Day one
Tony jerked awake to a loud clank. He quickly got up to sit on his bunk (he'd decided to call it a bunk) and shot his eyes towards the door of his cell. His back was aching like crazy because of the night (Tony supposed it'd been a night) spent lying on the hard bunk and craning his neck sent spikes of hot pain shooting down his spine, accompanied by a noisy crack.
The noises he'd woken up to weren't coming from his door being opened, but even when he couldn't see through the hole on the door from this angle, he could easily tell that they were coming from Loki's. He surged to his feet to look from the hole and found a pair of ass-ugly Chitauris standing in the hallway and two more hauling the God of Mischief out of his cell. The other turned and as it caught Tony looking, it grasped the handle of Tony's door and started clicking the lock mechanisms open. Again, the angle was wrong for Tony to see exactly what the jerk was doing, but he tried anyway, bouncing on his feet and reaching his neck.
The door was pulled open and two Chitauris barged in, charging right to grasp his arms. He managed to deliver a vicious kick to the other's calf before handcuffs tied his hands behind his back and he was being shoved to the hallway. He turned to glare hostilely at the Chitauris and caught a glimpse of Loki staring at him at the same. He turned his glare, now more of a cynical one, towards him instead, finding the guy eyeing him with interest. Like someone looking at an interesting animal in a menagerie or while attending to a pet show. Evaluating and calculating.
He didn't like it the slightest, so he narrowed his eyes at the god just as they were poked to move forward. The Chitauris chose a brisk pace and they walked some time along serpentine hallways, Tony counting the turns they took and memorizing the symbols on the doors they passed, all silently in his mind.
They stopped before a fairly large door, made out of different metal than the other ones. One Chitauri pressed the tip of its scepter against the door, lighting it and a rune up on the door with the same blue glow. They waited a moment before the door opened, splitting into half from the centre. It was dark inside, and the respectful air around the Chitauris made it obvious that in the room there'd be some sort of a boss of their's.
Tony's heart was beating heavily in his chest and his stomach ached (against his will) as they entered the ominous room.
It was a large, hall-like room and too dimly lit to really see anything clearly. They strolled quickly to what Tony thought was about the centre of the room and stopped. One of the Chitauris let out a screech and Tony noticed Loki slightly stiffening by his side.
"Welcome," said a rough voice before them. He snapped his face towards it, seeing movement in the shadows and heard slow steps being taken. Tony glanced at Loki by his side, and saw a faint sheen of sweat covering his brow. His eyes were glued to the same spot as Tony's had just a moment ago.
"Loki," the voice said in a sneer, and Loki's nose scrunched up in distaste. There was a small pause as the guy talking stopped to apparently stare at them. Tony was struggling not to make a quip.
...struggling.
Oh, dammit, too late.
"What, no 'hi' for me?" he said, eyes wide with mock horror. He continued in a louder tone of voice since he has no such thing as a self-preservation instict, "And what does a guy have to do here to get some freaking lights? It's not the Dark Ages, people." Loki let out a small, frustrated sounding grunt but otherwise it was dead silent. Nice job, brain.
"And you," the voice finally cuts the thick silence, emphasizing 'you' like addressing Tony made the guy feel sick to his stomach, "mortal piece of scum," in fact, seems like it did, "have no right to speak up unless spoken to," he all but hissed, and Tony faintly saw him flick his wrist.
A fist connected with his gut and he knelt to the floor, gasping in pain. Another Chitauri yanked him back up and the same bastard punched him again, now against his ribs. He let out a loud cough and corrected his position so that he wasn't so much dangling in the other Chitauri's grip. It raised its hand so that Tony was forced to stand on his tiptoes when the guy that'd been talking appeared before his face.
"You are here to merely serve, and disobedience shall be punished. Am I understood?" he (it, his mind corrected furiously) asked, and Tony could see a bit of his ugly face peeking under the big hood covering his head. Tony clenched his jaw and bit out,
"I serve no fucking one," and another punch landed to his ribs, again by the flick of the guy's hand. His face was grasped between the ugly alien's hand (wait, did he have four thumbs?) and pulled forward.
"You will learn to or you will die," he spat at the engineer's face and let go of his chin as soon as he'd said it, wiping his hand on his cape right after. Asshole.
"And you, my prince," he said mockingly, walking around him to advance Loki, "know very well why you are here," he continued with a cold tone, full of hatred. Loki was eyeing the guy sharply, brow furrowed and hands fisted in the cuffs. He said nothing. The hooded-ugly-ass-alien huffed a silent laugh.
"And if you're lucky, then we might have some use for you later on. Now, move them to the chambers." Tony saw a glint of teeth in the darkness. Not to be a party pooper, but this doesn't seem very good. A sharky smile was able to be seen. "Let us begin the first day."
The 'chambers' turned out to be a row of dirty rooms, all equipped with firm locks and heavy doors.
Tony was shoved into one of the rooms and the door was sealed shut, leaving him alone. He heard Loki being pushed into the room next to his own, the door also locking.
"Hey!" he yelled at the door. "I don't see the big picture here!" There was no answer, which didn't actually surprise him. He kicked the door a few times before starting to explore the new cell.
As said, the room truly was dirty, downright filthy or shitty, and Tony had a sickening guess that the dirt was purely blood and other bodily fluids. The stench of rot and copper also supported his theory. Otherwise the 'chamber' was a bit dimmer than the hallway, and from the ceiling and the walls there were hanging worn-out chains and straps. There was also a sturdy cabinet by the wall as well as some oblong tables. On one of the walls there was a shaft that looked a lot like a fireplace, next to a basin.
Tony swallowed, breathing in deeply and trying hard not to think of Afghanistan. This indeed did not seem good.
An agonized scream tore him from his racing thoughts. The genius whipped his head towards the sound. It came from behind the wall to his left. Loki's chamber. Another scream, now slightly muffled as if he seemingly tried to stifle it, ripped through the air and Tony rushed to the wall separating the two prisoners.
"HEY!" he yelled and banged his foot against the wall. He wasn't even sure why he was doing it, but for god's sake he just couldn't let someone get fucking tortured, furthermore so bad that it made them scream like that, let it be a former enemy. And you know, the whole 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' thing. Moreover, torture is not cool. So he banged.
"Let the guy have some fucking air, you fuckfaces!" he shouted at the wall, hoping that someone would hear him and (even better!) understand him.
His kicking was ceased though, when his cell door opened and two Chitauris barged in. He clenched his hands into tight fists behind his back and turned to face them, backing up. Loki could handle himself for now.
Alien #1 locked the door as alien #2 started nearing him from his right. Alien #1 also begun circling towards him, but from the left right after it'd secured the door. #2 screeched something at him, but since Tony doesn't speak mongrel, he said nothing in return and instead kicked its knee with a curt shout when it came to his range. It tripped and fell with a pained shriek. Stupid little shit.
#1 had lunged towards him when he'd attacked alien #2, but he just managed to duck it, stumbling farther from the two. Chitauri #1 was getting up and then they started circling him again, the same way they had done not a minute ago. Tony darted forward to evade the invading hands, but #2 got a hold of the collar of his shirt. It raised him, the engineer trashing in its grasp, attempting to get some oxygen into his lungs, as #1 yanked a table forth. They together pressed him against it, opening his handcuffs and then fastened firm straps over his chest, waist, ankles, now released wrists and head. Tony's vision was tunneling when the panic and memories swept over and he struggled in vain against the bonds.
Alien #2 came to hover above him with a glowing, hot metal stick. At its tip there rested a flat, round figure; a palm-sized circle, partly formed by a shape that looked like the letter W, complex and small runes engulfing them. A branding mark, he realised.
Tony's eyes widened more than a notch and he started struggling more desperately to get free. #1 was unclasping his shirt swiftly and then held him in place by a hand on his abdomen. There was nothing he could do when the searing hot metal was pressed against his right, upper pec. A raw scream tore itself from his throat.
#2 disappeared for a moment (which Tony was grateful for) before returning again. Now it was holding a smaller and more simple copy of the same branding iron, quickly pressing it against the exposed flesh on the inside of his left arm. He bit his lip and gave a sharp muffle, again tugging at the bonds.
The iron was removed and Tony felt sweat dripping down his temple. Somehow, his own cell didn't sound half as bad at the moment. But he knew that the real fun was just about to start. Alien #1 was studying something that looked very much like a cattle prod.
Tony lay on the floor of his cell. The Chitauris had just left, depositing him there.
The burns were throbbing, and the bruises and cuts were aching but most of all he felt exhausted. Loki too had been returned to his cell the same time as he, and the god didn't really look any better.
The engineer heard a clacking noise and rolled over to see the door, muscles straining. A small shaft by the base of the door had opened and a plate and a flask were placed to the floor before it. He eyed them with suspicion for a while before grudgingly getting up and crawling over. The "food" on the plate was some white mush which was supposedly meant to be eaten by hand, since no one had had the courtesy to give him a mere spoon. But fortunately, after screwing it open, the liquid in the flask turned out to be water (or very similar to water). He took a small sip and after confirming that it wasn't lethal he took another, a bigger sip this time.
He didn't feel hungry in the least (and it felt unfamiliar since he hadn't eaten a mouthful for about a month) so he just drank the water (all of it because he was freaking thirsty) and got to his bunk. He closed his eyes and hoped he wouldn't wake up tomorrow.
Day 13
Tony had gathered that they had a destination of some sort. Seemingly to an even bigger boss, since 'the Other' (as Loki had called him one day) turned out to be taking orders from someone. And it seemed that they were now the Big Boss' property, branded and all.
It had also come clear that these things wanted him for the nuke (since the fuckers had seen him fly it to their ship so it instantly made Tony the fucking nuclear physicist, apparently. Though he did know how to build one of those, but still. Alien logic, Christ) and the arc reactor technology (as they'd also, apparently, been impressed how it'd absorbed the magic from Loki's staff. Tony had wondered about it before too, but he'd let it pass as other things had occupied his mind. Read: new projects and building a home for the Avengers). Especially the latter had made Tony's heart leap, but he stood his ground (not helping any shithead, douchey, bag of cats crazy aliens) and endured the days of torture.
Now he was sitting in a corner of his cell, behind what would be the headboard of his bunk if it had one, feet tucked against his chest and hands clasping his soles. They'd burned his feet with presses from a small, hot iron bar, and the excruciating pins and needles just wouldn't cease. It had been a real bitch to walk these past days, but now it was pure agony. He was getting fucking tired of this shit and so was Loki. The guy seemed to be, increasingly so, losing his will to live even.
Tony rubbed his chin, wincing at the stubble sprouting from it. Now that his metabolism had begun to run again, his beard had also started to grow and his always precise, signature goatee was now more or less, outright horrible. (He knew that he rocked literally any style (even when it was this shaggy prisoner look), but this was getting fucking embarrassing.)
Loki, on the other hand, had a face as smooth as a baby's bottom. In lack of a more compatible person to talk to, he had bitched about it to the god a few days ago, and to Tony's great surprise, Loki had huffed and simply said "I don't find your appearance that awful" and kept walking along the hallway. And if something, then that had scared Tony shitless.
Loki was clearly losing his edge.
Yup, definitely getting out of this shithole.
He hunched in tighter when a particularly intense throb felt in his sole, reminding him of the scarcity of his options when it came to escaping. Their options, he reminded himself. Not only did he take just a bit of pity on the guy spending time with him here, but he was sure that Loki'd come handy and perhaps even vital to his plan. Also, he wasn't that much of an ass that he'd leave someone here to suffer voluntarily. Plus, they were still wearing the damn collar tag things.
But yeah, Tony did have a plan brewing in there. He just needed to have a little alone time with Loki, to get the final problems sorted. Mostly about the alien stuff and in general tell him about his thoughts. But the question remains, how?
Even when the Chitauris couldn't understand a flying shit of the stuff Tony spouted from time to time, he bet that they'd still find it fishy or at least unnerving if two prisoners were to yell at each other from cell to cell.
Tony felt a feeble tug at his neck. Right, since he was sitting by the farthest wall of the cell, then Loki must have just passed the same spot in his own, making the leash tighten between them.
Wait. Tony smiled a faint and playful smirk when an idea occurred to him.
He tugged at the invisible bond between them, attempting to telegraph to Loki. He just hoped that the guy would understand. Like, really hoped.
M - O - R - S - E - C - O - D - E - ? he tugged.
He waited in desperate excitement, hoping that this would work. Then he felt pressure on his throat.
A - L - L - S - P - E - A - K, came the curt reply.
Tony had to stifle a relieved and surprised laugh. Thank God (or rather Odin?) for Allspeak, whatever it actually may be or how the hell did it work.
W - E - R - G - O - N - N - A - E - S - C - A - P - E - I - G - O - T - A - P - L - A - N, Tony sent to Loki, simplifying his sentence in order to get it through quickly.
Loki didn't send anything in awhile, probably thinking.
T - E - L - L.
Tony begun tugging furiously again. It was hard to get his thoughts through, since he had to use small words for the sake of getting the message understandable. Still, Loki listened him silently, not once interrupting. Only in the end he begun to make suggestions to Tony's plan, and it begun to sound that their plan could actually work. But not alone.
After they had finished their conversation, Tony crawled to his bunk to get some sleep. The following night was either the most stressful night or the most peaceful one of all the nights spent after 'The Abduction', as he'd dubbed it.
It was because Tony knew that the next day, they'd escape. And for good.
When a Chitauri came to get him, Tony was already awake. He'd forced himself to get some sleep in order to be in tip top condition, but the night had still passed in lieu of thinking and rethinking their already refined plan through.
He got up inconspicuously, perfectly miming the way he always moved despite his inner total turmoil. As the days had passed, the number of Chitauris had reduced to three when it came to the routine of picking the prisoners up. One stayed standing in guard in the hallway as the other two fetched Tony and Loki at the same time.
What a bunch of lazy idiots.
As according to their plan, Tony moved so that he was standing flank to the open doorway and could be seen from Loki's cell and he himself could see Loki standing in the complementary spot to his own. As they always did, the Chitauri walked in front of Tony where the genius had stretched his hands to shackle him up. It huffed in apparent annoyance when it had to round a bit, but didn't find it suspicious that the third Chitauri in the hallway couldn't see them because of the angle, nor the Chitauri in Loki's cell because of the same reasons. Perfect.
He turned his head so that he could glance at Loki. Their eyes met and they nodded in agreement.
Before the alien had time to secure the handcuffs around his wrists, Tony thrust his palm up and under the helmet and over the Chitauri's mouth and nose, so quickly that his hand twinged sharply. At the same, his right hand punched hard at the weak spot in the armor around the alien's abdomen (which Loki had told him existed there). The Chitauri bent slightly with a muffled grunt and Tony instantly brought his knee up to knock the bastard out. It fell to the floor with a thump, fortunately to Tony, unconscious.
He turned on his heel and surged out of the cell in tandem with Loki and they together jumped the baffled third piece of Chitauri shit. Loki quickly twisted its neck backwards, making Tony grimace inwardly.
"We do not have much time," the trickster said, crouching to pry the scepter from the Chitauri's slack hand. Tony would have protested against the fact that only Loki of them had a weapon now, but he had no fucking idea how the scepter worked, so he let it slide for now. Loki got up and they turned a total 180 degrees around, pacing fast along the hallway. "They will soon learn of our break."
"Well, that was to be expected and also kinda inevitable," Tony answered, taking quick steps to keep up with Loki's long and brisk strides. Loki hummed in agreement, eyes scanning the front in case of another enemy. His brow furrowed when they started nearing a cross in the hallway.
"Someone's coming," he hissed, shooting a hand to stop Tony and usher him against the wall by his side (which he would've been completely capable of doing himself, thank you very much) and seemingly listening. Tony couldn't hear a thing, but maybe this was a god thing.
The sounds seemed to be nearing, and now Tony too could hear faint footsteps. Loki tensed, readying himself for an attack.
When the one taking the steps was just behind the corner they were lurking next to, Loki lunged and shoved the head of the scepter before him, piercing it through the side of the Chitauri's throat. Well, someone had a tad of bottled anger stashed somewhere in there. But on the other hand, he was rather energetic at the moment and not looking half as depressed as he'd not a day earlier.
He picked up another scepter from its hand and threw it to Tony, which he caught with ease. He still wasn't sure how to use it, but it felt better to have a weapon of some sort.
They continued, walking along the hallways and occasionally turning. Loki had told him that he knew his way around the ship, and that he could get them into one of the smaller crafts. At first Tony'd been a bit spooked that Loki'd just ditch him when he didn't have any use for him anymore (simply said, right after knocking out that one Chitauri), but Loki had told him that he needed someone to pilot the ship. And that person seemed to be Tony, since he had a vast knowledge when it came to technology and different machines.
Tony's thinking and their not so long lasted running was interrupted when a siren started to blare with a deafening volume. Apparently their disappearance had been noticed.
"Shit!" Tony cursed and they sped up their already quick pace.
"Not a long way from here!" Loki said firmly, face scrunched up in concentration. But of course, it was never that easy.
A group of Chitauris stepped before them, effectively blocking their way. Tony eyed them with calculating eyes, readying for a combat. It was five versus two. Loki took a step back and raised the tip of his scepter.
"You do this," he yanked it backwards and it shoot out blue energy with a loud zap, hitting one of the Chitauris, "and it fires."
"Ok," Tony replied as one the Chitauris screeched and the others started shooting at them with biggish, gun-like weapons. They both ducked, taking cover behind the next corner. "Fucking hell," Tony spat, pressing his back against the wall. Loki decided to peek over Tony and the corner, and a beam of energy is aimed towards his head, burning a tuft of hair in place of it. If the situation was another, Tony would've laughed at the look on the god's face. Instead, he himself takes a quick look and shoots with his scepter a lousy and poorly aimed beam. But nevertheless, it hits one of them, crippling it by charring its other leg. Whoo, for the small victories!
"When I say so," Loki states in the middle of Tony's inner celebration, taking a place by the opposite wall to him. Tony wants to roll his eyes at the commanding tone, but simply nods with a raised eyebrow. They stand there for a small while before Loki barks,
"Now!"
They both jump to face the shared enemy, Tony staying low so that Loki can have clear aim over his head and to avoid getting hit himself. He runs against a Chitauri and it staggers, not quite falling, until Loki brings the end of his scepter against its face. Team Loki and Tony: 1 - Chitauri: 0.
He fires again, this time hitting his target perfectly (he is a former weapon manufacturer, so it is without saying easy for him to learn how to use new weaponry, let it be alien or whatever) and then kicking another alien as he passes it. Unfortunately, it's still fast enough to get a hold of his arm and manages to throw Tony, sprawled on his back, to the floor before it.
Though it hurt a bit, otherwise this only gives Tony the perfect angle to shoot the little shit's brain to the walls, which he does before it can react in any way. But right after he's kicked to his ribs, and he quickly scrambles up after rolling a few feet because of the force of the impact. When he snaps his head up to see the attacker, he only has time to register a shot being aimed at his face. If not for his reflexes, it would have hit its target, but now it only succeeds in almost ripping his freaking shoulder off.
He shouts curtly in agony and grasps his shoulder, refusing to let go of the scepter despite the pain. Thank God though, he sees Loki's foot connecting with the Chitauri's knee and then his scepter bashing its skull into a bloody mess on the floor. Then Loki's hands are grabbing him and pulling him up to his feet.
"Come on, we need to keep going," he says and Tony is tucked against his side when they make it towards the next turn. There they find a large door.
"This is it," Loki says and presses the scepter against the runes, just like the Chitauris always do when they arrive at a door like this. It slides open and they stumble inside.
The room is filled with small aircrafts, and Loki presses a heavy-looking lever down, causing the wall before them to open and form a platform for them to use to take off. Then he pushes Tony inside the nearest of the shuttles, climbing in right after. It's very cramped and Loki has to bend his back in order to fully fit in. Tony heavily takes his seat on the apparent pilot's seat, but Loki shoos him away from it.
"Move, you are too likely to loose consciousness with that wound. I'll fly," he says and unceremoniously pushes Tony to the seat next to the pilot's, sitting himself in it. Loki's bleeding heavily from his side but it doesn't look to Tony like it very much bothers him. He looks down at his own appearance, taking in the blood-gushing shoulder and the teared knuckles.
"I thought you needed me to pilot?" he says and fastens the tack to keep himself steady when they take off. Loki is pushing and swirling holograms, and merely hums at Tony's comment. He grabs a handle and slides his hands against its surface and Tony feels the engine purring to life. The shaft before them has opened completely and Loki begins to move towards it.
Tony sees movement in the farthest left in the "windshield", and sees a Chitauri pushing the lever back up in order to stop their escape. Loki growls and pushes his hands forward with more vigor, causing the ship to jerk into a more quick velocity. They speed up as the shaft closes even more, and just, just, make it out of the ship, injuring the smaller craft's rudder as they go. Their ship jolts alarmingly but continues to speed up. They keep going and going until the enormous ship is no longer visible and no shots are being fired their way anymore. Only then the tension seems to start fading and Tony sags against his seat and lets his eyes slide closed as he sighs.
We fucking made it.