Resurrection

Chapter Ten: Marked

Chapter Ten: Marked

Loki was tied down to a stone table. He tried to lift his head, but a hand pushed him back down.

It has been around a week since he had landed in Thanos' Sanctuary; a week of Thanos asking for Loki's help to collect the Infinity Stones. Of course, Loki had refused, and normally the Titan would become frustrated and leave him alone for the rest of the day, but Loki knew that the Titan's patience was wearing thin.

It came as no surprise that Thanos increased his hostility toward the young Asgardian with each refusal, but Loki was still slightly shocked to find himself tied down, spread-eagle, on a stone table.

He tried to loosen his bindings but found no give. He could sense other creatures milling around him. At first, Loki thought the aliens, the Chitauri, were ugly. As the days passed, Loki learned not to anger them or do anything that would cause them to go scrambling to their master in order to have Thanos himself come and investigate the problem.

Loki had started to hate the purple alien. He was lucky, to say the least, to end up with only a few bruises from the punches and slaps that Thanos had inflicted on him.

That was it. Just slaps and an odd punch or kick, nothing else. Thanos never tried anything too harsh; his bruises always healed. So why was he tied down in an unfamiliar room?

Loki got his answer soon enough. Footsteps approached the table, and an ugly face peered into Loki's. The alien was holding what looked like a needle attached to a small tube.

The alien stood over Loki and pressed the tip of the needle to Loki's chest, right above the heart.

On instinct, Loki tried to move away, but the needle breached his skin. He flinched at the small poke and watched as black ink dripped out of the needle and right into his skin.

A tattoo? Loki had heard of mortals getting tattoos, and few Asgardians had one, but he never even thought about getting one himself.

The Chitauri alien kept moving the needle around the left side of Loki's chest. The ink left a pattern of geometrical shapes, swirls, and some letters of an ancient language.

It took a few hours before the tattoo was done. The tattoo completely covered the left side of his chest and looped around to the top of his left shoulder and arm. A circle with a smaller circle inside covered the top of his arm. Four smaller circles connected by an X, which met in the middle of the smallest circle. A square box in the X and circles. Ancient letters adorned the outside on each side of the square. The design, Loki later found out, was called the "Mark of Thanos."

The alien backed off, only to be replaced by another, purple alien.

Loki felt himself being lifted to a sitting position, the chains never leaving his wrists.

Thanos was standing in front of him, a twisted smile on his face. Loki fought the urge to struggle against the chains.

"What was that for?" Loki demanded, clearly referring to his new tattoo.

"Since you are stuck here, and one way or another you will follow my orders, I gave you my 'Mark.' All of my servants and followers have one; it's only fair that you get one too," Thanos explained.

"What if I don't want to listen to you?" Loki spat out.

"You will, eventually."

A shaky laugh escaped Loki's lips. "I am not one of your followers."