At that moment, on the side of Earth turned away from the sun, near the boundary between the planet's atmosphere and the exosphere, a blood-red streak of light relentlessly pursued a golden one.
The half-molten metal Crimson Chains whipped out like a lash and wrapped around Mar-Vell's waist. The two energy arms behind James strained and pulled, yanking back the fleeing golden figure. He seized her by the throat and slowly drew her close.
Mar-Vell struggled as she looked at James Howlett. With his black hair flying wildly and red light blazing from his eyes, the man seemed like some "demon king" roaming the stars. She had never imagined that even wearing the Psyche-Magnitron, one of the Kree Empire's most advanced creations, would only barely save her life.
Furious, Mar-Vell pounded both fists against James's bare upper body, his clothes having already been burned away. But her photon-charged arms were like steel blades quenched in a cold bath.
Sparks crackled and flew, but they failed to pierce James's blood-red energy shield or inflict any real damage.
"Just a pair of wristbands lets you fight at this level and withstand every attack... If you Kree have technology like this, why do you need to sneak around stealing the Tesseract?"
"Hah!"
Boom!
Mar-Vell desperately tried to headbutt James, only to be met by a fist from another pair of blood-red arms behind him.
Two punches struck her head-on. Two massive hands clamped around her golden, gleaming head, holding it fast. Forged through the Flesh Mystic Arts, the Crimson Chains spiraled upward and bound Mar-Vell's limbs tightly.
James seemed to have finally tested this "thief's" strength to his satisfaction. At ease once more in the thin air of near-Earth space, he spoke calmly:
"If equipment this extraordinary could be mass-produced and issued in