Thor wasn't stupid. Maybe not Tony's or Loki's level of smart but not stupid. When he made way to Earth after Asgard's fall and his confrontation with Thanos, he had some sort of a plan. A rough one but one, nonetheless. He hadn't been expecting for things to change that much on Midgard. Once in range, contact was made with the people from Earth. Honestly, he thought he would be talking to the voice, Friday. Instead, some guy from somewhere or something called the U.N. answered and gave them the authorisation to land. Banner would later explained to him what it was. It made then a lot more sense and he felt like it was a sensible idea. An assembly with representants from different countries that made Midgard. They talked for a short while, him and that U.N. guy and then Captain Rogers took over. Thor was glad to hear a friendly voice. After all that happened, he needed friends and some time to think. Mourning would come later. After Thanos' death. Now he wanted to focus on the threat that was coming, the preparations to be made, the battle to be won. The thought of his family, his land, his brother would be pushed aside for now. Thinking about it wasn't actually helping. It made him feel too guilty, too helpless, like he wouldn't and couldn't make a different in the combat to come. He had to fight though and he had to win. If not for him, for the rest of the galaxy. For the Aesir scarified. For Loki.
Things were a lot different now. Time would go slower on Asgard or maybe it was because the Aesir were living for so long, he didn't know. People on his team weren't always seeing things from the same perspective but he would never had thought that it would go that far. Now, Stark was missing and nobody was looking for him. Worse, they seemed glad that they didn't have to deal with the man anymore. They didn't even care. The media on Earth were quite powerful apparently. At first, everyone was against Tony. Nobody, not even his friends or his team, were defending him. Thor had trouble to understand why. How could everybody be against one man? A representative from the U.N. was coming to explain it all. It had to be a stranger to do that instead of one of the Avengers. When he finally learnt the whole story, he kind of understood why Steve and the others were keeping quiet. Thanos was coming soon! All those things shouldn't matter anymore! It was in the past now. The future looked so bleak. Maybe they should focus on creating defences, prepare for the invasion. Loki always said that he wasn't seeing the bigger picture. For once, it seemed like he was but the Avengers weren't.
When he read the accords, he understood even less. They were only regulations to protect everybody especially the populations, the real innocents. Asgard itself had something of the kind. A code of the warrior so to speak. Honestly, the god thought they already had one of those. Steve had rejected them from the start and Thor didn't really understand why. It was more than clear that, even if he signed in the end, Steve still wasn't happy about them. The rest of the team either.
Thor wasn't good with human technology. It was hard for him to make a phone call without breaking the phone at first. He still wanted to see the famous videos of what happened. Everybody in the compound was still whispering about it. To make his own opinion he had to watch. Jarvis, he remembered, had died during the Ultron event. Stark had another one after, Friday, but even so, it was apparently gone just as its creator. In the end, Vision helped him. There was a lot to watch. It would have been difficult to really understand everything if not for the android. The chronology was all over the place and more often than not, refereeing to events that Thor had no knowledge of. That wasn't a pretty picture. It showed a lot of betrayals, some small, others life changing. Thor didn't know about Stark's parents. Himself had just lost both of his. The circumstances were different of course, but he could understand what happened in that bunker. Steve and his friend were very lucky to be alive. The god had seen how formidable the armour was in battle. Super soldiers or not, if Tony had wanted them dead, they would be. Simple as that. The captain was certainly not the man Thor thought he was. Leaving a shield brother behind to die like that. It was not honourable. Thor started to understand why Stark had chosen to move away from that team. He had never realised how bad they were treating him before. The world didn't respect the man of Iron either. Why would he risk his life for them?
"Did you really look back then?" asked Loki's voice in his head.
Thor had always seen only what he wanted to see. He never perceived Odin's action as being wrong, even when it was hurting his little brother so much. And that even before Loki's adoption was revealed. He never thought the Warrior Three and Sif's comments could be anything but harmless jokes played on the youngest. Thor couldn't even remember if Loki had come to him trying to explain his point of view, how it made him feel. Something inside him made him think that Loki did try but that he had never listened to his brother. When he came to Earth, even after getting back Mjölnir, his hammer, Thor was still the same basking in the adoration of the masses, not really caring about the people around him. If anything, his failed relationship with Jane Foster was the very proof of that.
It was funny how Loki and Tony had in common really. Thor had lost both. It seemed that nobody knew where to find Stark and the majority on the planet thought he was dead. The god was hoping he was faking it, just like his own brother had done so many times. Until it became true, really, really true this time. Thor wanted to go find him. Where to start? He had so much to do anyway. Saving Tony wouldn't bring Loki back. Or remove the guilt. It would take time. Maybe a lifetime and for him, that meant another good three thousand years minimum. Near immortality wasn't a fun fact right about now.
Captain America seemed pretty sure of their future victory. Confident enough that he was looking at the preparations with an amused eye. As if it was too much, unnecessary. It reminded him of his younger self. When he only thought about the next battle, so certain of his success. The lesson had been hard on him. Earth did not deserve to suffer while Rogers was learning that. Steve was very stubborn. He never had changed his view since their first meeting on the helicarrier before the battle of New York. People changed thought. A lot. Everybody but the good Captain apparently. Thor had changed a lot each time he lost something, someone. His mother, father and brother. His eye. Even his hammer.
Thor's first action as New King involved a lot of talking, almost begging, so the last of his people could start anew. The position, he had wanted to be King so much once, was now a heavy burden he wished away. Norway had accepted to give them some land. Nothing much but it felt like the best gift ever to his people. The Aesir liked to see that those people still had knowledge about the old gods. How long would they keep that land if Thanos finally managed to get all the infinity stones together? Even without all of them, the mad titan was a formidable foe. Even if Thanos wasnt responsible of the destruction of Asgard but his hidden sister Hela, Thor didn't bury his head in the sands. The fear of that unknown future was soul crushing, lost between wanting to prepare and the idea of not being enough anyway. Loki would have been so much better at that. He had been actually really good while posing as Odin. If only he could go back in time.
They were once again in yet another meeting about Thanos. People on Earth did love the sound of their own voices, talking again and again about the same things. It was not easy to get every countries to agree on anything. The threat didn't seem real enough for some surely. Steve was losing his patience quickly and Thor couldn't blame him. Natasha was trying to calm him down, putting her hand calmly on his shoulder. It didn't work.
"Stop it!" shouted Captain America in the middle of a petty squabble. "Are you even worth saving? Can't you think about anything else but your own agenda?"
Steve, up to that, wasn't wrong. Thor had to admit that much. If only he had stopped there. But he went on telling them how only his hands were the safest, how he knew better and didn't need all the red tape. His team would save them all, with or without them. The assembly was stunt. It was true that they had an agenda. Yes, they should learn to work all together in the face of a planetary menace. But the arrogance of Captain America at that instant was what left them speechless. Even the U.S. representative, a long-time fan, was mouth opened in surprised.
"Are you allowing the destruction of the mind stone then?" asked the Japanese delegate, first to recover.
"No. We will not trade lives. Plus, we won't need that. The Avengers are here to protect you, don't you worry."
It took everything in Thor not to explode here and there. As an Avenger himself, he needed to be in agreement with his captain, to present a united front. For everybody's moral. Not to scare the people more than they were already. Once back in the compound, he couldn't keep it anymore. Outside the storm was ragging. Inside the walls, Thor was shouting. How could Steve be so sure of himself? How could he downplay everybody else? At this rate, a lot of people would die even without Thanos snapping his fingers.
"We do our best but sometimes we can't save everybody."
He sounded so flippant about it that Thor, for a second didn't how to respond to that. Life didn't count all that much for the captain. Thor had just lost most of his people and Steve was just saying stuff like that. As if it didn't really matter. It felt down on Thor all of the sudden. Stark had been right from the very start. Since their first time together, Iron Man and Captain America didn't get along all that well. They all have been falling for the righteous propaganda when they should have looked at the actions. He couldn't stop from whispering that they needed Tony Stark right now. Steve got mad at that. Tony was a coward, who would need someone like that in the battle to come. Stark wouldn't help, worse he would just create more chaos as usual. The shouting match started again even louder than before. What did they do to the man of Iron for him to hide like that in the first place? They were throwing arguments, screaming louder and louder. Neither of them realised that all the avengers, old and new were in the room now, watching them.
"We would need Tony. Thor is right." Broke Banner in a soft tone. "Iron Man is a heavy hitter and can fly. Both would always be valuable in a battle. As a friend, I wish he were here. Don't Kid yourself though, we all have a hand in the situation or did you forget how you grabbed Tony by the throat, threatening a baseline human life Thor?"
He did not forget. His temper had had the best of him. They all had been, at one point or another, horrible to the man. Everybody had a breaking point. With each day passing by, Thor was getting closer to his. Really close.