The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

Ward's Brother

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

After the whole pool incident, I met back up with May. She was still with the Strucker kid, who had lost a lot of blood, and by the time I got to them, he was already comatose. Which isn't good, considering how much information he has that we need.

"Did he say anything to you? About Ward?" I asked, sitting next to May on the Zephyr.

She shook her head. "Not a word. What about you? When you came back, you were drenched from head to toe."

"Some Hydra asshole pushed me into the pool out back. Luckily, he hit his head on the pool's edge and drowned." I shrugged, leaving out some crucial details to save time.

Thankfully, she nodded, accepting the lie.

Once we landed back at the base, we headed down to the lab to talk with Phil.

"Hey, do you think-" I started when I saw Coulson storm past in the hallway, blood splattered on the front of his shirt.

May and I shared a look and then ran after him.

"Phil, what's-" May stepped forward, but I stopped her. "May, stop. Let him go."

I looked in his mind. Ward just killed his girlfriend, Rosalind Price.

Bobbi walked into the room and turned to me. "Did he say something to you?"

I shook my head, not entirely sure what to say.

Just then, Mack entered. "He told me to get the interrogation room ready."

Why?

That question was answered a few minutes later when we all got interrogated one by one.

~~~Coulson's pov~~~

I needed information. Information about Ward and his personal relationships with everyone who knew him.

After an hour of questioning Fitz, Simmons, Daisy, and May, I moved on to Catherine. I knew she had an intriguing relationship with him.

"Phil, before we begin, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I should have killed Ward the day I met him and found out he was Hydra." She hugged me before taking a seat opposite to me.

"It's okay, Catherine. It's not your fault. Just tell me more about the first time you met him. Why didn't you tell us he was Hydra from the beginning? Did he have something on you?"

"Yes, in a way." She sighed. "You know I don't like talking about it, but my experience with Hydra left me with some extreme PTSD. When I met Ward, he recognized me from my time in that Hydra base in 2009. I tried to stay away from him, to tell someone what he was, but he cornered me, got me alone, and threatened me. He told me that if I exposed him, he would take me back to Hydra to end it. That he would tell Gideon Malick that he found me-"

"Wait. Gideon Malick? You know him?" This is new.

She nodded. "Yeah. He was the one in charge of the experimentation. And on occasion, the torture. Does he factor into all of this?"

My eyes widened. "He was Rosalind's boss. He ordered the hit on her. Oh my God! I can't believe I didn't talk to you sooner."

"Glad I could help." She gave me a small smile. "And I think I've relived enough Ward trauma for the day, so can I please go?"

"Of course. Thank you. I know this wasn't easy."

"No. It was not." She mumbled quietly as she got up and left the room.

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

That stirred up some bad memories.

And the worst part was that I couldn't find anywhere where I could be completely alone, so I couldn't even call Loki to talk to him about it.