Hello, again. Many apologies for taking so long. I've been busy with university and other stories. But don't worry here it is. Hope you enjoy it.
The Lab
The group were back inside the house talking.
"I'm grateful Talos," Yorgoth said. "And I'm sorry too. You were trying to honour my mother's wishes and protect me,"
"Don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be sorry. I failed for years to try and rescue you from your father when your mother died," Talos sympathised.
"You kept your promise in the end by telling me the truth. Thank you,"
"I know for a fact that I don't deserve either of your trusts," Talos addressed both Yorgoth and Vers. "But know this. We discovered that your energy signatures matched Mar-vell's core. Now we know why. Please try to understand how important this is. Not just to me. But all that is left of my people,"
"What is it that you need us to do?" Vers requested.
"We need you two to decode the coordinates to Mar-Vell's lab,"
"Those weren't coordinates. They're state vectors,"
"So her lab isn't on Earth?" her brother asked.
"Nope. It's not," his wife remarked.
"Those coordinates were where the crash happened," Yorgoth clarified. "But if we can track, where it was heading to…"
"That's where we find the lab," Vers finished. She showed off with a smirk. "It will be in orbit right now,"
"Then we must get going," Talos said. He turned to Yorgoth. "I know you don't want me to say this…but Yon-Rogg is your father,"
Yorgoth's face was grim.
"You can't deny it no matter how hard you try. We must go now whilst we still can. I already failed to keep my promise to your mother once. I won't do it again. We must get to that core before he does,"
Yorgoth remained rather affected by the word 'father'. He looked like he couldn't move.
"You guys can't come with us," Vers said.
"I lost you guys for six years. I'm not losing either of you again," Joel clasped his sister's shoulder.
"I don't want you to get hurt," Carol spoke with such love.
"Let him come," Monica implored. "And let mum come along too,"
"What no? Mo, your mum has to stay with you," Joel argued.
"No you guys need to stick together with Auntie Carol and Uncle Wally. I'll stay with Grandma and Paw-paw,"
"Mo, it's too dangerous for her,"
"Come on Daddy J. You two tested brand-new aerospace and now you're going to make mum give it up,"
"Monica's got a point," Yorgoth shrugged his shoulders.
"Mum, are you gonna give up the chance to go on the biggest mission in the history of missions just to sit on the couch?" Monica wouldn't give up. "And besides, what happened to the four of you sticking all together. You've done that your whole lives. Don't let be separated from one another again," she begged with deep sincerity. "I'll be fine,"
The choice was made.
Maria and Joel went out to greet Maria's parents leaving Yorgoth and Vers to sit outside on the stairs with Monica.
"You surely have a way of convincing mum and dad to do what you want them to," Yorgoth smirked.
"That's Lieutenant's Trouble's gift," chuckled Vers.
Monica's face brightened. "You remembered?"
"Cause I remembered," Vers turned to Yorgoth. "Do you remember the nickname you gave her?"
Yorgoth drifted off into thought. "I think I called you…" he scratched his chin. He clicked his fingers. "MJ. For Maria Junior,"
"That's it!" Monica cheered.
"Well M.J. Think you could help me and Carol with something. We need some help selecting some new colours," He stood up. "I cannot stand to be in Kree. Ladies first," he stepped aside so that Vers was next to Monica. She held up her wrist com and activated the colour coder for the suit.
Monica started tampering with it and the colours of the suit began to change. Red to yellow. "No," Black and yellow.
Yorgoth sniggered.
"No," Monica set up the colours to make the suit flash in green, yellow, pink, and blue.
"Definitely not," Yorgoth shook his head whilst the girl's chuckled. The next set of colours was grey and beige.
"Since we're on the same team…" Vers pointed at Monica's shirt which was red with a set of gold wings inside a blue circle. Monica selected blue, gold, and red and Vers was transformed.
"How do I look?"
"Gorgeous," Yon-Rogg smiled.
"Fresh," Monica smiled. She high-fived Vers. "Right. Your turn Uncle Wally,"
"Shall I have red and gold and blue like you Carol?" he joked.
"Not. Let's find you some more manly,"
Monica tampered with Yorgoth's colour suits. His suit changed to purple and pink. The girls laughed. He rolled his eyes. The next colours were pink and blue. Once again he felt embarrassed.
"Are you doing this on purpose?" he asked Monica.
"No," she chuckled.
"Do it again," Vers urged.
"No! No! Just please pick some colours which aren't going to look like a girl's fashion model!" Yorgoth complained.
Monica set it up to black and blue. Then gold and black. "How about that?"
"Mmm…." Yorgoth observed his new colours. "I like it,"
"Looks good on you," Vers smiled. "You used to wear gold and black all the time. I recall you wearing black all the time during flight tests,"
"I love it. Give me a high five M.J!" Yorgoth raised his palm and Monica clapped it with her own.
Soon the craft was ready, and it was time to take off. Joel and Maria gave Monica a tight hug and a kiss on each cheek. Then Monica hugged her dear godparents. She watched as the group with Nick Fury and the Skrulls took off into the sky which had begun to turn light as a new day had arrived.
They soared high into the sky. Yorgoth did his best not to puke.
Nick still cuddled Goose and did kissy noises with it. Joel was rather amused by his love for cats.
"You know you really shouldn't have that thing on your lap," Talos warned.
"What harm can an alien who looks like a cat do?" Joel asked.
"And remember our little alliance with you is tenuous at best," Fury warned. "And just as long as you're afraid of him…" he held him up to Talos. "I'm going to give him hugs and kisses. Ain't that right Goosy?" he cooed.
"You're making me feel sick just hearing you say that," Yorgoth groaned silently.
"Can I ask you something?" Maria asked Talos. "Can you turn into anything you want?"
"I have to see it first," Talos said.
"Does it take practice?" Joel asked.
"Physiologically no. But practically…it takes practice,"
"Can you turn into any other things aside from people?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know. A cat? A filing cabinet?"
"Why would he turn into a filing cabinet?" Yorgoth asked.
"How about a Venus McFly trap?" Fury challenged. "I'll give you fifty bucks if you turn into one,"
"We're not doing any bucks on this ship," Yorgoth said. "We have a mission to do first,"
"Okay. Switching from Scramjet to Fusion," Vers clicked some buttons. "Buckle up folks," She pushed a lever ad they shot off into the clouds and right into space. The ship began to shake. Everyone clung on tight. Yorgoth did his best to hold his lunch.
Minutes later when they were surrounded by dark skies and everyone felt the tips of their hairs lifting and Goose began floating around. Nick reached out his hand so he could claw and climb down his sleeve. Vers activated to the anti-gravity and Goose fell back into Fury's hands.
"Okay," Yorgoth took a moment to swallow his lunch.
"Thanks for not puking," Vers said. Everyone stared out the front.
"There's nothing out here but space,"
"Where is the lab?" Talos asked.
"It's definitely around here. I know it is," Yorgoth activated his transmitter. He checked their coordinates and realised they were corrected. He pressed a button. 'Decloaking activated'
Right in front of their eyes, a giant floating lab appeared.
"My mother's lab," Yorgoth breathed. "After all this time,"
They landed the ship inside a ship bay then they began to make their way through a series of tunnels. Joel had brought some torches in case of an emergency, so he passed one to his wife and one to Fury. Vers and Yorgoth made orbs of energy appear above their hands. They came to a giant room with loads of stuff lying around. Fury let Goose down and Goose prowled over to a strange glowing cube of blue in a slot.
"Is that it?" Maria asked. "The core?"
"It is. In my mother's notes, she called it the Tesseract," Yorgoth walked to it. "In reality, it's a space stone. One of the six infinity stones. We can't let this fall into Kree hands," He took it out from its slot. "Well done Goose," he bent down to pet the kitten.
Fury giggled a bit.
"What's so funny?"
"You say you're sick watching me cuddle with the cat but now you're petting him,"
"I have to agree with Fury on that one," Vers smirked. Yorgoth just glanced at her, and he felt his cheeks blush.
Vers peered around and she saw a series of kids' stuff. "What was your mother doing with all this kid stuff?" she grabbed a lunch box and passed it to Yorgoth to put the Tesseract in.
"Guys…" Joel spoke up. He pointed to a cup of drink with steam brewing out.
"We're not alone," Maria said.
Joel peered around he noticed Talos walking to the centre of the room. "What's he doing?"
Talos stood alone and released a long loud bellow. He stopped and he stood still as if he was waiting for something.
"Guys look…" Maria whispered. She pointed to a far corner of the room. A Skrull was coming out.
"There's more," Joel pointed to a hidden corridor. More Skrulls appeared. One of them rushed towards Talos. "Talos!" it was a female, likely his wife. She threw her arms around him, and they embraced.
All the Skrulls came out from their hiding spots.
"He didn't come here for the Tesseract," Vers said.
"He came for his family," Yorgoth said. The sight of Talos with his wife made him feel incredibly guilty. All this time they thought Talos was their enemy when it was their allies the entire time.
Talos's wife pressed her head against his. "We didn't know what to do. Mar-Vell warned us not to send a signal for any reason or the Kree would find us,"
"You did the right thing," Talos assured. He frowned his eyes when he noticed his wife turning her head to a dark corner.
A young Skull appeared.
The sight of the young Skrull running over to Talos made Yorgoth tear up a bit. It was his daughter. They greeted each other with deep affection. He made a step forward.
The moment he did, Talos's wife noticed and she pulled her daughter back.
"It's okay. It's okay," Talos assured. "This is Mar-Vell's son: Walter. And his friend Carol. They led me right to you,"
"We're so…so sorry for everything that has happened," Vers apologised deeply.
"Don't be. This is war. My hands are filthy from it too. And Walter…" Talos could see the guilt in Yorgoth as he began to cry a bit. "…. you're not responsible for what your father did,"
"But I became like him,"
"At least you got your memories back…and you know the truth now. But know this…you can't deny who you are Walter," Talos said. "It only prolongs the pain,"
Yorgoth found comfort in his words. "How many more are out there?"
"There are hundreds of us scattered across the galaxy. I don't know how much longer we can all hide separately,"
"I promise all of you, by the love I have for my mother…." Yorgoth addressed the whole crowd. "…we will find you a new home, far away from the Kree. We promise we will never let any Kree…harm any of you again. They will be brought to justice,"
The Skrulls felt touched by his words. Talos's daughter wandered over and said a little hello to her father's new friends. She sent strange glances at the two of them. Then to their surprise, she grabbed one of their hands and placed them together.
Vers and Yorgoth looked up at one another. As they did, they felt a strong connection spark between them, as if they were truly seeing each other for the first time in their lives, like something had always been there…but they had never seen it.
Suddenly the doors opened and Yon-Rogg entered with his four subordinates behind him, armed. Yorgoth stood in front of Talos and his family.
Fury pulled out a gun but Minn-Erva went "Uh ah," whilst holding up her riffle. Reluctantly he dropped it.
"Fraternizing with the enemy?" Yorgoth marched upon his two missing team members who were now boiling with rage at the sight of him. He frowned once he saw their new suit colours. "What did you two do to your uniforms?"
"They got in their heads," Minn-Erva said.
"The Supreme Intelligence will set her straight," Korath said.
"No! They told us the truth! Skrulls were never the villains. It was the Kree. It's always been the Kree!" Yorgoth retorted with utter disgust. "See the way you're treating them?"
The Skrulls were scared.
"You can see they're not soldiers. Let them go," Talos implored. "You can have me,"
"And the core?"
"You lied to us," Vers sneered.
"I made you two the best version of yourselves,"
"You stole us from our homes, our families! You turned us into your pawns!" Yorgoth shouted back in rebuff. "I know what you are to me!" he was no longer afraid of his true parentage.
Yon-Rogg's features seemed to soften. He looked rather shaken. "Look Yorgoth…" he tried to speak.
"Don't try to act all daddyish. I will never be what you tried to turn me into,"
"Your mother betrayed us. She stole you away from your home, from…"
"No! She placed her allegiance to a race of innocent people whom you have enslaved for years! She has spent her entire life protecting me from you,"
"You would place your loyalty to those disgusting vulgar shapeshifters over your kind?"
"Terrans are my kind. And those Skrulls are more humane than you will ever be and what's more, they're now our friends who are worth ten more than the Kree. And if any of you are still intent on doing them harm, you will have to find a way through me first," he stood his ground against his father.
Vers stepped next to him. "And me also,"
"And us as well," Joel stepped up.
Yorgoth smirked. "Such valence. Just like your mother,"
"You murdered my mother," seethed Yorgoth. "And now I'm gonna kill you!"
He tried to fire but he felt a sudden stinging in his neck. He look into his father's cruel arrogant face as he held up a control. "You forget I control you,"
"Walter!" Vers tried to help but she was stung too.
Joel and Maria tried to help them, but they were forced back by Atlas. The lunch box was snatched away from Joel's hands, and they were cuffed.
Yorgoth and Vers tried to attack Yon-Rogg, but he activated his gravity gauntlets and stunned them in mid-air. Then he pushed them to the floor, knocking him out. He held a sad face at his fallen former students as he bent down to touch his son's face. "Such a pity," he grazed Ver's hair next.
"Get your hands off my sister!" Joel yapped, wishing he could free himself and punch the man who was now touching his sister.
Yon-Rog pulled his gun and he shot Joel right in the leg. He screamed in pain.
"Joel!" Maria fell to her knees clutching his head. She sneered at Yon-Rog. "You'll pay for that!"
Yon-Rogg wasn't afraid. "Take them to the cell," he turned towards the stunned Vers and his son. "Make her speak to the Supreme,"
"And him?" Atlas pointed down at Yorgoth.
Yon-Rogg touched his face again. "I would like to have a little chat with my son,"
What did you all think of this chapter? Please can you send reviews and let me know what you all thought. Wanted to thank MatbeK01 for suggesting the suit colours for Walter/ Yorgoth. Wonderful idea. Anyways, looks like the final battle is approaching. And the spark that was growing between Carol and Walter as Talos's daughter placed their hands together. Will they share a kiss later? We'll have to wait and find out. What did you all think? Hope you all are enjyoing the holidays. It's almost the big day. Have a wonderful Christmas!