Shadows and Lies

Chapter 3

Chapter 3
The trip back to Asgard was as chaotic and nightmarish as expected. Loki was about as weak as a wet piece of paper, but he still put up a nasty fight, writhing and struggling, fighting his way to freedom.
Once the bifrost set them back in the observatory they were greeted by a medical team, they tried to get Loki restrained on a cot to restrain him and take him back to the healing room, but Loki didn't make that job easy. For someone with a broken femur, a shattered shin, several broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, blood dripping in his eyes, and burns covering half his body, he put up quite a fight. The healers grabbed his arms and tried to get him down, but he wouldn't let it happen.
"Loki stop, you're just going to make it worse" Fandral said, watching the healers fight to get him down on the cot.
"I am not going back there! I won't go back there!" Loki screamed, desperately trying to fight his way free. He spent years running from Thor, from Asgard, from everything that his life was, and now he's being brought right back, he'll be kept captive, he'll never see freedom again.
"Loki you aren't going anywhere!" Thor shouted at him, he hated seeing his brother like this, writhing and screaming like a caged animal, frantically thrashing himself around, damaging himself further in a pointless effort to get away.
"Let me go! Let go of me! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" Loki bellowed as thor threw him down on the cot and forced his hands down, binding him so he couldn't move any more. The healers looked to Thor, Loki was still thrashing around in an effort to escape, throwing curses at Thor and Fandral and everyone who was forcing him down.
"I won't stay here!" Loki screamed. His voice was getting rough by now, he was in a lot of pain, but he was overwhelmed with the fear of being trapped here on Asgard again.
"Sedate him" Thor said to one of the healers. He knew that if Loki wasn't put under drugs he'd end up hurting himself further, and he'd probably find a way to hurt everyone else as well.
One of the healers had a syringe and he went to sedate Loki, But Loki was moving so much that he couldn't.
Thor sighed and went over to Loki, holding him still by grabbing him in a headlock.
"Loki I'm so sorry" Thor said, feeling sick to have to treat his brother this way. He pulled his head to one side so his neck was exposed, the healer was then able to sedate him.
"No! No! I'm not going back!" Loki screamed, even though Thor had him immobilized and he was being sedated.
"I'm not going to be your prisoner!" He hissed at Thor. The healer pulled back and Thor let go of loki. He hated everything he was doing, he hated that he was forced to treat his own brother like this.
"Loki I'm sorry, I don't like this any more than you do" Thor said. The hatred and rage made Loki's whole face look foreign. He was always a trouble maker, but even when he became bitter as he grew up he rarely directed his anger toward Thor. Thor was normally the person Loki went to for support. Now loki wants to murder him.
"You're loving this" Loki growled. "I hate you. I... hate..." Loki's eyes rolled back and his body finally went limp.
"We need to get him to the healing room immediately, he was in bad shape when we found him and all his struggling has just made it worse" one of the healers said. Thor nodded.
"Get him there right away. Keep him sedated until I arrive" Thor instructed. He knew Loki was far gone, but he was realizing that he'd gotten himself into a much worse situation than he had previously been expecting; if Loki hurts any of these people then he would have to either put him in a cell... or execute him. He was already walking on thin ice by keeping Loki alive on Asgard, if Loki hurt anyone the people would demand his death.
=*****=
Loki didn't realize he was awake until the voices started to register. His hearing was muffled and distorted, like he was listening through water,  but his senses slowly started to come back to him. He felt sensation coming back to his fingertips, he moved his fingers, trying to make his body move again. He was barely able to close his fist, but when he did he closed it around something soft and warm.... a blanket?
"He's waking up" he heard Thor say.
"He's as secure as we can make him. Everyone else should be safe." The voice that replied was unfamiliar, but Loki enjoyed his words. A devious smirk spread across Loki's face.
"You seem awfully concerned...." he opened his eyes slowly "about someone who can barely walk" he finished in a groggy, raspy voice. There were four people in the room with him; Thor, and three men he didn't recognize, but he knew by their uniform that they were healers.
"You look like your facing the devil himself. Have some dignity" Loki jeered when he saw the fear on the faces of the healers as soon as he woke up.
"You can all go, I'll handle him" Thor said to them. They nodded and left the room rather quickly. Thor then turned to Loki.
"Well, you've thoroughly terrified the healing staff. I hope your pleased with yourself" he said, sitting next to Loki's bed.
"I am" Loki said, his typical arrogance displayed in his face.
"Loki I don't think you quite understand the position you're in" Thor told him. Loki had just woken up, clearly he hadn't taken a moment to examine his situation.
"Is that right? Well I think-" loki felt a tug as he tried to move his arm. He frowned, his brain started to work with a higher level of alertness; he realized that his arm that had been dislocated was in a sling, his injured leg was completely covered in bandages and casts, making it impossible to move it, and his hands....
"You cuffed me?" He said in shock and horror when he realized he was handcuffed to the bed he was in. He tugged at the restraints, but there was only about and inch of chain between the cuff that was around his wrist and the cuff The was around the bar on the bed.
He looked angry and disoriented for a moment, then he seemed to have an idea that brought his composure back.
"I'm a shape changer. You think cuffs can hold me?" He asked mockingly. A shimmer of green magic washed over Loki... but nothing happened. He stayed exactly the same.
"Wha-" He was baffled and taken aback. His magic was the one thing that never failed him. He tried again, and got the same result.
"Oh I should mention that those cuffs will prevent you from using any of the magic mother taught you" Thor told him. Loki looked horrified and enraged at the news. He tugged and pulled at the cuffs, he tried to shift form over and over again but it was all useless. He was bound securely.
"It's not possible" Loki muttered through gritted teeth as he continued to yank and pull at the bulky handcuffs.
"Loki stop. That's your only good limb, don't ruin it" Thor said. Loki looked over to him, his face filled with hatred and rage.
"I still have my other leg" he spat sarcastically, continuing to jerk his wrist away from the bar with no luck.
"Actually you don't, the healers said your other ankle is sprained, it's wrapped in bandages." Thor Informed him, watching him pull and tug hopelessly.
"I hate you" Loki spat at him, finally stopping for a moment. "You have no idea how much I hate you" he knew that no matter what he did, now matter how corrupt he became, Thor would always hold onto the idea that they could still be brothers. Thor's biggest weakness was his sentiment, so looks most cutting words would always be 'I hate you'
"I know... trust me when I say I wish I didn't have to do this. I wish I could trust you" Thor said back. Loki started pulling at the handcuff again, so Thor got up and grabbed his arm, making him stop.
"Let me explain this to you Loki. You are a criminal, you should realistically be executed, the only reason you are alive is because you're my brother, and despite everything you've done I just can't bring myself to kill you" Thor's voice was low, but he'd captured Loki's attention, for the time Loki stopped fighting. "I'm going to get you back to health and decide what to do with you after that. But for now, this is where you live. You are going to spend the next few months in this room, chained to this bed. Your magic is blocked, you are too weak to break these chains, and even if you broke this one," he moved the blanket that was covering Loki to show him that his ankles were also chained, even though they were both damaged "you won't be able to break those. And even if my some miracle you were able to get out of this bed, I have this" he showed Loki a small metal switch in his hand "which activates a little disk I put on your neck. When activated it sends an electric current through you that will render you immobilized. So please just stop. For your own sake" he explained, letting go of Loki's arm. Loki didn't try to struggle any more, the arrogance that was on his face a few minutes ago was completely gone, and he now looked like he was fuming with rage inside.
"What were you doing on Nidavellir?" Thor asked him as he took his seat next to Loki again.
"You think I'll answer your questions? You think you can just chain me up and interrogate me?" Loki scoffed. Thor shrugged, then reached over and turned a dial. Loki immediately felt an ache in his leg.
"What did you just do?" Loki asked, feeling his pain increase; His leg was hurting quite a bit now.
"Did you know that the most painful injury to suffer from is the femur bone splitting in half? I've experienced a lot of painful things, but I've never broken that bone, so I can't fully appreciate that level of pain. Can you guess which bone you split in half when that pipe went through your leg?" Thor asked him, seeing the discomfort in Loki's face becoming worse. He was in a lot of pain now.
"My femur?" Loki said, his fists tight around the bars on the Sides Of the bed, trying to not let Thor sew hwo much he was in pain.
"Exactly. Now you're my little brother, and believe it or not, I don't enjoy seeing you in pain, so I've had the healers put you on a lot of pain medication to relieve your pain. You're still on a lot of drugs, I only bumped the dial down by one tenth and you're already suffering, so imagine how much worse I can make you feel. But you have to earn your comfort, if you don't cooperate with me I'm not going to keep you comfortable, so I'll ask you again," Thor turned the dial back up. Relief washed over loki "What were you doing on Nidavellir?" Thor asked again. Loki wasn't in so much physical pain anymore, but he still looked miserable. Thor correctly assumed that Loki's misery was rooted in the fact that he was vulnerable and totally out of control of his own situation. It had been a while since Loki depended on other people. 
Loki's jaw was clenched tightly, he stayed silent. Thor sighed a reached over to turn the dial again, but Loki spoke up before he had turned it down again.
"I was going after a weapon" Loki confessed. There wasn't any real reason to hide it now. Thor sat back again.
"Now that wasn't so hard was it? What weapon were you after?" He asked. Loki was gritting his teeth, he needs to find a way out of here, but right now Thor held all the cards, even Loki couldn't bluff his way out of this one.
"It's called storm-breaker" Loki muttered, refusing to make eye contact with Thor.
"Alright. Well I don't know what that is, but you answered two questions today, so I'll leave you be for now. Try To get some rest, and when he healers come, be nice. They'll give you some food and water, but again, you have to earn it. If you try to terrorize them they have my permission to not feed you" Thor told him, giving his shoulder a pat. "I'll be back tomorrow morning with more questions, I hope you continue to be cooperative" he said as he turned to leave.
"Don't act like you aren't enjoying it" loki said after him. Thor turned around "you love it. You love waving your power over me, you love taunting and torturing me" Thor could see how truly deceived Loki was.
"Loki... this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Your my brother, I love you, I hate that I have to hurt and humiliate you,  but what choice do I have? I'm only doing what I have to do" Loki tried to lunge at Thor But was stopped by his very short chains. Thor didn't say anything else, he just left Loki to think things over. He didn't know what he would end up doing with Loki, but he was hoping that by the time Loki healed, he'd be able to get him back on track and convince him of the truth. He held onto the hope that he could get his brother back