The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

The Surface

~~~Jemma's pov~~~

After what happened with Ben and Linda, Kasius announced that Daisy would fight in the Crater next and sent her to prepare.

Luckily, I was assigned to help her, which meant we could be alone to talk.

I entered her room to find her sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, toying with her sleeves.

"How are you holding up?" I asked quietly, moving to sit beside her.

She looked up at me as if to ask if I was serious. "I only just found out a month ago that the woman I think of as a sister is pregnant and married to the guy who tried to take over the world. And now I find out that baby is a full-grown woman who evidently lost both her parents because Kasius killed them." She sighed in disbelief. "I mean, can you believe that she's actually Catherine and Loki's daughter? The absolute shock I felt when I heard Kasius call her 'Laufeyson'..."

I nodded. "I know the feeling. When I met her, I didn't want to believe it, but all evidence pointed to it being true."

She looked at me strangely. "What evidence? You found out the same time I did."

"Well, not exactly..." I murmured. "A little while ago, I was assigned to help a young Inhuman to control her power. I met with her, and as it turns out, she's not Inhuman. Her so-called 'gift' was magic she inherited from her mother, who I met a few moments later. And to top it all off, when her mother saw me, she called me Aunt Jemma."

Daisy's eyes went wide. "Aunt Jemma?"

"Yeah, I was confused too. I guess we were close in this future. At first, I thought she was another one of those prophecy believers, but then she told me things that she could only know if she knew me personally. She talked about how Fitz thinks we're cursed, how I see you and Catherine as sisters. And finally, she revealed that she was Catherine and Loki's daughter."

"And you believed her?"

"Of course! She even had a locket that contained a picture of the three of them when she was about four or five."

She shook her head, eyes still wide. "This is too weird. Let's change the subject. So you can hear now?"

"That's right, I forgot about that." I mentally facepalmed. "Fitz tricked Kasius into turning my hearing back on," I explained, motioning to my ears.

"How is Fitz even here?"

"I don't know." I shrugged a bit. "He just showed up out of nowhere with his own spaceship."

"It's a baller move." She smiled. "Not to mention the whole bounty-hunter look he's rocking..." She nudged my shoulder with a smirk.

I scoffed playfully. "I still prefer him in cardigans."

She let out another sigh and stood with me. "Do you have any idea what he's planning?"

"I'm not sure, actually. We haven't had a moment to speak, though it would seem he's here to purchase us."

"What if it doesn't work?"

Well, let's pray it does because we have no backup plan.

~~~Grill's Workshop~~~
~~~Coulson's pov~~~

I can't believe it. They killed Tess. All because she wouldn't give up Flint.

Mack, May, and I found her body in the Exchange, hanging from the ceiling with a sign around her neck, demanding that we hand Flint over.

You know, I was looking forward to the first encounter with real aliens. Not so much anymore.

And yeah, I know that technically, we had a few run-ins with the Kree before. And that Thor and Loki are technically not of this world. And the Chitauri that attacked New York in 2012 were also aliens. But this is more like the movies, and that reality is terrifying.