Archive of Our Own ^beta

Logan winced, putting his hand up to block out the light that suddenly flooded into his enclosure. He had spent so long in the darkness that it felt strange to once again see his own fingers.

“Oooh, yes, you’ll do nicely.” The giant grinned, causing Logan’s heart to plummet. He knew what giants liked to do to his kind. In their eyes, a human would never be an equal.

“W-what are you going to do to me?” Logan asked, his curiosity overriding his fear. Hopefully knowing his fate would be more manageable than sitting alone in the darkness, waiting for death to arrive.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Scared, Logan?” The giant gave a knowing smirk, leaning his cheek on his propped up fist.

“How do you know my name?” Logan paled.

“Oh, I know a lot of things about you.” The giant took out a notebook, looking through it with an almost bored expression. “It’s all here in your chart. Your poor eyesight, your escape attempts, your favorite foods…might I add, you have absolutely terrible taste.” He stuck out his tongue. “What kind of human doesn’t like cookies?”

Logan frowned. He had never been a fan of sugary foods, but after the amount of times giants tried to gift him them as a ‘reward’ the baked sweets now left a particularly rotten taste in his mouth.

“Still, I think you and I can still have some fun.” The scientist snapped the notebook shut with a smile.

Fun. Logan sneered at the word. “I’m not a toy!”

“Anything’s a toy if you play with it.” The giant retorted, reaching for him. Logan didn’t miss the way he said ‘anything’ and not ‘anyone’- a small distinction, but a degrading one.

“Ugh, you’re sweaty.” Logan gagged, unnerved by the familiar feeling of a stranger’s grip around his torso. “What sort of scientist doesn’t wear gloves, anyhow?”

“Oh, buzz off!” The scientist looked almost embarrassed at Logan’s observation as he raised the human high. Logan could now see his surroundings, an eerie room that was too artificially white to be pleasant on his eyes. Now out of the box, Logan could read the nametag of his newest captor: Dr. Roman Sanders.

“Now you listen to me, little man.” Roman glared, and Logan suddenly found his vision entirely filled with that intimidating gaze. “I read about all that cheek you gave the other scientists, and I’ll be having none of it.”

“Why?” Logan swallowed his fear, determined to stay stoic. “You’ll be passing me along soon enough. They all do.”

“No no no, not this time.” Roman spoke in almost a singsong voice. “My station’s the end of the line.”

Logan searched those gigantic eyes, trying to find some sort of sign to indicate the validity of Roman’s statement. “…you’re bluffing.”

“Well, there is one other station.” Roman’s eyes sparkled in almost amusement, holding Logan out further so he could see all of the giant’s face now. “But Deceit isn’t exactly known for his living specimens. So if you’d like to keep your organs inside your body, we’re going to have none of your little fits. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” Logan was gritting his teeth so hard they felt as though they might simply shatter.

“Aww, that’s a good little human.” Roman cooed, taunting him as he messed up Logan’s hair. Then Logan was moving again, Roman placing him into one of the familiar cages littered throughout the facility. Though Logan had tried countless times to pick the mechanism, his efforts were always futile.

Logan paced around in his small enclosure, sending irritated glares in the direction of his newest jailor every few moments. Who did this guy think he was? Logan knew he was valuable. His testing skills far exceeded every other human, and for that he was praised. But Logan would only test on his own terms, in situations where he thought he might gain valuable information or become strong enough to one day escape. For his refusals, Logan was often punished, and pushed from project to project attempting to get him to cooperate.

Logan stopped, once again re-evaluating Roman. Was the giant bluffing? Surely he was too worthy a specimen to end up on a dissection table…but then again, Logan had made many enemies. Perhaps this really was his last shot, and the others were simply done putting up with him. The thought made Logan furious as well as terrified, and he smashed his fist against the bars of the cage in a desperate attempt to let off steam.

“Thrash all you want.” Roman called from across the room, so unconcerned he didn’t even glance up to watch Logan’s world crumble. “You can never escape that cage.”