9 Chapter 9
Carol activates the beacon and hopes that Yon-Rogg will take the bait. She scans the surroundings for any sign of movement, but the desert is quiet and still.
Max spots a power line running across the barren landscape, and he gets an idea. He turns to Carol and says, "I'll be right back."
He then takes off into the air, leaving a trail of sparks behind him. He flies towards the power line and lands on the wooden pole. He grabs the wire with one hand, feeling the electricity flow into him. He raises his other hand to the sky and releases a blast of lightning.
The sound is deafening, and the light is blinding. It looks like a thunderbolt, but in reverse. Max repeats the process several times, sending more and more lightning into the sky. He smiles as he sees the dark clouds forming above him.
He charges himself up to the maximum and flies back to where Carol and the others are waiting. He lands with a thud, and Fury looks at him with a mix of awe and annoyance. He asks, "What the hell did you just do?"
Max replies, "Just preparing for the fight. With this, we have the upper hand."
Fury says, "As if it wasn't dark enough. You know we don't have night vision, right?"
Max shrugs. "Don't worry, the lightning will light up the place. Besides, it's more dramatic this way."
He looks at Fury, who rolls his eyes and looks away. Max smirks.
They wait for a few minutes, but nothing happens. Fury and Talos are discussing their plan of action, while Max and Carol are walking around in silence. She turns to Max and says, "Max, I can't stand these Kree colors anymore. Can you do me a favor and give me a makeover?"
Max nods and taps the panel on her gloves. The colors of her Kree suit change, becoming more lively and bold. Max keeps the original red, blue and gold combination from the movie.
Carol looks at her suit and nods approvingly. She likes the new look. She says to Max, "I honestly didn't expect you to have such a good eye for design. This is great."
They wait for a few minutes, but nothing happens. They wonder if Yon-Rogg received their signal or not. Suddenly, they hear a familiar voice say, "Vers, you have fallen so low. I thought you were smarter than this. Look at you, joining forces with the enemy and destroying your uniform."
They turn towards the source of the voice. They see a figure walking out from behind the trees. He is wearing the same uniform as Carol used to wear, but with a different badge. It is Yon-Rogg, the leader of the Kree Starforce and Carol's former mentor.
Carol feels a surge of rage and contempt. She remembers how he lied to her, how he killed her friend, how he tried to control her. She shouts back at him, "Don't ever call me Vers again. That's not my name. I remember now, I remember everything you did. You're the one who corrupted my mind. You're the one who killed Lawson. And you're the one who's going to pay for it."
Yon-Rogg says, "Vers, Mar-Vell was a traitor who sided with the skrulls and now they are manipulating you too. Can't you see that? They just want you to fight for their cause."
Carol says, "I am not fighting this war because someone is telling me to. I am not fighting for the skrulls or for the Kree. I am fighting for myself. I am fighting because I know this is the right thing to do."
Max says, "Give it up, man. You can't fool her anymore. You look so pathetic lying even after you know that she knows the truth."
Yon-Rogg glares at Max and then says into his communication device, "Take him out." He thinks that Max is influencing Carol's thoughts and wants to get rid of him.
A woman hidden on a tree replies, "Done." and pulls the trigger on her rifle. A red laser shoots out from the barrel and zooms towards Max. It is dark, but the laser is bright and fast.
It hits Max and leaves a huge hole in his head. Yon-Rogg smirks and says, "You should know your place if you are not strong. Now Vers, the supreme intelligence will guide you back to the right path."
Yon-Rogg then notices that Carol doesn't even flinch and is actually smiling. Yon-Rogg quickly turns to Max and is shocked to see sparks inside the wound and the wound healing rapidly.
In just a few seconds, Max is back to normal, but looks furious. He points his finger towards the direction from where the laser came.
He says, "That really hurts, you know. Let me show you how it feels." A blue glowing ball forms at the tip of his finger and it keeps getting brighter.
The shooter, Minn-Erva sees him and realizes that he is going to retaliate, but can't react in time. A highly concentrated beam of electricity is released from his finger and hits Minn-Erva in the head, leaving a hole similar to the one Max had.
Minn-Erva falls to the ground with a hole in her head. Yon-Rogg hears someone say in his earpiece, "Minn-Erva is down."
Yon-Rogg looks at Max with fury and disbelief. He says, "What kind of planet is this? How come there are so many freaks with powers? I will capture both of you and make you serve the Kree empire."
Yon-Rogg draws his gun and starts firing. Three more men emerge from the forest and join him. They aim at Talos, Fury and the three skrulls.
Talos, skrulls and Fury take cover behind trees and try to dodge the laser bullets. The bullets are powerful enough to destroy the trees with a few shots.
They move from one tree to another, while shooting back whenever they can. The three soldiers are busy with them. Max looks at them and sees that Fury and the skrulls are losing ground. Their blasters are no match for the Kree weapons.
Max says to Carol, "Carol. I'll go help them. You handle him."
Carol nods and Max flies off to help Fury and the skrulls. He lands near the Kree soldiers and unleashes lightning bolts from his hands. The bolts hit the soldiers and make them scream.
The soldiers have seen what Max can do, and they are scared. They hide behind a large rock. The rock is strong, but it can't withstand Max's power for long. It starts to crack and crumble.
Fury and Talos run to Max and Fury says, "Thank God you're on our side. If we relied on these blasters, we'd be toast by now."
Max says, "It's not over yet. I can sense the electricity building up behind the rock. Get ready for a big boom."
As soon as Max says that, a metallic sphere flies into the air, thrown by one of the Kree soldiers. The sphere makes a ticking sound and after a few seconds, it explodes with a loud bang and a bright flash.
It is a flash grenade, designed to blind the enemies in the dark. Since their pupils are dilated to see better in the dark, the sudden burst of light can temporarily impair their vision.
They all close their eyes instinctively and hear a Kree soldier shout, "Now!"
Fury shouts, "Get down!"
They come out of their hiding places and charge at them. Two of them are wielding blades that glow blue, while the other one has two blasters. The one with the blasters starts shooting at them and hits one of the skrulls, who lets out a scream of pain.
Max, however, is still standing. He is not affected by the flash grenade. He has a different way of sensing his surroundings. They try to run in a zigzag pattern to avoid being detected.
Max smiles, with his eyes still closed. He says, "You have to strip naked if you want to actually hide from me."
He can see the flow of electricity in their weapons and suits. The temporary blindness wasn't a problem while fighting them.
He fires lightning bolts from his palms and the two Kree soldiers dodge them. They are surprised by his accuracy. Max says, "Nice. Now dodge this."
He raises his hand and the thunder in the clouds gets louder and louder. The lightning from the clouds lights up the forest, like a giant spotlight.
The thunder gets more frequent and then a lightning bolt strikes near the Kree who was firing his blasters from a distance.
Max says, "Sorry. It's my first time doing this. I won't miss again."
Another lightning bolt strikes and this time, it hits the shooter directly. He tries to run away, but the lightning follows him. He is electrocuted and falls to the ground.
Max then says, "I haven't forgotten about you two."
Lightning starts striking near the two Kree soldiers who were trying to get to Max. They realize that they have no chance against him and run for their lives. All three Kree soldiers are fleeing and it is raining lightning bolts.
The loud clapping sound of the thunder is almost deafening, but Fury and the skrulls know that lightning means that they are safe and Max is fighting for them.
Meanwhile, Carol and Yon-Rogg are having a fierce battle. Carol is flying around, blasting him with photon blasts while he deploys a translucent shield from his left glove. The other hand holds a strange device that can generate force fields.
Yon-Rogg shoots out the force fields at Carol and she fires back her photon blasts to block the attack. She follows up with another blast, which he blocks with his shield.
Yon-Rogg says, "The supreme intelligence came up with devices to counter you if you ever went rogue. Give up Vers. You can't win against me."
Carol shouts, "Shut up. My name is Carol." shooting a powerful blast. It hits the shield, but it still sends Yon-Rogg flying back.
Carol immediately flies to him and follows up with another blast before he can even fall to the ground, sending him flying up in the air.
She then lets him fall to the ground. Yon-Rogg falls to the ground. Kree are durable, but he is still hurt and weakened.
Yon-Rogg doesn't get up and lies on the ground. Carol lands on the ground and slowly walks to Yon-Rogg. When she is close enough, Yon-Rogg suddenly throws a weird disk at her.
It lands at her feet and the disk immediately breaks off into eight smaller pieces and they float. They all create an electric force field, which completely neutralizes her powers.
Yon-Rogg slowly gets up, with a smug smile on his face. He says, "What did I teach you Vers? Never lower your guard or approach the enemy carelessly until you are sure they are dead. I also noticed you were holding back your punches. Still can't kill the people you lived with for years, huh? The supreme intelligence really planned everything perfectly."
Carol tries to use her powers and break free from the electric force field around her, but she only gets zapped. She feels a surge of pain and anger. She glares at Yon-Rogg while he says, "Like I said Vers, the supreme intelligence had countermeasures ready for when you went rogue. Now come on, the others should be done dealing with the other specimen. We will take you to the supreme intelligence."
Carol smiles and says, "You might want to check on your teammates."
Yon-Rogg was completely focused on the fight with Carol because she was fast and agile. He didn't hear the thunder sounds that were shaking the ground.
Yon-Rogg turns to see that all three of his men were lying on the ground, unconscious and burned. Max was standing over them, ready to deliver the final blow. He immediately shouts, "Stop!" getting Max's attention. Max had already regained his vision and could see clearly.
Yon-Rogg says, "Stop if you don't want anything to happen to her." pointing to the trapped Carol.
Max glares at him and lets them go. He doesn't want to risk Carol's life. The three Kree soldiers are gasping for air and they slowly get up. They have multiple burn marks on their bodies. Seeing that they are safe for now, they limp towards their leader.
They stand behind Yon-Rogg, who says, "You were a variable we didn't expect, but now that we have captured one of you, you will follow us. I saw you two together before."
Max turns to Carol and asks, "Are you okay with me killing them?"
Carol replies, "Even though I want them dead, I still hesitate when fighting them. You would be doing me a favor."
Max says, "Great." and raises his hand to the sky. Yon-Rogg didn't see Max fight, but the other three Kree soldiers had firsthand experience of what was coming. But it was way different from what they expected.
The three soldiers scream "Run" to their captain. Right after that, a bright blue light flashes in the clouds before a huge blue pillar of pure electric energy descends from the sky. It slams into the ground, vaporizing everything in its path. A crater forms where it hits and even Fury and the skrulls witness the display of power.
Talos asks Fury, "Are you still afraid of a war with someone like that on your side?"
Fury replies, "I'm more afraid of him than the damn war."
Carol is also stunned by how powerful Max is. She has never seen anyone wield such power.
The blue electric pillar slowly fades away and leaves behind a hole in the center of the crater. Only then do they see that Yon-Rogg has survived the attack by escaping when his teammates warned him.
Max glares at Yon-Rogg and says, "Why did you have to survive? That was supposed to be my flashy finishing move."
Yon-Rogg quickly deploys his shield and takes a battle stance. Max runs electricity through his weapons and shield, short-circuiting them. He then blasts him with a lightning bolt, which sends him flying and crashing into a tree.
Max then gets closer and blasts him with another lightning bolt, but this time aimed at his head, frying his brain and killing him. Max turns around to walk away, but hears a beeping sound from Yon-Rogg.
He turns around and sees his glove glowing red. He takes the glove off him. The panel is barely working after he fried it. He takes the glove with him and walks to Carol.
Max touches the electric force field and draws all the electricity to himself since he used a lot in the battle. Carol is free and she thanks Max, "Thank you, Max. It was my battle, but you fought most of it while I was just getting into trouble."
Max says, "You were definitely useless. How could you lose with that much power?"
Carol just smiles and doesn't say anything. Max then hands her the glove and says, "I found this on Yon-Rogg."
Carol looks at it and says, "That idiot. He called for backup from Ronan the Accuser. He is a maniac who blows up planets at the first chance he gets. He was even banished from the Kree empire."
Max says, "Then I guess it's time for you to make yourself useful."
[I feel like I used almost all the moves of Enel from One Piece. I searched for lightning moves and most of them were just lightning shot out in different forms.
Also, I received comments saying that the romance was rushed. Thanks for the input. I will plan properly for all the other female characters after Carol.]
