The recording clicked off, plunging the room into heavy silence. Carol sat frozen, tears silently tracing paths down her cheeks as the dam of suppressed memories finally broke. Maria instinctively reached out, taking her friend's hand.
"He lied to me," Carol whispered, her voice barely audible. Her eyes remained fixed on the now-silent computer screen. "Everything that I knew was a lie."
Arthur stood quietly near the doorway, watching the scene unfold. He had positioned himself away from the others, giving them space while still remaining present. Though he'd known this moment was coming, witnessing the raw emotion on Carol's face as her entire worldview collapsed was something else entirely.
"Now," Talos said softly, his usual sarcastic edge gone, replaced by something resembling genuine sympathy, "now you understand."
"What?" Carol's voice cracked slightly. "What do I understand now?"
"Yon-Rogg killed Mar-Vell," Talos explained patiently. "He killed her because she realised she was fighting on the wrong side of an unjust war. He killed her to protect the Kree Empire's secrets and to acquire her light-speed engine."
"No," Carol shook her head defiantly. "Your people are terrorists. They kill innocents. I saw the ruins on Torfa."
"Ruins that the Accusers are responsible for," Talos countered. "My people lived as refugees on Torfa. Homeless, ever since we resisted Kree rule and they destroyed our planet. And the handful of us that are left will be slaughtered next... unless you help me finish what Mar-Vell started."
Arthur shifted slightly, drawing attention. He hadn't intended to intervene further, but Talos's 'innocent refugee' narrative grated against his knowledge of the Skrulls' own complicated, often morally ambiguous, history from other timelines.
From what he knew, Skrulls were never quite as innocent as Talos was portraying. While their situation deserved sympathy, from what Arthur understood, they had once been conquerors themselves, much like the Kree. Expanding their rule across planets by any means necessary.
"Talos, right?" Arthur finally spoke up, unable to remain silent. "Are you lot really as innocent as you keep saying? Was Torfa destroyed solely by the Kree? From my limited experience with you chaps in these few hours, I reckon you wouldn't have just hidden on that planet. I'd wager you did exactly what you've done here with SHIELD—take control of whatever government using your abilities, then use that planet to fight against the Kree?"
Talos's flow of persuasive speech halted abruptly. Just when it looked like he was winning Carol's help, this earthling had disrupted his momentum.
Fury seized on it immediately. "Yeah, I'm with the Brit on this one. Sounds plausible. You Skrulls seem pretty good at playing people."
Talos sighed, running a green hand over his face. "Look, maybe not all Skrulls have behaved… honourably," he conceded reluctantly. "War makes people do desperate things. And yes, there are factions within our scattered people who might pursue more aggressive strategies. But my group?," he gestured to the other Skrull, Norex, who had remained silent, "is filled with families. Scientists, civilians. We didn't fight on Torfa; we fled. All we want is a home. A place to live without looking over our shoulders."
"And this light-speed engine helps you do that?" Carol asked, her voice still thick with emotion but regaining focus.
"It allows us to travel far beyond the Kree's reach," Talos explained. "To find a new, uninhabited world where we can finally be safe."
"And what happens if you don't find an empty planet?" Arthur pressed quietly. "What if you find one that's already occupied? Like, say... planet C-53? Rather convenient location, isn't it? Nice atmosphere, plenty of resources. Tempting to just… settle in?" Arthur wasn't making things up—he knew a rogue group of Skrulls would attempt exactly that in the future of the MCU.
Talos met Arthur's skeptical gaze. "I give you my word, Commander Talos's word," he said solemnly, "my people will not seek to conquer C-53. We seek only refuge. If other Skrull factions cause trouble here, I will even aid you against them. Is that sufficient guarantee? Right now, Kree are the enemy we both share. They're coming for me, for my people," he nodded towards Carol, "for her, and for Mar-Vell's engine core. Help us find the lab, get the core, and we leave. We take the Kree threat with us. It's mutually beneficial."
Arthur considered this. Talos seemed sincere, at least about his group's intentions. And he was right about the Kree threat. "Fine," Arthur said with a dismissive wave. "Don't particularly care about your internal politics anyway. Just dislike being fed a sob story that conveniently omits key details."
"Thanks for complicating things," Fury muttered. "Now I don't know who to trust."
Carol looked lost, her newfound identity still settling in. "What should I do?"
Maria squeezed her friend's hand. "Let's keep things simple. The light-speed engine was Lawson's work, and she said Pegasus wasn't to fight wars but to end them. Finding a way out."
"Exactly!" Talos seized on her words. "Finding the core lets us escape the war for good!"
"But I destroyed the core," Carol reminded them, doubt clouding her features.
"No," Talos corrected, "you destroyed the engine. The core that powered it is in a remote location. If you help us decode those coordinates, we can find it."
"What if you find it and use it as a weapon against us?" Carol challenged, the ingrained Kree suspicion resurfacing.
"We just want a home," Talos replied, the weariness of a long war evident in his voice.
After a few minutes of tense silence, Talos spoke again, his voice softer. "I know I don't deserve your trust, but you were our only lead. We discovered that your energy signature matched Mar-Vell's core. Now we know why."
Arthur watched as Talos continued his appeal.
"If only you knew the importance of it to me," the Skrull said. "I just need your help decoding the coordinates to Mar-Vell's lab."
Carol wiped her eyes and straightened, a new determination forming on her face. "Those weren't coordinates. They're state vectors for orbital position and velocity. You didn't find her lab on Earth because it's not on Earth." Her confidence grew with each word. "That was the location on the date of the crash six years ago. If we track its course, we'll find it in orbit right now."
"It's just basic physics," Maria added with a small, proud smile.
"In orbit?" Talos asked, looking stunned. "Was that so difficult to figure out? I mean, you're my science guy, right?" He turned toward the other Skrull with undisguised frustration.
"Yon-Rogg will catch up to me soon," Carol said, urgency clear in her voice. "We've got to get to the core before he does."
"We're going to space?" Fury asked, looking utterly incredulous. "In what? My government-issue sedan?"
"A few tweaks to your vessel should do it," offered Norex, the science-oriented Skrull. "I can handle the modifications."
"You are the science guy," Fury muttered under his breath, shaking his head.
The Skrull immediately got to work on the aircraft, transforming it for space travel. Meanwhile, Carol and Monica somehow convinced Maria to join Carol on the mission. Maria made a difficult call to her parents, arranging for them to take Monica to safety while she was gone.
Before Monica left with her grandparents, Carol knelt down, pulling up the schematics of her Kree uniform on the datapad. "Okay, Lieutenant Trouble," she said to Monica, with a genuine smile. "Big mission coming up. Need a new look. Don't want to wear these enemy colours anymore. Help me pick?"
They experimented with various color combinations, and while Arthur lobbied hard for a neon green design, Carol and Monica laughed it off. In the end, the iconic red and blue color scheme won out.
"Right then," Arthur commented as Carol admired her new virtual uniform. "Looks good. Though I still maintain neon green would have been bolder." He grinned. "Now, about acquiring one of those suits... You wouldn't happen to know how to, shall we say, 'borrow' one from an unconscious Kree, would you? Asking for a friend." After a bit of playful nagging and Carol rolling her eyes, she quickly explained the suit's interface and removal protocols. Useful information for the future.
With everything ready and Monica safely on her way with her grandparents, they gathered beside the newly modified spacecraft. Carol turned to Arthur with a questioning look.
"Are you coming with us?" she asked.
"Wouldn't miss it," Arthur replied instantly. "Always fancied a bit of proper extraterrestrial tourism. Keen to see what Earth looks like from orbit. Heard the view's smashing."
"But I thought you didn't like the Skrulls," Carol pointed out.
"Although I don't particularly like them, I don't hate them either," Arthur clarified. "I'm just wary of them because if they wanted to, they could turn into the American president and put a hit on me, couldn't they? But since you're going on this mission, I'm expecting trouble, and you'll be needing my help to keep these two normal people alive." He nodded toward Maria and Fury.
"Thank you," Carol said simply.
"What do you mean 'normal people'?" Fury asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You're not? Still hiding something, tour guide?"
"Isn't everyone, Agent Fury?" Arthur replied with an enigmatic smile. "Let's just say I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Shall we?" He gestured towards the open ramp of the now space-worthy aircraft. "Adventure awaits."