One of the Corpus heavy mechs swiveled and targeted her, sensing the power spike. It fired a pulse of crackling Void energy meant to neutralize any abilities. Carol thrust her hands forward on instinct. From her palms, a brilliant beam of photonic energy blasted out, cutting straight through the oncoming Void projectile. The two energies collided in midair, and Carol's output won, her beam pierced the mech's torso, blowing it apart in a fiery eruption. The Corpus troopers nearby recoiled in shock. "Yes!" Carol cried out, exhilarated. The Nega-Bands were working inside the null-field. Where Nova Force and her powers failed, ancient Kree relics prevailed.
"Nova Prime's powers are online!" Spider-Man shouted excitedly over the comms as he witnessed Carol's energy blast from afar, beta team now in the vicinity as they completed their objective. That sight renewed the squad's morale. "Cover Nova Prime!" Rogers ordered, raising his shield to intercept a hail of projectiles that now converged on Carol's glowing form. Black Panther leapt across debris to pounce on a Nullifier about to aim at Carol, knocking the enemy out cold. Thor, seeing the tide turn, laughed heartily. "Ha! The field cannot tame the lady's light!" he bellowed, smiting another automaton aside.
Carol took to the air, hovering a few feet off the ground, the weight of gravity falling away as her flight power reignited thanks to the Bands. It wasn't at full strength, but enough to maneuver. She rocketed forward in a blur, slamming into the remaining Corpus line like a human missile. With empowered fists she tore through another robot, then landed amidst the stunned Nullifier crew. They scrambled to bring their weapons to bear, but Carol unleashed a spherical pulse of energy that knocked all of them flat on their backs. In seconds, that defensive squad was neutralized.
Her team regrouped around her beneath the generator tower. Many wore astonished grins beneath their helmets. Iron Man's voice whooped over comms, "That's my girl! Give 'em hell, Carol!" He had patched into their channel from above, clearly seeing the energy spike on sensors. Banner pounded a fist on the ground triumphantly, creating another pulse of energy, while Peter literally jumped for joy, clapping. Carol allowed herself a smile but kept her focus. "Don't get too comfy. This advantage might not last," she warned. Already she could feel the Void field fighting back, the Bands vibrating as they compensated. She didn't know how long this boost would hold, but it was the break they needed.
"Rocket, get to the control console and start the overload sequence!" Carol commanded, pointing to a console array at the tower's base. "And rig charges just in case." Rocket nodded and sprinted off.
The rest of the team fanned out, forming a defensive perimeter around Carol and the generator. They knew the Corpus would throw everything at them to protect the shield generator now. And indeed, a new klaxon sounded from within the facility, an emergency alarm. The fortress's inner doors opened, and a wave of fresh Corpus reinforcements poured out, more battalions of crewmen, rolling drone turrets, and a towering bipedal mech bristling with armaments. It looked akin to the blueprints of the Jackal war robot from the data they stole.
Carol grimaced. The plan was to disable the generator, but they had to survive long enough to do it. "We hold this position!" she called. "No matter what, that shield is coming down!" The Supernovas answered with a unified cry and prepared for the next onslaught.
What followed was a battle worthy of song. Carol zipped across the battlefield like a streak of light, her empowered strikes shattering enemy lines wherever they threatened to overwhelm her teammates. One moment she was pulling a wounded Valkyrie out of the path of the Jackal mech's cannon, the next she flew upward to intercept rocket drones before they could rain explosives on the team. Each time the Void field threatened to snuff her powers, the Nega-Bands blazed, channeling more energy.
Meanwhile, her teammates fought under the rally of their Nova Prime. Thor and Dr. Hulk together tackled the giant Jackal mech, after which Thor distracted it from the front with hammer blows. Meanwhile, Banner climbed onto its back and began tearing out chunks of wiring with brute force while pouring gamma radiation shocks into it. After some digging, he yanked what looked like a power core out, as the mech spasmed, collapsing instantly as circuits blew.
Rogers and T'Challa moved through the melee, covering each other flawlessly. Cap's shield pinged from foe to foe, and whenever a lucky Corpus soldier got close enough to threaten Steve, T'Challa was there, talons flashing to take them down.
Peter swung overhead on a web-line attached to the generator's scaffolding, snaring flying Corpus ospreys mid-air and flinging them into the ground.
Gamora and Valkyrie, both injured but still fighting, rallied a group of Nova Corps marines who had finally caught up. Together they formed a firing line to cut down any straggling Corpus that got past the front brawl.
Through it all, Rocket worked feverishly at the console. At last, with a triumphant chitter, Rocket yelled, "The charges are set! This place is going to blow! Nova Prime, the generator will overload in sixty seconds!" he reported over the din. Carol acknowledged, blasting away the last Nullifier in her vicinity. "All teams, fall back to minimum safe distance! Shield's coming down!"
It was the moment they had fought so hard for. One by one, the team began to pull back out of the immediate radius of the looming generator. Beta Team's charges had weakened its network, and now Rocket's babies were about to finish the job once and for all. Carol landed near the courtyard entrance, waving people through. "Go, go, go!" she urged, covering their retreat with intermittent energy blasts to deter any last suicidal Corpus defenders.
Up above in orbit, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch were surely readying their counter-spells, waiting for the null-field to drop. Carol imagined Strange's keen eyes watching the generator. The plan was actually working. Hope swelled in her chest. We're going to win this.
But war has a way of twisting hope into tragedy in a split second. As the heroes were about to withdraw fully, a sudden, gut-chilling sound keened across the battlefield, a high-pitched whine that rapidly rose in intensity. Carol whirled toward the source, just in time to see a squad of Corpus troops on a high balcony aiming a strange, cannon-like device directly at them. The device was bulky, pulsing with an ominous pale light. It had the look of experimental tech, all coils and eerily glowing chambers. In that frozen heartbeat, Carol's instinct screamed danger.
"GET DOWN!" she shouted, shoving a nearby Nova Corps trooper to the ground. She tried to dive aside herself, but the weapon discharged faster than thought. A beam of swirling Void energy, black and violet, lanced out from the cannon and struck Carol square in the chest before she could fully evade.
It was as if reality itself yawned open and swallowed her. One moment Carol was there, glowing with power, eyes wide in shock, the next, enveloped in the crackling Void beam, her form began to dissolve from the outside in. The Nega-Bands flared brilliantly, fighting the effect, but this weapon was something new, a direct tear into the Void dimension itself. "CAROL!" Steve screamed from a few yards away, reaching out helplessly.
Carol felt a wrenching cold seize her. The world stretched and warped. Her last conscious sight was her friends' faces contorted in horror, voices reverberating as if across a great distance. Then, with a final flash of dark light, Carol Danvers vanished.
The beam faded, leaving nothing behind, the space completely empty.
For a heartbeat, absolute confusion and terror paralyzed the battlefield. Nova Prime was gone. The remaining Corpus forces, sensing they had struck a significant blow, gave an eerie, exultant cheer from the battlements. The Supernovas, by contrast, were shocked beyond belief.
Steve was the first to react. "Carol?!" he shouted into the comms, his voice crackling with desperation. There was no response, only static. He ran to where she had been, eyes frantically searching for any trace. All he found was her helmet on the ground, still smoking from residual energy. Steve snatched it up, heart in his throat. One moment she'd been there, blazing like a star… now nothing.
Thor's face twisted in rage and grief as he witnessed the space. "By Odin, what sorcery is this?!" he bellowed, turning his fury upward toward the Corpus balcony. With an enraged throw, he flung Mjolnir at the squad with the Void weapon, pulverizing the entire building in a shower of golden lightning, concrete, and screams. The collapsing void shield was unable to keep his powers in check any longer, but it was too late, the weapon had done its work.
"Nova Prime, report!" came Iron Man's panicked demand over the comms. He'd seen her life sign vanish from his HUD. On the ground, Bruce let out a mournful, animalistic "Noooo" and slammed his fists into the earth, sending tremors through the courtyard. Sparkling debris from the destroyed generator began raining down, the charges had blown, and the massive tower was collapsing in on itself, the shield around the planet fizzling out. But none of the heroes celebrated, Carol's disappearance destroyed all else.
Peter swung down to land next to Cap, his voice trembling. "W-where did she go? Did they vaporize her? Tell me she's not…" His question died in his throat, he couldn't say the word. T'Challa clenched his fists, struggling to maintain his composure. "That beam… it looked like some kind of portal," T'Challa said quickly, scanning with his suit's sensors. "I'm not detecting disintegration residue. She may have been transported." That sliver of hope cut through the panic.
Scarlet Witch's voice suddenly cut in, urgent: "I felt something… a surge in the Void. Carol's energy just vanished from this realm." In the orbiting command ship's sanctum, Wanda had reached out with her chaos magic the instant she sensed Carol's presence wink out. Her connection to Carol was faint, but it was there, somewhere distant and dark, but then, it disappeared. Doctor Strange added grimly, "It's as we feared, they've developed a weapon to banish targets into the Void dimension as a counter to our near invulnerability outside their shields. Nova Prime appears to have been pulled through a rift."
On the ground, Steve set his jaw, rising tall even as his heart pounded. "Then we get her back," he said fiercely. He turned to the others, raising his voice over the rumble of the dying generator and retreating Corpus forces. "Supernovas, we do not leave our leader behind." His words carried, snapping everyone to focus. The battle was not yet won, but Steve Rogers had seen the effect Carol's loss was having, he needed to rally them before despair took hold.
Iron Man rocketed down and landed, his armored boots crunching rubble. He had to see for himself. Scanning the scene, Tony's HUD confirmed no trace of Carol's body or energy signature remained. His stomach churned. But he clenched a fist and nodded to Roger's words. "Damn right. We'll figure this out. They can't have killed her, they just… moved her. So we'll move heaven and hell to find where." His voice was firm, if a little strained at the edges.
Thor retrieved Mjolnir as it flew back to him, his expression a storm cloud, golden lightning sparking around him. Yet he stepped forward and placed a hand on Cap's shoulder, solidarity in his eyes. "The Void may hide our friend, but by the eternal flames, we shall hunt for her across all the stars and beyond if need be." Banner loomed behind them, breathing heavily, struggling to articulate his feelings. Finally also activating his tech, but coming to the same conclusion as everyone else in silence.
T'Challa's cool voice cut through next. "First, we secure the field. The fight's not over." Indeed, though the shield generator was destroyed and many Corpus lay defeated or fleeing, scattered firefights still crackled around the base. The squad, shaken but now resolute, reformed ranks. Grim, they mopped up the remaining resistance in the courtyard. Without the nullifying shield, their Nova powers began coming back.
Silver Surfer soared down from above, having sensed the field collapse, he unleashed a cosmic blast that disintegrated the last Corpus regiment, trying to mount a counterattack. Beta Ray Bill, Quasar, and Hyperion arrived as well, reinforcing their comrades and securing prisoners. But all of them, while fighting, were glancing at the spot where Carol vanished, minds racing on the implications.
Within minutes, the battlefield finally fell quiet. Smoke hung in the air, and the acrid smell of ozone and burnt metal was everywhere. The Nova Corps banner was raised atop the ruined fortress by a few steadfast Marines, signaling victory. Yet there was no joy in it. The gathered team formed a loose circle amidst the rubble, catching their breaths, tending to wounds, and looking to the space among them.
Carol was missing, and with her, the light of their triumph dimmed. In the hush, Rocket kicked a stray piece of the destroyed Void cannon, his earlier bravado gone. "That… that wasn't supposed to happen," he muttered angrily, ears flat. Gamora quietly sheathed her sword, her face stoic but her eyes blazing with worry for her friend. Monica Rambeau rushed over, now able to use her energy form freely with the field down. She coalesced beside them, asking urgently, "Where's Carol? What happened?"
No one answered at first. It was T'Challa who finally spoke, his voice low. "The Corpus weapon… they struck her with some Void energy displacement. Carol is… gone, for now." Monica's hand flew to her mouth, stunned. Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch teleported directly into the courtyard then, appearing out of a swirl of sparks and golden nova energy. Strange's normally composed face was taut with concern. "I can pursue her trail, but it grows faint. The Void is a realm even I don't fully understand." Wanda's eyes glistened with unshed tears, but she nodded firmly. "We'll do it together. We'll find her."
Steve bent down and gently picked up Carol's fallen helmet from where he had dropped it earlier. He turned it over in his hands, the black surface reflecting the surrounding fires. For a brief second, the veteran soldier closed his eyes, mastering the surge of emotion threatening to break through. When he opened them again, they were full of determination. He raised the helmet high, as if showing it to the team. "Nova Prime may be unreachable right now," he said, his voice ringing out clear and strong in the twilight, "but hear me, all of you, we will bring her home."
The assembled heroes straightened. Thor held Mjolnir to his chest in salute. Iron Man gave a sharp nod. Banner growled assent. The Nova Corps marines around them pounded their chests in respect. Carol's impact as a leader was evident in every face present, they would not let this stand.
High above, the last remnants of the Void shield crackled and dissipated. The stars began to peek through the clearing sky as night fell fully on Galor IV. The battle was won, but at a cost none had expected. Carol Danvers was lost to the Void, leaving the Supernovas, the galaxy's greatest heroes, without their shining star, leading some daring individuals to show their faces again.