Chapter 29 – The coming of Captain Marvel
Buffy surreptitiously wiped the vampire's ashes from the seat, and lay back. To be honest, that last glare of impotent hatred had rather upset her. But she could not feel sorry for what she had to kill. Had he not as good as said that he intended to kill "bloodbags" as soon as he was able to? That was, she was beginning to see, what being a Slayer was about. Kill or be killed.
As buffy drifted off into a nap, she remembered New York. Images from the catastrophe merged into her wandering mind with other, older memories, and with images that maybe never had an origin at all. She was effectively dreaming; yet, if someone had spoken to her then, she might have felt that she was thinking, and that it was a perfectly purposeful train of thought that had been disrupted.
And disrupted it was. Suddenly she was awake. There was hubbub from one end of the plane to the other, and for what seemed a long time – a minute or two – she couldn't understand what it was about. The first thing she thought when her thoughts became coherent was that the vampire had somehow escaped her and was making trouble.
But as her thoughts cleared further, it became clear that, whatever the problem was, it was wholly different. Most people were in their seats; there was no fighting, no running around, no looking for exits. The airplane was flying steadily, with no shakes or shifts; and no danger signs were flashing or whistling. And still everybody seemed scared and alarmed; and still Buffy was unable to understand what had been happening.
Then the intercom spoke. "Attention all troops and civilian passengers," it rang out, "attention all troops and civilian passengers. This is the captain speaking. The flash of light you saw outside the aircraft is nothing to do with us. It seems to have originated in outer space."
The noise simmered down, but it did not cease.
….
"The flash was not accompanied by any vibrations or energy traces," an artificial voice spoke from the Latverian computers. "No chemical alteration can be perceived on Earth, as far as our remote sensing can reach. Visual triangulation suggests that the light-burst took place in an area about 800 kilometres above the northern Atlantic."
Behind his black iron mask, Victor von Doom's eyes narrowed. He did not like surprises, unless he was the one to spring them. His elaborate apparatus of remote sensing had been put in place in order to alert him to anything that might affect the complex weave of people and things with which his mind wrestled daily, in pursuit of power over a world he took to be his by right. The violent explosion that must have just taken place wouldnot bother most ordinary humans, once they had been informed that it had taken place far outside the Earth's atmosphere; but the fact itself was worrying. It was impossible to work out the power of the explosion from the visual impression alone, not with any precision; but at the lowest possible guess, it must have been enough to devastate a country, to compromise a whole continent. And in terms of weaponry and operations, 800 kilometres above the Earth was not really very much at all.
Victor von Doom made a note to further enhance his survival protocols. They were already designed to survive a direct hit from a thermonuclear device, but someone had just managed to detonate something several times as powerful in the direct vicinity of Earth. He also needed to incrase his surveillance of the other great powers, open or hidden. Atthe very leasr, each and all of them – America and Atlantis, China and the EU, the wizards in their hidden communities and the Sorcerer Supreme hidden in plain sight in his mansion in New York City – would have been looking at the same things he was, and thinking what he was thinking; knowing what they would do would be helpful. And at best…
...a hypothesis was forming in his mind. The recent episodes of superhuman violence in Manhattan and Las Vegas seemed part of a calculated assault on the United States of America. To judge by the forces involved, at least one of America's super-villains, restrained over the years by SHIELD and Nick Fury, had broken free. This explosion was too close in time to be a coincidence. But, as a further step in the kind of genocidal warfare waged by Graviton and The Leader, it made no sense. (Dr. Doom disapproved of genocide. It was a waste of energy and tended to destroy potentially useful servants. Killing should be targeted and serve a purpose.) Explode something of that power, harmlessly, far above the Earth? And do nothing to communicate anything about it – Doom had received no warning, no threat, no explanation, and he knew that none of the other powers had – so as to serve no purpose? For an effort on that scale?
N0, that was not the answer. In fact, it was quite possible that it was its opposite. Someone on the opposite side – Thor, perhaps? - had found another such menace and simply moved it into outer space, letting destroy itself harmlessly, ending up as no more than a very, very large firework. An elegant solution, thought Doom. He would have to keep it in mind for future use.
…..
Meanwhile, Nick Fury and Valentina de Fontaine were landing a small, but fast SHIELD helicopter (originally confiscated from a conspiracy called A.I.M.) near a space observatory in the mountains of Vermont. As they approached, they had been noticing another aircraft of exactly similar design, already parked in the same clearing. They landed, and cautiously approached the other chopper to examine it. The closer they came, the more it became obvious that it was exactly the same. And those aircrafts had never been commercially available on the market; they had been designed and built by A.I.M. for their own use, and A.I.M. were a criminal group whose only interest was in having vehicles that outstripped those of their enemies. They would never be available to anyone else. What was another of them doing here?
The countess was the first to go around the chopper and see the other side. "Oh," she said.
"We should have guessed," replied Fury.
On the helicopter's right side the letters S.W.O.R.D., written in two-foot lettering, were all too clearly readable. "I wonder what she is doing here," he added, as they turned and walked towards the observatory entrance.
"I'm not sure myself," answered her voice as they were on the threshold. And then they saw her, outlined by the lights in the building. Alison Brand snapped into a very stiff salute. Fury saluted back.
"Hello, Brand," he said. "How do you mean, you don't know?"
"I received urgents call to this place, with no clear explanation, on two of my confidential channels," Colonel Brand answered back in her strange monotone. "The messages were hard to decipher, and the reason for the alarm was particularly garbled. We could only confirm that it had come from this observatory. So I decided not to waste any more time and just to come. But I am being satellite-tracked, and followed bya .R.D. task force, just in case this is any kind of trap."
"I don't think it is. We were called by Henri Courbeau and Henry Pym. Theyu said something bout suispected alien or superhero activity. I had nobody available to send, so I came myself."
Valentina thought she caught something like a smothered smile on Alison Brand's mask-like face. And if she had smiled, the countess thought, she would have a point. Nick Fury was always being criticized for neglecting duties as Director of SHIELD and take every excuse to go on field missions himself.
"Yes," Alison Brand answered tonelessly, "Henry Pym is here. You will have to help him, colonel, countess. He's distraught, and I am no good with emotional states."
…...
The long, lean figure of the scientist sat perched on the edge of a chair, like a poorly balanced scarecrow. Every line of Henry Pym's face spoke of horror and grief. His superhero uniform was torn and stained. His hands shook, and twisted themselves into each other over and over.
"Did you hear from her, Fury? D'you know anything?" Not even a hello, no introduction, no explanation.
"I've just arrived, Pym. I still have no idea what's going on. How about someone fills me in?"
For a second, looked as if he might scream. Dr. Corbeau put a hand on his shoulder and began to answer Fury.
"For a few days, we've been getting abnormal signals, signals that altered the whole frame of our reception. Other radio observatories could not match anything we were getting. We began to suspect that we were within a very small and intense area of events, that was somehow sealed off from the rest of the world."
Fury, Brand and the countess all nodded. Each of them had met similar anomalies in their investigations. "Superhuman activity," murmured the countess.
"We didn't think of that… not at first, at least. You have to remember that we are radio-astronomers, not biologists. It took us a few days to -"
"Wait-a-minnit,"Fury broke in. " A few days… Was this before or after the Manhattan disaster?"
"I think… come to think of it, when we first perceived the anomalies, someone suggested that it might be a by-product of Graviton's rampage." The three super-hero specialists looked at each other. "But no other radio observatory reported anything similar, so we forgot about it.
"Only, yesterday afternoon, one of our local suppliers mentioned a story, a kind of old wives' tale. It seems that native americans and old-time trappers knew of some kind of invisible pillar in the woods. You could touch it, but not see it. And people were warned against it, because touching it could cause burns or fever.
"Radiation?" asked Alison Brand. Her interrogative tone was barely sharper than normal statements.
"Radiation, obviously. And anything that could affect the spectrum of light enough to make itself invisible certainly had the potential to account for all the disturbances we had recorded. We couldn't imagine how it would, but the power was certainly there. So we made up our minds to go look for it, with every possible detecting and measuring instrument.
"Our informant had given use a pretty good idea where to find it, but in the end we hardly needed directions. We'd g0one less than a mile uphill, following the creek, when there was a huge crashing noise, and a pine tree splintered and fell right in front of us…. Something invisible was crashing through the trees. Invisible, and immensely strong,
" had the bad idea to try and address the thing. He stepped in the direction of the falling trees, raised an empty hand to signal that his intentions were peaceful… and he was felled by some sort of ray weapon. And still we couldn't see the thing!
"Well, any notion of investigating further had just been blown higher than Mount . Our priority was to get poor Sistani to infirmary, fast, and to find someone who could deal with this nightmare. (Dr. Sistani is stable now, but he has a broken arm and some cracked ribs.)
"I had one person in mind. Some of our projects are funded by the Willem and Katherine Van Dyne Foundation, and I had met Janet Van Dyne a couple of times. I was afraid I'd have to get through secretaries, but fortunately it turned out that she has a special channel for superhero calls."
"Fortunately!" broke in Henry Pym. It was one word, not shouted, but it carried such a weight of grief and rage that everybody was shaken.
"I'm sorry, . I'm really sorry. I only meant that is how I felt at the time."
"Oh, never mind, Courbeau. Never mind. That's how you felt. You had an invisible monster rampaging in your immediate neighbourhood… Sure you felt relieved when the Wasp and Giant-Man said they'd come."
"We still don't know what happened," said Alison Brand in her colourless voice. It always left Countess Valentina somewhat startled.
"Well, Janet gave a few instructions…."
"She told us to stay away from the thing at all costs, even if it meant evacuating our observatory. On the other hand, she said to try and keep visual contact and record as much as we could"
"Standard advice for normally fit and alert persons, in fact," said Brand, and Fury and the countess both nodded. Henry Pym took up the narrative.
"Janet alerted me through our private comlink, and we headed to the observatory in our little private jet – the fastest way we could get here.
"As we flew, Courbeau got in touch on the plane's wavelength. He downloaded all the information they had been able to record about the monster, scans and observation notes, and informed us that we would have no trouble finding the damn thing. And we didn't! There were broken and crushed tree trunks scattered half way across the mountainside, and they formed a clear trail. And as our jet came closer, the radio sensors were picking up the same disturbances that the observatory had been sensing for days. Except that they were stronger, and getting stronger.
"We landed the jet in a clearing – it has VTOL – and flew out in insect size. 'Infiltration plan A?' said Janet. 'Yes, but for God's sake be careful,' I answered. 'Whatever that thing is, it's powerful.' That was the last thing I ever said to her…"
Henry Pym stopped. Nobody wanted to break in. He took three or four deep breaths, apparently to steady himself.
"Janet loved being a superheroine. She loved to fly, to take risks, and, from time to time, to do crazy cheeky things. She loved practical jokes, and was never afraid. Me, I'm a biologist. I know all too well what trauma can do to human tissue… I once even signed a petition to outlaw boxing. Janet just thought I was stuffy….
"I've never got used to superpowers, especially because I've never been able to make sense of them. Mine, and Jan's too, grossly violate all sorts of natural laws, beginning with the law of conservation of mass. But I'll say one thing for them: they come in useful. I grew to maximum size, to draw the invisible thing's attention – and to be able to defend myself when I did. I didn't fancy ending up like poor . And I was almost immediately under attack, so I had seen right.
"I pushed my way through a wave of blasts, and closed in. I could tell, almost from the start, that, invisible or not, what I was facing was humanoid. There are things that just come natural, and I was fighting something with two arms and flexible legs.
"Meanwhile, the Wasp had shrunk to nearly invisible proportions, and had been able to pass the invisibility field and land on its meta hide. She began to send images and scan results; but then she spotted an opening in the monster's externals, and went in. The radio link was already poor, and this broke it altogether. That did not bother me so much; we were used to operating independently. I just expected her to make some havoc in the monster's guts and escape.
"The files she had managed to sent over showed that what we were facing was a thing of metal and cables, some sort of robot or machine. And the next thing that happened gave me visual proof." This was said with inexplicable bitterness.
"Someone in a red and blue uniform came flying in. I could see him from the corner of my eye, and I took him for some kind of aircraft at first. Then for a second I thought he was Thor… red and blue and with blonde hair… but the very next second he was near me, and I could see he was nothing like him. I got to know Thor very well in the battle of Manhattan, and this guy was nothing like him.
"He flew close to the invisible robot, and threw two sticky things at him. Mechanisms or such, and they clung to its surface. And suddenly the invisible robot sprang into view.
"I'll try to make a sketch of the robot for you later. The best way I can describe it is that there is something about it that just says 'Empire'." Abigail Brand's attention sharpened. "Its surface is not economical and does not look functional. But it is not attractive either, at least by my standards. It has, as I thought, two arms and two legs and a vaguely humanoid head and face, and deeply sunken eye features, which I thought seemed designed to look threatening. The whole thing seemed studied to look shiny, impressive, attention-getting – and scary.
"My first reaction was to hit it again, harder. But the flying man yelled: 'Don't! It's about to explode, and you might speed up the process!' And then… And then….
"I had no time to understand what he intended to do. He just grabbed the monster about its middle and flew right up. Before I knew it, he was fading into the sky.
"I started screaming and yelling: 'Stop! There's one of us in there! There's my girlfriend! Stop!' But I might as well have been howling at the moon. And a couple of minutes later, there was… that great flash…"
"So you think… ?"
"What else is there to think? The two things followed each other. The flash came from the same direction the flying man had gone. And he did say that the robot was going to explode."
"As you describe it, ," said the Countess, "this man sounds like he was desperate."
"Yes, I think so. He just flew in and threw the invisibility-busters at the robot, then he yelled at me and picked it up, and then he was gone. Man in a hurry if I ever saw one."
"Wait a minute," Fury broke in, "you saw this thing for a minute or two and you still think you can make a sketch of it?"
"I can. I don't promise a perfect likeness, Fury," said Henry Pym in an exasperated tone. "But I am a trained observer, I can do observational sketches on my head, and I got a very good impression of the damned thing. And I wish you wouldn't use that… that damned tone. In case it hadn't entered your bloody regulation skull, I just lost someone I loved, and I'm feeling rather fragile.
"I can't even get mad at anyone. I can't get mad at Janet, since she's dead. I can't get mad at the guy who got her dead – he was trying to save lives, and maybe he's dead too, now. Who else is there ? The robot? How can you get mad at a stupid machine?"
Henry Pym's vice had been growing louder and shriller; and – one by one, those present began to realize, and to be afraid – so did his body. His frustrated, angry despair was seeking a way out – an impossible way out – any way out.
"But I WANT to be mad," he howled. An enormous fist came down on a table and splintered it; one fragment narrowly missed Alison Brand."I want to smash something… I can't lose the most important thing in my life…. and just grin!"
"Aaww… So much grief just for little old me?"
…...
The voice, small but perfectly audible, seemed to come from his left; and then his eyes focused on a small flying dot that was growing, taking shape… and suddenly was elegantly perched, sitting on his own nose.
Henry Pym collapsed. As he choked, repeating Jan's name, he shrank into himself, violently, to his normal size. His legs shook; His legs shook; his head swirled; his senses nearly blacked out. When they cleared, he was half-sitting, half-lying among the wreckage of the table, his head and upper body held up by the girl who sat by him – the girl he had, until that minute, thought dead.
Before he had the chance to say anything, she bent over and dropped a soft little kiss on his lips, and then rested a slim, elegant forefinger on them. "That's all right, Hank," she said with a smile, "no need to repeat my own name. I've known it for a while."
Nobody said anything. Henry Pym breathed in and out a few times, silently pulling himself together. Then he stroked her cheek and said: "Well, it's you all right, you little maniac. Where have you been?"
"In a spacesuit, you big bore," she answered with a grin.
"Spacesuit? But… we don't have spacesuits, do we?"
"I didn't say it was mine, did I now?
The others became aware that someone else was present. Tall and muscular, wearing a typical superhero uniform in red and blue with a golden eight-pointed star on his chest. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to Captain Marvel. Captain, may I introduce you to Courbeau, Pym, Colonel Alison Brand, Colonel Nicholas Fury, and… hello, is that you, Val? I thought you were living in Europe…"
Before the two women had time to renew their acquaintance, however, Alison Brand broke in, with a hint of irritation in her monotonous voice. "No need to bother, Miss Van Dyne. The good captain and I know each other."
"Indeed," added Nick Fury, "we wouldn't want him to think that SWORD and SHIELD are homes for the mentally challenged, would we?"
Captain Marvel straightened himself slightly. With an air of taking the challenge, he replied: "I never thought that, sir, madam. In fact, I had intended to talk with one or both of you, as soon as I could. But I had to save the planet first. And to try to survive it, too."
"So you are saying that that robot…"
"It was a Kree sentry. Have you ever heard of it, Colonel Brand?"
"I've heard of the Kree. Was that theirs, then?"
"It was the original Kree approach tool. Centuries ago, when the Kree were still not able to send ships to every new-found habitable planet and star system, they would send a Sentry. The machine could explore, and produce massive amounts of data…"
"Wait a minute – are you saying that the Kree send astronaut forces to every habitable planet they discover?"
"Yes, of course. When they are uninhabited, which is nearly every time, it is an efficient way to start settlement, and if necessary, terraforming."
"Jeezuz Herkimer Christ… Just how many are the Kree, and their planets?"
"Actually, Colonel Fury, by your standards, there aren't that many of us. The Kree Empire covers some 4000 inhabited planets, but the population is less than 300,000,000. Most of the settled planets can be efficiently exploited by only a few thousand settlers, given our technology. Often the whole population of a planet is descended from the complement of the original discoverer ship. It's only on ancient Hala, our first home, and a few surrounding planets, that the population is comparatively dense. Seven billions on one planet? I think the very idea would give most Kree nightmares."
"I …" stuttered Henri Courbeau, "...I'm just trying to get my mind around this. So there is this empire that spreads across a galaxy, and we… never… heard… of it?"
"Actually, SWORD had," said colonel Brand, "but we had this idea that they were a distant and- minor group, if they existed at all."
"Of course you did, Colonel. We took care that that should remain your impression." Brand flashed him a look. "Well, what do you expect?"
"All right 'Captain Lawton,'" said Fury; "how do we get here from there? What are you doing blowing up one of your own robots? Not to mention telling us all this stuff that your empire no doubt would not want us to know."
"Quite right, Colonel. We get here from there because, two days ago, everything changed. . The rampage of Graviton, the fury of Thor and the Hulk… I had been playing Earth down in my reports to the Empire. But something like that would not be missed, even from our spaceship, located in the asteroid belt. And there is an ancient policy in place, that any inhabited planet whose population poses a threat to the Kree must be destroyed."
"I see," said Alison Brand in that toneless voice – something that, at that point, was getting on more or less everyone else's nerves. "So, the appearance of someone like Graviton…"
"Graviton, Thor, the Hulk… and, the next day, the revelation that the hulk is only one of at least a dozen gamma monsters… I ask you! Of course the Kree empire would order planet destruction. And the reason why the old Sentries were never decommissioned or replaced is that they included efficient and durable planet killer bomb."
"So that was what you…" - This was the Wasp. She had been silent until then, and everybody turned.
"You see…. I think Hank must have told you that I flew into the robot through a gap in its armour."
"Yes, I did ."
"Well, I had just got inside the machine, when I felt a sudden shock. Almost immediately I could tell that the robot was moving upwards, very fast….frighteningly fast, I was being pushed downwards and outwards. I flew out through the same crack that I had crept in. And then I got really scared. I could tell we were on the edge of space. The sky was dark, and the air was so thin I was gasping all the time. The face plate in my mask activated, but it only gave me a few extra seconds. However, it cleared my head. I focused and realized what was going on.
"I could see the Captain lifting the robot, but I had no idea whether he knew I was there."
"Well, I did. I was startled, of course. A tiny flying humanoid female popping out of the Sentry? And I was very worried. I knew she was in deadly danger, but there was nothing I could do about it – every second that passed brought that planet-killing explosion closer. Fortunately, she did the only thing that could have saved her."
"Yes. I was hoping that there might be air between his uniform and his skin, and also that if I was near his head… his ears, his eyes… I could get him to hear me. So I stuck to his body, and suddenly I realized that some sort of covering – a spacesuit - was sort of unfolding, click-click-clack, all over him. In a few minutes I was covered, and so was his whole body, and I could feel air being pumped in, and I was saved."
Janet Van Dyne's voice had been growing faster, and slightly shriller, as she spoke; and here she stopped, and breathed in, as in relief. Captain Marvel picked up the narrative.
"Yes. My individual space survival-sand-travel device was able to cover her, and the atmosphere it produced turned out to be suitable for her. I was very relieved. You have to realize that this was something quite new for me as well. I'd never had a companion in my SSaT device, let alone someone who was not a Kree. And I'd never spoken to someone a few millimetres tall."
Janet giggled. "So he tried to say something, and I just shouted, DON'T YELL!"
"Well, I managed to be heard anyway. I told her that I was glad that she was alive, but that we were both still at risk of immediate death, and that we would talk some time when we could be sure we'd be alive to finish the conversation."
"Nice and reassuring that was!"
"We were nearly high enough, and you have to understand that all the time I was flying away from Earth, the Sentry was struggling and twisting to get free from my grip. If I had loosed my grip even a little, he'd have been all over me, and, even worse, he was likely to explode near enough to Earth to do a lot of damage. I'll give your experts all the figures and calculation when you debrief me properly, but I assure you I had no choice.
"So, when I had reached the point I'd worked out, I suddenly stopped, and let go of the robot, allowing inertia to make it move away from me at tremendous speed. I also blasted it straight away, when it was still within blasting range, to add to its forward momentum."
"He did all this amazingly fast," said the Wasp. "Within seconds, the thing had vanished from sight. It was moving so fast, and we were moving fast in the opposite direction, towards Earth, doing our best… or rather, the best of Marvel's space suit… to leave distance between us and the robot. My eyes had been dazzled by his blasts, and I was still seeing blue and violet stains, when he said: 'Cover your eyes and shut them as hard as you can!' He himself turned as he flew, so as to have his back to the place where we had seen to robot vanish. And then… and then….
"There is no noise in space. But for an instant, I saw a light so intense that I could see the bones of my fingers through my closed eyelids. I felt a wave of heat that nearly baked me alive. But it only lasted a fraction of a second, and then it was all over.
"Look, Colonels, Hank, . I am not a scientist, and I am only an amateur fighter. But I swear upon my life and honour that this alien hero just saved the Earth, and that I saw him do it."
There followed a few seconds of complete silence; and they were broken, in the most unexpected way, by a door slamming open, and a junior observatory worker running and calling: " ! !"
"What is it, Wilmington?"
There's a lot of guys who look like special forces, and they are swarming all over the grounds!"
Colonel Brand looked, for once, surprised, human, and vulnerable. "Oh, damn! That must be my task force. I'd forgotten…" The door slammed open again, and three men rushed in, in a practised room entry manoeuvre.
Which ended up pear-shaped. Colonel Brand strode forwards and simply ordered: "Sluimen, Wright, Aubain – stand down!" One of the troopers was so surprised, he tripped over his own feet. His rifle skittered over the floor, and Colonel Fury picked it up and put the safety on.
"Attention SWORD task force A, attention SWORD task force A. This is Colonel Brand speaking. Codeword 'goose feathers'. Abort mission. I repeat, abort mission. I am free, safe, and well. Gather on the observatory's front lawn, preparatory to evacuation." She then switched her comlink off, while Nick Fury returned the rifle to the soldier, who saluted.
…..
"Colonels," said Captain Marvel, "there is something I want to discuss with in private, if I may. Before you evacuate and I have to wait a week or more to be able to speak with either of you."
Brand and Fury looked at each other, then nodded. The three of them, and the Countess, walked quietly out of the room and into a neighbouring, deserted office.
"I speak as Philip Lawton now," started Captain Marvel.
"Well, your status as Lawton and as a SWORD officer is still to be determined," said Colonel Brand, "even if you did just save the world."
"This is not about me, Colonel. Except as an eyewitness, perhaps. It's jsst that, as you may know, I found myself involved in the Manhattan disaster. And, by chance, Second Lieutenant Samantha Carter, of DST, found herself working with me.
"Sir and madam, both as a Kree officer and as a USAF one I have had some experience of junior officers in the field. I have never seen a finer performance in circumstances of grave danger and extreme strain. She was cool, efficient, and effective. She kept hundreds of terrified civilians under control. She organized all the available help, and again and again she located useful material, when we had had to start with nothing. She organized patrols and food distribution, and found medical personnel. All of this under immediate danger of death, and while being torn apart inside with fear for her little sister, who was missing, and for her friend Jennifer Hailey, who was injured and unconscious. I will write a report as Captain Philip Lawton, if my status allows it. But my point is simple: she deserves an Airman's Medal, and, if you value talent, she should be promoted. That's all."
"And you wanted to tell us now?"
"Before business overwhelmed you, Colonel Brand. And just in case something happened to me. Right now, I am in serious danger."
"From your previous employers?"
"The Kree, yes, sir. By now, the Supreme Intelligence will have decreed my death sentence. But that's another matter. I have set counter-measures in place."
"Samantha Carter. Isn't that General Jacob Carter's daughter? I didn't know she had a sister."
"She is, and she does. I've met her. She's called Buffy, cheerleader type, about fifteen, undersized, rather pretty. I spent a couple of hours with them, quite by chance, before the disaster. I can't imagine what they have in common, but they were quite obviously devoted to each other."
"I see. Was she all rigt?"
"Oh, yes, she turned up on the phone as soon as the phone lines were restored. She had been rescued by some superhero or other."
"That's good."
"Nick, I seem to remember someone saying that Jack Carter gave p his daughter to a relative for adoption after his wife died. I always thought they meant Samantha, but maybe it's this Buffy."
"Very likely," said Alison Brand. "I've worked with Samantha Carter, and she certainly wasn't adopted."
"At any rate, Captain, you're giving us a problem."
"A problem, Colonel Fury?"
"Yes. You're selling us Lieutenant Carter as a field commander, and that's all well and good. But I've just had a chat with Tony Stark, and he has worked with her in her role as a scientist, and he recommended her as a research leader for SWORD."
"So that's what you meant by a problem," said Alison Brand, who always had to have jokes explained to her. "Yes, Captain, we already had Lieutenant Carter recommended to us as a scientist. Now you tell us she's a first-rate field commander. We have to see which one to use, and how."
"Well, that's not a bad problem to have."
"No, indeed."
….
"The Kree will not try anything against Earth before they kill me," said the alien as they made their way back to the observatory's central hall. "They know that I know enough about their tactics, goals and technology to stop any of the easier and more obvious attacks."
"And how do you propose to defend yourself?"
"By hiding in plain sight. As the superhero 'Captain Marvel,' working with you and with your 'Avengers,' I will be in touch with the world's most powerful superheroes, and I will be visible enough that, if the worst comes to the worst, any disappearance would be immediately noticed."
"Well, I guess you've already done your first superhero job already, and for real."
""Yes, and – Hey! Where are Ant-man and the Wasp?"
They started looking around, but Henri Courbeau came over and spoke to Colonel Brand.
"Herny Pym and Miss Van Dine have had to leave. They said they'd be in touch. The Wasp said to tell you, Colonel Brand, that it was a Code Texas."
"Thank you, . At any rate, you are safe now. Aren't they, Captain Marvel?"
"Yes. I think I can say for certain that there are no Kree menaces left in this area."
"And so, Doctor, we leave you to your work. And to some well-deserved sleep, I guess."
"Oh, yes, Good night, ladies and gentlemen."
…..
"Pity Janet had to fly off. I want to catch up with her some time. We went to the same finishing school in Switzerland. By the way, colonel Brand, what's a case Texas?"
"Infiltration," said Alison Brand as soon as she had checked they were well out of anyone's sight or hearing range. "It's one of our security tricks. If anyone has something to communicate that they don't want anyone else around me to know, The use a geographical name – a state, a county, a river. Each name is picked not only for a specific risk, but also for specific people to know or not, so that I know not only what they want me to know, but who they don't."
"I know," said Fury impatiently. "I gave you the idea, if you remember. All I want to know is where we look for the infiltrator."
"I was explaining to the Captain, Colonel. Anyway 'Texas' for an infiltrator is meant for superheroes and senior officers, so we know that the infiltrator is a junior officer, an NCO, or a trooper. They just said 'Case Texas' instead of slipping the word into a casual conversation, so they aren't worried about anyone with ageneral view of the system; they weren't worried about any of us. I'd say the infiltrator was one of my troopers. I wonder how they found out."
"We'll find out ourselves, Colonel. Go back to SWORD HQ. Apart from anything else, we have to decide on his status as Philip Lawton."
"As far as SWORD are concerned, your status is unchanged for the time being, Captain. When you get back to HQ, I expect you to wear your Air Force uniform. Later, when we have time, we will dicuss the practicalities and legalities, Perhaps the superhero 'Captain Marvel' can have a secret identity."
…...
On board the Kree explorer ship "Earth One," the great flash had also been noticed and correctly interpreted. Colonel had contacted the Supreme Intelligence, asking for instructions.
"Under no circumstances will you start hostile action against Earth, Colonel. Under no circumstances. Even supposing that Mar-Vell died in the explosion, we now have no Sentry on or near Earth, or anything of comparable destructive power. And now we know that Earth has at least a dozen monsters capable of engaging imperial forces. We don't need that kind of trouble just now.
"So…." For a second, Yon-Rogg thought of asking: Do we just slink away with our tails between our legs? But he thought better of it. To suggest, even in jest, that the Supreme Intelligence might contemplate withdrawal or humiliation, was to court disaster. "What do we do, o Manifold Wisdom?"
"We attack them from the inside. We penetrate and subvert their society. And if Mar-
vell has survived, we approach him by messing with his mind. Call for officer Una."