"Do you see now," the voice purred through the screaming, "what is the price of betraying us? Of betraying the Chitauri?"
Once, so long ago when this had all begun, he'd cursed his tormenters. Then he'd made threats, promises, attempted bribes. Later, he had begged. Now, he simply screamed.
"Did we not promise this?" the voice continued.
The screams trailed off into breathless panting. He lay on the table, eyes rolling with terror, trying fruitlessly to pull his hands free of the restraints to shield his head. Then, with an effort, he raised it, bringing it down with desperate force. But even unconsciousness was denied him. The table beneath was soft.
"Did we not keep our bargain?"
"Yes!" The word dredged from some deep part of him that still clung to sanity; it was not one of the words that were now embedded in his mind, drowning out all other conscious thought. He started screaming again, hoping to block them out with noise.
But they still sounded in his head, his ears, a torment he could not escape.
"It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all…"
