BOOM!
Accompanied by an earth-shattering explosion and a spray of metal shrapnel, the Skrull Queen, G'iah, erupted with blinding golden light. Like a humanoid comet, she smashed through the space station's outer wall and charged straight into the vacuum of space.
In an instant, she appeared right in front of the massive "Boxer" Gundam.
Despite maintaining her human form, G'iah completely ignored the harsh vacuum of the cosmos. And that golden aura radiating from her body pointing to only one hero in the MCU worldview.
Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers!
Strictly speaking, if an ordinary Skrull wants to copy a target's superpowers while transforming, they usually have to capture the person alive to extract memories and run a complex series of gene sampling procedures. That process is designed to ensure other Skrulls can use the form repeatedly and access the target's full memories.
However, the "Super Skrull" project involves splicing multiple superpowers at once. To ensure the subject doesn't suffer from cognitive dissonance or a psychotic break, the memory transfer step is skipped entirely.
So, they didn't need the target alive—just the genetic information.
While this means a Super Skrull doesn't inherit the combat muscle memory or skills of the hero, the raw power boost from stacking multiple abilities more than makes up for the lack of finesse.
Therefore, even though the Skrulls never managed to capture Carol, G'iah had successfully acquired her powers.
As for where the Skrulls got Carol's DNA?
Heh. You'd have to ask Director Fury, a man who insists on having a contingency plan for absolutely everything.
Even though the sample was only enough for a single modification, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for G'iah.
Regardless, the procedure was a success. Feeling the near-infinite energy surging through her body, G'iah felt she had transcended mortality.
She felt she could take on Captain Marvel herself without breaking a sweat. After all, she wasn't limited to just Carol's powers; she had an arsenal of other abilities ready to deploy.
This sudden surge of confidence meant G'iah didn't attack immediately upon revealing herself. Instead, she floated arrogantly in front of the Boxer Gundam, letting her golden aura flare wildly.
"Human!"
"Since you enjoy telling people to surrender, I'll give you a chance!"
"Submit to me! Submit to the great Skrull Queen! I shall grant you endless glory!"
Inside the cockpit, Luca was bored out of his mind. He'd been toying with the Skrulls inside the station, just killing time until Natasha and the team finished the rescue mission so they could wrap this whole thing up.
Seeing this "bling-bling" glowing figure suddenly pop up in front of him, he was momentarily stunned.
But the confusion only lasted a split second. Based on her speech, he quickly realized who it was.
The Super Skrull is finished? Did that unlucky lady Carol get caught again? The thought flashed through Luca's mind.
But he quickly tossed that irrelevant detail aside. Looking at the Skrull Queen, who seemed like she wanted to keep monologuing, Luca felt a wave of exasperation.
"Nutjob..."
Since his comms channel was still open, Luca's voice was transmitted clearly to G'iah's ears.
"What did you say?!"
G'iah's first reaction wasn't anger, but confusion. In her eyes, she now possessed god-like power. How dare this guy, hiding in a tin can, be so insolent?
Is it because I haven't shown my true strength yet? Did he misjudge the situation?
With that thought, G'iah activated her other abilities. Her left arm turned green and bulky, while arcs of lightning began to crackle along her right arm.
However...
Vrummm—
A barely audible hum resonated.
A blue-gray spherical energy field instantly expanded outward, centered on the Boxer Gundam's cockpit.
Before G'iah, fresh off her "godhood" upgrade, could react, Luca's Stasis Field washed over her. She was frozen instantly in place, unable to twitch a muscle.
Only then did Luca finish his sentence.
"Nutjob... why are you yapping so much?"
"Who has the spare time to watch you do a show-and-tell with your powers?"
Luca looked at G'iah, frozen in the blue-gray field, and curled his lip in disgust. He pulled out his [Dehydration Gun], intending to drop it into the cockpit's transfer chute to send it to the Gundam's head-mounted firing port. He planned to compress this arrogant Skrull Queen into a bite-sized cube and be done with it.
But in the next second, Luca froze—awkwardly.
It wasn't a glitch. It was physics.
Because the Stasis Field originated from the cockpit, everything inside the field—including the Gundam itself—was frozen in time. While he could manually open the handgun storage beside him, the Gundam's internal mechanisms were locked in stasis. He couldn't mechanically transport the [Dehydration Gun] to the external firing port.
"Dammit... I forgot about that..."
Since he rarely used the Stasis Field while piloting the Gundam, he hadn't anticipated this ridiculous screw-up.
He tried the manual release on the cockpit hatch. The Gundam had emergency protocols for manual opening, but while the air valve turned, the pressure seals refused to budge under the stasis effect.
Resigned, Luca looked at the Skrull Queen outside and simply canceled the field.
"MAN!! You say—"
Completely unaware of what had just happened, G'iah continued her furious scream the instant the field dropped. But then she noticed the mech's cockpit hatch suddenly opening.
Her words caught in her throat.
Is he coming out to surrender? That was fast...
But then...
Vrummm—
The familiar hum and the blue-gray wave returned.
Why does this feel like déjà vu?
Before G'iah could process the thought, her consciousness was plunged back into stasis.
This time, having already popped the hatch, Luca engaged the small jetpack on the back of his pilot suit. With a pfft-pfft-pfft sound, he wobbled slowly toward the frozen G'iah.
"This glowing lady is seriously hurting my eyes..."
Muttering random complaints, Luca practiced the motion he'd done a thousand times: raise gun, aim, pull trigger.
The familiar blue compression beam shot out, hitting the immobile G'iah without issue.
Although the energy levels involved meant the compression rate and volume were a bit wonky, time was irrelevant inside the Stasis Field.
Soon, the Skrull Queen, completely enveloped in a blue halo, shrank down into a small energy cube. Luca caught it in his hand.
"Well, that saved me some trouble."
He casually tossed the energy cube up in the air, trying to look cool.
But because they were in zero gravity, the cube didn't come back down. It just kept floating away.
"Whoops!"
Luca nearly threw the Skrull Queen into deep space. He hurriedly engaged his jetpack again—pfft-pfft-pfft—and spent a good minute chasing it down.
Finally pinching the cube carefully between his fingers, he slowly drifted back toward his Gundam.