Hell or High Water (#Wattys2016)

•You've Only Lost The Night•

🎭🎭🎭

Charlie woke with a start. She tried to sit up, only to see the room spin. She blinked several times before the dizziness passed. She went to lift her arms and found them firmly strapped down.

"I suppose I should have made you aware of that, but I doubt you would listen."

"You're probably right. Where the hell am I, anyway?"

Doom tsk'd, disappointed in her choice of wording.

"Is that any way for a Lady to speak?"

"Is this any way to treat one?"

Doom hummed. He resumed placing a blue and yellow liquid in a long beaker, causing smoke to rise from the mixing chemicals. She looked around the sizable chamber and realized it was a lab. A row of computers and test tubes lined various tables, the machine she was connected to is the biggest out of them all, it's monitor showed what looked to be her vital signs. The steel table she is strapped to felt unforgivably hard, though that was nothing compared to the overall ambiance of the room, every single thing scattered about screamed organized chaos. The same went for her captor.

Great. I'll probably be dead before dawn. Is he going to experiment on me using whatever is in the beaker? Or not. I guess as long as I don't see a needle -

"Such insolence. No wonder he likes you." He removed a needle from a nearby tray. He cleaned it properly and re-adjusted his mask, Charlie thought it was more of a habit, since this was the second time and he didn't seem to pay mind to when he adjusted it.

I'm screwed.

"Do not worry, a sample is all I need to elucidate my suspicions." He assured and readied her arm, she felt the tiniest prick and before she knew it he had moved over to another tray of assorted instruments.

"Why? What suspicions? Where is Loki?" Charlie tugged on her restraints again, hoping in vain she could find a way to free herself.

"We will know soon enough." Doom eventually answered, and she wasn't sure if he meant to be mysterious or just dodging her question entirely.

As he ran a series of tests Charlie looked for the best possible escape route - should she find some way to break free of these straps, but Doom noticeably anticipated this and turned to her.

"There is no real way out of here, not unless I want you to be freed. Those windows? They are merely holograms to give my subjects false hope."

"Cruel much?"

"Not cruel, competent." He stepped away from the machine to pace; his domineering stature is enough to remind her that he would not hesitate to kill her. "Latveria has seen many monarchies, too many. I intend to reign it eternally under absolute domination."

Charlie sighed. She really could care less about the city or its history because obviously from his point of view, dictatorship is key in this country. She was more concerned about why he took her, isn't the Tesseract enough?

"You may be wondering if the Tesseract is sufficient to my needs. I have no doubt that it is."

So what, he can read minds now?

"Actually, I can if I wish to. I suppose it would not hurt to tell you, seeing as I won't need you conscious for much longer. The chitauri required me to bring the Tesseract back once they heard of the Loki's true intentions. However, they don't count on me destroying their filthy land, and thus acquiring the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos is nothing but a reckless fool, a fool with too much power and too little patience to use it correctly."