The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

Working for the discount Bertram

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

The last few days have been a living hell working for Grill. If you can even call it work. It's more like showing up to prison every day and getting beat on.

As you might guess, Loki wasn't too happy when I agreed to Grill's terms, but he knew we needed to maintain a low profile. We couldn't risk Grill blowing it.

"The renewal lost me time and tokens!" Grill shouted in the center of the busy workshop. "So if things don't start picking up around here, I'm gonna be doing some renewing of my own!" He side-eyed me as he spoke. "Is that understood?"

What's not to understand? My job is to literally sort rocks. For what purpose? Now that I don't understand.

This place is so depressing. The walls are all a rusted dark brown color with a sandpaper texture. The peeling paint and metal reminded me of old Hydra facilities. Unkept and used for torture. Everyone here is covered in soot or dust from the hours of working with space scrap. It's a more dystopian landscape than the Hunger Games...

"I think I may have been wrong to trust Grill," Phil said as he walked past Yo-Yo, Mack, and me, carrying a large barrel.

"Well, that's an understatement." She muttered.

"The alternate was being killed by the Kree. This isn't so bad." Mack reasoned.

"Speak for yourself." I glared at him, motioning to the assorted taser burns and bruises covering my arms. The injuries were made worse by the constant working in this filthy environment. I've had no time or materials to disinfect the wounds, so I've just used some magic to take away the pain. But I'm so drained that it only dulls it.

He looked at me apologetically before getting back to work.

"At least Loki and Daisy aren't trapped here," I said optimistically. It's hard to be optimistic when all I can smell in here is the equivalent of a rotting corpse. 

Not bringing back bad memories at all. Nope.

If he was here, he would've lost it after seeing the injuries I've obtained in my short time as Grill's slave.

Every night, once Grill lets us stop working, Loki and I meet up just to check in on each other. Because I don't want to worry him, I use my magic to cover the marks. It's energy-draining, but it works.

At the same time, I'm wondering how this might be affecting the baby. All this work and pain can't be good for her.

I turned to Phil to ask him something but saw him kneeling on the ground, looking through a small book. He told me it belonged to Virgil.

"Phil, be careful. They're always watching." I warned quietly.

"I know, but Virgil hid this thing. I got to figure out why." He insisted, flipping through the pages.

"He did it because this tin-can place makes people crazy!" I argued back. That's when I felt the taser go off against my back.

I let out a small cry of pain as the sensation persisted.

It's okay, Catherine. It's not Hydra. It's not... You're okay. Just hold on a little longer.

The device stopped after a second, and I heard Goonie behind me. "Work faster." He hissed and walked away.

"If I wasn't so concerned about blowing our covers, he'd be dead by now..." I said lowly, getting back to work.

Mack took one look at me and grabbed a long piece of rebar before marching over to Grill's office. 

He didn't get very far, though. The door flashed red, and his metric stuck to the door frame.

"Did you really think that would work? The door's rigged." Grill mocked him from a few feet away.

"Thought I'd give it a shot." He shrugged.

"That don't fly with me. You see, I don't tolerate skimmers, laggers, or agitators." Mack's metric crackled with electricity, making him wince. "As long as you owe me, I own you." The metric beeped again, and he was released from the door frame.

He glared at him before walking back over to us.

"What the hell was that?" Yo-Yo asked, hitting his shoulder.

"I was tryna get a look inside that office. Grill's keeping that Kree tablet in the cabinet behind his desk." He explained.

"Good work." I sent him a ghost of a smile. "That thing might get us into the levels where they're keeping Jemma."

"He's got a handgun in there, too."

"Humans aren't allowed to have guns." Phil furrowed his brows.

"Except for murder sports, apparently," I commented.

"The point is, we need to tread lightly. Now, Yo-Yo, if you can get in there, maybe we can get the tablet back."

"Nice work, Mack." Phil praised, watching out for anyone who might be watching.

"Just a little recon, sir." He nodded and walked off to another station. The sound of heavy machinery and the yelling of the other workers caused me to almost miss it.

"Recon..." Phil murmured slowly, getting out Virgil's book again, just to be interrupted by May getting back with Tess.

Tess has been training May and teaching her how to pilot the spacecraft, the Trawler. Which is good, considering what Phil just figured out.

When he heard Mack say recon, he realized that must've been what Virgil was doing on the Trawler. Thank you, mind reading ability.

Now we just need to get on that Trawler.

"Tess, take us with you on the next Trawler haul. Please." He quietly spoke with her in the corner of the room, away from Grill and Goonie's line of sight.

"Alright." She nodded. "Hey, Grill. I need a few crushers on the next haul. Got anyone expendable?" She called out to the grumpy old man who reminded me of Bertram from Jessie.

Come on. I can't be the only one thinking it.

Grill thought about it for a moment. "Take the agitator and his smart-ass friend. No loss if those two freeze to death in the Void of space."

That's when I realized. I was about to be almost entirely alone with Goonie and Grill. They're going to make my life a living hell!

Awesome.