What If... HYDRA Got Hold of Loki?

''leave me alone''

Warnings: drugs, hallucinations 

He's been in the cage for a long time now.

Every now and then, Pierce will poke his head in and slip some medication into his IV, but other than that, there's nothing but silence (and the occasional bowl of porridge).

This is nice. It's a nice change from the constant noise and the constant movement of the infirmary.

Was it constant? He's not actually sure it was constant. It felt like it, though. Compared to the peace and quiet he's used to when he's not actively being tested on, it's always quiet. The infirmary was different. He didn't like that at all.

This, though. This, he likes. The quiet, the darkness, the isolation. This is wonderful. He would do this forever if he could.

But then Pierce takes the blanket off and opens the cage door, and his peace has finally come to an end.

"I'm gonna go easy on you today for your first day back," Pierce tells him. "Come on out; I'll show you what I've got."

Loki rather reluctantly crawls out of the cage and to his feet. At least they're starting easy. Even with the break, his whole body still aches from their last test. He's not ready to put himself through that again.

Pierce takes a syringe out of his pocket, and Loki cocks his head to the side, confused. He'd thought they were done with the medication. Wasn't that the point? To slowly get him off of it until he didn't need it anymore? They've already reached that point. Why would they give him more?

"We've been trying to stay away from drugs with you," Pierce tells him. "We weren't sure how they'd work or how much it would take and it made dosing the morphine a pain in the ass, so I think these next few days, we're going to focus on how your body metabolizes drugs."

Loki doesn't like the sound of that. The painkillers were nice, but drugs are certainly not his forte. After what happened when Fury tried to medicate him...

But Natasha told him to listen and Pierce wants to test some drugs, so he's going to try out some funky little drugs and hopefully maintain some of his sanity and functional ability in the process.

"Let me see your arm," Pierce says. "First one is just under the lethal dose for a human your size. We'll up it from there."

Well, at least it's not the lethal dose. That's considerate of him.

Pierce twists the syringe onto the IV port and pushes the drug in.

It only takes a second for him to feel it. Pierce hasn't even finished injecting it when his head starts to feel fuzzy. Loki closes his eyes, trying to regain some semblance of understanding of the world. It doesn't really help.

"You're gonna have to be careful," Pierce tells him. "This drug can really mess with your head, so don't move too fast. Don't want you falling again."

"Yes, sir," Loki says. "May I sit?"

"Yeah, 'course," Pierce says. "You can do whatever you want to do — as long as you're safe. I'll be back in an hour."

Loki opens his eyes and carefully lowers himself to the floor, sitting cross-legged with his back to the window.

Maybe he should have sat the other way. Maybe he should have looked toward the window. He does like to watch what's happening outside. He's going to turn around. He wants to look outside.

Wait.

Where did Pierce go?

He looks around, confused. He was just here. That's... weird.