8 Chapter 8

Max knocked on the only closed door in the house. He heard no reply, even after he repeated his call. He waited for a few seconds, but the silence was deafening. He decided to open the door and see for himself.

He was greeted by a sight that broke his heart. Carol was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed, her face buried in her knees. She didn't seem to notice Max's presence, or maybe she didn't care.

Max walked to her and stood beside her. He gently touched her shoulder and said, "Vers?"

Carol lifted her head and glared at him. She shouted, "Don't ever say that name!"

Max flinched, but he didn't give up. He tried again, "Carol?"

She just looked at him with a blank expression. She didn't say anything.

Max sighed and said, "Carol, I know what you are going through right now, but..."

Carol interrupted him with a scream, "NO!...You don't know what I am going through. Nobody knows what I am going through. For ten years, TEN YEARS! I have been living a lie. Every day I spent serving the Kree empire, every trip to planets killing people, I thought that I was saving lives, but that was all a lie. All the friends I made on Hala, all the friends I made in the Starforce, all of them were lies. You couldn't possibly understand what I am going through. I was kidnapped from my home planet and had my mind messed up just to use my powers. You don't know how it feels to learn that everyone around you were lying just to create a fake world around you. I don't even know if my life here was also real, or some lie fabricated by skrulls to use me. I don't even know if you are truly the kind, fun and nice Max that I know. I can't even tell if yesterday was even real or another lie. I can't tell who I am. I can't tell what is real around me. I can't tell who is honest around me."

Max looked at her with pity and compassion. He tried to reach out to her, but she pushed him away, blasting him with her photon blasts. Max reacted quickly and created a shield of sorts out of electricity in front of him to protect himself. The photon blasts hit the shield and there was a huge explosion, sending Max crashing into the wall. Carol was also blown back, with the whole bed flying and hitting the wall, breaking. Windows shattered and everything in the room was destroyed.

Everyone downstairs heard the huge explosion and immediately ran to the room. When they got there, the door was barely hanging from a single screw and smoke rose from the room.

They got to the room and were shocked to see the state of the room. Fury asked, "Are we under attack?"

Max and Carol rose up from the rubble. Carol was completely unscratched while Max wasn't. He had wood pieces stuck in him in multiple places.

Carol saw him and immediately ran to him. She looked at the impaled wood pieces and said, "Max! Oh my God! I am really sorry....I am really sorry..." tearing up.

Max wiped her tears and said, "Carol. Calm down. I am fine."

Then, right before her eyes, he disappeared and appeared beside her, with the wood pieces falling on the ground. Max said, "See. Not even a scratch. Did you forget what I told you about my powers?"

Carol immediately hugged Max and cried while apologizing continuously, "Sorry....sorry...sorry..."

Max patted her back to calm her down. He whispered, "It's okay. It's okay. I'm fine."

She calmed down after a while and moved from Max after she noticed that they weren't alone.

Fury looked at Max and asked, "Are you immortal?"

Max replied, "I am not saying anything about my powers, but you can consider me immortal. If I attain eternal youth, I am practically a god."

Maria, then walked ahead, squeezing through the skrulls and Fury blocking the entrance. She then saw the state of the room.

She then shouted, "Ok. I don't care who you are or what you are going through. I need all of you to leave my house right now."

They all left the house and Carol and Max found a shady spot under a tree. Fury was playing with Goose, the cat that had followed them from the base. Talos saw Goose and his eyes widened. He said, "Oh no! What is a Flerkin doing here?"

Fury asked, "Oh! You call cats Flerkin? Do you also have cats as pets on your planet?"

Talos moved away from Fury and said, "Who in the right mind would keep a Flerkin as a pet?"

Fury then noticed that Talos was afraid of Goose. He held it forward, towards Talos to confirm. Talos shouted, "What are you doing? Take it away."

Fury smiled and said, "Looks like I found your Kryptonite."

Meanwhile, with Max and Carol. Carol said to him, "I am really sorry Max. I was going through a lot and when you reached out to me, I got scared and everything just happened."

Max said, "I will forgive you on a condition that you have to agree to one request of mine, no matter how weird it is."

Carol replied, "As long as it isn't something bad. I will do it."

"Great" Max said with a creepy smile on his face.

Carol could tell that he had something embarrassing planned for her and smiled. She said to Max, "I guess I know who to trust. I just have to listen to my heart."

Max then asked, "Now, tell me everything about your past." And Carol started to describe all the key moments of her life from childhood to her time in the academy and her time at Pegasus.

Max listened attentively and asked questions whenever he wanted to know more. He then asked, "So, have you decided who you are?"

Carol was still silent and didn't have an answer. Max said, "Carol. Who we are, are not defined by our memories, but the character we build throughout those memories. You are a strong, kind, righteous, and sometimes fun woman."

Maria then stepped in and said, "You are my best friend, who supported me as a pilot when no one else did."

Monica also stepped in and said, "You are the greatest pilot and the best aunt in the whole world."

Talos then said, "You are the only person who knows the destination of Mar-Vell's lab. So, can you please decode the coordinates before the Kree get here." Ruining the moment they all had.

Carol turned to Max for his option and then to Fury. Both of them nodded and then Carol turned to Talos and said, "Those aren't coordinates, they are state vectors."

Talos didn't understand that and turned to his science guy, who also shrugged his shoulders. Fury said, "It means the lab is in the orbit and not on land."

Talos turned to his science guy and said, "Was that so hard to figure out? You're supposed to be my science guy."

Carol said, "We should be able to find the current position in the orbit."

Fury then asked, "So, how do we get there?"

The science guy of the skrull pointed to the jet and said, "I can make a few modifications and it should take us to space."

Talos said, "Great. We will leave as soon as you are done."

Max shouted, "Wait!" Stopping everyone in their tracks.

They all looked at him with confusion. Max also had a puzzled expression on his face. He turned to Carol and asked, "Carol, are you fine with this plan?"

"Why not?" Carol asked.

Max then turned to Fury and asked, "You also don't see the foolishness in this plan?"

Fury replied, confused, "Well, your girlfriend here already called them to this planet. So, we have to find the lab as soon as possible."

Max then pointed his fingers to his own head, imitating the Invincible meme. He then said, "Think Fury, Think! The Kree still don't know Mar-Vell's lab exists, or else they would have found it 10 years ago when they came to Earth. They also don't know how to get there. The Kree will be here at any moment today and going to the lab now will be the same as bringing them the lab they never asked for."

Max then turned to Carol and said, "Remember Carol, according to them, Mar-Vell is dead and the light speed engine blew up. They have no idea the lab exists. They are coming here for you. Yon-Rogg tried to stop you from investigating Lawson out of fear that you might get your memories back. So, going to the lab now is the dumbest thing you could ever do."

Talos heard Max and said, "Now that I think about it, everything you said suddenly makes sense."

Max asked, "How are you the leader of an entire race?"

Carol then asked Max, "What do you suggest we do then?"

Max said, "Fight them here on Earth, deal with them and then go find the lab."

Fury shouted, "Hell no! One alien race is already too much alien for this planet. We don't need more coming here and starting a war."

Max said, "Don't worry Fury, I alone am enough to deal with them. Also, if they do get backup, Carol will take care of them."

Carol said, "Max. I think you are overestimating my power. I can't take on a whole fleet of the empire."

Max said, "Remember you told me about how you got your powers and also before you used to say that Kree gave it to you. Now that I see it, I see a small device at your neck blocking a few messages from your brain. I have a feeling that it is inhibiting your powers."

Max then raised his finger and pointed it at Carol. She then felt a small zap and the device on her neck fell down. She then suddenly felt a power swelling inside her and her whole body started glowing.

Everyone was shocked to see her glowing, except Max. Carol's body started floating and this surprised people even more. Her eyes were glowing and her hair was floating.

Fury looked at Carol and said, "Is she an angel sent by God?"

Carol then slowly landed on the ground and looked at her glowing body. The glow on her body then slowly faded and Carol also couldn't believe her powers.

She then flew into the sky, with a face full of excitement. She screamed, "Wooowww..." As she soared in the sky.

Fury shouted to Carol, "Carol. People on Earth don't usually float in the sky if you forgot. Get your ass down here before someone sees you."

Max then wondered, "It's weird that even after all the things that happened, no one came out of their homes."

Talos answered, "When we arrived here as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, we asked everyone in the surroundings to leave saying that a killer was on the loose and it might be dangerous. We also provided them rooms at a 5 star hotel and no one refused."

Fury said to Talos, "Don't go around spending S.H.I.E.L.D. funds like that. We also have to report our spendings to the governments."

As for Carol, she was loving the new experience and the adrenaline rush from flying for the first time was evident from her screams.

She then landed after a while and turned to Monica. She said, "Lieutenant Troubles, I promised you that I would show you the view from up there. Want to see it?"

"YES" Monica screamed in excitement and ran to Carol, but Maria screamed, "No! It is clear that it is her first time flying."

Monica ignored her mother and Carol just sent a smile to Maria before flying again into the sky. Maria shouted from below, "Don't you dare drop her."

Carol and Monica flew through the skies and the clouds. It was their dream to experience a flight like this, soaring the skies and enjoying the moment. Carol actually liked this more than flying the jet since on the jet, you don't get much time to enjoy the scenery.

They flew for a while and Max noticed that Monica was not feeling well. Max floated in the air and flew to Carol. Carol looked completely shocked when she saw Max floating.

Carol said, "Max. You can fly too. Come enjoy the view with us."

Max stopped her and said, "Not all people have experienced flight." Pointing to Monica, who was about to puke from all the flying.

Since Carol was already a pilot, she was trained to fly, and deal with the motion sickness, but Monica wasn't a pilot. So, all the flying around caused motion sickness.

Carol immediately went down and placed Monica on the ground gently. Immediately after they touched land, Monica ran behind a tree and started puking.

Maria went to help her daughter, rubbing her back while glaring at Carol, who sent an apologetic look.

They all went back into their homes, which Maria still didn't like. Maria offered to cook and Carol and Monica helped her with the cooking while also catching up on everything that happened.

Meanwhile, Fury, Talos and Max were sitting in the living room. The three skrulls were working on the jet.

Fury asked Max, "So, you can fly, zap people, open things and are practically immortal. Are you sure you are from around here?"

Max replied, "I am not giving out any information about myself. You are free to assume whatever you want and figure out the rest on your own."

Fury knew this would be the answer, so he gave up trying to find out about him and turned to Talos. He asked him, "Where is my boss now?"

Talos replied, "He is locked up naked in his car. We also left him enough food for a day."

Fury asked, "Why is he naked? Last time I noticed, you change even with the clothes."

Talos said, "So that he doesn't escape from the car."

Fury said, "You sick bastard."

After a while, Maria announced that dinner was ready. She had made some mac and cheese, a simple but comforting dish. They all gathered around the table and enjoyed the meal. They tried to make some small talk, but the tension was palpable. They knew they had to face the Kree soon.

Maria said, "I don't want you fighting here. Take it to the outskirts where no one will get hurt. I don't want my house blown away in an explosion."

Her request made sense, so they agreed to move to a forest far from civilization. They packed their weapons and supplies and got into the jet. The skrulls had modified it to fly in space, but it still looked like a normal jet from the outside.

Carol looked at the panel on the glove from her Starforce uniform . It had a button that would activate a beacon signal for Yon-Rogg to find her. She looked at everyone and saw that they were ready. They nodded and Carol pressed the button. She turned on the beacon signal for Yon-Rogg to find her.