*I'm using the theory that Loki was under Thanos' control as the background for this story. Loki did fake his death, but eventually turned up at the Avengers tower. Loki is now an unofficial avenger, and it is two years after the events of the Dark World.

Tony POV

He really had no clue how he had missed the early warning signs. His only real excuse was that Thor had disappeared for an impromptu trip back to Asgard last year, so Tony hadn't realized there was anything important about those two weeks. And besides, he had been completely distracted when Loki came strolling into the tower right beside a beaming Thor. So really, Tony could at least pretend he had an excuse.

He had first gotten a bad feeling when Thor had started acting sulky. You could never really tell with Loki, as he was just barely starting to warm towards midgard's mightiest heros. But the normally endlessly exuberant Thor? You would have had to be blind, deaf, and an idiot to miss a giant sulking Thor. But both the aliens had been each hiding out on their private floors of the tower, and only ever emerged to fight of the baddies and eat. Which Loki apparently didn't do much of anyway.

Clint, much to Tony's delight, had been unable to spot the difference even with his supposedly perfect observation skills. But he noticed on many occasions Steve or Bruce would attempt to approach Thor about it, only to be left standing alone as he retreated back to his room. Even Natasha had eventually switched from vaguely curious to worried looks.

On the rare occasion Loki emerged from his lair though, which was only ever to defend the good citizens of America (or Britain, he had taken a special liking to it for some reason), Loki tore through the enemies with an unnatural amount of hate even for him, demolishing any foe within minutes. The Avengers had actually just sat in their jet the last couple of missions, just doing the occasional crowd control as the Asgardians worked of their inexplicable hatred towards the world.

But the most annoying thing was that as Tony watched Thor's bright clothes and Loki's darker ones change to simple, drab garments and their normally cheerful or at least tolerable personalities plumet, Tony was growing ever more impatient. The curious scientist in him desperately wanted to know what was up with the gods, and as it didn't seem like they would be telling, he just had to hope that whatever it was would come to light soon. What he didn't realize was what he was really asking for was crazier than he could have ever dreamed of, and that it would begin in three minutes when the clock struck midnight.