Whipped
They had been taken for information, and now Loki, Bucky and Sam Wilson had their hands chained to a metal pipe above their heads, and their feet dangled in some underground filthy hideout. Oh, yeah, and they shirtless because the man that had taken them had decided that the best way to make them talk was to use a whip and lash them, repeatedly, until they spoke. For some reason (maybe because he talked way too much) Loki was taking the brunt of those fiends' aggression.
“Come on, man, you must know that this plan cannot work.” He said, even while they were lashing him. Truth was, he was the best of all of them at biting back screams. “If we talk, then you will not need us so you'll kill us, so we won't speak and so you don't get the information, we don't get out, and nobody advances here.”
The masked man with the whip just looked angrily at him.
“Oh, you will talk.”
“Will we? Barnes has only information of nearly a hundred years ago, as he has spent most of this present time frozen or brainwashed. He will be no good. And Wilson doesn't know any strategic or logistic specifics, do you, Wilson?” Sam shook his head. “He was just there to help his good friend Captain America, did as he was told.”
And there was another lash. That morning, the man had been whipping Loki for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only about forty minutes, and as his wounds from the previous day hadn't healed yet, it was been especially painful. But he had a plan, and he couldn't let his pain cloud his judgement, not when their survival (probably) depended on him. He wanted this to end, but he needed to play it cool. Make it seem like he was unaffected.
“Really, the only shot you have is with me, and I could last here for weeks, even with that whip and any tortures you can conjure up. I'm a god, you know, my resistance is... out of this world.”
Another lash. Loki closed his eyes and breathed deeply.
“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying that you let them go and cut me out from here. The only way you are getting any information is if you and me come to some sort of arrangement.”
“I don't like it.”
“Do you like ruining my back and your arm with all that whipping for nothing? Do you like having taken useless hostages? They've barely have been involved in anything, I have been in everything, and in both sides.”
There was another lash, angrier, deeper, and Loki nearly screamed this time. It was taking all of his will power not to do so, to appear strong, to seem to have the upper hand. Bit it was getting more and more difficult. The blood was wet with his blood, making it slippery. Black dots danced in front of his eyes, threatening to get bigger and eventually mean he was blacking out. But he still had it, and so he looked, proud and confident, into his captor's eyes.
The man left, with loud steps, and Loki's composure was undone. He breathed deeply and let his head fall.
“Good try, man.” Sam said. “Although it don't seem like it's going to work, it was nice, letting us out and you free...”
“It could still work.” Loki said, with a small voice. He was tired and in a lot of pain, he didn't have the strength to make himself be heard, not for chit chat. “Give it time.”
“If it doesn't, you should let us... I mean, he's been real hard on you the whole time, and trying to appear like you when he's around... You can't do it forever. You should let one of us take the heat”
It sounded pleasant, to not be in constant pain and with his back reopened several times every day, but Loki knew he couldn't let that happen.
“No. If we have a chance to get out, I need you to be whole, to be strong enough to over power him. I cannot do anything because he's taken my knives and blocked my magic, but as long you're relatively unscathed, we can still have hope.”
Sam was trying something with the chains, finding weak links to try and get out of them and use them as a weapon the next time their captor came, to knock him out and then free Barnes and Loki. He had to admit, he hadn't super happy when he saw who was the other prisoner, but Loki was not nearly as bad as he thought. The whole time he'd been there, he had been giving ideas to get out and making it so that they wouldn't be hurt, probably not out of selflessness but as part of a scheme, but hey. It was good.
Bucky also thought more highly of Loki now. He hadn't been awake for all his mayhem, so didn't have as many reasons to hate him s the others, and in these last days he'd been a reasonable, resourceful person to talk to. He could play this guy much better than he could, and wasn't hiding way his abilities to get less lashings, he put himself out there to let them advance in their plan to get out. He could read them too, him and Sam, and offer some uplifting words when they were losing heart, some comfort when they were in pain.
Guy certainly knew how to speak.
But it couldn't go on like that forever, and Loki's act and not caring and being able to last for weeks was on its last legs. They needed something to get them out, and they needed it quick, or else one of them was going to end very badly. And this was a terrible way to go, after everything they'd been through, after all the adventures. It was just too sad, and Sam went against the chains with renewed strength. Him breaking them off was a long shot, but he had to try.
And then the man and some of his masked associates were there again, and they injected Sam with something that put him out.
“I accept your bargain, Asgardian.” The man said, and they took Sam out.
As they were coming towards, he bit out.
“We'll come back for you!”
Loki threw him a sad smile.
When they did come back, with Thor and Steve with them, there was only blood and the masked man the one chained to the pipe and blindfolded and gagged.
They found Loki half a mile to the south, still shirtless, and passed out in the scorching sun. He hadn't given those guys whoever they were any info, and had managed to get the upper hand, but collapsed just before being able to get somewhere safe. They would take care of him, it was no problem. Thor took his brother and transported the both of them to one's of Stark's places, where they could fix his back. The state of it made thunder sound in the cloudless sky. He was angry.
The next time that teams had to be picked though, Bucky and Sam had something clear, something they didn't think before, not at all. But as they, you live and you learn. And they had learnt that having Loki wasn't such a bad idea.
“We want Loki. Steve, tell them that we want Loki.”
Steve smiled, and nodded, because yes, they did.
“We want Loki.”