Chapter 10

Ronan the Accuser was on standby near the milky way galaxy, obsessed with finding the energy core that he believed had survived the explosion of the light speed engine. He had asked Yon-Rogg to search the planet for any traces of the core and report back to him. He wanted to use the core's power to destroy the Skrulls and anyone who opposed him.

But instead of a report, he received a distress signal from Yon-Rogg, requesting immediate backup. Ronan clenched his fists and snarled. "You should have listened to me and taken my fleet. Instead, you tried to play nice for the Nova peace treaty and now you paid the price. Don't worry, I won't let the Skrulls or their sympathizers live."

He turned to his crew and shouted. "Prepare the fleet. Set course for C-53."

The soldiers on the main battleship relayed the message to the other two battleships that accompanied them. The thrusters of the battleships roared to life and they sped towards Earth.

They were already close to the planet, so it only took them ten minutes to reach its orbit. The battleships halted near the moon and aimed their cannons at the blue-green sphere below.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Fury received a call from S.H.I.E.L.D. He answered it and heard a frantic voice on the other end. "Sir, we have a situation. We just detected three unidentified objects approaching Earth. They are in the vicinity of the moon."

Fury frowned and said. "I'll handle it. Tell the others to stand by and wait for my orders." He hung up and turned to Max and Carol, who were waiting for him. He said. "Our guests have arrived."

Max grabbed the working suit from Yon-Rogg's corpse and put it on, feeling uneasy about wearing the enemy's clothes. But he had no choice. He was going to space and he needed their suit to breathe and survive in the vacuum.

He had originally planned to let Carol go alone, but after seeing how she fought Yon-Rogg, he decided to join her. He asked her if the suits could protect him from the harsh conditions of space and she assured him they could. He nodded and followed her.

Carol and Max exchanged a look and flew off. As they soared into the sky, Max sensed a massive surge of power in space. He realized it was Ronan's fleet, charging their weapons. He said to Carol. "Carol, we have to hurry. They are about to fire."

Carol nodded and sped up. Max also used his full power and boosted his speed. He noticed that as he got farther from Earth, his speed increased. It was because the gravitational force was weaker, and also because electrons moved faster in vacuum than in air. So, as the air got thinner, he was able to travel faster.

He deployed his helmet to help him breathe and continued his flight. As soon as he left the atmosphere and entered the vacuum, he accelerated very quickly and he couldn't even control his speed.

This was because electrons moved at a speed of 10^6 to 10^7 m/s in vacuum. He was moving so fast that he couldn't even process what he was seeing or what was happening. Then suddenly, he saw clearly and he saw the battleship in front of him.

He crashed into the battleship, breaking through it and coming out from the other side. He left a trail of explosions behind him as he tore through the metal hull.

He stopped and looked at himself and then at the battleship. He was shocked to see the explosions in slow motion. He watched them for a minute and then he noticed that he had only 50% of his reserve left. He stopped whatever he was doing and waited for the explosions to catch up.

Carol saw the explosions and said. "Nice idea, Max."

She then zoomed towards the battleship that Max had damaged and she did the same thing. She broke through the battleship and came out from the other side. She stopped beside Max and looked at the whole ship blowing up.

She was about to fly into the other ship when Max stopped her. "Carol, wait. I have an idea. I want you to charge up your strongest blast and shoot it at the second battleship."

Carol nodded and gathered a large amount of energy in her palms. She aimed it at the second battleship and fired. Max did the same and unleashed his electricity at Carol's photon blast.

They both collided near the battleship, creating a massive explosion. It was like what happened at Maria's house, but on a much larger scale.

The explosion was caused by the release of energy when the photon blast hit the electrons. The energy from both sources amplified the blast and tore apart the battleship.

On Earth, Fury was getting constant updates from the radar team monitoring the giant objects in the sky. He just received the report that two out of the three objects had blown up.

Fury asked Talos, "Is it so easy to blow up a battleship?"

Talos replied with disbelief and fear in his voice, "No."

Back to Max and Carol, Carol said to Max, "Max, we shouldn't take out the main battleship. Ronan must be in it. As much as I want to kill him, killing him will bring the attention of the whole galaxy to Earth. Earth is not ready to face the advanced species of the galaxy. You are the only one who can protect it. Let me handle them."

Max nodded and Carol flew to the main battleship. She spotted Ronan standing near the transparent wall that let him see outside the spaceship. Carol flew and stopped right in front of Ronan.

Ronan and Carol were face to face, with only the transparent wall between them. Carol glared at Ronan and released a bright glow from her body. She then slammed her fists together, sending a shockwave that shook the battleship.

Ronan turned around and said, "Return to the jump point."

The Kree standing beside him asked, "But sir, what about the energy core for the weapons?"

Ronan turned to look at Carol and said, "We don't need that anymore. The weapons are ready, we just have to prepare to claim them for ourselves."

Ronan then walked and sat on his chair in the ship. The ship powered up and a weird hole opened up in space. The battleship zoomed through the hole and disappeared. The hole closed after them.

Carol then flew back to Max and said, "Don't worry, they won't live for long."

Max said, "You don't have to deal with him. He will die in the hands of someone else."

Carol didn't understand what he meant. Before she could ask him about it, Max flew back to Earth. Carol sighed and followed him.

They landed near Fury and Talos, who were waiting for them. Talos glared at them and snapped, "Do you have any idea what you've done? The lab is in orbit, you fools. You could have blown it up with your reckless attacks."

Max knew what the lab meant for him. He said calmly, "Relax, Talos. I found the lab when I went to space. I made sure it was far enough from the Kree ships before we started blowing them up. Nothing happened to the lab, I promise."

Talos looked relieved when he heard that. His face softened and he sighed. He turned to his dead Skrull soldier, who died from a Kree blast. He walked over to him and knelt down. He whispered something in his ear, a final farewell. He stood up and gestured to the others. They all gathered around the fallen warrior and bowed their heads in respect.

Talos then ordered his Skrull soldiers to bury him. They nodded and carried the body away. They dug a grave and laid him to rest, covering him with dirt and stones.

All this time, Fury was watching Carol and Max. He was amazed by what they had done. They had single-handedly destroyed and alien fleet in less than five minutes. He was also afraid of their power. He didn't show it, but he was wondering how to deal with them. He wanted them to join S.H.I.E.L.D., but didn't know if they would accept or not. He didn't want to plan anything for them to recruit them. Especially after what Carol had been through. If he tried to force them, he would make them his enemies.

He decided to keep his distance and not mention anything about recruitment. He noticed that Talos' men had finished the burial and were heading back to Maria's house, where the modified jet was parked.

Maria and Monica came out of the house when they heard Carol and Max land in the backyard. They ran to Carol and hugged her. They said, "Thank God you're okay. We were so worried about you."

Max left them alone and joined Fury and Talos, who were preparing for the flight. Talos had ordered a lot of food and was loading it into the jet. Fury asked, "I get that you like our food, but don't you think this is a bit excessive? This could feed you for two lifetimes."

Talos saw no reason to hide it anymore. The enemy was gone and they were safe. He said, "There are Skrulls hiding in the lab. I don't know what they've been eating for ten years. I want to bring them some food."

Max already knew this from the movies, but for Fury, this was news. He said, "So, you're telling me that there are more aliens like you floating around Earth for ten years."

Talos said, "We were separated after we started losing the war. We are scattered all over the galaxy, living as refugees on various planets, hiding our identity and struggling to survive. That's when Mar-Vell found us. She was working on the light speed engine for the Kree. The Kree wanted to use the energy core to power their weapons. Mar-Vell was kind enough to help us escape from the Kree using the engine. The Kree had suspected that Mar-Vell was hiding something from them and sent Yon-Rogg. Mar-Vell took the energy core and tried to flee with us. Yon-Rogg arrived in Earth and you know the rest. The Skrulls she helped are still in the lab, waiting for me. My wife and my daughter are among them. They've been trapped in the lab, living in fear and isolation for ten years. That's why I was so desperate to find the lab."

Carol, Maria and Monica also heard Talos' story. Carol said, "Mar-Vell always said that she fought a pointless war. She was a hero, sacrificing herself to do the right thing."

Talos nodded and the rest agreed. They finished loading and were ready to take off. Max then asked, "So, who's coming to space?"

Everyone except Maria volunteered to join them on the journey to space. Monica turned to Maria and said, "Mom, are you really going to pass on the only chance in your life to fly to space?"

Maria replies "Of course I am not going, and neither are you. That thing was a jet a few hours ago. I don't trust it enough to take me to space."

Monica, being the rebellious teenager she was, ignores her mother and says to Max "I am going to space with you all."

Maria and Monica start arguing. Carol intervenes and says "Don't worry about the ride. I will make sure nothing happens to her."

Maria says "The last time you said that, she got motion sickness."

The mother and daughter continue to bicker and after an hour, Maria reluctantly agrees to let her daughter go, but with the condition that she would also join them and keep an eye on her.

The science guy of the skrulls says "I don't think the jet can carry everyone."

Max says "Carol and I will fly there while you all can come in the jet."

Carol agrees with the plan and they all take off towards the lab coordinates they calculated from the state vectors. It takes them two minutes to get to the location they had estimated.

Carol looks around and doesn't find anything. Carol then presses something on her gloves panel and the panel says "Decloaking"

A huge spaceship slowly starts appearing and within seconds, they could see the spaceship. Immediately, Fury gets a call from S.H.I.E.L.D. and answers it. The person on the other side says "Sir, the radar team detected another object near the planet."

Fury says "I can see it. Tell them to disregard this and be on the lookout for other objects."

He then hangs up and the modified jet enters the spaceship, which is Mar-Vell's laboratory. They all get down and walk through the hallway to a huge room.

There was no one in the room, but Fury noticed a coffee mug on the table that was steaming. Fury says to Talos "Did they hide after hearing our jet?"

Talos nods and goes to the centre of the room. He then makes a weird sound for a while and before long, skrulls start coming out from different rooms.

Then a female skrull comes running to Talos and hugs him. They stay like that for a while and the female skrull then turns to her side and signals a kid to come to her. A kid walks up to her and Talos bends down to greet her.

After Talos exchanges greetings with the two of them, Carol approaches him and says "I promised Mar-Vell that I would help you and end this war. I promise you that I will help you find a new home and take care of the Kree empire that hunts the skrulls."