Loki Laufeyson - The Experiment {1}

Chapter Twenty Four - Memories

That night when I went to bed with a full stomach of lamb shanks and vegetables that Pepper had made, I knew I would have nightmares. I tried to put off sleeping as long as I could, thinking that maybe if I was super tired, my brain would also be too tired to think of any nightmares to haunt me. It was around midnight, or slightly after when I decided to give up and I laid down on the bed, which honestly felt like laying on a cloud, not that I knew what that felt like, but I could imagine. It was too hot for the blankets, so I let them sit on the end while I stared up at the ceiling. It didn't take me too long to fall asleep, but when I did, I was wrong about not having any nightmares.

"You thought you could escape us?" A voice growled in my ear, in Russian. Spit hit the side of my face and I flinched away, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. Something grabbed my jaw and wrenched it back towards the voice, right into the face of Strucker. His face wasn't pleasant to see up close, I could see the pores of his skin, the scars littering his face, even small hairs that poked through his skin. It took all of my control to not pull away.

"Haven't I told you before B12 that you can't escape us?" Strucker growled at me and I flinched back again, but his leather-gloved hand grasped my already bruised chin so tightly that I could barely swallow properly. "It seems like you might need a reminder." He threw me backwards and pain flared through my spine as it hit the cold tiled floor. I let out a strangled yelp and tried to scramble upright, but Strucker just pushed me back down onto the floor with his boot, resting it on my ribs, and holding me there.

"What do we do to those who don't follow the rules B12?" He smirked, his voice becoming sickeningly sweet as he kneeled down next to me, boot pressing harder into my ribs. A small whimper broke through my chapped lips and I swallowed painfully. Strucker growled and pressed his boot in harder.

"Answer me." He demanded, sweet voice gone.

"We punish them." I whispered, my voice laced with fear, with weakness. I hated how I sounded.

"That's right." Strucker smirked. "We punish them." He straightened and pulled back his fist before I could even comprehend was going on, it connected with my jaw, sending my whole head jolting violently to the side. I swallowed back my cry of pain and slowly looked back at Strucker, tears pricking my eyes as I felt the bruise form on my jaw. He smirked and punched the same spot again, with more force, and my tongue got in the way, causing me to bite down on it. Instantly blood filled my mouth and as he punched my jaw again, it splattered out of my mouth.

"How unfortunate." Strucker smirked, pausing his punches for a moment to caress the throbbing bruise on my jaw. "It seems you are developing quite a mark there." He chuckled darkly. "I think you need a matching one." He lifted his other gloved hand and began to punch the opposite side of my jaw, more blood splattering out of my mouth. He punched so hard that I felt one of my teeth fall out, and I spat it out immediately. Strucker just chuckled and grabbed my blood jaw, causing me to look up at him. His eyes flickered over my bruises and his smirked grew.

"You're lucky we still have use for you." He said. "Or you would have been dead long ago." He lifted his elbow up and slammed it down on my nose, the snap echoing in my ears.

I bolted upright and instantly something pulled away from me, a green light hovering in mid air illuminating Loki's face as he watched me with a heaving chest.

"Your mental wall is so strong that I can barely wake you up." He said before smiling softly. "Are you okay?" I swallowed and nodded, not feeling like I could form words. "Are you sure? That dream was pretty bad."

"You saw?" I croaked, before wincing at how weak my voice sounded. Loki conjured up a glass of water and floated it over to me, causing me to give him a small smile as I drank it all.