Chapter 4
He had expected Thor. His return. Not them. Not now.
"Did you really think we wouldn't find you?"
He could still hear the sound of their laughing, mocking voices in his head as he ached. In the cell, he had been powerless. He had denied it before, but he had been. He had had no magic to stop it and he couldn't use his hands. He had been able to kick two of them before they knocked him unconscious and dragged him along the hallways. They were stronger. They had weapons, and he had nothing. The guards at his cell were most likely dead and he didn't expect anyone to notice his disappearance any time soon. Thor was talking to his mortal – how could he have expected him to come back so soon? He had been stupid, like a child, even.
"They won't find you here."
He shivered. They were right – no one would find him here. They would have expected him to have escaped his cell, in some way. To run. They wouldn't expect Chitauri in here. For all they knew they were his allies, simply because they had been.
"Hold on to it," the leader demanded. They had dragged him into a room he didn't know. It was colder than the other rooms, but his head hurt and he couldn't bring himself to opening his eyes. He was still in SHIELD, he knew that much. The floor felt the same as the floor in his cell, and as far as he knew he hadn't been outside. "Hold it." Only when he saw what Chitauri brought him here for, he understood.
"No," he said, in a clear voice, even though on the inside he was shaking. He was afraid, but he wouldn't admit it to himself. He was, because he knew what was coming. He had endured this times and times before, yet he knew this would be worse.
"How dare you speak against me. You are a failure, you hear me? You wanted to be a king, but you failed. You failed to make the mortals kneel. Now you will kneel, for us. For him. You will take our commands like we have taken yours, in vain. Hold on to it." The voice was cold as ice, he found it colder than his own. Detached, not a single drop of any emotion in it. Did they even feel? He sometimes wondered.
Before he could react, he felt a blunt pain splashing through his head.
"I said, take it." One of the Chitauri forced the sceptre into his hand, and before he knew it shivers ran down his spine. He wasn't on Midgard anymore. Not on SHIELD. Not where anyone could ever find him. And he was staring his master – and now his enemy – right in the eye.
No one would expect him to still be in SHIELD. His body, at least. No one would find him. No one would care. He felt pain burning in his chest, in his limbs. Nothing ever really changed, he thought, and he gritted his teeth.
OOO
It had been three days, and she hadn't heard anything from Thor. Nothing. Nothing from SHIELD either. He had tossed her aside again. She knew it was unfair to think that way, but it was how she felt. Was this how it was going to be forever? Him just flying off to wherever, leaving her behind, wondering if he would ever return? What if he would take years again? She didn't know where his brother was. He could be in a complete different realm by now. Destroying buildings and killing people there. She sighed.
"Shall we go shopping?" Darcy asked. "I haven't packed enough."
"I bet you did that to have an excuse to go shopping."
"Perhaps," Darcy grinned.
Suddenly there was a bang. The door opened and was slapped shut. Jane turned her head, only to saw who she wasn't expecting. "Thor…" she said. "Have you…?"
"No," he said, gritting his teeth, and he looked down. He walked up to her, raising his hand to her cheek, but she struck him across the face. The sound of it filled the room. He looked at her, puzzled. "What was that for?"
"You… I… You just ran off. Again. No goodbye, no nothing."
Thor looked at her, understanding. "I am sorry. I am sorry, Jane, but I have the deep wish to find my brother. I am worried of what he might do to others, and to himself."
She sighed. "I know. He doesn't deserve a brother like you."
Thor didn't react to that. "Did SHIELD call you?" Jane shook her head, and Thor sighed. "I don't know how to contact them. I want to know if they have found him."
"We could go see them, I guess?" Jane said. "If they let us in. They'll probably let you in."
Thor nodded, thankful that he didn't have to go alone.
"I'll get my jacket."
"Oi, what about the shopping?" Darcy said, but nobody was listening – they were already rushing out of the room.
OOO
How long had it been? A day? A week. He couldn't tell. His mind wouldn't work. Pain.
"We will make you regret you ever dared to think you could outsmart us. Think you could stay on Midgard. Be safe."
"I didn't. They captured me, I didn't…"
"Silence."
More pain.
He hadn't delivered what they had wanted. He hadn't been able to bring them the Tesseract. Now he would suffer.
"You are a worthless."
He had been left alone, on the cold ground. He knew his body was apparent in the room of SHIELD. He wished he could feel the hard metal floor of the SHIELD room where the sceptre had been, but he couldn't. All the could feel was the hard rock beneath his bleeding back.
I who was and should be king.
He had been a fool. He had been stupid. The deal he made had been a mistake. Now there was nowhere he could run, nowhere he would be safe. Never.
"Silence, runt!"
He screamed and screamed until his throat ached and there was no longer a voice to scream with. He felt how the Chitauri hands ripped his skin apart, leaving nothing but the bleeding mess that was his body. He couldn't think anymore. He felt his bones break. He wanted to kick, push, anything, but his limbs wouldn't move. He had no magic, for the cuffs were restraining it. Not perfectly, but enough for him not to be able to use it, not under this circumstances.
"You couldn't even win a war against mortals. Ants. Simple insects who are destroying their own realm already. A realm of chaos. You, the proclaimed god of lies and chaos and evil, you couldn't even conquer a world of chaos. You are a failure, nothing, unworthy of your titles. Unworthy of being a king. You will burn. You will do nothing but burn."
The tears had been long gone. He didn't have anything left. He felt empty. There was nothing left. There never had been.
Unworthy of the loved ones you have betrayed.
Thanos didn't show himself again after the first time. He had expressed his disappointment and left him to his army. An army he would undoubtedly throw away once he had reached his goals. An army that nevertheless obeyed him without a second thought.
Make it stop make it stop makeitstop.
But it didn't.
OOO
A/N: Thanks to all the people who followed/favorited this story or who have read one or more chapters anyway!
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