"Alert! Sir, the tower is under attack. I would advise you to procure the armor."

A moment of silence fell through the lab before a muffled voice could be heard, along with the sound of tools falling onto the concrete floor. A sleepy, dazed Tony Stark emerged from his position on his stool, lifting his head from his desk, revealing the imprint of a wrench he had carelessly fallen asleep on, upon his cheek.

"Again? God the one time I decide to doze off…" He grumbled as he stood, stretching his arms and back, tight from the awkward, hunched sleeping position. "You know the drill, J. The Mark VII, please."

"Of course, sir," the AI responded and complied. By the time Tony had changed into his under suit, the Mark VII was ready and waiting, courtesy of JARVIS. He stepped in, waiting as the armor encased his body. The face plate was the last to close, and the eyes slits began to glow, indicating it was ready and online.

"Stark, what the hell took you so long?" Steve's voice echoed through the living area they had all recently began to call theirs. Steve and the other avengers were all standing in the center of the room, dressed and ready for battle, with the exception of Banner, because this may not call for code green. Natasha and Clint glanced at Tony momentarily before returning their eyes to the holographic image of the tower JARVIS had pulled up. The tower defense system was up and running and the threat seemed minor as of this time.

"Relax, Capsicle, I was in the lab. What do we got?" Tony noticed the obvious annoyance on Steve's face, smirking internally. He turned his attention to the hologram as Steve began to speak.

"We still don't know who or what is attacking the tower, JARVIS can't seem to get a visual, only a general area where an unknown energy signature is being detected. That's all we got. Any suggestions, o-brilliant-one?" Steve mocked, but kept a rather serious expression on his face.

"Actually, as a matter of fact, yes. Jarvis? Run a scan for any signs of life in the general area of the energy signature, just because we can't see anything doesn't mean nothings there."

"There does seem to be…someone… emitting a similar energy to Mr. Odinson. It would seem this threat is Asgardian, Sir." All eyes flicked to Thor, who now seemed quite uneasy.

"As you all know…" he began hesitantly, "my brother, Loki, had managed to escape Asgardian prison. It is quite possible that he has come back to Midgard, possibly for revenge on the Avengers."

"Really, Reindeer Games is back? Banner, stay on the coms, this might turn out to be a code green after all." And with that, Tony and the other Avengers headed to the roof top.

Tony could hear Steve forming a plan with the others in the Elevator, but he knew this was Loki. Whatever plan they managed to throw together would backfire within minutes. The elevator arrived at the roof, and Tony immediately stepped out, shooting a repulsor beam at the area JARVIS indicated the threat was coming from. "Did we hit him, J?"

"REALLY Tony? I thought we had a plan." Steve fumed from behind him, pulling his shield off his back in a ready stance.

"Ah, no. You had plan, I deemed it trivial and now here we are." Tony watched as annoyance changed to anger on Steve's face. He noticed this and added, "Really Cap, this is Loki. He's completely unpredictable and I was the only one with a view of the energy signature from my helmet. I took the shot."

"Oh really? Alright, genius. So where's his energy signature now?" Steve's cold glare sent goose bumps down Tony's arms, not that anyone could see.

"According to JARVIS…" He silenced for a moment as his AI revealed the new location of the energy, now coming directly at him. Within seconds of this revelation, Iron Man was tackled with great force against the now closed elevator doors. A few coughs and an annoyed, "there." could be heard over his com.

"Tony? Tony, are you alright?" Steve yelled into his com, about to run to his team mates aid before a booming, "Captain!" could be heard, and a hand on his shoulder pulling him away from a ray of some sort of magic that was aimed at him.

"Thanks, Thor. Natasha, go check on To-"

"Avengers! It is so, so good to see you again," an evil smile curled up at the corners of the mans mouth.

"Brother," Thor shouted at the now visible Loki, "Why have you returned to Midgard? No more games."

"What? Can I not visit my favorite bunch of…heroes?" He retorted sarcastically through gritted teeth.

No one had noticed Iron Man had recovered from his assault, not even Loki, it seemed. Soon Tony was behind the man, every missile and a repulsor beam aimed at Loki's head.

"Give it up, Rudolph."

"Why, it's good to see you too, Stark." Loki suddenly appeared behind Tony, the sharp end of the staff pressed to the back of his armor. Tony knew the blade couldn't cut through the gold titanium alloy, but the magic, well, that he wasn't sure about. Loki focused his eye on the rest of group now, hatred burning through them. "If you value his life, I suggest you put down your weapons."

The group complied, seeing as they had no other choice.

"FOOLS." Suddenly, their backs were forced against a concrete wall, and they found themselves unable to move.

"Great plan, Stark." Clint sneered, rolling his eyes.

"Not the time Clint. This is ser-" Natasha was cut off suddenly as Loki removed Tony's face plate, then his helmet, tossing it aside and gripping his throat. He lifted tony by the neck; feet lifted off the ground with ease, and shoved him against the opposite concrete wall. His staff dropped to ground, as he raised his other hand, it hovering over the arc reactor in Tony's chest. Steve watched, struggling to free himself, though he knew it was useless. He didn't know much about Tony's arc reactor, but he knew it was keeping him alive and powering the Iron Man armor.

"Ah… I remember this." Loki's eyes brightened as the look on Tony's face showed remembrance. "The clump of metal that kept me from enslaving you, yes?" He noticed the absolute terror in Tony's eyes, and Tony knew that this was going to be like Stane all over again. His breathing began to increase, sweat starting to bead down his face. "Not again," he thought, "not right now…" As if reading his mind, Loki clasped his hand to the reactor, covering the blue glow. He wasn't penetrating the armor with his hand at all, but Tony could feel a pulling and shifting sensation in his chest. Oh no. No no no no no, not again. His eye's squeezed shut; he gritted his teeth as he attempted to hide the feeling of absolute terror and pain. Loki grinned, pleased at the pain he was causing his enemy. He pulled his hand back to a hovering position, but this time there was a sickly green glow between the shifting arc reactor and his palm, a glow that was pulling the clump of metal from Tony's chest.

Tony desperately tried to keep himself from screaming in pain, and actually pleaded the god to stop. "PLEASE! I ca-can't…PLEASE…please…" Tony forced the words through clenched teeth. Tony Stark…begging? Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing. The whole team, actually. Even Loki's face held a hint of astonishment. It didn't last long though. There was one final snapping sound as the arc reactor in their friends chest was pulled through his armor, into Loki's hand.

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it stark?" Loki smirked at the wide eyed genius he still had pinned to the wall, and let him down. He was no longer a threat to him. The light from the reactor shown in Loki's eyes, as the light from Tony's slowly faded. He could already feel the shards of shrapnel forcing their way into his heart. He was breathing heavy; his chest felt like it was being ripped open with each inhale. If he friends couldn't break free soon, he would die. Somehow though, he felt as if Loki hadn't come to kill all of them, barely even him, though the target appeared to be him. No, Loki was planning something. He wanted to allow Tony a chance to live, even if it was a slight one, though it would make no difference to him if he died. It was personal. It was about exposing his weaknesses to his friends, similar to what Tony had done to Loki.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony noticed Banner, or the hulk rather. Someone had given the code green. Tony felt a weak smile spread across his lips.

"What are you smiling about, you repulsive pest?" Loki snapped at him. Though not a second later, there was a loud shake, and Loki felt heavy breath upon the back of his neck. He crushed the arc reactor in his hands, turning to face the beast. "There you are, monster. I was wondering when you'd show up." He smiled just as Hulk raised his fists to smash him, and disappeared. The other avengers were released from Loki's magic almost instantly, and the hulk shrunk back down into puny Banner.

"TONY!" Natasha and Steve said in unison, as they all rushed to his side. His skin was ghost-pale, his lips losing color as well. His eyes were bloodshot and wide open, like a deer in headlights. On top of the shrapnel slowly but painfully clawing its way into his heart, he was breathing as if he'd just run the equator nonstop. No one knew he was having a full-fledged panic attack, they just assumed it was from the pain.

"Thor, get the elevator open. Banner I know you just changed but I'm going to need your help. We need to get Tony to the lab immediately." Steve gave these orders as he gathered Stark into his arms, carrying him bridal style, walking him into the now open elevator.

"Come on Stark, stay with us. Eye's on me." Clint ordered, but it was as if Tony were looking right through him. He didn't have long and they all knew it. After what seemed like eternity, the elevator arrived on Tony's lab floor. They scrambled out, and walked toward the locked doors. Natasha entered the security pin and the doors clicked open.

"JARVIS I need a full scan of Tony's vitals and a spare arc reactor. Where does he keep them?"

"Scanning Sir's vitals now. The spare arc reactors will be in the sealed case in the back room. The access code is 1638. You will also find a chair to place Sir. I suggest you move quickly."

Steve rushed into the back room, setting Tony on the reclined dentist-like chair while Bruce open the case, pulling out one of the spare reactors, studying it carefully as he brought it to where Tony lay. He was unresponsive, and Bruce had no idea how to correctly connect the reactor. The other avengers eyed him expectantly.

"JARVIS, walk me through this, I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Connect the wires in his chest to the back of the arc reactor. Mind the metal casing; do not let the wires touch the sides."

"Okay, done. Now what? Come on JARVIS his vitals are dropping fast."

"Place the reactor in the chest cavity. Press and twist."

Bruce did as he was told and sure enough, the reactor pressed into place, glowing in their dying friend's chest. They waited a moment, and finally Tony snapped out of his daze, breathing heavily still, as if trying to catch his breath. He no longer looked passive, and seemed to notice his friends standing around him, worried expressions on their faces.

"No one kissed me, right?" He joked, remembering the last time he almost died after falling through a wormhole in the middle of New York.

Steve just half-heartedly smiled, patting Tony on the shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Stark. We thought we'd lost you for a second there." He noticed the brief look of confusion on Tony's face, before realization struck and his hand flew to his chest, checking to see if the hole was filled with the familiar blue glow. His breathing slowed and he leaned his head back on the chair, closing his eyes for moment and swallowing hard before standing up, stifling a wince of pain.

"I need a drink. Anyone else need a drink?" Tony asked them, back to his old self, or so it seemed. They just smiled, glad to have their friend back, and followed him out the lab door, back to the main floor for a round of drinks, or in Tony's case, multiple rounds.