Loki and Thor had bolted to the warehouse to find Brunnhilde while Bruce and Korg stayed behind. Korg would remove the body while Bruce calmed the people.

When they finally found Brunnhilde, she was in deep conversation with Heimdall.

"Loki. Thor. Thank the Norns you're back!"

Loki raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"What is it?"

The distress on the Valkyrie's face was evident, and she was wringing her hands fast enough to create friction.

"Heimdall ran a head count of the people. We have to get off of this planet right now. Someone obviously doesn't want us here."

Thor was still confused.

"I don't understand...."

She sighed.

"When we first arrived on Midgard, there were 357 Asgardians."

Loki waved his hand, urging her to continue.

"Now there's only 200."
***
Dr. Reese walked briskly down the hall, heels clicking along the newly shined hardwood floor. Her immaculately tailored pantsuit was freshly pressed, and her dark hair was tied up in a tight bun. Her intelligent brown eyes complimented her caramel colored complexion.

She never broke her stride as the glass doors in front of her slid open to reveal her Technology and Communications room.

"General Harring. Prepare your troops for the infiltration on our target's base of operations. It is time."

The General nodded curtly and left the room to prepare.

As long as everything went precisely the way she wanted it to, Dr. Reese would not fail to bring her targets into custody effective immediately upon arrival at the infiltration point.

And Pamela Reese never fails.
***
The brothers spent the better part of a day searching through Manhattan, finding bodies of unlucky Asgardians littering alleyways and hanging from trees and lampposts. It was horrifying.

They only located 20 of their missing people, but they had no idea that if they hadn't come back to the warehouse when they did, they would have lost a whole lot more.

They arrived back at their temporary base after a hard day of searching when Thor decided to host a party.

"It will lift their spirits. They've already lost so much. It's the least we can do, Loki."

So that afternoon, Loki spent his free time decorating the main room with colorful banners and bright orbs of light that floated in the air above his head.

Bruce was in charge of finding the best musicians in Asgard to assemble a temporary band.

Brunnhilde and Heimdall assembled extra reinforcements in case Loki's illusion and soundproofing spells didn't hold.

Surprisingly, Korg was in charge of the food, and he didn't do that bad of a job in supplying Asgard with the best that New York had to offer.

Thor did his best to get the people looking forward to the party while also running preparations.

Hours later, the party was full swing with Asgardians dancing to the fast paced music under multicolored orbs of light and sampling Midgardian delicacies.

Loki wandered through the mass of bodies swarming on the temporary dance floor. He had eyes for one woman only tonight. Her eyes met his from across the room, and she smirked, turning away with her drink, her hair flying across her shoulders.

He made his way across the room, avoiding accidentally bumping into anyone in the rambunctious crowd.

"My lady, May I have this dance?"

She flashed him a grin and tossed her empty glass to the side, her eyes locked on his.

"Well, you're going to have to catch me first, Prince."

She took off through the crowd, meandering between the heated mass of Asgardians and dodging run-ins with  the more enthusiastic dancers. He fought to catch up with her, forest green cape getting trampled several times by boots and high heels thundering on the floor, sending him flying backwards. When he finally did grab her by the arm, she yanked on his golden horns and pulled him into a fiery kiss filled with more love and passion than he'd ever experienced in any of his past relationships.

"Looks like you caught me." She breathed, pulling on his leather armor and tugging him closer to her until their bodies were almost touching.

"How in the nine realms did I find a warrior as beautiful as you?" He whispered, staring into her lust filled eyes.

"Just shut up and kiss me, jotun."

So he did. Right there in the middle of the dance floor. She pulled him as close as he could as their kiss filled with regret for the lives they lost and hope for their uncertain futures.

Nothing in the world mattered more to him than her in that moment. She couldn't see how deeply he was in love with her, but she could feel it.

"Why don't we go somewhere more private. I'm sure no one will mind."

He smirked and let her drag him off, but they'd no more made it to the edge of the dance floor when the window in the back of the room shattered and a deafening explosion burst through their ears.

"Everyone get down!" Thor and Loki screamed in unison from separate sides of the room.

Left and right, Asgardians were dropping to the ground and huddling together as armed and masked troops flooded into the warehouse. Brunnhilde drew her sword as Loki brandished his daggers. Thor lit up like a Christmas tree as lightning pulsated through his veins and sparked in his fingertips. Bruce let the green monster consume him, roaring with the might of twenty lions.

The four Revengers plunged into battle with the soldiers as Korg and Heimdall rushed to get the Asgardians to safety.

No one saw the tranq dart hit the Hulk, nor did they see Brunnhilde fall to the ground, unconscious from a blow to the head.

Soon, it was just Thor and Loki left, surrounded by soldiers.

"Hands in the air, Asgardians."

Dr. Pamela Reese stepped over the bodies of fallen Asgardians and soldiers alike with a casual grace, striding towards the two brothers with a practiced business-like elegance.

Loki elbowed Thor in the ribs, indicating that the fight was over, and they both raised their hands.

"Pamela Reese. We meet again." Loki said with a sigh.

She smirked.

"I must say, I've been looking for you for quite a while, Mr. Laufeyson. A shame we had to drag your brother into this, but I've decided that he could prove to be a valuable asset as well."

Thor's eyebrows pressed together in a worried line.

"Loki. What's going on?"

Loki sent him a glare.

"Shut up and let me handle this."

Pamela eyed the blonde king with curiosity.

"He's quite clueless, Laufeyson. I'm surprised. I thought more of you. Did you really form an alliance with this lumbering blonde oaf?"

Loki scowled at her.

"This is between you and me, Reese. Let my brother go and we can settle this alone."

She let out a laugh, infuriating him more.

"Oh, it's far too late for this to be settled that easily. You're coming with me, and your brother will not earn his freedom so easily either. Let's go."

The soldiers moved forward and cuffed the two Asgardians. Thor struggled against his bonds before Loki whispered something to him with a hiss.

"Struggling will only make this worse. Pamela values patience and calm above most things, so we must strive to meet her standards if we want to get back to our people."

Thor nodded and allowed himself to be led off towards the awaiting armored vehicle, not knowing nearly as much as Loki about what the future held in store for them.