Beneath The Bitter Masks

Chapter 5

"Doctor Banner", he whispered and if the room wasn't silent it wouldn't have been heard, "he's fainted."

"Jarvis", Bruce spoke, his instincts as a doctor kicking in. "Do a full body scan on Loki. Send me the report. Thor, does Loki need his sedir to heal."

"Yes and no. With his sedir his healing capabilities are much faster than an Asgardian's but without them they are only above that of humans."

"Thor bring Loki to the med bay. I need to see how hurt he is."

Thor took the unconscious Loki in his arm. He's so light. How did I not notice this before? Thor's face clouded with anger. Those who did this to Loki were going to pay dearly.

In the medical bay
Everyone was there. Some anxious, some worried and some curious. Thor lay Loki on the bed while Bruce looked at the reports. He didn't look too happy. Tony was actually surprised he hadn't hulked out yet. He gave a long sigh, rubbed his eyes. "Help me take his shirt off." Thor quickly moved to comply but was stopped,

"Not you. Steve help me here."

Thor moved to the side looking angry but wisely chose not to say anything. Steve lifted Loki up while Bruce removed his shirt. None of them were prepared for the sight that greeted them. His body was covered in cuts, bruises and burns. There were scars all over his body. Some bruises were still purple as if just recently acquired whereas some were yellow.

He was practically skin and bones. His ribs jutted out. Most of the wounds had clotted blood but removing his shirt damaged the clot opening his wound again. "Oh God." Steve heard Bruce mutter.

The burns looked bad. But Tony knew they must have hurt even worse. Pepper had already gone out of the room. Clint and Natasha made to follow their faces blank. Not a single word was said by them.

Steve went over to Thor who looked as if he would cry. Tony was angry and sick and disgusted. Vision of his own torture -drowning, pain, burning- flashed before him. If this was what Asgard was like than he would rather die in a fire then visit that place. The three remaining occupants left leaving the doctor with his patient.

As soon as they were in the lounge Thor sat heavily on the sofa his face holding the same forlorn expression as everyone's.

Pepper was looking pale and sick. Tony went over to the bar to drink himself into a stupor. He hoped Pepper wouldn't stop him. "I don't know much about Odin but I think I hate him, no offence Thor." This broke Thor out of his thoughts.

Natasha spoke up, "Thor why didn't Loki get a trial?" She was a spy, an assassin. It was her job to find out all information. Keep no loose ends.

"My brother had many enemies on the council. He always did like to show them what fools they were. I believe they took this opportunity to take their revenge. They did not let him say anything. They may have made the excuse that Loki would use his silvertongue to get out of the situation. I should have noticed something was amiss."

"Thor what was Loki like before you know...all of this?" Pepper, looking a little better, asked.

A sad smile spread across Thor's face, very different from his normal bright one. "He was a quite child, shy even. He loved to read and had a natural talent when it came to magic. We were close when we were little but as time passed we grew more apart. Sadly I never noticed. He used to be teased quite a lot and people particularly didn't like him."

"Why was he teased?" Steve had a strange look on his face when he asked this question. He was also bullied because he was different and he hated it.

"It was because of the way my brother chose to fight. Instead of embracing a weapon he embraced magic. He learned everything he could about it. On Asgard magic is regaded as a womanly art. He was called Argr which would translate to unmanly in your tongue. He was always different from all of us.

"Even I did not treat him like I should have. I teased him over his magic and my friends followed my example. He always loved to prank and he would take his revenge through them as well. I truly have failed my brother. In our childhood and even now."

Before anyone could console the thunderer Jarvis spoke up, "Sir it appers there is a problem in the medical room."
Everyone rushed to Bruce.
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Bruce couldn't believe it. How could anyone be so cruel? The wounds were all over his body. What wasn't cut was bruised, burned or scarred.

It was a miracle that he didn't have any broken bones and it was suprising that he didn't get any infections in his wounds. Most of the cuts he could see would require simple bandaging but there were some that would need stitches.

His first step was too apply disinfectant. It was a good thing Loki was unconscious because this would sting. Wiping away the blood he started appying it. Loki's body went rigid but thankfully he didn't wake up. While working he couldn't help the guilt that started creeping in when he looked at the various scars. Did he play a part in giving him any? The other guy did beat him up pretty badly.

Shaking his head to wipe away the thoughts he got up to get the needle and fiblre for the stitches. He failed to notice that Loki was stiring as his back was towards the trickster.

Loki tentatively sat up feeling the slight sting in his wounds. Bruce turned around needle in hand but before he could say anything he saw Loki's eyes widen, move to the needle, to his face, then back to the needle. Bruce was even more shocked when tears started rolling down his cheeks and he started saying "I'm sorry. I won't lie." over and over again.

Before he could even move to calm him the doors burst open and Thor rushed in, the rest of he team behind him. Seeing Thor Loki gave a sound like a yelp and backed into the corner covering his head still mumbling apologies.

"What happened?" Thor's booming voice echoed throughout the room make Loki curl up even more.

"I h-have, I don't know. He woke up looked at the needle, looked at me and started saying he was sorry. He just panicked." Bruce tried to explain.

Understanding dawned on Thor's face. "Oh" was all he said.

"Oh? Oh?! Thor what do you mean 'oh'? That's a panic attack he's having. Why?"

Thor looked weary, sad and remorseful, "His mouth was once stitched closed when he was younger. It appears he believed the same was about to be done to him now."
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*Sigh* Here is chapter 5. I really felt bad when I wrote this. And I am also aware that I used one of the myths about Loki.
But I'm not really fond of them.

Some sound too cruel and others too weird and this is literally the only myth that I will apply to him because I believe he had a shitty life in Asgard.

But tell me what you think. Thank you for reading. Sorry if something wasn't right. I promise to try better.

Your sincerely,
YeranJ.