Tony stood on the marketplace for half an hour and he was bored to death. Usually, even the aliens had some attractions on their markets, something to look at, but all these looked just the same and did literally nothing that was even remotely interesting. It was horrible. He shifted his weight on his feet, glaring up at the yellow sky and trying to suppress the shudders caused by the low temperature. He'd catch one hell of a cold if he was going to stand here all day.
Suddenly, there was a golden flash, like a lightning, just lasting longer. Squinting, the engineer looked away until the glow faded, and then, he turned his head again.
Where the beam had gone down, there were six people standing close together. The first one he noticed was wearing a ridiculous golden helmet with two large horns, and there was another one who had a silvery one with feathers. The other four had no helmets and – what probably stunned Tony most was that they all looked human. One of them was definitely some kind of Asian, the other looked like anyone who liked to eat a lot and frequently, two of them were blondes and there was a girl with them that would have made him whistle at any other occasion.
The one who creeped him out was Horny Helmet. Although he might have to pick another nickname because now, he pulled the piece of armour off, revealing short, black hair, and it just vanished into thin air with a golden flicker of light. He was staring right at Tony, his gaze not wavering once – not even when he said something to his companions, half turning, and then made his way towards the long line of slaves. The small blue hobbit aliens made way for him respectfully, making Tony wonder if he had a name here or if it was simply because he was about three feet taller than everyone of them.
He returned the stranger's gaze defiantly and tried to cross his arms in front of his chest. An annoyed huff escaped him when he remembered the shackles around his wrists that kept him from doing so and made the gesture more awkward than flippant. Horny Helmets seemed to understand its meaning though and there was a small, knowing smirk on his lips. Only when he came to a halt in front of Tony, he broke the eye contact to take his whole appearance in. Tony got hyper-aware of his plain grey clothing, his ruffled hair and his inability to speak. And why the hell did he care?
He heard one of the guards approach from behind at the sight of a possible customer. Before he got to say anything though, Horny Helmet demanded: "Why is he gagged?"
"He... has a sharp tongue, sir", the alien answered hesitantly.
"So has my brother!", one of the blondes, who had followed the black-haired, declared with a booming voice. Tony looked from him to the guy who was apparently his brother and thought No way in hell. Seriously. Blond hair – black hair. Blue eyes – green eyes. Not to mention the height difference, and he didn't even start to compare the calm, civilized voice of Horny Helmet with the one of Goldilocks.
"I wish to have it removed", Horny Helmet said. The other blonde, the one with the goatee (Tony dubbed him that, Goatee, it seemed fitting), bumped his shoulder and grinned suggestively. His voice was lascivious when he said: "My, my, Loki, he doesn't look like your usual taste. What is this all of sudden?"
Horny Helmet – ah, no, Loki – rolled his eyes as he replied: "It is not about his looks, Fandral."
"Now that's just insulting. I'm hurt", Tony (whose gag had just come off) replied. He ran his tongue over his dry lips. "What is it then? Oh, wait, I know, it's got to be my aura. I was told I have one."
"I think I liked him better when he was gagged", the only woman in the group stated.
"Are your friends always this rude?" The engineer directed his question at Loki and raised his hands to his heart in mock-hurt. "I'm terribly offended."
"Oh, they are a bunch of rude oafs", came the light reply, followed by several shouts of outrage, including "Whose side are you on?!", "Your little brother is absolutely insolent, Thor", and "Oaf?! I'll teach you to call me an oaf!". Loki ignored them all and asked, no, demanded: "What is this?" He was looking pointedly at Tony's chest.
The engineer tensed. The fabric of his clothing was thick enough not to let the arc reactor's light shine through it, but there was nothing else the guy could be referring to. Keeping his tone light, he answered: "That? That's a shirt. See, for people who give a damn about modesty or decency and all that. Should be familiar to you, although you seem to be more into that whole fancy leather stuff, but –"
He stopped talking and his breath got caught in his throat when Loki grabbed his collar and ripped the shirt almost in half, exposing the reactor. He stepped back and seemed faintly amused when Tony staggered backwards, bringing some distance between them. Calmly he stated: "This is what I was talking about."
The engineer took a deep breath to steady himself and sighed: "Jeez, give a guy a warning, would you?" He did, of course, not say I'm sorry for being jumpy, but I was kinda traumatized in these past few months and I'm uncomfortable with physical contact now which is ironic since I used to be a playboy, but something in Loki's eyes told him he didn't need to speak it out for him to know. It was unsettling, but anyway, he proceeded with his standard excuse when it came to the reactor: "It's normal where I come from. Like a battery of sorts, I'm –"
"Liar", Loki interrupted calmly.
"Excuse me?", Tony asked, silently panicking because damn, he already knew this guy wasn't as easy to fool as the alien things he had encountered before. He might not be human, but he wasn't far from it either, and so he seemed to do a much better job at reading his features than a being from a different race could ever manage.
"You are lying." Again, Loki stepped right into his personal space, and when Tony tried to back away, he felt his guard's hands on his arms restricting every movement. Gritting his teeth, he tried to hide the fear rising inside of him as the man leaned forward to trace a finger over the scar pattern. "This is nowhere near natural and these scars cannot be older than a year. So, what is it?"
"It's mine and none of your business!", the engineer snapped. "Would you stop touching me now!" It wasn't a question, and Loki looked up at him rather surprised, as if he wasn't used to being spoken to in such a tone. Then, the surprise turned into a smirk as he stepped away – finally – and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Well then", he drawled, changing the topic suddenly, "what are your qualities as a slave?"
Tony grinned. Yes, this he could handle. Without missing a beat, he replied: "None." He felt the guard tensing behind him, its nails (or claws) digging into the flesh of his arms it was still holding. Oh, was he ruining the sales pitch here? What a pity. "I can't cook, clean or do laundry, I've got a free will, I'm insolent and rude, have no manners and I wouldn't recognize the concept of respect if someone shoved it into my face."
Confident that he wouldn't be sold today, he took in Loki's stunned expression. He mimicked it, though, when the guy suddenly started to grin and demanded: "Which price is set for him? I will pay any sum you want." And, oh, he had lost track of the events here, what the hell was happening now?
"Um, sorry, but I'm not sure you listened to me. I'm the worst kind of slave you could ever have the misfortune to buy", he pointed out. "I'm absolutely not worth your money."
"He's right, Loki", the woman stated. Horny Helmet (he was not going to get rid of that nickname) turned around, grinning, and replied: "Oh, Sif, but I like him." He returned his gaze to his object of interest. "So, what is your name, slave?"
"First, nobody's slave", he corrected. "Second, Tony."
"Tony?", his owner-to-be repeated. "Surely that is not all." He didn't comment on the nobody's slave-bit, but there had been an amused twitch to his lips when Tony had said it. He didn't like that at all.
"Yeah, maybe it's not", the engineer agreed. "And maybe it's none of your business." The next second, he felt something cold in his neck and tensed. It was a device he had had the pleasure of meeting with before, something similar to a shocker. A fucking strong one. "Anthony Edward Stark", he gritted out. "Better? Now take that fucking metal Pikachu away from my neck." The last bit was addressed at his guard.
"Much better", Loki confirmed with a small smirk. Smug bastard. "Well then, do me a favour and hand him over, would you?", he asked the slave trader.
"Jesus", Tony groaned. A polite, smug bastard.
"No, it's Loki", Horny Helmet corrected.
Tony rolled his eyes. "No shit, Sherlock", he muttered.
"Loki", Loki said, seeming a bit desperate, and the engineer couldn't help himself and laughed. This one was so going to give him back again. He gave him a week at most. If he could already drive him insane with harmless pop culture references...
"I got as much", he replied, grinning. Pop culture references were lost in this part of the universe. What a shame. And Loki (/Sherlock/Horny Helmet/Jesus) gave him a look that said he wasn't all that sure about his sanity anymore. Or maybe he'd never been to begin with.
"I should warn you though", the slave trader said reluctantly. "He is not easy to tame."
"Tame", Tony snorted, but was ignored by both the alien and Loki. Who was technically an alien too, but whatever.
He got that smug look again, making him look like he was five steps ahead of everyone else, and was smiling thinly as he replied: "I am a god and a prince of Asgard. I should be able to handle a creature like this, should I not?"
There were three things in that sentence that made Tony unsure if he should laugh, scowl or declare the guy as insane. Maybe a bit of everything. First – god. He needed a new word, something stronger than arrogant. That was one point for the declaring him as insane bit. Second – prince. Huh, he had never been sold in such high ranks before. Some kind of record. Hey, I've been the not-slave of a prince before. One point for laughing. Third – creature. Creature? That was far beyond insulting, that was degrading. Something that was bought and chained and trained and tamed. One point for scowling.
And apparently Asgard was a place people knew of, because suddenly the trader was far more friendly and kept doing little bows between his sentences while he negotiated a price with Loki. He started very high up, but Loki was good, had a way of gently intimidating his partner that Tony had used when he still had been in business. He really didn't want to like Loki, but he settled for acknowledging that he had a sharp tongue and he knew how to use it well.
Eventually, Loki handed over a small leather purse with clinking coins – very classic – and Tony wondered what was going to happen next. Usually the people came to the market with the sole purpose to buy a slave, but this had looked like a pretty spontaneous decision. Was he going to be dragged over the market for the next few hours? That would be the perfect chance to escape...
"I shall excuse myself then", Loki said to his companions and gestured for Tony to come closer. "Forgive my rather quick retreat, but I think I have things to take care of."
"Of course, Loki", Fandral drawled, "go take care of your things."
"Shut up, would you", Loki sighed and waved them off, turning towards Tony again and reaching for his cuffed wrists while the others strode off to take in what the market had to offer. The engineer tried not to flinch as his 'owner' (quotation marks!) took hold of them and then, suddenly, ripped the chains apart. Literally. Tony jerked backwards with a startled yelp and stared at the... god(?) with wide eyes. Loki was apparently highly amused by that, judging by his shit-eating grin, and beckoned him closer again.
Too abashed to refuse, he complied and felt a hand closing around his upper arm. He was about to pose a question when the world around him blacked out and he felt like he was tossed and turned into all directions at once, stretched, compressed and –
– and then it was over and he stood in a wide hall which he couldn't quite take in right now because... "Jesus fuck, what the hell?" Tony pressed a hand to his mouth and continued speaking through his fingers, fast, hasty rambling that mostly served the point to distract himself from the gut-wrenching nausea. "I have no idea if you've ever dealt with a human before, but get used to fucking warn me before you do..." With his free arm, he made a few random circular gestures through the room. "...do... do your thing. Whatever it is. Just... ugh, I don't think you'd like me puking on your fancy golden floor, would you?" And Loki, Loki, that bastard, had the nerve to laugh at that. Not a chuckle, a snicker, no, but a full-out laugh like he was truly enjoying himself, and why would he, anyway? It wasn't like Tony had said anything funny. When he trusted himself not to throw up on the shiny floors anytime soon, the engineer took his hand down to cross his arms in front of his chest. A little sullenly, he demanded: "Yeah, and what was all that hilarious now? There was literally nothing funny about what I said!" So he maybe sounded a little whiny, what about it? "I'm sorry, I don't seem to get your humour."
Still grinning, the god straightened himself and replied: "Very few do. I apologize for the discomfort I caused you, it was not my intention. I promise to warn you the next time. But now, if you are able to stand, I would like you to follow me." Loki turned around and started walking down the hallway. Tony was frozen on his spot. Just what the hell was that guy playing at? He had apologized and yeah, he'd been laughing doing it, but he hadn't looked malicious or anything. And he had promised to warn him next time, like he... like he actually cared for his comfort. "Anthony? Are you well?"
Tony winced as he was ripped from his thoughts. Loki had turned around when he had noticed that the engineer was not following him, but again, instead of a harsh 'Move, slave' or something similar, he had asked about his wellbeing. Just what the hell was wrong with the guy? Startled as he was, Tony didn't even think of a snappy reply when he answered, "Yeah, I'm fine", and caught up with the god hurriedly, trying not to mind the pain flaring up in his still raw back as he moved. Loki didn't look convinced, but he continued to walk when Tony had caught up with him anyway.
It was really kind of unsettling that they had just kind of... teleported in here, because one, Tony didn't know which way the exit was, which made escaping a lot more complicated, and two, what happened to the laws of physics?! Although... if he was being traded back and forth as a slave among aliens, maybe he should finally give up his search for logic.
Loki pushed open a door (golden double doors, at that) and beckoned the engineer inside. Tony complied hesitantly, but the usual fear he felt when given to a new owner wasn't there. This god seemed... not hostile, not at all. He had actually been friendly so far and that was something he simply couldn't deal with. (And that was pathetic, because being afraid because someone was nice to him? That was ridiculous. What had he become?)
He stepped into something that seemed to be a living room, with couches and bookshelves and all that stuff. Most of the furniture was a rich, dark green, sometimes accented with gold, and all the wood used was dark and added to the combination. One large window let in light and the image of a large, golden city, and above that, space. Blackness, dotted with stars so bright Tony had never seen anything like it before.
"Impressive, isn't it?", Loki asked, a smile on his face. Again, he seemed so sincere, so absolutely not evil, it was startling. He turned around to open another door, this one dark and plain, leading into another room. Turning around halfway, he made a vague gesture towards the engineer's tattered clothing. "Take those off, would you?"
Tony froze and felt the familiar anxiety churning in his stomach. Apparently he had been very wrong about Loki's intentions.