Loki opened his eyes slowly, blinking at the bright light that shone down at him. Could he possibly be outside again? He drew up quickly, crying out in pain as his movement made everything hurt. He struggled against the hands that held him down, snarling as a soft voice told him to calm down, that he was safe now.
Safe! He couldn't hold back the laughter and it bubbled through his chest. Loki didn't even know the meaning of safe anymore, and this jest on his behalf was a cruel one. He growled and struggled until he felt a sharp pain in his neck and everything suddenly went black.
*******************************************************************************
Loki awoke again, his eyes quickly searching as he saw the bright light once more. He made no move so as to not alert his captors and searched only with his eyes.
The room he was in was light and spacious, nothing like the cell he had been kept in for the past years. There was strange contraptions that Loki had never seen before, so mechanical and plain were their appearance. Suddenly Loki doubted that he was in Asgard anymore, and he could feel his heart leap.
In the far corner of the room Loki could see someone – they appeared to be working on something, their hands moving delicately. He stared at the back of the head, trying to figure out who it could be, when they finally turned around. Loki could feel all of his muscles tense as Banner caught contact with his eyes and a smile lit his face. What was this mortal going to do with him?
He started struggling to get off the bed he was lain on, ignoring the amount of pain it caused him.
He could feel the mortal's hands on him and he stopped struggling as much in confusion. Wasn't he still Jotun?
He looked down at his body and confirmed this, seeing the gloves that Banner wore. But then he also saw the bandage wrapped around his middle and it all came rushing back to him.
He should be dead! He had prayed so hard for death he thought that the Norns might have listened to him.
But he wasn't, and somehow the mortals had found him, probably thirsting for his blood. Fine. Loki stopped moving and heard a small sigh of relief from the mortal.
He looked up into the large brown eyes and shown and shown them what he couldn't say. 'Kill me'
As Bruce stared into the impossibly red eyes screaming for death he could feel his heart drop to his stomach. He hated the sympathy he felt for the god; this man lain out before him had tried to take over the world after all.
But so clear was the plea, and Bruce could almost forgive everything Loki had done. Almost. No one deserved a punishment such as this.
"I'm glad you're awake now" he spoke softly, so as to not scare the on-edge jotun. "Tony and I have been working on removing your gag, and I think we could take it off now."
The red eyes grew wider, confusion flashing in them, before his whole face seemed to light up in a smile.
It didn't look like the same 'I'm going to destroy you' smile he only knew of Loki, but it still put him on edge, and he quickly called for Tony, Thor and Clint to come down.
As he waited for them he rocked back on his heels, at loss for what to say. His awkwardness only seemed to please Loki further, and suddenly doubt flew into his mind. It was easy to feel sympathy for someone when they were hurt and asleep, but now he was being reminded of Loki's personality.
Bruce turned quickly to see Clint crouching behind him, an arrow taught in his bow.
"Why the fuck is he blue?" his voice came out low and scared.
Loki looked up at the arrow aiming at him and smirked with his eyes, sitting up tenderly.
"Uh, he's not like Thor, remember? Jotun or something like that." He spoke calmly, noting that Loki's heart rate had gone up.
"Fucking blue. Creepy red eyes like some kinda monster." He pulled his bow tighter. Loki's body seemed to crumple then, his body going limp in the bed, his eyes gleaming with moisture.
Bruce could feel himself feel sympathy for him again. He knew what it was like to be called a monster for something you can't control. He told Clint to go stand behind the partition, anger clear in his voice, and he watched as he scuttled off, joining Thor and Tony who had just arrived.
The thunder god looked confused, walking reluctantly against the hand that Tony had at his back. When his eyes settled on Loki who had relaxed back into the bed, staring at a point on the wall, his face lit up into a smile bright enough it could compete with the sun.
"I understand now Starksson! You are taking the gag off, how could I have forgotten?" his smile shrunk as he apparently remembered the spell on him. He clutched at his head. "This spell is doing things to me. My whole head aches."
Bruce turned back away and walked over to Loki. As Tony joined him he picked up the key they had created and started the complicated act of prying the metal off.
He couldn't believe it had been kept on this whole time. But then he couldn't believe that Loki was here again. Nor did the rest of the Avengers, or Fury who had looked ready to kill Thor for bringing back a war criminal.
Thor had arrived in the middle of the night, crashing down onto the top of the tower with a burst of lightning. They had all rushed, alarm bells ringing, only to see Thor clutching onto a bundle of fur, a slim blue arm hanging out of it.
The grim expression on his face had cut off any arguments from the team, and Bruce and Tony had agreed to help.
The gag's clasp was tricky and intricate, and possibly enchanted with some kind of magic, but Bruce was determined to get it off. Loki badly needed solid food.
With a final twist of the key, the gag creaked and fell forward. Loki cried out and pulled back at the gag, pushing it closer to his face, almost as if he wanted to put it back on.
Bruce frowned and pushed away Loki's trembling hands, looking closely at where the gag sat.
The sight of ten steel rods pierced through Loki's lips had him close to gagging. The skin had grown over each of them. He must have been in pain constantly.
Bruce looked to Thor who was watching sadly through the window.
"Thor, did you know about this?" he spoke quietly, placing the anger building up right back down. The other guy would not help right now.
"Yes" Thor's voice broke, "I did it before I took him back to Asgard. It was expected of me, I assure you I took no pleasure in doing so."
Bruce sighed and turned back to Tony to stop himself from voicing his disgust.
"Tony, we're going to need to cut it off."
Loki had sat twitching in pain for hours now as the two mortals cut the metal from his mouth. Each slice of the electric saw was both painful and satisfying at the same time, as he felt more ability to move his jaw.
When they had moved on to slicing the skin off the metal rods he had writhed in pain, refusing any attempts the mortals made to inject him with drugs they said would help. He wanted to feel this, the pain filling him with hope. With his voice back he could become Loki: God of Lies again. No longer would he be an empty shell no good for anything other than monsters.
And when the two mortals stepped back to admire their handiwork, Loki had to stop a huge smile lighting his face, aware of the bittersweet pain it would cause.
Thor sat in the elegant chambers the man of Iron had set up for him many years ago. He felt at home here, even though he had not returned to it for surely two years.
He was confused at the emotions he had building up inside him. Happy. Thor was happy. No, more than happy, he felt ecstatic, delighted, elated. Thor stopped as many more adjectives ran through his mind.
But he didn't know why. He couldn't even be sure why he had returned to the Avengers tower; Midgard was at present at peace from any outside threat.
And sure enough, deep in the back of his mind he felt a sorrow so strong he shied away from it in fear that it would engulf him completely.
Clutching at the red silken sheets that covered his bed, Thor felt a single tear escapes from his eyes.
A knock on the door had him wiping his face, ashamed that he had cried for apparently no reason. He beckoned they come enter as he stood up and regained his warriors composure.
"He big guy, Loki's started trying to speak and Bruce said you might want to come hear." Tony's voice rang out soft and smooth. Thor raised his brows, what was he talking about?
"Son of Stark, who is this Loki you speak of?" the name felt strange on his tongue.
The shorter man's face fell, confusion and anguish fitting in his features, but they were quickly replaced with a smile as he grabbed Thor by the arm and pulled for as much good it would do against his mass.
"Just come with me, yeah?"
Thor had let himself be led down to the rooms he knew to belong to Banner. His head was pounding; flashing images of bright greens eyes mocking him and caring for him, nimble hands twirling gracefully as they summoned a spell, rushing in front of his eyes. His steps grew shaky and he clutched on to Stark's arm, hard enough to bruise.
As they waited for JARVIS to open the glass door into the healing rooms Thor's eyes latched onto a bright red pair that were widened in fear.
His head grew far too heavy for his neck as images slashed into his mind, memories of laughter and worry, of betrayal and forgiveness, of hurts old and new, of looking after his brother, his baby brother, how could he have forgotten his beloved brother!
And with the final image of Loki being dragged past him, blood spilling out of a wide gash, his insides trailing behind his still form, Thor collapsed.
Loki was panting; his eyes wide and a small keening noise broke from his disused throat. He tried to speak, to tell the mortal's to help him, but he hadn't spoken properly in years and in his panic he caused himself to cough heavily, and he keeled over.
"What the fuck is wrong with these two?" Stark had cried out as he tried pulling Th… The monster into a better position.
Loki struggled against gloved hands in an attempt to escape. Banner had told him he would be safe! He lied, how Loki could not have picked up on such an obvious lie! He was still only good enough for golden monsters fucking him into the ground. They probably only took the cursed gag off so they could hear his cries of terror and pain.
Tears were freezing on his cheeks again and he whispered through a dry throat
"Please no, you lied to me; you said I would be safe, please I'll do anything but not this, please!"
He felt another sharp pain in his neck as he was stabbed with a needle and as his mind drifted into sleep he stopped crying suddenly as he realised what had happened.
That golden monster was only Thor. Odin had won.
