Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own Bruce Banner nor the Hulk nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc.

The Anolians and every related character/lore are invented by me, as is the overarching plot, but obviously, I don't own it. Still Marvel.

Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.

PART 11: To Be A Leader

It was all a blur. It took a few long minutes to get everyone into the ship, and to depart from the Anolian home planet. Every Anolian had turned against them, with the entirety of the rebel faction instantly giving up after the speech. Most likely because a big portion of the rebel leadership was also Skrull.

The ship cut into folded space, and everyone settled down.

Captain Marvel was sitting at the co-pilot's chair in the cockpit, if only because that meant she wouldn't have to be looking at anyone, and she wouldn't be stuck in her room in shame either.

But that was what she felt: complete and utter shame.

Whatever the Skrull were planning, whatever their timeline, she had facilitated it.

For the life of her, she couldn't think of a way out, as much as she was still trying. Her team members were having hearty discussions about what they should have done, and what they could still do, but no one was coming up with a workable idea.

Only ideas they really believed in, and were contrary to hers.

Captain Marvel and the crew of the Artibus were now enemies to every Anolian, so no one would trust them, and they would sell them out, and Carol would be attacked by their soldiers. No matter what they were trying to do.

All of the Chosen were dead, and so there was no way to get the truth out without revealing the Skrull. Already, while her team argued, the Skrull would be taking over Anolians in their campaign to take over the system. To stop them, Carol would have to cause war and conflict, which would trigger the Kree.

Or they would reveal the Skrull presence, which would trigger the Kree.

And then, if they had to fight the Kree in their own territory, that would be terrible for Earth. That was exactly the opposite of what her team had been assembled to accomplish. They had been assembled to make things easier for Earth.

Carol's fist shivered with anger. The real difficulty was the Kree. Because of how they operated, the Skrull had managed to get themselves in a perfect position, where every move she could make was a loss, and where every loss the Skrull could take was negligible in the great scheme of things. The Skrull didn't really care about the Anolians, and neither did the Kree, which made it so every option she had available to her would end in the likely annihilation of the entire people.

Option one, allow the Skrull to take over the entire Anolian people. This would definitely never happen.

Option two, let the Kree know. The Anolians would very likely be annihilated, but Earth's standing with the Kree would improve. It was a negligible loss to the Skrull, but a loss all the same.

Option three, reveal the Skrull to the Anolians and help them fight. The Kree would come, and they would fight them, too, and escalate the conflict to unimaginable levels. Potentially, the Kree would become enemies of Earth. Potentially, the Anolians would be destroyed anyway. Certainly, the Skrull would be happy about it. Two of their enemies weakening each other? Perfect.

Sighing, she massaged her face, and her attention was pulled by Geena's voice.

"Captain! Care to weigh in?"

"We let the Kree know. This is their empire, they should know if they have snakes in their midst." Sunfire said, and he was pretty much the only one standing straight without any support, his arms crossed.

Rhodes was sitting in another chair of the cockpit.

"We do that, all the Anolians are dead. We need to find a solution that saves them," he said tensely.

"There might not be one," Nova said, sadly. "It sucks but maybe that's the case? I still think we should try, though."

"The gods, the Unseen," Geena reminded them, turning to Carol meaningfully. "They're why I'm here, it's got to be. I know we're all worried about the Anolians, but something much worse is totally happening, I can promise you."

"So we tell the Kree and continue our mission," Sunfire stated.

"Damn it, Shiro, does your heart only bleed for back home? Did you leave it there?" Asked Rhodes.

"Yes," Sunfire said, without hesitation. "We should put our home first. That makes sense to me."

"Well, in my experience, putting others first is always good in the long run," Nova said, calmly. "Like, if we could help the Anolians, their gods would just come back, right? We wouldn't have to look for them."

"But we cannot," Sunfire maintained. "We can only do what we can do."

"There has to be a way," War-Machine pressed.

"There is always a way!" Mr. Immortal put in, with an overly dramatic voice. They all turned to him with different faces, all of them put off by it. Geena giggled and looked back to Carol.

"Well, what's it gonna be, captain? I'll tell you what, I wouldn't like to be in your shoes."

Carol tried not to twist her face because she wished she wasn't in her shoes. She had no better answer than what she had said in that broadcasting chamber, to the Skrull agents she had killed.

Killed.

When had she become someone capable of that? As a fighter pilot, she was completely disconnected from her kills, but as a superhero, she had come to garnish quite a body count. One day, it no longer turned her stomach. Not when they were evil, laughing in her face because she couldn't stop them from leading an entire civilization into ruin and death.

"They said the gods could only be passed on if willingly offered, and willingly accepted. If we find the Anolians wielding these gods, we can bring them back to Anolia. Hopefully, they can do what we thought the Chosen was going to do. Then, we help them root out the Skrull."

"The Kree will know of it," Wonder Man said, and she nodded.

"But once they know the Anolians haven't changed, that it's just a Skrull infiltration and that their entire people are aware of it and rooting them out, then they might give us time to do it properly. So they can retain them as a political tool."

"And that's not true now because we don't have Anolians they can rally behind," Nova pointed out, with a sigh.

"My Dei this is convoluted," Geena said, breathing out. "But okay, so long as we're after the gods, I'm happy."

"Yes," Sunfire said. "It is not good, but what else can we expect to get out of this whole mess?"

"So long as we're really coming back to help them," Rhodes said, concerned but no less seriously, making it clear he would be extremely upset if they were to abandon the Anolians. "We can't take too long. The Skrull will keep taking over people, and now that they control their entire leadership…that's only gotten all that much easier."

Carol nodded in agreement.

"We should ask for help," Mr. Immortal proposed, and they all looked at him. "What? We got friends out there, right? We can send out a message and ask for help."

Carol's heart twisted, but she again kept the feeling well away from her face. What a failure. Her first mission was an abject catastrophe, and she could see in all their faces, and all their demeanors, that they knew it. They were not looking to her for leadership and orientation, but out of formality.

"It's a good idea. Like Rhodes said, the Skrull will already be replacing civilians. We don't have time to waste."

"I'll contact the guardians," Geena said.

"I'll call home, and see who's available," War-Machine said. "I think Reed might be able to help."

"I'll let Thor know!" Mr. Immortal said. "He took a card, right?"

Captain Marvel nodded at them all and stood up, intending to walk back to her room. She needed some time alone, without a doubt. To process everything that had happened, and digest the shame and the failure.

"Head for the Kree outpost at the edge of the system," she said.

"The Anolians who ran away would have had to use it. We'll start there."

"Roger dodger," Nova said, uncertainly.

Carol nodded tersely, her mouth thin and emotionless. "We'll regroup here when we arrive and decide what's next. Until then, make your calls and then get some rest."

Without another word, from anyone, Captain Marvel walked out.

Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time.

Alright, just the epilogue missing, now. I'm afraid it'll take a bit longer for Carol to properly grow into her role of extreme responsability, though to be fair, the mission really was extremely complicated. See you again soon for the wrap up as Carol and Simon, old trusty friends, have a final talk.

This story and Spider-man: Repulse are heavily connected by lore, even though they're not connected by plot. All my marvel stories are in the same universe, and following an overarching plot. Just in case you want to give that a read.