The last years had always held surprises for Tony Stark. Yes, as a child he had dreamed to become a superhero. He had always dreamed of being like Captain America. Someone the people looked up to, someone to admire, someone to change the world. Yes, he had changed the world. Not always to the better but he had learned from his mistakes. In order to correct his history, he had changed himself. He had become a hero.

As Iron Man he had fought his demons, created new ones... It was a process. Tony was still in the middle of something, he knew. However, one day he would be satisfied with his work and lean back for a while, until the next problem crawled up from a dirty little hole.

At the moment he was doing fine. He had cooperated with SHIELD and upgraded their helicarriers with his repulsor technology. His current project was also working out just fine. The Avengers Tower, formerly known as Stark Tower until Loki had decided to use it as a portal-creating-building, was almost finished, just a few additions here and there and his teammates could move in.

The mechanic was sitting in his broad living room, a Starkpad in his lap while musing about some gadgets he still wanted to install in the empty rooms when he heard an alarm sound. "Sir, there appears to be an intruder in the lower decks. They are moving fast and-" Silence. Tony jumped to his feet and practically ran to the lab. His security system had been breached. Jarvis had been manipulated. What the hell had happened this time? Really now. It was one thing breaking into and entering his home but it was a whole different story to tinker with Jarvis.

There were more than enough people who hated his guts and would love to destroy his.. and soon to be the Avengers headquarters. People who were able to shut down his security system AND Jarvis were much rarer to encounter.

"Jarvis? Hey bud, come on. They can´t shut you off just like that.." He was jogging down the stairs into his lab and a little pissed that apparently someone HAD been able to shut off Jarv just like that he slammed down on his swivel chair. Several lights on his monitor were flashing, indicating what he had already known. Someone was in the Tower and moving around. Expert fingers moved over the console in an attempt to restart the system. It was a race against time, Tony knew. Whoever had decided to pay him a visit wouldn´t wait for him to restart and find them. Whatever they wanted, he had to stop them.

Confused the genius raised an eyebrow. The system was back and working. No alarm, no flashing lights... "Hey Jarvis, you okay?"

"My apologies, Sir. There has been memory lost. I will perform a scan to recover the lost data."

"Yeah.. do that... And while you´re doing that, tell me if there´s still that uninvited guest. You remember them, right? Sudden appearance in the Tower, shutting down the systems.. or did they delete all that? How did they get access to your servers anyway?"

"Let´s just say it´s magic." Came a male voice from a corner of his lab and Tony started surprised. He snatched one of his Iron Man bracelets and rose to his feet as calmly as he could. Don´t show them you´re not in control. You are in control. This is your Tower. Magic my ass. The brunette moved sideways and searched the room. One day he would get really paranoid with random villains entering and/or destroying his home seemingly becoming a regular thing. Where was that guy?

"It really is you..." The guy said from behind him and Tony swirled around. He had expected a lot but he had o admit that he was still surprised, when he saw the boy in front of him.

Ripped and burned black and golden leather armor outfit... Raven hair and piercing green eyes... Tony moved a step away from him and raised his arms in a non-provocative gesture. "Look, I´m amazed at your effort and kind of flattered that you came to visit me but maybe you could tell me why you´re here, Loki."

The boy.. no, he actually looked like a young man.. smiled, Tony noted that it actually looked sincere, and stepped forward, inspecting him closely. "It´s a long story, Anthony..."

"It always is, isn´t it? How come you look so young?" While the mechanic knew it was a good tactic to keep Loki talking, the answer also interested him. Yeah, with those Asgardians you never knew.. but it was worth a question. If Loki had found the fountain of youth Tony couldn´t deny his curiosity. Asgardians already lived a few thousand years. Kinda unfair to also get dips on the fountain of youth, right?

"I´ve been like this for a while now..." Loki answered and watched him with a longing in his eyes, that caught Tony off guard. Too many questions were running through his head, he didn´t see it coming. Loki was way too fast.

Soft, cool lips were pressed against his own. Long arms slung around his body, pressing him against leather and metal. A tongue asked desperately for entrance and Tony granted it. Definitely not what he had been expecting, but making out with Loki was not the worst case scenario, so he didn´t complain. This could be worse.. so much worse.. He put his hands on the others hips and deepened the kiss. He had the upper hand now. Whatever it was Loki wanted, he also wanted attention. So he would get attention until the genius came up with an idea how to fight and capture Loki best. At least that had been the plan. The urge to capture him was slowly dissolving into something else. Damn his libido, he was enjoying this way to much as was the mage who didn´t seem to plan to let him go soon.

Something had to happen, fast. Barton had been compromised by Loki once. Maybe he didn´t have the upper hand in this after all. The brunette gathered his strength and pushed at the other, who deliberately let go off him and looked a little hurt? Unfazed Tony called for his suit and watched Loki simply stare at him, while his armor began to cover him. Raising his arm and activating the repulsor he aimed for the raven haired but didn´t shoot. There was no need to.

Defeated Loki lifted his arms and bowed his head. "Go ahead. Put me in chains. You don´t trust me, do you?" The words were murmured and Tony had to admit the other reminded him of a kicked puppy with that betrayed look on his face, but he would have to think about that later.

"You give me no reason to trust you, Macbeth." His words must have struck a nerve. Loki lowered his head again and in no time at all the intruder had been put into a cell.

This was way too easy. For the lack of a better idea, Tony leaned against the glass front of Loki´s cell and watched him. "Okay sweety, how about answering my questions now?" Brows furrowed in thought, the Asgardian´s eyes were on the floor. He stood in the middle of the room for a moment before he decided to move towards Tony and lean against the glass, too.

"Only if you are willing to answer some of my questions as well, Anthony." The brunette folded his arms in front of his chest and nodded. "Fine."

"The last time I saw you, you were dead. Who are you?" Piercing green eyes were staring at him again and Tony raised an eyebrow.

This would take a while...