He sat in silence. No one dared to come near the room. He'd been alone for what seemed like ages. His hair hung in a disarray around his face, another annoyance that came from what had happened. The Asgardian muzzle his brother had clamped to his face prevented him from using his only real weapon, not that it could do him any good now. It was uncomfortable, but better than the alternative. In older times, they would have sewn his lips shut. His hands lay over his lap, chained together by handcuffs he could easily rip through should he feel the need. But in this moment, surrounded by quiet and muted to keep it that way, everything was how it needed to be.
Time seemed unreal in this cell. He could feel the seconds passing by, but eventually they blurred into minutes, followed by hours. He was still, there was no need for him to move. He was completely alone, but he could feel himself being watched. He would show no weakness. The mortals, waiting for him to be taken away, would be forced to keep constant surveillance. The cameras in each corner of his holding cell told him that. The red light to the right of each lens stayed constant, never blinking. Never ceasing.
And suddenly there was something. A man appeared in front of the glass door, wearing a simple dark shirt and pants. A light glowed from the middle of his chest, shining through the fabric. Loki looked up at his face, straight into the man's eyes. The man raised his wrist and touched a button on the thick band that was wrapped there. Two things happened at once.
One, the glass door slid open. Two, the everlasting red lights stopped. And after that, the man stepped inside. Loki recognized him immediately, the man in the iron suit. Tony Stark.
For a few moments they regarded each other silently. A commotion could be heard down the hall way. Stark must have locked the doors down the corridor with his own system. Loki could feel his lips slide into a grin beneath the muzzle. This man was no simple Midgardian. He could outsmart those around him, using only his mind and that which he had created. He need not rely on physical strength or brutality.
It startled Loki how much this impressed him. He could relate. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes, and the man who stood in front of him knew this as well, and would play it to his own advantage. But even then, Loki knew that the other man knew he had outsmarted them. And it pained him to know it.
Tony stood in front of the Asgardian prince. He didn't know why he had come here. Something was bugging him, nagging at the back of his mind. He hated not knowing. His hand crept up to his face, stroking his beard once as he tried to remember why he'd come. He could still taste the shawarma he had just eaten. It wasn't as delicious as he thought it would be. The team had sat in silence as they ate, and even then Stark knew something wasn't quite...right. When he opened his mouth to speak, it was dry.
"I keep underestimating you." This seemed to surprise Loki. His eyebrows arched up quickly, his chin tilted upwards as he kept his questioning gaze on Tony.
"I mean, the first time we captured you, when I was with Cap, you had a plan. You escaped. How can I know that you won't escape this time?" Tony started to pace around the small space, breaking eye contact.
Loki rolled his eyes upward, lifting his chained hands to gesture towards his muzzle. But deep down he knew that even if he could speak, he wouldn't. He had no reason to converse with this man. Besides, what if Stark somehow used wordplay to get something from him, like Romanoff had? He had underestimated the woman; was caught off guard and it had cost him the element of surprise. At this point, he could not afford to lose his air of mystery.
Tony looked back at him. He understood that the man couldn't respond, but he couldn't keep himself from talking anyway. "Your plan was almost perfect. But the Avengers were just to damn good. We got you." He let that settle for a moment. His eyes roved over the handcuffs and muzzle, and began to shake his head.
"And yet, you don't seem disappointed. You..." Tony couldn't find a word for it. Loki didn't seem happy with the fact that he was chained up and basically gagged. Yet he wasn't upset or angered. He was...indifferent. Loki's eyebrows arched even higher, amused at Stark's sudden loss for words.
Silence crept back into the room. Tony kept looking at Loki, searching for answers in his cool blue eyes. But there was nothing there. Like a shield had been drawn up right behind them. If eyes were the windows to the soul then Loki had reinforced his windows with plates of vibranium. Nothing was allowed in. Nothing was allowed out. Tony wondered what could have happened to make this man the way he was.
Loki watched as Tony tried to decipher him. Stark had no idea that there was something much bigger at play here. This war would not remain on Midgard. It would span across the nine realms and it wouldn't stop there. It would reach into the unknown. His brother's little team would have no idea what was happening until it was too late. They have already bitten off way too much more than they will be able to chew. They may have humiliated him now, chained him up like some common prisoner, but they will see what's in store for them soon enough. Even Loki didn't know everything that would happen. He know knew he was also simply a pawn in a much bigger plan. But he had dealt his cards and had to deal with what happened next.
The commotion down the hall had died down, it seemed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents couldn't find a way past Stark's system override and had decided to wait it out. Their ears were probably pressed against the glass to hear what was happening.
Tony knew he couldn't get an answer from Loki. Even if the muzzle could be taken off, the prince would stay silent. And that foreign piece of technology, he couldn't even tell what it was made of, or how it could possibly attach itself so seamlessly to the man's face. He reached out, trying to figure out its release mechanism. Loki shifted backwards on the rubber seat, shaking his head slightly. Stark realized... Loki didn't want to be released. He didn't want to have the ability to talk, he didn't want to be able to defend himself. He wanted to be brought back to where he came from.
Tony set his jaw, clenching his teeth together. He leaned back, stepping into the doorway. Loki did have a plan. Something big was going to happen. What it was... well, he had no idea. The idea of different worlds was too much for him, and the idea that these worlds could collide was far beyond his reach. For now, he could do nothing. He didn't know what he would say to others about this. He didn't know why he came in the first place. But Tony knew that everything would continue on as if this never happened. It had to. The man sitting in front of him had done everything to get here. Killed so many.
Loki watched as Stark stepped back, realizing that he knew something was going to happen. This man was clever. He had shown him that back in Stark Tower, and was showing it again now. Loki knew that the smartest move Tony could make now would be to leave. To go about his business as usual.
And Tony was smart. He gave Loki one last long, questioning look before turning back down the corridor. He tapped the button on his watch again and the cameras turned back on as the glass door slid closed.
Loki stayed seated. He drew in one long breath, bowing his head from the view of the cameras and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that were finally allowed into the corridor and had come to check that he was still there. His fists clenched and his wrists strained against the cuffs. He pulled his wrists apart, not with so much strength as to break the cuffs but just enough to make his hands red and raw with the pressure. Then he lifted his head again, let his arms relax back into their position on his lap.
He stayed this way until the next morning, never moving, never making a sound, until his brother arrived to take him back home.