Part 8

In which Nick Fury has information he almost wished he didn't.

Carol Danvers nearly jumped up in shock. Her pager, the one from C-53, she had long since stopped thinking of it as Earth, like home, the one she had modified with the best of Kree Empire technology, the one that transmitted signals faster than light speed, was active. So either the planet's underdeveloped overall defense system had finally become an enticing target yet again, or Fury was wasting a lot of time. She didn't know which one to hope for. But either way, she had made a promise, so, since her energy was fully recharged, she folded up her hair as her helmet expanded to cover her face, the lack of air in space was extremely annoying, even if it wasn't fatal for her, and blasted away at FTL speed towards the nearest jump point and then C-53 and Terra. As she neared it, the tracker sensed that the signal had come from the top of a floating ship of some sort on the side that was nearly perfectly shined upon by the system's only sun, and about 60 degrees away from its single rotating moon.

As she came close to breaching its atmosphere, not seeing any obvious sign of an invasion from a different, more technologically advanced, planet, she connected her visit to the planet's news sources, thankful she knew ahead of time more or less how Terra's public news system operated.

Knowing it could not have been more than a minute since she got the call, due to the time-warping phenomenon, a phenomenon when traveling at faster than light speeds time may feel as if it would back a bit, although time was most certainly linear moving in one direction. Seeing as the news of the planet reported that there had been an alien invasion but it had been stopped by a group of superhumans, and it had started and ended several Terran months ago, Carol was curious as to what Fury was calling her about.

Without further ado, she entered the atmosphere and dove down towards the floating ship. Helicarrier, it was called, her visor's screen supplied. She tracked the pager to a room on board, so she landed on the ship. Some humans with an eagle's insignia that seemed familiar, it belonged to the secret government agency Fury worked for, she remembered, SHIELD, it was called, most likely agents. They had guns pointed at her, though they were rather primitive compared to other areas, and one of them spoke into an earpiece to call for backup.

"Identify yourself!" one yelled, as another yelled to the other agents, "we have an unidentified flying humanoid here, I repeat, UFH. Backup requested."

Carol warmed her fists up. If someone got Fury's pager and set a trap for her… She really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Fury finally came out. His eyepatch looked more permanent, more used, and in comparison to her, he had aged. She had found out over the years that thanks to Dr. Lawson, Mar-vell's engine exploding all over her, she had become a pseudo-celestial and would not age, at least not in comparison to humans. "Weapons down. She is an ally."

"Director?"

"I said weapons down!" Fury told his agents more strictly because Carol realized that he was now the director, their leader of this agency. He had come a long way during those years.

"Hello, Fury," Carol said, letting the energy halo around her fade. "Emergency or false alarm?"

"Emergency, though not of the alien invasion type."

"You had one of those a few months ago, I heard."

"We handled it. Come." Fury motioned for her to come inside. When they reached a room further down inside, Fury shut the door and told her, "We need your expertise in less of the alien-bashing variety, more of the alien-knowing type."

"Oh? What kind of aliens do you have to deal with?"

"The self-admitted mass-murdering types."

"And why would you need my expertise, Fury? The universe is large, and like it or not, there are quite a few people there that pride themselves on mass murder. One of the worst ones in ages was dealt with recently, Thanos he called himself. Got his planet burnt to ash."

"Yes, who did that? We have a potential alien mass murderer on Earth and we need to know how to deal if she becomes hostile."

"Fury, the Nova Corps already dealt with her. Thanos was a major threat, especially with his knack for possessing and controlling people's minds with no visible signs except a change in eye color. Few can fight him off, and the fact that his army was decimated, and no civilians were harmed increased the benefit."

"Carol, I don't care how the space government works. Earth has its governments, and if there's a potential threat, one powerful enough to destroy a planet because of something done to her dad, it's my job to know."

"Fury, what do you know, and what don't you know? Because we have something like a Skrull story here. This is about Rose Potter, right?"

"You know her."

"I know the same person I know goes by that name on this planet. Nobody goes by the same name all through the universe, and few, if any, tell people their real birth names. The universe is infinite. Fury, therefore impossible to fully police. That's why there are mercs like me."

"You're a mercenary?"

"What else would I be? I don't have the prereqs necessary for Nova Corps, nor am I the type to do paperwork. So what do you know and don't know?"

"We know that there is a being who goes by Rose Potter. Comfortable on Earth yet does not claim to be human. We have reason to suspect she was the student, if not the daughter, of the Asgardian war criminal Loki who attempted to conquer Earth four months ago. Has shown she can fly autonomously, teleport, teleport others, have higher strength and endurance than humans, though not as much as Asgardians, vocal imitation, telekinetic control of physical matter, and in-depth knowledge of several alien races. Suspected to be able to teleport intergalactically, have bulletproof and largely knife-resistant skin, shapeshifting, illusion creation, nonliving matter conjuration. Companion Flerken named Goose."

"Goose? We split when I went back to Torfa, you know where she is?"

"Meow!" Goose, in nundu form, meandered out of the shadows, shifting into a panther, then a tabby as she walked. Goose jumped up into Carol's arms.

"Goose!" Carol smiled, petting the cat-like flerken.

"Carol, is there anything else we should know about this person?"

"Yes. She is a very interesting person, I've known her for a few years. She had a lot of forces working against her in her teenage years, I don't think even the end of the universe could phase her. Nova Corps knows her as Astra Black, I first met her as Amarantha Peverell, on Terra she goes by Rose Potter, and she has several other names, although all of them seem to have some sort of flower or star root, except for when she really doesn't want to give anything away, she goes by Anna Nyms. Raised on Terra, lost her mother when she was a year old, raised by her maternal aunt and father. The first time I met her in person, she was getting attacked by some pirates near Xandar, although it was more like she was toying with them. There was a boy with her, her godson, they attacked him, she decimated them. I suspect her mother may have had latent celestial DNA that acted up when combined with her father's."

"And her father?"

"I honestly don't know his name and I've only met him twice under different disguises every time. Something about the ruler of his world not appreciating him sneaking off."

"And this was when?"

"What time system?"

"Earth years."

"Time goes at different rates through the universe. But proportionally that would be 67 and then again 24 years ago."

"How old is she?"

"No idea."

"Weaknesses?"

"Fury, she's not a threat unless you hurt her or literally one of 16 other people, most of which you have no access to."

"And the ones I do?"

"Shapeshifter, a teenager named Edward Lupin-Black, and her half-sister, although I don't know what she goes by on Terra." Carol flicked some things around on the armband around the lower left arm of her suit. Kree warfare was despicable, but their technology was top-notch, and she felt no shame in continuing to use it. "There's a list," she explained. "There's a publicly available list, through the known universe, that has some names on it. Some go on and off, but there have always been 16 names that have stayed on it, permanently. The list also works like an app. Anyone on the list has a method of identifying themselves in the app, imposters are always caught. The list is basically the universe's best safety guarantee because it is widely known, nobody manages to hurt anyone on the list, while they are on the list, and any who do, if they're lucky, don't live to regret it. It's basically diplomatic immunity anywhere."

"How, exactly, is it guaranteed? And who is on there?"

"There have always been the core 12 on the list, and some names and even organizations stay on there for a while. It's not advertised, but amongst mercs like me, it's known protecting one on the list, it gets you a big bonus afterward, always upwards of a hundred thousand credits, around ten million earth dollars. That's how I met her first. There was an ambassador on the list for a few weeks, their ship got exploded by pirates, I was passing by, blasted the pirates, and gave the ship a lift. Got ten million credits to my name transferred the next day. Tracked her down, to make sure it wasn't some sort of scam. We've worked together a bit, but the known universe is a very large place."

"So who is on the list?"

Carol brought it up, and read the names out loud. "Here are the core 12. Edward Lupin-Black, Sapphire Gailsdottir, Juliet Bailiff, Mercurius, no last name, Augustus Long, Lucille Long, Celeste Long, Ralf Mander, Cassiopeia Tonks, Astra Black, Anthony Stark"

"Stark is on the list?"

"Yeah."

"Also Frigga Freyadottir. Two years ago, Odin Borson was replaced by Freyr Freyason. There are often at least a few government officials here or there, but none last on the list for long. Irani Rael, Nova Prime, leader of Nova Corps, was there for a while. I got added on a few years ago if you count Earth time linearly. Two weeks ago, Steve Rogers was added."

"Dammit, I know exactly who runs that list." Contrary to popular opinion within SHIELD, Nick Fury was stubborn, not dumb. He knew exactly who half of those names were, and could guess the rest. Karma was a bitch, but he had always known his past could come back to haunt him.

A/N: I know, a bit confusing. Clarification, on the list of names some were alternate but guessable names for canon characters as well as a few unaltered. If you can guess them, say in the reviews or pm me and I will post another chapter if anyone gets at least half. Note, one of them is an OC but clearly mentioned in the intro chapter.