Saying Tony was annoyed when he woke up would have been a severe understatement. His head felt heavy and as though it had been hit by a hammer – which might actually have happened and was not just because of his hangover – and Jarvis' loud voice made him wince.

"What was that?" Tony asked groggily and slowly sat up. How did he even end up in his bed yesterday? He just remembered being in a club downtown. A habit he recently picked up again, the clubbing and drinking until he finally forgot the important things in life.

"I said 'there is a visitor for you, Sir'." The A.I.'s voice rang out clearly.

"Well, tell him I'm sorry but I can't right now, I'm busy. Tell them to schedule a meeting or something." The inventor drawled and let his head fall back onto the pillow. Not worth getting up for that.

"I am afraid that is not possible." Even before he could ask why the hell it was not possible, Jarvis turned on a video stream, obviously coming from his own living room.

At least he suspected that was his living room, even though he really hoped that these figures were not actually in HIS tower. And much less in HIS living room.

Five tall men, clad in what looked like a grotesque cosplay of what Thor usually wears, stood there, each looking grim and as though their morning was worse than Tony's. Which he was pretty sure couldn't be possible.

The genius swore and got out of bed as quickly as he could manage. While he slowly put on his jeans he was pleased to see that he was indeed wearing underpants. Last night apparently wasn't as disastrous as it could have turned out to be.

Picking up a T-shirt from the floor, without bothering to check whether it was clean, he moved out of the room and just put it on when he entered the area that was supposed to be a comfortable area to watch television, read or deal with pleasant stuff. Not with these guys.

"Hey chaps, lovely meeting you, I'm afraid Thor's not here, so if you could be on your way, that'd be great." His voice didn't sound as commanding as he would have liked, but he really didn't feel as though he was in the mood or shape to put up with this.

"Man of Iron" – Tony tried to not roll his eyes too obviously – "we are here on behalf of the Allfather, not to see the mighty Thor." He almost snorted when he the title Thor had been given.

"Then I'm afraid you ended up at the wrong guy's place, sorry, see you later!" He couldn't imagine any reason for the Allfather to send creepy guys after him. He didn't do anything this bad. At least nothing he could remember.

He wanted to turn away again, but before he could take a single step a huge calloused hand wrapped itself around his wrist. Shit.

"Man of Iron, the Allfather is deeply concerned with the chaos and havoc that was brought upon Midgard and your personal involvement in apprehending Loki Laufeyson. He thus wants to bestow you with a present that he hopes will quench any animosity you might have for Asgard. We are here to deliver this token of friendship." The man who spoke – and never bothered with introducing himself – had a deep intimidating voice and was built like a wardrobe. A bloody huge wardrobe.

"That's… uh… nice of him, I suppose? Thank you?" He could already imagine all the horrible 'presents' that would need five wardrobes to deliver it.

Then again, it came three years after the actual fight that took place, so is the present actually a present?

"No thanks are needed, Man of Iron."

Tony only realized now that the man had dropped his wrist at some point and he wanted to take a step back, but the Speaker waved him over. Reluctantly Tony followed two steps behind as the men seemingly moved as one.

The glass door to the balcony opened itself and Tony silently thanked Jarvis that he surely stopped his belongings from being destroyed and letting those guys in before they got a chance to smash the glass door.

It took him a second to realize that it was raining heavily and that the sky looked as though a thunderstorm was brewing. The first raindrops hit him when Jarvis turned the lights on the balcony on.

The five men walked to the far end of the balcony and stood in a circle around something black lying on the ground. If Tony had said that he wasn't curious as hell, it would have been an outright lie.

Slowly he took a couple of steps in their direction and squinted a bit. "Jarvis, I need more light."

When the bright lights got turned on the genius abruptly stopped. All the color was drained from his face, he suddenly felt the cold water drenching his clothing.

That was a freaking human. Lying under some black cloth, on his balcony. Outside in the cold.

He started thinking about how long he'd been inside, arguing with the creepy wardrobes and getting clothed. It was absolutely freezing and they had a human lying around in heavy rain on his balcony. Even the usually big mouthed Tony was at a complete loss for words.

When he realized that he was wasting time again he almost sprinted to the figure on the ground.

"Have you completely lost your fucking minds?! A human as a fucking present?!" Tony was seething and kneeled down next to the figure. He could neither make out whether the figure was alive nor whether it was a man or woman, but what- and whoever that was didn't move at all.

"Yes, a human." The Speaker actually threw his head back and laughed a booming laughter that could have competed with Thor's absurd way of laughing. The others chuckled quietly. "Do you accept this present?"

Tony was surprised they gave him a choice. "What happens if I don't?"

"Then he will be disposed of." The booming voice sounded strangely satisfied.

"You can't just dispose of him! That's a human!" Tony was completely outraged. He didn't need to ask what they meant with these words, so much for having a choice.

"That is was the Allfather decreed, that is what is going to happen." For the first time Tony actually properly looked into the man's face. He had a long, braided beard and grey piercing eyes that glinted with mirth. He was obviously enjoying this quite a lot.

When the Speaker started lifting his arm and waving at the other four men, who stepped closer to the figure, Tony started shouting.

"STOP! I will accept. I will accept. For fuck's sake." He might be a horrible person, but not even he would let someone be killed if he could stop it.

The Speaker met Tony's eyes. "Very well, Man of Iron. If you reconsider, let Heimdall know. We would be happy to take care of this, if the present were to turn out as being unpleasant for you."

Tony wanted to ask so many questions, but the men already walked across the balcony and were gone with a ray of light – that left an imprint on his stone floor – when he had gathered his wits.

That's how Tony ended up with either a dead or at least unconscious person on his balcony in the pouring rain, freezing to death while a thunderstorm was brewing.

And when he thought it could not possibly get any worse he decided to take a closer look at what he assumed was the figures face. The man – he was positive by now that this was definitely not a woman – was lying on his side and his head was lying on the floor, while being mostly covered in the completely soaked, black cloth that the weird people that delivered him must have dropped on him for some reason. He slowly peeled the cloth back and stopped moving.

Even with all the wounds and injuries it was impossible for him to not recognize this face, a face that was still haunting him in his nightmares.

Loki.

Oh, how Tony wished he had muted Jarvis and not left his bed.