fossilised | I come from a land of ice and snow

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that you tried to kill me," Tony spat out, rubbing his neck in a way that caused the blue light in his chest to bob in the darkness. "Because that wasn't cool, Legolas. That wasn't cool." No one was really paying attention to him at the moment anyway, their conversation about the man next to them, and so in his perpetual need to be the center of attention, he offered: "And uh? He is super powered? He bent the cage. That's stronger than Captain Kool-Aid here."

Steve ignored them both, clinging to the cross beams as he pressed his face close to the metal.

"Bucky, it's me. It's Steve. Steve Rogers." It didn't matter what Clint said. This was Bucky. He would know him anywhere. "We grew up in Brooklyn together. We served in the Army together."

This would go on for some time, Steve wasting his breath trying to coax recognition from the other.

Tony groaned somewhere at the hour mark and kicked out at Barton. "Signature move him. I can't listen to this any more."

Steve talked well past the point his throat began hurting, his head pressed to the bars of his cage and his eyes burning. It was Bucky, God, it was really him. Why didn't he know Steve? Why wouldn't he speak beyond that one no? What had happened to him in the last seventy years? He felt sick with it, with knowing he must have failed his best friend in worse ways than he ever imagined.

He only stopped when their cage was approached by the one who looked like Bruce. He smiled in at them, making a small note on a parchment he carried with him.

"My name is Bruce, I'm going to be your supervisor for the next year. I hope we can work well together, I'll ask for your cooperation in all aspects of testing. Please don't fight me on this, I-- do not deal well with being angry."

It was a genuine warning, but he had no idea how much more sinister it might sound to these three. Not the Soldier, he didn't know or care about the Hulk.

Tony was taking it hard. He had met Bruce and worked with him in the span of five hours but he was the sort of man that hated and loved easily. Bruce Banner was his soulmate. He had known it since the other thanked him for the first words he said on the bridge of the hellicarrier. Any person that could be such a terror internally and take ribbing with a grain of salt all while being the second smartest man in the world made people like Tony Stark salivate. The older version of the kid that Bruce had mentored for years moved to the front of his enclosure and wrapped his hands around the bars. If Steve was allowed to spend a few hours whining at Bucky, he could suck it up and listen to Tony made impassioned pleas too.

"I know you. You're Bruce Banner. You're the world's leading theoretical and experimental physicist. I've read your entire body of work-- skimmed. I've skimmed your entire body or work. Mostly. I looked at all of the diagrams." Clint rolled his eyes at Stark. He was hard to like and hard to hate. How did a person get to be like that? "And you know me too, right? Just like this blond idiot here has a twin that knows me...? If you guys know us than why aren't you helping us?"

Tony fell into the stereotypical culling candidate. He pleaded. He negotiated. He had no idea that he was fighting against progress.

"And don't say that experimenting on us like animals is going to help. But if you have to take anyone first, can I suggest Barton? He's violent and smells like pizza."

Steve and Clint just stared at Tony for that.

"Perhaps the Bruce "Banner" you know from your world is a physicist, but I am a slave, and happy in my position."

Banner. What an odd name, not even a family name that gave the designation of his father as sire. Slaves did not take a family name, of course, as such a thing was not for property and they very rarely lived with their parents for any length of time. But surely if a family name existed, it should be passed from father to son, mother to daughter.

"You will likely not come to realise the benefits of this life, and for that I'm sorry. But you can be assured that your children, and children's children, will have a better life than Midgard could ever provide to them."

It was unusual, but he had heard tales of the last culling where some small minority of adults taken had become successfully integrated, but these were often already the most downtrodden and poor. They were so grateful to be offered food, security, and shelter that they embraced their new masters with open arms.

"I would like you to, one by one, step into the centre of your cell and hold your arms out to the sides, please."

“So…gonna pass,” Tony said immediately and Clint, who was now lounging in the back of the cell, knees up and one arm thrown across it, nodded.

“Me too, I’m good here, thanks.” His children’s children were going to be just fine where they were. When they decided to have them. Clint trusted his wife to raise those kids right and not rush into anything. He turned his face away from those gathered and looked through the grating at Bucky, face stoic and eyes facing front. That dude had the right idea.

Steve wasn’t going to listen either. He was not a POW, he was a kidnapping victim. That did not mean that he had to follow protocol. He did not have to comply and so he wouldn’t. That was going to make Bruce’s job harder, which was fine, right up until the point where he was joined by two Aesir, both women, but incredibly strong. Bruce had been right about the force. He would use it if he had it. And with this group, too wild and high strung, he was going to have to.

It wasn’t a great situation.

Of course, Tony ended up ‘going first.’ He was the closest and easiest to grab. There was some muttering from the rest of the group but they would all learn soon enough that they could not outmatch these people in strength.

Edited 2017-06-14 12:43 (UTC)

It wasn't even much to fight against, Bruce simply took a scan from them when they were in position to be examined later. There had to be something in their base genetic level that different from the mortals of the proper Midgard, something that indicated why the branch had rotted. Only when they found that would they be able to adequately guard against the same thing happening in the future to them.

Each of them would be scanned and released, though one of the ones who held James' counterpart would end up with a broken arm in the process.

In fact, not much terrible would happen for weeks. They would be kept in their little cage, taken out once a day at sunset for exercise, and examined by Bruce. Steve kept trying to talk to Bucky and got nothing, and they never saw any of the other slaves. In fact, it was nine weeks before something new happened, a portal opening and Thor finally allowed to leave his position as All-Father to return to being a prince, arrived.

With over three hundred women already showing the initial signs of additional life within them and celebrations happening every evening, the feeling for those belonging to the invasion party was light and airy. Aesir and Midgardians alike broke bread for only here were they closest to equal. The year would be a fine one, all told Loki of this as they were plied with delicious foods and kept their duties top notch and on point.

It had just reached sunset when Thor Odinson stepped foot on the moon and a rallying cry greeted him. He’d kept in constant contact with Loki and so his arrival was not entirely unexpected once Odin and Frigga had returned with stories and the spoils of a secret war conducted in retribution for the pains bestowed upon their youngest son. Jotunheim would fall in line and had already pledged, in two hundred years, to send vassals to Vanaheim and Asgard once their world healed. It was a fine time to be Asgardian or to be ruled by the Asgardians and all celebrated.

Thor was dressed down in trousers and a hunting tunic, happily striding through the outlier camps set up around the permanent structures on the look out for his brother. And he would find him too, having dinner in the company of Sif and Fandral with Anthony beside him. Steven was with the other warriors who had completed their round of duties for the day and was resting at the moment, to join Loki in the morning for his period of respite from the magic-laced mead he had been heavily imbibing.

There were already four pregnancies attributed to him, well into their first trimester of gestation.

"Brother! I am free once more! Embrace me for I have missed you!"

Loki rose at once and strode over to clasp his brother by the forearms and then pull him into a tight embrace. He had missed Thor also, and he had received word by the mirror that both of his parents were proud of what he had accomplished, it had put him in a rare fine mood that all had been benefitting from.

"I had thought never to see you again, you have been so long on the throne. Tell me, do you feel changed for it?"

He knew that Thor was not ready yet and that he did not relish his time spent ruling, it was too much tedious negotiation and duty, and not enough fighting or pleasure. But it would be good for him to learn that all of these things - from campaigning a great war, to the irrigation of the outer farms - were important to running a kingdom successfully.

"The slaves are already doing well at training the young children, and the breeding has been a great success. We hope to send the first crop back to Asgard within the next few months, the villages will need to be ready to be bursting at the seams."

“The grain fields have been charmed to grow more quickly and the storehouses are already filling when last I left. I approved reopening both of the unclaimed villages to the West and to the South to handle any that are not immediately claimed by the chiefs not on the campaign,” Thor said, holding his brother tightly in his sheer joy to be but a prince again. He did not relish the thought of being All-Father for many more centuries. His back to back stints in position was enough of a deterrent for awhile. Now, he wanted to live large and happily while he could.

Samuel was with him, as were the twins that saw to his meals and the three fanned out to take their places. The women prepared a plate and Samuel came to stand, tall and dark skinned, beside Anthony. Anthony did his best to remain unbristled. It was Steven’s place but Steven had been given to Loki. And Samuel had likely never thought himself promoted to such a high position in Thor’s stables. Still, he was amiable enough. All of those Thor possessed were. His smile was lovely and his eyes genial, but Anthony didn’t like him on general principal.

“After I dine as your guest, my brother, I would like to see the special Midgardians you’ve penned in person and tour the rest of the grounds. I have dreamed of the day we would spend our year here. I know you wish news from home, but indulge me. I require rest from discussions of Asgard and wish instead to see your plunder!”

Loki had been considering how best to handle this when Thor arrived. His brother was not so pragmatic as he, and if he saw James then he would surely want to claim him immediately. Yet hiding the mortal from him would be near impossible, especially when the rumours of a slave with James' face had spread far beyond merely Bruce and his few helpers.

"I would happily show you, but there is something we must discuss first."

He gestured for all of the others to leave, bar Samuel and Anthony who could stay as the personal slaves of each of them, waiting until Sif and Fandral had moved completely out of earshot before he spoke again.

"You have heard, of course, that these mortals look similar to some of the slaves we already hold dear. You know that I have sent your weaker and rotten counterpart to Valhalla, but what you do not know is that one of the slaves looks like your James. He is not, he is scarcely human any longer, his mind has been fractured by the cruelty of the Midgardians he has existed with for these years. I do not want you to see him and be shocked, or feel hope that James has returned from Valhalla."

Any joviality that Thor had with him was marred immediately by the news. He’d been hoping to see and converse with the alternate Steven and while he had heard whispers of strange duplicates of many of their most beloved Midgardians, he had not quite heard about James. Thor was understandably rocked, though only Loki and Anthony could see it. Samuel had been with Thor longer than Steven but he had never been too close. His duty before his promotion had been to prepare the tack and keep the horses and the supplies for battle always at the ready. His life had been easy but also distant from the Prince and he did not know what the look in his eyes meant that had Anthony frowning as the pair cleaned up from the halted feast.

“Is he too damaged for even the healers?”

A dangerous question. Thor had grown in many ways since he had taken the throne but his personal feelings simply could not be exercised. Not with Loki and Loki alone.

“Can there be nothing done?” James had been utterly important to him and having never given him a woman to continue his line, Thor thought him lost forever. "I would lay claim to him as is my right regardless of his ability to be rehabilitated from the monsterous Midgard he was found in, Loki," Thor all be growled. "If for nothing more than his sons and daughters." His slaves, Wanda and Pietra, were very fertile and beautiful. They could house this false James' seed if there was no other way.

"The healers have been to see him, but scarring on his psyche is akin to that of the most battle damaged warriors."

Though battle fatigue was a rare thing in the culture of Asgard, it happened sometimes and usually among warriors who had been captured and tortured by the enemy, or those who had seen so many campaigns that they were no longer able to exist outside of the blood and death of battle. A sad thing whenever it happened, and usually solved by either keeping the warrior in seclusion with the healers, or sending him into a futile battle so that he may find his way to Valhalla and the rest he deserved.

"I have told Bruce that he may continue to try and piece together his mind for this first year and, if no progress should be made, then it would be kinder to let his soul rest in Hel."

He reached out and placed a hand on Thor's forearm.

"But I will not forbid you from using him to continue his line, if a way to breed him safely is found."

A year was not a long time and though Midgardians were more fragile than other species, Thor was aware of the effects of blood rages and of life lived perpetually in battle. “I will send him to Hel myself if Valhalla will not take his tortured soul,” Thor promised because he was a reasonable man who understood that death was a reward and the place of death a further reward to that. He was quiet for a moment before he set an arm around Loki’s shoulders. “But perhaps that can wait until the morning. I will let our father’s prized servant do the work he was destined for. Tell me, will you be extending the line of your Anthony as well? He would make beautiful children.”

Short, but beautiful children. Thor was mostly just being kind here. He would not have picked Anthony, not even for his loyalty or cleverness, because he did not fit the ideal image he held in his mind, as Steven did.

Pausing in his duty, Anthony wrinkled his nose in secret. The idea did not appeal to him, personally, but he would not deny Loki. He thought he would have more time before any of that needed to be discussed. Many centuries at least. He had no desire at all to lay with a woman. Even if the meas he would be given to increase potency would also remove his inhibition, he would rather lay only with Loki. His Master had been kind to him in that respect. He never offered him out and if he took any other to his furs, Anthony was never a witness.

Perhaps that was not by design and Loki just enjoyed bedsport with others in their beds instead of his, though.

And Anthony was pretty sure that the conversation was less about breeding him anyway and more a tactic to hear of Steven.

Loki had not decided yet if he wished to breed Anthony.

He knew that his slave would not last for his entire life, even a Midgardian extended by apples still lived many millennia less than their Aesir masters, and he had already become accustomed to having a personal slave. But he was extremely picky, he would need that same intelligence and spark of chaos to be satisfied, that same blend of loyalty, obedience, and familiarity that knew when to be professional and when to be affectionate. He did not know if any breeding could produce such a perfect replica.

"Should I decide to breed Anthony, I will test the idea by breeding his double and seeing how well the genes run true in his progeny."

He shrugged, before moving on to what Thor clearly wished to hear of.

"Steven has bred with many of the most beautiful and strongest of the women, and he has already managed to achieve pregnancy with four, I am certain he will have dozens of progeny before the year is out. Do you wish them to be marked?"

Some slave children, if they came from particularly good stock, were marked at birth with a small brand or tattoo so that the slave village could keep extra detailed records on them and pass those along to see if any of the breeding had run true.

"Aye, they ought to be. Their mothers might come from inferior stock but we will test the first born. Should that child be free of defect or with a defect easily remedied then all of his progeny should bear a mark. I will discuss it with him." Probably not a good idea but it was customary for a prized slave to be in the loop when it came to designing their marks.

Even Anthony had the small tattoo on the bottom of his left foot, the only offspring of one of Odin's most cherished slaves: a spoked circle, not unlike a wheel.

Not unlike that glowing mark on his double's chest either, but Anthony did not think about it. He had been given up to the village as a child and he had no real knowledge of his father and mother save from what little Bruce told him.

"Where is he? Celebrating in his cups-- Accompany me." Thor knew better than to go it alone with Steven.

It seemed that Thor had become slightly wiser when it came to his former slave. Loki rose and gestured for Anthony to go now and fetch himself an evening meal, he would not require serving for a few hours as he spent the time with his brother. His voice lowered as they walked, words for Thor's ears alone.

"I believe he has learned much while in my service, you may be able to reclaim him without lost honour if you have care to your behaviour."

It had only been during the raids that Steven's attitudes had seemed to change, perhaps he had noted some small interaction between himself and Anthony, something that would have told him how they could maintain their bond with none ever suggesting anything untoward between them.

"He is not truly mine, nor do I wish him to be."

"As a gift from you, he is precious to me," Thor said for even if he was alone with Loki, he had learned in these weeks that if he was to be allowed to have his wishes, they needed to be contained within the parameters of the throne. And being the crowned prince caused those parameters to be smaller still. As free as Thor was, he was more bound than even a slave. These tastes of kingship had done him well.

Along the way, they stopped to greet friends that had been gone from him for months and he and Loki stayed awhile to listen to stories leisurely as the Aesir warriors mopped and cleaned the central fire. This was good for the young warriors, allowing honored slaves to be treated like royalty as they replenished their stock. It was good to show humility too and the Warriors found these odd tasks to be more fun than a chore. Even scrubbing clothing could be a game.

Thor placed his bet that Steven's first born would be a boy with Fandral and then strode down to the recovery building where the slaves that had been hard at work breeding were relaxing with their meals and laughing the same way their masters had been. All immediately rose to their feet when Thor and Loki walked in, however.

Thor laughed. "Sit! Eat! Enjoy your exploits. Your work is difficult. Father and birth many healthy children. It is my blessing upon you all!"

A great cheer went up from the slaves at that benediction, many of them finding themselves wet around the eyes from such an honour. Most had never even been in the presence of the crown prince before, to have his personal blessing on their coupling was something they would tell all their peers when they returned to Asgard and it would surely be a good omen for all the births to come.

Steven was one of the ones on his feet, eyes fixed to Thor with a devotion that had not faded in the months apart, but he kept himself proper as he bowed with hand over his heart. He had learned from Anthony and from Loki, who had been a better master to him than he might have imagined.

"Steven, I gift you to my brother, I trust you will serve him well."

Steven's head snapped up, mouth slightly open.

He did not want to call his master a liar, but could it truly be? Would he be taken back by his prince's side? His heart had ached for that each day they had been apart, but he did not think it would come so soon.

"I have heard many tales, Steven. Upon Midgard, you performed the duties assigned to you in protecting Commander Loki with you life. You defeated the corrupted double of myself and have comported yourself with enviable and unmatched skill. Though I had gifted you to my brother for the entirety of this campaign to serve as his personal bodyguard, your service is no longer needed and I dare say that Samuel will be pleased to no longer have to tend to me so rigorously."

The slaves gathered laughed and raised their cups to Steven, their leader and their friend. He was well loved with the men and women gathered here. It did them well to see their leader once more raised to his proper station.

"But should the need for Loki to go once more into a battle I can not follow him to, you will serve once again as his bodyguard. For that reason, you will train Samuel properly when we return to Asgard. You are a free man, however, upon this moon until our year is complete and I will leave you to your merry making and enjoyment." Thor turned before pausing, as if forgetting something. His face was still a stoic, unreadable mask but his eyes were bright with a happy joy. "One thing more. From hence forth, all of your offspring will bear your mark as sire from this moment through one hundred generations. All will know the honour of their father. Now carry on."

Loki needed to get him out of there or he would command Steven to his tent...even if such a thing was impossible here. Only slaves not taking part in the breeding could be so used.

Steven's eyes nearly flowed over with how happy he was, straight backed and proud. He would have generations of his line that all bore a mark to prove where they came from, he would be remembered as a slave who had done an outstanding duty, and what more could he ever ask for? He put his hand to his heart and took a knee, addressing first his prince and then his former master.

"Prince Thor, I pledge that I will serve you to my all, for every day left to me, and then I hope for nothing more than to serve you in Valhalla. Prince Loki, I thank you for allowing me to serve you, and know that I will always protect you even if I have not been ordered to do so."

Loki might not be his prince, but he had definitely earned some loyalty and affection for how he had treated this and the lessons learned through observation.

Though Loki was happy to gift Steven away once more, he laid a hand on Thor's shoulder in silent warning not to go too far. "We have tarried among the breeders for too long, they have earned their rest and food, let us away and find food for ourselves. We have much left to catch up on."

With a baseline on Steven and his unborn children, on their mothers and their pedigree, it was only natural for Bruce to begin testing on Steve Rogers first. It was early in the morning, but Asgardians rarely slept, nor did those they fed their apples to, so Bruce’s arrival with his book and pen was fairly normal for the three kept in the cage. They had watched the others around them be ferried out little by little, never really being told where they were going, and while there were several more groups who had not yet been called out, Thor had decided that that he could truly wait no longer to see the double of his favourite.

So under the pretense, thin as it was, of watching Bruce conduct his experiments, Thor followed his father’s honored into the pens and towered over him as the Aesir guards came to drag Steve out of his cot.

Clint stirred as well, impossible not to when Steve kicked him accidentally in the head, and cursed up a storm before he realized what was happening. “Hey! Where are you taking him?!”

Thor smirked. “He is to be honoured with a mate.”

It hurt to see Thor, he'd been there when his friend had died to the knife of this other Loki, and to see a facsimile of him was painful. Especially because he still had the same earnest eyes and friendly smile, but he knew those things were twisted here. It took a few seconds for the words to actually sink in, the shock of seeing Thor muting them, but when they did he began to struggle.

"No! I won't be doing that, if you even try to put me in that sort of situation, you won't like the outcome."

He would throw himself on the grenade before he forced a woman like that, regardless of if she had been drugged to make her believe she wanted it.

"Get the-- get off me!!"

Thor’s laugh was mighty, enough to rumble the bars, and all of the commotion roused Tony before Clint could kick him in the ribs to wake him up. Steve’s yelling scared the older man. He had gotten to know the blond very well in their captivity and he had never known him to act like this. Even when Bruce came in to take some measurements or some scans, he’d never made these wounded animal sounds, he’d never been so desperate.

“What a fighter! That much has not changed,” Thor chuckled and followed the guards, still easily carrying Steve down the cage lined corridor. Bruce was left to close the doors, but both Tony and Clint were already attempting to rush it.

They wouldn’t get very far. If Steve was strong, Bruce was stronger.

Tony blinked rapidly at the hit to his nose, ears boxed by Bruce’s swift movements, and clung to the bars to stay upright. “Bruce—“ But he never answered. Tony had run the gamut of pleading and bargaining, but this brain washed man thought he was really helping them out.

Thor may laugh, and Steve may not be strong enough to escape from the hold of those who dragged him from the cell, but he wouldn't do what they wanted him to do. He had a strength of character that couldn't be broken and, even if they tried to drug him, he would make the ultimate sacrifice if he had to. There was no way in hell he would ever take part in this debauched and disgusting rape.

As Steve was being dragged down the corridor, suddenly the man in the next cage moved. Usually still when Loki wasn't in front of him, and certainly never listening to the endless weeks of Steve talking to him, now all of a sudden he was in motion.

He slammed into the bars and began to try and bend them again. Reinforced, yes, but his arm was vibranium, stronger than nearly every other material in the known universe. He didn't know why the distress of Rogers irritated him, distressed him, but it did.

Though he had done his very best not to look at the cage where James' ruined double was, the sound of him reacting to the distress call did have Thor stopping. He turned to look over his shoulder. He'd been briefed on James' condition. He'd been told about the way that Steven had been trying to break him out of his personal Hel for weeks now to no avail. And though Bruce had not yet started to work on him, with everything else that needed to be done, he had little hope that he could fix him. And Thor accepted that too, though the year was still young.

This, however, was remarkable.

"It seems they are linked," Thor said, moving back to look at his beloved James in the face, seeing only coldness there. "What has you upset?"

He wasn't sure if James would answer and he didn't care if he did. He might be dangerous, he might have killed or hurt Aesir, but there was little that could be done to hurt Thor.

"Would you like to come with us?" He would bring James himself. Perhaps seeing Steven be given glory through the chance to procreate would allow James to snap out of this daze.

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