Bunches of thanks to my awesome beta, irite, for, um, betaing. Yes. That.

After Bruce's pronouncement, there were several beats of silence. Then, Clint looked at Natasha. "Guess we'd better report to Fury, huh?" He glanced towards the door that his cat had just scurried through. Honestly, what was the animal's problem?

Well, whatever. He'd given up trying to understand that cat about the third day he'd had it.

Natasha nodded, standing up. "You want to go into the office or just make a video call?"

Clint shrugged. At this point, he mostly wanted to go back to bed and pretend that this wasn't happening, but that didn't seem to be an option. Given Natasha's annoyed look, though, he answered, "We can go in. Whatever. We probably should, anyway. Fury probably wants us to at least check out the scene, right? Just let me get dressed first." He was, after all, still wearing his pajamas. They were comfy, but he didn't exactly think Fury would appreciate Tweety Bird.

Natasha looked at Steve and Thor. "You want to come in with us?"

Thor didn't answer, except to give a terse nod, but Steve said, "Yeah, we probably should. When are we gonna get going?"

"Give us half an hour," she answered. "We can meet in the garage and head over together. If you don't feel like waiting you can head over on your own."

"What, you're not going to invite us?" Tony asked, elbowing Bruce. "We might have something useful to offer! Something...science-y!"

Bruce, more usefully, said, "Have SHIELD send us their data on the, er, 'crime scene,' and we can analyze it and see if we can figure anything out."

"It's possible Fury's going to want you to come in and help the science team," Natasha mused, tapping her chin. "You wanna just come now?"

"Hell no," Tony replied. "I have better things to do. Like, you know, have breakfast."

Clint was immensely envious of that. Breakfast was definitely on his list of 'things I'd rather do than deal with some nutjob impersonating me.'

It was a long list.

He mumbled something about going to get ready and made a hasty exit, heading back towards the elevator. He felt a little bit better now that he had a purpose, but he still wasn't eager to deal with this. Or to deal with other people watching him try to deal with this.

Which was too bad; a moment later, Natasha caught up to him and asked, "Hey. You okay?"

Great, he wasn't going to get the reprieve he wanted. It was time for that talk. As if this whole situation wasn't bad enough, now he had to talk about it.

But he knew the importance of talking, now, and he knew that he could trust Natasha. The same held for everyone on his team, really, something they'd proven during his long recovery after his injury a year ago. So he sighed and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He glanced over at Natasha, who'd raised an eyebrow, and clarified, "I mean, it sucks and I'm pissed off about it. Loki's mocking me. But I can't do anything about it right now." He stopped in front of the elevator, punching the button forcefully.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Natasha nod slowly. As the elevator opened for them, she said, "It's not going to be like last time. We know what we're dealing with now. And you won't be alone."

They stepped into the elevator, and Clint said, "I know." It was good to have the team on his side, but it didn't matter that they were more prepared. Sure, they'd be less surprised by the whole 'magic' thing, but that wasn't what he was worried about. What had happened to him...he'd been able to put it behind him. It was a thing that had happened, and that was that. It was over, wasn't gonna happen again, so he could forget it. But now?

Now that had changed. Now it wasn't the past anymore, it was the present.

They rode up in silence, Natasha thankfully not pressing Clint for more. He didn't know if he could explain what he felt. It wasn't like he expected Loki to show up with his magic scepter and brainwash him again. He couldn't. For one, SHIELD had kept the scepter, had it locked up in a vault about thirty stories underground. Clint had watched them shut the heavy door on it. Two, he was ready this time. He saw Loki, he was gonna put an arrow in his eye. No hesitation.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure what he was feeling.

But he knew Natasha would be there when he did figure it out. Same for everyone else, really.

It was a good feeling.

The two of them parted ways and headed to their separate apartments, and when Clint got inside and made his way to his bedroom, he heard a low growl coming from under the bed.

"What the shit is your problem, weirdo?" Clint asked, not even lifting up the covers to peer under the bed.

At his voice, Cat slunk out from under the bed, glancing side to side nervously. The coast was clear, evidently, and Cat jumped up onto the bed.

When Clint reached out a hand to pet him, though, he laid his ears back and flinched away with a hiss.

"Geez, okay. Whatever, asshole. I need to get dressed." Clint was well used to his cat's mood swings at this point. He started digging around through the laundry on his floor, trying to find something that was more or less clean.

Dressed, he headed back to the elevator (after, of course, he filled Cat's dishes and made sure his mouse had something to eat-he didn't know how long he was gonna be out, after all) and took it down to the garage. He was early, but Steve and Thor were already down there, standing next to an SUV in awkward silence.

Clint took the opportunity to snag the keys for the car on his way by the rack, and then he walked over. "Hey."

They both nodded in acknowledgment, but neither spoke. This was kind of weird-Thor was usually fairly chatty, especially this early in the morning when no one else wanted to talk-but Clint joined them in their moody brooding without commenting on it. They got in the car, at least, with Steve and Thor squeezing into the back, and Clint turned the radio on to something that wasn't too offensive.

A few minutes later, Natasha hopped into the passenger's seat. "Sorry about that," she apologized, then actually looked at Clint. "Looks like you didn't bother...showering."

He put the car in gear and shrugged. "Didn't seem pressing."

"Personal hygiene is always pressing, Barton," she deadpanned. "Especially if we're going to be in a confined space together." She pointedly rolled her window down. Then, to Thor, she said, "Did your father have anything to offer about who we might be dealing with?"

Thor answered, sounding almost...bored. "There are many shapeshifters across the realms. It is likely one of them." He paused, then added, "My father had nothing of import to say."

"But the 'kneel' thing was kinda pointed, don't you think?" Steve asked. "I mean, that seems really...Loki."

"Likely whoever has come to your realm is impersonating my brother to throw us off their trail," Thor said quickly. "If they have any familiarity with your realm, they would know that imitating Loki would be an easy way to buy some time, as it would lead you on a 'wild goose chase.' That would allow them to carry out their true purpose."

Clint narrowed his eyes at the road in front of him. That seemed really...overly complicated. Especially for someone not familiar with the Avengers. Also, "Is it really easy to invade from a different realm or what?"

Thor said slowly, "It...is not as complicated as one might think." He offered nothing else.

The rest of the ride was quiet, but as soon as they walked into SHIELD's land headquarters, they were accosted by a group of agents who escorted them straight up to Fury's office. Clint did his best to avoid looking at anyone as they marched through the building. After what had happened during Loki's first invasion, it had taken a while for people to warm up to him again, to trust that he wasn't going kill anyone else. This whole thing basically served as a reminder of what had happened, and he didn't think he could deal with the nervous glances right now.

Fury, as usual, showed no evidence of his unfortunate early morning. He greeted them with a tense, "Agents. Rogers. Thor. Give me some good news."

"Thor says it's not Loki," Natasha answered, glancing over at Thor. "Said his father checked, and Loki's right where he belongs."

Thor didn't add anything to what Natasha had said. At least until Fury prompted him, "That true?"

"Yes," Thor answered, then, turning an intense gaze on Fury. "It is. My brother is not responsible for this morning's little...show."

Fury frowned. "Then who the hell is? And why are they pretending to be your damn brother?"

"I know nothing for certain. It is possible the shapeshifter is attempting to mask their true identity by imitating Loki. After all, it is no secret that your agency has a certain...interest in him. It would serve as a suitable diversion."

Steve asked, "Have you had any luck figuring out where whoever it was went?"

"No," Fury said. "I have a team working on facial recognition, but we don't have a lot to work with since whoever it is was wearing Barton's face. We're running scans for Loki, but if it's not Loki, then I can stop wasting my resources on that." He pressed a button on his phone and said, "Cancel the search for Loki, that's a goddamn dead end." He turned back to the group. "Okay then, Rogers, Romanoff, Barton, I want you at the scene. Thor, I want you working with the team looking for magical residue on the arrows we recovered. You know something about magic, right?"

Thor answered easily, "Some, yes. I would be pleased to assist you."

Which was...weird. Thor was usually accommodating, yeah, but not quite so...polite about it.

Fury didn't seem put off by it, though. He just barked, "Fan-fucking-tastic. Barton, take Thor down to the new labs before you go. I'm going to have Stark and Banner come in to help out. Then report back to me, I want you at the scene as well."

"Yes, sir," Clint answered. He gestured to Thor, saying, "Come on, all the labs where they do stuff with magic are underground. Security and shit." Honestly, he wasn't really clear what they did down there. So not his business.

"Of course."

The two of them left Fury's office and headed towards the elevator. Thor did not speak, and it felt off. Thor had been more than apologetic for what his brother had done last time. And even though Loki wasn't to blame for this, it still seemed like Thor would have something to say about what had happened.

But he didn't.

There were two sets of elevators in the building. There were the ones that accessed the upper floors and the ones that would take you down to the subterranean levels where most things requiring more security were kept. Thor and Clint took the first set of elevators down to the ground floor, and then Clint started leading Thor through the various halls and ramps to the second set.

And still Thor did not speak. Instead, he glanced around, taking in his surroundings. Clint tried to remember if Thor had seen this part of headquarters before, but he couldn't remember. Was this normal behavior for him? Thor wasn't usually so...curious.

When they got to the second set of elevators, the pair waited in silence for the car to arrive. All the while, Clint began to feel more ill at ease, shifting from foot to foot and sneaking glances at Thor, who, in contrast, seemed entirely relaxed. Clint told himself that he was being ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.

They got on the elevator and the doors slid shut. Thor scanned the inside of the elevator as Clint dug his badge out so he could use it to verify his identity. Once he found it, Clint ran the badge through the reader, but as he reached out to press the button for the lab floors, Thor reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"I think," he said coldly, his voice changing as he spoke, "That this illusion has gone on more than long enough."

Clint's stomach dropped. He knew that voice. Knew it very, very well.

Goddamn it.

Slowly, he turned his head, looking up.

Thor was gone, and Loki was looking down at him, sneering.

"Barton," he said. "How good it is to see you again."

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