Whooosh—
Booom!
High above the Mojave Desert, the air suddenly trembled with a shattering boom. It wasn't a bird, and it didn't resemble any conventional aircraft—and of course, it wasn't a man in blue tights and red trunks causing it.
The culprit seemed more like a fighter jet—only larger and far faster than a typical passenger liner—tearing east just shy of the sound barrier, with twin white contrails streaking across the sky in its wake.
The roar of its engines was deafening, yet inside the cabin it was surprisingly calm, with only a steady hum filling the space. Two individuals—and a cat—occupied the cockpit, and they had been streaking through the sky at supersonic speed for nearly an hour now.
"…six years ago, I didn't remember anything when I woke up on Hala at first."
"Hala?"
"That's the capital planet of the Kree star system…"
Carol Danvers kept one hand steady on the controls as she handed a file to Fury in the co-pilot seat.
"This is…?" the super spy asked, frowning.
"I don't know," Danvers admitted, then continued on to explain her situation—or rather, the fragments of her resurfacing memories.
Nick Fury frowned, suspicion flickering across his face as his eyes lingered on the photo, particularly the woman in the background.
Piecing together the experiences she had recounted so far—about being a space soldier for some galactic empire—and the fragments of memories she was supposedly recovering, he had more or less figured out what had happened to her.
This woman had clearly been used, exploited for her unique abilities, and it was very likely she was human. Could she be a mutant? he wondered—the most logical explanation for her powers.
But that begged the question: how had she ended up in outer space? Was she the only one? Were aliens really so unscrupulous nowadays as to kidnap Earthlings? And how could SHIELD—the agency he worked for, the leading organization worldwide handling extraordinary affairs—have been completely oblivious to all of this?
Thoughts raced through his mind, and an unprecedented chill ran down his spine. Fortunately, he was trained to control his emotions, so Danvers didn't notice the subtle change in his expression.
And as a super spy, he wasn't one to be straightforward, so he continued playing ignorant, asking questions while carefully pretending to be clueless.
"…so you're saying you could very well be an Earthling, and not only that, but this woman—who apparently piloted the plane six years ago, the one that went down with Dr. Larson—was also you?"
"I didn't say that... you did," she shot back playfully, making Fury raise a brow at her antics.
Does this woman really not care, or was she just putting on an act? Could the possibility that she once had a life here not bother her? No—she had to be pretending to be nonchalant. Otherwise, why would she go rogue from an apparent galactic army just to uncover her past?
Right, she was clearly putting on an act, but… that's not my problem; it was hers.
He was more concerned about something else, so he pressed on, ignoring what he was certain was an act.
"I'm serious," he said, giving a deliberate nod, signaling that she should take it seriously. "If this is true, then our planet has long been compromised…"
Danvers couldn't help but chuckle at his words. Did this man really think his world had never been visited by extraterrestrial life before? Not to mention the Kree and the Skrulls—as far as she knew, C-53 was also called Midgard, a realm directly under the rule of the supreme rank cosmic deity, Odin.
She was about to lecture him, thinking his reasoning was stupidly shallow—but then she pushed the thought aside, sensing something, and her expression suddenly changed.
Her eyes narrowed at the distance, seeing something amiss. Unbeknownst to her just yet, her senses were far sharper than ordinary humans', but because she couldn't recall anything from before she had her powers, she had always assumed it was something innate. And right now, a bad premonition was gnawing at her, that something... dangerous, was closing in.
Fury noticed the change too and followed her gaze, his instincts flaring. Yes—something about this sudden change in the weather was definitely not right.
Purrr…
Even the cat let out a low purr and assumed an alert stance, staring ahead. The duo didn't realize it yet, but very fortunately for them, that was all it did.
For a few beats, the only sounds were the steady hum of the engines and the occasional beep from the controls.
"I… think we should turn around… or fly up to escape the clouds, don't you think?"
Fury said, a perfectly logical suggestion, one that any pilot should obviously know. He thought right.
Unfortunately, it wasn't that Danvers couldn't understand something so simple; she simply couldn't act. Her eyes darted to the control stick, pupils shrinking as she felt something powerful and invisible was holding her hands in place right now, refusing to let them move or budge.
"Danvers!"
Fury called out again, sharper this time, noticing that she wasn't looking quite right.
Crackle.
Thunder ripped across the sky in a deafening boom, making him shiver involuntarily. Of course, he wasn't scared of stormy weather—but tens of thousands of meters above the ground, inside an aircraft he wasn't even sure had proper lightning protection, anyone would feel uneasy.
Crackle.
Crackle.
More lightning split the clouds, jagged and wild, swallowing everything else in darkness. The plane was bathed in fleeting flashes of electric brilliance, the swirling gray shadows of the storm twisting like a living thing around him.
"I… I can't move," finally, Danvers managed to speak up, making Fury snap out of his stupor.
"Fury… I can't move. Help me… push the control stick… to the left—"
Her words stumbled, trying to get him to take control at her suggestion, but then her eyes widened in sudden alarm, swallowing the rest of what she was about to say as she saw something utterly absurd.
"What in the..."
Seeing her eyes widen, Fury followed her gaze instinctively toward the darkness beyond the glass as well.
Crackle.
Crackle.
Followed by the relentless flashes of lightning, he saw it too—it was impossible not to—and like her, his eyes nearly bulged from his skull as well.
"Mother... fuc—"
Between the flashing bursts that illuminated the clouds, the horror—or its shadow—seemed right in front of them. The first thing noticeable were its wings, so vast they could very well swat the aircraft they were in like a fly.
Gulp. Fury swallowed a dry mouthful, and Danvers was feeling no better.
Carol Danvers might be an intergalactic space soldier, but she wasn't that overpowered chick who could go toe-to-toe with the galaxy's Director of Human Resources and his army—at least, not yet.
Actually, if it were just a visual shock, these two experienced super-warriors wouldn't have been affected this much. It wasn't only their sense of sight making them feel so small in that moment, but their very wills were being subtly pressed, restrained by a power they couldn't yet comprehend.
They both watched helplessly as the colossal creature, as dark as night, drew closer. Its body loomed like a monstrous crow, massive beyond reason, until its beak—and those crimson eyes, bigger than their aircraft—were directly in front of them.
Every flash of lightning revealed it in stark, unfathomable detail: a shadow, a behemoth moving with the storm, each beat of its wings sending turbulence that rattled the plane.
"I… never thought… C-53 had creatures like this. Fury… what aren't you… telling me?" Danvers' voice trembled.
Amid the fear churning in his gut, the booming thunder, the plane's warning alarms, and the rain hammering against the windows, the future one-eyed SHIELD director still managed to catch her whisper—and even gave it a moment of thought.
"Fuck it…" he thought. If he, they, were about to become food, maybe a little honesty wouldn't hurt.
"Actually… I'm not really that worried about the Skrulls or whatever you've warned me about… invading Earth," he gasped for breath. "What our planet doesn't lack, if anything, are… super-powered beings like you, Danvers. We have… stronger, more powerful monsters than you, more numerous than you… can imagine…"
He only managed to get that far... and then, his stomach finally dropped. He wasn't even sure if Danvers had heard him—frankly, he didn't care—because at that very moment, he saw the monster finally opening its colossal—goddamn—beak.
"MOTHERFUCK!
Nicholas Joseph Fury muttered one final prayer, unaware that in his panic, one hand had shot out and grabbed Danvers'—who, strangely, had done the same. Their wrists tangled, fingers locking together as they both clutched their seats with their other hands, backs pressed hard against them, eyes squeezed shut, bracing for the inevitable—until… darkness swallowed them whole.
...
...
...
Click.
A sudden flash of light—and it wasn't lightning, but from a camera—came from behind them, capturing the moment their hands were outstretched from their seats, fingers tangled like an unwavering couple.
"Was all that… really necessary?"
Isabella lowered the camera from her face and walked toward them, sighing as she glanced up at the sky through the aircraft's front windows. It was blue, clear, with not a single cloud in sight. The aircraft was still on its course, heading due east.
Meow… purr.
From behind her came a soft sound—a cat's meow—followed by steady footsteps. Maverick appeared, holding the "cat" that Fury seemed to have named Goose, gently petting its head as he walked shoulder to shoulder with her.
His eyes twitched, seeing Fury's eyeballs roll all the way back. If he hadn't been able to sense his heartbeat, it would have almost looked as if he were dead.
Maverick raised a hand to his mouth and let out an embarrassed cough.
"Cough… I… might have gotten a little carried away there."
—————————
Author's Note:
🔥 Drop those Power Stones! 🔥
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