand up.

I cradled my arm to my chest and expected Thor to let go, but he didn't. Instead, he wrapped his arm around me just a little tighter. "What's going on?" I questioned having missed the last few minutes in my painful haze.

My question was answered when Hulk picked Thor up from behind in one arm and leapt. The air was sucked out of my lungs and I couldn't breathe for a second. We landed in the opening of the getaway ship where Hulk released Thor and I. Val was in his other arm, I figured, when she came over to me.

"You alright?" she asked. I was going to nod but I realized I was still heavily leaning on Thor, who hadn't let go of me yet because of that.

Instead, I was honest. "No, not really. I'm in need of a really good nap and some medical attention," I answered and held my arm up at the last part.

Val gave a small chuckle, as did Thor. "We can get you all of that," he said back. I could tell he was being honest, but his feet didn't move forward. Instead, we turned around to face out a window where we all watched Asgard get destroyed.

The giant fire man, Surtur I assumed, was using a very large sword to repeatedly stab the ground beneath him. Korg started to give an inspiring speech about how they could rebuild and it was very touching. That is, until the entire thing exploded into millions of rocks. Surtur and Asgard were gone.

Everyone sat in silence, watching the beautiful yet painful explosion tea through space. I was almost hypnotized by it. Thor startled me when he suddenly spoke up. "What have I done?" he whispered to the air around him.

"You saved us from extinction," Heimdall answered. "Asgard is not a place. It's a people."

After a few more minutes of silence, people were starting to break off and find a place to rest after this trying day. I reminded Thor of my injury when it started to throb a bit more painfully. He helped me to a private room and I started to wrap my arm in some random cloth. Of course, after I removed the knife from it.

"What should we do with this?" I asked him, doing a quick twirl of the knife between my fingers before looking up at him.

He shook his head. "I had no need to be reminded of her. You may keep it, if you'd like. As a prize. We won, didn't we?" After that, he stepped out with some word about needing to have a moment alone.

After he left, I sighed and fell back on the bed I had been sitting on. There were no windows in this room. I was left with four walls and a ceiling to entertain me. I started to wish I could talk to Bruce. I needed to tell him about what had happened after he disappeared.

A sudden knock brought me back from my trance and made me sit up. "Can I come in?"

I turned my head to see the man himself standing there. "Bruce, how are you feeling?" I asked quickly and moved off the bed in case he needed to lay down. He shook his head at my motion and gestured for me to sit back down. I did, putting myself at the head so I could lean against the headboard.

Bruce sat on the edge and twisted so he faced me, putting a leg up and letting the other dangle off the side. "I've been better. But, I've also been worse. Much worse," he finally replied. I lightly smiled at the joke. "How's the arm?"

I shrugged. "Hurts like a bitch and won't stop bleeding, but I think I'll be okay," I answered. "They don't have any kind of stitches and I told Thor not to look for a healer who might be extremely busy, so for now it's just tightly wrapped." Bruce nodded along to my words.

Then, we sat in silence. It was one where we couldn't figure out if either of us should speak, and if so what about? I decided now was the time to tell him about what to expect on Earth.

"So, you know how you were gone for a couple years?" I asked, breaking the quiet and causing Bruce to look up at me and away from his fidgeting hands.

"Kinda hard to forget, you know?" he replied and we both laughed. "Where you going with this?" He frowned.

I sighed and knew there was no easy way to say anything. "Well... I figured I should tell you about what happened on Earth while you were away. It's... it's not very pretty," I said.

Bruce's frown depended and I hesitated to start the story. However, he had to know- especially now that I introduced the topic.

For what felt like hours, I told him everything. About the fight, the imprisonment, the space, being on the run, finding refuge with Tony, the kid, moving to the new facility, finding my true heritage, and the hardest part of all.

"Why would you want to get rid of such amazing powers?" he asked me, shocked by the revelation. "Before we even have a chance to truly understand them?"

I sighed and let my head thump against the wall behind me. "Because they make me dangerous. With these powers, as you call them, I'm labeled as a threat by every type of governing body in the world. Plus, they tie me to Hydra and those are ties I'd like severed."

He nodded. "I understand all that. I do almost as much as you do about the whole threat thing," Bruce admitted and I knew he wasn't just saying that to say it. With him, it was real. "But... I don't know, I feel like getting rid of your powers isn't the right solution."

I stared at him, confused, and let him go on. "Getting rid of them- even if you can- won't sever every connection you had with Hydra. You have scars, memories, and a missing arm because of them. What you can do is change the meaning.

"You're using these powers for good, Rey. That's so much better than what Hydra made you do. You're- you're changing from who they made you to be into who you want to be. A hero." Bruce paused and I let the words sink in. 'A hero' is what he called me. Hero.

"But the world will never see me as one," I whispered.

"Screw them!" Bruce said suddenly, taking me by surprise. "Only you get to decide who you are. I can't tell you, the bastards of the world can't tell you- it's all up to you, Reyna-Rose Silva. Or Thompson, I guess."

I smiled at my real last name. "I like that, Thompson. I'm hoping that I can possibly find my last living relative when we get back home. I don't know if she'd want to see me or if she's even alive. But I never saw a confirmed death date so I'm going to find out."

Bruce smiled and took one of my hands in one of his. "I'll be there if you need help, okay?"

"Okay," I answered while smiling. "Now go to your room, we both need to sleep after all that."

He laughed and got up, leaving me alone once more. This time, I wasn't as against it. Thinking about getting back to the Upstate Facility- Earth was great. After some serious apologizing to Tony he might even be able to help me out.

Until the next threat, I would try and find my family.