Chapter 3: Talks
Thor finished attaching the chains to the bed so Loki would be anchored and safe to leave without supervision.
"His trainers said they have to do this so he won't sneak during the night. He also needs to be anchored during the day for his various tasks. As least until he knows better than to escape," said Thor.
Loki stayed still. He wanted to tell them he wouldn't run. He was a good slave and would not go away. But he couldn't speak, it wasn't allowed.
"Thanks Thor. I'll see you in the morning."
Thor left the room.
oOo
Thor came back to the common area with the raven following him.
"You can give your report to the Allfather now. The day is done."
And the raven flew away.
"Creepy. You talk to raven," said Tony.
"Yeah, I cannot talk freely in present of the ravens. One of my father's ravens will be here from dawn till dusk as long as I am. And then report to my father. Sorry for the inconvenience. But now I can speak my mind."
"Want a drink?"
"Please."
"So, just speak your mind."
"I don't want to hurt Loki, I want to acknowledge him as my brother. I haven't seen him in five years, I didn't even know he had a child before I arrived at the training facility to collect him. I wasn't even aware he could bear children. And as he said, he didn't know of mother's death. It pains me so much to have to be so cruel toward him."
"And you do it for the raven?"
"Yes. For my father. He had to send Loki to slavery for his crimes. As the future king, I have to agree with it and do what is expected of me. I hate to treat Loki like this, but I have to keep the façade up or Father will find out. My only hope for Loki is that, when I am king, I can appeal of the judgement and maybe get some sort of end to his sentence if he shows he deserved it."
"Are there many slaves in Asgard?"
"Not much, there hasn't been someone sentences to slavery in a few hundred years. The only slaves I saw at the training facility were kids. Children of other slaves."
"I can't believe there are children serving in Asgard. Thor, I thought Asgard was great, not like this."
"Asgard is great. Or was... I am opposed to slavery, but it is a good way to keep prisoners of war docile. There might be a total of not even a hundred slaves in Asgard. Like I said, they are rare. I just hate the fact that my once brother is now one of them. I wish to abolished slavery, but it won't be for a few years at the earliest. In the meantime, I hope our good captain will do a good job."
"Better that the Hulk."
"Yeah, Banner was my father's idea. Rogers was mine. I think he would be the best for that task."
oOo
In the room, Loki was sitting patiently on the bed. Maybe his master wanted some favour before going to bed.
"Loki, I want to speak to you. Or speak with you. You are allowed to talk," said Steve.
When the good captain said nothing, Loki knew he had to speak.
"Yes master." Well, nothing could go wrong with that, right?
"You don't have to call me that. Call me Steve."
"A good slave needs to call his master by the proper title. And all of his better too."
"Can I order you to?"
Loki looked around.
"As long as Odin's spies are here, I better do what is expected of me from Asgard. I must be an obedient slave so I am not sent back for retraining. I promise you I will obey."
"Okay, call me master until Thor has left. Then, call me Steve, okay?"
"Yes, master."
"So. Earlier, when I hit you. I am sorry for that. I wish there had been a way out of it."
"I'm sorry I put you it this situation. I will behave, promise."
"Did I hurt you? Are you in pain? I tried to be gentle while giving Thor the impression I was being firm."
"You didn't hurt me as much as I deserve. And, no, I am not in pain, nor was I during the punishment."
"I want to know more about the training and about your children."
"You don't have to worry about my training. If they let me out, it is because they know I am ready to serve. I will always be obedient. I swear. As for my child, it won't bother you. The pregnancy won't make me unable to do the work. A Jotun body is adaptable. Though I would prefer if you allow me back to my Jotun form when the time come for the delivery, I cannot ask for it."
"That's not what I meant. What did they do to you during training?"
"They prepared me for any circumstance of my servitude. I can serve you in any way you want. And I will follow all the rules."
"Did they beat you?"
"Only when I deserve."
"Okay, I'll take that as a yes. Loki, I want to ask a difficult question. You can refuse to tell me if you want. When you got pregnant, did you want it?"
"A slave doesn't have desire."
"Were you forced to have sexual relation?"
"One cannot force a slave. A slave can be disobedient, a slave might need to be punished or taught. One cannot rape a property, an object."
"Loki, you are not an object. You are a man. Well, a god, or a Jotun, but not an object."
"Then I am a monster. All Jutnar are monsters."
"No. You are not a monster. You did a bad thing, but you are a person. I promise you I won't treat you like a slave. How about a prisoner with a particular status?"
"A prisoner with a job is just a slave."
"And your child, does he, she... What's the name?"
"Doesn't have one. And it is an it, not a she, not a he. It doesn't have a name."
"Loki, we are talking about your own child."
"A slave is an object, no more. And a slave doesn't have a name. You might call me Loki, but I don't have a name anymore."
"Okay, I give you a name, then! Your name is Loki and you are a person. How about the child?"
"It is both like me. Both male and female. Like Jotnar."
"Did you give him a name? Even just for you."
"Alex. It is appropriated for both girl and boy. I would have chosen Storm, but it was too close to Thor at that moment. Alex means defender and if I am to spend time here, Alex is a common name here too."
"Alex then. Should we treat Alex as a boy or girl?"
"As you phrased it, I was raped. More like trained to be a good sex slave. I would prefer if my children were not bed slave like me. I cannot ask, but I can hope. If they are male, then people might be less temped to use them as such."
"Loki, I promise you, nor you, nor your children will be bed slaves."
"I taught Alex to be a male. But he knows he is both."
"And for the next one, when are you due?"
"Seven or eight more moons. I am barely pregnant."
"I would love to have Bruce or another doctor monitor the situation. And you both should get a medical exam. Alex might be okay, but you have been through a lot. Did they hurt Alex at all?"
"Whenever he or I would commit a mistake or misdeed, I would insist on taking his punishment and have him send away. They would beat me more because of my demands, but they only hurt him once."
"What? Why, when?"
"I had to learn not to ask for him to be removed when I was punished, so he saw it a few times. It was only once that he did something and he had to take his own punishment. They only hit him once and he didn't cry too much after, but only because they told him he would have more. I was to stand there and do nothing. I feel like a monster for not doing a thing. But the trainers then announced I was ready to become a slave."
"Loki, that's horrible. They shouldn't hit a child. They are the monsters for doing this, not you."
"Captain, Vision would like to know if it is time for them to bring the child," said Friday.
"Yes, tell him to come. I think this is enough for tonight. Get some rest, Loki."
The door open and Alex was in Wanda's arms.
"Hey, look who's here!"
She set down the boy who ran to his father who embraced him.
"So, basically, he didn't say a word the entire time, refuse to eat, and just kneel on the ground. He didn't even touch the toy we gave him," said Wanda.
"Thank you Wanda."
She left and closed the door behind her.
"Hey. Your father tells me your name is Alex. I am Steve."
The little one didn't react and just hugged Loki.
"It's okay Alex, we can trust Steve."
Alex turned his head to look at Steve.
"Master now?" asked Alex which took Steve aback.
"Yes, he is. You need to obey him and do as he said, okay?"
"Okay."
"Hey Alex, do you want to go to the bathroom before bed?" asked Steve.
Alex just nod. Loki went when they entered the room. Steve extended his hand toward the boy, but Alex didn't take it.
"It's okay, we are just going to the bathroom," said Steve.
Loki nudge Alex to go and the boy went with Steve. When they came back, Alex climbed into bed with his daddy and snuggle close.
"He usually only talks to me, but he will do as you ask," assured Loki.
"I am locking the door for tonight. If there's anything, you can ask Friday, she's in the ceiling. I'll be back tomorrow morning."
And on that, Steve left with a click on the door.
A good thing about being chained to a bed, or anchor to the floor as was usually the case, was that your day only starts when someone comes for you. You don't have to wake up too early, though still early. Except if you are left chained in the room you have to perform some tasks the next morning. In training, Loki had been left in the kitchen a lot with the order to have breakfast ready.
All of this was freighting for Loki; new realm, new master — masters actually —, new rules. He had a bed for the first time in ... well, five years. Norns, five years since his attack on New York. Five years of training, harsh training. And it should have been only three years, but Loki had been too proud to obey until they raped him and impregnated him. As much as he was grateful to have Alex in his life, it wasn't fair. And Jotun's body was far better to handle pregnancy so even though Loki tried to get rid of the baby in those few months, nothing worked. And when the trainers discovered he was pregnant and, on top of that, had tried to get rid of it, they made sure he would have that baby. They bound him even further, with more chains, so he could even try something to abort. Of course, he was already wearing the chains because of his — numerous — escape attempts, but then he had more chains. Thor removed some of them before bringing him here. They forced him to eat so the baby would grow. When Alex came, at least he looked like an Aesir, which was a blessing because Norns know what the trainers would do to a Jotun baby. But Alex was like Loki, both male and female and the trainers discovered that eventually.
Loki didn't have any news, any visitors during his training. He didn't know Frigga had died. What else was he unaware of? Asgard seems to still stand, so there was that. And apparently, Thor didn't get news from Loki either, or he would have known about the kid. And this evening, Loki had to open his mouth. It had come as a shock that Frigga was dead and Loki wanted to know more, but he angered Thor and he had to be punished. It had been already a whole month since his last punishment, he had thought he was good now. And he gained a punishment in his first hour with a new master, must be a record. He would have to be on his best behaviour not to get punish again as long as Thor was still here, or he might believe the training was not efficient enough. And those ravens were watching too. Loki would have to adapt quickly to all the new rules if he didn't want to be sent back for retraining. That was the second priority on his list, the first being the children.
The good captain may not want to use Loki as a bed slave, but Loki was serving a life sentence. There would be more masters down the way and some might want to use the full training of Loki.
oOo
When Steve came out of Loki's room, he met the rest of the team, at least those present at the compound.
"Cap, wanna drink?" asked Stark.
"Think I'll need a double."
Stark served Cap and then they all sat down.
"So, Loki," was how the conversation started.
"I think we can all agree the situation is SNAFU concerning Loki," said Stark.
"Tony, I wasn't born yesterday, I don't know all your modern expression."
"I thought that was an old expression. Basically means: situation normal, all fucked up."
"Then, we agree," said Rhodey.
"Even the kid is damaged," said Wanda.
"Yes, we need a plan. Loki is a prisoner here and will stay with the Avengers for the foreseeable future. I won't treat him as a slave, but he won't be free either," said Cap.
"He will need a medical exam. Both of them. I can ask Dr. Cho to come by. Or I can do it," said Banner.
"Yes, please."
"And you will need a set of rules," said Thor. "Right now, Loki knows Asgard's rules concerning slaves. But, because we are on Midgard, or Earth, you can give him new rules, and other punishments."
"Tony, I was thinking, you have cells here, right?" asked Steve.
"Yes, but I thought you didn't want to use them on a kid."
"Not for Alex, no. For Loki. I don't want to separate both of them, but I also don't want to beat Loki, not just because he's pregnant, but because we don't do that. If we set a guide line for a number of hours he would have to spend in a cell, away from Alex, it could replace corporal punishments. And I'm suggesting a small among of hours in the cell, with no contact. In the meantime, Alex will be with one of us."
"Yes, it could work," said Rhodey. "We could give him tasks to do during the day and if he disobeys or do some misdeed, we send him in a cell, so he will have to complete his task after, losing his free time at night."
"Like, he will have something like eight hours' worth of work, but if he ends up being punished, he goes in a cage for three and have to continue working later, so less leisure time. Sound good to me," said Tony.
"A slave should never have idle time. A slave works from the moment he wakes until he is sent to sleep. And sleep is not a necessity. Slaves usually have less than six hours of sleep and no free time," said Thor.
"Maybe in Asgard, but this is Earth. Our laws are different and we also need to establish a routine for both Loki and his child," said Vision.
"So, no one will have tasks to do in here, not even U and Dum-E," asked Rhodey.
"We could just fire the whole cleaning department," proposed Stark. "Have Loki do it all."
"This place is big," said Steve, "Loki might be able to clean the living area, but not the whole compound."
"We will also have to discuss Loki's price. Technically, you can sell him," said Thor. "As I told Stark, when I'll be king, I will abolish slavery and overturn Loki's sentence. I cannot treat Loki differently that the other slaves just because he is my brother, or was, I can't think of him like that. But if the slaves could gain a salary, they could buy themselves at one point and be free."
"Good idea, but you are not king yet. So we need to think of a solution for the future, but mostly for the time being," said Stark.
"How about a reward system," suggest Wanda. "I had that when I was a kid. You get some gold stars when you are good, and lose them for bad deeds. Could be in combination with the time out in the cell. And when he gets enough stars, he can get something for himself."
"Slaves cannot have proprieties. They are the proprieties, but they cannot own stuff," said Thor.
"Okay, so the reward could be that he has access to things, like an access to toys for Alex or access to more clothes. It won't belong to him, but he will be able to use those," suggest Stark.
"That could work, but only the best of slaves get privileges," said Thor.
"Wanda, you want to start on a proposition for such system?" asked Cap. Wanda nodded.
"And I'll think of tasks that need to be done around here," said Stark, "Friday will help."
"I will come up with a set of rules and times out. Rhodey, want to help?" asked Steve.
And then, they all knew what they have to do.
