Mischief on Midgard

Normalcy

It was with a heavy heart that Thor made his goodbyes to the Avengers. Loki had not been with them. He had, in fact, avoided Thor for the remainder of the blonde's stay at the tower. Honestly, Thor was not in the least bit surprised. Thankfully, all of his other friends had arrived to see him off. Tony, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and even Clint. It truly warmed Thor's heart to see how the group had grown. A rag-tag team of former strangers had banded together, recognized each other's worth, skill, and value.

And then there was Loki...

Thor let out a deep sigh and forced himself not to worry overmuch. There was hardly a better group of people that Loki could have integrated with. Especially if he was to be taught a lesson about the good that Humanity had to offer. Thor turned his attention back to said friends and smiled warmly at them.

"Do not forget my friends; if any danger hails from beyond your realm, call on me through Heimdall. I shall come at once to aid you. Do not fear," Thor said to them in an assuring tone.

"That's good to know, big guy," Tony said with a smile of amusement. His grin faltered not even a moment later, however.

"Friend Stark, is something wrong?" Thor asked, his own expression becoming more serious. "Tell me what is on your mind?"

"Look, Point Break... I..." Tony let out a gusty sigh and mussed his hair. "The rest of us had a talk. You know 'Robert,' don't you?"

Thor fell silent and declined to answer. Though, really that in and of itself was answer enough, wasn't it? Thor sighed as he realized that and then slowly nodded his head.

"Yeah, thought so. You took Rob out of the tower deliberately to talk to him in private, yeah?" Tony asked with a small grin.

"I... supposed that was me giving things away," Thor chuckled and smiled apologetically at his friend before falling silent once more.

"Okay, I'm going to level with you Point break. We don't need to know what the two of you were talking about. Hell, we don't even need to know how the two of you know each other. I mean, everyone here has their own shitty background, right?" Tony said, looking around at the others. Everyone nodded in response, and he turned back to Thor. "Right. So... what we do need to know is one thing; Can Robert, or whatever his name is, be trusted?"

Thor hesitated, and for a good reason. Tony's question was, in fact, far more complicated than he would have liked to admit. There was no straight 'yes' or 'no' answer to that question. And yet, Thor felt that he owed his friends an honest answer. He sighed, frowned, and crossed his arms in thought.

"Thor?" Natasha pressed in a gentle tone. They needed an answer.

"Robert..." Thor hesitated again and closed his eyes, working on how to answer as he spoke. "Robert's greatest foe is himself. He is brilliant, just like all of you. As an ally, he is invaluable. Again, like all of you are. He is, however, in constant danger... from himself."

He let out another heavy sigh and opened his eyes. He met each of his friend's gazes in turn. They were curious and, understandably, concerned.

"I... would consider it a great favor if you would continue to look over him for a while," he asked in a soft voice.

The fact that Thor had dodged the original question wasn't lost to any of the Avengers around him. Clint, Tony, and even Bruce frowned at his words. Steve and Natasha's expressions remained neutral, if curious.

"Did you actually meet him in New Mexico?" Clint asked abruptly, though his tone remained curious and friendly. "I don't believe that I saw him there, but I could be wrong. Several things were going on, after all."