"Did you stay here all night?" Ellis's voice woke Amelia from the deep sleep she was in. She tried to sit up, but laying hunched over her desk all night made it pretty painful.
"I guess so." Amelia looked down at the file she had used as a pillow and felt a pang of embarrassed meant when she realized she had drooled on the pages.
"What has you so interested in specimen 320?" Ellis asked reading the file upside down.
"I just wanted to learn more about him."
Ellis raised her eyebrows at the word "him." "Why is that?"
"I just…I find it hard to believe that after a lifetime in captivity he…he almost seems resigned to his situation."
"A benefit of being in captivity since infancy."
"I noticed there isn't any new data entered in his chart, why?"
"Because we learned what we needed. The Allfather was concerned that they were teaching their offspring shapeshifting magic, which would have been devastating. But as its only a half-breed there is no real threat."
"So what were the tests I got samples for?"
"You certainly have a lot of questions." Ellis eyed her suspiciously.
"Purely curious."
"The samples were to note healing times and to test how potent potions and the like would be on the specimen."
"Why would you need to know that if we are done with him?"
"Because we aren't."
Amelia followed Ellis into a large room, with a table and a chair at the center. Amelia was surprised to see Prince Thor in the room a large bag slung over his shoulder, along with several of his soldiers; it took a moment for Amelia to get over her shock and bow before the prince.
"What are we doing here?" Amelia whispered to Ellis when they settled themselves into the far corner.
"Merely for observation, to try and make sure they don't get carried away."
"Carried away?"
Ellis didn't have time to answer, as there was a commotion in the hall and each second it seemed to be getting closer. Thor and his men shifted excitedly.
"Where do you want him?"
Amelia recognized the two guards that were regularly stationed outside of Loki's cell, each had a bad bloody nose, she assumed was compliments of Loki who was pinned between them.
"In the chair," Thor motioned, "make sure he is chained tightly."
Amelia's eyes traveled to the floor where the chains lay coiled; she wondered how she didn't notice them before.
Once the guards stepped away, Amelia saw fresh burns from the electric prods the guards had used, along with bruises blossoming along his ribs; she flinched when he looked up and took in his surroundings, his eyes landing on her.
"Today I want us practicing our integration techniques," Thor announced Amelia saw Loki's spine stiffen, "Don't worry about wearing out our training tool, the fine ladies here tell me, it can take quite a bit." To show this, Thor took a club from the nearest guard and drove it straight into Loki's stomach as hard as he could. Loki grunted in pain, but because he was restrained he couldn't do much besides hanging against the chains limply.
"Now," The prince continued, "I want each of you to show me what you've got in terms of how we would handle an Asgardian prisoner. And maybe, we can see what we got against frost giants."
The men murmured excitedly.
Amelia felt sick to her stomach.
The group of men circled around Loki; their excitement was overwhelming and she found it hard to get her lungs to work.
In a split second, they lunged, grabbing Loki by the wrists and holding his hands out flat against the table; while two of them reached into the bag that Thor had left on the floor and extracted a large mallet and two long nails. Their murmuring grew excitedly while Loki' continued to struggle against his restraints.
Light from the torches that lined the stone walls glinted off the nail as one of the largest soldiers poised to impale it into the pale skin of Loki's hand. With one hard whack of the mallet all of, what Amelia estimated, four inches of nail speared through the hand and into the wooden table; she was sure all the bones in the hand were shattered.
Loki gritted his teeth but didn't make a sound.
"Very nice Volstagg," Thor boomed loudly, "Although a few more hammer strikes might make a bit more noise, huh? Fandral why don't you try the other." He took the mallet from Volstagg and handed it to the tall blonde man that stood to Thor's left.
"With pleasure,"
With each hit, Amelia felt as though her stomach was climbing up her throat, the room reeked of blood, and sweat; both of excitement and although he didn't show it, fear from Loki.
"Now, I wonder," Thor examined the wounds closely, "That you might heal around these, which will make removing them all the more interesting. Wouldn't you say?" He grabbed a hunk of Loki's hair to make him look at the prince; Loki promptly spat in his face.
"Hmmm. It seems we need to teach you some manners. Sif?"
As in Lady Sif? Amelia's eyes darted around the room and wondered where Sif had been hiding and how she hadn't seen her before. But as she stepped around Volstagg it was easy to realize that she was a good head and shoulders below everyone else and was easily overlooked.
It seemed that Sif already knew what she would be asked to do, as she reached into the pouch tied at her belt and retrieved a pair of ancient-looking pliers. She grinned widely as she grasped Loki's fingers in her own; his sharp breath preceded the gentle sound what Amelia knew to be his entire fingernail hitting the wooden table.
Hours dragged on as they subjected Loki to numerous torments, and not once did he give them the satisfaction of making a sound.
"Well, I can't say I am entirely disappointed," Thor said as he strode around Loki, tapping what looked like a wedge in the palm of the opposite hand. "We did get quite a bit of practice in." He stopped at Loki's left hand and placed the thin end of the wedge under the head of the nail and pulled. As he had predicted Loki's skin had healed, as fresh blood began to flow, "Hmm interesting!" He moved to Loki's right hand and repeated the motion, and still, Loki didn't make a sound. "Oh well, maybe we can test that old saying," Thor reached into the bag, "About rubbing salt into the wound?" He jingled a small baggy in front of Loki's face.
"Enough!"
All head's turned to Amelia.
"Ellis, I would have thought you would have better people working for you," Thor said slowly.
"You've done enough for one day." Amelia tried to sound braver than she felt.
"Amelia!" Ellis's voice was sharp.
"Do you realize what we are doing is for the good of the realm? I would think as the daughter of one of the soldiers slaughtered by these beasts you wouldn't have a soft spot for them."
"Good of the realm?" Amelia repeated, "He's half of our blood! His mother was Asgardian!"
"I don't give a fuck if his mother was the fucking Allmother!" Thor's eyes bugged comically out of his head as he yelled, his temper was well known and now Amelia was seeing first hand why. "This," He grabbed a handful of Loki's hair again, turning his head sharply, "Is nothing more than a teaching tool for the people defending our people, and will be used as such!" He threw Loki's head away from him with such force that Loki fell over still chained in the chair; Thor advanced on Amelia but was blocked by Ellis.
"My lord, she didn't mean any disrespect. This is her first time in the dungeons, it's unsettling for everyone the first time." She explained calmly, holding her ground. Thor continued to seethe for another moment or two.
"See that she is never in my sight again. We will continue tomorrow." He finally commanded and motioned for his soldiers to follow him from the room.
"Take him away." Ellis motioned to the two guards.
Once they left with Loki, Ellis turned to Amelia, "You need to decide if this is the right place for you. Thor may forget about this in time but another outburst like that and I won't be able to protect you. Go home."
And before Amelia could say another work, Ellis swept from the chamber.
Amelia woke in a cold sweat. She could tell by looking out her bedroom window that the moon was high in the sky.
It was late.
"You need to decide if this is the right place for you."
No, she thought. It wasn't.
"Unlock the door please." Amelia commanded the guards firmly.
"Ellis would not have you down here at this time of night." The guard to her right replied gruffly, as the other nodded.
"Are you going to argue with me? She sent me her to check on the specimen and to make sure it will be ready for prince Thor tomorrow."
"I still don't think—"
"Do you want to be the one to summon her over this?" Amelia hoped she sounded threatening.
The pair exchanged glances and grumbled but eventually relented and opened the door.
The room was dark but she could see Loki's form, and by the angles of his long limbs, she was sure he was in the same position he was thrown to the ground in.
"Loki," She whispered, shaking him. There were a flash and a sharp pain as the back of her head hit the stone floor, a strong hand around her neck. She prayed he would realize who it was before he choked her to death.
"What are you doing here?" His voice was raspy, but the strength in his hand slacked and Amelia found she was able to breathe again.
"Can you walk?"
"I believe so."
"Do you think you can run?"
"I've never been able to."
"Do you think you can?" She pressed.
"Yes," he replied slowly, "What are you doing?"
"I'm getting you the Hel out of here."