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In the pitch-black void of space, Carol blazed with radiant cosmic energy, glowing like a miniature sun.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, gathering light into a concentrated orb.
"You killed Nick. You're gonna pay for that!"
Jiro floated silently in front of her, totally unfazed.
He didn't speak. He just slowly raised one hand and gestured for her to bring it on.
BOOM!!!
Carol unleashed a blast powerful enough to obliterate a small planet. The blinding beam tore through the dark, surging straight at Jiro.
The Avengers instinctively shielded their eyes from the intense flash.
Tony's armor blared warning after warning. "Sir, energy levels are way beyond the limit! Recommend immediate retreat!"
But as the light faded, everyone was stunned.
Jiro had caught the energy blast with one hand.
A golden energy field shimmered in front of his palm, holding back Carol's full power like it was nothing.
"That's impossible…" Carol muttered.
"Your power," Jiro's voice echoed in her mind through telepathy, "comes from the Space Stone. But I…"
He suddenly surged forward—appearing right in front of her in a blink.
"…draw mine from the sun itself."
His punch wasn't flashy, but the force behind it was monstrous.
Carol raised her arms to block, cosmic energy forming a barrier.
CRACK!!!
The shield shattered like glass. The punch slammed into her and sent her flying, trailing a golden arc through the void.
She barely stabilized herself, golden energy blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
"What are you?" she gasped, wiping her lip. Her body was already trying to repair itself with surging cosmic energy.
Jiro didn't answer. Instead, his eyes began glowing brighter than ever before.
Solar-flare-level energy surged within him, distorting the very fabric of space around them.
The Avengers watching felt a wave of dread sweep over them.
Banner was trembling. "His energy levels… they're growing geometrically!"
Refusing to back down, Carol raised her hands over her head, drawing in even more energy from deep space.
Her body started to glow and become semi-transparent—like she was merging with the cosmos itself.
"Ultimate Photon Blast! DIE!!!"
She compressed all her energy into a single, ultra-dense beam, thin as a hair but deadly as hell.
As it shot toward Jiro, the space around it began cracking from the sheer power.
But Jiro didn't dodge.
He let it hit him square in the chest.
And… that was it.
"…What?!" Carol's eyes widened in disbelief.
Beneath Jiro's skin, golden lines of light flowed like liquid sunshine.
He calmly raised both hands, palms facing each other. A miniature sun began to form between them.
"Carol Danvers."
His voice was like a divine decree. "You call yourself a galactic peacekeeper, but you allowed aliens to infiltrate Earth. Now, I'll show you what real power looks like."
The mini sun drifted toward her, slow on the outside—instantaneous in reality.
Carol tried to dodge, but some invisible force locked her in place. She couldn't move.
"No!"
The blinding light engulfed everything.
When it faded, Carol was floating in space. Her suit was in tatters. The glow around her had dimmed to a dying flicker.
Her consciousness was slipping. The last thing she saw was Jiro drifting closer.
"I could've let you go," his voice echoed in her mind.
"But you tried to kill me."
He pressed a hand to her forehead. A soft golden flash.
"Sleep. Try being a good person in your next life."
Carol's body went limp, slowly drifting in zero gravity.
The Avengers were dead silent.
Behind his helmet, Tony's face was filled with shock. "He just… took out Captain Marvel? That easily?"
Adam's eyes flickered with complex emotion. "What kind of being are we even dealing with?"
Wanda floated up next to Jiro, watching as he vaporized Carol's body with his heat vision. "What now?"
Jiro looked around, his eyes finally resting on the damaged space station.
"Now, we find the rest of the Skrulls."
His voice was ice cold.
"And end this invasion once and for all."
He raised a hand and summoned a golden portal, then turned to Adam.
"You stay here. Guard this base. Stop any Skrull who tries anything."
Adam opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and nodded. "Understood."
On the other side of the portal was Tony's private lab.
Jiro stepped in. His black boots clicked crisply on the floor.
He raised his hand, and JARVIS kicked into action. Holographic projections filled the lab, streams of data swirling through the air.
"JARVIS, bring up all biological data on Skrulls," Jiro said coolly.
Tony whistled, pulling off a damaged glove. "Wow, this is my lab, right?"
Banner was already at the workstation, eyes behind his glasses lit with scientific interest. "Their cells are incredibly adaptive. But if we use gamma scans—"
"Too slow."
Jiro cut in. His eyes lit up with gold. "We need global, real-time surveillance."
His superbrain worked at lightning speed, fingers flying across the holographic keyboard.
Tony and Banner were quickly drawn into his rhythm. The three of them synced perfectly.
"Polarized light refraction difference—" Tony snapped his fingers.
"—combined with quantum resonance!" Banner added immediately.
A wisp of golden energy gathered on Jiro's fingertip. He infused it into the model. "Add this."
In just twenty minutes, a dozen sleek silver wristband-style detectors sat on the table.
"This… is nuts," Natasha said, turning one over in her hands.
Clint adjusted a tiny sensor on his bowstring. "So this thing can actually sniff out green-skinned aliens?"
"Should work within a two-kilometer radius," Banner replied, pushing up his glasses.
"JARVIS is mass-producing them as we speak."
Jiro tapped his watch. "Turing, spread the news of the Skrull invasion to all mainstream media and dark web channels."
"Already done, sir," Turing responded.
"Reports are live on the Wall Street Journal and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal network."
Standing in the center of the lab, Jiro closed his eyes.
His super vision pierced through walls and continents, scanning the entire surface of Earth.
"Found them."
He opened his eyes. "North Africa. 300 meters underground in the Sahara. Fury built them a shelter—it's their headquarters now."
Tony suited up again. "Rhodey and I'll handle sweeps of New York and D.C. Banner, you and the agents—"
"I'm hitting the Skrulls' base," Jiro interrupted. His black nano-suit flowed over him, golden patterns gleaming under the lights.
"Wanda's coming with me."
Scarlet energy danced on Wanda's fingertips. She gave a small nod.
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Just the two of you?"
"....."