I was brought to a medical room after the fight to treat my injuries, like the burns on my arm and sides and the cuts on my face. No more new scars, however. I thought that part was nice.

The medical professionals (didn't know what else to call them) had me take the chest plate off and they lifted the shirt I wore to access the burns on my sides. Another medical professional took a look at my right arm and a mechanical specialist looked at my metal arm to make sure it was fine. They, a short and fat little alien, had no idea how my arm tech worked, so they just called it good and left.

"Why would you patch me up? I'm just going to go back out and fight," I asked someone who came to look at my face. She was a green alien with hair a similar color to mine. Her eyes were dark and she had strange patterns on her forehead and chin.

She looked in my eyes then back on the spot she was working on. "Grandmaster's orders. Wants the winners to be in good shape before the next fight," she answered. Her voice was different, light and airy with a different sound to it.

"So you just patch people up so they don't die as quick? You all are really okay with fixing people just so they can go back out there and hurt others or get hurt themselves? Or worse... kill or be killed?" I asked.

The green one glared at me. "Well, at least I wasn't the one who just got beaten to a near pulp by a Gorlion," she snapped back. Other medical professionals around snickered at her comment.

I, on the other hand, was very confused. "I have no idea how that's an insult."

She rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "Typical Terran."

After that, they brought me to the room I had first met the Grandmaster in, then led me to a connecting one with less people. I wasn't in a chair restrained this time, so I guess I got on his good side after threatening to kill him. At least I wasn't bound to another chair, so I took this as a win.

The real win I got down in the arena haunted me. I didn't really know if Eva'an was alive or not, but judging by the way he didn't move even after I exited the arena didn't give me high hopes.

"Oh my goodness! You had some nice tricks up your sleeve, gotta say," the Grandmaster said as we entered the room. He had someone with him I didn't see before. She didn't look very friendly, but did look older (not as old as the Grandmaster, though) and had white markings on her face. "Really, I'm very proud of you. You've impressed me a lot, Metal Arm. No, no, I need a better name. 'Metal Arm' is a terrible name for a new and upcoming Champion of mine!"

I didn't speak. "Oh, come on, not this again! I thought we were starting to connect, you know? I mean, you threatened me and everything I figured this was progress!" he complained. This man was very interesting. That was the only borderline nice thing I could think to say about him.

"I'm not fighting again," I said. There wasn't any emotion to my words, but they were very stern. "What I just did? Awful."

The Grandmaster rolled his eyes and smiled. It was patronizing, and I hated it. "Aww, now don't start thinking you can make the rules just because you won a single battle- granted it was truly amazing," he said.

At first, I wanted to threaten him again. Instead, I got an even better idea.

My orange magic wasn't very visible with how I did it. A thin line came from my hand to the Grandmaster's head. Nobody did anything, so I figured no one could see anything. "No, you don't want me to fight. I'm too... precious to possibly have killed, don't you think?"

I was worried this wouldn't work and that I'd be executed on the spot. But then the he said, "Of course, that's an excellent point. Why don't we get a room set up for you here and you can go out and socialize with the others. Someone will take you to your room when you want."

The magic disappeared but his offer did not. "Thank you, Grandmaster. And my name is Rey," I said. "Try and use that instead." I turned around and walked out, the guards not doing anything to stop me. This was the first step: escape imprisonment. The next step was to find a way out of here, then I'd have to somehow find my way back to Earth. This wouldn't be hard. At all.

When people saw me, they cheered and congratulated me on the victory. Many drinks were offered and I declined them all, not keen on trying alien foods today. Loki found me surrounded by people and brought me aside.

He grabbed a drink off of a passing tray and handed it to me. When he noticed my skeptical look, he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It's not going to kill you, it's just different than whatever Midgard has to offer."

Still a bit guarded, I took a small sip and let the liquid slosh in my mouth before swallowing it. The neon blue drink tasted like mangos and some other fruity thing I couldn't name. "Not bad," I said. Loki nodded and took a sip of his own dark green colored drink. "Did you need something?"

"No. Well, yes, but it's really just my curiosity nagging at me," he answered. I raised an eyebrow and drank more as he continued. "What you displayed in the arena today intrigued me and I wanted to figure out more about you, Rey. What's an Avenger like you doing here with a villain of the Avengers like me?"

I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out of my mouth. "I'm many things, but an Avenger isn't even close to one of them," I said and took another sip of my drink. "I'm probably more like you- a villain of them. Or was for a while. It's an interesting situation and I'm struggling to understand why you care about it."

He shrugged. "I don't know anything about you yet you're the person I know the most here. We obviously need to get out of here or do a take over, still deciding on which." He shook his head to get away from his thoughts. "Either way, I need a confidant like you. We could be a great pair. You and I. Me and you."

My drink was all gone by the time he finished talking. "Interesting. I'll have to think about it. For now, I'm going to my room to get away from everyone- I'm not the best in large crowds when I'm not going after a target." I let the words soak into his head as I walked away and found someone to take me to my new room.

I wasn't expecting much when I got there, maybe just a small room with a bed or something. But it was nicer than that. It was larger than my room at the compound, had a window, a bathing area, and a large bed. The walls were a weird red and white pattern I didn't really enjoy. "Thank you," I said to the guard that led me here and they left. There wasn't really a door, but there also weren't any other rooms around mine so I felt okay. Not perfect, but okay.

Up on the bed, I picked up a robe that was extremely soft and decided it was to sleep in rather than wear this armor to bed. It was nice, just not comfortable to sleep in. There was another dress, something I doubt I'd wear, but might have to if I need to leave the room to do or get anything.

I took the sleep one and carried it over to the weird bathing area. It was interesting, made of rocks and had a waterfall. It was just big enough for at least two of me and that was it, but deep enough for me to sit and be fully submerged up to my neck.

While I was getting in and getting comfortable, I had a couple Hydra flashbacks and immediately paused what I was doing. My body was almost completely submerged, just my shoulders were out.

"This is... this will be good," I said and tried to relax a bit and lean on the side of the bath. One of the things Hydra like to do as punishment was water torture. They'd put me in a tank of water for 32 hours straight, pushing me just to the brink of insanity before removing me and putting me in isolation. They also loved waterboarding- that was for the ones who wanted immediate gratification. I hated both.

Closing my eyes at first was terrifying, but I moved past it and relaxed in the water. It was warm, but not melting my skin off, so I was great.

"You know, you are an interesting- oh shit." My eyes snapped open and my arms crossed quickly over my body. Loki stood awkwardly in front of me, and he was now staring at the ceiling and turned away from me. "I truly apologize I uh- I wasn't expecting- umm."

I rolled my eyes now, pissed that my one moment of relaxing solitude was gone. "What do you need, Loki? If it's nothing important I'd like for you to leave," I said, grabbing a towel looking thing to try and dry myself off so I could put clothes on. "And you better keep looking away."

He looked wildly uncomfortable but nodded anyway and kept his eyes far away. "Yes, so I was just very thrown off by what you told me on your way out. Have an interesting past, do you?" he asked, gaining his suave self back. Like I've mentioned, I try to never judge without getting to know someone, but I can tell Loki is full of himself and shit already and I've known him for hours at most.

"Are you coming to pry information out of me? Good luck," I answered and got the robe thing on. It was weird, and had pants attached but was also a robe. Not bad though, it was actually comfortable- more than I expected.

Loki sighed and crossed his arms. "May I look at you yet or am I stuck having a conversation with this ugly wall in front of me?"

"You're all good."

He faced me again and continued on. "I'm bored, all right? The Grandmaster likes me so I don't need to work my magic on him anymore and the people out there are, well, boring. The drinks keep flowing but it's very difficult to get an Asgardian drunk so there's no way I can make it through that conversation."

I laughed happily and walked over to my bed. "That's hilarious! One of the fiercest villains Earth has ever seen is coming to me because he's bored of a foreign planet. I love it," I said while still laughing lightly. "Still, some part of me feels like I should be honored that you came in here."

My room didn't have any chairs of any kind, so I just sat on the edge of my bed and brought my legs up in front of me. Loki stood awkwardly and thought for a moment before waving his hand and conjuring a chair behind in. He sat and we stared at each other for a moment.

"Anyway, I hope you understand I'm not just going to open up to you because you're bored," I said. "There's a lot about me I'm still trying to process. I have no need for others to learn about it."

Loki nodded. "I understand, more than you think. But I didn't come here looking for a life story, no need to bore me, I just have a couple questions," he said.

Ignoring the other comments he made, I focused on the last bit. "Okay, go ahead. Can't promise I'll answer them, though."

He nodded his head towards me, looking at my hands in particular. "What are your gifts? How did you get them?"

I scoffed and shook my head. "Now see, those are a lot more personal than you realize, I'm not quite sure I want to answer them." Loki stared at me, however, wanting to know, so I sighed. "Well, to start, I would never call them gifts. More like... abilities. That's neutral enough."

"How'd you get them?" he asked after I paused for a moment.

"Well, they were forced upon me by some of Earth's worst people- criminals. It... to say it simply it wasn't good at all," I explained trying not to go too into detail. I didn't know Loki enough to tell him about all of my life secrets.

He nodded, some of the cocky behavior he had gone. Maybe there was a part of Loki that understood this side of life. "So that's why you're the way you are? Metal arm, these magical abilities, the cold shoulder you've given everyone but Thor?"

I chuckled and gave him an extremely basic answer. "Yeah, we'll go with it was how I was raised."

We sat in a silence again, but now I wanted to know more about him. "Why'd you try to take over New York and subsequently Earth?" I asked, turning the personal questions onto him.

He thought for a second, then smirked. "We'll go with it was how I was raised. That's what pushed me," he answered, humor in his tone but there was also a semblance of truth in the answer.

Him and Thor were very different, not just physically, but in personality, too. Thor has been very welcoming and warm every time I've seen him. Granted that hasn't been many times, but it's enough for me to gauge a profile on him. Loki, on the other hand, has been cold and guarded until he comes and asks me questions- that's when his curious nature takes over. I wouldn't be surprised if he were a younger brother, growing up to try and be better than Golden Boy Thor.

He silence spanned for a few more minutes until Loki got up and left, his only acknowledgment being a head nod. Then I was alone in the silence. If this was how Sakaar was going to be, I wasn't going to last long. Not at all.