"You know, you really should be kinder to your neighbors. You never know when you're gonna need to borrow some sugar."

Fury immediately drew his gun, pointing it at the alien, while Carol's fists began to glow with energy. The alien, presumably Talos, on the other hand, seemed in no hurry and simply raised his hands in mock submission.

"Now, hang on a second," he said. "Before you go swinging those jazz hands around and making a mess of your friend's house…" He motioned toward the window, directing their attention outside.

"Oh my God!" Maria gasped.

Outside, they saw another Maria together with Monica, playing together, and the little girl clearly had no idea she was with an imposter.

"No one's gonna hurt the girl," Talos assured them, raising his hands higher. "Just… don't kill me, alright? That would really complicate things."

Unbeknownst to Maria, Talos, the imposter Maria, and Monica outside, there was also a third person near the girl and the alien—someone only Fury and Danvers saw when Talos pointed in their direction.

At that moment, Fury and Danvers had also heard Maverick's voice inside their heads: "You don't need to worry about little Monica. If he so much as tries anything funny with the girl, I'll turn him into a pig." The reassurance made them both let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Back to confronting Talos, Fury leveled his gun and said with cool confidence, "I'm about five seconds away from decorating that wall with some ugly-ass Skrull brains."

"I'm really sorry I impersonated your boss, Agent Fury. I had no other options," Talos said with surprising sincerity, meeting his eyes. "But now I stand before you as my true self—without deception."

"And who is that out there?" Carol demanded. Her tone, too, didn't betray nervousness—knowing Maverick was outside.

From their brief half-hour chat, she had learned a great deal about this young man. First, he was someone with decision-making authority on this planet. Second, according to Fury, he was ridiculously strong. If it weren't for her current situation, she might have even wanted to have a go at him—to test his abilities against hers. Fortunately for her, she didn't.

"Okay, that's a fair point," Talos admitted, "but I'm sure you understand I had to take some precautions. After all, I saw you crush twenty of my best men with your hands bound. I just want to talk."

Danvers scoffed. "Last time we talked, I ended up hanging by my ankles."

"That was before I knew who you were," Talos explained. "Before I knew what made you different from the others."

"Is Monica safe out there?" Maria interjected anxiously, staring at the window, worried more about her daughter than the alien inside her house.

"She's fine," Carol replied with unexpected confidence, which made Maria suspicious and Talos... confused.

"Hmm… didn't think you'd take my word so easily, Danvers," the alien said incredulously.

"Worry about yourself," Carol stated, looking barely a hairsbreadth away from blasting a photon beam at him.

Talos became even more confused and wondered for a second whether this was the real Danvers or one of his kind in disguise, but then brushed the thought aside just as quickly. How could he, the leader, mistake his own kind?

"You seem awfully confident," he asked again, cautiously. Maria also had the same thought, but given the situation, she chose to trust her close friend.

"We have our reasons, asshole," Fury cut in. "Now talk. What do you want?"

Though still puzzled, Talos decided to stop trying to figure it out; more important things awaited him. Then, slowly, with one hand still raised, he reached into his jacket with the other.

"I have an audio recording from Pegasus, from your plane crash six years ago, on a device I believe you call a... black box."

"What? They told me it was destroyed in the crash," Maria interjected suddenly. "How'd you get it?"

"Young lady, I'm not sure you've been told everything, but we... I have a very special skill that allows me to get into places I'm not supposed to be…"

He expected a retort, but none of them reacted to his snarky remark. Sighing, he continued.

"Okay, anyway, if you'll listen to this recording, I assure you it'll be worth your while."

"First, call your buddy back inside, and only then will I listen," Carol demanded, her expression leaving no room for argument.

"Deal," Talos also had no intention of trying any tricks, and agreed just like that.

And it was at that moment that they all heard a meow echo through the tension-filled room. Goose, the cat, suddenly wandered in, purring softly, and subsequently, Talos, as if he had just seen a dead alien ghost, jumped in horror at the sight.

"Oh my God! Get that thing away!" he cried, pressing himself against the wall.

"Goose… where have you been?" Fury asked, a smile tugging at his lips as he saw his new buddy.

"Are you… scared of a cat?" Carol asked, bemused by the alien's reaction as she looked between Goose in Fury's hands and Talos, who really seemed to be scared out of his mind.

"That… is not a cat!" Talos insisted, pointing a trembling finger. "That's a Flerken! An extremely, extremely dangerous inter-dimensional, tentacle-monster!"

"Tentacle monster?" Fury chuckled as he scooped up Goose. "Why do you all keep insisting Goose is dangerous? You wouldn't hurt a fly, would you, Goosy?"

Talos raised a puzzled brow. "If not me, then listen to the other one, Agent… Also, can you tell me who it is? Is he one of us?"

"Its name is Twinklefeather. And I don't know whether it's an alien or not… but you don't need to worry about that, right, Goose?" Fury said, cuddling the ginger cat even more lovingly, which only made Talos more agitated.

Are Earthlings always this brave? Talos thought, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

And just then, the door opened, and Monica stepped inside with the fake Maria behind her. Maverick also entered and walked over to Isabella, remaining to watch how things played out.

As soon as little Monica saw another person who looked like her mom, confusion washed over her face. "Mom?" she murmured, looking back and forth, and instinctively backed up toward Danvers, who at that moment seemed like the safest choice in her mind.

"Right, Norex… you can change back," Talos instructed his minion.

The alien reverted to its natural green form, causing Monica's eyes to widen in astonishment rather than fear. "So cool! Mom, is this your friend?"

---

Soon, everyone followed Maria to her office, where she had an old desktop computer ready to play the black box recording.

"It's important that... especially you, Carol Danvers, hear the full length of this recording," Talos said solemnly while the device began to load… very, very slowly.

Time seemed to stretch as they waited.

"What's happening?" Carol whispered, her eyes fixed on the screen. For someone who had come across and used advanced alien tech, this scenario seemed odd.

"It's loading," Fury explained, which made Maverick chuckle quietly from further back. Such slow loading speeds would have frustrated him too, much less Carol.

Finally, the computer beeped, signaling readiness, and Talos reached out and clicked 'Play.'

Silence filled the room before the speaker came to life. Static hissed, alarms blared, and engines roared. Then the voices came, sounding urgent and panicked. Danvers and Maria recognized Lawson immediately, calling out orders and warnings.

Carol's younger voice followed, confused, and then came a voice she hadn't expected: Yon-Rogg, her supervisor for the past six years. Her eyes widened as she realized what it meant, and, more importantly, everything finally started to make sense.

The recording told the story clearly. Dr. Lawson, revealed to be Mar-Vell, a renegade Kree scientist, tried to escape with her light-speed engine. The Kree pursued her, Yon-Rogg leading them, until her plane crash brought it all to an end.

The sounds of twisted metal, engines, and explosions filled the room. Mar-Vell's final stand came through in her desperate words, revealing that she was not like a typical Kree. In fact, she was a traitor to them and more of an ally, acting only to prevent more bloodshed.

Then came the explosion. Carol's own voice surged as she destroyed the engine core herself. Instead of handing it over, she chose to destroy it—and herself—in the process.

Silence returned. Those listening could only imagine the wreckage, the chaos, and the scale of it all. And just as it seemed the recording had ended, Yon-Rogg's voice returned from the speakers, outlining his next move with his soldiers: taking Danvers back to Hala, the Kree homeworld.

Obviously, Danvers' attempt to destroy herself along with the engine failed. Well, not exactly—according to the recording, the engine was indeed destroyed, but its power was absorbed by her body, explaining the source of her superpowers as well.

Finally, the truth was clear to Carol Danvers. The missing years, her time in the Kree army—it all made sense. The recording revealed everything, and with it, her lost memories returned as well.

—————————

Author's Note:

🔥 Drop those Power Stones! 🔥

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