Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – Return to sender.
The next time Thor arrived on earth; it was not by Bifrost. Instead, Tony and Loki were alerted by JOCASTA that an alien vessel had approached the space station. For an instant Tony was frozen in shock, certain that things had gone wrong and Thanos was suddenly on their doorsteps without anyone the wiser. Then, as he saw that Loki was not freaking out, he calmed down and managed to interview his AI.
JOCASTA had done a good job welcoming and warning the vessel that they were approaching a protected area, but she could not decide more than that. Tony was tense, gripping his Gods hand tightly as they waited to be connected to the visitors through the AI.
The voice of Thor when it came through the speakers was very welcome. Tony exhaled in relief. That Thor had arrived in a ship with new allies was not a good sign, but Tony was just immeasurably glad that earth’s first official visitors were not hostile.
Tony immediately arranged for them to land in the US, once again glad for his connections to the government and for the fact that he had a private space program so that the ship could land safely and be refueled or repaired if necessary.
Loki was visibly curious to know what had motivated Thor to abandon his throne in Asgard, but he was not yet willing to show himself to his estranged brother, also because he would surely not be able to keep it a secret from the Avengers without magical help. Loki teleported Tony to the air base but disappeared back to the tower immediately again.
Tony notified SHIELD and the rest of the Avengers of Thor’s imminent arrival and a meeting was set at the Tower. Tony was just as curious as Loki, but he was also thrilled to meet some friendly aliens and to get a good look at another type of space craft. He had given Thor the coordinates and it did not take long for a ship to become visible in the sky, rapidly descending downwards.
It was a good-sized ship, similar in shape to earth planes with a pointy snout and two wings. It was painted in a bright blue and orange and a loopy writing proclaimed it to be called Milano. It landed with a small thud and Tony studied the propulsion system critically as he waited at a safe distance for the ramp to lower.
The group of people that came out, was an eclectic mix of species. There was a green woman, one with feelers protruding from her forehead, a large grey skinned man, a racoon, a tree, and a man that looked human. And then there was Thor. Had Tony not spoken to him and known he was there; he would maybe not have recognized him.
Thor’s blond hair was cropped short in a messy way, he wore an eyepatch and he looked as if he had been through the wringer a few times. He moved in a careful way that spoke of injuries and Mjolnir was nowhere to be seen. The fact that Tony was intimately aware how much Asgardians could withstand, made the poor state Thor was in even more shocking.
Thor quickly approached him and drew him in a manly side-hug with a relieved sigh. They had never been the type to hug before, but Tony let himself be embraced and patted the God on the back soothingly. “Friend Tony, you would not believe how glad I am to have returned to Midgard. A lot has happened, and I have much to tell you and our Shield-brothers. But first I must introduce you to my new friends who were so nice as to deliver me here,” said Thor, grasping Tony’s arm and drawing him closer to the waiting group.
“This is the Lady Gamora, Lady Mantis, Drax, Rocket, Groot and Peter Quill,” introduced Thor, pointing at his new friends in order, “they call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Tony, “I am Tony Stark. Thank you for bringing Thor here. Do you need repairs or to refuel your ship?”
“Does Earth have this type of space technology?”, questioned Peter Quill in obvious surprise. Turning to his crewmates he added, “when I left, we had only managed to travel to our moon, but no further.” Now it was Tony’s turn to be surprised.
“You are from Earth?”, he asked, and Peter Quill turned back to him with a hesitant smile. “Yeah, I was abducted by aliens in 1988,” he said, but did not explain more. Tony nodded slowly before remembering the initial question.
“Well, since ’88 a lot happened. We have several space programs now, but I and my own program is closest to actual space travel technology. I am sure that I can help you with anything you might need. You have met JOCASTA and seen my space station up there,” he explained, pointing to the sky to illustrate his point.
Thor clapped a hand on his shoulder proudly as if he had contributed in any way to Tony’s success. “Friend Tony is a genius engineer,” he added. Tony glanced at him, a little confused why Thor was trying so hard to butter him up.
“Are you really?”, interrupted the talking and walking racoon. “The engine could use a little tune up and we have some hull damage that has been patched in a hurry. You can only do so much while in flight,” he said, rattling of a list of parts that could be useful.
Tony was instantly aware that it was a bit of a test as many parts on the list had nothing to do with the engine or the hull. He responded in kind, offering specific parts, and questioning what Rocket intended to do. He was aware that the rest of the group watched them with growing incomprehension but the growing respect in the racoon’s eyes assured Tony that he was doing the right thing.
Rocket even dragged him around the ship and inside to point out things he wanted to fix, having obviously accepted that Tony had some knowledge that pertained to ships. Tony whistled through his teeth as he saw the large gash that had ripped the hull. “What happened here?”, he asked, not really expecting an honest reply.
“We ran into some trouble with Peter’s father,” he said, muttering “crazy celestial” under his breath.
“Huh?”, said Tony with a frown and Rocket flinched as if he had told a secret on accident. Tony had no idea what a celestial was, but the information that came tumbling out of Rocket’s mouth in an attempt to cover his perceived slip-up was way more interesting.
“Yeah, you should have seen the ship after we saved Xandar with that stone,” he laughed self-deprecatingly. “Of course, nothing is left of it anymore after the madman went after it,” he added sadly in a quiet voice.
Tony blanched, the information hitting too close to home. “Thanos is on the move then?”, he asked just as quietly and met Rocket’s surprised expression with one of stern seriousness. He glanced over his shoulder, but the rest of the group did not pay them any attention. Rocket observed his caginess with a raised brow.
“He is some eighteen months out. I am surprised that you know about him. We travelled this far out as to not get involved in the mess and then we found Thor,” he said.
“We’ve reason to believe that he’s coming here,” stated Tony with a grim expression, “But we’ve a plan. If it doesn’t remain secret, it won’t work, so please remain quiet. I wouldn’t say as much, weren’t you a friend of Thor’s. He may be many things, but he’s a good judge of character.”, added Tony with gravity.
Rocket mimed zipping his mouth and dug furiously in his pant pockets. He emerged with a tiny device. “Here,” he said as he threw it to Tony. “give us a call when the time comes. I cannot promise that we will be there, but I’ll see what we can do.”
“Thank you,” said Tony, pocketing the device, putting the information out of his mind for the moment. He needed to get Thor sorted out first. He told JARVIS all that the Guardians would need and arranged for everything to be brought to them quickly.
They rejoined the group. “You should be good to go in about two hours,” said Tony, “feel free to get some food in the base, but please don’t leave the premises. I had to promise the president that I would take full responsibility if I gave you permission to land.”
“Thanks for your help,” said Quill and shook his hand vigorously.
“You’re welcome, thanks for delivering Thor. Feel free to drop by sometime. JOCASTA will let me know when you are in orbit again,” replied Tony.
By the time everyone had said goodbye to Thor, the requested parts had arrived. Tony reminded JARVIS to keep an eye on the Guardians until they left and steered Thor towards the front of the building where a car was waiting for them. Tony tried to start a conversation, but Thor was unusually tight-lipped. “I would rather only tell the story once,” said the God when prodded and they stayed silent the rest of the way.
When they entered the Tower, Thor relaxed visibly. Tony was less relaxed about it, always afraid that Loki would be discovered but a glance at his phone reassured him that JARVIS and FRIDAY had everything under control. Loki was safe in the sanctum, equipped with a live feed of his brother, Wanda was in her room, the Guardians had left the planet and the Avengers were assembled in the communal living room.
The Avengers were just as shocked at Thor’s new appearance as Tony had been, they all crowded around him immediately and the God hugged all of them close before settling on the couch. He started talking in a somber tone, “My friends, much has happened, and I fear it is only the beginning of a larger storm coming to the galaxy. You will remember that I told you that my father had fallen into sleep and I had become King. He started weakening and several months ago he passed away in his sleep, never waking again.”
Thor took a deep breath before continuing, “What I had not known, is that with my father’s death an old enemy was released from her prison. She had been eradicated from Asgard’s history eons ago, but I came to know that her name was Hela and that she was my father’s firstborn child, said to bring about the start of Ragnarök. Imprisoned centuries ago, and betrayed of her birthright, Asgard was her first destination to take revenge on the realm and me for unwittingly taking her place.”
The God brushed a hand over his face, visibly pained at recounting his tale. Tony was uncommonly sympathetic. Odin had really won the shitty father contest, hiding his daughter, lying to his sons, keeping mum about Loki’s adoption. It was all a giant shit show and if Tony were not so closely involved, he would maybe have been able to laugh about the drama. As it was, he felt only anger at his God’s behalf.
“She arrived in Asgard with an army,” said Thor roughly, “we tried to fight her, but her warriors had been raised from the dead and felt no pain and did not tire. We did our best but even Mjolnir had no effect on her. The hammer had belonged to her previously and it crumbled to dust instead of turning on its erstwhile mistress. My people were dying, overwhelmed by the force of her attack.” Thor slumped into the cushions and Natascha sat beside him, laying a hand on his arm to offer some comfort.
Steve looked on stoically, obviously bracing for worse, while Bruce and Clint were more emphatic. Tony had a hard time forming his own opinion, all his thoughts were swirling around his God upstairs and he would have preferred to wrap him up in his arms instead of leaving him to hear these news on his own. He sent a quick prayer of love, apologizing for not being there. The instant reply of loving warmth placated him.
Thor picked up his story, “I tried stopping the war by asking Hela to fight me in a one-on-one duel. She agreed to it and I entered Asgard’s vault to equip myself with new weaponry as I discovered that many things had disappeared from it. Most importantly the tesseract, so Asgard must have been full of traitors, even in my own guard,” he paused and relaxed his hands which had balled into fists while he talked.
Tony winced internally as he knew perfectly well where the tesseract was and how long it had been here. It was unfortunate that Thor had discovered its absence under these circumstances and had come to those conclusions.
“I fought Hela and it was apparent quickly that I was outmatched. She was just as strong as I and just as adept as magic as Loki had been and steeping in her rage for a long time. We fought and I lost. She took my eye but refused to let me die honorably, instead forcing me to surrender my throne and exiling me. I had no other choice if I wanted my people to live,” said Thor, his sentences becoming shorter and more clipped.
After a few moments of silence, he looked up straight at Tony. “Friend Stark, considering I cannot return to Asgard I would like to make Midgard my home. Would you offer me asylum? I have nothing but the clothes on my back, but I will find a way to repay you,” he pleaded, and Tony appreciated how far Thor had come in all the years they had known each other. When Thor had come to Earth for the first time, this show of humility would never have crossed his mind. Loosing his parents, his brother, his relationship, and his kingdom had made Thor grow up more in a few years than in all the centuries he had lived before.
Tony smiled at him, charmed that Thor believed Tony to be able to grant him asylum. He was not wrong, but Tony usually tried to be more circumspect about the influence and power he had over the government. “Of course, you are welcome to stay. You can take any free room on the Avengers floor and I’ll arrange for you to get everything you need and see what I can do to get you Earth-citizenship. I’m sure Norway would be happy to have you if the US is not cooperative,” he thought for a moment, “and I am sure we can work something out with SHIELD that you get paid for Avenging. Until then just tell JARVIS what you need, and he will get it for you.”
“We will help you too, of course,” interjected Steve, “I know it can be difficult to understand modern society.” The others joined in with their own offers of help and support and Thor seemed extremely relieved. “Thank you, Shield-brothers, and -sister. It means a lot to me that you would welcome me into your home,” he said, glancing at Tony, perceptive enough to know that the bulk of the help would come from the billionaire.
After making sure that the God of Thunder was furnished with a room and had everything he needed for the moment, Tony worked to extract himself from the group. The Avengers were still talking about everything they had heard in hushed tones, anxiously glancing to see if it would upset Thor. The God did not protest it, but Tony could see that he was uncomfortable. He patted him on the shoulder in sympathy, then finally escaped the floor to see to Loki.
Loki was spread out on the bed, fully clothed on top of the blankets, and stared blindly into the canopy. He did not react when Tony entered and only turned his head towards him as Tony settled himself next to him, so close that they breathed the same air. “I’m sorry,” said Tony and kissed his God’s temple lightly.
“What for?”, asked Loki, in a strangely wistful but contemplative mood.
Tony leaned up on an elbow and cradled his God’s face in his other hand, “For all of it. That Odin died, that he was such a dick to you and your siblings. That Thor will now live a few floors below us. That Asgard has been lost to Ragnarök,” he enumerated.
Loki sighed, closing his eyes. “I am sorry as well. I am not surprised that Odin kept more secrets, but I am sorry that it cost me and Thor so much. I can not even be angry at him anymore, he has atoned for his mistakes and he did the only thing he could if he did not want the whole pantheon dying,” he said, all fight that used to color his voice when talking about Thor gone.
“I am not happy that he is here now, but you had to offer him a room. Everything else would have been very suspicious. I should have done something,” added Loki in a mumble. Tony leaned down to press gentle kisses against his God’s soft lips before moving down to snuggle properly, offering some comfort.
They lay in silence for a long while, only Loki’s hand stroking up and down Tony’s back in a meditative rhythm. Tony was close to dozing off when Loki spoke again. “Let’s go to Nepal. We still have a stone signal to investigate, and I could use some time away from Thor,” proposed Loki.
Tony suddenly sat upright with a gasp; all sleepiness gone, heart racing. He took Loki’s hands and met his God’s worried gaze head on, “Loki! Fuck, I forgot to tell you. One of the people that brought Thor here said that Thanos is eighteen months away and has the power stone.” He recounted exactly what Rocket had said and Loki came to the same conclusions as he had.
“We need to move our plan forward quicker,” said Loki with a worried frown. “A year and a half is a good amount of time and we can have everything ready by then. We need to plan when and how we will reveal ourselves, the longer we can keep things secret, the more chance we have against him, but we need to give our allies time too. This is even more reason to investigate Nepal as soon as possible.” Tony nodded in agreement. The thought of Thanos, now a concrete deadline away, was terrifying. He had so much to lose right now and was acutely aware that for all their preparations, their plan was still mostly hinging on luck and surprise.
“We can’t lose,” he said in a whisper. Loki sat up too, hugging Tony to him.
“We will not. You are mine and I am yours and I promise you, there is nothing that will be able to stand in our way,” said the God and the feeling of determination and faith that was sent through their mental link made Tony confident in his own faith.