Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

As she walked through the portal she was welcomed to the site of a frowning Heimdall. "Welcome back your majesty, why were you in New York of all places?"

Frigga only shrugged as she walked past with him with her suitcase and the container of food in hand. "None of your business, or would prefer if I get involved in your business as well?"

Heimdall merely sighed and looked at Loki who with a wave of his cane changed from his trenchcoat and business suit into his usual leather green and gold armor. As for his cane it turned into a staff with a pointy spear head at the top. Loki merely shrugged and walked past Heimdall without even a proper greeting.

Heimdall sighed again and shook his head before he spoke in his mind, sending a message to Odin. "Your highness, your wife and adopted son have returned. They came from New York in Midgard, but I know nothing else. But it does seem like they did some shopping."

"Thank you Heimdall. What is Thor doing at the moment?"

Heimdall looked to Midgard and frowned at what he saw, "he is fighting some brutes from Midgard. It appears he is trying to impress that mortal Jane Foster with his chivalry again."

"Haa…" Odin sounded exhausted, "call him back when he is done. If you need to encourage him, tell him his mother is home."

"Yes, your highness." Then Heimdall kept watch of the Odinson while waiting for him to finish. It only took about ten minutes before he finished and flew towards Doctor Foster. "Thor, your father summons you."

"Haa… tell father I am busy." Thor sounded more annoyed than busy.

"Except you are not, in fact you just finished a fight." Heimdall reminded Thor that he could see him.

There was a grunt of annoyance, "unless father has made a decision then I see no point in returning."

"Okay, then what should I tell your mother-"

"Mother has returned?" Thor was carelessly distracted mid-flight so he did not notice the bird smash into his face.

"Yes she has returned." Heimdall felt no need to tell him that the usual happy Frigga was nowhere to be found. Instead she seemed more angry and annoyed.

"Okay, bring me back."

—---------------------

The moment Frigga stepped into the main hall, Odin felt a shiver down his spine. The usual jolly and happy wife was replaced with the all-business woman he had met several times before they married and would sometimes appear during public events. She was even dressed in her attire she would wear during public events. Her white dress with the gold armor pieces and her crown.

"Frigga should I assume we are about to have a serious conversation?" Odin asked hesitantly.

"Yes, your highness, as soon as Thor arrives. I assume you have already sent the summons?" Frigga's first words made Odin sit ramrod straight in his seat, he nodded and grunted in response. They waited for a few minutes before Loki entered the room and stood off to the side of his mother.

A few more minutes passed, "that boy needs to learn that answering a summons is not a request. Because with the amount of time that has passed, I can only assume he is either taking his time or he has willingly decided to go against them." Frigga spoke coldly.

Odin frowned then nodded in agreement, "indeed I will assign the appropriate punishment."

"Not something light, make certain he realizes it is a punishment. Like… prevent him from returning to Midgard for a few weeks." Frigga suggested.

"I suppose that would be a fitting punishment, my queen." Odin frowned but agreed, he has been too lenient on Thor.

A few more minutes passed before Thor came into the Throne room. When he walked in, he walked towards Frigga completely ignoring Odin and Loki.

"Thor, why are you so late to answer my summons?" Odin's voice boomed in the throne room. Catching Thor's attention and causing him to flinch.

Thor sighed, "I came as soon as I realized mother was home, so no worries-"

"Would you have not come if I was not home summoning you as well?" Frigga's voice cut off Thor. Strangely enough it wasn't the pleasant tone he was used to but the one he only heard when his mother was doing her job as queen in public.

Thor looked at Loki in the hopes that he would help him. But instead Loki was looking beyond Thor, avoiding eye contact.

"Umm… no. It is just a summons from-" Thor was cut off again.

"In that case for the next three weeks you will be confined to Asgard. So there are no distractions in case we need to summon you again." Odin's voice boomed out.

"Father-" Thor tried to raise his objection but Odin held up a hand.

"Enough, your punishment is final. Now I believe you had another discussion you wished to bring up?" Odin's voice seemed to shift to fear for a moment. Even Thor could hear it, but then again he already knew the topic so he might have feared Frigga's reaction more than anything else.

"Fine… yes, I wished to discuss marrying Jane Foster. I want-" Thor was interrupted once again.

"Stop." Frigga could already feel a headache coming on. "You have only known this woman for a few months, has your relationship really progressed to the point where the two of you are discussing marriage?"

"Umm… no. I thought I hadn't asked her yet if she wanted to..." Thor stopped speaking as he saw his mother make a face he thought he would never see. Disgust.

"Thor Odinson… Even if this Jane Foster agrees she would have to pass three tests in order to be accepted by Asgardians. One would be given by me, another by Sif, and the last given by Loki. But that is only if she is a willing participant in this relationship." Frigga heavily stated the last part of the statement. Making certain both Loki and Odin understood her worry.

Thor immediately backed off, "of course mother. Then I will return to Midgard-"

"No you will not. Your punishment is still ongoing. Not to mention that I doubt that is the only thing you wished to discuss?" Frigga's statement caused a shiver down Thor's spine as he stopped retreating and stood still.

"Um… yes mother. I was worried about Midgard's rise in dangerous activity. I feel that we should take a more active role in helping them like we do in the other realms." Thor was nervous, hoping his mother wouldn't snap at him again.

"Is that all?" Frigga asked.

"No… I-uh… I also wanted to discuss having more of our people going out and helping that realm." Thor was now incredibly hesitant.

But instead of answering, Frigga merely turned to Odin. Who seemed to have already made a decision. "I think we should stay out of the mortal's business. We have no need to get involved, but I would like to ask your opinions on both matters my queen."

Frigga nodded and seemed to think for a moment before she snapped her fingers and a book materialized on Odin's lap. "This is the study I did on the population of Midgard while I was there. Although it was only a single city I surveyed, it was a surprising result."

Odin nodded and listened as Frigga continued. He was opening the book and reading the contents, "while the overall population of Midgard is increasing, its normal human population is decreasing. There has been an increase in the emergence of Inhumans that the Kree created over two thousand years ago. They used to make up only 0.025% of the population, they now make up 3% of the population. Then there are the chemically or genetically altered humans, they rose from 2% to 8% since the last study conducted fifty years ago. There is also the addition of two new human species to the list. There are the Cosmic enhanced humans which make up a very miniscule amount at only four people. But I am sure that will rise in due time considering they only appeared within the last month. Then there is the Gamma Enhanced Humans, this amounts to only 3 humans, but will rise since they only appeared within the last few years. The final species of humans is the mutants or those with the X-Gene. Those with it even with it being dormant encompasses a staggering 45% of the population. But now the gene has been activating more even when the person is not in danger, meaning it is set to have a 100% activation rate within the next dozen years."

Odin took a few moments to process the overwhelming information he was just given. "Okay, then what is your opinion on what we should do in regards to Thor's requests?"

Frigga seemed to think for a moment, "if we send any troops to Midgard it could be seen as an invasion and would cause problems with our protection of Asgard. Instead we should send a rotating list of representatives. As for interfering, there is no strict need. We can assist with the transition, but we should not have an active role in any way. Midgard is their world at the end of the day and we should only assist with outside threats not internal turmoil."

"Hmm… I concur," although Odin agreed, he was frowning while looking at something. "We will have a rotation of people go to Asgard to assist against outside threats, but to not interfere in internal matters."

"But father the mortals need our help against-"

"Themselves? Enough! Leave us, return to your room. You go as well Loki. I have something to discuss with the Queen." Odin left no room for negotiation as Thor and Loki walked out of the room.

Once the door closed with a slam, Frigga made a few motions with her hands and a thin layer of gold covered her and Odin in a bubble. "I have a feeling I already know what you want to discuss but just in case. What is your question?"

Odin gave a thin and weak smile, "yes, I wish to know what this 'Other Species 1%' means."

"Just as it states, I gave more specific and broken down numbers but there are a number of alien species hiding on Earth, the only ones of note are the Kree, Skrull, D'Bari, and of course the Watcher is still on the moon." Frigga clarified for Odin.

Odin nodded, "the Chitauri have been making moves recently. More than likely they have a new leader who is riling them up. I worry they will try something, so we have to keep a close eye on these non-human races. Especially the Kree and Skrull, they have their own empires they shouldn't be hiding out here unless they have aims to conquer Midgard."

Frigga nodded, "they both probably want it because of the unique nature of humans. They look to exploit them. Which is why you agreed to helping the humans on occasion all those years ago. If the alien races see an Asgardian they will be reminded of the treaty, otherwise they will have to face our wrath."

Odin sighed, "yes, but I did not expect the rise in Mutants to be so great. Has the X-gene as they call it really spread so far in the gene pool? I thought our predictions had it being lower."

Frigga only shook her head, "we were wrong, the X-gene is appearing in families that have no mutant ancestors. It appears it truly is the next evolution for humans, the only anomalies are the ones that are normal humans with altered chemistry or genetics."

Odin frowned for a moment before nodding, "I assume this is what took you so long?"

Frigga gave a mischievous grin, Loki had to have learned it from someone. "No, that study only took four days while Loki's thing took three. I spent the rest of the time enjoying the human luxuries and their 'American' culture. There are so many new things, I even made some friends. But if we are done you can join me in my room to taste some of the leftovers I brought."

Odin smiled weakly at the woman he loved, "gladly my love." He stood up as Frigga started hopping down the steps and the golden bubble disappeared.

—-------------------------

As Loki and Thor exited the throne room, Thor stepped in front of Loki.

"Where did you two go?" Thor's voice was very demanding. Loki, instead of stopping, kept walking and disappeared for a moment before appearing behind Thor, continuing to walk.

"I cannot tell you Thor. Even if I could, I would not. Mother and I can have our own secrets." Loki continued walking down the hall. Which angered Thor for some reason.

"Fine then why did you two have to go to Earth?" Thor asked through gritted teeth.

"Mother was helping me with something and saw an opportunity to go on vacation. I would say she rather enjoyed her time there. Don't become paranoid, brother." Loki chuckled as he had now made it further down the hall.

"Fine… wait, why did Mother feel a need to go on a vacation?" Thor asked quickly after Loki.

"Because you and Father have been driving her mad with your antics. She saw me asking for help as a perfect opportunity to go away and clear her head. Of course I benefited greatly. Mother taught me several new spells and tricks." Loki explained with a smirk.

"Oh? Anything useful?" Thor attempted to bait Loki.

"Not anything you would find useful." Loki clarified with a slight smirk on his face.

Thor growled in annoyance before he separated from Loki. Once Loki arrived at his room he opened the door and then cast the sealing barrier.

Turning to an open wall where there was a large painting of Loki's family he tapped his staff on the ground and the painting morphed into a board full of detailed plans and schemes. Moving his staff slightly, several were erased and destroyed.

"Let's see… I need a plan to test my brother's qualities to be king and another test for any woman he marries. I can do the marriage one later. For now I should get started on my brother's qualities." Loki talked to himself but actively wrote down some of what he was saying with magic.

"First thing I will need to test is his strength of resolve even in the face of defeat. I suppose that green monster will do. What did they call him again? Ah, yes. I believe he was called The Hulk."