A/N: Just wanted to say I love each and every one of you who enjoyed ASWL and I hope you enjoy AWWL just as much! I have the best reviewers in the world!

Chapter 1: Lights Out

It had been nearly three months since the Avengers had spent their summer with Loki, and most of them had nearly forgotten about their temporary companion. That was, most of them.

Thor had still been forbidden to travel to Asgard, and was still frightened for Loki's safety after what Odin had promised to do to him. He had been planning for a while to try and force his way back, thinking he might be able to bargain with his father in causing less damage to Loki than more. Each day he would try and contact Odin, and after that Heimdall. Yet every time he was denied. To sum up Thor's last few months, he spent his entire time taking out his frustration from his father in helping save the Earth. The more he talked about Asgard or Loki, the more rage he felt pool in his stomach. The thought of his little brother being harmed by Odin's hand made him furious, and an incredible hero because of it. Despite the constant denial Thor was receiving, he would try again and again to try and contact Odin. This continued on to no avail, until one attempt where he felt a secure connection, and he went for it.

xxx

Throughout the fall and beginning of winter, Tony Stark had been spending his time working hard to upgrade his suit, and going on mission after mission to keep himself occupied. Bruce was right, and Pepper had stopped by for a short time while her vacation had lasted. He needed the distraction of having Pepper around, it made him not feel as sick each time he thought of Loki being taken from him with the promise of torture. The thought that Loki had been stripped from them without so much as a goodbye made Tony's stomach ache with guilt, making him more than grateful when Pepper had stopped by.

But soon enough, Pepper had to leave on another business trip and Tony had come to the conclusion that having a girlfriend who was a CEO sucked. She was almost always away now, and couldn't be at his side 24/7 like he grew accustomed to. Now Tony had his missions, and Pepper had her meetings. Even for their Christmas break she had gone away to England to discuss some issues with Stark Industries and their clean energy program. Tony would have come along too, if it weren't for the huge threat in Hong Kong that apparently had the magnitude of Godzilla. With the date getting closer to the end of the Mayan calendar, and then a huge Godzilla like creature coming out of the sea, The Avengers had no choice but to suit up and save the world again, ruining their Christmas break.

All in all, Tony had come back with nearly every part of his body bruised, and had spent the last few days of 2012 in bed. No end of the year partying for him, just his bed, his pillows, and a whole ton of painkillers. On New Years Eve, he was skyping Pepper from his bed, telling her the extent of his injuries.

"And how's your back feeling now?" Pepper asked, sipping her mug of tea in England appropriately.

"My back?" Tony sighed, "It hurts."

"Maybe you should go and see a doctor. They do help people, you know."

"No. Not happening. If Batman can have his broken spine repaired without seeing a doctor, Iron man can manage a few bruises."

Pepper let out a soft chuckle, "Tony, Batman isn't real."

"Hey, maybe to you he's not." Tony challenged with a grin.

Pepper just shook her head at him with a lazy smile. "Okay, Tony."

Tony smiled back to her in return, "Pep, in all seriousness, I'll be fine okay? My back actually does feel a lot better today. I think I'll get out of bed soon."

Pepper wasn't sure whether to believe him or not just yet, but decided not to call him out on it. "Alright." she said, taking her eyes away from Tony for a moment to check the time on her computer. She watched the clock tick away from 11:59 to 12:00 and brought her attention back to her boyfriend. The sound of shouts and noise makers could be heard from the hotel rooms beside her, and she stifled a laugh.

Tony raised his eyebrows before he realized what was happening. "Ah, right, the time change." he chuckled.

Pepper nodded with a smile. "Happy New Year Tony."

Tony smirked as she blew him a kiss, "Happy New Years Pep."

She gave him a soft smile, "I wish you were h-"

Tony frowned, the video paused. His videos never paused. He had the best wifi in all of New York, Tony Stark's internet connection was flawless.

"Pep?" he tried, sitting up in bed a bit to try and asses the problem. "…Jarvis?"

Suddenly, all the lights began to flicker, and with no reply from Jarvis Tony began to worry. He swung his legs over the side of his bed for the first time in a few days and groaned as his back popped a couple times. He was about to stand up when all of the lights went out in the room. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the darkness and looked around, confused as to why any of this was happening. He reached for his phone on the bedside table and missed, successfully knocking it off and down the crack between the table and his bed. He groaned, bending down for it; making his back scream at him from the action. When he finally fished it out, he gingerly stood back up, only to hit his head on the lampshade and disorient himself even more. He moaned in pain, fixing the lampshade the best he could in the dark before he was suddenly assaulted by a surge of brightness from all the lights coming back on. "Agh what the hell is going on!" he yelped out, completely frustrated with the situation at hand and sitting down on the bed in defeat, rubbing his poor eyes.

Jarvis's crisp voice rang throughout the room, answering his call for help. "Sir, I would advise you visiting Doctor Banner's floor to answer some of your questions."

"Bruce?" Tony harrumphed and stood back up. "Damn right I will, did he blow something up? Why did you go offline? You never go offline. It's like an EMP went off in here."

Jarvis was about to reply to his master, but decided it would be useless since Tony was already stomping his way out the door.

On Bruce's floor, him Steve, Clint, and Natasha had all just come in through the balcony, looking rather unfazed to the power surges.

Tony burst through the doorway and walked right up to his group of friends. "Hey! What was that?" he demanded, clearly annoyed.

"Well, Thor had-"

Tony cut him off. "You know, I said it was cool to experiment in here, but with something that powerful, I thought I'd at least get a warning! You pushed Jarvis offline!"

Bruce shook his head. "Tony, it wasn't me it was Thor."

Tony looked like he was about to explode. "Wha... THOR?! YOU LET THOR-"

Bruce rolled his eyes, "Are you kidding." he mumbled under his breath.

Steve then spoke up, "Tony listen! Thor went back to Asgard!"

Everybody stood in silence then, Tony's face of anger soon fading away into one of concern. He looked around, noticing Thor's absence only now.

"That, that doesn't explain…"

Steve shook his head. "He was too worried about Loki and he forced his way back. Said he felt some sort of connection and could conjure himself back there?" he asked, looking to Bruce for help.

Tony raised an eyebrow, impressed with Steve's ability to comprehend that all.

"Thor said he could muster enough energy to get himself back there. He was being blocked out from all connection until today, and I guess he went for it. He said he had a bad feeling about Loki. And the energy from the portal, and his lightning didn't mix well with the buildings electric system I guess."

Tony frowned ignoring the last bit, he hadn't heard much about Loki out loud lately. "…Odin said if he tried to interfere he would only make Loki's punishment worse."

"We know, but Thor said he had a plan." Bruce sighed.

"You really should have seen him. The guy was nearly foaming at the mouth, he was unstoppable." Natasha piped in.

Tony blew out a puff of air, "And none of you tried to go with him?"

Natasha shook her head. "He picked up his hammer and made it very clear not to help him. We couldn't do anything but watch really. This is magic, Tony. We don't know how to control any of this stuff."

"Yet," Bruce clarified.

Tony sighed, supposing he would have to accept the situation for what it was. He glanced around to his fellow avengers before running his hands though his hair, "… So, what now?"

It was silent, until Clint spoke up for the first time after Tony's outburst. "…Nice boxers."

Tony looked down to his outfit for the first time, he was sporting an old battered t-shirt and his favourite pair of red boxers.

"You know? They are nice, thank you." Tony shot back sarcastically, before moving to sit down on one of the couches in the room.

Natasha stifled a laugh and Clint rolled his eyes.

"So, how come I didn't get a run down on the most current events?" Tony complained, stretching out somewhat comfortably on the couch.

"We didn't want to interrupt your whining." Bruce smirked, shoving Tony's legs over so he could sit beside him.

Tony glared at him but moved his legs off. "I was not whining."

All of the avengers raised their eyebrows, and looked to each other before they all started laughing. "Are you kidding?" Clint questioned sarcastically, "'My back hurts. I'm sore, I can't get out of bed, I need a drink." Clint teased, "Shall I go on?"

Tony shook his head, "I may have said one or two of those things."

Natasha raised a challenging eyebrow to him, clearing her throat pointedly.

"Oh fine, maybe all of them." he admitted, "But that doesn't matter. Anything concerning Loki, I want in on it from now on. Deal?"

Bruce nodded, agreeing silently.

"But what's done is done, I guess." Tony sighed, "What does matter now is that… Thor may have just made Loki's punishments ten times worse."

Clint shrugged, "Well maybe he deserves this."

Everyone turned to face Clint, Tony cocking his head to the side almost maniacally.

"Seriously? Clint, what did you just say?"

"You know what Loki did. And since we can't punish him on earth he's getting punished at home, big deal." he said, shrugging.

Tony sat up, even though it hurt his back, he made sure he was locking eyes with Clint. "So you think torture, is a proper punishment?"

Clint stiffened a bit from Tony's response. "Well, no but-"

"Exactly, and that's what it is. Torture. Sure we know Loki has some definite issues, and was being manipulated by the tesseract... But, getting your lips sewn together? Does no one remember the scary story Loki told us that one night around the campfire? The one that made everyone freaked out and sick to their stomach? Yeah, well, now that's a reality for him." Tony said, his gaze never faltering from Clint's. "Still think he deserves that?"

Clint stayed silent, his eyes moving to the floor.

"Good," Tony said, ending the discussion at least for now.

Everyone looked around awkwardly to each other, the change of moods in the room being exhausting.

Tony spoke up again, apparently not finished just yet. "...Now, someone hand me a drink so we can await Thor's return and this great start to the new year."

And a great start it was going to be.

A/N: Wow guys! I was not expecting the support from the last story, and all the encouraging emails to get me writing this sequel! All I ask of you guys is to leave a review! Start this story off with a bang! It would be the best late christmas/new years gift ever! As always, you guys rock!

Thanks so much!

Oh, also! People who hate Pepper! No worries, we won't be seeing much of her, unless I get an overwhelming response of positives towards her… which I don't exactly think I will. xD So no worries there guys! :)