The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

An Unexpected Surprise

~~~Natasha's pov~~~

"I got a heat signature breaking through the tree line." Rhodey's voice came through the radio as our troops assembled about 100 yards away from the Wakandan border.

The Dora Milaje and Border Tribe formed behind Sam, Loki, Steve, Bucky, T'Challa, and me. And since we were at the front lines, Steve thought it would be best that he, T'Challa, and I would go to meet whoever was at the border.

As it turns out, it was that alien lady from Edinburgh.

Great. Just who I wanted to see.

"Where's your other friend?" I raised a brow when I noticed the alien that joined her in Scotland wasn't there.

She just snarled at me. "You will pay for his life with yours. Thanos will have that stone."

"That's not gonna happen." Steve crossed his arms.

"You're in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood." T'Challa gestured around us.

"We have blood to spare." She smirked and raised her sword to the sky, which resulted in dozens of ginormous ships rising into the air. "If you wish to spare your soldiers' lives, I suggest you give us what we ask."

"You're not getting the Mind Stone." Steve remained firm.

"That is not all we ask." She shook her head. "Thanos needs the stone, but the witch as well."

The witch? Wanda?

"The witch? Didn't she already beat your ass once?" I questioned with a slight chuckle.

"Not the red one. The Raven Witch. Catherine Stark." She stated and the smug look on my face vanished in an instant.

Oh, hell no.

"Why do you want her?" Steve asked with a grimace.

"Lord Thanos has predicted that the child she carries will be a great warrior. He would prefer it if the child and its mother were in his possession when that comes to pass." She examined the edge of her sword nonchalantly. "He needs the woman alive, but we will do what we have to in order to obtain her."

Well, that's just not happening.

"And if we refuse to hand her over?"

The alien lady smirked again, which was unsettling, to say the least. "Lord Thanos would much rather the witch be dead than allow the child to survive on a side that is not his own. I think you underestimate the power the child will hold."

T'Challa glared at her. "And we shall take that chance. The woman and her child are under the protection of the Wakandan army."

With that, we turned and went back to the line of defense.

"They surrender?" Bucky asked, still looking out at the lineup of alien ships.

"Not exactly." Steve sighed.

Then Loki walked over to us. "What were their demands?"

I looked around and quietly pulled him to the side so I could tell him. He deserved to know. I mean, they are literally going after his wife and unborn daughter.

"They want Vision, but they also want..." I trailed off, not quite knowing how to say this.

He raised a brow. "The Tesseract?"

I shook my head.

Now he was confused. "What else could they possibly want?"

"Loki, they want Catherine." I finally managed to get the words out.

His expression darkened instantly and his fists clenched. "Why?"

"They said Thanos believes your daughter will be a threat if she's not on his side, so he's demanding that Catherine is handed over to him." I summarized what the creepy alien chick said to us before.

"And if we don't?" His voice was dark, but I could see the fear in his eyes.

"They'll eliminate the threat," I said quietly and looked at the ground for a moment. "Loki, they're going to kill her. If we don't hand her over, they'll kill her to make sure neither she or your daughter will pose any kind of problem in the future-" I was cut off when a large horde of aliens started running at the barrier that surrounded the kingdom.

"What the hell?" Bucky murmured from a few feet away as he looked out at the opposing army.

"Looks like we pissed her off." I shrugged and got out my batons.

Time to fight.

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

I flinched as I heard another explosion from behind the palace walls.

After Loki left with the others, one of the women soldiers, Okoye, led me to a panic room of sorts.

She also gave me a special gun to arm myself with, just in case the defenses failed.

She would've preferred a spear, but apparently, Princess Shuri insisted on a new weapon she'd been perfecting.

Hey, I'm not complaining. Knowing me, I'd probably impale myself with the spear by accident. I'm much better with a gun.

Another explosion went off and the lighting in the room started to flicker.

The fight must be starting to get really intense.

With a shaky breath, I leaned against the wall and held my baby bump tightly. The Braxton Hicks contractions were only being made worse by my worry for Loki.

Oh, God... Loki, please be okay...

The faux contractions got worse with every passing minute and they eventually got so bad that I was actually considering asking for medical attention. They started all the way back at the compound, but I thought they'd go away on their own. And the fact that they were still progressing made me think this could be something different.

"Hey, sweetie," I rubbed the top of my baby bump, trying to ease the pain. "You worried about your dad? Yeah, I am too." I sighed sadly before wincing again in pain.

When the Braxton Hicks contraction ended, I gasped for breath and my blood ran cold when I realized what this could mean.

Could I be going into labor?

No. No, no, no. That's ridiculous! My due date isn't for another two months!

Now extremely panicked, I frantically grabbed my radio to call literally anyone.

"Can anyone hear me?" I called out through clenched teeth as another contraction washed over me. "Anybody-" I cut myself off when I heard the sound of water splashing onto the floor beneath me followed by an immense wave of pain.

Holy shit.

My water just broke.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I cried out in pain and fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

I activated my radio again, trying to reach Loki, but was just met with static. Comms were out.

Panic coursed through my veins as I made my way over to the door just to find that it was bolted shut.

"No... No!" Tears made their way down my face while I tried to pry the door open, but it was useless.

I was locked in, with no comms or contact to the outside world, without Loki, and the baby was coming.