Chapter Text
At the sudden sound of metallic grinding, you sat yourself up as quick as you could manage, back pressed into the corner of your holding cell as you blinked the last of your sleepiness out of your eyes.
It wasn’t that it was unordinary that new… additions were brought in. It was just that you hadn’t had one brought in close to you in a long time and, judging by the reactions of those in the cages around you, they were just as cautiously curious as you were of the new person being placed in the open unit. As soon as you saw movement, however, you ducked back down, choosing instead to eavesdrop out of fear of being caught.
“Sire, are you certain we shouldn’t worry about reinforcing her holding cell? She’s rumored to be one of the most powerful beings in all existence,” you heard a familiar voice say. The Maw, you thought he was called.
“Nonsense.” You tensed a little at the sound of that voice. You’d only met the Collector once, when your captor had handed you over to him to be another prize in his collection, and you couldn’t say you were all too eager to meet him again. “With Asgard destroyed, she’s powerless. And even more so without that tasteful helmet she had. It was placed amongst my personal weapons collection?”
“Yes, sire.”
“Good. That will be all.”
The echo of footsteps receding where the only sound you heard for a few long moments, and shortly after there was the sound of the locks on the cage being engaged, and a few words you couldn’t quite hear before you heard more footsteps as the Collector took his leave, as well.
For a few long moments, you waited, hardly even breathing, in case someone else was still in the room, but when enough time had passed for you to be certain it was just you and the others caged inhabitants, you peeked your head back up so that you could look out in the direction where you’d heard the voices.
Sure enough, there was a new cage floating a few feet away from you, and inside you could see the woman they’d mentioned laid inside, looking extremely worse for the wear. The clothes she wore were singed and tattered, and it looked as though her hair was in much the same condition, and you couldn’t help but to wonder just what had happened to the poor girl.
You wouldn’t have even believed she was alive, if you hadn’t heard them talking about whether they’d need more restraints for her or not.
You’d never seen an Asgardian before, or at the very least, not to your knowledge. Then again, you’d never seen a lot of the things you’d seen since being brought to the Collection, as you’d only ever lived on your home planet, but you wagered she didn’t look so different than you did.
You had no idea when she would wake up, but you didn’t expect it to be anytime soon, and since you were nothing if not eternally curious of new people, you settled in a corner where you could keep watch over the new girl, and waited for her to wake up.
You weren’t sure how long you’d been asleep for when you woke to the sound of beating on glass, and you startled slightly at the loudness of it, fighting the urge to cover your ears as you looked over to find where the sound was coming from.
You weren’t at all surprised to see that it was coming from the cell of the Asgardian.
“I swear to the Norns when I find out who put me in here, I’ll kill each and every single one of you, and I’ll enjoy doing it! Show yourself!”
You couldn’t help but to be mildly amused at the conviction in her voice. She was certainly angry. A lot of the new ones were, if they weren’t absolutely terrified out of their minds. But you’d never heard threats like that. You recalled how the Maw had mentioned that she was one of the most powerful beings to exist, but you hadn’t expected her to have so much fight in her, given the state she’d arrived in, but still, she screamed, yelling threats and expletives in both English and a language you’d never heard before, and you found yourself just watching in a sort of dazed state of mesmerism.
You didn’t realize it was noticeable, however, until you heard the voice address you.
“And what are you staring at, girl?”
You hesitated, suddenly very aware that you had, in fact, been staring.
“…nothing. I just… It doesn’t do any good to scream like that. No one will come.”
“And how do you know that?”
You couldn’t help but to laugh softly. “Well… I’ve been here a very long time. Seen a lot of people get put in these cages. Not once have they been let back out.”
“I’m not like anyone else.” The woman’s voice was almost unbearably haughty; it was almost a sickeningly refreshing departure from the usual crying and beating on glass until the realization hit that they were stuck here for the foreseeable future.
You remained silent for a while, looking at her while trying not to look like you were staring at her. “…the men that brought you in said you were powerful… one of the most powerful beings to exist… Is that true?”
The woman smirked, and lifted her chin proudly, but then seemed to hesitate, a series of expressions passing over her face seemingly all at once. “…what would you know of power, anyway? You’re helpless, all trapped in your little box over there.”
You smiled, but it was tense, and a little sad. “…so are you, lady.”
The woman said nothing to that, but balled her hands into fists against the bottom of her cage as she brought her knees to her chest, looking away from you. She looked, you realized, extremely tired. Like her anger had taken what little energy she’d still had and depleted it into nothingness for the time being. “…I’ll find a way out of here. Mark my words.” And then in a much quieter voice that you almost had to strain to hear, “I have to.”
You nodded to yourself, and smiled a little more, despite the fact that she wasn’t looking at you. “Well… I hope for your sake, you’re right.”