Multiversal Wanderer: Starting in Naruto-Chapter 74: Pegasus Project

"Forget it, let's find a way," Nick Fury said, pulling out his S.H.I.E.L.D. ID. He carefully used tape to lift the fingerprints off the ID.

"Did you check it at the end?" Nick asked, a little proud of himself. He placed the copied fingerprint into the three-way fingerprint lock. With a soft beep—"Authentication passed"—the door slid open.

Nick shot Carol and Su Xiuyu a smug look, clearly proud of his little trick. Su Xiuyu almost burst out laughing. He knew full well that Nick had wasted all that time on something Carol could've solved with a single energy blast.

After sneaking through, they soon came across another fingerprint-locked door. Just as Nick was about to pull out the tape again, Carol stopped him.

Carol motioned for Nick to move aside. Without a word, she blasted the lock open with an energy bomb. Nick, still awkwardly holding the tape, looked utterly ridiculous.

"So let me get this straight—you guys spent all that time fiddling with tape like a bunch of chimps, and in the end, the damn lock just gets blown open?" Su Xiuyu said, trying and failing to hold back a laugh. freёnovelkiss.com

"Pfft," he said. His sense of humor might have been simple, but this? This was comedy gold.

"Hey, I've had professional training! I can laugh even in critical situations!" Nick defended himself, his pride taking a hit.

"Don't worry, Nick," Carol teased. "I'll laugh at you just like Xiuyu did."

"Damn it..." Nick muttered under his breath.

The three quickly made their way into the archive room. There, they discovered that the Pegasus Project had been officially listed as a failure. A huge accident had caused billions in losses, and Dr. Lawson had vanished during the incident.

"Guess that's why the Aviation Administration isn't exactly fond of me," Fury sighed.

Unfortunately, a lot of the data had been tampered with. There were no clear records about Dr. Lawson. The last person who seemed to have interacted with her was Maria Rambeau. Carol even found some scraps of her own information—images of her in a U.S. Air Force uniform triggered flashes of memories: a crash during a test flight.

"I had a feeling," Su Xiuyu said. "Didn't expect it to involve Chris, though."

Carol snapped out of her daze. "Chris? What do you mean? I thought his name was Firth."

"What else do you know?" she demanded, her body glowing slightly as her emotions spiked.

"Calm down," Su Xiuyu said lightly. "No matter what anyone says, you need to find the truth yourself. Don't just take my word for it. Find your own answers."

Carol forced herself to calm down. Even if Su Xiuyu told her everything he knew, would she really believe it without proof? Probably not.

"I need a minute," Carol muttered, stepping away to contact her "boss."

"We found traces of my past life here on Planet C-53," she reported. "Can Rogg tell us why? Even the Supreme Intelligence showed me an image of Dr. Lawson."

"Carol, sounds like your mind's been scrambled by the Skrulls," Yon-Rogg said smoothly. "You're a Kree warrior. You know your training. Stay calm. We'll help you recover your memories once you return."

His words only deepened Carol's confusion. Earth... Kree... What was the truth?

"Move it! More agents are coming!" Su Xiuyu's wooden clone shouted, snapping her back to reality. A group of black-clad agents had found them.

As they ran, Carol asked, "When you pulled me just now—you had some serious strength."

"I told you," Su Xiuyu said, shrugging. "I'm way stronger than you think."

Carol narrowed her eyes slightly. She had started doubting Su Xiuyu's identity a while ago, but so far, he had shown no ill will toward her. Just a guy looking to score a free spaceship or two.

Nick, meanwhile, was doing his best to hold off the agents chasing after them.

Up ahead, they spotted a uniquely shaped plane sitting in the hangar.

"Hey, you two know how to fly?" Fury called.

"We'll manage!" Su Xiuyu yelled back.

The moment Carol sat in the pilot's seat, muscle memory kicked in. Her hands flew across the controls, prepping the ship for takeoff like she'd done it a thousand times.

"You actually know how to fly!" Su Xiuyu said, impressed.

"Maybe it's a gift," Carol said, flashing a small grin.

She piloted the aircraft smoothly, heading straight toward their next destination: Maria Rambeau.

Meanwhile, somewhere beyond Earth's atmosphere, Yon-Rogg and his Kree team were approaching at high speed.

The spaceship's communicator lit up, projecting the image of Ronan.

"Yon-Rogg, you're screwing this up," Ronan said coldly. "You let yourself get trapped on some backwater planet. I'll clean up your mess. The Skrulls are a threat. You can't afford mistakes."

"I'll handle it," Yon-Rogg replied stiffly.

"Hmph. You better," Ronan said before cutting the transmission.

Yon-Rogg's jaw tightened. "Faster!" he barked to his crew.

Back on Earth, Carol and the others landed safely.

Maria Rambeau stood at the door, stunned. She hadn't seen Carol in years—long enough to believe she was dead.

"Where the hell have you been, Carol ?" Maria cried, pulling her into a hug. "I thought you were gone forever."

Carol glanced at Su Xiuyu. Hearing Maria call her "Carol" again made it all feel real—maybe this really was her name.

"I remember," Carol whispered. "I am Carol."

Before they could say more, the doorbell rang.

"Probably the neighbor," Maria said, heading toward the door.

Carol immediately stopped her. "Wait—might be a Skrull."

Maria looked skeptical. "It's just a neighbor—"

But no sooner had the 'neighbor' left than a green-skinned figure stepped out of Maria's kitchen: Talos, the Skrull leader.

"Hey, hey—maybe try being polite to the real neighbor," Talos said dryly. "Because that guy? That guy was an actual neighbor."

Carol's hand instinctively charged with energy, ready to blast.

"Wait! I'm not here to fight!" Talos said, raising his hands. "Look outside."

Through the window, they could see another Maria Rambeau playing with a child—clearly a Skrull imposter.

The threat was obvious now.

-------------

"You're holding a child hostage and still want to have a talk with me?"

"Hey, hey, hey, think about it yourself. You've already taken down twenty soldiers, and that was considered lucky. So many of our people have died. I doubt anyone has the patience left to hear you out."

Talos was helpless. Carol's mother figure only wanted to search Carol's memories for the coordinates, not to cause so many deaths. Yet things had spiraled out of control, and many of his compatriots had fallen. Now, Talos had no choice but to fight back, his anger bubbling under the surface.

"I just want to find a set of coordinates. I believe that if we sit down and talk properly, we might actually reach some understanding."

"You're not making a strong case for yourself. Let's just sit down and talk." Su Xiuyu (wooden clone) placed his hand on Carol's shoulder, signaling for her to calm down.

"Fine," Carol said, eyeing him suspiciously. "But first, release the child." She leaned in slightly toward Su Xiuyu and whispered, "Whose side are you even on? Why are you speaking up for the Skrulls?"

"Alright, I agree." Talos quickly nodded. "Madam, please don't blame this gentleman. He's clearly different." Talos had a strong gut feeling about the man in front of him. He looked like an Earthling, but Talos instinctively knew he couldn't copy this man's form, which usually meant one thing: immense strength.

Thankfully, Talos hadn't come here to pick a fight, or he'd be in real trouble.

Skrulls were famous for copying countless species, but copying extremely strong bodies was difficult. Even Super-Skrulls with enhanced bodies could only copy so much—at the end of the day, a copy was still just a copy.

Since this strange man showed kindness toward him, Talos decided to reciprocate.

With a gesture, Talos had the child brought in. The boy froze the moment he saw two women who looked almost identical.

"Oh my God!" the boy gasped, confused and overwhelmed.

Seeing Talos' sincerity, Carol finally agreed to sit down and talk.

"I just need a set of coordinates," Talos said. "Besides, there's a recording in the black box from the crashed plane."

Before anyone could respond, Talos jumped back in terror, startled by a small yellow cat.

"Afraid of cats?" Carol asked, raising an eyebrow.

Only Su Xiuyu wasn't surprised. He knew Talos had reason to fear this particular "cat," the terrifying Flerken. Honestly, even Su Xiuyu was a little wary of the creature. Though he could suppress his fear with his strength, his current wooden clone wasn't nearly as bold.

"Yeah... just keep that thing away from me. It's dangerous," Talos stammered.

Carol misunderstood, thinking he was just afraid of an ordinary cat. She picked up the orange cat while the group listened to the old recording from the black box, memories slowly resurfacing for Carol.

Six years ago, Dr. Wendy Lawson's plane had been attacked by Kree fighter jets. Carol, alongside Lawson, had crashed. Before dying, Lawson had begged Carol to destroy the energy core. Carol had managed to trigger a massive explosion that infused her with energy, after which she was taken to the Kree homeworld.

Now, faced with the truth, Carol felt disoriented. For six years, she'd lived as a Kree, fully believing she was one of them. And now, everything was unraveling.

Even her superior, Yon-Rogg, had manipulated her all along.

"Alright, enough with the confusion," Su Xiuyu said. "Vers is still Vers, and Carol is still Carol. Nothing's changed who you are inside. Earth, Kree—it doesn't matter. What matters is what you choose for yourself."

Originally, Su Xiuyu had only wanted to form a basic friendship with Carol, thinking she might be useful later when navigating the Marvel Universe. But seeing her like this, fragile and vulnerable, stirred an unexpected sympathy inside him.

Even someone as strong as Captain Marvel could have moments of weakness.

Without a word, Carol buried her face against Su Xiuyu's chest, seeking comfort.

"Good thing Mito's not around," Su Xiuyu's wooden clone muttered under his breath. "Otherwise, she'd probably be jealous. But I'm just a clone. It's fine."

After a while, Carol lifted her head.

"Carol, don't wipe your snot on my clothes!"

"Dammit, Su Xiuyu! I don't even have a runny nose!"

Laughing lightly, Su Xiuyu said, "Come on, let's go. We've got all the answers we need. Talos hasn't been fully honest, but he doesn't seem malicious. And if he turns out to be? Well, it's not too late to take him down."

Carol snorted. "You sure about that? Even if it's a whole alien fleet?"

"Don't worry about it. Let's move."

They boarded the modified aircraft and soared into the sky. When they reached the designated coordinates, space appeared eerily empty and black.

"Cancel stealth mode!" Carol ordered.

Immediately, a colossal interstellar cruiser shimmered into existence, stationed near what had been Dr. Lawson's hidden lab.

Su Xiuyu, still holding the orange cat, gazed out at the breathtaking scene. "Man, first time in space, and it's already blowing my mind," he said, marveling at the sight of the cruiser looming against the stars.

Inside the cruiser, they found the energy core placed prominently in the lab.

"In Dr. Lawson's notes, this is referred to as the 'Cosmic Cube,'" Carol explained, storing it safely.

Suddenly, scattered Skrulls began appearing from hidden corners.

"Alert!" Carol shouted instinctively.

But Talos didn't seem alarmed. His eyes locked onto a familiar Skrull woman. He rushed forward and embraced her tightly.

"Finally found you," he whispered.

"I'm sorry," the Skrull woman said tearfully. "Lawson warned me that if I sent any signal, the Kree would find us. Talos... I'm sorry."

Beside her stood a small Skrull child—Talos' son.

Carol finally understood. Talos hadn't been searching for coordinates to win a war. He was trying to find his family.

All around them, more Skrulls cautiously emerged, clearly ready to defend their families at any cost.

Chris glanced at Carol. "Your friend... or your enemy?"

Carol hesitated, but Su Xiuyu answered smoothly, "Friend."

"Thank you," Talos said, gratitude flooding his voice. "And thank you, Lawson, for protecting so many of us."

"I've heard the Skrulls invaded many planets..." Carol murmured.

Talos shook his head sadly. "We never had that luxury. Surviving has been hard enough. We're just looking for a place to live."

Carol's heart sank. She'd believed she was upholding peace and justice. But now she realized she might have been fighting on the wrong side all along.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

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