Unfortunately, $result doesn't work here because it works instantly. If I have
noop $xml.document(http://api.imgur.com/2/image/D2ht4,imgurLoaded) | echo -a $result RESULTPRINT
I just get RESULTPRINT because the alias hasn't returned a result yet because $com is still thinking - it's going online and accessing an XML file, after all. (I think, please correct if I'm wrong.)
The only way I think I can get past this is to set the result to a global variable and make a while loop that checks to see if that variable is set, if not, wait .1 seconds and check again... but obviously this is really really ugly and I want to avoid doing that

Thanks for the suggestion though!