Loki had indeed already escaped. After Tony Stark had first tested him with the Mind Disruptor, he had realized that the one currently in the Stark Industries president's office was the real Pepper Potts. "I collected every change in Pepper Potts's behavioral patterns from childhood to adulthood and performed a comprehensive behavioral trajectory analysis. I found that starting on April 12 this year, her behavioral patterns showed a 95% deviation from their previous gradual changes and a 90% similarity to Loki's behavioral patterns.