Author's Notes: This is an alternate universe Marvel adventure/romance. There are aspects of this story that do not comply with the ever-changing Marvel Cinematic Universe. ALSO, be aware that the opening scene has brief, non-sexual torture as part of an interrogation.
Part 1: Chapter 1 - Imprisonment
Burly, gray-skinned monsters restrained Maria Hill, holding her upright as she couldn't stand on her own with battered feet and legs. A thick, calloused hand curled around her throat, applying pressure to limit her breathing. The oxygen she did draw in was permeated with the rancid taint of the prison: sweat, blood and excrement.
"Where is the mind stone? Whom are you protecting?"
She glared through swollen eyes at the dark helmet worn by Yomik, her interrogator. In all the weeks since her capture, she'd never seen the bastard's face. She assumed he wouldn't be any less gruesome than the ape-faced guards.
"Go to Hell!"
The interrogator turned to the man clutching her left arm.
"Break her wrist."
The forceful snap and raging pain drew an unfettered screech from Maria. Shock waves shot up her arm and into her chest. She fought to keep conscious as her vision blurred and heart trembled with the intensity, making her gasp.
"No one is going to help you, woman. Save yourself. Tell us and end this suffering."
Maria decided she must be wearing him down. They'd been at this for at least an hour by her reasoning and Yomik got more talkative when he was losing steam.
"Never."
"You must like it here," he insisted. "Twenty-five days. That's a record for most species. None of us thought a female Human would make it past ten."
Maria knew exactly how many days it had been since her capture. They kept to a schedule, four days of torture always preceded three of rest and recuperation. They miraculously healed her injuries time and time again, just so they could re-inflict them.
"Of course, I doubt anyone will surpass Prince Loki's record. Wouldn't you agree, your majesty?" he called in the direction of the next cell and the constant hum of machinery.
Of all the prisons in the vast cosmos, Maria was stuck with Loki the God of Psychopaths as her neighbor.
In response, the trickster chided with forced good humor. "Don't play favorites, Yomik. You'll hurt Commander Hill's feelings."
The interrogator laughed, returning his attention to Maria.
"Lord Thanos is displeased with your lack of cooperation."
"Must be time to kill me."
"You'll die when your body gives out or you find a way to kill yourself," he said and jerked his helmet toward a dark stain on the wall that had trickled down and dried on the metal. "The previous prisoner bashed his own skull in."
Maria chose not to look. Every sight, smell and sound of the place had already ingrained into her memory.
She tried to cloak the pain from her many injuries. Some days she succeeded at distancing herself. This day, the fourth in the weekly cycle, left her will floundering. She felt too drained to compartmentalize the horror, too beaten to maintain the façade for much longer. If not for the belief that the Avengers and Peter Quill's crew searched for her, Maria worried that she'd go insane, or worse, break down and give her tormentors the information they wanted.
"Who has the mind stone?"
Though it took extra effort to push them out through a restricted throat, her words sounded weak.
"Go fuck yourself."
He released her throat to deliver a backhanded slap that stung her face and tweaked her jaw. Flashes of white popped in her vision, intensifying the headache that days of insufficient hydration and being knocked around had given her.
Maria panted to fill her burning lungs.
Where were her friends? She'd give almost anything to have Hulk burst in right then, roaring and tearing these monsters limb from limb.
"Lord Thanos is away for a few days, but if you haven't broken by then, I'm sure he'll get the answers himself."
Maria wanted to deliver a scathing reply, show these alien fuckers that they couldn't affect her, but it took all her strength and resolve to not burst into tears.
I'm so damn tired of waiting, fighting and hurting.
Yomik pulled his knife, a wicked-looking weapon as long as Maria's forearm. The woman hardened her features and cast her gaze from the blade. At least they were moving into the final part of the interrogation. The blade always came last.
"It's not smart to be so strong," Yomik warned. "Lord Thanos is always looking for worthy candidates to add to his collection. Believe me, you do not want to become a Daughter of Thanos. None suffer as well or often as they do."
"Blah, blah, BLAH!" Loki yelled, his voice laced with annoyance. "Stop talking, you witless oaf. No one cares. If you're going to torture her, then get on with it!"
Asshole! Maria thought.
Yomik froze. He lowered the knife and waved the guards off. The moment the thugs let go, Maria's battered form crashed to the floor. She cried out, shifting with great effort until she could flop over onto her back.
The men left, locking the door behind them before entering Loki's cell.
"Shut your mouth, runt!" Yomik yelled, followed by an abrupt increase in the humming of the machine and Loki's howls of agony.
Maria hated the sounds of his screams. They humanized him, stripped him of his larger-than-life presence, and if a god-like being could be reduced to such a state, what hope was there for her?
At least a full minute later, the hum decreased in volume, as did the ruckus from Asgard's fallen prince.
"One day," the interrogator threatened, "I'll set the machine to full power and leave it there. How long do you think you would last in that much pain?"
Maria didn't hear Loki's answer over his gasps. She waited until Yomik and the guards had left their corridor before speaking to him.
"You're an idiot if you didn't know he'd react that way."
Loki laughed between groans and more labored breathing.
"Come now, Hill. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't teach graciousness?"
She managed a clumsy yet effective attempt to sit up. With care, she scooted until she reached the corner, resting her head against the cool metal.
"No retort?" he quipped. "Sometimes you're no fun at all."
"I don't have to talk to you."
His tone ridiculed as he said, "Then perhaps you should cry. Anything to keep boredom from setting in."
"Asshole."
"Quim."
Maria felt especially cruel in that moment, perhaps overcompensating for the earlier feelings of sympathy.
"You're a psycho. Maybe you deserve to be sealed up in that contraption."
There was no response from him, not a peep, and that was amusing, empowering and, with more thought on her part, also despairing. Of course she didn't believe he deserved it. Why was she sinking to his level?
The machine hummed and whirred through the silence. If they hadn't been conversing moments ago, Maria would have considered that he'd passed out.
"How long have you been in that thing?"
"Are you setting your wrist? I don't hear any wincing."
The joint seemed to throb with greater insistence with his mention.
"I don't think I'll bother this time." Then she pointed out, "You didn't answer my question."
"Must have been a stupid question."
"You're such an asshole."
"What's your preoccupation with rectums?"
Maria laughed before she could stop herself. The sound was too loud for him not to have heard.
"Shut up. I'm trying to sleep."
She really wasn't, but knew she should try because the guards would arrive early to take her down to medical. Thankfully, exhaustion won out over pain, and she succumbed to its will.
Agent Hill spent the next day in a drug-induced sleep, which Loki confirmed upon her waking. During that lost time, her wrist had been set and all injuries healed. The doctors used some sort of clear, odorless goo because she found traces of it in her hair, ears and nose after each healing session.
"All that moving around," Loki said with a hint of bitterness at her pacing and stretching to work the soreness out of her joints, "you mustn't be in much pain."
It was unnerving that his words could make her feel so guilty. Loki didn't get time outside the machine to recover or move about.
"Just lucky, I guess." She realized it was a lame statement.
"I don't think luck applies to either of us."
"Careful," she mocked, "almost sounds like you care or something."
The door at the end of the corridor squeaked as it opened. Maria moved to the small, barred window, pushing up on her toes and straining her neck to catch a glimpse as one guard entered Loki's cell and another approached hers with a tray.
Maria had to step back before he would open the door and set the food inside. She eyed the underwhelming meal, a thin stew with wilted gray and white vegetables and a stale chunk of bread to the side. Even the mug of water appeared to have silt floating in it.
"Yummy," she said, exuding sarcasm that these guys never seemed to understand.
The guard dismissed her comment with a grunt and shuffled out.
A conversation arose in the next cell.
"When can I talk to Thanos?" Loki asked. "Surely he knows that I'm more use to him out of here."
The guard sounded skeptical as he informed him, "The lord returns the day after tomorrow. He'll deal with you after he questions the Human."
Maria could detect unease in Loki's voice as he asked, "Will you be back tomorrow?"
"No. Byrzon has the next shift."
"Is he the especially fat one?"
There was a loud snort and suppressed chuckle.
"That's him."
Maria peeked through the window, catching a glimpse of the large guard as he wandered out of their corridor.
"What was that about?" She teased Loki, "Got yourself a boyfriend?"
"Feeling jealous?"
"Not in the least."
"I use Kilv for information. He's more talkative than the others."
The guard had shared that Thanos was returning soon. That was bad news for them both. Maria didn't want to think about the towering, purple-skinned Titan. So, she nibbled at the bread and thought of home. She missed simple things like pajamas, hot showers, rocky road ice cream, sunsets and sipping at a glass of smooth brandy. She remained lost in fond memories until Loki spoke again.
"I think there's a chance we can get out of here."
He said it so plain that Maria wondered if he merely daydreamed aloud.
"Hill?"
"I heard you." Her heart quickened, and hope rose in her voice. "Tell me how."
"Most afternoons when the guard brings your meal, another gives me an injection to suppress my magical abilities. Byrzon, the guard coming tomorrow, is often late. On those days, I can feel my magic surfacing, not quite close enough to access."
"So what's different about tomorrow?"
"Perhaps if you distract Byrzon, buy me enough time, I could break out."
"Distract him for how long?"
"I'm not certain."
"But you think it will work."
"I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise."
She leaned against the wall their cells shared, the last of the bread all but forgotten in her grasp.
"If I help you, then you'll help me? You'll get me back to Earth?"
"Agreed. If you do your part, I'll do mine."
Despite their history and his duplicitous nature, Maria wanted to believe him. She needed to believe. There had to be a chance, no matter how slim, that Loki would keep his word.