A dazzling circular shockwave swept outwards from her center in all directions!
Whether they were S.H.I.E.L.D.. agents or ferocious Skrulls, everyone was swept away by this unreasonable golden torrent.
Rows of filing cabinets collapsed, servers burst into Spark, and all the light bulbs on the ceiling shattered.
The entire archive was in a mess.
A deathly silence.
The only sound was Carol's heavy breathing.
She stood in the center of the ruins, the golden aftershocks of energy still slowly flowing over her body, her eyes filled with confusion and helplessness.
"Cough... cough..."
Wei was the first to emerge from a pile of documents.
She dusted herself off and whistled loudly at Carol.
Wow.
She looked at Carol without a trace of reproach on her face.
"That was a really clever move of yours."
She completely ignored the groaning and struggling Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Skrulls around her, picked up the black box that Maria had dropped, and tucked it under her arm.
"Done, got the stuff."
Vi turned around and gestured with her chin towards Carol and Maria, who were still in a daze.
"What are you waiting for? Get out of here!"
On the other side, Talos clutched his chest and stood up from behind a deformed metal frame.
He coughed up a mouthful of green blood with a metallic taste, but his eyes remained fixed on Carol.
Listen!
He spoke loudly, trying to make his voice penetrate the chaos.
We are not your enemies!
He pointed to the black box that Wei was tucked under her arm.
"The data in the black box can guide us to Mar-Vell's light-speed engine. That's our people's... last hope."
Last hope?
Carol's mind was even more confused.
The Kree Empire told her that the Skrulls were Locust of the universe, cunning infiltrators, and a plague that had to be eradicated.
But the man's words revealed an unmasked sorrow.
"Hope?" Wei scoffed. "Your hope is none of our business. It's our spoils."
On the other side, Fury also struggled to his feet.
He rubbed his aching chest, staring at the surreal scene before him.
The trouble I'm facing today has far exceeded S.H.I.E.L.D., and even the scope of Earth's current understanding.
confrontation?
What can we use to fight back?
Are we going to use the agents' pistols to fight that monster that can punch through concrete?
Or should we use a human wave tactic to overwhelm the "Golden Woman" who can wipe out the entire enemy force in one move?
Fury made a quick decision and changed his strategy.
He did not raise his gun again.
"Listen, I don't care if you're Kree, Skrulls, or whatever."
"I don't care about your war, but I need to know what's inside that black box."
His words subtly eased the tense atmosphere.
Vi looked at Fury with an expression as if he were an idiot.
What gives you the right?
Fury ignored her; his gaze remained fixed on Carol.
"Because this is Earth."
"Fury said in a deep voice."
"This base is United States. government property. Your fighting has threatened the security of this nation."
"We need a place, a safe place, to unravel this."
Maria spoke, glancing at Fury and then at Talos.
"We don't trust anyone else, but we share the same goal: the truth."
Her words became a fragile point of balance.
Talos fell silent; he knew that forcibly taking it was no longer an option.
Wei pursed her lips and remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.
A bizarre, temporary alliance was hastily formed amidst the ruins.
"Come with me."
Fury made a decision.
He turned and walked toward an inconspicuous maintenance passageway deep within the archives.
"There's a secret hangar there, and a plane that can take us away from here."
The group followed.
Carol, Maria, and Vi walked in the middle.
Fury led the way.
Talos, with his two remaining companions who could still stand, followed silently at the back.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Vought International heroes, an amnesiac Earth pilot, and Skrulls.
The composition of this team is enough to drive any political analyst crazy.
They walked through a dark passage, and a heavy blast door appeared before them.
Fury passed both iris and palm print verification, and the door slowly slid open.
The hangar is behind it.
In the center of the hangar, a transport plane sat quietly.
Everyone quickly boarded the plane.
The cabin door slowly closed behind them, completely shutting out the alarms and chaos outside.
Fury took the lead in the cockpit and started the plane. While performing the takeoff procedures, he discreetly entered an encrypted destination coordinate on the navigation screen.
His face remained expressionless, but he had already planned everything out in his mind.
The atmosphere inside the cabin remained tense.
Maria wasted no time, took the black box from Vi, found a data interface on the co-operation panel in the cockpit, and connected it.
"Breaking the firewall..."
"Data access successful..."
"Retrieving audio files..."
Maria's fingers flew across the control panel.
Carol, Fury, Talos, and everyone else gathered around, holding their breath.
A six-year-old mystery.
A stolen life.
The Shadow of interstellar war.
All the answers pointed to this small recorder.
"Found it!"
Maria looked up and pressed play.
After a slight electrical noise, a clear and confident female voice rang out in the silent cockpit.
That was Carol's own voice.
A voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar to her.
"See that cloud, Doctor? Doesn't it look like a koala eating ice cream?"
Another gentle, smiling female voice replied, " Carol, your imagination is always so... unique. Watch your altitude, we're about to enter test airspace."
That was Carol Vers six years ago.
A carefree, humorous Earth pilot who loves flying.
A life that belonged to her, yet was completely stolen.
Inside the cockpit, everyone remained silent.
In the recording, the relaxed conversation between Carol and Dr. Lawson continues.
They were discussing rock music, complaining about the terrible food in the Air Force mess hall, and dreaming about the day they could pilot this plane out of the atmosphere.
The joy and freedom in that voice formed the most brutal contrast with the harshness Carol had endured over the past six years.
Sudden.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
The piercing alarm sounded without warning, shattering the relaxed atmosphere.
"An unidentified target is approaching at high speed on the radar! My God, what speed is that?!"
It did not respond to the identification signal.
Dr. Lawson's voice also turned somber.
" Carol, prepare to evade."
Immediately afterwards, a calm, authoritative voice forcefully cut in through the communication channel.
Carol has heard that voice every day for the past six years.
On the training field, in mission briefings, and in the temple of Supreme Intelligence.
That was the voice of her most respected commander, Yon Roger.
Soon, a loud explosion and an alarm sounding that the aircraft had been hit came through the recording!
Intense aerial combat erupted.
Carol's curses, Dr. Lawson's calm instructions.
They are on the run.
And Yon-Rogge is hunting.
"Engine overload! We can't hold on!"
In the recording, Carol's voice was filled with despair.
"I know..."
Dr. Lawson's voice was broken and intermittent due to heavy breathing, but it was still clear.
"What he wants is the engine... Carol..."
"Destroy it..."
"Don't let them get it..."
These were the last words Dr. Lawson, the Kree defector scientist Marwell, left in this world.
The recording ends with Carol's heart-wrenching scream and an explosion powerful enough to engulf everything.
Recording has ended.
It was all a lie.
Yon Rogers was not her savior; he was the murderer of Dr. Lawson.
The Kree Empire did not grant her power; they merely used her.
That incident was not an attack by the Skrulls, but a cover-up by the Kree Empire.
And she herself...
To honor Dr. Lawson's dying wish, she personally fired at the light-speed engine.
It was that energy that surged into her body, reshaped her, and allowed her to survive.
Her power does not come from Kree.
Her power came from the core of that light-speed engine, from that explosion, and from her own indomitable will!
She is not Vers.
She is Carol Vers, whose life was stolen six years ago.
She is the Inheritors of Dr. Lawson's legacy, the person she protected with her life.
Talos's face showed a mixture of sadness and relief.
"Mar-Will..."
He murmured softly.
Just then, the entire fuselage shook violently!
Everyone looked up.
The sturdy airplane canopy was torn open like a piece of paper, leaving a hole above their heads, and the night wind rushed in.
Several figures dressed in dark green uniforms descended from the cave entrance.
Kree Empire, Starforce!
The leader was tall and handsome, with a fake smile on his face.
He looked at Carol standing in the cockpit as if he were looking at a runaway, immature child.
" Vers."
"The game is over."
"Come home with me."