Sausages and schoolmarms
Tony had agonized for quite a while to what to do about the first invasion: To interfere in Stuttgart or not to interfere in Stuttgart, that was the question.
In the end, he'd decided to attend the F-cell expo to launch his arc reactor to the EU market, which meant he was close by when Loki would do his "kneel" thing. Yes, he could have attended that concert and saved that man's eye. Maybe.
BUT, that meant the God would get swallowed by Shieldra and everything would go off script to a point where Tony was not comfortable with.
On top of that, the Trickster plan at that stage had obviously been to attract Asgard attention, and if Tony's intervention blocked that, there was no way he could predict in what direction Loki would go, since the God of mischief was nothing if not inventive by definition.
So yes, Tony had finally decided to let events unfold up to a certain point.
He'd sure lost sleep over it, had JARVIS run the numbers again and again. Jarvis had helpfully pointed out that as World Domination went, Loki's plan for it was certainly the weakest on record if Tony's recollections were exact.
The God had undoubtably botched his own invasion, as Tony had long suspected.
It made things a bit easier.
Not by much, but a bit.
So Loki did his thing, which included wiping the floor with the SHIELDRAvengers. Tony had almost forgotten about that and had to mentally kick himself to not let it go on too long, just in case Crapstain got too irritating and ended into super soldier paté (or wurst. This was Stuttgart, after all). Captain Asshole had been so outclassed in that fight it was almost not funny.
Almost. Tony may have indulged in a few chuckles.
Afterwards, events unfolded as they had last time, or close to. Thor showed up, tried to kill everyone in sight before slightly listening to reason and throwing his so called little brother under the bus. The usual, if the Trickster fleeting expression was anything to go by.
And then, because he was nice and ultimately where he wanted to be, the so called invader let everyone and his "captors" have a good night sleep.
And Tony took a gamble. There was no way to be sure he would be invited back on the Helicarrier, but he put his chips down on Fury's greed, and hit paydirt. Of course the one eyed bastard wouldn't pass the opportunity to try to get him under his thumb.
If anything, a still "Merchant of Death" Stark was an ever better fish to catch, so yeah, Tony was invited back.
Last time, the genius had taken the night to brush up on his astrophysics. This time, he spends it on conference calls between the Pentagon, the FBI, the WH and whomever might be interested to learn about the ultra shady & super secret organisation that could afford the kind of firepower that an helicarrier was.
Also, the high-ranking members of the Pentagon were VERY interested to know about more than potential extraterrestrial threats since it was sort of their job? Protecting the US? Sorta? Maybe?
In retrospect, Tony wondered what Fury thought the US military forces were for. Parades?
Considering some of the generals faces, that idea also crossed their minds and they were not happy with it.
What the NSA, CIA, FBI and their buddies disliked whas not knowing about all of this. SHIELD had no legal existence, no authority to do anything more than the average Joe Smuck, and no right whatsoever to do any of what they were doing.
Guess they took the left.
So Tony did exactly what he'd done last time, with one small differene: When JARVIS would crack open SHIELDRA, he would invite the DC alphabet soup for the ride. Sort of what Natashalie and Crapstain did a few years later, but in a much more orderly fashion. And yes, he could taste the absolute irony of that.
Speaking of Spider and Moron, nothing changed except the way he looked at them, Tony guessed. The super ultra secret spy was painfully obvious, now that he wasn't battling the aftermath of heavy metal poisoning. The Widow had obviously been told to play nice, but she despised him, and she didn't really hide it that well... Also, she was distracted because Barton was Loki's puppet.
Which was honestly the only surprising thing, the Red Room graduate had no allegiance out of her own ass... Guess she could have mild affection as long as it didn't really inconvenience her, a bit like Rogers.
Ah, Rogers...
The bis repetita version was as obnoxious as the first one had been. To the word, almost. Tony had no idea what "footage" the idiot was referring to this time, since neither the birthday party or the Senate hearing played like last time.
No matter, Tony was pretty sure Fury would find something to paint him with a shit brush, there was plenty of that floating around thanks to Stane. And so Tony did not even try and totally ignored the scepter influence, thus not indulging the Super Soldier and his dick measuring contest.
Which really irritated the idiot when he realized he was sort of ridiculous, the only one with his metaphorical dick out... And doubled down on it. Again, shades of déjà vu. Tony was sure the brass watching all this unfold live in the Pentagon was very impressed with the "Perfect Soldier."
Rogers didn't know it yet, but he'd thawed this time in a world that was much less impressed by Captain America than he was.
The Brits, in particular, had been savage.
The BBC had always known how to do documentaries well, and "Captain America vs Steve Rogers" had been no exception. A four parter mini series, no less.
So, all right, a bit was due to the increasing tendency of Hollywood and the US media in general to push the narrative that the great United States of America had won WWII all by themselves. Yes, Hollywood was primerly catering to the home market, but as time passed, it got less and less subtle... To the point of literally erasing everyone else.
In the latest iterations, it was not a World War anymore, but more "America vs Nazis Mortal Combat" type of thing. The film industry had never been renowned for its historical accuracy, but it had gotten downright ridiculous.
And Rogers, with the US flag quite literally painted on his butt, was the perfect target to aim a growing resentment at. It had not been hard to find people to talk... The Falsworth and Dernier families had quite a bit to say about their fathers, grandfather, uncles erased from History.
The gem Tony would always credit that BBC reporter for, was finding Rogers old schoolteacher. They'd apparently bonded over cats (Loved them!), and then Rachel Montalto opened up and talked about her most famous pupil: "Proudly ignorant, stubborn as a herd of mules and unrelenting little bigot"
Ouch.
Coming from a Jewish woman of Italian descent? Double ouch.
Ms Montalto had been 96, but all the crayons were in the box, and as sharp as befitted a former schoolmarm. And she directed the reporter to other Brooklyn residents or their families who had quite a different take on the "legend."
As Ms Montalto put it "He always was a little shit who'd needed a good butt paddling, but Sarah was working so hard and they were both quite sick, so we let things slide a bit. I guess I'm glad he turned out as he did and got the the heroic death he wanted so much, because I don't think I would like to have to deal with an enhanced Steve Roges."
On point. Tony could have kissed her.
Unfortunately, by the time the documentary aired, she'd passed away. Tony had to contend himself with rescuing the kitties from a harried great niece who couldn't deal with five furry deities.
Speaking of deities, here was one coming up, complete with horned helmet...