Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or any of the Marvel characters. This is fan-made work and not for profit.

Tony Stark hit the button at the entrance to his penthouse office suite. He was puzzling over a few Diophantine equations he thought might solve his latest metallurgical problem. The door slid open, and he strode in briskly—only to come to an abrupt stop. A surge of adrenaline flooded his body.

"Jarvis—" he began.

"He can't hear you." The melodic voice was all too familiar. Lounging on one of Tony's white leather divans, impeccably clad in a thigh-length black coat, vest and trousers, was none other than the supposedly imprisoned God of Mischief himself. His long legs were propped up on an ottoman, and one pale hand twirled a glass of deep garnet wine—poured, Tony realized with slight dismay, from the open bottle of 1998 Petrus Merlot standing on the teak end table.

"Hey. Who gave you permission to raid my personal stash? I was saving that bottle of wine for a special occasion. It's pricey even for me."

Loki glanced at the wineglass in his hand. "Did you not offer me a drink, once upon a time? I am merely accepting your gracious hospitality." He tilted his head to one side with a charming smile. His dark hair was shorter than it had been the last time Tony saw him, combed back neatly above his aristocratic features, nothing but calm amusement visible in his countenance. Not that it caused Tony to relax in any way—in his experience, Loki was perfectly capable of executing mass murder with the most serene of smiles upon his face.

"Well, it's not very gracious to silence my AI." Tony noted that all the monitors in his office were blank as well. Not a good sign.

Loki's thin lips curled in a sneer. "I have always detested being spied upon. But you may set your mind at ease. Defenestration is not on the agenda today."

Tony strolled into the room with the appearance of nonchalance. So Loki's magic could interfere with technology now? He hadn't seen it in the latest SHIELD file. That was a valuable piece of intelligence he could pass on—assuming he got out of this little encounter alive. So what was Loki's game? He must be here for a reason, and hopefully it wasn't simply to deprive the world of the genius of one Tony Stark.

"I'm going to have to have a word with Thor about his security measures," he said lightly. He crossed to the bar, keeping the other man in his peripheral vision, and reached for a bottle of scotch. "How'd you lose the dog muzzle?"

Loki tensed; then his green eyes flooded with amusement. "Come now, Stark, you surely don't believe that I have ever been imprisoned except by my own will."

Tony snorted and poured himself a finger of scotch. Then, for good measure, he topped off the shot glass. "Let me guess. Thor fell for the old now-you-see-it, now-you-don't trick again, eh?" He shook his head. "And after all those sinister insinuations to Fury about the rigors of 'Asgardian justice.' That soft spot of his toward you is going to be the death of us all one day."

Loki chuckled and slung one arm across the back of the couch. "You assume that my ability to… mislead people is limited to my idiotic brother."

Tony tossed back the shot. There. That felt better. He slid the fingers of his other hand along the seam between two drawers, seeking the hidden catch. "No, I'm wondering why the man who would be King is slumming with a lowly mortal. Or did you come here to ask my help evading Chitauri vengeance? Because my consulting calendar is full right now."

Loki's eyes grew cold. "I do not ask for help." He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. "The Chitauri are feeble creatures that are not worth my time."

"You didn't say that in your marketing campaign, I hope. You'll have a hard time recruiting additional cannon fodder with that attitude." Tony set the glass down. "Didn't you have a few more powerful allies though? I'd think they'd be kind of mad at you after your world domination plot failed so spectacularly. "

"Failed? And here I thought you were purported to be a genius." A smirk tugged at Loki's lips. "Really. You know that brute force isn't my style. Why, when I have the ability to enspell and beguile, would I implement such a simplistic strategy?" He lifted the glass, took a leisurely sip. "Anyone with knowledge of military history knows that a frontal assault across an overextended supply line could never have succeeded. And against New York City of all places. Symbolic targets have their place, but not in a war of conquest." He shook his head. "I suppose it's foolish to expect so much of you when you didn't even comprehend the significance of my choice of the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra as my opening strike in our little game. Or was it Cleveland?" He raised a mocking eyebrow. "Haven't you figured out yet that everything went according to my plan?"

"Huh. I didn't know that being smashed like a rag doll by the big green guy was in your plans. You must be kinkier than I thought."

"Verisimilitude." Loki shrugged. "I am nothing if not thorough."

"Come on," Tony said in disbelief. "You can't be trying to convince me that it was all a bluff, that you're not interested in world domination. What happened to 'you will kneel to me,' and 'freedom from choice is what you want'?" His searching fingers finally found the hidden catch, and he slid open a secret drawer under the bar. "Though I never liked Devo anyway."

"You said it yourself. It was a stage show. Although I cannot deny it was fun to see all those fools running and shrieking in fear."

"Which is why no one's ever going to vote for you for King." The drawer was empty. Damn! Where had he put those bracelets? "Anyone who gets so much glee from killing innocents and blowing things up will always come out last in the popularity poll."

"Oh? I seem to recall a certain weapons manufacturer who derived a great deal of pleasure from causing violent explosions and all sorts of devastation. Not to mention the innocent blood that is on your hands."

Guilt speared in Tony, sharp and ever fresh, but nothing showed on his face. "At least I have the decency to be remorseful."

"And you assume I am incapable of remorse?"

"It doesn't seem to be in your resume." Keeping his eyes steady on Loki, Tony opened another drawer. "So then—why did you do it? Why make the deal with the Chitauri? Why smash up my world?"

Loki gazed out the floor-to-ceiling windows (Tony couldn't help but stiffen a bit, just in case the guy was getting ideas), his fingers playing idly with the stem of the wineglass. "I required certain information from my… allies. The Tesseract was a sufficient bribe. I merely needed to convince them that my ambitions were too petty to conflict with theirs." His lips twisted. "So I played crazy god out for vengeance for a while." He paused, and then gave Tony a slow smile. He passed a hand over his face, and his eyes glowed with unholy blue light. Tony stared at him, uncomfortably reminded of their previous encounters. Loki's mouth quirked in a lopsided smile as his eyes regained their normal appearance. "Admit it. You fell for it too."

Tony groped in the back of the drawer. "It does seem to be more in character than honest reflection. You can't be saying that the whole conquer the earth thing was a feint."

"Oh, but I am." Satisfaction coiled in the silky voice.

"So hundreds of innocent people died simply so you could get something you wanted?" Tony shook his head. His hand closed on cool metal.

"Says the weapons manufacturer who sold arms for profit. Besides, Midgard is overpopulated with mortals. I'm doing your planet a favor. Relieve the population pressure and maybe it could even slow global warming."

Tony refused to rise to the bait this time. "Man, you're getting boring. Is it a sign of old age when you repeat yourself? You said last time it was all for our own good and we know where that got us." He slipped one hand into a bracelet and clicked it quietly shut. "Oh, yeah, I know that you do everything out of altruism. Should I put your name up for philanthropist of the year?" The other bracelet snapped into place.

Loki lidded his eyes. He leaned his head against the back of the couch, exposing a white, slender throat. Good target, thought Tony as he reached for one other metallic implement in the drawer.

"Actually, I understand that all the property damage in New York has set off a construction boom and reduced the unemployment rate. Stimulated the economy." Loki's lazy smile broadened. "I'm a job creator."

In a flash, Tony's hand closed on one of his latest inventions: a mini arc reactor-powered throwing knife with a rotating microfilament edge. He flicked it straight at that tempting white throat. The knife accelerated as it flew, and a sharp 'crack' echoed through the room as it burst through the sound barrier.

He activated the emergency signal on the bracelets that should punch through whatever jamming field Loki had on his communication system. "Jarvis! Activate the suit." He jumped to one side in anticipation of an attack from the Asgardian and crouched, waiting for all hell to break loose the way they tended to around Loki and his magical weapons.

There was a long, pregnant, and unfortunately quiet pause.

After a moment, Tony peered around the edge of the bar. No response from Jarvis—well, he had half expected that.

But Loki hadn't even moved from his indolent sprawl on the couch. A graceful gesture with one hand drew Tony's eyes to his own knife, now caught and deactivated, held loosely between long fingers. Loki's eyes glittered like emeralds. "Ah, you're so entertaining, little mortal," he said. "Defiance is so stimulating."

Tony straightened behind his bar, breathing heavily. He shrugged. "I try."

"You fool," Loki said without heat, "can't you see that I came here to communicate rather than to destroy you? Or have I overestimated your intelligence once again?"

Tony flashed him a cocky smirk. "I doubt it. No one ever has before." Time for another drink, he decided. "So what did you want to say? Make it quick; my time is valuable and I have another meeting soon with some important people."

Loki actually rolled his eyes and Tony grinned.

"I have a proposal for you, Stark."