So the name of the fic that inspired this one is called Cellmates. Go read it. It's really bittersweet.
At the three-week mark something changed. Loki knew something was about to happen. He could sense it every time a guard patrol walked past their cells. Their eyes would linger on Sarah and that made him nervous. Finally, in the evening they came.
There were six of them. They came into the dungeons laughing and carousing. They'd obviously been drinking. They weren't in their armor, a telltale sign that they were off duty and had no official reason to be down in this place. They stopped in front of Sarah's cell and they both knew what was about to happen.
The barrier came down and the six soldiers entered the cell. One of them grabbed Sarah and she screamed. Then the barrier went back down, encasing all of them inside. The moment the barrier returned Loki sprang into action. He cast an illusion of himself, still sitting on the bed watching the group.
"Enjoying the show little Jotunn?" One man said. Sarah was already thrashing and crying in a pointless bid to escape. The sheet she'd been wearing like a toga for clothing was ripped off in one easy movement, rendering her naked. A sharpened chicken leg bone, filed to a fine point, appeared from nowhere and was shoved upwards into one man's jugular, killing him instantly. Loki took the dagger sheathed on the man's hip and proceeded to slit the throats of two others. Loki was invisible but the floating dagger gave away his position. One guard grabbed Loki from behind while the other punched Loki repeatedly in the face and stomach. Loki let his Aesir façade drop. His skin turned blue and he used his withering touch to freeze them both. The last guard held onto Sarah, a knife pointed directly at her carotid artery.
"Why is this girl being treated like this? What crime did she commit?" Loki asked.
"Being pretty was her crime. She's pretty like you. He said he wanted you to learn compassion for the mortals."
"By starving and raping her?"
"She's to be a martyr for a noble cause. The Allfather said she looks like you and that torturing her in front of you would be a fitting start to your punishment."
"A fitting start? What else does he plan to do?"
"As soon as the dwarves are done crafting a special collar for you, you'll be whored out to the army. Enjoy being Jotunn while you can. Your ability to freeze off body parts will be taken from you."
"Let her go."
"She's not even supposed to be alive. She should've died days ago."
"And I'd rather die than let the fate the Allfather has planned for me come to pass." Loki used his ice magic to form a sharp ice blade and flung it at the man. It embedded in his eye and he dropped leaving a superficial cut on Sarah's neck. She bled but Loki could tell it was not serious. He grabbed the sheet and wrapped her back up. She clung to him for safety and gratitude, sobbing into his shoulder.
"Thank you."
"Well if we weren't found out before, we are now. Come with me into my cell. We can die together in there."
XxXxXxXx
"Thor, I must speak with you. It is urgent." Frigga said. Thor had just returned from another visit down on Midgard. He wanted to propose to Jane and there was something in his room here in Asgard that he wanted to give her. Plus, he wanted to visit with his mother and catch up on the news here at home.
"What is it mother?"
"We cannot speak here." She said. She grabbed his arm firmly and dragged him to a little side room. Her secrecy and urgency caused him alarm.
"What is it?"
"It's Loki."
"Did he escape?"
"No, your father…he's planning something unspeakable and has already done terrible things to an innocent girl."
"How so?"
"He had a guard kidnap a human girl and put her in a dungeon cell next to Loki's. He's been starving her and she was even raped in front of him." Frigga said. "He has forbidden me to go to the dungeons to visit him, but I have been using my magic to spy on the dungeon. A few minutes ago six men entered her cell, planning to rape and kill her. Loki saved her."
"No, father would never do something like that to an innocent woman."
"He has and what's more, he is planning on turning Loki into a concubine for the army. The dwarves are forging a collar that will restrict all of his magic to include his Jotunn ice."
"No, I cannot believe it!"
"Go to the dungeons and see it for yourself." Frigga said. Thor had never known his mother to be melodramatic or untruthful. He had seen Odin do some horrific things on the battlefield over the years to the enemy. When it came to the ones Odin loved he was a kind guiding hand, but to the enemy he possessed a streak of cruelty so dark it could be called depraved. Loki was now the enemy and Odin was a child with a magnifying glass frying an ant. Thor ran. He saw soldiers running into the dungeons, sounds of shocked murmuring growing into an excited roar.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Thor yelled and the men parted for him. He approached Loki's cell and saw the carnage with his own eyes. Sarah's cell was bathed in blood. The six guards littering the floor of her cell had emptied the contents of their veins onto the floor. Thor noticed then, a large hole in the barrier between the cells, big enough for a skinny person to fit through. Then he saw Sarah and Loki.
The girl was a skeleton, pale with dark bags under her eyes and bruises everywhere that he could see. She was wrapped in a sheet to protect her modesty, which meant her clothes must have been ripped apart when she was assaulted and left there naked to suffer and die.
Loki was still dressed in his princely attire but his face was gaunt and he was cradling Sarah. He was staring Thor down with a defiant expression.
"Odin sent you to kill me I see. I'd wondered if you were a part of this. How in the Nine is it that Mjolnir finds you worthy?"
"I didn't know." Thor said quietly. Hope blossomed across both of their faces.
"The Allfather will be here any second Thor. What are you going to do about this?" Loki said. Thor closed his eyes as the enormity of the situation he washed over him. He was about to defy his father the king and rescue Loki of all people, fighting his fellow warriors in the process. Damn it all.
"My Father and I are about to have a very public disagreement. Those of you who do not wish to fight me, leave now." Thor announced to the men around him. A nervous shift went through the men. Thor had done nothing less than announce a Civil War and demand that the men chose a side here and now. The man to his left swung his sword to strike him. Pandemonium broke out as Thor fell several men in his immediate vicinity. Others hung back, hesitant to strike at the Prince of Asgard and future King. Thor flung Mjolnir at the cell barrier, breaking it like a pane of glass. Thor cleared a path up and out of the dungeons to the main level.
"Hold on to me." Thor said. Loki and Sarah grabbed hold of Thor and wrapped their bodies onto his.
"Thor!" Odin bellowed in outrage. Thor took off to the air, heading straight for the Bifrost. It was slow going and somewhat painful as Thor was using only one arm to carry all of his weight and the weight of two other people. He had his other arm wrapped around Sarah's tiny waist to keep her from falling. Loki was latched onto him like a barnacle.
They landed at the Bifrost and entered the gatehouse. Heimdall stood there just looking at them.
"You and I will have words about all of this." Thor said to Heimdall.
"I couldn't tell you." Heimdall said, his eyes filled with guilt as he looked at Sarah.
"Let them pass." Thor said. Heimdall plunged his sword into the pedestal and opened the Bifrost to them. He walked away and out of the gatehouse, abandoning his post.
"Brother…" Loki said, his voice cracking.
"Save her." Thor said.
"She's under my protection. I swear it." Loki said. Thor could count on a single hand the number of times Loki had ever sworn to anything. Loki didn't like making promises, but when he made them he kept them. Thor shoved them through and then turned round to face Asgard and the wrath of Odin.
XxXxXxXx
Steve, Tony, and Nick all entered Sarah and Loki's cell. Sarah clung to Loki, wide eyed and afraid. He cradled her head against his chest as they sat on the one little prison bed inside the cell.
"You've decided something." Loki said plainly.
"Actually we haven't." Steve said. "Loki, what were you and Sarah doing up in Vermont?"
"I thought it was rather obvious." He said.
"So you and Sarah were just going to hide out in the woods for the rest of your lives?"
"Well, for the rest of hers. After that I don't know what I will do." Loki said. That statement gave the others pause. They looked at one another as though they each possessed telepathy and could hear each other's thoughts. It occurred to all of them that keeping Loki locked up for thousands of years would be impossible. Sooner or later there would be a jail break and Loki would be loose again. Killing him seemed wrong now, after Thor's daring rescue to save him. That left the third option, one everyone on the team was hesitant to accept.
"Look, keeping you locked up in perpetuity here on Earth would be a pain in the ass. Sooner or later you'd break free again, and by then I'm sure you'd be pissed and looking for revenge against your jailers." Tony said.
"You know me so well." Loki said with a smirk.
"Here's the deal. Heavy surveillance. Your new house in Vermont is going to be bugged with every type of camera and listening device there is. You will be watched constantly and if you block our ability to view you, then we will toss you into prison. You will restrict yourselves to that new home in the woods and only leave it with the permission of SHIELD." Steve said.
"Is that all?" Loki asked.
"No. Look ever since you showed up there have been all kinds of super villains trying to conquer earth running around. In truth, we could use your help and a little bit of reparations would go a long way in how we feel like treating you." Tony said.
"How sweet. You want me to play for your team. I'm honored." Loki said with a tone that wasn't quite sarcastic and yet, it conveyed his lack of enthusiasm.
"Good. We're taking you home." Tony said.
XxXxXxXx
Loki frowned as men in black suits scurried around his home by the dozens. Sarah was somewhat better, more relaxed now that they were home. However, the presence of all these people in what was supposed to be their secret getaway unnerved them both.
"All set sir, there are cameras in every room of the home with microphones." An agent said to Nick.
"I beg your pardon, but what of the bedroom?" Loki asked.
"Yes, we bugged that too." Nick said.
"Absolutely not! I object!" Loki said.
"Duly noted." Nick said. "You will not obscure the line of sight on these cameras or the microphones. Period."
"And I'll not allow some stranger to view our intimate relations. Is Sarah to be subjected to having her naked body viewed every time she undresses and bathes?"
"It's that or a prison cell." Nick said. "You're lucky we are giving you this option at all."
"Look, it'll take some getting used to but after a while you'll forget they are there." Natasha said to Sarah.
"No I won't." Sarah said. Natasha sighed. Well, she tried. The team packed up and all the non-descript suits left, leaving Nick, Steve, Tony, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce.
"So, these are the ground rules. Use this communicator to let our agents know if you plan to leave the house to go into town for a supply run. Likewise, if you go anywhere else. If you shut off or obscure the equipment function in any way, agents will descend upon this location quickly."
"If it is night time in our bedroom, I make no promises." Loki said as he snatched the communicator out of Steve's hand. Nick made a face but said nothing as everyone turned to leave.
"There is one more thing." Nick said.
"I'm shocked. What now?" Loki said.
"We're sending out a doctor to visit Sarah once a week to give her therapy for her PTSD. She needs it."
"Thank you." She said.
"Fine, get out." Loki said.
"You're welcome." Steve said to Sarah. The group boarded the quinjet and took off, leaving Loki and Sarah alone, well mostly. Relief washed over them both and they locked the door.
"There now. We're safe again. In fact, we are even more protected than we were before." He said as he hugged her. His hands ran over her back, caressing her.
"I wonder what Thor is up to." Sarah said.
"So do I."