Bend Around the Wind by Scyllaya

|2| Sands of Time ✔️

Chapter Two
Sands of Time
Location: Unknown

The first thing he noticed besides his stiff muscles was a low humming sound coming from all around him. It sounded electrical, a generator or an engine maybe. He opened his eyes and quickly shut them again as the light, albeit not so bright, kind of hurt. He squinted and tried to sit up. He was lying on what must have been the hardest, most uncomfortable bed in existence. And his hands were chained, awesome. He took a few deep breaths, not at all happy about the fact that he was out of breath immediately, without moving, what the hell? He managed to sit up and swing his legs over the edge of the bed. All his muscles were stiff and aching and he felt too weak. Now that his eyes finally started to adjust to the light and his vision cleared out he froze at the sight that greeted him.

Loki sat on a bed that was exactly like Tony's on the other side of the grey room. He was chained too, Tony couldn't decide whether to be glad about that or not, but for now he counted it as a good thing. He was without most of his armour, which made him look more slender, but no less threatening. The previous events rushed back into his mind and he was surprised that Loki's face had almost no trace of the beating, must be nice to heal so quickly. Tony was too numb to assess his own injuries; he didn't feel like he was dying, everything else could wait.

'Come here often?' Tony asked, then he cleared his throat. His voice was scratchy and his mouth was dry. Just how long was he unconscious? Loki glanced at him, but didn't deign him with an answer, not that Tony expected one.

'Where are we?' he asked then, but got no answer again. 'Trust me, I have no problem with listening to the sound of my own voice,' he said. Loki sighed, seemingly in annoyance.

'I do not know,' he whispered.

'Okay, then care to tell me who your friends were?'

'They were hardly my friends.'

'No kidding, who were they? I mean, yeah I can imagine you pissing off people all over the place, but aren't you supposed to be locked up in a nice cosy dungeon in Asgard?'

Loki stayed quiet for a little while, visibly contemplating whether he wanted to waste his breath talking to the human.

'It doesn't matter who they are, they were hired to capture me.'

'Well thanks for leading them into my tower, jerk,' Tony snapped. 'This is exactly how I planned my night to go,' he said while he raised and tugged on his chains.

Loki scowled at him. 'I needn't explain myself to you, mortal.'

'You got me into this mess in the first place!' Tony complained.

'No, that was you when you destroyed the Chitauri ship!' Loki fired back.

Tony snapped his mouth shut in surprise and blinked at Loki.

'How the hell would they know it was me?!' he asked. Then it clicked and cold anger started to burn deep in his gut. 'You told them, right?'

Loki just scoffed. 'I would have, but there was no need. That device in your chest makes you very easily recognizable and they saw enough through me to know where to find you.'

Tony thought about that for a second. 'No, that's bullshit. Whatever you did with that mirror, you came through first, you led them to me!'

'Like I said, I need not explain myself to you.'

They sat in silence for a few moments, Tony looked at his chains, but it didn't look like he could get out of them. The room looked equally hopeless in regards of an escape, but that didn't stop him from searching.