Loki followed Tony to where he was going and found him going into his workshop.
"Alright, Loki, what's going on? What are you doing back here in New York?"
"Oh, I see we're on first names now," he joked. "Well, Tony, I was allowed to come back to Midgard again without being chaperoned with the promise being that if I were to step one foot out of line, such as, trying to take over the world... Again... That I'd be took back to Asgard and bound in chains for the rest of my sorry life."
"Well let's just hope you don't set out of line then," He mumbled under his breath.
"Anyway, when I came back, I went to Stuttgart, outside the opera house remember, when we met and you tried to kill Thor, which, was an excellent try, by the way and I met Elizabeta. Now Elizabeta was, what's the word you Midgardians use? Evicted? Yes, that's it, evicted from her home because she had no money to pay -"
"Look, where are you going with this? I haven't got the time to stand around and talk all day with an enemy."
"What I'm saying is, why don't you let Elizabeta stay here? You have the building and I'm pretty sure you have plenty of beds for them women you always had around."
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Oh, come on, you have to know. Remember, you are a playboy billionaire philanthropist after all."
Tony let out an aggravated sigh. "Fine... But I'm not doing this just for you, I am doing it because it's what is right. I don't want to lose my reputation of the Stark name."
"Excellent... Well, let's go tell her the good news, after you."
Tony and Loki walked back up the stairs, Loki beaming a smile and Tony scratching the side of his face.
"Elizabeta is it?"
"Yes."
"Okay, he has told me what has happened with you back in Stuttgart and seeing as you have travelled all the way here,I'm not going to turn you away."
"So you'll let me stay?"
"Yes, I am letting you stay."
"Thank you!" She cried, a smiling appearing on her face. "Loki... I...I owe anything to you... You've practically saved my life."
"You owe me nothing. Honestly, don't worry about it. I don't wish to ask you of anything in return."
"You mean that? I couldn't possibly just let this be a nice favour, really I couldn't."
"Elizabeta, please," Loki smiled. "I wouldn't want you to do anything, just seeing you happy puts me at ease."
Suddenly Elizabeta remembered something; she had no clothing except for the clothes on her back.
"Oh, my.. What do I do for clothing?"
"Here," Tony said, reaching into his back pocket. "Buy anything you will need, and don't worry about how much you spend." He handed over a small plastic card to her.
"Oh, thank you, Mr Stark-"
"Please, call me Tony."
"Thank you, Tony, and thank you again, Loki."
"Well, I shall leave you two to it. Why don't you give Elizabeta a tour, show her where her room is, the kitchen, hmm?" Loki grinned, walking to the lift and calling it. "I shall see you soon to see how you have settled in, Elizabeta," he said, still facing the lift and walking in as it arrived and the doors opened.
He turned to face them both and gave a tilt of his head and a slight wave before the lift doors shut and took him back down to the bottom of the building.
"Okay then, Elizabeta, let's show you around, then..."
Tony showed her around the place and then left her to it, walking back down to his workshop and pulling up communications with someone he hadn't spoken to in a while.
"Agent Hill, who's speaking?"
"It's me," Tony said, seriousness washing over his face.
"Stark... Why, what a pleasure it is to speak to you. What's going on?"
"Put Fury on, it's urgent."
"Right away."
"Stark what is it? I'm busy here," Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury said quickly.
"It's Loki... He's back."
Fury turned to face the camera. "What's his purpose?"
"Apparently he's just here to make sure some woman he found settles in well. Something doesn't sound right. Why did they release him from Asgard? He nearly destroyed the world and they let him out?"
"Look, Stark, just make sure that he doesn't do anything. I'll call in the rest of the team, keep me informed."
"Will do, Fury."
The communications died and Tony walked back up out of the workshop. He was going to make sure that Loki didn't reign terror upon New York again. He did it once, there was no way he would stop after just one try.
"Hungry?" Were Tony's first words as he walked back into the main area.
"W-What?"
"Are you hungry? Need something to eat?"
"Oh! Yes, please."
"JARVIS, can you connect me to the Shawarma joint?"
"Right away, sir."
"Have you ever tried Shawarma, Elizabeta?"
"No, can't say I have."
"Trust me, you'll love it," he smiled at her. "Hello? Yes, it's me... Again. Look, I need two of the specials. No I'm not eating both of them this time. I have a friend over. Okay, 40 minutes? Okay, thanks."
Silence grew and grew between the two of them. Every couple of minutes Tony would leave to his workshop and come back up, and sometimes he would go outside, get some fresh air, the usual things he'd normally do.
"So... Tell me about yourself. We've got a while until the Shawarma guy gets here."
"Well, I'm full German, yet my name is Russian, I don't even know why myself. I was, as you know, living in Stuttgart when my landlord came around, demanding for rent a few weeks early, and naturally I didn't have it because I had recently been fired from my job, which meant I never got paid at all, leading to me not having a single penny for him. It was only the first time I had missed the rent, but he told me that there were other people who were willing to pay a lot more than I and he gave me no time at all to get any of the stuff out of my home. The only things I actually own are the clothes on my back and that's it."
"I am so sorry to hear that. But, these are the things that do happen in life, that's why I built this -"
"You built this?"
"Yes, I did. My late father had drafted the plans a few years before he left us but never got around to building it, so I lived up to his wishes and built one of the biggest buildings in this concrete city of New York."
"It's amazing, it truly is, though how did you get the money for this?"
"My father was a genius. He built arc reactors and he earned lots of money from it. He was a billionaire by the time he died, and me being the only person in the family who would actually harbour the skills to continue the family business, he gave it all to me in his inheritance. Since then I have built on to the Stark name and continued to excel, only wishing that my father was here to see it today. However, I know wherever he is, he's smiling." He sighed at the remembrance of his late father and then looked up with a smirk to his face.
"Elizabeta, would you like to see something amazing?"
"That all depends, where is it?"
"Right here..." Tony turned to the stairs and Elizabeta followed, himself taking confident strides. He stepped out on to the platform and looked over the side of the building. "Do you think that I can jump off here and come back alive?"
"Oh, no, no, that isn't amazing! That's almost suicidal!"
"Trust me, it isn't." Tony laughed, taking a step further to the edge. "JARVIS, anytime..."
Tony took a look back at her and then winked as he jumped off, a shriek leaving Elizabeta's mouth. Out of nowhere a red box flew over her head and she ducked, before running over and seeing what it was. Through squinted eyes she could see that it was... Opening? Yes, it was opening and fitting to Stark's body shape.
She then heard a whoosh as if a turbine jet had been turned on and then a blurred image of hot rod red and golden suit flew straight back up. The front of the helmet opened upwards and inside was Tony, laughing at her.
"I told you I could."
"What are you?!"
"Ordinary human being who is actually a superhero. People call me Iron Man, kind of the big deal in the saving the world thing."
"Huh, and I see why..." She let out a huffed laugh and Tony set him self on to the podium, walking his way through as his suit was took off.
"To think, in the first few hours of my turned around life I've met a Good Samaritan and a Superhero. Who knew, am I right?"
"Oh, just wait, you'll be seeing a few more superheroes soon, if what I'm predicting anyway turns out to be correct, that is..."