On the top floor of Vought Tower, Simona pushed open the door and entered with the sisters Sara and Jean Grey.
Gone were the grime and dejection of their first meeting a few days earlier. Both sisters had changed into clean casual clothes. Sara wore a soft, light beige sweatshirt, her long, pale blonde hair tied in a low ponytail, giving her a gentle air; the red-haired girl Jean followed behind her in a loose navy pullover, both hands clutching its hem as her clear blue eyes scanned the extravagantly luxurious office.
Simona walked briskly to the desk and handed Lucian a briefing that had just been transmitted.
"Boss, the public trial in Times Square just ended," Simona reported quietly. "The chief justice sentenced Nick Fury to the loss of all political rights and citizenship, and lifelong exile aboard the Skrulls' advance warship as a navigator for deep-space exploration. Before the gavel fell, he tossed that old pager to Hill."
Lucian leaned back in his broad leather chair and leafed through the briefing.
"Exiled to deep space?" Lucian gave a low scoff. "Looks like all those years that old bastard spent carefully building his position in S.H.I.E.L.D. paid off. His connections and lingering influence haven't completely rotted away."
As for the pager Fury had tossed to Hill as though it were his lifeline, Lucian paid it no mind at all.
If Captain Marvel knew what was good for her and stayed in deep space, they could leave each other alone for now. If she ever recklessly followed the signal back to Earth to make trouble, it would merely take a little extra effort, and he could test whether his current body could crush her Binary form head-on while he was at it.
"If Hill has the pager, let her keep