Schism

Tony isn't sure how Thor does it, but he manages to get Frigga to come to earth. Tony welcomed her royal highness-ness and got out of the way - seriously, WAYYY too many feelings going on in his tower for his comfort. He hid out in his workshop and tried to work out what to do about the Clint situation. He finally decided to just try to contact Clint directly, hoping he'd kept the Starkphone he'd given to the team members during their "planetary defense party". 

<< hey Legolas, swing by the tower if you're in NYC>>

[[ ??? ]]

<< Point Break's mom's in town; mom's chicken soup always makes you feel better.>>

[[ Tomorrow? ]]

<< See you then>>

******

Helping Clint was easier than Tony expected - Queen Frigga was, well, amazing. 

What was more surprising was Clint's exclamation of "holy shit, Loki!" but in a 'something's wrong' way, not a 'kill the son of a bitch' way.

Apparently their little mind-bending escapade was not 100% one-sided; Clint just didn't remember everything clearly until Queen Frigga's magic began to heal the damage. The impressions Clint had of creepy-cruel-many-fingered-alien jamming himself into Loki's brain - well... Clint was pissed about being used as a cohort by Loki, but Loki had never used pain to control him or Selvig. Which made things a whole lot easier for Tony to give Clint a head's up about the demi-god's presence. And Clint surprised Tony by being ok with NOT revealing Loki's presence - because apparently,  post-invasion, Clint hadn't gotten much support beyond concussion treatment after his "cognitive recalibration" episode.

Of course, with Clint came Natasha. Clint's promise about keeping Loki on the down-low was good enough for Natasha. And since Shield was basically telling the person who'd saved her life to "suck it up and move on" after MIND CONTROL, well, let's just say Natasha was not in a forgiving mood. Add all that to the intel Jarvis was STILL collating - Tony wasn't thrilled with Shield... at all. He offered the duo a non-Shield place to stay when they needed it, figuring since he was offering as much for Bruce, why not. Though they got a couple rooms on one of the available floors as opposed to the Lab floor/eventual-Hulk-room-area that Bruce got.

Steve already had a place in Brooklyn - he was enjoying his old stomping grounds, but Tony asked Natasha to give him a heads-up anyway. Tony and Steve might never be bosom companions, but if Shield dropped the ball with Clint's OBVIOUS post-brainwash trauma, they sure as hell weren't up to the task of reintegrating a 7-decades-frozen-20-something year old. Tony figured he'd reach out to Rhodey about that - military was more his thing - and that much adulting and feelings was WAY over his quota for the year.

One thing Tony quickly made clear to Clint, Natasha and Steve - if they were going to continue to work for Shield, he was fine with that - as long as they left work at the door once they got to Stark tower. He had a company to run - employees to take care of, tech to manufacture, annoying board members to juggle, and press & media to manage. He was NOT willing to risk that for a shadowy-pseudo-government-agency that already screwed him over once. And with the invasion crap they'd just dealt with being only the tip of the outer-space-invader-nightmare, he was in no mood for bullshit. 

They agreed. 

*******

A few weeks after the invasion, another surprising development showed up at Tony's doorstep, well - tower...lobby... whatever.

The timing was interesting.

Loki, Mom and Thor were in Norway, taking time to heal and plan how to deal with "dad". Clint and Tasha were on a mission.

Steve was with Rhodes, still working out how Captain America could fit into today's world. Rogers was hip deep in classes to help him catch up on world history, military leadership and protocol, and all that jazz.  The most interesting thing Rhodey'd told Tony was that Steve was learning EXACTLY what he was capable of since he hadn't had time to really get to know how his new body worked and what it could do. Considering how he could take down mutant-alien-soldiers easily, the last thing Steve wanted to do was accidentally hurt someone just by patting them on the back a-la-Thor.

No Shield, no Norse pseudo-deities at the tower.  Just the science-bros.

**

The Ancient One has never been one to champion the revelation of their order, though it was not a foreign concept to the order itself. She was aware that her successor would change that in some way, but until recently, it was not something she had put any energy towards.

That changed during the Chitauri invasion. Though the Order could not alter the incident as a whole, they did what they could in the neighborhood around the temple. She had come when the Master of the New York Sanctum had called - and she was very glad she had.

Something significant had changed when the battle had ended. She had been the bearer of the Eye of Agamotto for decades, and in all that time it had behaved as nothing more than a useful tool. She was completely aware of its power, and its nature as an Infinity stone, but it had been “quiet”.

Suddenly, within hours of Tony Stark’s almost-fatal sacrifice to save the earth, the Eye “woke up”. Though it did not speak to her in words, she followed its “impulses” and found herself on a path she had never “Seen”, with an Infinity Stone practically singing, in the lobby of Stark Tower.

**

Jarvis alerted Tony immediately, but NO ONE ELSE seemed to notice the presence of the striking, bald woman in strange clothes standing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LOBBY - looking straight at one of Jarvis' cameras with a small smile on her face. Never one to pass up a mystery, and always the one lacking in self-preservation skills (though he DID give Bruce a head's up), Tony had Jarvis give the mysterious woman a green light and she entered the penthouse elevator. 

She stepped out and introduced herself. 

She talked of Loki, knowing of his presence, the presence of the mind stone and the tesseract.

She showed Tony the magic he'd created through science when he built the Arc reactor.

She offered to help him deal with the damage done by the infinity stones.  

She offered her services and the help of the Order. 

“You may call me Yao.”

*****

The Ancient One returned to Kamar Tag deep in thought. The Eye had “opened her eyes” in ways she had not anticipated. The Future she had seen as she waited to speak with Dr. Stark had shaken her to the core. She’d never been more grateful for her decades of training.  And to then meet a man who carried the essence of an infinity stone in his chest?!? She was moved at that moment to pledge her support and that of the Order to aid him and those who sought to protect the earth.  She knew that would be received with “mixed feelings”. But she also KNEW it was the right, the necessary thing to do. And with the presence of TWO infinity stones on earth, one of which was awake and decidedly “opinionated”, she was rather confident she could make her case.

Once she’d had time to process the global implications of all she had SEEN at Stark Tower, she took time to meditate on the personal revelations she’d been given by the Eye. She had been aware of her future and her passing, but she had never known what was beyond that moment - until now. 

The Eye had shown her what had come to pass in another life as a result of information that had come to light when she’d died. But it had also gone beyond that incident, showing her glimpses into the lives of two others - into the past of Loki and what had been a potential future of Tony Stark: destruction brought to bear as the result of disturbing secrets.

The Eye, dormant and functioning only as a tool for hundreds of years, was communicating with her in the only way it could. She didn’t know if it would understand gratitude, but she projected that feeling as strongly as she could.

Then she went to find her friend Mordo.