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Fury's one eye narrowed sharply—but spy instincts kicked in, keeping him calm.
His voice stayed low and steady: "Jiro… What are you talking about?"
Natasha and Clint (Barton) instinctively fell into combat stances.Adam forced himself to stand.Banner was waking up.
Everyone stared in shock.
Jiro didn't answer.
He raised his hand—and fired a beam of golden magical energy right into Fury's chest.
"AARGH!!"
With a scream, "Fury's" body began twisting and transforming. Green skin surged over his frame like a wave.
Seconds later, standing there wasn't Fury—but a tall Skrull alien, eyes wide with fear.
"This… this isn't possible!" Natasha gasped, dropping her weapon.
Adam's eyes narrowed. "The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is an alien?"
Jiro floated closer, voice ice-cold."You think I didn't know your plan?The Skrull's secret invasion?"
He grabbed the Skrull by the throat and lifted him off the ground."Where's the real Fury?"
The Skrull writhed, face twisted in panic. "I won't tell—"
Right then, the dropped communicator blinked and lit up.
A hologram of Nick Fury appeared in front of everyone.
He looked more worn out than usual, and the background showed some kind of space station.
"Stop, Jiro!" the projection barked.
"Talos is our ally!"
Jiro snorted."Oh? So you're chilling in space while an alien plays director on Earth—and tries to build a team of so-called gods?"
From the hologram, Captain Marvel—Carol Danvers—appeared next to Fury. Her blonde hair flowed as her eyes narrowed in warning.
"Let him go, Jiro. This is bigger than you think."
Jiro's golden eyes narrowed."Carol, before you say anything… maybe focus on cleaning up your own planet first."
Before they could react, his eyes ignited with blazing gold light.
"No!!" Fury and Carol shouted together.
Too late.
ZSSHH!!
Heat vision pierced through the Skrull's head.In a flash of searing light, the alien was vaporized—leaving not even dust behind.
Silence fell.
Fury's holographic face turned stormy. Carol clenched her fists.
"You have no idea what you've done!" she hissed.
Jiro didn't flinch."Turing—trace the comms signal."
"Coordinates locked, sir," Turing responded from Jiro's watch.
"Kree-modified recon ship in outer orbit."
Jiro raised a hand and slashed open a massive golden portal.
Through it, the interior of the space station appeared—where Fury and Carol were standing.
Their eyes widened in shock.
"Well," Jiro said coolly. "If you're so eager to talk—let's do it face to face."
He stepped through the portal—and vanished from sight.
Back in the Mirror Dimension, the Avengers stood frozen.
"…What do we do now?" Banner asked weakly.
Adam wiped blood from his mouth, face grim."We follow. This is way bigger than we thought."
Tony was already armored up."J.A.R.V.I.S., engage space mode."
Wanda's chaos magic shimmered around her."I'm coming too."
Natasha picked up the communicator and locked eyes with Clint."Looks like we're moving into interstellar operations."
Inside the space station, Fury and Carol stared at Jiro, who had just materialized in front of them.
Carol's body glowed with cosmic energy."You went too far, Jiro. Talos was a friend!"
Jiro floated inside the zero-gravity chamber, totally unfazed."A friend? Who pretended to be Earth's top security chief?"
Fury held Carol back with a hand and stared Jiro down."Talos was helping me. The Skrulls are refugees—hunted by the Kree. I gave them shelter."
"And in return, you let them infiltrate Earth?" Jiro scoffed.
Carol floated forward."You have no idea what the Kree did! The Skrulls just want a home!"
"I don't care about your interstellar drama," Jiro cut her off."But dragging Earth into it? That's where I draw the line."
Just then, the rest of the Avengers stepped through the portal—Tony, Wanda, Adam, and the others.
"Whoa—outer space spaceship!" Tony whistled.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., take notes. This might make a great party theme."
Fury's eye widened as he saw them."You guys—"
Adam floated beside Jiro, still pale, but firm:"Fury… or the real Fury. You owe us an explanation."
Banner leaned against a wall, weakly:"So all these years… the one working with us was a Skrull?"
Natasha's eyes sharpened."Director… you owe all of us the truth."
Fury took a deep breath, steadying himself in the zero-gravity.
"…Alright. Since we're doing this—Carol, pull up the files."
Carol hesitated for a moment, then finally pressed her wristwatch. Instantly, the cabin filled with holographic projections—data on Skrull refugees and video footage of the Kree Empire hunting them down.
"Twenty years ago, I met Talos," Fury began explaining.
"Back then, the Kree were wiping out every Skrull they could find in the galaxy. Carol and I helped save their people."
Tony cut in, "So you let an alien pretend to be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Do you realize how insane that sounds?"
"Talos was helping me!" Fury raised his voice.
"I needed to build a defense line in space. Earth needed someone here to stay in charge. The Skrulls' shape-shifting made them perfect for undercover work."
Tony scoffed, "Yeah? And did you ever think about what would happen if this got out? What people would think of any supernatural being after that?"
Jiro watched them, his face expressionless. "The bigger problem is the Skrulls' secret invasion plan. How many global organizations have they infiltrated? How many governments?"
Fury and Carol's expressions changed immediately.
"How do you know that?" Carol asked, shocked.
Golden light shimmered in Jiro's eyes. "I know a hell of a lot more than you think, Captain Marvel."
He turned to Fury. "You've got two choices. One, tell me every key location the Skrulls have infiltrated. Or two, I'll find them myself—and burn every last one to ashes."
The air in the cabin dropped to freezing.
Fury narrowed his one good eye, clearly weighing his options.
After a glance at Carol, he said coldly, "Jiro, you think way too highly of yourself. Earth stopped being just humanity's planet a long time ago. We—"
Zzztt!
Jiro's eyes flared with golden heat—his heat vision instantly blasting a hole through Fury's chest.
The self-proclaimed guardian of Earth looked down at the smoking crater in his torso, disbelief frozen on his face.
"You… how did…" Fury's one eye went wide before his body fell backward.
Carol Danvers exploded with blinding light. "You killed him?!"
Her golden hair whipped wildly in the cosmic energy around her, fists clenched tight. "You have no idea what you've just done!"
Jiro stared at her, calm and cold. "I know exactly what I did. He was a traitor who let aliens invade Earth. He got what he deserved."
"Enough!"
Carol roared and launched herself through the cabin wall, ripping through metal and blasting into space.
Jiro followed right behind her. In a flash, the two were outside the space station, floating in the vast, starry void.
The Avengers stood frozen in shock. Tony fired up his suit's thrusters immediately. "JARVIS, activate life support systems!"
"Sir, combat in outer space carries extreme risk—"
"Shut up and do it!"
Wanda wrapped herself in chaos magic, forming a protective shield, then hesitated—and included Natasha and the others as well.
Adam summoned a breathable antimatter field.
Everyone rushed through the torn-open cabin wall, keeping a safe distance to watch what was unfolding.
"....."