Disclaimer: I don't own anything
For the past thirty minutes the trio had been trying their best to get Goose to puke out the heroes for the good of the planet (and so no one declared war) and failing miserably.
They begged.
They offered treats.
They appealed to her better nature.
They warned Goose of the ramifications and how they would affect her.
Peter even performed a Japanese Dogeza he'd witnessed in anime.
Nothing they had done could persuade her.
"Okay, as much as I would love to watch you struggle and fail because it's been hilarious, we need to keep moving," the being who brought them here announced having finally taken pity on their plight.
"Are you saying you can get Goose to spit out the Avengers?" Monica asked.
"That and more Ms Rambeau," the being responded.
"Then what were you doing for the past half hour!?" Peter demanded.
"Why enjoying your misery Mr Parker, of course. Your attempts were amusing to watch," they shamelessly admitted.
"Dick," Fury muttered under his breath.
"That too," they acknowledged. "Truthfully, the author of this reaction fic just wanted to add a bit of humour before the end. Earth's Mightiest Heroes being swallowed whole by a Flerken seemed as good a time as any."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Reaction fic?" Peter asked confused. "Like fanfiction? Specifically, where characters react to their show or movie?"
"Don't worry about the specifics. Just what's important!" they assured. "I'm sure you all remember that I control time and space." The trio nodded. "Good. I can also control what happens inside them including the people… and cats present. So, without further ado, please step back from the big bad alien cat. It's about to get a little messy."
They didn't need to be told twice. They ran as far as they could while Goose began to pulsate. Two seconds later everyone she had eaten started to flow out of her stomach covered in a yellow substance no one wanted to know or understand. The Avengers were conscious and shaking and in a state of shock as they struggled to stand up.
"Are you guys… alright?" Peter asked slowly.
He knew it was a stupid question. It was quite obvious that they weren't. But what else could he say in this situation?
Tony very slowly turned to look at him. He was drenched in Goose's… stuff (again didn't want to know). He saw him, but at the same time, he didn't see him.
"Oh, that is just nasty," Monica stated. "And the smell."
A foul putrid odour now dominated the room much to everyone's disgust and horror.
"Okay, just give me a minute," the being requested.
Without warning, and in a very specific order, the Avengers were dowsed with hot water from all sides, sprayed with a mixture of shampoo and body wash that moved on its own over their bodies, then dowsed with water again, and finally hot air blowing around them (much like a hairdryer) to dry them off. When the process was complete they were as they were before their swallowing with a luscious floral scent radiating off them and destroying the foul odour from before.
"And now for the finishing touch," they said.
There was a burst of light and the Avengers were moving around normally. Their shock had been taken from them.
"Well, that should do it," they said cheerfully. "They're traumatised, but otherwise they should be back to their old selves."
The trio were grateful. They were but.
"Fury," Steve said softly. "Sorry about that."
"We won't ever bring it up again," Thor added.
"Ever," Tony finished.
"Um, thanks," Fury replied with uncertainty.
Not that he was complaining since it meant his secret would stay a secret, but he felt kind of guilty. He honestly hadn't expected things to go that far or for Goose to act the way she did.
Goose was annoyed she'd been forced to vomit everyone out but just hissed and sat back down.
Everyone resumed their seating and the film continued.
At the Rambeau household Talos' family joined their human friends in a celebratory dinner. Monica played cards with Talos' daughter.
"Reminds me of us after New York," Clint mused.
"Ah, the shawarma," Tony remembered. "That was nice, aside from the ruined building."
"I'm surprised the staff still served us after that," Steve admitted.
Carol and Fury complimented Maria on her flying and duel with Minn-Erva.
"That was some smooth flying," Sam agreed.
"Wonder why we never saw more of her," Rhodey said.
Fury offered her a position at SHIELD. Maria said she would think about it as long as he didn't refer to her flying as nifty.
"She has a lot of things she doesn't like being called doesn't she?" Wanda quipped.
"It would seem so," Vision agreed. "Did she ever take you up on your offer?"
"She did," Fury confirmed. "For a short time at least. She worked as a pilot for SHIELD before moving on to found SWORD."
Carol questioned Talos on being Keller and Soh-Larr. Fury was annoyed at how he knocked his boss unconscious and stole his identity, only for Talos to refute he borrowed it and that he wasn't a thief. Soren pointed out it was a bit like stealing (much to his annoyance).
"Ah, classic marriage shenanigans," T'Challa said softly remembering when his parents were together.
"Tell me about it," Clint agreed. "Nice to see they're a universal thing."
"They are stealing identities though," Thor said firmly. He still hadn't forgotten what happened on Asgard years ago.
"And they've given them back," Scott countered. "Hopefully."
Fury told them it was okay to stay where they were for the moment but soon they would need new identities.
"Hey, the Skrulls can take on the form of anyone they choose, right?" Scott asked.
"Pretty much, yes," Thor confirmed. "Why?"
"Couldn't they just take the form of someone who had long passed then take a name unrelated to that person?" Scott continued. "Or even locate someone who is dying and request to use their identity? That way they wouldn't technically be stealing."
There was an exchange of glances from everyone. Most for the life of them couldn't understand why anyone would ever let their lives be overtaken by someone else.
Fury wasn't surprised by the idea. His wife Varra had done it as Priscilla Davis, although he had yet to find out the story behind it.
Talos said he could go back to being Keller only for Fury to immediately shut him down.
"He liked being your boss, didn't he?" Monica mused.
"You have no idea!" Fury retorted.
Talos tried to push for it saying he loved the man's eyes. However, Monica urged them not to as their current eyes were beautiful.
"They really are," Monica repeated.
"Takes a bit of noticing, but yeah," Peter agreed. "You seem getting along well with his daughter. Did you ever catch her name?"
"Giah," Monica said. "Her name is Giah. Haven't seen her since then but I hope she's doing alright. Her and her family."
Carol then offered to help them find a home as a way to finish Mar-Vell's quest. Monica said they could stay with them only for Maria to state they wouldn't be safe on Earth with the Kree around.
"Judging by what we've seen she's right," Natasha noted. "We got lucky that time but if the Kree came back."
"Then they would've had Asgard to deal with," Thor growled. "Despite his opinion of Midgar my father never would have stood for it being destroyed."
Carol promised the girl she would be back soon. However, Monica decided she would meet up with her instead. Fury said she would need powers like Carol, but Monica stated she might build a spaceship, to which Carol agreed.
"Not there yet, but close," Monica revealed. "SWORD is coming a long way with space travel."
"So I've heard," Fury admitted earning him a look.
While washing dishes Carol told Fury it would be better if the Tesseract remained on Earth hidden from those who would abuse it.
The original Avengers winced. While they could understand Carol's reasoning, the events of New York showed that wasn't the best course of action.
Granted, there was no telling what would happen if the Kree got their hands on it, or some other alien with less than pure intentions, but still.
That said, it did raise the question of why Odin never sent anyone after the Tesseract. With Heimdall, he must have known it was used. Twice even. Perhaps he never thought they could do much with it or was there another reason?
So many questions they had and so many answers they would never receive.
Fury asked if it was what Marvel would want since she had been the one in charge of it. Carol corrected him on the name by pointing out it was two words.
"Just so we're clear, I didn't know anything about how the Kree name themselves," Fury intervened.
Fury thought Marvel was better like the Marvelettes earning an amused look from Carol. Fury then began to sing one of their songs to jog her memory utilising various gestures.
"Oh my God!" Natasha exclaimed. "Nick Fury singing! Now that's something I never thought I'd see."
"You and me both," Steve admitted stunned.
"Not going to lie, you've got a decent voice," Tony complimented.
"Like all of you, I was young once," Fury stated. "Also, thank you."
Carol still didn't remember but requested that he continue singing so that she would.
"Please do," Monica urged.
"Not now I'm afraid," Fury apologised.
"Dudes, we are so doing Karaoke later," Peter stated. "We've got to get you singing more man."
Fury rolled his eyes. First, his secret comes out and now this! What did he get himself into?
She gifted Fury with an upgraded version of his pager. The range was a few galaxies in case he needed to contact her.
"A few GALAXIES!" Tony shouted. "Holy shit! First the phone and now this! Holy shit!"
"She definitely did engineering on Hala," Peter noted. "The pager confirms it. Otherwise, it shouldn't have been possible unless the Skrulls did it."
"It shouldn't really come as a surprise," T'Challa pointed out. "We never saw her life on Hala barring the beginning. The Kree could have taught her all sorts of skills to be the perfect soldier, or weapon in this case."
"I bet you were shocked when she told you that," Scott said.
"Not really," Fury shrugged. "With everything I had seen up until that point, the feeling of surprise had worn off."
Carol made it clear it was for emergencies only. Fury promised he wouldn't prank call her or anything.
"Have you ever prank-called anyone?" Wanda asked.
"Nope. I do know people that have," Fury answered.
Fury told her to stop by if she was ever in the galaxy and the two exchanged a fist bump (slightly charged by Carol's powers).
"Was that necessary?" Sam asked unimpressed. "That had to have hurt."
"It wasn't so bad," Fury admitted. "A little hot, but nothing lethal."
Outside Monica joined her mother and fully uniformed aunt where she handed Carol her jacket. Monica said they got the ketchup stain out and exchanged a hug with her aunt who thanked her while addressing her as Lieutenant Trouble.
"Were you okay with this?" Wanda asked. If Pietro somehow managed to turn up alive she wouldn't just let him go so soon. "You'd just gotten her back."
"I was upset, yeah," Monica admitted. "But this time it wasn't so bad. We knew she was alive and what she was planning. We got to say goodbye properly. It wasn't perfect, but it was much better than her going off without saying anything and leaving us locked out of the loop."
No one could refute that argument. It was far worse not knowing than knowing.
"How'd you the ketchup out so quickly?" Scott asked.
"My grandma helped me," was all she said.
Carol and Maria exchanged looks. She was leaving again for who knew how long, but at least she would know where and what she was doing this time.
Carol admitted it was hard for her, but Maria just hugged her.
Steve smiled at the scene. It really reminded him of Bucky and himself. Carol was Bucky and Maria was him.
Everyone else in the room who had a similar relationship smiled at the scene.
"Miss… Monica," T'Challa addressed. "You were but a child when this happened. With everything going on, your aunt coming to life and leaving again, her powers, aliens, it must have all been overwhelming for you."
"It was a little," Monica agreed. "Up until that dinner I still hadn't processed everything. However, when it came time to say goodbye, I accepted it. I think maybe it was because this time it was on my and my mom's terms. That's what I think anyway."
With their blessing, Carol ran off and flew up into space with Monica watching in awe.
Monica smiled at the memory. The first time she'd seen Carol fly was breath-taking.
Meeting up with Talos who was now piloting Mar-Vells ship she exchanged a wave with the Skrulls.
"Wait, what happened to the Star Force members Carol beat up?" Scott asked.
"Good question. No idea," Fury said. "She never said anything. Though I guess it's possible she could have gone back up and forced them out, or maybe they retreated along with the Accusers."
Carol turned to look at her birth home one last time. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. She returned home, regained her memories, unlocked her full power, gained new friends and reunited with old ones, friends became enemies while enemies became friends, and now had a new mission to fulfil. While she wasn't certain of the future, she was happy with the direction she was flying!
Everyone who'd gone on a similar journey empathised. They had all reached a moment where after going through so much shit they weren't sure of their next course of action. However, even if they were certain it was the right direction, they at least knew it was a step forward.
With that done, Captain Marvel and the Skrulls sped off into the unknown areas of space, not to be seen for a long time.
"I'm guessing that's the last we'll see of them in this," Vision guessed.
Fury decided to keep quiet about the Skrulls. He was fine answering questions about what was shown but anything else was a no.
A little while later on Earth Fury was attempting to put together a new group referred to as the Protectors Initiative, a group of enhanced and highly trained individuals that would defend the planet from threats far beyond their comprehension and current level.
The Avenger's eyes widened.
Was this what they thought it was?
It was then revealed that he had now adorned his eyepatch (not his signature one but still).
"So, that's when you started wearing it," Natasha realized.
"Pretty much yeah," Fury confirmed. "Thought it was a better option than walking around with scars."
Phil Coulson entered bringing a case of prosthetic eyes with different colours.
"Hey, Mr Fury," Peter called. "Do you use a prosthetic eye or a glass one?"
"Something like that," Fury admitted though he refused to say any more.
Coulson asked if it was true that the Kree burned Fury's eye out because he refused to give them the Tesseract. Fury stated he wouldn't confirm or deny it.
"Oh, so that's where that rumour started," Clint realized. "It was Coulson. Or him and other people."
Coulson informed him that they still hadn't found the Tesseract. Fury shrugged it off saying it would show up at some point eyeing Goose while he said this.
Everyone, particularly those who had been swallowed by the Flerken, chose to remain silent.
Considering how SHIELD had started experimenting with the Tesseract at some point which led to the Chitauri Invasion it was inevitable that Goose did cough up the Tesseract at some point. While they couldn't say exactly when it would have been before 2012, or before 2011 when Thor came to Earth. Fury did mention they started working on it after Thor's battle with the Destroyer so it was at least in the 2000's.
Fury asked what would happen when they found it much to Coulson's confusion. Fury pointed out that they had no idea how many intergalactic threats there were and the only one (that they knew of) who could stop them was helping the Skrulls. It pained him to admit, but SHIELD wasn't capable of dealing with it.
While no one commented, several of them did agree with Fury's logic. The threats had become more frequent, widespread, and powerful over the years and they were needed more than ever.
Earth had barely survived being nuked by the Kree. It had barely survived the Chitauri and Ultron. Would it always be that way? Would they always succeed? They didn't know. Not without a massive loss of life at least.
While they didn't agree with Project Pegasus they could at least understand why Fury had gone through with it.
Although that was slightly undercut by Hydra infiltrating SHIELD at the time.
He stated they needed to find more. Coulson thought he meant weapons but Fury clarified he meant heroes.
"So, is when," Tony started.
"Yep," Fury acknowledged.
Coulson wondered if they could find others like Carol. Fury quipped that they found her without even trying. Who was to say they couldn't do the same with others?
"I didn't succeed for a long time but I managed eventually," Fury stated.
"Twenty years is a long time," Steve said quietly.
"That it is Captain. That it is," he agreed.
Coulson urged Fury to get some rest as he had some huge decisions to make and left.
Those who knew him stared sadly at Coulson. This would be the last time they ever saw him alive and happy. They knew he was safe for now but that didn't make it any easier. It was especially hard on Thor because he watched his brother kill him from behind.
As usual, Fury remained silent. It was better that they believed Coulson was dead for the time being.
Flicking through Carol's military file Fury came across a picture of her by her jet and took particular note of her aviator call sign.
CAPT CAROL "AVENGER" DANVERS
Everybody's eyes widened.
They couldn't believe it.
"You… you named us after her?" Steve struggled to say.
"She wasn't the first superhero to exist, but she was the first one I met so it seemed fitting," Fury explained. "Are you upset?"
"Upset?" Thor repeated. "You named the team someone who destroyed an entire fleet of Kree ships and managed to strike fear into Ronan the Accuser of all people. Why would we be upset?"
"That's pretty awesome," Tony agreed.
"Looking back on it I could never find out why it was called the Avengers Initiative," Natasha revealed. "Now I know."
"Did it matter?" Wanda asked.
"Perhaps not because the goal was more important than the name," T'Challa suggested.
Monica was stunned. She never knew any of this.
"Hey Monica, does your mom have a title too?" Peter asked.
"Yeah. Photon," she answered.
"So cool," Peter complimented. "Imagine if there was a team of pilots. You could call them the Photons."
"Mom would swoon at that!" Monica laughed.
"Avengers is still a cool team name though," Peter said quickly. "Much like the person it's named after."
"It definitely sounds better than the Protectors," Sam noted.
"Agreed. That sounds way too boring," Scott quipped.
"We're named after someone in the Air Force. I couldn't be more honoured," Rhodey said.
"Would that matter?" Vision asked.
"It does when you work in the same field," Rhodey replied.
Taking inspiration from his previous experiences, and liking the name, he started to erase Protectors and type in something a little better known. He smirked.
Silence filled the room as the movie ended. Many had mixed feelings about what they had witnessed. The first to voice them was none other than their resident archer.
"Fury," Clint said softly. "If this is all accurate and you haven't once said otherwise, then why have you never mentioned Carol Danvers before? For that matter, why did you never call her back to Earth?"
Fury sighed. He knew this one was coming.
"To be frank it never came up," they all eyed him with disbelief. "I'm serious. None of you ever asked me about the origin of the Initiative or if I'd ever met anyone gifted before. The topic of Carol never came up even once so I never mentioned her. Also, I've been trying to lay low while playing dead so it's not like we had many social moments."
"Even if that's the case, why didn't you call her when the Tesseract was stolen or during the Ultron Incident? Were those not emergencies?" Natasha followed up.
"Indeed," Thor agreed. "Her strength would have proven valuable back then."
"I'm surprised you didn't call her as well Fury," Monica added.
Fury sighed again. "I wanted to call her. I was tempted to. But I realized." He paused. "I realized that if we don't learn to stand on our own feet without her, when will we? If can't issues like that ourselves, then how will we when she's gone? Carol is not invulnerable. She can be killed much like the rest of you. If she died after solely relying on her then where would that leave us? This is our planet. We need to solve our problems ourselves, no matter how advanced or strong they are. Relying on others isn't a bad thing, but we also need to manage by ourselves. If we let one person manage all our problems how will we do it ourselves? If we let one group walk all over us, what is to stop others from doing the same until we stand up for ourselves?" Their looks started to turn understanding. "You are right. Calling her would have reduced casualties for New York. And for Ultron, things happened a little too fast for me to call her. I know those aren't the best excuses but it's the truth."
No one said anything. Fury technically wasn't wrong. They did need to look after their problems. Thor himself was a hero to the Nine Realms so he had more than one area to look after. Rarely ever did make appearances on Earth, especially since Ultron.
Still, her help would have been great.
"Sorry to interrupt but there's two more scenes you need to see," they announced.
Almost immediately, everyone turned back to the screen.
Mid-Credits Scene
The scene opened up on the pager activated and held up. Then it stopped.
"What the hell!" Fury exclaimed. "When? I never."
"Perhaps it is the near future," Vision offered.
On the hologram, it showed millions of people missing from each country.
The silence in the room was heavy. It made all the others look nice by comparison.
"What the fuck!" Sam exclaimed.
"What? How could? What?" Wanda stammered.
So much loss of life! How and why? Who or what could cause something like this?
A bearded Steve noted this was a nightmare while a blonde Natasha admitted she'd had better nightmares.
"Are we… back at the compound?" Natasha asked confused. "Working together."
"I can't see Ross letting that happen," Steve mentioned. "Or maybe he's one of the casualties."
"Time has passed," T'Challa stated. "Captain Rogers has a beard and Ms Romanoff is now sporting blonde hair."
"I see you copied mine. It looks great," Thor said weakly in an effort to diffuse the tension.
It didn't work.
Rhodey came in and informed them that the pager had stopped working.
"Definitely in the future, if I'm working with you guys," Rhodey said.
In another room, Bruce Banner said the signal had finally stopped.
"BRUCE!" they all shouted.
"Dude, that's the Incredible Hulk!" Peter exclaimed.
"Hasn't he been missing since Sokovia?" Wanda asked.
"He has," Clint confirmed. "When did he get back?"
Steve thought they bypassed the battery. Rhodey stated it was still plugged in but it stopped.
"Mr Stark, why aren't you there?" Monica asked. "Isn't technology your forte?"
"Good question," Tony replied. "I hope I'm not one of the casualties. We're totally screwed then."
Steve told them to get it working again but Bruce said they didn't even know who was at the other end. Natasha countered that Fury did and asked them to try again.
"I don't know what went down, but if it was bad enough to call her, then it must be serious," Fury said.
She turned around only to be met with Captain Marvel who demanded to know where Fury was.
"Holy shit!" Scott exclaimed.
"She seems to have hardly aged at all," Sam pointed out.
Monica and Fury were ecstatic to see Carol. This meant she was alive. Though it was somewhat undercut by the circumstances.
"I guess means we'll be working with her," Steve realized.
Post Credits Scene
In the past Goose hopped onto Fury's desk.
Everyone froze.
Goose hissed. She remembered this. It was not a pleasant feeling.
At first, nothing happened. Then, in the same manner, a cat coughs up a hairball, and Goose coughed up the Tesseract. Immediately afterward she started licking her paws. Just another day for her at the office.
The Avengers winced. Their recent trauma still lingers on their minds.
"Gross," Peter gagged. "How did you clean it afterwards?"
"Put it in the dishwasher and let it run," Fury said without thinking.
That earned him several bewildered looks.
"You put the Tesseract, an object of intense power, inside a dishwasher to clean?" Thor repeated.
"Yes, I did. If it could handle several hundred feet below the cold sea it could handle one run in the dishwasher," Fury defended.
No one was sure how to feel about that.
"Even so, what did we just watch?" Tony asked.
Well, wasn't that the million-dollar question?
"Hmm, I don't want to spoil too much but I suppose I can give you a few details," they said. "More fun to screw with that guy's plans."
Hi there! Well, what did you think of that?
I know there were some mixed responses to Fury naming the Avengers after Captain Marvel but logically it makes sense. She was the first example of an enhanced person and the good they could do. The film isn't just an origin for Captain Marvel, its an origin for Fury and where he got the idea to form the Avengers in the first place. It's also sad because it's the last time we ever see Coulson on the big screen since there was not way to bring him back from Agents of SHIELD.
Just one more chapter to go. Just so we are clear, I won't be doing a sequel. However, if one of you would like to pick off from where this will end be my guest.
Hard to believe it's been three years since I started this fic but here we are. The next chapter is the finale and the epilogue.
I hope you enjoyed reading it! Please review!