Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The incidents had not been noticed, at first, not in the wake of chaos left behind by the invasion. They were not recorded, or put together.
They were little things, at first. A few people going missing, and returning a few days later with a fear of God and daily praying, behaving better than befoew. Bullies getting beat up by shadowed figures.
Then it started to get bigger. Child abusers getting found out remarkably quickly, and disappearing, leaving the children behind with female dogs. Sexual abusers who had gotten away without jail time suffered cruel accidents, and people who experimented on animals tended to be attacked by mutated pigeons and alligators in sewers.
Then, once the city was almost completely fixed and matters were returning to normal, someone in the analytical department noticed the unusual amount of accidents around where they lived. The analyst reported it to their higher up, who reported it to their higher up, and so on. And eventually, all of the SHIELD analysts started compiling all these incidents into one file, which was then presented to Fury.
The Avengers, minus Tony who was running experiments, were eating breakfast in the Tower kitchen. It was a calm morning, with no explosions, threats or new supervillains. Clint was just spreading butter all over his toast and Thor was explaining the intricacies of Vanir politics to Steve and Natasha, when JARVIS suddenly spoke up.
"Excuse me for the interruption, but Director Fury has just sent me a file that he would like you to take a look at, along with Mr Stark. I am afraid it is marked as urgent, and the Director wants you to solve this as soon as possible."
The team collectively sighed. That did not sound good.
"Can you print that file off, JARVIS?"
"Certainly, Ms Romanoff. Just pick the printed version up from the nearest printer."
While Natasha went hunting for the printer, the elevator door opened, and Stark strolled in.
"What's this I hear? A new mission?"
"Seems to be. Here." Natasha tossed him a few pages, dividing the rest between the team "Let's read it."
There were a few quiet minutes when the team read through the pages, swapping them over to be certain they got all the information. "It's just obituaries and autopsy reports for fatal accidents, as well as the backgrounds of the dead people and photos of the places the corpses were found. And a lot of really weird little incidents." said Tony. "I mean, some of these people are jerks, with their records, but there's nothing else strange about it. It's been going on for months, almost since the invasion. What on earth are we supposed to do about this, and why start being bothered about this now?"
"Didn't you notice, Stark? Many of these accidents seem rather… ironic. And there are reports of a man that had been sighted around these areas, the same man. No detailed description is given other than black-haired and tall, but it's still something." snorted Natasha.
"So? I believe in karma."
"Does karma usually leave candy wrappers behind?" asked Steve.
"What do you mean, Spangles?"
"Look closely at the annotation to the photos, the analysts have noticed candy wrappers showing up very frequently."
"Huh. So we have someone with supernatural powers on the loose that kills jerks in ironic ways? Cheers for the guy."
"Stark, we have a responsibility to stop murderers and evil men."
"Yeah, so how do you propose we find our guy, hm?"
Clint frowned, and spoke up. "Haven't you seen these pages? Look. The incidents are grouped, and the area where the incidents occur migrates. Find a person who shows up in all these areas, and who matches the description the witnesses have given."
"Then JARVIS and I will get right on it, Legolas. Might take a few hours."
It took two hours, and then Tony pretty much ran into the sitting room where all the other Avengers were, cursing profusely.
"What's the matter?" asked Bruce.
"You are not going to believe it. JARVIS, turn on our display and show off our mystery guy."
The Avengers gasped.
"How is this possible, Friend Tony? My brother is imprisoned in Asgard, I am sure of it!"
"Maybe he left a clone behind, or this is just someone imitating him. But I have to say, posing as a janitor? So not in character for him. Thought he'd be all flashy. And his eyes are gold, too."
"It is very strange. We must track him down as soon as possible."
"Way ahead of you, Pikachu. I've already tracked him down, and I know where he is."
"Then what are we waiting for, Comrades?"
They were all waiting for the building to close down. Natasha had gone through the information and noticed that Loki always left the building where he posed as a janitor an hour or two after everyone else, which provided them with a perfect opportunity to confront him without civilians around.
Finally, after two hours of waiting after the building had closed down, Loki exited. He looked surprisingly normal, in a blue t-shirt, black jacket and dark blue jeans, with bright blue sneakers. His hair was also shorter.
Clint got ready to shoot, as the rest of the team got prepared to engage. He fired as the Avengers fanned out around their target.
And Loki, who had been standing with his back to them, turned around in one smooth movement and caught it. "Took you long enough to find me. I thought you'd be faster-" he was interrupted by Thor slamming into him. And bouncing off, as though Loki was made of diamond. Thor raised his hammer to hit him, but Loki just grabbed Thor by his arm and threw him into Tony, causing them both to fall to the ground. Natasha, who pounced on him from behind got snatched by the wrist at a super-human speed, and was sent flying at Steve, knocking him down. "You'll have to do better than that."
The Avengers warily got up from their positions on the ground, ready to fight at any second, though something seemed wrong. Tony fired his repulsors at him, and the blasts literally fizzled out in mid air, while Bruce tried to get angry enough to turn to the Hulk, without success. The Avengers frowned at each other. Loki had not been that strong before. Something was way off.
"Seriously, what did I ever to do you?" asked Loki, bemusedly, not even phased at them trying to take him down.
"Brother, you know perfectly well why. You had tried to invade Midgard, you have slaughtered innocent civilians."
"Not your brother, Lightning boy." Loki smirked, staring at Thor with disconcerting, glowing golden eyes. The way he said it, calmly and lightly, as though it was a simple fact, was unexpected. Usually Loki got angry at that, started shouting and hatefully ranting, not behaving as though a stranger had just mistaken him for someone else. "Do you want a Skittle?"
"I tire of your lies and misdirections brother. Cease this, and come quietly, and you may yet find mercy for your escape and murders."
"Seriously, this is like watching a one-person Shakespeare re-enactment, with old English and capes, and everything. Haven't heard anybody speak like that naturally since those times.
Anyway, I have many brothers and siblings, and you aren't one of them. Not that it's a bad thing. Most of them are completely douches, though Lucifucker, Naomi and Metadouche take the prize for being the most evil pricks. And I'd never invade the planet. I'd need to do too much paperwork to run it."
"Brother, what are these delusions you suffer from? You have no other siblings, and you tried to invade Midgard just months ago!"
"You are dumber than the Winchesters, aren't you, kid? I am not your brother. I'm not that douche that you call Loki." Loki pulled out a mars bar, and took a bite.
"Do not refer to me as a child, brother."
"Boy, aren't you a prideful one. I'm millions of years older than you."
The other Avengers, excluding Thor, exchanged glances. Something big was going on here. Loki was not acting like himself at all. Stark decided to interrupt the two demi-gods. "How can you not be Loki?"
"Ever heard of possession, muttonhead?"
Thor gasped and then growled, understanding. "Remove yourself from my brother, demon!"
"Wait, what? Possession? Demons? What are you going on about?"
"Captain, in this and all worlds there are creatures that are called demons. They posses whoever they like, wreck havoc and spread evil. They come from Hell, and this one is obviously possessing my brother." Thor charged, but with a snap of Loki's fingers, he was sent flying far down the street.
"Seriously, that gets boring. And Mr Jekyll, stop trying to Hulk out."
"Why? Then I could beat you up, demon."snarled Bruce.
"You wouldn't be able to beat me, even if I wasn't suppressing your transformation."
Tony and Bruce gaped. "You can do that?"
"I could freeze you all in places if I wan-" Not-Loki was cut off by the two bullets Natasha shot in his chest, Cap's shield to the head, and the arrow in his throat, courtesy of Clint. He frowned and pulled the arrow out, leaving behind no mark, and the shield just bouncing off. "Oh come on. I liked this T-shirt. Seriously, what have I done?"
The Avengers exchanged very worried looks, as it became obvious that they could not kill the not-Loki, and overpowering him did not appear to be possible.
By now, however, Thor had returned from his short trip down two avenues. "You will not leave here, demon. We have a duty to stop you, and to exorcise you from this body." With that, he swung his hammer, charged with lighting and sent it at not-Loki. The team braced for the inevitable explosion and smell of charred flesh, but not-Loki just seemed to absorb it.
"Oh, I'm no demon. And you brother isn't here anymore, if I left the body it would just become a corpse. Unlike the lower classes, I need room, a lot of it, and Loki's not a perfect vessel for me. Besides, it's all consensual, not really a possession. I couldn't do it otherwise." Loki smirked, finishing off his mars bar.
"I will find a way to annihilate you, foul spirit, and release my brother from you clutches. Your trickery and evil-doing will cease."
"Loki is dead. His soul has gone on, there was a reaper and everything. He asked to die painlessly, and I obliged. Besides, how do you think you'll destroy me? I doubt you have enough guts to deep-fry this body with holy oil, and that wouldn't kill me anyway now. Not with the upgrade I got for being the only archangel to do the assigned work. I'm not even sure Dad would let me die again anyway - he's already brought me back once. I am, after all carrying out his task of judging and smiting. And occasional message delivering. Though my resurrection may have been Death's work, too. I endeared myself to them by saying 'fuck you' to the rest of my siblings when it came to the Apocalypse."
Thor paled, as he came to a realisation. "No… This can not be…"
Tony decided to pipe up. "So what's your name, not-Loki? And what are you, if not a demon?"
"They call me Gabriel, the Archangel."
"Wait, as in the archangel Gabriel? No way. Not with the way you dicked about with your victims." Tony asked incredulously.
"Yup. Not what you expected, right? News flash, we angels aren't all fluffy and white. And I'm the angel of Revelations, yes, but also the angel of Judgement, since my brothers, including Michael, have all been slacking off on their actual jobs and trying to bring about the Apocalypse. I also got landed with Healing and Punishment, and other stuff. Course the Apocalypse didn't work out, you'd have noticed if it did, but it was close."
Steve frowned. "The Apocalypse? The Biblical one, with the Horsemen, and everything?"
"Yup. A death match between Michael and Lucifer, the end of which would either bring paradise or hell to the quarter of the world that would remain undestryed, as angels and demons watch from the sidelines. 'Course, with how Sammy-Moose ended up dragging Lucifer and Michael into the Cage, that's not going to happen again. Anyway, this has been fun, but I have places to be, people to punish, sweets to eat. I think I've had enough of America." There was a sound like beating wings, and Gabriel vanished.
"Well, fuck. How are we going to find him now? He could be anywhere." complained Tony.
"We won't. And we can not kill or restrain him, Friend Tony."
"Why not?"
"He is an archangel. We Asgardians try to not draw the attention of angels, and know little about them, but we know that the only ones with enough power to beat archangels are other archangels, their Father, the Darkness and Death. I fear that nought can be done to stop him."
"Well… How are we going to explain this to Fury?" asked Clint. "He's not going to be happy that this…angel... is loose."