A big thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter! You guys have really earned this early chapter and the next should be out in a few days as well. Keep up the reviews and I will keep up the writing!

Not mine, never mine, usual disclaimers

"Merchant of Death at your service," Tony said with a bow and a slight flourish of his hand.

Silence was all that greeted him in reply.

o~+*+~o

To say that Loki was not stunned by Tony's sudden proclamation was like saying that Jötumhiem was not cold.

Tony Stark believed that he, a member of the beloved Avengers, was a monster like Loki. The very idea was laughable but since that didn't seem very ideal for the moment he settled for shocked silence.

Everything that Loki could remember about the man only made him seem more brilliant and compassionate than what he had witnessed. The man had approached without his suits and lacking any tells of fear that he should have shown. Even after he had been tossed out a window he had restrained his special brand of confidence as he was saved by his own creation. This man, this human made, had given life to wires in machinery in the form of JARVIS, something not even the gods could manage. How this man could ever consider himself a monster when he was considered by his world a hero was inconceivable.

Loki was still staring, his mouth slightly agape, at Stark when the man straightened up and looked him in the eye. It was in those eyes that Loki could see the haunted look that bore back at him when he dared glance in a mirror. It was a similar look that Stark had worn when speaking of the betrayals in his past with the man Obadiah and Ms. Potts. It was the countenance of a man who had done something horrible and deeply regretted now, a man that was haunted each day by the ghosts of his past.

"How did you come by that particular title?"

"I asked for it," came Tony's reply, a wry grin crossing his lips. Loki's attempt at looking disapproving and disbelieving at once most have marked because Stark laughed and moved to reclaim his seat next to Loli before explaining.

"About two days before I got this," Tony tapped the glass of the arc reactor lightly, "a reporter approached me to asked me a couple of questions. First she asked how I felt being called the Da Vinci of the modern era. Da Vinci is a really famous painter that lived a couple hundred years ago so I said that it was a ridiculous name because I don't paint.

"The next name she threw out was the Merchant of Death. It was extraordinarily apt at the time because I used to be the top weapons manufacturer in the world and I made those weapons for the U.S. Army. I took on that title instead."

"And why are you not the top weapons manufacturer anymore?" Stark was definitely smart enough to create anything he wanted and Loki highly doubted there could possibly be another human with the same brand of intelligence that Tony had. The only was a man like Tony Stark could lose was if he gave up or didn't care enough to try and Stark giving up didn't seem very plausible.

"Because the only weapons I make are either forced from me by SHIELD, for my friends, or for the Avengers." Loki had to refrain from grinning as his hypothesis was proven correct.

"What about you suits? Are they not weapons as well." This time it was Stark that was suppressing a grin. Apparently there was a story behind this one.

"That argument was taken to court and I still stand by the definition the my suits are not weapons but more of high tech prostheses."

"Prostheses?" Loki asked as he cocked his head to the side in confusion, frowning slightly.

"Like extensions of the body or a device that enhances the body's natural functions," Stark explained quickly, making a sharp gesture with his right hand as if he could brush the interruption away with the pass of his hand.

"I believe both sides are supported. Your suits run off of a power that let you live and exchange your natural abilities but the various weapons embedded inside the suit could classify it as a weapon itself."

"Ah, but riddle me this, Trickster," Tony sing-songed with a grin. "I created the suit and have been dubbed Iron Man by the general public. If you put a random civilian inside the suit are they then Iron Man?" Realization dawned upon Loki as he finally saw what Tony meant.

"No, of course not." To have anyone else in that suit would be a recipe for disaster. No doubt the interface for the suit was more advanced than Loki could imagine with his very limited knowledge on technology and bestowing that much power and knowledge upon a regular person would make them go mad from the power rush.

"Why." Loki absentmindedly recognized that Tony was not looking ridiculously smug at getting Loki to realize something that the genius found so obvious and was grateful.

"Because you are Iron Man and therefore the suit really is more like the prosthesis you speak of." It was only then that Stark seemed to allow himself to smile and, when he did, it was soft, merely a subtle curving of the lips.

"The suit and I are one. That is how I argued it it court and that's how I still have them. Well, that and saving the world a couple of times in the suits."

Loki flinched when he was reminded of just how he had gotten into this predicament in the first place, how he had been one of those people that Iron Man had saved the world from and he had had no say. He was reasonably certain that if he had been in his right mind when considering attacking Midgard he would have either done it right or not done it at all. Most likely the latter though because mortals, Stark excluded, were inconsequential and dim witted.

Tony, having picked up on Loki's train of thought, stood up abruptly and broke Loki away from his thoughts. "You want dinner?" Tony questioned quickly, as if trying to save Loki from his own thoughts. "I want dinner."

Loki shrugged noncommittally in response as Tony began to pace in front of him. It was not as if he had the knowledge of enough food items to choose one. So far the only human food he had tried, he had probably eaten during his previous visit but could not remember, was pizza. Only really have one item to choose from made picking favorites all the easier.

"Have you ever had a cheeseburger?"

"Not to my knowledge, no." Loki's answer startled Stark so much that the man paused in his pacing to shoot him an incredulous look before continue inch his steps at a more sedate pace.

"JARVIS this man has been deprived!"

"Duly noted, sir"

"No cheeseburgers? Really?" Loki could only shrug in response.

"Asgard's good variety is essentially limited to what you humans would like eat in a feast. Meat, bread, occasionally fruit, and wine or mead." Unfortunately for Loki, wine or mead was held as an essential part of any mean and was often heavily overindulged. Loki had often been ridiculed for not partaking in the drinking games but at least he didn't make a drunken fool out of himself later.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Lokes but humans have a larger variety than that even on our feast days." Stark paused in his pacing once again, his eyes widening comically when he faced Loki. "You've probably never had fries either!"

"No, I have not had the pleasure."

With an affronted look, Tony turned to face the ceiling and placed his fists on his hips.

"JARVIS, order us some good old american cheeseburgers and make at least two doubles with fries."

"Yes, sir."

Stark quickly resumed his pacing and for some reason looked more agitated than before. The strange human kept glancing up at the ceiling as if waiting for something that Loki knew not.

"Sir, Dr. Banner so requesting your presence in the labs." JARVIS's voice successfully broke the tension and the initial expression of confusion on Tony's face rapidly switched to from recognition to wariness.

"Really? He seemed completely absorbed when I left him." Stark's pocket buzzed and he lifted out small device, it's screen illuminating Tony's face in a pale blue glow and casting his features into sharp relief. After reading whatever had apparently appeared on the screen, Stark's face hardened and his mask slid over his countenance. It was both incredible and disturbing to see and Loki wondered if this was what he looked like when he did similar things.

"I guess I'll go check on Jolly Green." Month spoke as if to himself with a smile on his face that only looked forced to Loki because he was the god of lies and knew it was. With one last look at Loki that said 'Stay put' Stark walked out the door.

The click of the door was overrun by Stark's voice. It couldn't be Banner that he was speaking with, the voice was far too loud and fake for that, and Loki was almost certain he heard Stark say 'Natashalie'. Not even Stark could give such a ridiculous nickname to Banner who had the potential to be a rather large, green rage beast. On second thought, he would be the one to do it but Natashalie did not fit the man of the beast in any way. It must be the spies then.

With a sharp intake of breath, Loki realized just how close he had been to having his presence revealed. And if that in itself was not concerning enough, Tony had been the one to recognize that the spies would try to spy on him within the earliest available time frame. His thought process was once again interrupted by a voice, this time JARVIS's.

"Sir had invited you to dine with him in his laboratory."

Great, now he would have the dubious pleasure of trying a cheeseburger. The only flaw in the plan was the plan itself. How was Loki supposed to get down to the lab when he lacked magic or an escape routes do leaving the room meant risking his existence.

"How am I-" Just as he began asking how he was supposed to bypass the spying spies without alerting them of his presence the closet door swung open.

"If you would step into the closet please," came JARVIS's calm voice from the ceiling. With a sceptical look Loki did just that on for his doubt to transform into amazement almost as quickly as the closet became an elevator that quickly swooped downwards towards Stark's laboratory. There were certain perks involved when accepting help from a genius billionaire.

I am going to keep up the review thing so if I get five or more reviews on this chapter in the next three days I will add the next two within the span of a week. It's a great deal that literally costs you nothing but possibly five seconds of you time. Take the deal! Reviews feed my soul and you will never know until you write a story and sit there staring at the screen waiting to see just how many view and then reviews you get. It is agonizing. Review!

Just to clarify, Tony and Loki meet sometime before noon, Tony cleans Loki up, the nightmare happens, Tony has to go to an evening meeting, Loki watches the sun set, the sleep together after talking late into the night, wake up in the morning to banners arrival, Loki tries pizza at lunchtime, the spies show up after lunch, stark helps Loki with his bandage that evening and they have dinner late that night.
I am trying to make this as close to actual time as I can and I am planning on bringing Captain America and magic back soon.

Please review!