"The coffee is mine." Thor smacked Tony's hand as it was reaching towards the coffee pot. "Touch it, and you shall face the consequences!"

"Jeez, it's my house, I get the coffee!" protested Tony, instead reaching for the pancakes.

"Wow, Stark, five-year-old much?" grinned Natasha over her omelet. It was breakfast time in the Avengers household with the Earth's Mightiest Heroes circled around in Tony's kitchen.

"Imagine working with him!" Bruce chuckled, remembering the time when Tony refused to hand him the screwdriver because it was his and not Bruce's. Yes, it had been a peaceful week, giving Tony and Bruce time to perfect Bruce's pants so that they would indeed be stretchable enough for the Big Green Rage Monster. Natasha had killed some mob bosses in their sleep, Thor had gulped down at least fifty cups of coffee which unsurprisingly had no effect over him, and it had been a good week overall.

"Where's Rogers?" Clint was reading the newspaper on the stairs as for some reason sitting down on a chair seemed weird to him.

"I think Fury was talking to him about something…" Natasha called out to him.

"Why him?" Tony rounded on her.

"Don't ask me, ask him, Stark!" She handed him the phone and Tony selected Nick Fury on his contacts list. The dial tone sounded in his ears and he cursed.

"I think we should all go visit him. I'm bored anyway."

"I'm not done my food." Clint called from the stairs. "I think we should take the day-off until Steve gets here."

"I'm the leader, I think we should listen to me." Tony replied calmly.

"Hey, wait a second. You're the leader?" started Natasha.

"I personally think you're way too lit most of the time to be the leader."

"I should be the leader. Is it because you're rich?"

"Whoa, hold up, people. What's going on here?" Steve had just walked into the room to see his fellow Avengers quarrelling.

"Tony thinks he's the leader."

"I am the leader." Tony corrected.

"Hah, Tony, you know I'm Captain America, right? The Captain part sort-of makes me the leader." Steve smirked.

"Hello, you? You don't even know what's going on most of the time. What's a mouse, Steve?"

"A mouse? Like pink-nosed and tail sort?" Steve said, perplexed.

"I shall be the leader of you lot, I am a God, and much stronger than you." Thor said, as if he had settled the matter.

"As Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., I believe it best that I choose." Nick walked into the kitchen with Maria tagging along behind him.

"I believe it isn't, you aren't even part of the Avengers!" Bruce sounded.

"The hell I am!" The arguments rose with the fight for the leader being the most important of the day. Maria stood back and watched the Avengers and her boss fight. She sighed and then gave an ear-piercing whistle.

"I know arguing right now is very imperative, but there seems to be a disruption in the Asgard-Midgard monitor." She said when the room finally silenced. The room turned to face Thor.

"It is not I for I have inhabited Midgard for fortnights." His low voice rumbled.

"Who else could be on Earth?" Tony wondered. "Asgard does have Loki in the Isle of Silence, right?"

"Yes, I am sure of it but he does have a nasty habit of escaping whenever I am here." Thor chuckled. Then he gasped.

"Hill, go and see if you can ID Loki on Earth." Fury barked at his assistant. Although the Earth seemed very much in danger if Loki did in fact make a comeback, the Avengers went back to their breakfasts. "Really? None of you are actually going to do anything?"

"It's probably not Loki, I mean, why would he come back if we completely kicked his arse the first time?" Natasha said, a grin playing about her lips.

"Well, Loki is one for revenge." Bruce commented, chewing slowly on his Cheerios.

"He certainly is feisty, I can tell you that." Everyone in the room turned to look at Tony. "What? Did I say that out loud?"

"Stark! That is my brother!" Thor warned.

"Whoa, I've got Pepper, remember? I'm just stating a fact."

"This," snarled Fury, "Is why none of you seem suitable for the role of leader. None of you will take a stand when there is a definite threat. Hmm, maybe I should call in Ant-man."

"He's too busy in the microverse anyway. I have an idea. Why don't we pick from a hat who the leader is?" Bruce proposed.

"No, the probability gives everyone less of a chance!" grumbled Tony from the back of the kitchen where he was rummaging for more coffee that Thor hadn't already consumed. Maria walked back into the kitchen with a frown on her face.

"It's definitely Loki, he seems to be…in a coffee shop in Paris." She stated.

"Okay, I'll go and interrogate him." Said Tony, moving to get his armour from the floor above.

"I'll come with you." Steve stood up from his place next to Natasha.

"Ah, I forgot you magically gained the ability to fly, Rogers." Steve was just about to say something witty, when Maria looked up from her tablet computer.

"Four of the top guarded Super-villain prisons just all simultaneously lost all their security. Now everyone from the Cube, the Raft, the Vault, and Big House is free. And SHIELD just sent a picture of Loki standing in front of the Cube, with Absorbing Man."

"Okay, superheroes!" Fury said with a smile on his face, but what he really was thinking was: "Why me?"

"So I'm going to need you to split up. I think it should go each superhero, the assassins count as one, to a prison, and one of you to confront Loki."

"That would be me. I'm the leader." Captain America grinned.

"Yeah, no, soldier, I'll confront Loki."

"He is my brother! It shall be me!"

"No, wait. I've a better idea. In the next 72 hours, the first person to save the World, shall become the official leader of the Avengers. Now go, before I punch y'all. Maria, could you pour me some coffee?"

A/N

I'm excited about this. Update in a day or two.