Schism

Tony brought the brothers together to talk - hoping they'd keep the property damage to a minimum and be careful of their squishy human shieldbrother. Surprisingly, they did.

Also surprisingly, Thor was the first to approach Tony in his workshop, and with a request that Tony wasn't expecting. 

"Man of Iron, I am loathe to ask, but I am at a loss with this situation", Thor confessed with a hangdog look. 

"What can I do for you, Thor?" Tony wasn't surprised - Thor'd been hit by quite the crapstorm of information in a short period of time. He'd be more surprised if Thor hadn't been unsettled.

"I cannot return to Asgard," Thor continued, "the bias against my brother weighs heavily on me; but I need some time to come to terms with what I have learned, and a place of peace to do this." Thor.... THOR... looked embarrassed. 

"I get it, Point Break. " Tony paused his work, "Let me see what I can come up with and I'll meet you on the roof." Thor gave a greatful nod and headed out. 

"J, any ideas?" Tony asked.

"Yes, sir. I believe I have just the thing," a hologram with location information popped up in front of Tony and he smiled.

"Well, how about that?" Tony muttered to himself, eyebrows raised and small and slightly mischevious smile on his face. "Find a nice, quiet town with a hotel and make reservations for Thor Bohdi." 

*****

Thor spent a week at a small town near Jotunheimen National Park, mingling with the locals, thinking, and reading (probably more than he had in the last 100 years) information Anthony had sent him about what Midgardians called "inter-racial adoptions".

He was fairly certain he'd not spent so much time in deep thought in his hundreds of years of life - a thought which, now, disturbed him significantly. 

How could he ever think to be a good king with such behavior? How could he have let things become so broken between himself and his brother? How could he not see? If things had become so brittle within the royal family, how could Asgard not be affected? 

Now, though, he could not unsee. Now, he could not let things continue as they had. 

Asgard was broken. The Allfather was not acting in his people's best interest. 

He would stand for Asgard. He would stand for his brother, and fight for his family AND his people. 

He took out the Starkphone that Anthony had graciously given to him so he could "keep in touch", and let Jarvis know he was on his way back.  

*****

Tony was waiting for Thor on the roof of Stark Tower, "So, how was your trip?" he asked, mock-innocently.

"You, Master Stark, are not a man of subtlety". Tony snorted, and Thor continued, "Thank you for your lack of subtlety. It was most appreciated."

"You're welcome - and seriously, you don't do subtle, so..." Tony let that hang for a moment. "Time to brainstorm. We have a lot to do." They headed downstairs. 

One of the first things on their agenda was presenting Loki's case to Asgard - NONE of them were impressed with the AllFather's idea of "justice", and all had serious doubts as to how he would receive the information about what happened after Loki's fall from the Bifrost. It was actually Thor who came up with probably the best strategy. 

"We need Mother", Thor said. Loki's eyes widened at the suggestion, "She has standing in the court, as well as influence over father. And she is well versed in politics." Thor paused, probably hoping his next statement wouldn't be taken badly, "also, Mother's gifts include healing, and Brother, you need her help. And perhaps, if she is willing, she could help Hawkeye as well to recover from his time under the mind stone's influence. 

"That's... surprisingly insightful and rather brilliant, Thor. You've changed." The look on Loki's face was priceless - Tony was glad he had Jarvis to capture it. 

Thor smiled rather sadly, "I only wish it had not taken losing you to make it so."

Tony, Enemy Of Awkward Pauses, interjected, "OK Norse-bros, we have plans to make and issues to fix - let's call mom."