It was at that moment, with a gun pointing at his face, seconds away before this man pulled the trigger, that Tony realized everything leading up to this moment…really sucked ass. All Tony had wanted was a combo meal from McDonald's, but noooo, god forbid Tony Stark gets the munchies for an unhealthy meal! Tony had even driven himself and under the speed limit. Pepper would be proud if she wasn't busy with that conference Tony was skipping…of course his sudden hunger had nothing to do with that…. really.
But Tony digressed from his own crisis. There was a pistol muzzle, pressing hard against his temple now, with a truly unattractive man with crooked teeth. Tony knew of the issue because the mugger was smiling. The other patrons inside were frozen in fear or shock and all in danger and Tony was powerless to stop it. The door's entry bell jingled as a person unwittingly stumbled into the impromptu heist.
"I don't know why you want this instead of my delicious cooking, but I can respect your decision, Verity. They do have nice breakfast meat sandwi… normal truly is subjective for an individual like me, but I can't say I see this every day," a smooth, accented, and familiar voice purred. Tony almost started to curse as Loki strolled towards the muggers, but then he paused even more by how the god looked.
He was a slender young teen with short black hair and flashing jade eyes. He wore some closely-fitting green scale mail, black pants with leather belts crossing his hips in an x pattern, and a long pale green trench coat with a fur-lined collar. Tall black boots with some leather shin guards went well with the edgy look. A gold half helm with small upwards curving horns adorned the man's head, which helped pin back those new bangs Loki had. Long fingerless black gloves helped to accent short and painted black fingernails. Tony had to admit he looked a hell of a lot better like this than how he had invading Earth.
A long haired red head with enchanting tattoos on her arms and wearing rather plain glasses over her pale blue eyes was with him and had frozen in horrified surprise at the tableau in front of the pair. She grabbed Loki's arm as quickly and as tight as Pepper did when Tony was about to "be stupid in arm's reach" and hissed something that caused Loki to pause. Loki. Loki. Listening to another person!
Tony now knew why everyone was surprised when he did the same thing. He didn't like it when they did it. It was like they forgot every other time he'd done something selfless which, despite apparently popular opinions, he did rather often. Loki had the same look about him, but it was a good-natured smile instead of Tony's caustic glares.
"Looks like you're in quite the situation, Stark." Loki's smirk was large and feline as jade eyes flashed." Would you like some help?" Green-gold tendrils of magic twisted around graceful fingers as Loki raised a hand. The muggers finally spun to face the new pair with twin shouts of bravado; Crooked Teeth now using Tony as an impromptu hostage, pressing the gun harder into Tony's head as if the pressure would stop Loki from causing chaos. Fat chance, that. The woman, Verity (funny a woman named truth hanging out with the God of Lies, but she probably got that a lot,) slid towards the other patrons and away from the line of fire. Funny. Loki seemed to relax minutely from the movement, liked he cared for her well-being.
Tony didn't know Loki had friends on Earth. The thought made Tony frown. He never heard Thor talking about Loki really hanging out with any other Asgardians other than Thor, now that he thought on it. Was Verity Loki's only friend? If so, that was real depressing, worse than Tony's own dysfunctional relationships and that was quite the feat.
"The lady has the right idea, pretty boy. Now be a good kid and give us your cash along with all these other generous people and no one has to be hurt," the other robber ordered; a not-so subtle glace towards Verity as he threatened. Loki's eyes narrowed, chips of hard green ice for irises at the threat. Tony had to wrestle down the smile trying to appear on his face. These poor bastards were so screwed. The tendrils of magic spiked as it reacted to Loki's emotions and Loki clenched a fist around it as if to restrain. His face never shifted from the unconcerned grin, however. The McDonald's had become a tense battlefield. That was something Tony had never thought he'd encounter. Funny how Life worked.
"I am quite disinclined." With that, Loki moved like quicksilver, tendrils of green wrapping around and seeping into the muzzle of Crooked Teeth's weapon. Loki moved towards them with a serpent's speed and slammed a booted foot into the unnamed robber's solar plexus. Tony braced for the gun's shout and Death's embrace. A choked mechanical click was at Tony's ear instead and he pressed the advantage, ramming his elbow into Crooked's groin. Tony didn't relish his shout of pain, nope, he was a hero and they don't do that sort of vindictive thing. When Crooked fell to his knees from the agony, Tony turned and kneed the guy hard in the face. A few teeth went flying. Tony glanced over to Loki holding the guy in a painful hold that twisted a dislocated shoulder viciously behind his back. It also looked like Loki had shattered the guy's clavicles, which made Tony shudder.
Someone had called the police while the pair had taken down the robbers luckily. Tony watched as Loki tied the man up to his companion and then striding over to Verity. He began to speak to her, but Tony couldn't understand a lick of it; Verity could do so perfectly, however. Damn magic users and their clandestine ways. Tony turned to the McDonald's employee at the counter. Poor girl looked shook.
"Awful time to ask, but can I order a combo Big Mac? Super hungry now that's over, ya' know," he smiled charmingly as he asked her to calm her nerves. She seemed to snap back to reality and plastered on a weak smile. Out the corner of his eye, Tony saw Loki steering his friend out of the restaurant with a poorly concealed and concerned frown.
Tony had questions for Thor when he got back to the Tower…and finished his meal.