The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

Whitehall

~~~Loki's pov~~~

I looked around the room I was in, and only one thought echoed in my mind.

I'm alive.

The room I was in was lined with shelves of books, and there was a large wooden desk in front of the chair I was confined to.

I'm guessing this is Whitehall's office.

I need to get out of here and tell Catherine I'm okay.

"Welcome back." The door behind me closed softly, and as I suspected, Whitehall walked to his deck and sat down.

"Why am I here?"

"You are here because we need information. The Avengers and Shield wiped out almost all of Hydra. And now Strucker is dead. Catherine would have been our source of information, but she has refused to cooperate for the time being." The end of his sentence was punctuated by the sound of Catherine's screams.

"What are you doing to her?"

"What she suggested we do. She made a good point. She needs to be reminded of the rules around here. And to be honest, we all have some pent-up anger we've been needing to take out on someone."

She screamed again. The fact I could hear her screams from behind closed doors was concerning in and of itself.

"You've done enough to her. Just let her go."

"We can't very well do that. She's our most lethal asset. Losing her would be bad for all of Hydra."

"Then ease up on the torture. You'll kill her if you go any further."

"Frankly, that's what she seems to want. And no matter. If we do lose her, which is likely, we'll have you. What do you say? Will you join willingly, or do we have to force you like we did Catherine and Barnes?"

I scoffed. "No chance in hell."

The screams started again, and I winced at the thought of what might be happening to her.

"I'm curious which is worse for you. Those moments when the witch screams or the long pauses when she doesn't." He taunted me. "I'll sweeten the deal. If you join willingly, I will personally see to it that her screams stop permanently. "

"I'm the God of Lies. You really think I can't see the meaning behind your words? You will personally see to it that her screams stop is just another way of saying you'll kill her."

He sighed. "Oh, well. I tried."

He reached over to the wall behind him, where there was an intercom, pressing the speaker button.

"Eliminate the witch. She's of no use to us anymore." Then he turned back to me. "How's that for lying?"

I pulled against my restraints and tried desperately to get free. But I couldn't. Not without my magic.

They were going to kill her.

I need to stop this.

Maybe if I-

My train of thought was interrupted by Catherine's blood-curdling screams.

My heart hammered inside my chest, panic taking over as I realized that they weren't going to kill her. They were killing her.

"Just imagine how sad she'll be when she finds out you aren't dead. She's been begging us to finish her off since we supposedly killed you. She said something about it being her fault. And now, you will be the reason she dies. Kind of ironic, don't you think?"

His words cut deep, giving me an anger I hadn't felt since hearing the news of my mother's death.

Catherine screamed once again, causing a sudden burst of adrenaline to rush through me.

~~~3rd person pov~~~

Green light surrounded the god, allowing him to break out of the restraints and throw Whitehall into the wall.

He tried to press the emergency button for help, but once he did, Loki used his magic to hold him against the wall, feet off the ground.

"I guess your serum didn't work." He gave him a grim look before snapping his neck.

The body dropped to the floor, and the God of Mischief used an illusion to change both of their appearances, leaving Whitehall to look like him and him to look like Whitehall.

Guards rushed in as a result of the emergency button being pushed.

"What happened to the asset, sir?" One of them asked Whitehall.

"He wasn't joining willingly, and then he tried to kill me. So I took him out. Simple. Now, let's take care of the witch. How is she doing?" He asked, walking out the door, leaving the body in the room to rot.

"Pretty badly. We used the jumper cables on her again, and she's close to giving up." The other guard answered, leading him to a cell observation room with one-way glass.

"Let her be. Now that we don't have the god anymore, we'll need her again. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to comply." Whitehall said to the two guards that were in the small room with him.

"I don't know. It's like she's given up on life. She doesn't care what we do to her. She's ready to die. I think killing Loki in front of her was a mistake."

"I'll persuade her." He said, stepping out of the observation room and into the cell.

As soon as he was in, Loki put up an illusion for the guards, so it would look like Whitehall was interrogating her when in reality, he changed his appearance back to himself and got ready to get her out of there.