Living in the marvel dimension had taught Naomi many lessons. The power of comedic timing, how easily planet-ending catastrophes could be prevented, just to name a few. However one lesson she had not expected to learn, was that high-speed chase scenes, especially in the air, was not nearly as cool as the movies portrayed.

For starters, she could barely hear anything over the engines that were constantly being strained to go faster, her hair was caught in her mouth every five seconds, and she hardly even knew if she was actually screaming the obscenities that were running through her head. But despite all that, Naomi had faith in the Marvel world, and she knew damn well that some random scrappers, who wouldn't even get mentioned in the credits, could not be allowed to defeat her band of heroes. The universe simply wouldn't allow it.

That knowledge didn't keep her from panicking, however.

"The jet is too damaged!" Thor cried, rising from his captains chair with perfect balance, even though the ship was dipping through the city at over a hundred an hour. "It'll never shake them!" However before Thor could get to the back, presumably to bash the trailing scrappers with Mjolnir, he was forcibly pulled back into his seat.

"I need a second pilot!" Naomi couldn't see Valkyrie's expression, but the woman's voice was fierce, and unyielding. For the first time, the ship was hit with a blast from behind, its entire body tumbling through the air with the force of the blow. If not for Loki, Naomi was sure the blast would have floored her. Thor fell back into the chair, and quickly regained his grip on the steering before the jet suffered any more damage.

"Loki can fly it!" Naomi screamed, both hands gripped onto the man's arm, still slung across her body. She hadn't been sure that anyone had heard her until she turned her face to see Loki staring at her in shock. The man seemed more surprised by her than the Quinjet being attacked. However Naomi, who saw no time to waste, tugged on his arm to force him out of his chair. The God tried to protest, seeming intent on keeping her from knocking into the walls everything the ship swung around a corner, but she was having none of it. "I'm fine!" She yelled. Naomi was certainly not fine. "Go!"

"Come brother!" Thor's voice carried over from the front, urgent. Still, Loki hesitated. With strained eyes, he sunk to his knees, and gripped Naomi's forearms, still holding her in place as the jet careened forward. His hands were cold, but she took comfort in them. Naomi watched as the man seemed to be at a loss for words, not for the first time since they had met, but she knew that now was different. For a blissful moment, she felt her panic dissipate, fading away into the background, along with the roaring of the engines and the gunfire. Leaning into him, Naomi gripped his shoulders, locking them into a tense embrace. She stared into his eyes, and he stared back, neither speaking, or even breathing. For the first time, she noticed that his emerald irises were adorned with flecks of blue and gold. That detail had escaped her on the movie screen, but was now clear as day, and Naomi wondered how she had ever missed the colors in his eyes. But her view of them was spoilt when his gaze flickered, traveling further down her face, and reaching her lips.

The moment was over too soon, and they each pulled away with heated breath and wide eyes. The noise of the jet came crashing back down onto Naomi, and Loki took control of the captain's chair, allowing Thor to stalk toward the back of the aircraft, his hammer steady in hand. Her panic once again setting in, Naomi looked across the way to see Bruce still clinging to his chair, gazing at her as though he had just had an epiphany. However if he intended to share it with her, he was unable to as Thor's booming voice cut through the noise.

"You might want to hold on."

As if they weren't already trying.

Without further warning, the man slammed a fist against one of the various buttons on the wall. Of course Thor felt it was a good idea to willingly open the back of the plane, and potentially expose the entire crew to gunfire. The Jet now open, its intense speed caused the winds bending around it to attempt to suck any loose items in the ship out into the open air. Thankfully, all their cargo had been strapped down, expect for two loose items, who had been having a hard enough time staying seated beforehand. Naomi cursed herself for not checking if the crew's seats had seat belts. Of course they wouldn't.

Even as her hair whipped in her face with twice the intensity that it had before, Naomi could see how effective Thor was in defeating their attackers. The man simply used Mjolnir to fly between ships, before punching through the glass, and throwing out anyone he could grab hold of. It was a fairly effective system, however they had amassed a large enough following that when one ship went down, or was temporarily detained while they found a new captain, it was replaced. Naomi wasn't even sure how they had been identified as the ship that had stolen away the Hulk, but whatever gave them away, the rest of the planet seemed to be intent on shooting them down.

"Get to the wall!" Bruce cried, drawing Naomi's attention away from the open dock. His body language was strained as the man gripped onto the walls of the jet, trying to find a stable position during the chaos of the air chase. Closing the dock wasn't an option, since Thor had yet to return, and the front of the ship was hardly faring better than Naomi and Bruce were. The only things preventing Loki and Valkyrie from gripping the jet's interior for dear life was their pilot chairs, which held strong against the winds. Following his instructions, Naomi shakily lifted herself from the seat, maintaining a grip on the back of the chair as she began to maneuver herself behind it. Her chair was a few feet from the wall, where she could follow Bruce's example and grip onto the various straps dangling from the interior. Forcing herself to take deep breaths, Naomi pushed herself away from the chair, backing toward the wall. Looking behind her, she could see a small, black bag hanging from the wall. Her Stark-pack, given to her by Tony in an effort to help keep her alive. The sight of it rejuvenated her, and the memory of her promise to Tony to come back in one piece pushed her to release a hand from the chair, leaving her in a dangerous off-balance. For a few seconds, she faltered, her hand reaching widely for the pack, which she could use to pull herself to the wall.

At that moment, the jet took a hard left and she lost her grip, sending her side crashing into the wall. No doubt there would be bruises in the morning, if she still managed to stay in the damn jet. Against the wall, Naomi was able to clutch the bag, and the hook it was hung off of, securing her position as best she could. Relatively safe, she took a moment to glance over at Bruce, who seemed relieved that she had not fallen. They shared tentative smiles, and took the moment to calm down. In the back of her mind, Naomi wondered at the fact that the sheer stress hadn't cause him to Hulk out. But the chase was not over yet.

Out of the back, Naomi could see that the jet had crossed from the city of over the ocean, meaning the Devil's Anus would be fast approaching. Away from giant towers, the jet would likely stay on a steady, straight path, relying on sheer speed to outlast the scrappers. Naomi craned her neck, but she could not make out Thor among the gathered ships, and her only indication of him was random objects randomly ripped from their flight, and plummeting to the ocean. The man was flying through the cluster, taking down polite and entire ships alike. However because he was so far into the battle, the god could not maintain watch over the front, and did not notice a scrapper ship break from the cluster, and approach the jet. The ship was small, likely only staffed by two or three pilots, but it was faster than the rest, and steadily creeped closer to the Jet's entrance, which was still yawning open.

"Loki!" Naomi screamed. "Hot on our tail!" From the front, she heard a frustrated grunt, followed by a reply.

"We're going as fast as we can!" Loki replied, his tone bitter and strained. Naomi made eye contact with Bruce, whose expression was confused, and frightened. His eyes were wide, and they made Naomi pause, because she had never seen the scientist look that way, in real life or on screen. She could see his chest rise and fall from her peripheral, but their gazes did not break as he mouthed to her,

Hulk's not coming.

Naomi hardly had time to process the sentence, before a harsh metal clang interrupted her thoughts. Both her and Bruce's head whipped toward the sound, and their hearts stilled at the sight. The scrapper ship had finally reached them, and to their horror, they were boarding the jet.

The ship raced in synch with them, only a few feet behind. The front of their ship was opened, and from it a long, metal board had been extracted, connecting their two vessels. Inside the ship, a scrapper stepped onto the board, perfectly balanced. They were clearly confident in their victory, as the figure strode across the board with precision and confidence, despite the two vehicles moving approximately a hundred an hour. The scrapper was concealed beneath layers of mismatched cloth, and a large black hood obscuring their facial features. In its hands, a gun was held.

"Loki!" Naomi screamed, unsure of what she was asking of him. Time appeared to slow in her eyes, as the woman continued to grip the pack on the wall, and watch helplessly as the scrapper finally stepped onto the Quinjet. In the back of her mind, she was aware that Loki was screaming back, telling her something she couldn't hear. Everything slowed because the scrapper, with steady hands, lifted the gun, its ascent pointing in the direction of Bruce Banner.

Naomi's heart stopped, and her lungs ceased to take in air. Dully, her hands fumbled with her pack, pulling at the zipper as her eyes fixed on Bruce. The man stared directly at the scrapper, eyes wide. His mouth moved shakily, though his words were lost on Naomi's ears as all she could hear was a dull roar. Bruce was desperately slapping himself, his hands going in slow motion to Naomi as he attempted to wake the beast. But the Hulk did not come.

And the gun finished its ascent, the barrel level with Banner's head.