Inside the sterile confines of the central interface chamber, Carol Danvers knelt on the metal floor.
Wires extended from her neck into the Kree console, pulling her consciousness into the vast, white void of the Supreme Intelligence.
The entity wore the face of Dr.
Wendy Lawson—Mar-Vell.
“You are just a human,” the Supreme Intelligence stated, its voice echoing in the blank expanse.
It manipulated the simulation, forcing Carol to her knees with an invisible weight.
“Without us, you are weak.
You are flawed.
We gave you your power, and we can take it away.”
Carol stared at the floor, memories flashing through her mind.
Falling off a bicycle as a child.
Crashing a go-kart.
Enduring the mocking laughter of male cadets at the Air Force academy.
But with every memory of falling, a second memory followed.
Standing back up.
Dusting off the dirt.
Climbing back into the cockpit.
“You didn’t give me anything,” Carol said.
Her voice started as a whisper and grew into a roar.
She pushed against the crushing weight.
The cosmic energy residing in her cells ignited.
In the physical world, the Kree suppression chip on the back of her neck began to crack.
Blue sparks showered the deck.
With a final, agonizing pull, Carol tore the limiter from her flesh.
A shockwave of sheer photon energy erupted from her body, blowing the console apart.
The blast threw Yon-Rogg and his Starforce guards across the room.
Carol hovered inches above the deck, her eyes glowing white, an aura of burning energy radiating from her skin.
Yon-Rogg scrambled to his feet.
He raised his arms, activating the specialized telekinetic gauntlets on his wrists.
Gravity fields locked around Carol, attempting to pin her limbs to her sides.
For a fleeting second, the Kree Commander’s technology held her back.
Carol tilted her head, her expression indifferent.
She flared her energy, shattering the kinetic hold like glass.
She drove a fist into Yon-Rogg’s chest, sending him crashing through the heavy blast doors.
Coughing blood, Yon-Rogg didn’t attempt another strike.
He dragged himself into an escape pod, punched the launch sequence, and shot away from the cruiser.
Beyond the atmosphere, the dark vacuum of space tore open.
A cluster of hexagonal jump points illuminated the orbit of Earth, designated C-53 by the Kree Empire.
Ronan the Accuser stepped to the viewport of his command ship.
It was a standard Accuser warship, a hulking mass of dark metal and jagged angles.
We have lost contact with Starforce,” a Kree navigator reported.
Ronan gripped his warhammer.
“Burn it.”
The belly of the warship opened.
Hundreds of heavy ballistic missiles dropped from the bay, their thrusters igniting as they swarmed toward the blue planet below.
Down in the Louisiana farmhouse, Max sat on the porch.
He shifted his consciousness into a Shadowkhan he had stationed in the upper atmosphere, using its cold, red eyes to watch the bombardment begin.
A streak of golden light shot up from the Earth’s surface.
Captain Marvel met the missiles in the exosphere.
She didn’t bother firing individual blasts.
Harnessing her newfound speed, she flew directly alongside the swarm.
She grabbed the casing of one missile and shoved it hard into its neighbor.
The chain reaction cascaded.
Fireballs bloomed in the silence of space as Carol careened through the formation, treating the planet-destroying weapons like billiard balls.
Ronan watched the explosions from his bridge.
“Send the interceptors.”
Dozens of sleek Kree fighters detached from the cruiser, diving toward the glowing woman.
Plasma fire rained down.
Carol rolled and banked, letting the energy blasts sail past her shoulders.
Then, she stopped dodging.
She turned into a human missile, flying straight through the cockpit of the lead interceptor.
She tore through the squadron, leaving a trail of shattered metal and freezing fuel in her wake.
Not slowing down, Carol targeted one of Ronan’s escort cruisers.
She hit the armored hull at light-speed, coring the massive ship from end to end.
The cruiser imploded, breaking apart in a spectacular display of cosmic violence.
Carol drifted to a halt in front of Ronan’s flagship.
She hovered in the void, blazing like a miniature sun, and stared directly at the bridge.
Ronan stared back.
He recognized the raw, unbridled power of the Space Stone.
He turned to his helmsman.
“Withdraw.
We will return for the weapon.”
The remaining three warships angled away from Earth, slipping back through the jump points and vanishing into deep space.
Max, watching through the ninja’s eyes, committed the entire battle to his *Gamer’s Mind*.
The recording was logged.
Carol tracked Yon-Rogg’s pod as it tumbled through the atmosphere, crashing into a barren patch of swampland miles from the Rambeau property.
She landed softly on the dirt a few moments later.
Yon-Rogg crawled from the wreckage.
He was bruised and limping, but his pride remained intact.
He looked up at the glowing woman who used to be his subordinate.
“I am proud of you, Vers,” he rasped, struggling to stand.
“But you need to prove it.
Turn off the light show.
No powers.
Just you and me, hand to hand.
Let’s see what you really are.”
Carol let the glowing aura fade.
She looked at him.
She raised her right hand.
A single photon blast struck Yon-Rogg in the chest.
He flew backward, slamming into the twisted metal of his pod, unconscious before he hit the ground.
“I have nothing to prove to you,” she said to the empty swamp.
She grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and took off toward the farmhouse.
Carol dropped Yon-Rogg onto the grass next to the prisoners.
She dusted off her hands, the red and blue of her uniform pristine.
The ramp of the Quadjet lowered with a mechanical whine.
Nick Fury, Maria, Talos, and the Skrulls stepped out into the humid Louisiana air.
They stopped at the bottom of the ramp, taking in the scene.
Tied to the massive oak trees surrounding the property were dozens of Kree shock-troopers.
They were stripped of their weapons, bound with their own gravity cuffs, and slumped over in unconscious heaps.
Maria looked at the tied-up alien army, then at her best friend.
“Did you do all this?”
Carol frowned, looking around the quiet yard, and shook her head.
“No.
They were like this when I got down here.”
Fury rubbed his jaw, his single eye scanning the dark tree line.
“Then I think I know who did.
We ran into a squad of space ninjas up on the cruiser.
Light blue skin, swords.
One of them had glowing gold eyes and beat a dozen Kree with a crowbar.
He made it clear that my agency isn’t the only organization protecting the world.”
“Ninjas?” Carol asked.
“Yeah,” Fury said, shaking his head at the bound soldiers.
“And apparently, they work fast.”
Max sat on the wooden porch steps, holding his sketchbook.
He kicked his small feet back and forth.
Using his powers, he quietly recorded the shock painted across the faces of the spy, the pilot, and the alien general.
Maria walked up the porch steps, scooping Max and Monica into her arms.
” Are You okay, my babies?”
Monica nodded and went to Carol asking questions about her adventure.
Max offered her a wide, toothy grin and rested his head on her shoulder.
The timeline was secure, the Kree were defeated, and the shadows remained hidden.