Loki had gotten use to the routine of his life here. Sue worked five morning days and sometimes doubled. Much to his annoyance she was his main aid, leaving him to endure her belittling almost abusive treatment. Jeremy was the other common aid, even after almost choking him. He wasn't overly friendly but was professional, not at all abusive like Sue. If for whatever the reason they weren't there Amanda would tend to him once or twice a week. She was the nicest of them and actually tried to start conversations with him.
He would usually not eat breakfast choosing to go hungry instead of enduring Sue's baby feeding. Lunch was always shared with Barry giving him the chance to enjoy more of selection of food than the hospital would provide. Eating dinner would depend if Sue pulled a double or if one of his other aides would tend to him.
It was common that Barry would flip out on Sue for her treatment of him and over use of bondage and isolation. The hospital was trying to minimize the use of bondage and isolation even for the most difficult patients. Barry's words never seemed to make a difference, Sue would continue to leaving him in his rooms for hours on hours and chained for most of the day.
Today would be no different than others. Sue comes in fuming over the fact that her 'bosses' were giving her heat because they heard Barry was campaigning to get Loki out of Max Security. They like him where he was, stored away until they could claim him once more.
"Get up!" she yelled as she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him to sit up.
Loki cringed and raised his arms in defense for a moment but once he realized it was only Sue he blanked his face with boredom and tired, determined that she would not cause him fear. With one hand he rubbed the sleep from his eyes while Sue gripped his other firmly and prepared a needle for his inner elbow. The pinch of a needle didn't faze him in the least and he didn't move to fight. It was nothing compared to what he had endured even with Sue's untrained hands.
"Doc. wants a sample of your blood." She lied as she did this at her 'bosses' command.
Loki quietly wondered which doctor she was referring to and if they requested it because they found something alien in his blood. Loki sighed if his blood didn't appear human he doubted he would be treated like any normal patient.
Taking him to the common area they found everyone, patients and doctors alike gathered around the TV dumbfound at the news reports that were coming in from New York City.
"Red Skull has returned with an army." The news report said on the TV.
Loki didn't know who Red Skull was but he was sure that his army was Chitauri, though why they weren't hiding behind a false form and why they were aiding this Red Skull figure were beyond Loki's drug endued thoughts. Red Skull wasn't a very creative name considering his whole head was red, looking like his skin melted off.
The sound of an explosion behind the reporter stop her rambling about how Red Skull had thought to been killed when Captain America last fought him years before. The reporter ducked out of frame to reveal a tall muscled man among the smoke. Shadows and lights from fires only showed him in pieces. His long hair fell untamed on his shoulders. Well his armor looked all too familiar. Is that a hammer he wields? Loki almost jumped out his skin at the realization. As quick as he noticed the figure was actually Thor he was gone, swinging his hammer around to take flight and rejoin the fight above him. He was startled slightly by Sue firmly grabbing his arm.
"Come on you don't need this excitement." She said as she attempted to pull him.
"No." He stated flat but firmly.
"What was that?!" Sue almost yelled at his blunt refusal to her command but quickly watched her tone as she glanced at those who may hear. "You will do as I tell." She said quieter even though most were too distracted by the TV.
"Was that truly..." He started to say but didn't finish his thought. Thor truly survived his own stupidity? Years ago when he still found a home in Asgard Thor only survived by Loki's cunning. The idea of possibly see Thor once again left Loki with mixed feelings compounding in his chest.
Sue pulled on him once more but he didn't seem fazed as his eyes glanced distantly at the TV. After several more pulls Sue realized that she wasn't going to be able move him by strength alone. Sue motioned over the orderlies which were standing watch of the room.
"He is too sensitive for this excitement. Can you help me get him back to his room?" Sue quickly made up a reason and Loki huff in response glaring at her.
Loki felt a fire in his chest which he thought he had long since lost. The first set of hands came at him and he quickly broke their grip and nailed the man named Mark with a sharp right hook. A large orderly named Steve appeared behind him and wrapped his arms around him pinning him to his chest. Loki struggled and kicked out with his legs at another orderly named Kevin. After landing a foot in Kevin's gut that bent him over himself, Mark moved in on his side.
"Get up Kevin!" Mark yelled, his eye already showing signs of blackening over.
"Right…" Kevin said as he regained his composure and rejoined the fight.
Loki felt a pinch in his side as Mark shot a sedative in the hopes to weaken his fight. Growling in response Loki threw his head back catching Steve's nose and releasing his bear hug grip. Kevin and Mark were on him now wrestling him to the floor.
"Steve…you…ok?" Mark asked between panting breathes as he struggled to keep Loki down and not injuring them again.
"Yeah…" Steve said as he wiped the blood from his nose before rejoining the fight.
"Why…isn't…the sedative…working?" Kevin asked in a whining tone.
"His tolerance for such medicine is unusually high." Sue commented.
"And why weren't we made aware of this information?!" Mark commended angry.
Instead of commenting Sue came towards them with a straight jacket with an amused look on her face. Even with Loki's struggles the three men were able to get him in it enough for Sue to lace up the back. She pulled on the laces of his arms all too happy to tie them as tight as she possible could so he could barely move in his forced self hugging. He huff but ceased fighting for the moment losing his wind.
"Will you be walking or will we have to carry you?" Mark asked.
"I can carry my own weight." Loki stated bitterly as he glanced back the TV hoping for another glimpse of Thor.
They placed him on his feet. "Then move." Mark stated angrily.
"Take me to Barry." He said standing his ground. 'Surely he would understand.' He continued in thought.
"Fine have it your way." Mark said as they dragged him back to his room, kick and yelling to get off of him.
They shove him in his room, shutting the door behind him. He rammed his shoulder into the door in frustration yelling, "Let me see Barry!"
"He is going to hurt himself at this rate." He heard one of the orderlies say not caring at the moment to figure out which one.
A second later the door pops open to show the orderlies and Sue. Steve was already tending to his nose and looking to rejoin the fight. Sue held a large needle and he backed away in defense.
"Take me to Barry." He commended though his voice lack the tone of confidence or the fire in his chest he felt earlier.
Loki was losing his steam quickly so this time when Kevin and Mark came at him it was easier for them to pin him to his bed while Sue shot the needle into his lower back. They left him lying on his side twitching, barely conscious of his surroundings while his plagued mind tormented him with nightmares.
…
It seemed strange to Barry that he was only given information about Loki after he was taken in by Shield. There was no information about his brother's death, only saying Loki killing him. No police reports or anything. If Loki was truly crazy and murdered his brother for no reason than there would have been warning signs in his childhood. He really hoped to talk to his parents or legal guardian directly. After all he wasn't able to give more medical & criminal history through the normal channels, Barry reached out to one of his friends who worked within Shield named Kara Palamas.
Pacing around his office Barry thought about the report he just read. As far as Kara could tell him was that no one named Dr. Erich ever worked for them. There were also no records of them containing someone who matched Loki's description. Kara also looked and found out that the social security number which was attached to Loki was only instated right before he was hospitalized in Rothman Medical Center. There was no record of him being born or living anywhere in the world which had such record keeping. It was all a big mystery.
The sound of his phone ringing broke him from his thoughts as he made his way back to his desk to grab his cell phone. Curiously he noticed the number was blocked.
"Hello?"
"You need not ask questions you shouldn't know to ask." Came a voice with a thick German accent.
"Who is this?"
"I am Dr. Erich" Barry quickly glanced around his office looking for his recorder before Dr. Erich continued, "There is no point to trying to track this call or trying to record me. Come now Barry, don't be rude I have heard you have been looking for me."
Barry fumbled for a moment as he said, "I wasn't…"
"There is no need to play dumb as well. We have been watching you and my patient since you have been taking care of him."
Barry slumped back in his chair as he thought about how he had got soft after retiring from the navy or else he would have noticed the bug in his office for spying.
"What do you want?"
"You were trying to get a hold of me before, were you not? I do hope our little mischievous Loki hasn't been too much trouble for you."
"You nearly killed him! My only question to you would have been, what in the hell did, you think you were doing?!"
There was a light amused sound as Barry imaged Dr. Erich's smirk. "But you see he didn't die, did he? Surely you must realize he is more than our weakness and can't die as easily as us."
Barry internally questioned Dr. Erich's wording and wondered what he meant by it. Was he admitting to him that he purposely tried to over dose Loki like some kind of lab rat? A sick feeling rose up in Barry's chest. He didn't like this man and now understood Loki's lack of trust in Doctors and medicine.
"If he is too hard for you to handle I can…"
"Loki is staying here!" Barry said with determination in his voice. There was no way he was going to allow this man anywhere near Loki again.
"Yes, yes. My accommodations aren't suited for…patients at the moment."
"Do you even work for Shield?
"If you know what is best for you, you will drop this and just do your job of getting him to hug pillows and cry about daddy issues."
"Is that a threat?"
"Aren't you more concerned with the attack in New York?" Dr. Erich half laughed.
"What attack?"
"Turn on your television, Doctor." Dr. Erich said he hung up the phone.
Barry stared at the phone in confusion for a second before turning on his TV to watch the reports coming in from NYC. How this man was connected to this attack, he didn't know. He didn't know too much about Red Skull and flipped open his laptop to do more research. Red Skull was bad news over each article he read. He had ties to several terrorist groups, Nazi and Hydra. Thankfully both those groups were gone but the question was which current group Red Skull was tied to.
Clearly Dr. Erich was a part of his current group considering he wasn't concerned with the sight of aliens raining down on New York. An even bigger question hit his mind, that being how is their group connected to Shield. His mind started to race with many outlandish conspiracy theories.
….
There was no way of knowing how much time had passed since Loki lost his fight against the drugs. His thoughts came back to him slowly as he momentary forgot where he was. The only light in the room was from the hallway through the small window in the door. It was not enough light to get a good look at his surroundings though his blurry thoughts.
A buzzing in his left arm forced him to attempt to shift his weight off the numb limp. He rolled slightly not understanding in his drug weary mind why his arms wouldn't move away from him chest. After another shift and he fell off the bed smacking his face against his nightstand table and landing loudly face down on the cold hard floor. He laid there in shook for a moment as the jolt brought his memories rushing back to him.
The click of the door opened and washed him with light and he closed his eyes tightly trying to adjust to the brightness.
"Loki, what happen?" he heard the caring voice of Amanda coming towards him.
"Sue…" He mumbled as she helped him sit up.
"Did she also bind you like this?"
Loki just nodded yes. Words were difficult at the moment.
She shook her head and clenched her jaw in anger as she unlaced the straight jacket and helped him sit back in bed. She excused herself to get him water as he sat on the edge of the bed shaking his hands in an attempt to bring feeling back to them. She was the only one that left his door wide open, trusting him enough to not wander off. There was nowhere for him to go to if he wanted to run off.
She handed him a cup of water and he downed it quickly.
"Would like another?"
"I'm fine."
"I will let your therapist know what she did to you. Sue is unnecessarily cruel. " She said shaking her head.
"Please let me see Barry." He said glancing away from her as his brief glimpse of Thor flashed through his head. Was the battle still going on? Would there be any way for him to find out if Thor was truly there or if it was all in his head. Brought to life by drugs pumped into his system.
…
"What's wrong? It is unlike you to request me." Barry asked.
Loki walked over to the TV without a word and pushed several buttons before finding the one that turned it on. The news station that Barry was last watching clicked on still showed reports coming in from New York.
"I saw…I thought I saw…Thor on the..." Loki didn't complete his words as he didn't know the term for the TV.
"You saw your brother in the news reports from New York? Is he a reporter, was he hurt in the attack?" Barry grinned at this turn of events, not putting together what Loki was saying. Just thinking he was talking about a normal human brother.
"No, you don't understand." Loki shifted out of Barry's view of the screen as he tapped the glass. "This is Thor, the god of thunder…well at least that is what Midgard dubbed him." The screen showed a poor quality clip, which looked like it was taken on someone's phone, of a muscle man with long golden hair holding a hammer and sending lightning bolts at unimaginable aliens.
Barry glanced at the clip in shock. Compounding with the realization that aliens were real Barry was speechless. Thor, the god of thunder was real, a living breathing alien. If he was real than Asgard was real and Barry started to question everything he ever doubted. Ghosts, past lives, reincarnation maybe even the Loch Ness were real as well.
He looked at Loki with new eyes. This battered, emotionally crippled man was Loki, the legendary god of mischief, standing before him in every aspect of his namesake, the Asgardian outcast. He felt uneasy not liking the idea that there were things out there complete beyond his control, things that he couldn't protect Loki from. Could he even help him at all? How could he possible relate to an alien in this impossible situation?
Suddenly Loki's eyes changed and were hit with fear. He took a step back and tripped over a step stool falling backwards on his butt. The fall didn't seem to faze him as he quickly slid back on his hands till his back touched the wall he muttered, "No…why now."
"What's?.." Barry started to say as Loki jetted from the wall moving towards the window before he seemed to be grabbed by unseen hands. Loki pulled with all his strength at the unseen grip, which seem to almost crush his shaking wrists.
It didn't seem Loki could see him at all. Barry had seen physiological breaks before but something didn't seem right about this one.
Words sounding of desperation gave from Loki in an unknown language as it seemed he was forced down to his knees with his arms held out on either side of him. Loki's chest expanded quickly in sharp panicked breathes. Barry moved towards him, if this was a physiological break he would have to snap Loki out of it. As he was about to touch Loki's shoulder he was zapped drawing his hand back quickly. He moved around him to see that his eyes were whitened over.
"What is this?" Barry asked a loud in confusion. Was this how aliens have a physiological break or was this something else completely.
Barry moved to his tablet and set it up to record what was happening as well and detect his language and translate. Loki made a gasping like noise as if all the wind was knocked out of his chest and he bend over like he was hit.
Loki twitched in his seemingly held position shaking with what seemed like fear and anger
A line of non-English words which had the tremble of fear came softly from Loki's lips which the tablet translate to, "If you were wondering how I have been doing, a letter would have work just as well."
His head jolted to one side with the sound of an unseen slap. His lip queered while moisture settled under his eyes but refused to fall as he lowered his whitened eyes to the floor.
Loki once again spoke in his language in a timid tone before he seemed to be cut off. He moved as if someone held him by the throat. He didn't move to fight the hold but in fact seemed to give into it submissively allowing his head to roll back. Chocked non-English words came from him. Barry didn't need to look at the tablet to understand Loki's tone and body stating something along the lines of 'Do I deserve death now?'
The white glow of his eyes faded as a line of non-English words came from his lips in an angry tone, slamming his fist into the floor in front of him. Angry-sad tears rolled down his face. Large breaths of air expanded his chest rapidly.
Before Barry could mutter a word of support a bolt of lightning struck outside the windows without a warning with a loud crack of thunder. All the while the sky remained sunny and blue without a hint of a cloud.
Loki flew off the floor and over the couch fearfully jetting to hide under Barry's desk. The spot Loki had chosen had the most physical protective walls within the room. Barry stood for a moment unsure what happen or what he should do. The sound of distressed panting breaths which boarded a panic attack brought back Barry to his professional mind.
Barry rounded his desk. Despite Loki's height he looked very small hiding in a seated ball under the desk. "Loki?" he asked but Loki only responded by pull himself into a tighter ball.
"Why cannot there…be truth to my words…I will not seek out Thor…I swore it." Loki muttered to himself in his language as if someone else was there with them. Barry glanced at his tablet reading the translation.
Kneeling down to his eye level Barry said, "Hey breathe its ok."
Loki huffed in mocking of his words. Barry slowly moved his hand to rest on Loki's shoulder blade. Loki flinched light at the touch but didn't move to push him away. If he wouldn't believe his words perhaps just knowing he was there would help calm him down. After several minutes Loki's breathing seemed to even out to normal.
"What happened?" Barry finally asked
"You would not believe me so I will save the breath. I have no way to prove the truth to you." Loki said in a muffled voice as he continued to hide his face within the tight ball he had wrapped himself into.
"After what I just witnessed today, try me."
Loki peaked out from his ball with wet eyes as he tried to read Barry's expression. "I am not free of the burden of Asgard." He said as he moved his hands to the back of his neck.
"What do you mean?"
"He is still watching me."
"Who?"
"Odin." Loki said while raising his eyes to glance fearfully around. He seemed to almost shake.
"Your father?"
"I am not his son. I never was." He said while glancing down at his palms as if seeing something change about them.
Barry took note of the fresh bruising on Loki's cheek and the large hand print that now adore his neck.
"So what was that? Checking in on you?" Barry said sounding almost angry. He would try to help Loki as much he as could. He was still a person in need, alien or not.
"…a warning."
"Of what?"
"To stay dead…or..." Loki spoke angrily unable to finish his sentence as he repeated some of the words spoken to him.
"That is hardly fair."
"As you should have realized my life is never fair." Loki spoke locking his jaw in anger.
Barry sigh, "I don't understand…why are you here…On Earth I mean?"
"I did not die when I was meant to." Loki said as he wiped the moisture from his eyes before it fell.
"Are you referring to when you killed Baldur?...Why did they want you dead?"
Loki shrugged sadly. "I have pondered that question for over a century."
"You have been on Earth for over a century?"
"No…Most of it I rotted in Asgard's prison wishing I died that day instead Balder. As for my time on Midgard I can only assume Shield's records are how long I've been here."
"You were sent to Shield, why?" Barry asked choosing a different to ask about the term Midgard.
"Send? Hardly." Loki chucked half heartly before continuing, " I doubt 'he' chose any place when I was thrown from Asgard like trash."
"Thrown? As in you fell to earth?" Barry asked with disbelieve.
"Yes. I can only assume the spell which traps me within Human limitations was not in full effect at the time allowing me to survive such a feat. The plan may have been to kill me…"
Everything was starting to tie together. The snapshot of Loki's life lay out before him. Only one question remained why Shield had no record of Loki. It is possible that Kara had lied to him but then it would beg the question of why. Barry was sure that Dr. Erich wasn't Shield. You could hear the chuckle in his voice when it was asked. Barry sighed there was more to this picture than it seemed even Loki realized.
"So Thor isn't to know you live but can you still check in on him?" Barry asked as Loki just shrugged in response. "Come on. Let's finish watching the new report."
Loki moved from his safe spot tenderly as if the very walls would move and attack him. He got comfortable on the couch all wrapped up in a warm blanket. The TV was talking about the 'heroes' that were fighting. They were calling themselves the Avengers. Barry took pictures of his new injuries and gave him an ice pack for his bruised cheek all while Loki was more focused on the TV and any glimpse of Thor to care.
…..….
Back in the hallway of the max security rooms, Sue leaned against a wall.
"If you do this my employer will be most pleased and may even help you out of this hospital." Sue said.
"Count me in." Spoke a man's voice from within the cell she stood near.
"Remember it has to..." Sue commended as she handed him something through his cells window.
He interrupted as he spoke of himself in third person. "Harold, got this."
….
Hours later Loki had fallen asleep on the couch in Barry's office while the TV had switched into a paid programming trying to sell a weight lose program. Barry tenderly tried to wake him but Loki still jumped with a startle.
"I'm sorry to wake you but you have to return to your room so I can go home to my bed." Barry said as he clicked off the TV.
"I understand." Loki said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Mildly glancing at the TV he asked, "Has the battle concluded?"
"Yes, we won, well more like the Avengers won. Considering y..." Barry started to say but then pondered on Loki being an alien.
"I am not of Asgard anymore."
"You can make a home here?"
"Perhaps." He said not allowing such thoughts which would lead to disappointment later.
"I will try to help you make a life here."
Loki stood and stretched instead of responding moving to the door expecting his escort to his room. Amanda greeted him with a friendly smile.
"It's late. Are you ready for bed?"
Loki nodded tiredly as he looked forward to falling into his uncomfortable but familiar bed.
