Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

49. Whispers in the Dark

'Any news from your brother?' Stark asked.

Loki shook his head. 'If he has something worth sharing, he and Rogers will report it directly, not through me.'

Despite his severe case of pneumonia and lingering effects of a bad concussion, Nick Fury had managed to offer up the first piece of genuinely useful information they'd had - after San Francisco Fury had found a nest in Tunisia where Gamora, Tyr and Ebony Maw could plot their next move. Thor and Rogers had immediately left for North Africa in case the Maw had found his way back there. Unfortunately, when they arrived they reported that they had found no sign of him or the Tesseract. Rogers decided he and Thor would stay longer, perhaps a day or two, to properly investigate the area in case some clue revealed itself, but his tone made it clear he doubted this would be the case. Everyone else had similarly low expectations.

In truth, Loki was just glad he and Thor wouldn't be in the same room in the immediate future. Thor couldn't content himself with what he'd had to say when he cornered Loki in the cafeteria and his continuing scrutiny left Loki ready to blast apart every piece of furniture aboard the helicarrier.

'Is the sound on this thing even on?' Stark reached for the volume controls, but stopped short and swallowed a breath.

Loki leaned in and nudged the sound up on his behalf. Stark had left Switzerland with fractures to several ribs, a concussion, four broken fingers and about a dozen other injuries. It would be months until he recovered fully.

Could've been worse. Had Ebony Maw truly cared to kill him, he could have ripped out the arc reactor.

Stark's eyes narrowed. 'What's that look for?'

'You look like you should be on bed rest,' Loki replied. He pushed the volume up again until the speakers finally beamed in Doctor Prothero's inane inquiry about Gamora's opinion of her breakfast.

'Yeah, 'cause you look like you're back from a six-month sabbatical in Hawaii.'

Loki offered no response. Although he had avoided the bathroom mirror the past few mornings, he had caught his reflection in the glass walls and the endless polished surfaces to be found on the USS Gibraltar. The purple bags beneath his eyes were unmissable.

'What does breakfast look like on your home-world?' Doctor Prothero continued in a smooth, soothing tone. Coulson had introduced her as the preeminent criminal psychologist on SHIELD's payroll. Her voice carried a faint trace of familiarity for Loki, but neither her face nor her name stirred recognition. There had been many SHIELD personnel rotating through his cell before Thor took him back to Asgard. 'Is it customary among your people to eat breakfast?'

Loki rolled his chair back a little so he could have a better view of the screens that dominated the small, dusty room. SHIELD, as ever, weren't satisfied with a single video feed. One camera tracked Prothero, one was narrowed in on Gamora and three more covered her cell from various angles. There was no possibility of privacy for Gamora, who presently lay on the narrow bench opposite the cell's entrance.

'You think this'll work?' Stark asked.

'Prothero's methods?'

Stark made a vague gesture with his less mangled hand, which Loki construed to mean agreement with his question, but he had no easy answer for Stark.

In Loki's experience, Midgardians had a strange attitude to interrogation techniques. There were many worlds, including in certain cases on Asgard, where torture was considered merely one of the standard options to get information out of a prisoner. Yet many Midgardians looked queasy when the possibility was brought up. Certainly, SHIELD had allowed a bit of roughening up and a great many threats, many of them delivered by Thor, but they hadn't acted on them.