Boots on the Ground

FLASHBACK - The day of Thanos’s Snap - 2018

Alexandria, Virgina

Elizabeth Hill had been standing in line awaiting her turn to purchase a mid day cup of coffee. She loved this little coffee shop, she loved the scent of freshly brewed coffee that filled the cozy cafe. She thought this place was so comforting. She took Maria here a few times and Maria barely paid attention to the atmosphere and how sweet it was. Instead, she answered calls from work like she was purposefully trying to avoid the tranquil cozy space.

As Elizabeth remembered sitting at a corner table with Maria, the barista who was taking orders politely called for Elizabeth’s attention. Elizabeth smiled and apologized for being distracted. She loved this barista, her name was Carrie, she was a young tall woman with dark hair. Carrie was one of the names Elizabeth wanted to name Maria and she always thought about it. She paid for her coffee and dropped the dollar and change in the tip jar like always.

Suddenly, the calm space became overwhelmed by the sounds of sirens and people yelling outside. It caught Elizabeth and Carrie’s attention. Carrie yelled loudly as she pointed at the window. Elizabeth whipped her head to the side to see a car hurtling through the storefront window sending shattered glass flying in all directions. Customers covered themselves and hid as they screamed. Elizabeth gasped and instinctively ducked behind the edge of the counter, her heart pounding in her chest. She had seen stories about this on the news, a distracted or drunk driver driving into a store. She couldn’t believe it was happening right now. It was such a beautiful day.

Once the car stopped moving and some chaos subsided, Elizabeth cautiously turned from around the side of the counter where she hid herself.

“Carrie?” She asked looking for her and seeing the glass all over the floor but Carrie was no where to be found. Elizabeth could feel her adrenaline rushing through her as panic set in. Had Carrie jumped over the counter? Elizabeth stood up and looked at the stopped and damaged car halfway into the store. She rushed over to the car to see if she could help but there was no driver and Elizabeth paused as the sight was chilling.

A young college student who was a patron in the cafe checked the back of the car.

“Oh my god, there’s a baby!” She yelled. Elizabeth’s maternal instincts took over as she jumped into action as she ran around the car to get the baby out safely. She could hear the baby start to scream. Elizabeth reached into the car and with trembling hands she lifted the child from the car seat and checked to see if he was injured. She and the college student were so distracted with the baby and the car accident they hadn’t even noticed anything happening around them.

The college student took out her phone and called 911 but she couldn’t get through.

“It’s just silent…” the college student said and Elizabeth looked at her stunned, a dead line? For 911?

“Oh my god!” The college student yelled and pointed as she started to see the infant slowly turn to dust as it cried in Elizabeth’s arms. Elizabeth gasped and yelled.

“AH! No no no! What! Oh my god! What is happening!” Elizabeth cried in a desperate terrified panic as the child in her hands turned to dust before her eyes.

The college student’s jaw agape from what she just saw, Elizabeth’s body was trembling from the experience.

Suddenly Elizabeth and the student looked around the previously buzzing cafe just moments ago, and now, despite the chaos it was silent. They realized they were the only two people there now. The college student stared shaking in a panic. The two women exchanged terrified glances. Elizabeth was so traumatized from watching a child disappear in her arms she was in shock. Neither Elizabeth or the college student could even take in that everyone else was suddenly gone despite realizing that they were. The sounds of sirens, yelling, and calls for help started to engulf the silence in the damaged cafe where the two of them stood in shock.

London, England - The day of Thanos’s Snap - 2018

In the resulting panic that people were disappearing with no explanation G’iah and Soren waited and waited for Talos to return. The phone lines were jammed, no one could reach anyone. There was no internet, there was no phone, the news was still on for those who had power, but nothing on the news offered anyone who could see it any peace. No one could understand why people were just vanishing before everyone’s eyes. It was a terror that could not be explained.

G’iah sat in the living room of her parents home as she watched a news story on repeat, it was a person ‘dusting.’ Literally the body of a being just evaporating, as the cried and called out for help while others watched in horror not knowing what to do. The video the news was running was truly devastating as a person is filming someone vanish and then the phone drops from the hand of the person who filmed it, as they vanished too. Not a trace of them, nothing left behind, like that person never lived at all.

“You have to stop watching that.” Soren said as she came in the room, her eyes red and burning from crying. Were they too about to suddenly turn to dust and had Talos vanished already?

“If the skrulls hiding here are being killed too do they turn to themselves first or do they die in someone else’s skin?” G’iah asked. She had been through so much trauma as a young child hiding from war and escaping the Kree, she just couldn’t peel her eyes away from what she was seeing. She didn’t live with her parents anymore, she was out on her own now but when things went awry in the world she came running back to the comfort of her mother—hoping her mother was still there. So far, G’iah was one of the few who lucked out, she had a family member to return to. There were people screaming and yelling outside as no one understood how to escape the wrath of vanishing or why this was happening.

Soren paused as she was surprised by the question that G’iah posed to her. ‘Do they die in someone else’s skin?’

“Why would you even ask that?” Soren said almost appalled.

“Well… I want to know if my father died pretending to be someone else.” G’iah snapped at her mother. G’iah’s face was also sore from crying. They couldn’t reach Talos and the odds of all three of them surviving whatever this was seemed low to none.

“I don’t know, G’iah. I don’t know.” Soren answered and she covered her eyes with her hands.

G’iah had already been pulling away from her parents. She reunited with skrull refugees she knew and she wasn’t too convinced this fake human life was for her. She missed so much about her home planet that it was hard for her to even remember what a home was. All she did know, was no place was a home if you had to stay hidden. G’iah was sure of that. Even humans wanted to liberate themselves from the confines and restrictions they self imposed on this planet.

As she watched human after human turn to dust on the television some things really started to resonate with her. Some writings by queen Veranke that was given to G’iah from one of the skrull children she reunited with. An earth without humans could exist, in fact, it looked like one might exist very soon. G’iah didn’t have to share a home or work for a home, or serve another species to have a home. She could exist on this world, as herself. And the only things that were stopping her were disappearing left and right. Were skrulls affected by this too? G’iah couldn’t make sense of it right now, but so far it didn’t seem like it.

Hours later in the evening when G’iah and Soren still had not heard from Talos, Soren was sitting on the floor of the living room with her back up against the edge of the couch. G’iah had fallen asleep from mental exhaustion. She even drooled a bit on the pillow her mother placed under her head.

Now Soren’s eyes were glued to the television as the news tried to update anyone who was able to see it. There had been so much devastation. Planes literally crashed out of the sky as their pilots vaporized. Heart surgeons disappeared mid surgery, EMTs driving ambulances at high speeds vanished causing more chaos. Teacher’s were reporting half their classroom disappearing before their eyes.

“Nobody understands, what is happening! Please God, what? Why!” The distraught young teacher called out to the news camera.

Soren started to realize that Talos probably wasn’t coming home. She didn’t even know what he had been doing for Fury and where he was right now. Even if he was alive, how could he get home? Transportation was at a standstill, the cell towers were still jammed, there was no internet, cities were rioting in fear. Soren wanted to go out and look for him but she didn’t want to leave in case Talos came back. The waiting was the worst part. She just wanted to know what was happening. People were desperate for an explanation and so far nothing was coming to them.

One day after people started vanishing, the power went out in London. It added to the stress and chaos. The cell towers were still jammed as people tried to locate loved ones and the internet had not gone back up either. G’iah and Soren waited in their dark house with little to talk about as the realization that Talos had probably been one of the beings who vanished was setting over them. Nobody went to work, no one was managing crime, everyone was on edge wondering if they were about to disappear next.

On third day after people started vanishing, the power returned to Soren’s home. She was able to call Talos’s cell phone and get through once or twice but it just went to voicemail.

G’iah sat at the kitchen table with Soren and the two of them were silent and glum as they knew the worst had happened to Talos.

“Maybe everyone who vanished will come back.” G’iah mumbled in the bitter silence.

“Do people usually come back from the dead?” Soren snapped unexpectedly at G’iah.

“It’s not confirmed that they died. They could…” G’iah started and then stopped as they heard the door open.

“Hello! Soren! Soren! Are you here!” Talos called from the doorway.

Soren jumped up form the table and ran over to where she heard Talos’s voice in the entry way. She ran over to him and the two of them embraced lovingly, Soren was sobbing overcome with relief. Soren and Talos held their foreheads together and Soren couldn’t help but let out an uncontrollable cry.

G’iah walked over from the kitchen and she stood in the doorway leaning against the wall. As she watched her parents embrace. She wondered if she would ever love someone the way her mother loved her father. She loved her mother deeply but she sometimes struggled with Talos. She blamed him for the predicament the skrulls were in, as did many of her skrull friends. He was the skrull general and he was the one who encourage people to help Fury as motivation for him to find them a home. Of course G’iah realized as she slowly became radicalized that Fury never would have motivation to find the skrulls a home as long as they were propping him up secretly. How her father fell for such an obvious trap was beyond her. How her parents cared about a man who used them and lied to them she didn’t understand.

“What is going on!” Soren asked desperately to Talos.

“I don’t know, I can’t reach Fury, I can’t reach anyone.” Talos admitted in a defeated tone.

“Do you think he…” Soren started to ask if Fury vanished and Talos paused as it never once occurred to him that Fury could have been one of the people who vanished.

“No.” Talos shook his head confidently.

“Do you know that?” Soren needed confirmation.

“There’s just… no way…”

“He and the Avengers they have to be able to get everyone back…” Soren bit her lip as her voice was worried. She was all too aware of planets being destroyed by others, but earth seemed invincible… well until it wasn’t.

Soren looked at Talos with a grim expression.

“What if he is gone? What if they are all gone?” Soren asked

“There’s no way.” Talos repeated.

As G’iah listened to her parents talk, the first person they asked about was Fury. Not any of the other skrulls on earth. They were so brainwashed by this man that in a time of crisis where they had no idea what was going on and who was still alive, that was who the asked about? That really would be the cherry on the cake if Fury used the skrulls for decades and then he off and vanished never having to live up to his promise. The exchange made G’iah more bitter and angry. Why couldn’t her mother see what had been done to her. She was one of the first people to agree to help Fury and what had he done for her? The anger rising in G’iah’s mind soon subsided though as Talos looked at her in the corner.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Talos said to G’iah. He was relieved to see her safe and sound. He had not seen her for so long.

“We have to stick together.” Talos remarked compassionately to G’iah. He could tell she was pulling away from him and Soren. She was young, she was angry, she never knew a home and now the one place she did know was burning too. Talos knew this was a turning point for her.

“I’m glad you’re alive.” G’iah responded honestly yet sharply. She was relieved to see her father alive as she started to imagine how grim things would be without him.

“Are skrulls disappearing too?” G’iah asked. As G’iah watched the chaos unfold on the news instead of feeling triggered she started to feel something else. Almost like a relief that something so terrible could happen on earth too. She didn’t know entirely why she had these strong feelings as she watched people vanish on the news, but she did. She had never found crisis comforting before, but this one opened up so much potential.

“I don’t know yet.” Talos answered honestly.

Late at night Talos came into the living room where G’iah was sitting on the couch watching the news.

“I know who you’ve been around.” Talos said in a concerned fatherly way as he sat down next to her.

“You’re spying on me?” G’iah asked offended.

“No. People told me. You have to be careful. Those aren’t good skrulls. They are self serving, they’re trying to radicalize us, they don’t have good ideas, they will get whoever is left of us killed.” Talos warned.

“What do you know about ‘good skrulls?’” G’iah snarked.

“… a lot… I have a great deal of experience in this area.” Talos couldn’t help but almost laugh at her retort.

G’iah paused, she had felt unusual feelings about the last few days. She had always been a compassionate sweet kid growing up, but over the last few years she had changed her mind about things, she had done more reading, she found her community of skrulls that made her feel like she was really a person—not a person in hiding. She never would have looked at people vanishing as an ‘opportunity’ before. While she did feel terror and afraid when it was first happening as she simmered with the thought of it, the things she had been shown and read did creep up into the back of her mind.

“How come the first person you asked about vanishing was Fury?” G’iah growled.

“He wasn’t. The first person I wanted to know if they vanished was you.” Talos pointed out and G’iah was taken back for a moment. She didn’t even hug her father when came home she stood in the doorway like she was unimpressed with his arrival.

“We you thought you were among the vanished. I was too afraid that if I came up to you you’d disappear in front of my eyes.” G’iah admitted.

“Well, I’m still here.” Talos shrugged and G’iah surprising herself in the moment reactively hugged her father as tears swelled in her eyes. She felt guilty for the thoughts she had earlier and she didn’t know why or where they had come from then but now she realized she was on the verge of becoming someone she didn’t really want to be a person without consideration or compassion — the opposite of her father.

But G’iah’s feelings of reuniting with her family during the chaos the snap were short lived. After about two weeks she left her parents with her final parting words being that she ‘wanted to go home.’ G’iah never saw her mother again, and she didn’t see Talos again until he chased her down in that tunnel.

Although Talos knew that G’iah survived the blip it really wasn’t any different when she took off than with those who lost love ones from vanishing.

—————————-

LONDON CITY AIRPORT PRIVATE JET TERMINAL - NOVEMBER 6 - PRESENT DAY

Maria and Rick exited the London City private jet terminal smoother than they entered the Tampere airport. It was quick and painless. Before Maria walked out of the airport and toward the arrival pick up area with Rick she noticed a tall white man staring at her and he scoffed at her as he walked by. Maria was perplexed by this as it seemed very intentional. A few minutes later she noticed another man give her a scowling look and she started to wonder if something had happened or had been released on the news. Twice in a row? Something had to be going on that they missed while they were in the air.

“Something happened.” Maria said in a concerned tone to Rick acting like they should turn around.

Rick looked suspiciously at Maria. He would have known if something had happened, they wouldn’t have made it this far.

“Are you just really paranoid?” He asked trying not to sound dismissive. She was really paranoid but that wasn’t the point.

“I just got two dirty looks by those men?” Maria said unsure of herself to Rick quietly. Then Rick looked at the men Maria referenced with a nod of her head. He tilted his head and thought about it and then he laughed.

“I think you are just sportin’ the wrong team.” He pointed to Maria’s sweatshirt.

“Give me a freaking break.” Maria muttered. Seriously could she just get through the airports without something dumb happening?

“Hey, we take footie very seriously here.” Rick smirked.

“Christ.” Maria started to roll her eyes but then she caught the glimpse of Talos in the distance outside on the sidewalk and Maria paused. This caught Rick’s attention quickly.

“Now what’s wrong?” Rick asked his eyes darting in Talos’s direction. “Is that someone you are expecting?”

“Uh… no…”

“Is this a bad thing?”

“Uhm… I don’t know… but I don’t think so?” Maria said uncertain which set Rick back.

“Well that’s the unwavering confidence of a former SHIELD Director I expect.” Rick mumbled. Maria glared at Rick.

“What!? You grilled me for like four hours while I was trapped in that sky prison with you.” He shrugged with a smirk.

Maria rolled her eyes.

“You got some heat in your bag.” Rick said quietly reminding Maria she had a gun if she needed it.

The last time Maria went up to someone she thought she knew she got shot. She felt so uneasy about approaching Talos. Was this just another trick? Maria thought Talos was dead. She figured if a skrull Fury tried to kill her, he probably had killed Talos too. Seeing him awkwardly and subtly wave at her from a distance was surreal. It felt like she hadn’t seen him in so long, but in reality it had only been two (very long) days.

At the bombing, it never occurred to Maria that it wasn’t really Nick in that moment. Now she was afraid to make the same mistake again. As she had spent time thinking about her mistakes, she couldn’t believe she did trust simply the sight of Nick like that. Talos and a skrull Nick couldn’t have been working together, right? Maria hadn’t trusted Talos right off the bat because the situation was so bizarre, but after they talked she did. Skrulls were good at mind games, Talos told her that before. But, Maria was smart, she wasn’t going to make the same mistakes she did before.

Maria sighed as she debated to go over to Talos, she knew Rick had to go. Earlier when Maria was with Rick she ‘charged' a phone to Fury’s tab along with a few other things.
Maria motioned for Rick to leave, she did not want any other person caught up in this mess. As Rick waded back through security, he stopped to see what Maria was going to do, but she walked out of sight. Maria went over to a corner of the airport, a little hallway near some restrooms and out of view from the sidewalk. She took out her phone and called Sonya.

“What’s going on?” Maria asked sternly into the phone.

“We are waiting for you.” Sonya answered back in the same tone.

“We?” Maria asked skeptically, what kind of ploy was this whole experience.

Sonya paused and Maria paused too. Maria hadn’t considered that the Sonya who was helping her was a skrull, but now she had questions.

“Ahhh, yes, that part is confusing, you’ve missed some updates in your travels.” Sonya replied after both of the women were silent on the phone.

“And those updates are?”

“Sorry for not doing this sooner, but I’m afraid things have gotten quite explosive lately… turns out, there’s two Furys.” Sonya said in her delightful tone but Maria did not buy that.

“No.” Maria said in a harsh tone. “Get away from him.” Maria warned Sonya. Maria didn’t trust this for a second.

“It was the real Nick Fury that bugged my office and acted like he hadn’t run a major counter terrorism operation before in his entire life.” Sonya explained with a smirk at Fury.

“C’mon.” Fury muttered under his breath.

“I don’t know when a skrull is pretending to be a human, but I know when someone is telling me the truth.” Sonya proclaimed.

“It’s not that simple.” Maria warned.

“I thought seeing Talos would be a good sign for you. If it makes you feel better we can just point guns at them the whole time.” Sonya grinned at Fury this time and Fury rolled his eyes. He couldn’t fault Maria for being hesitant to get near him again. If the same thing happened to Fury he wouldn’t just jump in a car someone who tried to kill him but they really had to go fast.

Maria was definitely not anticipating getting into a car with Nick—fake or real. She had a lot of trauma to unpack about what happened. Even though she knew Nick would never shoot her, the sight of it and the experience of it was real. It was hard for her to disconnect the reality of the situation from the experience she had with it. She was already so ultra paranoid trying to escape these skrulls, she couldn’t just get into a car with a potential one who already tried to kill her. Did Sonya really expect her to just pick up and go, how could she?

Could there really have been two Nick Furys the whole time? Maria was trying to solve the puzzle in her mind quickly. The sad Fury that ignored her for years and then showed up to tell her he ‘got a lot of calls’ was that really the Nick she knew for almost twenty years? When he wouldn’t listen to Maria offer alternative ideas at the bombing and agreed with Talos’s incorrect fatherly instinct to protect G’iah instead of everyone else… she guessed that part did seem like Fury in a way, but it could have been a tactic of a skrull too. Any skrull could have pretended to be Fury and shot her, that’s true. She hadn’t really considered that it had been the real Fury with her up until she saw him at the bombing.

As Maria thought about what happened that potentially any skrull could have just shape shifted into Fury and shot her on sight she leaned her head back against the wall she was hiding behind. It couldn’t have been two Furys because of what the skrull Fury said to Maria when he shot her. He said ‘checkmate’ just like Maria had said to him the night before at the bar. Skrull Fury had to have known what that meant when he said it. Right? It couldn’t be a coincidence, it was personal.

“Hill, we are in a pinch for time.” Sonya reminded. Maria wasn’t going to make any decisions under the duress of being quick.

“Go without me.” Maria sighed and she hung up on Sonya. She’d figure her own way out. Sonya immediately called her back but Maria ignored it.

Maria could then sense a presence near her. She could tell it was Talos who saw her and followed her. She just knew it and she didn’t know why.

“If you walk around that corner and I can’t see your hands…” Maria threatened him swiftly.

Talos’s hands appeared around the corner free of any weapons. He approached Maria with compassion, and Maria had her hand in her backpack.

“Uh.. can I approach?” He asked meagerly. He understood Maria’s over abundance of caution, he would never question it after what happened to her.

“Where are you guys going?” Maria asked.

“I actually have no idea.” Talos said as he slowly peered around the corner and then stepped around it so Maria could see him.

“What are you doing here?” Maria interrogated.

“Being threatened and held at gunpoint by a British woman who also needs our car.” Talos explained as he thought about what happened.

“Why does she ‘need your car?’” Maria almost scoffed.

“Because some skrull rebels blew hers up.”

Maria thought about what Talos was saying, is that what Sonya meant when she said ‘explosive’ she sounded so cheery and her usual self on the phone.

Maria had three days of no sleep, she went through hell trying to get here and she didn’t at all feel at ease now that she was. Instead, the looming trauma of everything that had happened was finally pressing down her, like she was about to break down. Her weariness from everything happened was taking over and she could feel it. She was trying to make up for this feeling making things extra hard for herself so she didn’t fall for the easy way and end up in a trap again.

“It wasn’t Fury who did it, it was Gravi—…” Talos started to explain and Maria cut him off quickly almost offended Talos even suggested to her that she thought it was Nick.

“I know it wasn’t Nick.” Maria said in an angry tone and Talos just paused because Maria’s reaction was strong.

“But that’s not the point… I don’t know if that Nick, with you is really him, and neither do you and neither does Sonya.” Maria was exhausted and Talos could tell her eyes were so worn. Maria only became more angry as she realized the heavy weight of the situation she was in. She thought she had a big choice to make a few days ago when she trusted Talos? Now? This was so much bigger and she was not all in the right state of mind to make this choice.

“It is, I promise it is him.” Talos tried to assure calmly and Maria shook her head no.

“You cannot tell me, that that man who sat across from me and you and said he gets too many calls to acknowledge us, is the same Nick Fury.” Maria grumbled over a sigh.

“It’s not. It’s not the same Nick Fury. You’re definitely right about that. He’s not the same person that he was before the blip. The world changed, he changed. But he is trying.”

Maria just shook her head no. They were being played by this fake Nick the whole time.

“But that is not the person who tried to kill you. Gravik did that.” Talos said very quietly. Maria took a deep breath for a minute. It couldn’t have been Gravik with them the whole time because G’iah was getting information from Gravik and giving it back to Talos while Fury was with the, right? It didn’t mean it wasn’t some other skrull though.

“After the bombing, I saw you, I saw you leaving, I tried to get to you, I thought you were okay. I couldn’t get through the crowd and I had to go a different way toward the west gate. I heard shots, and then I found Fury.”

“You found Nick and then you heard the shots or you heard the shots and then you found him?” Maria asked but Talos couldn’t remember so he didn’t say anything to answer.

“He’s been a skrull the whole time, I know it. When he shot me he said something to me that…” Maria paused “there’s just no way that it wasn’t him with us before.” Maria warned. Talos could tell Maria was convinced just Sonya had been.

“When I heard the gun shots I found Fury right after, he went the opposite way from where you were trying to get away. We were forced that way in the chaos.” Talos explained.

“If there was one fake Fury there could be two.” Maria said quietly warning Talos again.

“If it wasn’t really him, I don’t think I would be alive right now, neither would Sonya. The skrulls want the real Fury, he’s the real one, they want him to bring them something. The rebels they think you and Fury are the only ones who know where it is. That’s why they’re looking for you.”

“If he hadn’t been a skrull the whole time then how could he have known to say what he said?”

“I don’t know. I think they’ve been surveying us since well before Fury got here, but I really don’t know. If you can’t trust him, I get it, you have to do what…”

“I always trust Nick, but I just don’t trust that is Nick. You shouldn’t either.”

“Okay.” Talos knew it was better for Maria to come with them, people were looking for her and Gravik already tried to kill her once. If Gravik didn’t want her to help find the Avenger DNA, getting rid of her to stop her from outing his plans was also imperative. Maria knew important people and she could get in touch with them easily.

Maria felt her phone buzz again. She had to make a decision. Was Gravik playing some 3D chess game this whole time or was he just a kid who knew how to take advantage of opportunities? Sonya put a lot of effort in getting Maria here, people got hurt, people that meant a lot to Sonya. If Sonya trusted this Fury, if Talos did, should Maria do it too? Were they all just going to end up dead somewhere? Making this decision was so hard.

“We were wrong. We should have listened to you.” Talos wanted to explain.

“I don’t…” Maria started to roll her eyes she didn’t need to be told she was right, she knew she had been right. Talos cut her off quickly.

“Everything you wanted to do was smarter, it was better, it was safer. I couldn’t protect Soren from Gravik, so I wanted to make sure I could protect G’iah. I wasn’t thinking about anything or anyone else. I am sorry for these mistakes that cost you.”

Maria shook her head, this was exactly how Fury guilted her into helping him that got her shot.

“You trusted me before…” Talos reminded.
“Yeah, and then what happened?” Maria muttered.

“We left you.” Talos answered rather ashamed.

“I know it’s the real Fury. He didn’t want to leave without you. He was angry and desperate to find you before we left, but I made him. I told him I saw you running away and that you were okay, and I made him leave before we could find you so we wouldn’t get stuck in Russia. They called in Fury’s description on the radio, they were looking for him so I made him leave with me.” Talos explained. He knew it was a hard sell for Maria to ever trust him again. But Talos did think Maria was okay when they left. When he saw her she was helping someone and leaving with them. Talos wasn’t even sure if telling Fury to leave right then would have changed if he knew Maria had been hurt or killed, and he hated to think it, but there was nothing else they could do. He figured of all people Maria had to understand that. If she knew the Fury he found was desperate to find her before Talos forced him to leave maybe it would help her realize it was really him.

Back at Fury’s car, Sonya and Fury waited for Talos and Maria to come out of the airport.

“I’m about to bust in there.” Fury grumbled.

“Don’t you dare.” Sonya glared at him.

“This is taking too long, something is happening.” Fury assumed.

“Would you want to get in a car with the person who shot you?” Sonya asked.

“Hill knows I would never.” Fury asserted. Maria and Nick had some issues to work out but both of them knew this was beyond anything that could ever happen between them. Hill and Fury would die for each other but they wouldn’t die because of each other.

“But that’s not the point, is it?” Sonya asked Fury and Fury tilted his head.

“We’re fighting an enemy we cannot see, we do not know who we can trust and when we can afford to trust the people we do. The last time she saw you she almost died. What if she died thinking it was you. Do you think someone bleeding out has time to reason if it was a skrull or not?” Sonya asked Fury bluntly.

“She’d know.” Fury said certain, but after watching the video himself he had to wonder if Sonya was right. Could someone really make that distinction in their final moments? Gravik was going after Fury in a cruel way, Gravik failed just by chance and Fury couldn’t imagine what would have happened if he had succeeded.

“Well, in the end I guess it’s what we can convince ourselves of that matters.” Sonya and Fury exchanged a glance but then Fury saw Talos and Maria walking out of the airport and to the car.

Talos opened the car door for Maria and she got in the back sighing to herself. Talos slid in next to her.

“What took so long?” Fury asked. He wanted to jump out of the car and hug Maria, but he knew he couldn’t for multiple reasons, he was in hiding and so was Sonya and so was Maria… they were going to have to wait to talk somewhere private.

“We were getting a pretzel.” Maria snarked as she sat in the back of the car, with Talos next to her.

“You didn’t get us one?” Fury responded with a laugh and looked back and smiled at Maria.

Maria looked at Fury and she paused as she saw his face light up when he saw her again. It seemed so genuine and it just gave her a brief moment of relief. She thought she would never see Fury look at her like this again. She theorized he might be dead or gone with the other people the skrulls replaced. It was a far different look than the the evil hateful look the Fury who shot her made at her. Maria smiled back at him but as she realized this was probably the real Fury, her heart broke a bit, because that meant all the mistakes he made before he wasn’t sabotaging them on purpose he was just really out of his element and that hurt Maria in a different way. She almost found it comforting before that real Fury would never had made such bad choices and said such thoughtless things but in the same way that meant the talk they had at the bar was real, even if skrulls were listening to them.

“You should have brought us those blintzes.” Maria mumbled and Talos laughed.

“What is all this talk about food?” Sonya asked as Fury drove away from the airport. “Don’t we have more pressing matters?”

“The first thing we have to do is find somewhere we can talk and figure this out.” Fury sighed he knew they had to get away from the airport where there was so much surveillance.

“A place to stay and work this out privately is going to cost money.” Sonya grumbled. She had money, in fact, Sonya had a lot of money but she couldn’t access any of it without giving herself away, same with Fury. Talos grimaced because the last time they didn’t have any money he had to do the dirty work, and he was not great at it.

“I have cash.” Maria piped up and Sonya and Fury turned and looked at her surprised, Talos lowered his brows at Maria.

“Who did you steal that from?” Talos asked remembering Maria’s self admitted shoplifting skills.

“Well it’s more of an advance, really.” Maria said straight faced but Sonya smirked to herself.

“I have 500 dollars in cash.” Maria told them.

“We can find a place to work with that.” Fury nodded.

“What hotel is going to take cash for a room?” Sonya asked, what good did this do them? Maria and Talos raised their brows to themselves.

“Well, it might not be a hotel…” Fury said with a frown and then he started driving to Brixton.

Maria and Fury exchanged glances at each other suppressing their smirks and Sonya looked at the both of them and rolled her eyes.

“Oh god help us.” Sonya grimaced.

It definitely wasn’t a hotel. Talos and Fury found a rough motel that even had a pay by the hour option and accepted cash in downtown Brixton. It was 48 dollars per night per room. Talos shape shifted into a beautiful blonde Russian woman and paid for two rooms for the night.

Nestled in the heart of Brixton, this motel was a grim display of its constant neglect. Some people thought it’s faded sign and rundown look was part of its charm and appeal. Sonya was not one of those people. The motel had a 1970s vibe, a relic of a forgotten era with peeling paint and even shag carpet in the common areas. It had such a funny mid-century modern decor mixed with some more recent pieces and some older ones. If it had good upkeep it could have been quite chic.

Sonya, Fury, and Maria hid their faces with baseball caps as they went up to the motel rooms. Sonya’s face as they entered one of the rooms of the motel was clear disgust. Fury just laughed as he saw Sonya’s look.

As Sonya entered the hotel room she was met by a dismal sight. The room just had a dim yellow glow that made her feel uneasy. Sonya knew this was just a place for them to find some temporary refuge and figure stuff out but did it have to be so gross?

“Well someone has never stayed in a seedy motel in Brixton before and shows.” Fury joked and Sonya rolled her eyes. She was supposed to work out of … this… she could not stop looking at how gross it was.

“You can not be serious.” Sonya said eying the room miserably

“Us two old men will take the conjoining one.” Fury said as he and Talos went over to the other room.

Maria walked into the room, she was so tired and honestly she’d sleep on a floor if she had to. She took one look at one of the double beds in the room and she just threw her bag down on it.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that unless it’s covered in plastic.” Sonya mumbled.

“Do you ever wonder if you are ever going to be able to sleep or shower again?” Maria asked Sonya abruptly.

“I also wouldn’t do either of those things here unless the bed and shower are also covered in plastic.” Sonya emphasized and Maria laughed.

As Sonya took in the dismal room she and Maria were in, she realized they were in just as a dim situation. It was the four of them against an enemy they could not really fight. They had to be clever and unnoticed, and they had so many different things they had to do. Sonya thought Fury was no match for Gravik’s rebellion, as Sonya realized the overtired, weary state Maria was in, she realized none of them were up to this task.

“I brought you some clothes.” Sonya said as she handed Maria her shoulder bag.

“I remember my days in the field and it was just so dirty and uncomfortable. No one ever thought about the practical things that people needed.” Sonya recalled.

Maria took the shoulder bag.

“Thanks, and you know, thanks for…” Maria started and Sonya cut her off.

“No need to thank me. It wasn’t personal, it was a strategic decision for what we need to do to take out all these skrulls.” Sonya said casually, she wasn’t going to acknowledge there was any other reason to help Maria escape Russia.

“Yeah, no, right.” Maria nodded and the two women looked at each other and they didn’t need words to express their gratitude. It was a relief really, that two people were here who could talk sense into these old men so they world didn’t get destroyed.

Sonya also needed some time to process what had happened today but she really didn’t have a moment to think about it. Someone was trying to kill her and she was going to have to check in with Weatherby at some point and pretend that nothing was wrong between them, but Sonya knew she needed to have a plan first. She had to get to the Daltons before they were able to enhance skrull capabilities. And she knew Weatherby would be on her case about the ‘failed’ extraction for Maria, he might even send people to talk to Oslo—if he could find him.

Maria went into the bathroom and changed and cleaned up quickly. She had such chaotic and mixed feelings about everything. There was just no time to feel your emotions and think through everything. Maria pulled on the pullover sweater and pants that Sonya brought her. Maria felt like her whole live right now boiled down to escaping near death and changing her clothes. Maria exited the grim bathroom and Sonya went in and grabbed a towel that was hanging on the towel rack.

“I brought you a coat too, because it’s so cold, unless you want to keep this men’s Finland football sweatshirt…” Sonya said referencing the sweatshirt Maria threw on the floor.

“Apparently, that’s the wrong team to wear here.”

“Indeed, it is.” Sonya nodded.

Sonya and Maria then joined Fury and Talos in the room next to theirs that had a small round table. Sonya covered her chair with the towel she took from the bathroom. Fury, Talos, and Maria tilted their heads at her.

“Bold of you to assume they clean the towels.” Fury joked and Maria and Talos laughed.

“At least I could see if there were any stains on the towel, can’t say that for the lot of you sitting in these chairs.” Sonya made a frowning face, the remaining three of them also frowned.

“Next time I’ll see if we can get in at the Ritz.” Fury joked.

“Alright, C’mon.” Maria said true to the Maria that Fury knew and he couldn’t help but laugh to himself.

“Do we know of anyone else who is a skrull in disguise?” Maria asked.

“MI6 Director Weatherby, I think he’s one, I think that’s how they found you and Oslo on your way out.” Sonya admitted.

Maria groaned. Skrulls being in charge of intelligence agencies was definitely going to bad.

“To be honest, I think they’re bloody everywhere.” Sonya sighed.

“G’iah slipped us phone, we got a little news from her earlier today. We know that they are holding the people they replace in pods, so they’re not dead.” Talos started to explain but Maria shook her head no at Talos.

“Where are they?” Maria asked and Sonya wanted to know this too.

“At an abandoned nuclear site in Russia, they’re immune to the radiation there. Some skrulls settled there over ten years ago and now more and more of them have found refuge there. That’s where Gravik is running his operation out of.”

“Can she can get photos of everyone they’re holding there?” Maria asked.

“She’s trying to find a list of names.” Talos sighed.

“The skrulls might be immune to the radiation there, but the humans they are holding are not.” Sonya pointed out.

“I don’t know what they are doing about that.” Talos had to believe they had developed something to keep the humans alive.

“I think it’s pretty clear Gravik knows she is helping you.” Maria pointed out the obvious from the bombing. Either G’iah was in it, or she was played too and considering she was still alive, something had to be up.

“Even if she’s not giving us fake information on purpose, Gravik is feeding it to her to set traps.” Maria sighed. Maria didn’t want to say G’iah wasn’t on their side despite the fact that she personally delivered the bomb to Gravik because she knew Talos would get upset., but Maria wanted it to be clear they had to be aware that any information they got fro G’iah might be tainted. Sonya nodded that Maria was right.

This was going to be a challenge for them, weeding out the truth from what was being fed to them. Fury and Sonya were cut off from the resources they generally relied on. Maria was ‘missing’ and hiding on purpose so she didn’t get killed by the skrulls, and well, Talos was really the only one of them who had any power in this group right now and simply because he could shape shift but that could only get them so far.

“We are on our own for this one.” Fury mumbled. Maria thought about what Fury just said.

“We’ve been on our own for most of them.” Maria tilted her head at Fury and he nodded.

“So, it shouldn’t be a problem then.” Sonya smiled and Maria and Talos nodded in agreement. Playing against Gravik, they didn’t need super powers they needed to be smart and this was something they had not been yet.

Fury looked at his phone and he made a face and then he looked at Maria.

“What?” Talos asked alarmed.

“Hill, how much does one flight out of Russia cost?” Fury grumbled, apparently he got hit with that bill quickly. Sonya laughed and Maria failed to suppress her smirk.

“It was out of Finland.” Maria corrected.

“So, it should be even cheaper!” Fury said eyeing Maria.

“This is how I know you’re not a skrull…” Maria started

“Because he’s a cheapskate?” Talos asked jokingly.

“Because skrull Fury is sparing no expense on me. And you’re over here trying to pinch pennies.” Maria joked despite the seriousness of the situation and Sonya and Talos really laughed.

Fury looked over at Maria like an annoyed father ready to call the credit card company to dispute the bill.

“If you don’t want to pay for it, then pick me up yourself next time.” Maria snarked and Sonya and Talos laughed. Fury was still giving a skeptical fatherly type look at Maria over this, but then he sighed. Maria was right. It was literally the least Fury could do. Fury then looked at everyone sitting the table who were snickering at him and shook his head in a slow motion before smirking himself.

“Oh, I will.” Fury assured.

“And, it wasn’t just a flight, by the way. I also got this.” Maria pulled out a clear tablet, like Fury used on S.A.B.E.R.

“How the heck did Mason get that?” Fury looked stunned and Maria shrugged as she put it on the table.

“And, you paid for a working ID in the Tampere airport security so I could get around without my passport, and I got a gun, and some chips…” Maria smirked.

“And a phone.” Sonya added and Maria nodded.

“And a phone.” Maria echoed.

“AND…” Maria started as she put her hand in her backpack and pulled out a small compact net that was a little bigger than her palm and she tossed it at Fury. He caught it with a quick reflex.

“A photostatic veil?” Fury said as he looked at what Maria tossed him and Maria nodded. No wonder Fury’s tab was so high. This probably cost more than everything combined.

“It’s the old version though. So we’re not shape shifting on the skrull level or anything.” Maria sighed but she knew it was better than nothing.

“There’s a new version?” Sonya asked surprised.

“The new version does the whole body.” Fury bragged.

“Well thank god. A billion dollar piece of technology and all it could do was change your face. Can’t even do hair.” Sonya groaned.

“And.. I also added the cash advance to the tab.” Maria admitted with a slight grimace, Fury rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Fury took a slow deep breath.

“And it worked out great.” Maria had a smug smile on her face.

Fury turned on the tablet and he started looking up possible locations for New Skrullos.

“All that money spent on photostatic veils, the government never made anything to detect a skrull?” Sonya asked annoyed.

“Well they don’t really know about them.” Fury reminded.

“Someone has to have made something that can detect a skrull without killing them, right, though?” Maria sighed looking at Talos. It was a hard sell to try and kill or hurt people to prove they weren’t who they said they were, and Talos also didn’t want to kill any skrulls if he didn’t have to. Maria had taken out a number of them herself just getting away from them.

“The Kree did.” Talos interjected. “Vendors on Conjunction try to sell them on the black market now, but sometimes they are fake.” Talos explained.

“Conjunction?” Sonya asked curiously.

“It’s a dead world in the coldest reaches of the galaxy and known for its casino and sale of contraband tech.” Talos added and the other three of them sighed.

“So, we probably can’t get there today, huh?” Maria joked. Fury laughed to himself at Maria’s snark. Wow, had he missed it.

“Gravik goes for shock value and wants to be flashy, so he’s probably going for Ritson next now that he’s here in the U.K.” Fury changed the subject.

“They’re never letting you near Ritson or Rhodes again, and with Weatherby onto me now, my chances of getting to the President are slim as well.” Sonya said to Fury and sighed.

“Where Ritson goes, Rhodes goes too. He’s feeding location updates back to Gravik, he has to be.” Fury explained. “We’re going to have to find a way to separate Ritson and Rhodes and give Rhodes something else to focus on so we can get to Gravik before he gets to Ritson.” Fury was looking around on the tablet trying to figure something out.

“Good thing you can be anyone.” Maria gestured to Talos. Talos, Sonya, and Fury were quiet for a minute after Maria said that. Then all three of them looked at Maria as if they all reached the same idea independently but Maria was yet to be on the same page as the rest of the group.

“What did I say?” She asked the group.

“Well, potentially… there is someone here who can probably get close to Rhodes and it wouldn’t raise any flags…” Fury started and looked at Maria directly and then she paused as she finally caught onto what the rest of them were thinking.

Maria sighed loudly.

“You cannot be serious.” Maria groaned.

“There’s a way to do it. He’s a control freak, if you show up unexpected it’s really going to divert his attention, and it’s not like you could disappear from the delegation.” Fury thought he was onto something.

“People disappear in U.S. custody all the time, especially when we are in other countries.” Maria pointed out.

“It’s called rendition.” Sonya added smugly.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Fury said glaring at Sonya, as if she hadn’t done that to Fury a few days ago.

“But, Fury has a point.” Sonya turned to Maria and that was not what Maria was expecting Sonya to say.

“I just spent two days running from skrulls trying to kill me. Now, you think I should just go willingly join one… and hope I can distract him? With what? Not this.” Maria circled her very tired and injured face. Everyone laughed lightly but a little awkwardly at that joke.

“It can work.” Sonya hated to say it but it was true. It made the most sense for Maria to be the one working near the fake Rhodes. Sonya knew this because the US sent her the video of Fury shooting Maria, looking for Fury. They obviously thought Maria was some victim in this situation. Sonya knew she had to get moving on the Daltons.

“They don’t know that we know he’s a skrull, we have to keep it that way.” Talos sighed.

“If you’re with Rhodes it’s going to give Gravik a sense of security and more time for us to find him. He’ll think he has eyes on you but it’s the reverse.” Fury proposed.

Talos made a face.

“Isn’t it going to make him more nervous, he knows I know everything and could tell anyone with the President…” Maria grimaced.

“If you tell Rhodes everything, gain his trust then he’ll be so concerned you are going to expose them he probably won’t let you leave his sight, and he can’t be baby sitting you and updating Gravik on the President’s whereabouts nonstop.” Fury proposed and Maria made a face.

“I..” Maria paused.

“So, the one person we know for sure is a skrull, I have to pretend is not a skrull and I have to tell him everything we know?” Maria asked.

“You have to tell him, if you didn’t, he’d know that we were on to him.” Talos sighed, because this was tough and dangerous. Maria was going to have to walk a very tight rope between getting the fake Rhodes to think he was playing her when really she was playing him.

“And what’s going to stop him from trying to replace me, so there’s no way I could expose them and no one would no I was ‘missing.’” Maria asked.

Everyone was quiet because there was no answer for that.

“We don’t even know if he’s the only skrull in the delegation that’s here.” Maria sighed, everyone was quiet again because Maria made yet another good point that they could not answer. Maria looked at the three of them.

“Oh, god. This is really the best idea we have isn’t it?” Maria sighed, and Maria couldn’t think of a better one. They had to get someone near Rhodes and she really was the best and well only option.

Then Fury slid the tablet across the table to Sonya and Maria.

“It’s this one.” Fury said showing them the believed location of New Skrullos.

“I remember seeing a cable about potential movement at an abandoned soviet nuclear sight picked up on stealth drones we flew over head.”

“Can we get any confirmation from G’iah that this is the real location?” Maria asked and Sonya picked up the tablet looking over the location.

“I’ll try.” Talos confirmed.

“Okay, separating Rhodes and Ritson to cut off Gravik’s access that’s one, what’s the next thing?” Maria asked.

“The Daltons.” Sonya responded as she took over the tablet looking into the doctors. She hadn’t gotten too much of a chance to investigate them before she realized Weatherby was tracking her.

“They’re a married couple, also likely impersonated by the skrulls, trying to help give skrulls powers that the Avengers cannot compete with.”

Maria was quiet for a minute and then she looked at Fury.

“I know.” He grumbled.

“Does he have it already?” Maria asked Fury bluntly. She knew exactly what Gravik was after and what could help him accomplish this goal.

“No, but he’s looking for it. He thinks you and I are the only ones who knows where it is.” Fury explained.

“And what are you going to do about that?” Maria asked.

“He can’t be going after Ritson if he’s coming for me.” Fury suggested boldly.

Maria nodded, their ideas weren’t perfect but they had to split up this time, no question there were so many different ways they had to go at Gravik and he couldn’t be chasing them in all these different directions.

“Just some advice, maybe wear a vest.” Maria joked and Fury, Sonya, and Talos all paused and then laughed.

Later in the early evening the four of them had figured out the best paths to move forward with their plans. Talos went out for a brief walk, being the only one of them that could really go anywhere. Sonya was working on contacting Weatherby to arrange returning Maria to the Americans. Maira and Fury were sitting next to each other. They hadn’t had a moment to talk about anything that happened for real. Maria was so tired she was struggling to stay awake, her body was slumped over in the chair.

“We might never see each other again.” Maria mumbled to Fury.

“Should we run away?” Fury joked and Maria snickered lightly.

“It is my turn to run away from my problems for a few years, isn’t it?” Maria asked and then Fury snickered and then exchanged a light glance.

“It’s all going to be okay.” Fury assured but he didn’t know it would be or how, but he just felt like he needed to say it.

“I hope so.”

“Well, I’d never bet against you.” Fury said endearingly.

“Well, yeah, cause then you’d be broke.” Maria mumbled sleepily with her eyes closing, and Fury chuckled a deep laugh under his breath at her comment and Maria rested her head on his shoulder as she drifted off.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

NEW SKRULLOS - NOVEMBER 6 - 7:31 PM

G’iah was trying to find or create a concrete list of everyone the skrulls had abducted. She was trying to make one and keep it in her mind. She knew she couldn’t walk around with something like that. As G’iah was wandering the compound she stopped outside the doorway of what used to be a cafeteria for plant workers. She could hear Gravik talking to a group of skrulls.
“Brothers! Are you ready to make history?” He rallied the assembled skrulls. His voice boomed and echoed through the cafeteria.

“It’s time to end skrull oppression, once and for all and claim our rightful home.” Gravik grinned as the rallied skrulls cheered after his words.

“The humans will never know what hit them.” Gravik spoke eagerly, everything was almost working out so well for him.

“Tomorrow, he hit Ritson’s motorcade, take out the president, take out all of them, call the news. I want ‘the Russians’ work to play out on every screen in the whole world.” Gravik was so excited, he had a clear pep in his voice.

“What about Fury?” One of the skrulls in attendance asked.

“What about him?” Gravik scoffed.

“Fury, Hill, Talos… they’re all still alive.” The skrull who questioned Gravik pointed out and the room grew quiet.

“And what have they done to stop us? Huh? They’re nothing.”

“But you said we had to kill Fury.”

“Varra is going to kill Fury.” Gravik assured.

This skrull was perplexed by Gravik. He insisted on tracking Fury, finding Hill, wanting to kill them but never moving on it. Was Fury important or was he nothing? It was like Gravik couldn’t make up his mind.

“She’s not going to kill her husband.”

“Then, we’ll kill her, she’s a traitor for marrying him, anyway.” Gravik huffed.

“But…” the skrull continued and Gravik reached out his arm which changed into a long branch and it stretched across the room and wrapped around the the questioning skrull’s neck.

Gravik raised the skrull from the ground in front of the group of rebels as he strangled him. The skrull clawed at the roots around his neck choking him.

“Did you question me! Do you not understand your orders?” Gravik asked the skrull gasping for his last breaths. The assembled skrulls watched in a mix of fear and shock as it looked like Gravik was going to kill one of their own, a skrull in the rebellion!

Then Gravik recalled his roots and the skrull fell to the ground, clutching his neck and gasping for breath on the cold cement floor of the cafeteria.
“This was supposed to be a good time.” Gravik muttered. The once cheerful and amped up skrulls were now silent.

“You are with me or you are against me. Is that clear?” Gravik asked the group and he got some silent nods as they all watched their friend struggle to recover on the floor, but none of them dared to help him while Gravik stood there.

“Boys! Don’t disappoint me tomorrow.” Gravik warned.

“For Gravik!” Pagon called out in the silence and the other skrulls followed cheering for Gravik instead of themselves, but purely out of fear at this point. Gravik loved hearing his own named cheered like this, it was a thrill. Even though he repeatedly told the skrulls he wanted to kill Fury, he was still waiting for the harvest, and Gravik was sure he was going to get it.

As G’iah overheard the plans that Gravik and Pagon with other skrull rebels were going to pretend to be the Russians and attack the President’s motorcade she knew she had to get the message to Talos soon. They could divert the President or pre-empt the attack, or something. G’iah snuck away from the hallway where she eavesdropped on what happened. She could tell some people were turning on Gravik but their fear of him was keeping them in line.

G’iah snuck into the surveillance room, she was waiting for Gravik to leave before she called Talos to alert him of the plans. She watched all the monitors that showed everywhere in the compound, Gravik was obsessed with watching what everyone was doing. Even for the skrulls who weren’t part of the rebellion. He even had cameras that were set back up at his safe house. He wanted to know who was loyal at all times.

G’iah watched as she saw Gravik and Pagon get into cars and start to leave New Skrullos with some other skrulls. G’iah knew they were meeting up with other skrull operatives already in the U.K. She heard there were people there. As G’iah saw Gravik’s car leave she found her bag and dug out her hidden cellphone to call Talos. As she pulled the phone out of her bag she heard the door open and she looked up with her phone in her hand as Gravik stepped in the room.

G’iah gasped and then froze. She felt her heart skip a beat as she stared directly at Gravik. He looked right at her ominously as he saw the phone in her hand.

“What are you doing up here?” Gravik asked her.

“I was just watching.”

“Why? For what?”

“What was happening. Why am I not going?” G’iah asked.

“What would you even do?” Gravik asked her sarcastically, high on the cheers and chants of his name from earlier.

“Who are you calling?” He questioned but his voice seemed like he knew the answer.

G’iah looked at him, she didn’t want to play this game. She didn’t say anything, she just looked at Gravik angrily.

“Well?” He asked her again.

“I wasn’t calling anyone.” G’iah answered she paused as she wondered what to do in this moment alone in this room with Gravik, who clearly just tricked her, as if he already knew she was watching for him and she was going to call Talos.

“You know, I told your traitor father exactly what was going to happen to you … and he did not care one bit.” Gravik stepped closer to G’iah and she stepped back.

“He said you left him, you made your choice with me, and whatever happened to you is what you deserved.” Gravik lied and G’iah knew he was lying.

“He didn’t want a daughter who betrayed her mother.”

“Shut up.” G’iah said with disdain.

“Oh, the truth hurts, doesn’t it?” Gravik snickered at G’iah.

“You’re just a spoiled little girl. The fake rebel daughter of the failed skrull general.”

G’iah shook her head no, afraid as Gravik stepped closer to her, especially after what she just heard him do.

“You’re either a traitor to your family or a traitor to me, which one is it?” He baited and she narrowed her gaze a him.

“I didn’t betray anyone.”

“You didn’t spray my bags with infrared spray and tell your daddy where to find them?” Gravik asked.

“No!” G’iah declared with a bold lie.

“Give me the phone.” Gravik said coldly. G’iah pulled her hand backward and Gravik reached for her phone. G’iah then hit Gravik in the face, and he grunted as he knocked the phone out of her hand. G’iah tried to wrestle him off of her but then she felt him press a gun right up against her chest and she looked at him stunned, but Gravik had shape shifted into G’iah’s form.

“I’ll tell your daddy you love him.” Gravik said in G’iah’s voice as he pulled the trigger and shot her in the chest. G’iah’s body fell backward hitting the wall and then lowering slowly to the floor. Her body changed from her human form to her true self as her purple blood spilled out behind her and over her chest.

Gravik took the phone as he looked at the lifeless G’iah on the ground. He dialed the most recent number standing as G’iah’s human form over the real G’iah’s body.

“It’s the Prime Minister, they’re going after her, tomorrow, at her speech in the grand hall. I have to go, tell Nick, get there fast.” Gravik said as G’iah urgently to Talos on the phone before he hung up and reverted back to himself with smug grin on his face.