Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it came from the films or the comics, even if I flatter myself that I've put my own spin on things.

Feedback: All constructive comments or appreciative observations are welcome

AN: To get one point out of the way first, a certain character here has no connection to Kang the Conqueror or any of his variants as depicted so far; if you know the comics, you'll understand what I mean.

The First and the Last

"Of course," Colonel Marcus Griffin said as he sat opposite Carol, casually cutting into his steak as he spoke, "it wasn't that hard to find the group once we started looking; the trick was making the locals knew what they had done…"

Casually nodding at the man while picking at her spaghetti bolognaise (one of those unique-to-Earth dishes that she liked to indulge in when she was eating out), Carol once again reminded herself that Maria couldn't have known the extent of this man's attitude issues when she set up this date. Colonel Griffin's reputation had sounded good on paper, and he'd apparently done a few operations with SWORD over the years as well as his more regular army work, but actually meeting the man had quickly ruined any hope of him making a positive impression. He might be a skilled soldier, but his attitude crossed the line from confidence to arrogance as far as Carol was concerned.

She was willing to tolerate some self-confidence from a man who didn't know who she was; Maria had respected her desire to keep her identity secret and claimed that Carol was 'just' another SWORD employee. However, when Colonel Griffin had spent all his time basically bragging about his successes, coupled with the way he basically talked around any attempt Carol made to bring the conversation back to her own life, she was rapidly going off the idea of drawing this particular 'date' out for any longer than she had to.

A part of Carol found it ironic that now that she didn't have to worry as much about the fate of her home planet, she still had trouble finding reasons to come back. When she'd spent time exploring the available jump-points, it hadn't taken long to establish that the Kree Empire, already in bad shape after she destroyed the Supreme Intelligence, was now barely hanging on after the scale of the losses they'd suffered in the Snap. A few key figures in the Empire were doing their best to maintain their existing territories, but that still meant that basically nobody was in a position to try and do anything more serious.

Earth was probably safe for the moment from anyone coming after her, and she wanted to spend more time with Maria after Monica had been lost in the Snap, but she had decided to try and get a bigger social circle that Maria and the Avengers. Since she'd only been photographed on Earth while wearing her helmet, it wasn't too hard for her to go out as herself, but most of her cultural knowledge of Earth was still rather fragmented, to say nothing of being a few decades out of date. She was doing her independent research, and she knew that she couldn't rely on the Avengers to help her meet new people when things were so strained with most of the team, but she was starting to realise Maria didn't know that many people socially these days either…

"So," she said, making an attempt to find something else to talk about, "your father was in the army too?"

"He very much approved of the duty of serving the country that had been so good to my family," Marcus observed with a smile. "What better way to protect the country than by defeating its enemies?"

"But it gets… tricky, doesn't it?"

"Tricky?"

"Just… sometimes we can't always be sure if we've made the right call until after the fact," Carol said, a part of her still not sure where she was going with this. "I mean, I can get behind fighting in the open to get what we're after… but what happens if we make a bad call?"

"We always have to stand by our decisions," Colonel Griffin affirmed with an expression that Carol couldn't help but think of as a smirk. "But for what it's worth, I've always been satisfied with my own choices in the field."

Somehow, the confidence in which he delivered that statement only put Carol off even more. She wasn't against someone being confident in their abilities, but after her own experiences of the aftermath of her destroying the Supreme Intelligence, Carol had learnt to appreciate the benefit of thinking things through. It was impossible for anyone to go through life without making any mistakes, so the fact that this man at least felt like he hadn't made any…

From what Maria had told her, the colonel's success rate on missions was good, so Carol didn't think he was actually lying to her, but she was starting to appreciate the benefits of people who were willing to admit to mistakes rather than avoid facing them. She would always regret the wider consequences of her destroying the Supreme Intelligence, but she could still believe she had done the right thing in principle and recognise the need to take more care when doing something that big in future. For a moment, her mind allowed herself to think back on a young man who fought so hard and still seemed to think it would never be enough, even when he'd done more than most people his age could have ever dreamed of doing when faced with stakes on such a scale…

Carol shook that thought back again; even if she was increasingly sure that she wasn't going to have a second date of any sort with Colonel Griffin, thinking of someone else on a date was just rude, and she wasn't going to just walk out on this man when they were still enjoying the main course.

"Director Rambeau told me that you've been travelling recently?"

"I… get around a lot, yeah," Carol nodded, glad that she could be honest about that while trying not to think about the implications of her comparing this man to Peter Parker. "Things with my family… well, it could get complicated at times, so I decided it was easier to just… do my own thing…"

"Nothing wrong with standing alone, although staying together is always important," Marcus said, in a dismissive manner that left Carol doubting that he was even fully listening to her. "My own family were always involved in my life; it helped when I took part in sports back in school."

"You were on a team?" Carol smiled, hoping that she had found something she could talk with this man about. "I… did some softball back in the day-"

"I was a basketball player myself," Marcus said, smiling in a manner that made it clear he was thinking about himself rather than really registering what she had said. "It was an impulsive choice at first, but I became quite the star fairly quickly; I led the team to at least one championship win, although the rest of the team had their parts to play…"

Great, Carol thought, already trying to tune out his words as she focused on finishing her meal.

She might just stick around for the dessert course if she saw something good on the menu- she thought there had been a chocolate cake listed that struck her as particularly appetizing earlier- but right now she was basically certain she wouldn't be interested in a second date with this guy.

Frankly, once this was over, she thought she might drop into New York to catch up with a friend rather than try to make an already-flawed date work.