Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Black Box Revelations

Arthur had been wandering around the Rambeau property for almost an hour when suddenly one of the alert charms he had placed at the property long ago—as a backup for monitoring Vers’s arrival on the planet—triggered. Arthur knew what this meant. Talos, the Skrull leader, was here.

“Right on schedule,” Arthur murmured to himself as he walked towards young Monica Rambeau, who was playing alone at the edge of the property. Knowing what was about to unfold, he felt it wise to stay near her to ensure he could handle anything unexpected.

As Arthur approached, Monica looked up with curiosity. “You’re the British guy who came with Auntie Carol, right?”

“The very same,” Arthur confirmed with a friendly smile. “Name’s Merlin. So what do you think of everything that’s happened today? Bit more exciting than any storybook you’ve read, I’d wager?”

“It’s crazy!” Monica agreed, her voice full of excitement. “I knew Auntie Carol wasn’t really gone! But aliens? And spaceships? Wow!”

“Indeed,” Arthur chuckled. “So, reckon you’ll follow in your mum’s footsteps? Become a pilot?”

“Totally!” Monica declared. “I wanna fly that jet you guys landed in! Do you know how?”

“Afraid not,” Arthur admitted with genuine regret. “Bit beyond my skill set, that is. Reckon your mum could handle it, though?” He nodded toward a figure approaching them—Maria Rambeau, or rather, someone who looked exactly like her.

The resemblance was uncanny, better than anything a Polyjuice potion could achieve, but Arthur’s magical senses detected something off. It was just a feeling, but he was grateful to have some way of recognizing when a Skrull was near.

“Mom, why did you come out here alone?” Monica asked. “Where’s Auntie Carol?”

“She and the agent are planning their next steps,” the Skrull-Maria responded smoothly. “Not wanting to disturb them, I thought I’d check on you. What are you two doing?”

“Nothing much,” Arthur interjected, pulling a stack of cards from his pocket. “Fancy seeing a card trick? I’m rather good, if I do say so myself.”

—

Inside the house, Carol, Fury, and the real Maria were going through old photo albums when a knock interrupted them.

“Don’t answer that,” Fury warned immediately.

“It’s just my neighbor,” Maria replied, though uncertainty colored her voice.

“They can change into anyone,” Carol reminded her.

After a moment’s hesitation, Maria went to the door anyway. A middle-aged man with a friendly smile stood on the porch.

“Hi there,” he greeted cheerfully.

“What do you want?” Carol asked, suspicion evident in her tone as she moved protectively closer to Maria.

“Uh…” the man hesitated, clearly searching for words.

“Hey, Tom,” Maria said, attempting to sound normal. “This is my friend, Carol.”

“Oh. Pleased to meet you,” he replied, offering his hand.

When Carol shook it, there was a visible spark of static electricity.

“Yowzers,” the man chuckled, shaking his hand. “Static electricity out here’s no joke.”

He glanced beyond them toward the yard. “I noticed that peculiar bird you got parked by the road and I was just wondering if you mind if I bring the boys over to get a closer look-see?”

“A closer look-see?” Carol repeated skeptically.

“Yeah.”

“To see the ’bird’ parked out by the road?” Carol continued, her suspicion growing with each word.

“Mmm,” the man nodded.

“You’re really working overtime to sell this one, aren’t you, Talos?” Carol said, her posture shifting to combat-ready.

“I’m sorry, Tom,” Maria intervened, trying to defuse the situation. “This really isn’t a good time. I’ll come by tomorrow, okay?”

“Uh…” he began, but Maria was already closing the door.

As the door closed, a voice came from inside the house: “You know, you really should be kinder to your neighbors. You never know when you’re gonna need to borrow some sugar.”

Fury drew his gun and Carol’s fists began to glow with energy when Talos raised his hands defensively.

“Now, hang on a second,” Talos said. “Before you go swinging those jazz hands around, making a mess of your friend’s house…”

Talos pointed outside through the window.

“Oh my God!” Maria gasped.

Outside, they saw another Maria together with Monica, both watching Arthur as he performed what appeared to be an elaborate card trick. Arthur glanced up at the window and gave a cheerful wave to Carol.

“No one’s gonna hurt the girl,” Talos assured them, raising his hands higher. “Just don’t kill me. That would really complicate the situation.”

“I’m about five seconds from complicating that wall with some ugly-ass Skrull brains,” Fury threatened, his gun trained steadily on the alien.

“I’m sorry I simmed your boss,” Talos replied with surprising sincerity. “But now I stand before you as my true self. Without deception.”

“And who is that out there?” Carol demanded, though she didn’t seem particularly nervous knowing Arthur was outside.

“Okay, that’s a fair point,” Talos admitted, “but I’m sure you understand I had to take some precautions. I saw you crush twenty of my best men with your hands bound. I just wanna talk.”

“Last time we talked, I ended up hanging from my ankles,” Carol countered.

“That was before I knew who you were,” Talos explained. “Before I knew what made you different from the others.”

“Is Monica safe out there?” Maria asked anxiously, staring at the window.

“She’s fine,” Carol replied with unexpected confidence. “Merlin’s with her.”

“What’s our tour guide gonna do against a Skrull?” Fury asked incredulously.

“He can handle the Skrull easily,” Carol stated, not taking her eyes off Talos.

Fury and Talos exchanged confused glances.

“You seem awfully confident in your friend’s abilities,” Talos observed cautiously.

“I have my reasons,” Carol replied cryptically, remembering her earlier fight with Arthur. “Now, what do you want?”

Talos reached slowly into his jacket. “I have an audio recording from Pegasus, from your plane crash six years ago, on a device I believe you call a ’black box.’”

“They told me it was destroyed in the crash,” Maria interjected. “How’d you get it?”

“Young lady, I have a special skill that allows me to get into places I’m not supposed to be,” Talos explained.

“Call me ’young lady’ again, I’m gonna put my foot in a place it’s not supposed to be,” Maria warned.

“Am I supposed to guess where that is?” Talos asked, genuinely perplexed.

“Your ass,” Carol and Maria clarified in unison.

“Okay, I get it. We’re all on edge,” Talos conceded. “But if you’ll listen to this recording, I assure you it’ll be worth your while.”

“Call your buddy back inside and I’ll listen,” Carol demanded.

“Deal,” Talos agreed.

At that moment, Goose the cat wandered into the room, purring softly. Talos recoiled in horror.

“Oh, my God! Get that thing away!” he cried, pressing himself against the wall.

“How’d that get in here?” Fury asked, looking down at the cat in confusion.

“The cat?” Carol asked, bemused by the alien’s reaction.

“That’s not a cat!” Talos insisted, pointing a trembling finger. “That’s a Flerken! Extremely dangerous!”

Fury chuckled, scooping Goose up. “Dangerous? He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Before the conversation could continue, the door opened. Arthur stepped inside with Monica, and behind them, the Skrull disguised as Maria. As Monica looked back and forth between the two identical women, confusion washed over her face.

“Mom?” she whispered, backing toward Arthur instinctively.

The Skrull beside them sighed and reverted to his natural green form, causing Monica’s eyes to widen in astonishment rather than fear.

“Hey, tour guide!” Fury called out. “You don’t seem surprised by any of this.”

“I have my ways of knowing.” Arthur replied with a casual shrug. “So what’s the plan? Subdue these chaps and torture information out of them? I’ve seen plenty of films and read books about this sort of thing, but never witnessed it firsthand. Rather curious, that.”

“Nothing like that,” Carol replied firmly. “We might be on the same side.”

“What are you?” Talos asked Arthur directly, his eyes narrowing.

“Just a bloke passing through,” Arthur replied with an enigmatic smile. “Bit of a tourist, really. Now, about that black box recording you mentioned…”

Talos stared at him for another moment, then seemed to decide that pursuing the matter wouldn’t be productive.

Everyone followed Maria to her office, where she had an old desktop computer ready to play the black box recording.

“Everyone should hear this,” Talos said solemnly. “Especially you, Carol Danvers.”

As the device began to load, tension filled the room. Time seemed to stretch as they waited.

“What’s happening?” Carol whispered, her eyes fixed on the screen.

“It’s loading,” Fury replied softly.

Arthur laughed under his breath. Such slow loading speeds would have frustrated his past self, much less Carol who was accustomed to advanced alien tech.

Finally, the computer beeped readiness. Talos reached out and clicked ’Play’.

Audio filled the small room – static, alarms, shouting, the roar of stressed engines. Then voices – Lawson’s, urgent and fearful, Carol’s own younger voice, filled with confusion and determination, and then Yon-Rogg’s, cold and commanding. The recording laid bare the truth: Lawson (revealed as Mar-Vell, a Kree scientist) trying to escape with her light-speed engine tech; the Kree pursuit led by Yon-Rogg; the crash; Mar-Vell’s last stand; Yon-Rogg murdering her; Carol defying him, destroying the engine core herself, absorbing its immense power in the resulting explosion… then darkness, and Yon-Rogg’s voice talking about taking Vers back to Hala, the home planet of the Kree.

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