Chapter Thirty

Whatever Tortures

The landscape was desperately flat: red soil, looming sand-dunes and seas of dense coastal scrub spreading for miles. Drops of colour could be seen scattered along the roadside: delicate wildflowers, deceptively fragile in the harsh desert. Cut through this sheer environment, the Brand Highway glistened, heat rising from it in dancing waves. The black SUV glided easily across this river of tar and stone, silent as the figures seated within. Loki did not particularly mind the lack of discussion. What he did mind was his position within the air-conditioned box. Squashed between the cumbersome bulk of his brother and the soldier Steve Rogers, Loki was barely able to spread his legs for comfort. Upon his wrists and ankles, silver chains glistened, while his tongue was silenced by a heavy metal gag. The only redeeming aspect of his venture to Midgard was the fact that his powers had returned. He could feel the magic churning through every vein, swamping his mind, sensitising every nerve. It was intoxicating.

Yet he could do nothing about it.

The restraints, designed based on the configuration of his blood, stunted his ability to utilise his natural talents. He would channel the river of energy to his fingers, only to have it sputter into oblivion upon reaching the infuriating metal bracelet. All he could do was sit, his eyes trained on the front windscreen.

In his long life, Loki had never ventured to the southern continent known as Australia. It was not a slab of land that particularly appealed to him. Perhaps this was why the Midgardians had chosen it as the location of his prison? Maybe Thor had told his new allies of all that plagued Loki, delicious little details they could utilise to make his experience on Midgard all the more torturous?

The huge ball of hydrogen and helium the Midgardians referred to as "the sun" grew golden, falling further into the horizon. As darkness swept over the landscape, the SUV rolled into a side road, instantly consumed by dark swathes of coastal plant life. Decrepit dirt roads sprung off in all directions, the driver negotiating the labyrinth, stopping every so often as a giant jumping beast cut across the path of the vehicle. Thor, a smug smile on his lips, decided it was necessary to tell Loki the name of the beast: kangaroo. Utterly ridiculous.

After what seemed a lifetime of twists and turns (including a detour past an abandoned bus), the SUV pulled out into a clearing. At its centre, a small campfire blazed, several disguised S.H.I.E.L.D agents perched around it, cooking fluffy white things on the tips of gnarled sticks. One of these agents came to the driver's window, a shard of pale blonde hair sticking out from beneath a woollen hat. The temperature, it seemed, dropped quickly in this Midgardian hell.

The rugged up agent slipped into the front seat, briefly shaking hands with the driver. "Agent Montgomery, I am Agent Beckett. I will be your liaison here at Geraldine."

The driver nodded, smiling for the first time all day. "Sorry about the time. Got a bit lost. This place really is in the middle of no-where, isn't it?"

"That's the whole point." Agent Beckett, Alexandra, turned to face the three men in the backseat. "Steve, Thor, it is good to see you again."

"Lady Alex! You are looking well." Thor's monumental boom sounded deafening within the SUV, especially after a day's heavenly silence. "But your hair! It is gone!"

Alexandra chuckled, lifting the woollen hat from her head. Thor was not wrong. The long river of tallow hair was gone, replaced now by a severe bob, layered; falling just short of her shoulders. "Hardly Thor, I just needed a change."

A trickle of small-talk followed when Steve Rogers finally decided to open his mouth. Not once did the blonde agent send a glance in Loki's direction, not even a fleeting one. Had two months been all she needed to wipe him unceremoniously from her mind? Perhaps she had been bedding another Midgardian, a pathetic whelp, while he remained chained in Odin's courtyard?

Alexandra directed the driver a short distance from the campsite, leading them into a small valley among the crooked trees. Unlike the landscape around it, the valley was green, a blanket of oddly thick grass sprouting from every surface. It seemed almost obscenely bright in the glowing luminescence of the SUV headlamps. Loki watched as his ex-lover fished a small black box out of her pocket, pressing her thumb in its centre. The box bleeped, causing the hillside directly before them to rumble, splitting apart to reveal a large, concrete lined cavern.

"Nifty," Agent Montgomery stated, leading the car into the tunnel. If there was something Loki could say about S.H.I.E.L.D, it was that in the field of interior decorating, they were notably consistent. The long tunnel was not unlike that he had ventured through after his arrival in the S.H.I.E.L.D base in New Mexico. It was hard to believe those events had taken place just over a year ago. To Loki, it felt like a lifetime.

As the SUV trembled on, Loki found himself idly listening to the new sprung conversation. There was an inflection in his Alexandra's voice that he found intriguing. Perhaps it was awkward for her to be in such close confines to the man she had once shamelessly bedded? Perhaps the sight of him chained and gagged caused her no-doubt lacy little knickers to dampen?

"While you're here, you're predominantly going to be using the mine shaft elevators," Alex told Rogers, Thor and Montgomery. "We try to use the vehicle access as little as possible. Unfortunately, it prove difficult to deter tourists from using the campsite, so for the most part we try to make the place look as normal as we can."

Of course, the Midgardians had already shown their displeasure at Loki's imprisonment on their world. Should the location of his jail become public, he had no doubt it would be catastrophic. He wondered briefly if he would ever see the sky again.

Eventually the SUV stopped, pulling into a large open space. The concrete was gone now, the walls haggardly cut into the iron rich rock. All four doors of the vehicle sprung open, Thor grabbing Loki's arm as they stepped out onto a landing. Loki almost fell, his cramped legs screaming after a day squashed in the back seat. Two dozen armed guards took up position around them, forming the entourage that would lead straight to Loki's prison cell.

Whatever tortures Fury could concoct...

Even as he was steered through the austere corridors, tolerating the blatant stares of S.H.I.E.L.D employees, Loki wondered exactly what these tortures could be. This question was swiftly answered as Tony Stark rounded the next corner.

"Well, look at Christian Grey here. Chains holding up?"

The question was aimed at Thor, who, as was usual when confronted with Stark's banter, looked confused. "The restraints are working well, Man of Iron."

Stark smirked. "How many times do I need to tell you to call me Tony? Or Mr Stark? Or at least God."

"If you wish to be known as a deity, you could-" Thor's words were cut short as Steve Rogers, once more, raised his voice.

"Christian Grey?"

"Into chains and shit."

Alexandra smirked. "Pretty sure Christian Grey likes using the chains and gags on other people."

Stark shot a look back in Loki's direction. "He would if he could, kinky bastard. On the other hand, he could be the girl. I mean honestly, does he ever shave? My Aunt Mildred has more hair on her chin than this guy. Or does he have a full blown Christian Bale as Batman in prison beard going on behind that gag?"

Rogers frowned. "Stark, do you ever stop talking?"

"The answer to that would be no." Stark lead them through a few more corridors, winking at a few lackies along the way. The majority of the employees within Geraldine prison were Australian, none of whom had met the infamous Iron Man before his arrival in Geraldine months before. It had caused quite a stir.

Finally they came to a large, steel door. Both Alexandra and Stark had to take a retinal and fingerprint scan before the sheet of metal hissed open. Though he knew it was an inevitability, Loki was somewhat reluctant to step within.

It was a foyer, overlooking a monumental glass cage. Unlike the Hulk's cage, this boasted several rooms. Loki winced upon noticing the visible nature of his bathing and toilet facilities. Apparently modesty was something he would have to leave behind. Other than that, there was a bedroom containing a large, yet plain bed; a sitting room full of books; and a dining room, which Loki suspected could also be doubled up as an interrogation chamber. The observatory was bustling with various mortals in S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms and white lab coats: notably among them, Lucas Malory.

"Excellent, excellent. It seems as though our guest has made it here in one piece." While the words left the mortal's mouth, he placed a large, tanned hand upon Alexandra's shoulder. "The shield is up and running, all we have to do is test it."

Shield?

Leaving behind most of the guards; the Avengers, Loki, Alexandra and Malory squeezed into a large elevator. The metal cage hummed in its descent, twin doors opening into the entrance of Loki's new home. It was not nearly as awful as he had imagined. One thousand years ago, the Midgardians would have likely thrown him in a rat infested pit, his punishment being a daily shower of waste dumped upon his head.

Thor gently tapped the glass. "What is the nature of this shield?"

Stark stepped forward, opening one of the many doors to the cage. "It is designed to completely subdue the energy that gives Rock of Ages here his power. Unfortunately we were unable to specifically focus on his brand of energy, so it works on all energy of this kind. In short, once your inside, the only thing you'll be able to do with your hammer is build a cabinet."

"So it is a magic shield?"

Stark winced. "What you call magic is simply a form of energy. Energy is my forte."

The further Loki ventured into his new prison, the more and more nauseous he became. It did not make sense. Odin had stripped him of all power, but he had never been weakened by the experience. It was only as his eyes fell upon his chained hands that Loki realised what was happening.

The pale flesh was slowly turning periwinkle, morphing into a bold cobalt the deeper he went.

"Holy fuck, he's blue."

Blunt though Stark was, Loki could not help but share his shock. His Jotunn form was not something he particularly enjoyed showing off, yet here it was in all its hideous glory. He could not even bear to look at Alexandra, no doubt paralysed with horror that she had allowed such a monstrous creature to bed her.

"I should have foreseen this." Thor frowned, his brow crinkled. It occurred to Loki that this was the first time his brother had seen his true form. No doubt, the God of Thunder was fighting back the undeniable urge to whack him round the head with Mjolnir. "This is Loki's Jotunn form. My father's magic has kept it at bay."

"Only now I've snatched your energy and your brother has turned into Jake Sully." A cruel grin spread across Stark's face. "Or perhaps Papa Smurf? I wonder, does he prefer to live under mushrooms or in a big ass tree?"

Loki, like most of the people gathered, had no idea what Stark was talking about. He did not even feel the need to retort when his gag and chains were finally removed. So, this was his punishment. Spending the rest of his life Jotunn, blue, horrid, repellent to the fleeting Midgardian woman he had wasted his love on.

Torturous, indeed.