fossilised | I come from a land of ice and snow

Steve wanted to help, he really did, but he had no idea how. This wasn't anything that his life had prepared him for, he was the sort of person that helped people in physical danger, or offered them what comfort he could if they cried, or-- He didn't know how to help someone who barely tolerated him after they'd suffered a trauma that he could scarcely wrap his head around as possible.

After all, it hadn't been seen as possible for a man to be raped in that way back in his day, and a man being raped by another man was usually kept pretty damn quiet too. It wasn't right, but it's how it had been, and it meant he had no idea how to help. So he had also spent most of the night awake and staring between first Tony and then Bucky as he tried to figure out what to do.

As soon as the other Tony approached the cage, Steve was on his feet and stood in front of the other two in an obvious protective stance.

"I don't think any of us have anything to say to you."

"That doesn't matter. I'm just checking up on you. Verbally is better than just a scan but I can do that." He held up what looked like a crystal and though nothing outwardly happened, Anthony seemed to have gotten some sort of a reading. "Okay. Good. Now you don't have to listen but you probably should. In this world, you and James are more important to Prince Thor than most slaves have any right to be. And that is what is currently keeping you alive. If you don't want to submit to be bred and are willing to kill yourself first, fine. Already been done, right? But they will kill you. They should have done it already because of what James did to Bruce. I would really suggest that you cooperate if they give you another chance. And not just for yourself, Steven. Not just for James. But for your Anthony and your other friend."

There were footsteps behind him, likely Bruce's, and Anthony sighed.

"Your Anthony saved me from having to be bred." He wanted only Loki. He'd known only Loki's touch since the day he was first claimed. "And I am grateful for that. But his usefulness is done with if any of the pregnancies took. Even if you don't want to be bred, and there's no reason for it when you're so violent, I would suggest submitting to anything else they bring you. I saw you fight. You might go to Valhalla. But the rest? Not a chance. Hel can be as cruel as life."

"I won't go to Hel or Valhalla, those aren't the afterlife of my religion. I'll go to hell if I kill myself no matter the reason, but I'd rather take eternal damnation over hurting someone else in the way that you want me to hurt someone. You've already hurt Tony, I'm not going to let you do it again, not to him, not to me, not to Clint, not to Bucky."

He genuinely didn't care if he had to go down fighting, he wasn't the sort to give in to terrible things or compromise in this way. He didn't know the definition of running away.

"You might look like us, but you're the twisted ones."

Killing Thor, killing thousand of others, enslaving millions more, Steve looked utterly disgusted.

"Strength should be used to protect, not to bully. Don't waste your breath telling me to submit for an easier life again because that will never happen. You understand me?"

Anthony smirked. "It honestly doesn't matter to me. You're not my family," he said, straightening up to wait for whomever was coming. He was expecting Bruce but it was Thor and Anthony dropped immediately to his knees. "Prince," he said respectfully but Thor didn't really acknowledge him. The only slaves he had time for were his own.

In this case, it was James he was after. The prince easily removed the reinforced door and stood looming in the hole it left.

"James? Will you willingly follow me?" It was a necessary question. Thor would do just fine removing him, even on his own, but if he did not have to risk hurting James, he would not.

Of course, he also didn't want to do anything that would prompt his brother's slave to go and fetch Loki either. He didn't need that in his life right now.

Luckily, Thor was blond and blue eyed and had a commanding tone. That might do him well with Bucky.

The Soldier had spent a confusing night. His handler, for that was what he had designated Steve as in his head, had kept trying to remind him of things that could never have happened. Experiences that were for people, not for weapons, and he had learned a long time ago just what he was.

But now here was another blond haired and blue eyed man, with the right sort of commanding tone, stood before him like a handler might. Not as an equal to another, but as a master to a hound.

He didn't answer exactly, he couldn't just say yes when he had no proof any of these people were of HYDRA, but he did step forwards and take up a position in attention to signify that he might be willing to follow. If Thor could prove himself authorised to order the Soldier.

Thor was authorized to order anyone, and that included the poor broken James who looked as if he just needed some guidance. He knew, for he was not idiotic enough to deceive himself, that this was James returned, but he could still be of use. And if the Midgardians had abused him, in James’ name, Thor wished to see him as well as he could be. And while that would take time, yes, he had nothing more pressing to do. This operation was Loki’s to command and Thor would not take that from him. He was here to enjoy himself, to learn for the next culling, and to take some needed time away from the throne.

“Good.” James had, after all, shown himself willing to listen non-verbally. A good soldier generally vocalized, but Thor could be patient about such things. James would learn. He would teach him. “We are to attend training. Your strength is great as is your discipline but your mind is scattered and you have no clear direction.”

The others in the cage watched as Anthony stood. He knew James capable of killing. He’d heard the tales and he knew he’d come close to besting Bruce…which was insanity.

“We must also see to your health. You will accompany me for the appropriate scans and then you will have a nourishing meal. I will then see the range of your abilities and we will work on their use. Move ahead of me.” It was a matter of what James’ mind would allow at the moment. Steve offered a kind, affectionate memory but no real orders. It was dangerous, but warm. Thor too had a warmth, but he was more realistic in his approach and had no intention of trying to force the Soldier into a mold he was unused to.

It was a sensible approach to take. The orders were soothing, even if he felt some odd attachment to Steve, and less distressing than the constant talk about how they used to be friends. This was someone who knew his place, and knew the Soldier's place, and intended to make things right.

None of the orders he was given were that unusual. He had been through medicals before and often required maintenance if he had been in cryo for a long time, it could mess up both his organs and the connections to his cybernetic arm. He would recognise a proper medical examination by a HYDRA technician if it happened.

He stepped forwards as if to go in front of Thor, but hesitated, glancing over at Steve.

"He's my handler."

Possibly.

"Is he coming?"

‘Handler’ was not a strange term to Thor, though it was generally used towards animals that required being trained and fed and cared for by someone with more intelligence. Thor gazed at the copy of his Steven, one he did not necessarily need any more because he could have his Steven back again. “He is not your handler. There is another who shares his appearance who will be put in charge of your continued training if you would be calmer in his presence, but this one is wrong.” Wrong in so many ways. And yet, it saddened Thor to throw him out, even if he was no longer needed here. Bruce’s experiments were important to finding out the extent of the rot upon that other universe but otherwise, Thor had no need for this Steven.

His eyes returned to James, and while they were hard and commanding, they also were curious.

“He has forgotten his duty,” Thor continued, perhaps to benefit all listening. “And that is a worrying state to be. It is our intention to help him find his way again but it is impossible to tell if that can be accomplished.” Thor spoke truthfully to James, for even if he was just a Midgardian, and a damaged one at that, telling those beneath you the truth in all matters that concerned them allowed them to assist properly.

Thor would be ready to subdue James if he refused to listen to him. If he refused to come along, he would knock him out and carry him. Steven would have a rest day today and while Thor was prohibited from ordering him to do anything outside of his current sacred duty for the next year, he doubted that Steven would need to be ordered to assist with this.

That made sense in the world view of the Soldier's head. Steve was a handler who had defected from HYDRA and was therefore unsuitable, perhaps because of his insistence on treating the Asset like something more human than weapon, and he was not allowed to be his handler any longer. Perhaps he would be ordered to retrain the man, or perhaps kill him, both would be acceptable.

He stepped further forwards, something underneath the steel blue of his eyes troubled, though it didn't quite breach the surface. For now the Soldier was all, he would do as he was ordered, because he didn't know any other life.

"Yes, sir."

Steve tried to protect, hand through the bars and eyes beseeching on Thor.

"Please don't do this, if you have anything of the Thor I had started to call a friend then you don't want to do this. He's a good man, he's my best friend, and he's been hurt. Don't use him any more! Buck! Bucky, please listen to me..."

Though he had not been prepared to face Steven, in any iteration at this point, Thor’s eyes were cold and overly hard as he gazed the Midgardian’s way. He was harsh now for a reason, though he doubted Steven would understand. It seemed that these Midgardians were far more stupid than the mud they built their cities on and had no use at all for logic. “You will not address me so familiarly,” he said, having no desire to be friends with anyone of Steven’s race. It didn’t matter if he did love his Steven. The reasons were so very complicated. “You are wrong and the Thor you knew was weak. It should not have been so easy to kill him and yet he was sent to his Valhalla with very little effort. I am aware, however, that James had been injured. And gravely. By your own people. If I knew who has taken away his smile and his wit, they would be dead by now. Do not fret. I will see to his return to health. And, perhaps, you will come around as well… But it is not often that the first generation of a culling comes to understand their point and purpose. I hope you will find a good afterlife once your time here has been extinguished.”

And it would be, Thor thought. When this year ended, the Midgardians not returned to Asgard would be left here to do as they wished until their lives ended. That typically took a month, not for lack of supplies but because Midgardians were, when wild, willing to kill each other rather than share ample resources that would allow them all to thrive.

A shame, that, but not his problem.

“You will come with me,” he said to James, gesturing for him to walk again. “This nightmare will be over soon.”

Anthony was left alone once Thor and James left and he looked up at the trio still in the cage. “Is there anything, within reason, I can get for you until Bruce or Loki come for you?” Or until their time was up. And for angering Thor, that could be soon.

Steve watched in heartbroken impotence as Bucky followed Thor, blank eyed and obedient. He wanted to sit him down and find out what had happened, he wanted to hunt down everyone who had changed his friend into this and make them pay slowly and viciously. He wasn't even usually a vindictive person, but he couldn't help it right then, he couldn't stand the thought of Bucky suffering more.

He turned to glare at this fake Tony, still defiant, still utterly dumbfounded that anyone could think it was okay to treat other people this way.

"I don't want anything from you."

Steve would fight until the end, whether that was two days from now, or two years, or two decades. He wouldn't let anyone take Clint and Tony against their will, he wouldn't let anyone take him. He was done, no more.

"So stubborn," Anthony said, about to leave, when Clint asked for some better food. He didn't want to contradict Cap but he wanted the plates that they were brought in on.

"I saw you bring some good meat and bread to the guys over there before they were taken away so how about we get some of that," Clint asked, hands on his hips.

"That food is for breeders," Anthony frowned.

"Well you're breeding us right? Did to Tony didn't you?" He would say he was sorry about how blunt he was being later. "So what gives man? If I'm next on your gonads list, I should get something good for a change."

Anthony considered that and nodded. "All right," he said, leaving the three alone. Clint just held up a finger to Rogers, not even challenging him to put up a fight, just stopping it in its tracks.

James was taken to Thor's tent, but in the dead of night when his friends and fellows and the slaves were either sleeping or celebrating, no one paid a lick of attention. He let James go first, the opulence striking in furs and heavy fabrics and carved furniture. This was a tent for a king, past and future.

"Are you in physical pain anywhere? I should like to address this first," Thor commanded kindly.

For some reason, the Soldier didn't feel better here. He thought that this disquieting sensation would disappear once he was correctly following orders and with someone who appeared like a handler. But this was not a correct operating base for maintenance, there were no technicians here, and this potential handler was looking at him kindly. It itched under his skin.

"Requesting authorisation."

It would work more clearly if he had proof this was a HYDRA handler. The words to wipe everything clean in his head, a phrase that told him this was someone to be obeyed. Anything that would wipe out the earnest and desperate eyes of Steve Rogers from where they seemed to be burned into his consciousness.

The Soldier remained at attention, blank eyes watching Thor carefully.

Dropping himself into his favourite seat, kingly in every way, Thor surveyed the tent and the single person inside of it. "Your authorization," he said, the word strange on his tongue as all Modgardian words were, "is simply that you will listen to no other. I have claimed you and as such, you will wear my colours and only my colours. You will do what you are told, when you are told. You will serve me and do all I wish. There is nothing else you need worry yourself about."

He already had a feeling that this was not going to go well. Whatever had been done to James had cemented a particular set of behaviours in him. He was locked like a secret box. The wrong push would cut off the finger that did the pushing.

Luckily, Thor was made of stronger stuff.

"You will forget any orders from the past. Only the present count."

The Soldier glanced around very swiftly and slightly, as if looking for the machine that would ensure that was the case. He had been wiped and prepped before, he knew what to expect, but there was nothing here. Just the tent and its trappings, as well as its master.

"I require authorisation."

His repeated tone of voice was still level and calm, but within the Soldier he was preparing for a fight. He had protocols for what to do should someone not HYDRA take him and attempt to control him, they weren't so stupid as to allow their weapon to fall into just anyone's hands.

Thor would need the trigger words or the reprogramming machine to continue. The second perhaps out of his reach, but the first were a possibility using magic if he thought that far.

It didn't occur to Thor that there might be trigger words, but he did know all about enchantments and how to use magic to understand what seemed foreign to him. So he watched James for a moment before standing. "You will wait here. I will fetch what I believe we both need."

He expected James to wait in the tent as he headed towards Loki's. Anthony was just getting back to his master but Thor more or less trampled him to be first inside.

It was typically how life with Thor around went so Anthony wasn't annoyed.

"Brother! I believe James to be under enchantment. I require your assistance. It may be useful in your research to the rot on this neighbouring dimension." Thor meant well but Loki would likely see beyond what he was saying to what was truly being said.

Thor was bound and determined to get James back or kill him. There was no middle ground.

Loki had been looking forward to a relaxing evening.

He had set aside a smooth board with little stone pieces, intending to teach Anthony one of his favoured games of skill from Alfheim, and simply enjoy spending some time in solitude with him. A hot bath, some good food, perhaps some bed sport if the whim took him. But it seemed that was not meant to be.

"Midgardians do not possess magic of their own, Thor, or did you never listen to our tutors as a boy?"

While it was true that they were still connected on some level to seidr, as all races on Yggdrasil's branches were, they simply did not have the strength in their blood to manipulate it into solid form.

"He can be under no enchantment, his mind is simply broken. I am sorry that you must see him so, but that is the case and you must accept it."

"The perhaps you can enchant him instead," Thor said. Testy. If Loki wanted a nice evening with his slave then he had better see to what Thor wanted. "There is some sort of trigger. He must have been trained to accept commands only when that is said or done. Had has asked me for confirmation twice now and I would have it known."

It was better Thor waste time with this than with Steven. Especially because, by law, Steven was not available for anything Thor wanted. A breeding slave need only breed during this year. And to bed one would be a waste of vitality.

"I beseech you, brother. Assist in this and you may ask anything of me in return."

Anthony glanced between the two. That was a dangerous price.

That was indeed a dangerous price.

Loki's eyes gleamed with a sudden interest, and he unfurled himself from his chair with a sinuous grace to hold out his hand so that Thor could grasp his forearm in binding agreement should he wish to.

"I will hold that favour for the future, my brother."

If Thor truly was desperate enough to get James back then he would definitely not say no to profiting out of that desperation. Perhaps down the line he would use that favour to teach Thor a salient lesson about being careful what he bound himself into, and that nobody was ever worth chaining themselves for.

Loki was his brother, though, and Thor thought himself safe from anything too terrible. He might learn one day. Then again, he might not. A deal with Loki was dangerous, and one sealed with an embrace was even more so. He did clasp his brother's arm tightly and Anthony set aside what he planned to discuss with his master until later. He fetched his cloak and then followed the pair out.

Where Samuel had gone, Anthony did not know. He was not here to breed and so ought to be at Thor's side but it was likely that Thor dismissed him as he was wont to do to all slaves who were not James or Steven.

He did not need more minding. He kept slaves for status and for their company. Little else.

Back in the tent, James was still standing where he had been left and Anthony closed the flap tightly behind him. Whatever Loki had planned, it would not be good for others to see. His master dabbled in the darker forms of sorcery from time to time.

Loki had seen James a few times in his cage, of course, but he had not conducted much of his time with him as he had been Bruce's to investigate and he held no personal attachment to the James of the past. To see him now was to take him in properly from head to toe, to finally see with his magic where all the cracks were in his mind.

Disturbing.

Not even the Aesir could remake someone in this way, it was pervasive and disgusting, and it made him feel unclean to touch his fingertips to James' head, but he did so in order to start delving for where the various trigger words were. Images, silent but moving, appeared like smoke every so often in the air. James being tortured, James being strapped down and electrocuted, James being remade.

When Loki stepped back, he looked truly disgusted.

"I shall write the words you require to control him on parchment, but you would do far better to kill him, it would be a kindness. There is nothing there now but a sword to command, no person at all."

"I can not let a people as wrong and diseased as those win over even a slave," Thor said, anger making the ground beneath their feet shake. He did not notice Anthony looking about ready to tackle Loki out of harm's way if it came to that, mostly because Anthony was like a gnat. A fly. He meant nothing at all and it was laughable to think he could ever protect his brother from anything. He was a pet, little more, fancy and amusing but of little worth.

Or so Thor thought.

"I must try. He reacted to the false Steven in the pens. Perhaps it was nothing, perhaps it means that there is a way to call him back. I must try. But I will not allow him to suffer long if it is impossible to bring back his mind. He does not yet have one foot in Valhalla." Thor took the parchment and though Loki likely had other things to say to him, Thor was no longer interested in listening.

Anthony was glad to leave with his mast after that. It had grown frightening in Prince Thor's tent.

Once he was alone with the Wrong James, Thor held the paper. The words translated to all-speak just fine but they made little sense to him. "I have the way to unlock you," Thor told James in the low brazier light. "But it is my goal to remove the teaching of those that hurt you. If you are but a sword, you will be as Mjolnir is, strong and perfect, and instrument for so much more than bludgeoning." He frowned at James' blank face and said the words.

Loki was glad to retreat with Anthony, he did not wish to be in the company of that strange blank James any longer. Midgardians were truly a savage and disgusting race when left to their own devices. Only in the service of those who had more understanding could they ever rise above their base instincts and become something more, and he was sure that each slave here in the training grounds could now see what a blessed life they led compared to what could have been.

The Soldier stood still and blank throughout the exchange with Prince Loki, only moving when he heard the words begin. He didn't fight it, he knew better than that, but he did grimace until they settled into place within his head.

"Ready to comply."

His eyes were now full of complete obedience, but not the loving loyalty of his last James. He would obey any order Thor gave to him, proven as a handler now, but he did not have the capacity for emotion.

Thor was certain it would come with time. He just needed to work on it. Whatever those words did, they had at least triggered obedience in James and so he had a base to start. Thor returned to his seat and he bid his slave, already claimed, to kneel at his feet as comfortably as he could manage. He knew better than to suggest he just kneel. James would have to be reprogrammed. Slowly. And Thor had all the time in the world right now.

"I do not wish your body to feel discomfort," he said with an even tone, and so you will be responsible for making sure of your comfort. Monitor this closely."

He didn't know that James would have trouble with this because he had been previously trained to ignore his body and its discomforts. But he would learn. Or he would die. Even if he did not have life as an incentive, it was a simple fact. Not a motivator.

"Now. You will tell me all of your previous training. It was done incorrectly and we have much work to retrain you. Start with your earliest memory of training and work forward. If your tongue becomes dry, fetch yourself water and wine."

The problem with the Soldier was that a lot of him was blank. In order to make sure that he became everything they needed him to be, it was necessary to remove almost every time they completely reset him, only leaving some things to continue through. He wouldn't be able to give a full record, as he only had pieces, but what he could give...

It was probably worse delivered in such a cold and dead voice, as though the atrocities committed were done to someone else or just a boring list of numbers. He might not remember it all, but the Soldier told of brutal tests that made him able to stand on broken legs or ignore gut wounds, of reconditioning and electricity, of cryogenic freeze and the lack of even a name.

He was a weapon, nothing more or less.

He only stopped for a drink when his voice nearly gave out, not yet attuned enough to his body to notice simple dryness of his mouth. Hopefully Thor would be content with the information given, because the Soldier didn't pull any punches in telling all he did remember.

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