[A/N Note: This was first placed after chapter 20, but time-wise it might just as well have been placed here. So yeah.]

Part 15

At least I wasn't stuck in a cave this time.

I was thrown into a cellar roughly, because it turned out that despite being from another planet, Loki was such a cliché Earthly kidnapper. Oh come on! I was probably going to spend weeks with this guy, the least I could expect was some creativity, right?

I groaned when my cheek connected with the ground, my hands tied behind my back and unable to break my fall. I didn't dare to move, afraid that if I did, I might hurt myself even more.

"Right where you belong, at my feet." Loki spat, foot landing on my head to keep it pressed against the ground. It was pitch dark in here, but Loki had excellent night-vision, do doubt.

"Your feet dressed in ridiculous out of the time drapes, if I may say so." I said, which resulted in his foot pressing my head harder against the ground. I managed to keep in my yelp of pain and discomfort, pressing my mouth in a thin line. Loki let out a chuckle.

"Oh, your pride. If I didn't know any better, I'd say yours was even bigger than mine-" He sighed as if sentimental about his own pride, and I had the serious urge to puke because of the messed up situation I had managed to get myself in.

"You don't know any better, because as far as I know you are still the lesser, adopted brother of the real king of Asgard." I shot back at him, speech slightly disturbed by the crunching sound of my jaw being pushed into the floor.

"Well," He continued as if I hadn't spoken, "Your pride is about to be broken." His foot left my face and I sat up, pushing myself up against the wall and massaging my cheek. He ignored what I said, not answering verbally. But I knew that what I said had hurt him, even if he didn't want me to know. The problem was that I knew how he felt, and that I almost wanted to pity him because I knew the feeling of reject. I didn't want it to be true, but I knew that Loki and I were so similar in so many ways. He walked away from me, and I could barely make out the shape of his back due to the dark

"The day my pride is broken is the day that your father loves you." I cocked my head to the side, "Which is, oh- Never!" I said to his back and he paused his steps for a second before placing his hand on the handle of the door.

"I will bring your food later, filthy human"

I didn't make an attempt to escape, mainly because Loki probably had the whole place guarded by magic anyway, and I didn't want to know what the consequences would be of such an action. I told myself that that was the cleverest option, because it wasn't like I was actually obeying him. Right?

I wondered idly whether they were missing me, looking for me. I didn't even know whether they had found my suit, or whether they knew that I was missing. Maybe they thought I had just done something stupid and ran off. What would happen if they weren't even looking for me? Would I be stuck here forever, at the mercy of Loki?

The sound of a creaking door caught my attention, and a minuscule amount of light made its way inside, quickly disappearing again when Loki closed the door behind him.

"It's time for your training." Loki clapped in his hands, and the room filled with artificial light created with magic.

"Loki, you did know I'm not your puppy, right?"

"Silence, you don't speak when I don't allow you to." Loki snapped, pushing me down on my knees from my standing position. I groaned in protest when my knees hit the floor hard. "That's right." He smiled down at me, looking as if he would start saying things like 'that's my boy' pretty soon, and I heavily resisted the urge to spit on his feet.

"Listen, reindeer games." I said, looking up at him daringly and feeling quite brave, "This is your move? You are going to try to break me, of all people? You know what will happen, right? Maybe you will succeed, maybe, by the time you are done with me I will be a blabbering mess that obeys your every command and that can't stand up for himself. But they will come – Your brother, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow.. Steve. And the more you screw me up, the worse off you will be. They are the Avengers, and they will Avenge every bit of me that you dare to destroy." He crouched before me, face dangerously close to mine,

"No, Tony, because they don't need you. You are just an ordinary little human. You are not special. What would they need you for? For your narcissism, your charm? Oh let me guess, they must like you so much because you are such an amazing team-player." He smirked when he saw my head drop, and I stared at the cuts in my jeans just so that he wouldn't see me struggling to keep my face blank. "Yes, they must be missing you greatly." He jumped up from his crouching position, pulling me up to my feet and dragging me along by a piece of my shirt.

"I would do it myself, watching you shatter inch by inch, but for now you'll just be stubborn anyway. I will leave my men to it, and I'll see how much is left of you by the time I come to check up on you. I have some business.. with.. what did you call your little boy-band? The adventurers? How cute."

"Avengers," I hissed under my breath, "What are you going to do with them?"

"Tsk-tsk. Don't you know better? Of course I'm not going to tell you that, that would ruin all the fun!" He grinned at me, opening the door and gesturing for two men to come in, their gazes suggesting that both were under one of Loki's spells. He closed the door behind him after giving me a huge smile, and left me in the hands of his thugs.

They walked up to me, and I instantly backed away, trying to recall every boxing lesson I'd ever gotten from Happy and trying to plan out scenarios in my head with the imaginary sound of JARVIS' voice helping me out. The attempt was futile though, as both men were muscled and trained, probably two kidnapped agents from the CIA, or from S.H.I.E.L.D., or any other organisation that trained scary muscled men for fun.

I walked backwards and away from their menacing glares until my back hit the wall, and I cursed under my breath, feeling so utterly helpless without my suit on. If I evaded their moves, it would only tire me out and I would end up beaten up either way. Just handing myself over to them seemed a bit coward-like though, like I was giving in to Loki.

My thinking time was over, then, as they had approached me, both a blank face and dilated pupils from Loki's magic. Both grasped one of my arms, and as much as I tried to punch, wiggle, shout and kick, I knew that it was futile as soon as they had me pressed to the ground face down, one keeping my legs down and the other restraining my hands.

When I had offered myself in order to protect Steve, I knew it could never end well. Just like you know how that when Natasha is on her period you should stay at least 4 feet away from her at all times because you might otherwise be in danger. At the time, I thought I had made the right decision, 'protecting the ones you love, that's the most important thing in life' Pepper had once told me. But now, as I was dragged towards what looked suspiciously like a heap of chains, I was starting to think that maybe, I should have considered my options before accepting the deal like a maniac.

I spent my night chained to the wall by my wrists, on my knees on the floor and unable to move from this position. If sore knees, a pained back and strained muscles weren't enough to keep me awake the whole night, I was sure that the cuts on my back from the tens of lashes they dealt to me would keep me in agony for a while.

The first twenty lashes, I managed to muffle any attempt at a scream I made. After that, I lost count of the amount of sobs, screams and shouts that left my dry mouth, deciding that maybe it was better to leave with a broken personality, than with a broken body.

[A/N I apologize for any confusion, for I am still busy replacing chapters.]