A/N: I wrote two more chapters to be able to bring Carol Danvers into the story. This is one of those chapters. I saw Captain Marvel twice in the cinema (it was awesome, btw), but I might still have got some details wrong. I hope you like it.

Sigyn didn't know how she was going to keep working with SHIELD from now on. She didn't know how she was going to look Peggy and Howard in the eye and lie to them either. But she did what she had to do to protect them.

Things started to take a more interesting turn in 1988, when Howard called for an emergency meeting with the "inner circle" one day. She had thought it would be just the three of them, but there were a group of other agents in the meeting room. Dr. Wendy Lawson, a scientist who worked on Project PEGASUS, she remembered, and her assistants.

"Hello, Sigyn," Peggy greeted her, and Sigyn looked at her in confusion. They would never say her true name in front of others.

"Did you tell these people who I really am?"

"Yes."

"Why?" If they had decided to share the truth with Lawson and her team without consulting with Sigyn first, it must have been for a good reason. Nevertheless, Sigyn had to ask.

"Because they're going to tell you who they really are. Just don't overreact when you hear it, alright?"

"Actually, they never had to tell me anything. I already knew who you were, Lady Sigyn," Lawson broke in. "And when I realized how open-minded Stark and Carter were about alien races, I decided to be honest with them. I am Mar-Vell of Hala. I believe we can help each other."

"Kree," Sigyn hissed, and conjured her sword, but Mar-Vell remained still, so did her "assistants." Peggy put a hand on Sigyn's shoulder to stop him from attacking them.

Howard sighed. "Here we go…"

"Sigyn, I know what you think of the Kree, but just hear her out. Please," Peggy insisted.

"I was wondering when your kind would show up to steal the Tesseract."

"I'm not here to steal the Tesseract. All I want is to put it to good use."

"And by 'good use,' I assume you mean 'war'?"

"No. I want to end wars. Permanently."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

Her smile widened, and she turned to the others behind her. "Allow me to show you."

And the so-called assistants revealed their true selves. Sigyn had expected them to be Kree, like their leader, but they were something far worse. Skrulls. This was a nightmare. How could Heimdall not have warned her about this?

"What kind of game are you playing?" The Kree and the Skrulls were ancient enemies, everyone knew that. Were they now working together to get the Tesseract?

"Look at you," Mar-Vell said softly. "You have such a good heart, yet you've let Asgard fill it with hatred. You can't even imagine a Kree who wants to help Skrull refugees."

"Your people have earned their reputation."

"I do not represent my people, no more than you represent yours."

Sigyn turned to Peggy. "Are you really going to trust this Kree scum? Come on, Peggy, you're smarter than this."

"Years ago, we chose to trust you. Everything turned out to be fine. I think Lawson deserves a chance to prove her worth as well."

"What exactly are you planning to do with the Tesseract?" she asked the Kree woman this time.

"I'm hoping to harness its energy to power a Light-Speed Engine, so that these refugees can go far away and start a new life. Once it's done, you can have it back. I give you my word. But I know my word is not good enough for you, so I allow you to look into my mind. I know you're a powerful sorceress."

She looked at Skrulls. They were all looking at her with… fear. One of the females was pregnant. "Are there more of you?"

They nodded.

"Sigyn, a word in private?" Howard asked tensely.

They went to his private office. "Alright, me first," Sigyn started. "Prove that you're not a Skrull. Tell me something personal."

"My biggest regret is not being able to find Steve Rogers."

"No offense, but that's a bit too obvious."

He thought for a moment, then said, "If I were an Asgardian, I'd be in cup making business."

"Not bad, but you can do better."

"In 1974, I bought you in a house in Tonsberg, registered under the name of Helga Tiersen."

"Okay, this is definitely you… Now, please tell me you don't support this madness."

"Actually, I'm with Peggy on this."

"Damn you, Howard…"

"Sigyn, look… If you say Lawson can't be trusted, I'll take your word for it, and none of those aliens leave the building alive. But first, just put that Asgardian prejudice aside for a moment, and think as one of us."

Howard seemed truly desperate, so she decided to see what this was about. "Fine."

"Look at me. What do you see?"

"Is this a riddle?"

"You see an old man. That's what I am now. My work with the Tesseract is far from complete, but my days are numbered."

"Don't say such things!"

"It's the truth, and we both know that. Anyway, my point is, I've been looking for someone who could take over my research. If Lawson is telling the truth about ending wars, then she's the perfect candidate."

"You have your son."

Well, Howard and Tony's relationship wasn't as strained as it used to be, but that was mostly because there wasn't much of a relationship anymore. After graduating from MIT last year, Tony had gone to study abroad, and he wasn't in a hurry to earn a graduate degree. It was just an excuse for him not to come home.

"I don't want Tony to become a part of SHIELD. Ever. I thought a lot about this, believe me. I ruined his childhood with my mistakes. He deserves a normal life. As normal as it can be. I owe him that much."

So, Tony was never going to deal with SHIELD, therefore HYDRA. Sigyn's relief was beyond words, though she wasn't allow to express it in front of Howard.

"You said it yourself," he continued. "Asgard considers us a lesser world, and doesn't want things to change. We need new allies. Allies who won't look down on us."

"Are you serious?"

"Hey, you're the one who taught me to think on a universal scale, remember?"

"Working with two of the most despicable races in the universe wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I said that."

"There's something else. Something I haven't told Peggy."

"What is it?"

"I think something is wrong with SHIELD. Now, I know what you're going to say, but I'm not being paranoid. Not this time. We might have to make strange bedfellows."

Howard wasn't being paranoid. Actually, he was making a good argument. Now that she thought about it, it was indeed the Asgardian teachings that stopped her from thinking reasonably. Maybe she should tell him about HYDRA, after all. And maybe, Mar-Vell was their best chance to keep the Tesseract from HYDRA's reach. It certainly wasn't safe with SHIELD, not while there were so many dormant HYDRA agents among them.

"Lawson says she has a secret laboratory in Earth's orbit," he went on. "She wants to take the cube there."

Clever. It was actually even better that the Tesseract wasn't going to have a fixed coordinate. "I must stay with the cube, then."

"The Tesseract won't be going anywhere. Sigyn, we need you here. Now more than ever."

They surely did, but still… "I'm going to read her mind. And the minds of the Skrulls as well. Then I'm going to see that lab of hers with my own eyes. These are my conditions."

"Good, because I'll be coming with you."

Sigyn cocked an eyebrow. Howard had never left his home planet before. "Are you sure?"

"Just because I'm desperate doesn't mean I'm going to trust a bunch of aliens blindly. I must see that lab with my own eyes as well. Peggy will stay here, so that we can send her a distress signal if the whole thing is a trap."

"Does Maria know about this trip?" If Howard was planning to leave Midgard, even if it was for a short time, his wife had a right to know.

"She does. She'll only let me go if you're there to babysit me."

"She's a smart woman."

"I think I always knew I'd go to space with you, on way or the other. Come, let's go back to the others."

They returned to the meeting room. Mar-Vell let Sigyn read her mind, as promised. Sigyn saw her memories: Her conflicts with the rest of the Kree, her shame, her compassion, her desire to end wars. When she looked into the mind of the Skrulls, she mostly saw fear, but they were honest, too. While working in Project PEGASUS, Mar-Vell had successfully upgraded a Midgardian plane for space travels. They were going to take it, and Sigyn was going to leave her Asgardian ship for Peggy in case something went wrong.

…

"Nervous?" Sigyn teased Howard as Mar-Vell initiated the take-off.

"No," Howard said, but she knew him well enough to see that was a lie. It didn't matter how much humans knew about the universe, or how much they trusted their extraterrestrial companions; they always got nervous when they had to leave Earth. She decided not to take it personal and to leave him be. He would get used to not being on his home planet soon. He was adaptable.

All of a sudden, an orange cat appeared out of nowhere and jumped on Mar-Vell's lap. She scratched its ears. "Everyone, meet my pet, Goose."

Sigyn involuntarily flinched when she realized Goose might not be what it seemed. It was now Howard's turn to tease her. "What's the matter? I thought witches liked cats."

"I'm not a witch. And I highly doubt that beast is a cat."

The Kree woman winced apologetically. "You might be right."

"How did you manage to tame a Flerken?"

"Oh, I don't think anyone can tame them. But Goose and I share a mutual understanding. Right, Goose?"

The creature purred in response.

"Do I want to know what a Flerken is?" Howard asked.

"Believe me, you don't," Sigyn replied, then asked Mar-Vell, "How come the Kree Empire hasn't killed you yet?"

"They haven't found me. But I'm sure they're looking."

"I know your intentions are good, but it doesn't change the fact that you're putting this realm into grave danger. You know that, right?"

"Odin is the one who put C-53 in danger. If the Tesseract were on another planet, I'd be there right now."

"What if they sent the Accusers?"

"Who are the Accusers?"

Sigyn decided to be honest with him. "A ruthless Kree army who solves problems by wiping out entire civilizations."

"Wonderful. All I needed was more paranoia in my life."

"It won't come to that," Mar-Vell said. "They won't risk provoking Odin. If they find me, they'll most likely send the Starforce."

"Kree black-ops unit?" Howard asked this time.

Mar-Vell nodded. "You can say that."

"So, who's your emperor?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Sigyn said 'the Kree Empire.' You can't have an empire without an emperor."

"We don't have an emperor. The Supreme Intelligence is our leader."

"Is he a reasonable guy?"

"He's an AI," Sigyn elaborated, giving him a "Do not even THINK of making an alliance with the Supreme Intelligence" look at the same time.

Howard laughed. "A civilization led by an AI, huh?"

"I see you've started having fun, Howard."

"Sometimes you just have to go with the flow."

"We're here," Mar-Vell announced, and disabled the cloaking system of her secret lab. It must have been a Kree cruiser originally. Sigyn wasn't impressed much, but Howard looked like he had discovered a priceless treasure.

"Consider me impressed."

After they docked, Mar-Vell gave them a tour around the lab. The place wasn't empty. The rest of the Skrull refugees were hiding here. They seemed grateful to Sigyn and Howard for agreeing to this arrangement. Soon, the latter was surrounded by Skrulls, who were eager to answer his questions, while Sigyn summoned the Tesseract from her pocket dimension and gave it to Mar-Vell.

"Do not make me regret this, Kree. You might have impressed my friends with your 'I'm going to end wars' philosophy, but I've been around for much longer than they have. I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Mar-Vell looked out the window at Midgard. "It's a shame, isn't it?"

"Excuse me?"

"What's happening to SHIELD, it's such a shame. The inhabitants of this planet have so much potential, but their inner conflicts will keep holding them back for a very long time, I fear."

"You know," Sigyn whispered.

"Yes."

"Is that why you decided to reveal yourself?"

"Yes. The Tesseract wasn't safe with SHIELD. See? That's why we need each other."

"How did you find out?"

"Oh, come now, Lady Sigyn. Like you, I've been around for much longer than your friends have. Are you going to tell them?"

"I haven't decided yet. Though Howard clearly suspects something."

"I believe we can destroy HYDRA together."

"We? Not so fast…"

"Please, Lady Sigyn. You know you're going to need all the help you can get. Once the Skrull refugees are safe, I'll owe this planet a debt, too. This is how I intend to repay it. After all, one of my kind's worst creations is the reason HYDRA exists in the first place."

So, Mar-Vell knew of the true origins of HYDRA… Strange bedfellows, indeed.