I really am sorry that this took so long to get up cuz I actually had this written a long time ago and just never took the time to type it and even when I did I really didn't like it so spent most of my effort editing. I never promised fast or regular updates, but I will be making an effort to at least try to update a little more ofter. I did make this chapter much longer then the last to make up for long waits because I hate it when an author takes forever to update and then gives you this little page of words so short it can't even be called a proper chapter.
A big thanks to all who fav'ed, alerted, and review, you guys are seriously the only reason I even continue writing this stuff~
Disclaimer in previous chapters
Enjoy~
P.S. This chapter starts a little after Loki hit.
The first thing that registered was the pain, and not just a dull ache, but a constant searing pain that made it see like somebody was slowly shredding every one of his nerve endings one by one.
Carefully he tried to move, but soon found that his muscles had become frustratingly uncooperative.
Deciding that he had no choice but to remain put for the time being, he began to asses his injuries. It seemed as though he had some heavy bruising on his right side and along his upper back. Nothing broken that he could tell, but he couldn't be certain seeing as how the right side of his upper chest was almost completely numb.
Next he moved on to his arms, shoulders and neck. Though everything was exceedingly sore, he was pleased to find that there was no permanent damage that he could find.
He was even beginning to think he had managed to get away with just a few scrapes and bruises, until he reached his legs.
He could tell almost immediately that the one was broken, probably in several places. The other leg was covered in heavy bruises and had he felt the tell tale strain of a pulled muscle in his calf.
Nothing too bad. He could heal it all quickly with his magic and be up in a few hours.
Figuring that there was no reason to wait he cleared his mind and focused, mentally reaching deep within himself for his magic, and came up empty.
His breath hitched then began to speed up as he reached for his magic over and over and coming up with the same result.
This couldn't be right.
Even if he had completely depleted his magic he would still be able to feel it, but this, this was different.
It was as if his magic was never even there to begin with!
He made a few more desperate attempts to grasp flowing energy that was his magic, but was soon forced to face the facts.
His magic was gone.
He knew not how, nor why, only that it was gone and there seemed little hope at this time that he would ever regain it.
He took slow calming breathes. Panicking would do him no favors in his current situation. Once he had calmed down a little, he listened carefully to his surroundings, though he figured that if there was anyone waiting for him to wake, then they would have already been made aware of his awakening by his little, episode with the magic.
Slowly he forced his eyes to open, or at least that is what he thought he did.
No they must still be closed, or had something covering them, surely that could be the only explanation for the darkness that met his gaze.
He continued to tell himself this for several more seconds...until he felt himself blink.
His heart sank.
So this was how he was to live? Powerless and blind?! He would almost prefer death above such a degrading state!
He was a prince-!
He stopped suddenly. But he wasn't a prince, nor was he ever truly. Even on his home world of Jotunheim he was simply a runt. A mistake unworthy of such a title. If he could, he would have laughed at that.
All his life he had been raised to think himself of royalty, on a world that wasn't even his! Yet even then he found that he wasn't wanted there either.
He was no more then a bargaining chip in the end, something to be used to keep the peace, along with the many other stolen prizes of war the great Odin had collected from his slain foes. A boar raised big and fat, to be slaughtered and sacrificed when the time came.
But no, he had tried to change that. He had done everything within his power to try to change that destiny. Throwing his neck upon the chopping block time after time in desperate attempts to gain his so called father's approval.
He had sacrificed his true home, for Odin, killed his true father for Odin, done everything to prove his loyalty and his worth, but it had been in vain, for even then he had been looked upon in disappointment.
He released a soft moan at this, for even if he would never admit it. It hurt. Each and every rejection had hurt more then the last until he had finally given up, but it seemed that even now the gods had chosen to spite him.
He gave a soft breathy chuckle at that, and then slowly drifted back into unconsciousness.
oooOOOooo
The next time he woke, it was to the feeling of something touching him.
Immediately he began to panic, thinking that the red strands had found him once again. That they had come to finish what they had started.
He struggled to lash out, only half aware of his movements, his brain to muddled with pain and exhaustion, but he found his limbs restrained by something cold and hard. This caused him to panic further, and he struggled desperately against the unknown restraints. He could hear something shrill and piercing nearby, but took no time to identify it.
He jerked as something latched onto his arm, gripping it firmly as something sharp slid into his skin. The grip was released, but he felt his actions slowing, his body seeming to become heavier, and he felt his previously forgotten exhaustion return. How nice it would be to rest, just for a little...No! He would not allow himself to sleep! He furiously began going over all the possible scenarios that could be happening right now, resisting the sleep with his entire being.
He smirked to himself slightly as he regained control pushing the drowsiness away. It would take more then that to overcome him.
oooOOOooo
Director Fury stood silently, hands clasped behind him as he watched the proceedings on the other side of the glass wall. The room was a flurry of action as the many medical staff worked on the creature on the table.
He had come down as soon as he had received word that the unidentified life form had been retrieved.
He had not been surprised to find that the thing closely resembled a human, though medical tests had revealed that it couldn't be anything further from it.
The creature constantly gave off large fluxes of an unknown energy which prevented them from getting an accurate reading on it. They had tried to counteract the energy, but all their attempts had proved futile. As it was its unnaturally cold body temperature was a clear sign that everything was not as it seemed.
Upon getting a good look at it an image had been sent to some of their agents and put through their systems in case there was some chance that they had encountered it or its kind before, though they had yet to come up with any results.
His attention was brought back to the proceedings of the medical room by a surge of movements and frantic yelling.
The thing had apparently woken and was beginning to panic, thrashing violently against his restraints. Director Fury watched silently as the man as quickly sedated by one of the medical staff. Its movements slowed, but he could tell that the thing, whatever it was, wasn't down yet. It took several more larger doses of sedatives before the things movements ceased and the medical staff returned to their tests.
Fury straightened as he noticed one of the doctors remove his mask and gloves and exit the small sterile room, making his way over to the large black man, his face troubled.
"Ah, Director, I'm Dr. Allen Costens We managed to finish the tests that you asked us to preform and have assessed his injuries to the best of our abilities, though I will admit that's not saying much. His skeletal and organ placement is similar to that of a human's , but the readings are all wrong. What ever he is, he's definitely not human."
Fury nodded as the man handed over the small medical folder he had grabbed upon exiting the medical chamber. Glancing over he understood what the younger man was saying, raising an eyebrow at the unusual data.
"And it will be able to recover from these wounds?"
The young doctor nodded again. "He should recover easily enough from what I can tell, but there still might be other complications that we are not yet aware of that could effect the process."
Director Fury looked back to the window, watching a nurse as she worked to take more blood samples.
"How soon can it be moved to a more secure cell? I don't like the idea of a piece of plexi glass being the only thing between it and us."
Dr. Costens seemed to consider this for a moment before answering.
"He should be okay to move after we have set his leg and shoulder, but he would need to remain under constant medical surveillance in case of any problems." He paused a moment and seemed to steel himself for his next question.
"Actually, sir, I would like to request being assigned to oversee his recovery personally once he is moved to the new holding cell.
Fury observed the man before him with a critical eye. They had hired him almost immediately after his graduation from medical school, highly impressed with his performance and scores. He had only been with S.H.I.E.L.D for a few months now, but had earned a good amount of respect from the director and medical staff alike.
He was good under pressure and had a calm air to him that allowed him to quickly sooth patients and bond with almost anyone. He was quiet and slightly reserved, which Fury respected, but could easily take control in a situation.
That was why Director Fury had been so adamant about putting the younger man on this particular assignment, because if there was ever someone who could care medical wise for an alien, Costens could.
He was also slightly concerned though, by this request. They had no idea what this thing was capable of and Fury wasn't keen to put one of their best doctors in a room alone with it.
Dr. Costens seemed to sense his hesitance and pushed on determinedly.
"Sir if anything were to go wrong with the healing process it is crucial that there be a medical officer there to administer immediate care." He looked a little nervous now. "Also, with all due respect sir, this creature is like anything I have ever encountered before and was hoping to run a few other test outside the standard recovery requirements."
Fury mulled it over for a few more moments before nodding. "Permission granted Dr. Costens. I will have you transferred as soon as we get it secured in its new cell."
The younger man looked relieved, but quickly covered it and responded with a crisp, 'Thank you sir.' before slipping back into the room to help the remaining staff finish with the preparations for the transfer.
oooOOOooo
Loki drifted back to consciousness a short while later and immediately berated himself for allowing himself to succumb the drug so easily. He could tell he had been moved at some point, for the noises of the humans, and he knew it could only be them from their smell and voices, had vanished and had now been replaced by the steady hum of machinery.
He slowly forced his eyes open, squinting in the dimmed light. He relaxed as a wave of relief overcame his being at his regained sight. He then blinked a few times and managed to clear away the slight fuzziness that had lingered at the edge of his vision.
His eyes swept the room, taking notice of every minuscule detail. The gray, nondescript walls, the whirring machines with their little tubes connected to his being, the small table set up off to the left of his modest little cot.
He didn't even need to look to know that he was still restrained, he could feel the cool shackles that kept his now utterly mortal form easily restrained. He had to admit that he found the schackles a little arrogant of the mortals, for they most certainly didn't know who he was and could therefore have no idea what he was actually capable of, yet they put their faith in the strength of regular human bindings.
He let out a soft puff of air, wondering vaguely where he was, and more importantly, where were his captors? Probably observing from afar. Cowards.
He knew he was on Midgard, but without his magic he had no way of knowing where exactly in this barren little realm he had been taken. Maybe a prison of sorts?
He drew his thoughts from his musings as he heard a faint click from his left. As he turned his head he watched as a portion of the wall slid back and into itself, creating a opening, through which a young man stepped through. The man nodded to someone outside of the tricksters line of sight and the door slid closed.
The new arrival would be considered young by Midgard standards, probably only around three decades of age. He was slim, of medium height, he would have only reached a little above the demigods shoulders and held himself awkwardly, as though he wasn't quite sure how to control his lanky limbs. His skin was pale, though still a few shades more then Loki's own, and his hair was brown and tousled, giving the appearance that he had only recently risen. His eyes were blue, with a hit of green in some places and he had a small pair of dark rimmed glasses perched on his nose.
The man, oblivious to the tricksters piercing gaze, made his way to the small table, mumbling softly as he buried his face in the stack of papers in his hand. As Loki watched the man, upon reaching his destination, heaved a semi large bag Loki hadn't noticed he'd been carrying, onto the table top and began to pull out a multitude of items, scattering them half-hazardously about its surface.
He slid his too large white coat from his shoulders and threw that onto the back of the chair and heaved a heavy sigh, running his hand through his hair, disheveling it even further. He looked the perfect picture of someone with far to much on their shoulders at too young an age, a situation that Loki could easily relate his own youth to.
The man seemed just about to sit when a stack of papers suddenly began to slide off the table. The man yelped and dove for it, but managed to catch his foot on the recently dropped bag, sending the mortal completely off balance and forcing him to pinwheel in a desperate attempt to stay upright.
The mortal's obvious lack of grace and balance seemed to amuse the demigod for some reason and he found himself unable to stop a small huff of amusement. Across the room, the man jerked in surprise and spun around, almost resulting in the loss of his hard won balance.
"Oh, you're awake?! Um, well that's unexpected. It should have taken a few days for that amount of sedatives to wear off..." He trailed off slightly at the end and Loki got the impression that he was talking more to himself then to trickster, but the godling perked up slightly at this new information. It seemed that even if his magic was gone, his natural abilities as a immortal remained. Interesting...
He focused back on the mortal as the other stared at him nervously.
"Uh, can you understand me? Do you speak English? Do you even speak?"
He questioned hesitantly, his timid manner making Loki want to roll his eyes in exasperation. Deciding he would have a better chance of gaining information if he could communicate with the man he forced his unusually numb tongue into action.
"Of course I speak English. I speak the Alltongue foolish boy." Loki winced slightly as the words tore from his dry throat, coming out raspier then he would have liked. It seemed to be enough though because the man flinched as though slapped and looked thoroughly embarrassed.
"Oh, uh sorry, its just, well you're not really human, and I couldn't be sure..." He trailed off again, casting his gaze downward, cheeks painted bright red. Loki watched this, intrigued. This man had a professional attire, yet he seemed to act like an inexperienced child caught under the gaze of their superior.
After a moment he seemed to come back to attention, his eyes jumping up to meet the tricksters, his posture straightening and his attitude changing to give off a more professional air.
"Are you in any pain? You should be pretty numb from the painkillers. We weren't sure how drugs would react to your system so we had to keep them pretty basic, but is there anything causing you discomfort?"
"You mean besides the metal cuffs?" Loki retorted sarcastically, though he had to admit that the painkillers were living up to their description, and he could only feel a slight throb from his injuries.
The man looked somewhat awkward at the mention of the cuffs, but nodded.
"I am slightly parched."
The other seemed to perk up at the prospect of having something to do and nodded quickly. "Oh of course!" He retrieved something from his pocket and brought it up to his mouth, speaking into the device.
"Could some food and water be brought to cell six?" There was a garbled reply and the man quickly thanked the disembodied voice before returning the device to his pocket.
"They'll have some down here in a moment." Loki simply stared and the man shifted in slight discomfort at the intense gaze. "As for the, um, restraints, we couldn't be sure how you would react when you came to. You started to come around before while we were running some tests on you and you sorta freaked out. We had to put the cuffs on to make sure you didn't hurt someone else or aggravate your injuries."
Loki scowled, understanding their logic, though he couldn't help the annoyance brought on by the intrusive metal links.
It was silent for a few minutes and Loki was beginning to wonder where that supposed food and water was when the man suddenly spoke again drawing the god-lings attention back. "I'm Dr. Allen Costens by the way, I'm a medical officer here at S.H.I.E.L.D outpost 3"
Loki groaned mentally at the mention of the name "Ah, so it is the human defense organization that I have the honor of being held by."
Dr. Costens looked startled by the others apparent recognition of the name.
"You know S.H.I.E.L.D?" He questioned
"I've had the unfortunate please in the past yes." Loki drawled as the younger man stared at him, his expression puzzled. "But if you've encountered S.H.I.E.L.D before then why haven't you come up in our searches on the data base?"
Loki scoffed. "I said that I had encountered S.H.I.E.L.D, I never said that they had encountered me."
Dr. Costens gaped at the man before him. "But how is that possible, the system would have picked you up!"
Loki snorted. " You humans think so highly of your security, but in the end all it is is just some basic technology performing a higher task. Far too open to...tampering."
The other man stared at him in horrified wonder. "You hacked S.H.I.E.L.D!" he breathed.
Loki chuckled slightly at the other man's utter bewilderment at the thought that someone could have hacked the organizations system with such apparent ease. "Oh please don't flatter yourself, I didn't use the conventional methods. My way was a little more advanced."
Allen shook his head. "Who are you?!"
Loki smirked finding himself surprisingly enjoying himself and his chat with this ignorant Midgardian who also seemed to have become caught up in their banter, losing the timid attitude present previously.
"And why would I tell you that?"
The other man shrugged. "Well you fell from the sky, apparently broke in and hacked your way out of the supposedly most secure organization in the world at some point and I would really like to be able to refer to you by an actual name."
Loki stared at the man before him for a few moments in contemplation before finally deciding that there would be little harm in revealing his true name to the mortal, after all there was no way that they could link him to anything through it, and if they some how did connect him to the mishaps in the small desert town then he could easily lie his way out of any accusations.
"I am Loki, Loki Laufeyson, now Allen Costens ,what can you tell me about this place?"
