The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

Grill

~~~Phil's pov~~~

"Are you just gonna leave us out here to die?" Mack asked, pulling against the magnet.

"That's the hope," Grill said bluntly.

"If we don't, you and me are gonna have a conversation."

"I'm sorry. I would get you out of this if I could."

I knew she would, but I also knew that she couldn't afford to reveal herself.

"Just let them go!" Catherine protested from the other side of the mesh divider.

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

"No can do." He shook his head. "And didn't I tell you to stay quiet?" He punctuated the end of his sentence by shocking me with the taser right under my collarbone.

I cried out and doubled over at the sudden burning sensation.

"Stop!" Loki yelled from behind me.

The electricity stopped instantly, and I felt Loki wrapping his arms around me, helping me up.

"I'm okay."

"No, you're not. I'm going to kill him."

I felt Goonie grab my arms and haul me upright. "That should teach you to watch your tongue."

The murderous look in Loki's eyes told me exactly how he felt about Goonie.

I don't care if you think the name is annoying, I like it, and that's all that matters.

Suddenly, the door to the side of the room the others were on, was kicked down, and a man stormed in. Shotgun in hand.

Oh, joy.

"Where's Grill?" He asked Phil, Yo-Yo, and Mack.

They all pointed to the office door in unison.

The man started to bang on the door to the small room, making me jump.

"Grill! My tab was low because you didn't pay me! Now you owe me a life!"

"I left you three out there." He responded casually.

The man looked back to the remainder of the team.

"Grill's the one you want. Don't forget that. He's got to come out sometime, right?" Phil tried to reason with him.

"He strung you up for me? That's twisted." He looked at them almost sympathetically before cocking the gun.

"No!" I cried out, wrestling out of Goonie's grip.

Before he could pull the trigger, he was kicked from the side and dropped the gun.

It was May.

When he tried to get up, she kicked him in the gut and stole the gun, whacking him in the head with it.

He still got up though and punched her in the stomach. That only made her angrier, and she shoved him back against a workbench that was in the room.

"I'm sorry. I owe a life." He said apologetically before running at her.

He only ran a few feet before a gunshot went off, and he collapsed.

I gasped in shock. He was dead.

Looking to the door, I saw Tess holding the shotgun.

"He didn't have to die," May said, staring at Tess in disbelief.

"Somebody did." She shook her head tearfully. That couldn't have been easy for her.

Grill motioned for Goonie to let me go, and his grip on my wrist vanished, and he pushed me forward. I fell into Loki's arms, still weak from before.

"Move it." Goonie sneered and forced us out the door.

"I am allowed to kill him after this, correct?"

"No. As much as I would like that, we still have a cover we need to maintain."

Once we were in the other part of the room, Grill demagnetized the team's metrics; and they were released from the wall.

Just then, two Kree guards walked in.

"Is this the last life owed?"

Grill cleared his throat. "Yes, Commander."

After hearing confirmation from Grill, the Kree took out tablets and went around checking everyone's metrics.

I exchanged another glance with Loki. Hopefully, our illusions worked well enough.

Thankfully, the Kree guard checked our metrics and moved on without a problem.

But Phil and the others weren't so lucky.

The device beeped, and the Kree looked at Phil suspiciously. "This is unformatted. Who are you?"

"I've been recalibrating their metrics, but I do pledge that they work for me, sir," Grill said quickly.

"Is this true? Where's your station?" The Kree kept his gaze trained on Phil.

"It's true. We work in Salvage." He answered hesitantly.

"They owe me a sizable debt, sir, so they will be stationed here a long time."

After a moment, the Kree nodded. "Carry on." And with that, they left.

As soon as Grill was sure they were gone, he turned to us. "Alright. You three owe me. You'll be working off those metrics I installed." He pointed to May. "You'll be the new pilot. Since Virgil's dead, we'll need a new one. And finally," He turned to me. "You. You seem to be a good motivator for this bunch. You'll be working with them."

Before I could say anything, Loki spoke up.

"Why would she work for you? You didn't install a metric for her."

"True, but unless you want some blues looking into how your friends didn't have any metrics till I installed them, she'll be working here."

I'm really starting to hate this place.

"That's-"

"I'll do it," I spoke over the two arguing men.

"Great. You'll start tomorrow with the others. Remember. If you try to get out of this, I'll know." He warned before leaving the room with Goonie.