Hi there! This is based off the Season 2 Episode, "Who Do You Trust." Spoilers for it, I guess. Because-OMIODIN that episode was intense and dark and shit. In the end I was just like "D: …fuck"

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even a disclaimer.

Tony sat there in his office, glaring at his helmet. He was lost and confused, even quite angry. He needed to think, to find a way to fix things. Because long ago Tony Stark hadn't trusted anyone and it seemed like history would repeat itself.

After he had formed the Avengers, he had changed. The weeks after he started the team hadn't been his best, true, but he had learned to trust. He learned to rely on people, to form seemingly unbreakable bonds with them.

A couple of months later, after the team had been formed, he realized something. He realized that he had learned to trust his teammates. He had let out the special trust that had only been reserved for people like Pepper or Rhodey, people who wouldn't fail him, and had let it spread to his new teammates. Tony didn't have to look over his shoulder anymore because he knew someone was always watching his back. And he would watch theirs.

He'd gone from a snarky, arrogant asshat to someone his teammates could trust. Tony still did sometimes still act like an asshat, but it was mostly when he was annoyed. Or when Thor was telling him science was bad. Or, well…yeah he was still a pretty big asshat, but a more likeable, trusting asshat.

One meeting with Nick Fury had changed that.

Now he was bordering paranoid. Now he knew that the people who had helped him save the world on multiple occasions might not be actually be the same people he had placed his trust with. Instead of knowing that someone would watch his back he would have had to constantly watch over his shoulder to make sure no one would backstab him. He just couldn't live that way.

So he had told The Avengers that one of their close friends wasn't there. One of their friends had been replaced. Then, the trust which had uneasily grown had been shattered.

Some, like Janet, had downright refused to believe it. After all, they were the Avengers, they would notice if someone within their ranked had been compromised. But the evidence was there and it didn't lie. But Tony was the only one who had seen the evidence so it was harder for the team to trust him, but he wouldn't lie.

He hoped Fury hadn't been lying, either. There was no reason for him to be lying. At least, Tony couldn't think of a reason why Fury would lie about something like that.

And now Tony sat in his office trying to think of who the Skrull was. But he knew it would be fruitless. Fury had said that Skrulls were the perfect copies. Even Black Widow had been surprised when she found out someone she saw almost every week had been an alien shapeshifter. And if someone like Natasha Romanov can't tell when someone isn't who they say they are, Tony had no hope.

And even though he called himself a futurist and had all this amazing technology, he just didn't know who was gone. Or replaced or abducted or whatever. He couldn't tell who was the wolf in sheep's clothing, just waiting in the shadows to attack.

Someone he knew, someone he trusted, had been replaced and Tony just didn't know who. It frustrated him to know so much, yet so little.

Not being able to take it any more Tony grabbed his helmet and hurled it across the room.

He was just so frustrated. He felt like he needed to talk to someone. Maybe Pepper was still in the building. He was just about to call her when a horrible thought entered his mind.

What if Pepper was a Skrull? What if Rhodey was? Just thinking this made Tony feel sick to his stomach because he trusted them with his life. And if Pepper or Rhodey had been replaced he didn't know if he could stop himself from doing something stupid and reckless.

He sighed loudly. It was late. But he needed someone to talk to that he was sure wasn't an alien.

But thinking about it maybe there was someone alien he could talk to…well, not really alien, more specifically the time travelling conqueror type.

Muahaha! Talk to all the aliens! Sorry, I just had to use that. So obviously the ending is AU and I WILL continue this story.

Just…get ready for time travelling conquerors in the next chapter that I shall upload-Odin-knows-when.

REVIEW!

Ps I don't own the word "asshat" but someone does. And I shall track them down and take the deed of ownership from their cold dead grip :D