Chapter 2
“So.”
The entire room seemed to vibrate with his voice, filling the empty space and driving the single syllable deep into the walls.
Valkyrie managed to bite back a sarcastic, “So what?”, but it was a close one.
“You are the Valkyrie. The one who helped… save Asgard.”
Again, Valkyrie kept her mouth shut. Pitch blackness surrounded her, and no matter how hard she tried she could not see through it. Sometimes she thought the speaker was in front of her, sometimes he sounded behind her. She didn’t know.
“What do you know about Infinity Stones?”
The question threw her off. It was so random that Valkyrie wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not. “Infinity Stones? I’ve… never heard of them.”
“She lies,” a different voice hissed— the voice that belonged to the figure that dragged her out of her cell.
“I know,” Thanks growled. “Know your place, Supergiant. Don’t think you know more than me.”
Supergiant fell silent.
“I’ll ask you again, Valkyrie— what do you know about Infinity Stones?”
Valkyrie bit her lip. “...not much. A long time ago— a long time ago, I was investigating a disturbance for Odin, but not for long— I was called off the job for no apparent reason. The only explanation I ever received was something to do with an Infinity Stone. Since then, I’ve learned little. I know that they’re extremely powerful, and that there are several different stones, but that’s about it.”
You talk too much, Valkyrie scolded herself. They didn’t need to know all that. At the same time, a cold feeling swept over her. She hasn’t meant to say all that she had. It was like someone had secretly crept into her mind and made her say it; somehow, without her even realizing it until it was too late.
“I believe you know more,” Thanos murmured. “I believe you know that whereabouts of a certain Space Stone.”
“What?” Valkyrie said blankly. “I… space? No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t try to lie, girl,” Supergiant sneered, but was abruptly silenced. Why she was cut off,Valkyrie couldn’t tell.
“Very well,” Thanks rumbled eventually. “Supergiant, release her back to her cell and bring me Loki.” He said the name like it was something nasty on the bottom of his shoe. Something grabbed Valkyrie and pulled her away again.
=•=
“What the hell, Loki?” Valkyrie snarled once the cell doors shut. “What did you think you were doing, messing around with Infinity—“
“SHH!” Loki hissed. He gestured silently around the room, and Valkyrie realized that some of the other survivors were coming to, groggily shaking their heads and blinking with bleary eyes.
“Are you injured?” Valkyrie inquired softly, dropping to her knees by the side of one of them.
“I don’t— I don’t think so,” the refugee said shakily. “No— I’m fine.”
“What’s your name?” Valkyrie asked gently, letting the old man lean against her.
“Barow,” he told her. “Do you know where my husband is? He was just here— well, not here— on the ship— but what happened? Where…” he trailed off, looking distressed.
“I’m sorry,” Valkyrie whispered. “I… I don’t know. He may be somewhere else…”
“Or he may be dead,” Barow finished flatly, realizing what Valkyrie meant as she trailed off. He turned away, eyes shimmering slightly as he trembled.
“I’m sorry,” Valkyrie repeated numbly. Barow just nodded, seemingly unable to talk.
“What— Hey, no—“
Valkyrie whipped around to see more guards seizing Loki and starting to haul him from the cell. Loki writhed like an upended beetle in their grasp, panic written across his features. It was similar to the terror Valkyrie had witnessed earlier, but this time, it seemed more desperate.
“Please, no— you can’t— he’ll kill me, please, DON’T—“ Loki was begging now, frantically turning to try and face the visored guards.
“Oh, he won’t kill you,” Supergiant’s delighted voice said. “It’ll be much worse than that.”
“No, PLEASE, I CAN’T, DON’T MAKE ME— I CAN’T— VALKYRIE DON’T LET—“ then the doors swished shut and his screams became muted.
Valkyrie let out a shaky breath. The terror on the doomed ship was one thing; this was something else. Valkyrie hadn’t known Loki for long, but she had never seen or heard him like that before. The Loki she had come to know was cool and composed, always ready with smooth wit and a smirk and a trick. This Loki was scared and despairing, ready to beg and plead. Valkyrie let out an unsurprised grunt. Loki did seem to be the sort of person who would do anything to live, even if it meant whining and groveling and living dishonestly. Still. Valkyrie wondered why Loki was so terrified. From what she had seen of Thanos, he’d seemed powerful and yeah, pretty frightening, but Loki was practically peeing his pant at the mere mention of him.
“He’ll be fine,” Valkyrie said out loud, drawing a startled look from Barow.
=•=
Loki was not fine. He was very not fine, he was very not fine, he was VERY. NOT. FINE.
This was what was running through the god of mischief’s mind as he was dragged along the shadowed corridor, having fallen into mute terror. He could make out Supergiant’s shape in front of him. He had briefly met the Black Order before his invasion of Midgard, but he had barely learned their names before everything on Earth had gone wrong and Loki was forced to go into hiding.
“Behave yourself,” Supergiant purred, and then Loki was thrusted into a large chamber and the doors grated closed behind him.
For a time, everything was completely, eerily quiet. It unnerved Loki, as he was sure it was supposed to. He could hear his own heart beating, feel his pulse jumping through his body. He licked his lips and shifted his weight, desperately wanting to break the silence with some sort of quip or comment but refusing to let Thanos know how uncomfortable he was.
“Loki, son of Laufey. Do you remember what I told you?”
Loki drew in a shuddering breath and didn’t reply. Just the sound of the voice sent tremors through his body.
“Well? Do you?”
In a great show of self control, Loki bit his lip and remained silent.”
“You remember, the thing I told you right before sending you to Earth with an Infinity Stone in your hand and a purpose in your mind and my army at your command?”
Loki firmly told himself that if he passed out with fright right now, Thanos would not be at all impressed.
“You might remember it as that little detail I informed you of before you wasted my soldiers, lost the scepter and found yourself stuck in Asgardian prison.”
Loki let out a quiet, shaky breath and closed his eyes.
“I told you,” Thanos went on, voice threaded with veiled fury, “that if you failed me, there would be no place you could hide that I would not find you. No place. I said to myself I would find you, and I would dig you from whatever hole you were cowering in, and I would make you beg for forgiveness as I ripped you to pieces, as I taught you a new meaning of pain, as I ripped your soul from your body.”
Silence.
“So. What do you have to say for yourself?”