The Norns.
Frigga was more than glad when Thor came back to Asgard,
telling her that his shield brother Anthony Stark had willingly offered himself to be the one who would watch over Loki.
It was odd she thought, for not having realized the obvious hint the Norns had given her before.
In hindsight, everything made a lot more sense now...
~~~~~
It was a few days before Lokis trial that the Norns appeared in Friggas dreams and
had shown her a vision which included her youngest son standing beside a man she had never seen before.
The vision showed Loki and the other man surrounded by bright lights which shimmered in bright green, speckled by stripes of red and gold and the faintest bit of a bright cold blue.
Frigga was sure the bright green stood for her son and his magic, which meant the other colors must have belonged to the man she couldn't identify...
Something told her that she had to find out who that person was no matter what. If the Norns were showing her this vision, it must be out of a greater reason and therefore of high importance.
She tried her hardest to concentrate her focus on the unknown man, determined to find out who that man might be.
Then, the colors suddenly started shifting and enclosed her youngest son and the other man.
The colors tied them together and then swallowed them both into the brightest light Frigga ever witnessed to see, causing her to wake from her deep slumber...
In the distance, she could hear the faintest whispers of the Norns repeating only one word over and over again; Midgard.
After that Frigga was certain of one thing; Lokis way of redemption lay in the hands of someone on Midgard. There was no other reason as to why the Norns would have sent her such an important vision shortly before Lokis trial.
For her, it seemed to be the only way to save her youngest son from the growing darkness which consumed him more and more.
So, on the day of the trial, Frigga had told Thor about her vision and the plan she had come up with to make sure Loki wouldn't end up in the Dungeons of Asgard,
but rather in the hands of Thor's shield brothers on Midgard.
From there it was up to the Fates if her son would be able to (hopefully) meet the person from her vision and therefore his destiny.
Frigga was no fool. She knew even though Midgard was the smallest of all the Nine Realms, there were so many souls inhabiting said realm...
It was a near impossibility to meet the one fated person among so many souls.
Unfortunately, that was not the only thing concerning her...
What if the Midgardians would deny the Allfathers request of watching over her youngest son? The Avengers and Loki were former enemies.
The grudges lay deep in the hearts of the Midgardians.
Even though Loki wasn't fully responsible for his wrongdoings, the Mortals wouldn't just forgive and welcome him.
The sickening feeling of fear she felt the day when Odin told her that Thor and Loki had left for Midgard was almost unbearable.
The only thing she could do was to wait for Thor's return...
~~~~~
The great delight Frigga felt than Thor came back to Asgard, with a big smile on his face, indicating that he was in a good mood, was overwhelming her.
If Thor was smiling to his heart's content things must have been gone well, she thought.
Thor told Frigga everything that happened on Midgard that day but for her, the important part was about Anthony Stark who had spoken in Lokis defense.
For a brief moment, she could feel her heart flutter with anticipation, something she hadn't felt in centuries.
And then she suddenly recalled all the endless stories Thor had told her...
About Thor's shield brothers on Midgard and the one who nearly sacrificed himself in the attempt to save his world from the Chitauri.
The one who flew a bomb through a portal, the one who was clad in gold and red armor, the one with an artificial heart which glowed in the brightest light sparkled with faint streaks of the coldest blue -
The Man of Iron.
Frigga was certain; The man the Norns had shown her in that vision that night must have been Anthony Stark.
On the day Frigga left for the Bifrost to accompany Thor back to Midgard, she felt a small glimpse of hope rise in her chest.
~~~
Tony was annoyed to say it mildly.
The other Avengers were angry with him (except for Bruce) and hadn't talked to him since Lokis arrival at the Tower. Especially Nat and Clint had made a habit out of it to stay as far away from the Tower as possible.
To make it even worse the God of Mischief who newly resided the living quarters next to Tonys (which were previously the one's Pepper resided in whenever she had work to do or had enough of Tony's recurring nightmares)
had nothing better to do than to stay in his room and sulk.
Tony had tried to talk to the God almost every day since his arrival, mostly to assure himself that Loki was still in there and hadn't somehow managed to escape.
But whenever he had tried to lure Loki out, the outcome would always be the same; Loki giving Tony the silent treatment.
After the eleventh attempt in three days, Tony had enough.
"Rudolph, it's me again, Stark. The guy you're ignoring for days... I brought you something to eat. Care to come out and get it?
JARVIS said you haven't eaten anything from the food we stored in your fridge since you arrived here so I thought I'd bring you some fruits and vegetables..."
Tony waited patiently for an answer but the God stayed silent.
"Come on Rudolf, you must eat something. Thor will be mad when he returns and finds you starved to death in my guest room."
Silence again.
"Listen, Rudolf, you can ignore me all you want but that won't change the fact that your brother will come down from Rainbow Land in a few days and bind us to each other.
Sooner or later you will have to face reality! You and I will have to stay together for a while, why not try and get along then?
Hell, even if you don't want to get along at least come out there and eat something!"
Again nothing.
Maybe the god was asleep and thus didn't answer?
"JARVIS is Loki asleep?"
"Sir, Loki Laufeyson haven't slept ones since his arrival and therefore just seems to ignore you and your offerings."
That sneaky little bastard! Of course, Loki was awake and ignoring him on purpose!
"Can you believe this JARVIS?! Who in his right mind wouldn't want to talk to me?!
It's great to have conversations with me! Everyone loves conversationing with Tony Stark!
Plus I've got food with me! Who says no to Tony Stark AND fuckin' food?! What's wrong with him?!"
"You're absolutely right, Sir. It's hardly believable that someone in his right mind would ignore you given the fact how much DUM-E, Butterfingers,
and U seem to enjoy your one-sided conversations with them in the Workshop."
"JARVIS why do I get the feeling you're sassing me?"
"This is something I would rather not have to answer, Sir."
"Why, JARVIS? Why would you sass me?"
"Certainly because you were the one who made me, Sir."
"Okay fine! You've got the point across, traitor."
"I'm glad to hear that. Although I'm kinda hurt that you would call me a traitor, Sir."
Tony smiled at that. JARVIS was his favorite for a reason.
"Okay fine then. JARVIS, tell Rudolf that I will leave the food in front of his door. Maybe, just maybe when he decides to stop sulking and decides that he rather wants to talk to someone, you could notify me about it?."
"Consider it done, Sir."
"Thanks buddy."
Tony knew he had fucked up the moment he offered to watch over the God of Lies.
Slowly but surely he realized that he had made a gigantic mistake.
Hell, why did he even decided to help Loki in the first place? Maybe the thought about the possibility of gaining a reliable ally in Battle played a part?
Nah... Tony wasn't so sure about that. Loki was a wild card. Unpredictable and dangerous and who could say for sure if said god would ever give a hand in battle?
So, why had Tony insisted to give Loki a second chance, then?
Tony knew the answer to that question... Even though thinking about it hurt a lot and he still tried to deny it...
He had offered Loki the possibility of a second chance because Tony himself had gotten one.
He remembered the times as the Merchant of Death... Trapped in a dark cave, dying and with no hope left.
And he remembered Yinsen who had reached out to him. Who showed him that he was more than the Merchant of Death.
Whenever he thought back to those days he felt hope and gratitude but also the bitter taste of sadness and grief.
Yinsen gave Tony a second chance and changed his life.
How could he possibly deny Loki the same chance?
"Jarvis, I'm going down to the Workshop get everything ready for me."
"At once, Sir."
Well, sooner or later Loki would talk to him. It was only a matter of time. He would just let Loki sulk in his room until then.
"Sir?"
"Yes, buddy?"
"I just wanted to inform you that I finished hacking Shields Databases as you wanted me to... I'm afraid you won't take a liking to what I found."
"Out with it Jarvis."
"Your assumptions about Shield were right Sir, the organization indeed seems to be compromised by someone."
"Fuck! That's just great! Fuck, fuck, fuck! JARVIS! I want you to wake up your sister! Give her full access to literally everything. NOW!"
"Done, Sir."
"FRIDAY?"
"At your service, Boss."
"FRIDAY baby girl, I know you just have woken up and I'm sure you have a lot of questions and I'm sure as hell you would like to talk to your brothers but first, you have to listen to me closely.
We've got a huge problem and JARVIS and I will need your help to solve it. But before we can start working on that problem I want you to promise me that you'll stay hidden, okay?
None of the people in this Tower except me are allowed to know about you no matter what, okay? That includes helping them if a dangerous situation occurs.
And if I say not a single person that also includes Rhodey and Pepper.
I know you love both of them but you have to stay silent no matter that!
Do you understand FRIDAY? Being invisible for now is your highest priority nothing else matters!"
"You can count on me, Boss! I will do my best to fulfill my given duty!"
"That's my girl. Then let's start. We've got a lot to do guys!"
Tony was trembling the whole way down to the Workshop.
He wasn't sure if it was out of anger or because of fear.
Well, he guessed it was probably both.
Funny he thought...
Just a few minutes ago he thought the sulking God of Mischief was his biggest problem.
He never before was so wrong in his life.