Celestial bodies
The city is vivid; people bustling on the streets, buying stuff from the street market, trading goods and mingling. The continuous stream of people brushing against him makes Tony tighten his hold on the coat around him. The two get suspicious looks as they pass, but it seems that suspicious looks are no rarity in here.
Tony sees people getting harassed and violated by the ones stronger than them, all of it going ignored by the masses. He wants to help but remembers his place. There isn't anything he could do, plus they can't afford getting into trouble right now. So, he lets his eyes slide past when he sees abuse, despite the pang of irrational guilt he feels.
Granted, a planet of criminals.
All of the buildings are made of white-ish stone, the ground dry and dusty as the foreign sun scorches it. Tony feels hot like hell, but stubbornly won't remove his coat. Loki, also, looks like he's on the verge of a heatstroke, but he too refuses to strip off any clothing. They're about the only shield they have (and crappy ones at that, if one may say) and the Chitauri scepters if something will surely rouse unwanted attention.
Tony brushes a few sweaty strands of hair from his face, keeping his eyes trained before him. Right now, their main purpose is to get food supplies and figure a way out of the city. They need a place that's further away from the spot they landed to, away from searching authorities, to regroup and take a breather.
"I think we have to visit a street market," Loki had said before they'd reached the noisy and cramped main streets. Tony had offered him a docile quirk of his lips and a grunt, approving the plan easily. He was still healing and felt ill as they kept walking thus he just wanted to find a comfy bed quickly, and what would it hurt if he let Loki decide where they were firstly headed? Since he anyway knew more about the whole alien thing than Tony, it was only logical. Plus, he was already feeling like a worthless little shit for being so dependent on someone else, so who the fuck cares anymore?
They halted before a shabby table, various stuff lying on top of it, half of it which Tony couldn't name.
"Good day, valued customer! May I be of assistance?" Tony snaps his eyes up from the table. Finally, some fucking ENGLISH! (Or all-speak-whatever, more likely.) he thought gleefully. He eyed the blue-skinned, chubby and bearded alien on the other side of the table and the scrawny assistant-one hunched over next to him.
"Yes!" Tony exclaimed before Loki could take the lead. He huffed mentally. If he spotted someone he could actually talk to (other than Loki), he was going to take that chance, no buts. "Do you, good man, know where we could find a trustworthy place to trade goods?" He already knew that the guy was going to nominate himself, but buttering up works. Or, in this case letting the alien guy butter himself up. Tony was, is, a very successful businessman, there's no denying in that, and he knew that between the two, he'd be the one to bargain better deals, if it came down to it. Also, it helped to soothe the sickly feeling of uselessness swirling in his stomach, so a win-win, right?
The alien guy barked out a laugh.
"You're staring right at him, my fellows! What do you require?" Tony let a small smirk slip loose. This was what he'd been doing all his life and he was the expert in this game. He shifted his body language to relaxed and open as he leaned against the table.
"Well, first off, we need a vehicle. Think you can help with that?" The shopkeeper nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes! We in fact do have a vast collection of various conveyances. If you'd be so kind as to follow me," he conformed, bowing slightly and waving the way toward an ally where they seemingly kept the bigger commodity. Tony locked eyes with Loki, who after a flashing brief studying, turned and walked over to the merchant.
"Show the way, thank you," he said curtly, smiling, and following after the man. Tony shifted his eyes quickly to the assistant. By human standards, he looked twenty-ish, all long limbs and adolescent features. His skin was the same blue as the shopkeeper's, so Tony figured they were same species. Perhaps even related, if that crooked nose was anything to go by.
He felt a tug on his neck (as he'd slowed his pace to examine the alien boy) and quickly hurried his walking, not wanting to look out of place. He trailed after Loki and the trader, until they came to a stop before what looks a fairly tidy scrapyard. The vehicles indeed were various, some even vaguely resembling human cars and motorbikes as the others reminded Tony more of war tanks or even TIE fighters and X-wings. Though it shouldn't given the situation, the yard seemed to be awakening Tony's inner geek.
"If I may ask, what type of a vehicle are you looking for?" the alien asks and Loki tells him something about endurance when it comes moving long distances and speed. The man nods and shows them a jeep-looking vehicle with big, not-rubber tires, sleek yet sturdy frame and a big windshield.
"Will this suffice?" he asks, again bowing his back slightly. Loki eyes the car-thing with careful diligence as Tony rounds it a bit.
"Yes, I believe it shall," the god answers and the merchant smiles a wide grin.
"Marvelous! How would you prefer the paym-" The salesman's sentence is cut short abruptly as Loki twists his neck around. Tony jumps as the now dead man crumbles to the desert ground in a heap of slack limbs.
"You," he stutters, then recovers a tad. "You fucking asshole!" he hisses at Loki, a mix of venom and hysteria. "You-you fucker! What are you even doing, you crazy son of a bitch!" Loki frowns at his choice of words, but Tony's too wound up to care.
"I do not see the issue here," the god states calmly. He steps over the body and pulls up the vehicle's door. It circles smoothly up so that the base of it now faces the sky.
"That kid might have as well been his fucking family! You just cold-bloodedly murdered an innocent man, and you don't see the issue?" Tony feels chills go down his spine as he thinks what Loki is capable of and how he had depended his fucking life on him. He feels sick.
Loki glowers back at Tony coldly.
"It is not that I merely enjoy killing-"
"Oh," Tony interrupts, "'cause it fucking seems like it." Loki's eyes flash and he stalks with predatory strides to Tony (who doesn't back off because he's a self-destructive moron). He grabs the shorter man by the front of his coat.
"A friendly reminder, Stark. We have absolutely no currency nor anything else to use as payment!" he almost yells at Tony's face. "We, also, do not have the fucking time to get any, so cease your sanctimonious rambling already, by the Norns!" He shakes Tony to mesmerize his words, but to Tony it's all the same. Loki seems to gather that much from the look Tony's sending him.
"This planet is not the same as your precious Earth, get that through your thick skull! Here only the strongest survive, the ones that make use of what they've got even if it's not that honorable." Tony can hear the quotes in Loki's voice at 'honorable'. "I suggest you begin acting like that if you wish to remain alive." Loki gives him a shove as he lets go and walks back over to the vehicle.
"Killing innocent is not strength," Tony says and sees Loki sigh tiredly. He slides to the driver's seat and presses some buttons. Tony breathes out heavily and walks closer. He sees Loki press his hand at a panel and hears the engine powering up, before a sharp and unfriendly-sounding noise sounds from under what Tony supposes is the hood of the engine. It would be comical when Loki just stares into distance with a plank look, if it weren't for the situation. Then he gets up and pushes the hood up and eyes the motor. He slams it back down and turns around to rub his brow.
Karma, Tony thinks as he walks to where Loki is leaning against the vehicle and pushes the hood back up. It doesn't look like a car engine by much, but after eyeing it for a good twenty seconds, he already has a few pretty good ideas of what the parts are comparable to in one.
All fluids look good, what is most likely the vacuum hose is intact and everything seems to be in order otherwise. Until he sees a spark plug wire looking thing hanging a bit out. He pulls it fully out, checks the spark plug lookalike (all good) and pushes the wire back. He takes in the sight for a brief moment, before changing the place of one wire with another. He wipes off some oil with his already filthy sleeve and snaps the hood back down. He finds Loki looking at him with an unreadable expression.
"Try it again," Tony tells him curtly, patting the dirt from his hands to his ragged pants. Loki's mouth tightens as if he's irritated (which he probably is) but he complies. Tony watches him slide to the seat again.
The vehicle goes online with a soft roar.
Tony smirks smugly at Loki who just rolls his eyes and beckons Tony to get in. He feels bad to just leave the shopkeeper's body lying on the ground, but he ignores the rush of guilt and the flash of the scrawny assistant's face in his mind's eye. He gets in and pulls the door down and closed after him. Loki turns the vehicle and drives out of the scrapyard from the wide gates on the other side of the fenced area, splintering the wood of them.
The city stretches wide and they keep driving along the roads meant for bigger transports. They take one break, steal some food and water from the market and some other stuff. Obviously, Tony's no new to small talk (even when the other counterpart doesn't understand any of his ramblings) and Loki has dexterous fingers, so they make a pretty good team when stealing other people's purses and valuables. Loki manages to collect various different currencies and none of the ones they pickpocket realize before they're long gone. (They don't worry about drawing attention too much, since it's seemingly more uncommon not to steal than actually steal. Though Tony does throw a piece of fruit to a hungry-looking kid hanging by one alleyway. Just to appease his mother of a guilt trip, slightly.) Also, they get some maps.
"If we wanna get an outer space proof ship a guess we need to head to the capital?" Tony asks as he studies the map of the surrounding area along with the whole planet's map. The things are actually quite easy to read, once you get the hang of it. He glances towards the other man. Tony's still mad at Loki, but decided that moping about it won't improve their situation, so he's just going to suck it up. But trusting the guy (if it even ever was an option) is out of the question.
Loki leans into Tony's space (which makes him inwardly bristle), away from his own star maps. "Yes," he says, eyes on the piece of paper in Tony's hands.
"Then we take the next one right," Tony supplies and leans back in his seat. Loki says nothing, moves back and keeps driving. Tony rubs absently at his shoulder. Outside, it's beginning to dusk, the sun setting and two oddly large moons appearing as they ascend to the sky. The wound is still healing, but it's made a huge improvement within that one day. (And Tony's totally not going to admit that, maybe, magic may sometimes be helpful.)
They're driving on a desolated and unattended road, surrounded by nothing but desert land and the few shaggy buildings. Tony keeps his eyes ahead, watching the scene darken until it's night. He thinks longingly about his spacious bed back at Stark Tower, as he suppresses a yawn. Spending a night on the road leading to the capital seems too obvious thus too risky, so he figures they'll just drive until dawn. Well, might as well make use of the time.
"So," he begins and Loki groans. His jaded expression almost makes Tony laugh, since it's become almost that familiar by now. "Aw, come on, don't give me that!" he says instead. "I was just wondering-"
"Please, do not wonder, mortal."
"-wondering, why you've got the habit of murderous rampages. Like, hm, taking over Earth, and then maybe snapping a few necks or, yeah, even throwing them out of freaking windows-"
"Oh, shut up about that damn window already!" Loki snarls, his voice missing the usual angry edge. Tony purses his lips.
"Do you often enjoy destroying civilizations?" he pushes and watches as the god's jaw muscles jump.
"As a matter of fact, I do!" Loki snaps loudly. Tony studies his side profile for a while. Loki's tense as a wire, hands gripping the strange wheel and eyes fixed on the road. The engineer bites the inside of his lip.
"No, you don't," he eventually says, surprising himself with the gentleness of his voice. Loki doesn't say anything, but Tony sees a faint strain in his shoulder relax and his eyes silently grow a little softer.