The sky was clear, and the blizzard had momentarily subsided.
Inside a hidden S.H.I.E.L.D. base deep in the Arctic, the Helicarrier—once S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ultimate trump card—was slowly descending into a secret dry dock virtually unknown to the outside world.
The massive rotors kicked up a whirlwind of snow, exposing more of the base's structure which had been buried under the ice.
As the Helicarrier touched down and was secured by massive hydraulic clamps, the snow that had been whipped into the air slowly began to settle.
A ramp lowered from the carrier's belly.
A procession of unmasked, green-skinned Skrulls filed out from the ship's interior, marching in orderly lines toward the base entrance.
Yes, they were all Skrulls.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had long fallen completely under their control. Having infiltrated the organization so deeply, there was no way they'd ignore a weapon of mass destruction like the Helicarrier.
Especially now, with the Skrull presence slowly being exposed to the public and suspicion growing among the rank-and-file agents, the invaders had purged every human agent from the ship, replacing the entire crew with their own kind.
That was why they were comfortable walking around in their natural green skin.
As for the low-level human agents stationed at the base perimeter?
S.H.I.E.L.D. operated on a strict "need-to-know" basis. Grunts just followed orders; sometimes they didn't even know what mission they were supporting. As long as the Skrulls held high-level clearance codes, these human agents—essentially puppets—would never question who they were working for.
Ironically, with the Skrulls actually cooperating at the top level, this "occupied" S.H.I.E.L.D. might have been even more efficient than the original.
However, right now...
The Skrulls disembarking from the Helicarrier lacked their usual arrogance as "future masters of Earth."
They looked miserable. If despair had a face, it was painted on every one of them.
This gloom was entirely due to the flawless victory achieved by the three Gundams earlier that day.
As one of the Skrulls' key intelligence hubs, the crew on this Helicarrier had watched the entire battle unfold in real-time.
Seeing a single machine suppress an entire army effortlessly was enough to strike fear even into aliens with technology superior to Earth's.
It wasn't just that the mechs won; it was how easily they did it.
The Gundams looked like they were barely breaking a sweat. If the Skrull forces hadn't attacked from three different directions simultaneously, a single Gundam probably could have wiped them all out solo.
Many of the current generation of Skrulls were actually born on Earth. They had spent their lives hiding among humans, receiving human education (probably the "happy education" kind, too). Asking them to comprehend such an overwhelming technological gap was asking a bit much.
Whispers were already circulating among the ranks. Some were suggesting they should threaten to use nukes or execute the high-value hostages to force a peace treaty with humanity.
Otherwise, if the enemy found this base, the Skrulls knew they wouldn't stand a chance, even with their shapeshifting abilities.
But at the very back of this depressed, shuffling line of aliens...
Two Skrulls wearing wristwatches seemed a little less "sincere" in their misery.
They were whispering to each other, but since everyone else was also grumbling, no one paid them any mind.
The male Skrull scanned the surroundings covertly and murmured to his companion.
"You ever been here? Can you confirm where the cells are?"
"No. Who knows how much funding Fury embezzled to build all these black sites?"
The female Skrull replied, her tone a mix of annoyance and caution.
These two, of course, were Natasha Romanoff and Bucky Barnes in disguise.
Their original mission was to find the captured Avengers (like Tony Stark) and infiltrate the Skrull network to locate their orbital space station.
They suspected the two objectives were linked—that Tony and the others were being held on that station. So, they had followed the trail of captured prisoners, disguising themselves all the way onto this Helicarrier.
They just hadn't expected the ship to land at some random, uncharted Arctic base.
As they spoke, the sound of pneumatic valves hissed from the Helicarrier behind them.
They looked back to see a utility dropship detaching from the carrier and landing softly nearby.
Bucky spoke again.
"That's probably the new batch of prisoners. What's the play? Do we signal Aurantius to come clean this place up?"
While on the carrier, they had seen plenty of new captives being brought in. Some were super-powered villains tagged by S.H.I.E.L.D., others were political leaders from countries outside the U.S.
Clearly, the Skrulls were capturing them to harvest their DNA and memories. It was highly likely these prisoners were being moved to the same location where Tony and the others were held.
Natasha shook her head slightly.
"Not yet. We wait until we have visual confirmation on Steve and the others."
As she spoke, they saw Skrulls roughly unloading unconscious bodies from the dropship. They exchanged a look.
"Let's go. We'll blend in with the transport crew."
Boldly breaking away from the tail end of their line, they walked toward the dropship.
They knew Skrull discipline was lax, and since many of them had been scattered across Earth for years, most didn't know each other personally.
Relying solely on their green skin disguise, they effortlessly joined the group moving the prisoners.
They mimicked the other Skrulls, grabbing an unconscious captive and tossing him onto a flatbed cart.
But just as they started pushing the cart, chaos erupted.
Nearby, a Skrull was preparing to secure his prisoner when the captive's eyes snapped open.
Before the alien could react, the prisoner's hand morphed into a razor-sharp claw and gutted him in one fluid motion.
"Enemy—!"
"Alert! Alert!"