Chapter 10 - Maria Rambeau

In Louisiana, an aircraft was slowly descending over a plainfield next to the road. Not far from it, a traditional suburban house was built behind a forest of trees.

Inside the cockpit, Carol was carefully instructing Faust how to land the aircraft.

"Steady.. Steady.. Now, slowly pull the lever."

The aircraft slowly landed to a halt.

"Wow, you're a fast learner." Carol surprised and satisfied with his performance praised Faust.

Fury who was still dumbfounded on what's happening wanted to confirm again.

"Did he just flew us over to Louisiana without dying?"

Faust rolled his eyes and said, "C'mon, you should trust me more. I got your back. I wouldn't be called a genius for nothing or do you want the truth to slap you more in the face."

"Seriously, I'm impressed. You should apply for a special pilot license." Fury said while fistbumping Faust.

"I'm still a kid, but I'll keep that in mind." Faust reciprocated the gesture.

"You two finished with your bromance moment? Let's go find the person we're looking for." Carol called out to them.

After getting out of the plane,They didn't walk far when they found her house but there's no one inside, so they went over to the other side and saw an open hangar slash workshop at the back.

They went over for a look and saw a black woman tinkering on a workstation beside a small two-seater plane.

Carol slowly approach her, almost unsure of what to say or do.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Maria Rambeau?" Carol asked.

When Carol spoke, a kid who was fiddling in the plane opened it's doors and jump out.

When the kid has taken a closer look, she recognized Carol in a glance, "Aunty Carol? Mom, it's Aunty Carol! I knew it, everybody said you were dead but we knew they were lying."

The kid run over to her with a hug.

In contrast, Carol stands there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

"I'm not really who you think I am."

Then they saw the black woman with a short bob cut hairstyle walking over to them. She was the Maria Rambeau they were searching for and she looked at Carol in disbelief.

--

Maria invited them inside the house but she didn't say anything along the way.

After a while, Maria and Monica are sitting at a small dining table, Carol is leaning against the counter and Fury is leaning against the wall. Carol began to tell her the story while Faust sat in boredom at the corner.

When Maria processed what she said she exclaim in disbelief, "That is the craziest shit I have ever heard."

Monica interjected, "Green-transforming aliens? There's no such thing."

Fury agreed while trying to cover up the information, "You're absolutely right, young lady. There is no such thing. 'Cause if there were, we would want to keep that to ourselves."

Then Fury looks towards Carol with eye signals.

Carol was unfazed and said, "You don't believe me?"

Then she stand up and walks towards the kitchen area to where a pot of unboiled water sits on the stove. She put her right hand on the kettle and begins heating it up while her hand was glowing blue and orange.

When this starts, Monica stands up, both fascinated and curious, and walks over to the stove. Quickly, the kettle begins to boil, blowing steam out and making a whistling noise.

Monica couldn't help and blurted out, "No way. That's so cool."

Fury added "Oh, ho. She can do a lot more than just make tea with those hands."

Monica curiously asked, "Like what? Show us." She looked at Carol with a pleading look.

But Carol remained steadfast and said, "Maybe later."

Monica suddenly remembered something and excitedly said, "I kept all your stuff, I'll go get it."

Then Carol turned to Fury, "You guys want to give her a hand with that?"

"Mmm??" Fury was confused pointing to himself.

Then Faust said, "She means leaving the two of them alone so they can have their lesbi---err I mean private talk."

Faust stood up from his chair and added, "Come on Fury, pick up the clues. So much for being an agent, huh. Aw! What was that for?"

Fury glared at him and smack the back of his head. Then they followed Monica outside, leaving Carol alone with Maria, who hasn't said a word since the incident with the kettle.

---

Fury and Faust went outside to follow Monica but then they saw her walking from upstairs carrying a box towards the dining area.

Faust and Fury came over to her as she opened the box full of Carol's things and pictures. She took a bunch of photos and placed them at the table.

The two made fun of the Carol's childhood pictures which made Monica laugh along with them.

After a few minutes, Carol came in with Maria.

When Monica saw her, she beckoned to her and said, "Come look."

Carol walk behind Monica, who is showing her a photo. It shows Carol smiling wearing an oval sunglasses and feathered scarf. To her right was the young Monica, around two years old wearing a pilot costume.

"This is me and you on Halloween." Monica introduced.

"I'm Amelia Earhart and you're Janis Joplin." She added.

Then she took another picture and showed it to her while explaining.

"Oh, this is you when you were little, you didn't get along with your parents so Mom said we became your real family."

The picture shows a young Carol standing next to her father.

The third picture she showed was the picture of Carol and Maria with her young self in the middle. They were wearing a Santa Hat and christmas pajamas while opening a gift.

"This is us on Christmas. I got more..."

Monica shows her photo of young Carol dressed as a pilot, then another photo of her sitting in a bar.

"Here's another picture of when you were little. And this is right after you graduated..."

Carol skims over all the photos which Monica has shown. In addition to the other photos, there is one of her Air Force graduation, one of her squadron standing in front of a plane, one of her and Monica carving a pumpkin and another one which she dressed as Janis Joplin.

Monica suddenly remembered another thing, "Oh wait. I forgot, your jacket. Mom doesn't let me wear it anymore after I spilled ketchup on it."

Then Monica runs off to retrieve Carol's jacket.

Once Monica has left, Carol looked at the pictures again, pushing them around to better see ones underneath. She continues looking through the pictures before she comes across her old dog tag, which has been burnt.

"That was all that survived the crash. Or so we thought." Maria said after she saw her looking at the picture of burnt dog tag.

Suddenly, there was knocking on the door, and Maria moves forward to answer.

But Carol suddenly said, "Don't answer that."

Maria stopped with a questioning look. She reassured her and said, "It's just my neighbor."

But Carol said, "They can change into anyone."

Then Fury with a gun drawn, and Carol walked towards the door to try to see who is outside. Carol opened the door and stares unfriendly at Maria's neighbor, Tom.

"Hi there." greeted by a fat old guy wearing a cap.

"What do you want?"

"Ummm..."

Before Tom could introduced himself, Maria interjected and said, "Hey Tom. This is my friend Carol."

"Oh, Pleased to meet you." Then he offered his hand for handshake.

Carol on the other hand, held it and zap it a little bit.

"Yowzers! Static electricity out here's no joke. I noted that peculiar bird you got parked by the road, and I was just wondering if you'd mind if I bring the boys over to get a closer looksie?"

Carol asked still in suspicion, "A closer looksie?"

Tom nodded with an excited face and said, "Yeah."

"To see the bird parked out by the road. You're really working overtime to sell this one, aren't you Talos?" Carol remarked eyeing Tom.

Maria quickly aplogized and said, "I'm sorry. Tom, this isn't really a good time. I'll come by tomorrow? Okay?"

"Uhh..."

"Okay."

Maria slowly close the door, but Carol still continues to stare at Tom. Once Maria has closed the door, a voice was heard behind them.

"Hey Guys, Piccolo is here" said Faust before Talos opened his mouth.

"Who's Piccolo?" Talos asked in confusion.

Faust didn't answer and just shrugged.

Fury draws his weapon and aims it towards Talos, While Carol's hands light up and Maria stands there confused.

"You know, you really should be kinder to your neighbors. You never know when you're gonna need to borrow some sugar." Talos said.

Then Talos takes a sip of the milkshake he is holding while Carol begins to advance towards him, her hands glowing more now.

Talos stopped her immediately and said, "Now, hang on a second, before you go swinging those jazz hands around, making a mess in your friend's house - and... it's a lovely home."

"Oh my God. What the hell?!" Maria exclaimed unable to believe what she was seeing. She was staring out the window, looking at herself playing with Monica.

"No one's gonna hurt the girl. Just, don't kill me. That would really complicate the situation." Talos declared.

Fury was fumed and shouted, "I'm about five seconds from complicating that wall with some ugly-ass Skrull brains."

"I'm sorry I simmed your boss. But now I stand before you as my true self. Without deception." Talos said trying to prove himself.

Carol furrowed her brows and asked, "And who is that, out there?"

"Okay, that's a fair point. But I'm sure that you understand, I had to take some precautions. I saw you crush 20 of my best men with your hands bound. I just wanna talk." Talos explained.

"Last time we talked, I ended up hanging from my ankles."

"That was before I knew who you were. Before I found what made you different from the others. I have an audio recording from Pegasus, of your voice, from a plane crash six years ago. On a device I believe you call a 'black box'."

"They told me it was destroyed in the crash. How'd you get it?" Maria asked in disbelief.

"Does she not understand?" Talos asked Carol.

Then he continued, "Young lady I have a special skill that kinda allows me to get into places I'm not supposed to be."

Maria was infuriated and said, "Call me young lady again, and I'm gonna put my foot in a place it's not supposed to be."

Talos stood there confused about the statement.

"Am I supposed to guess where that is?"

Fury, Faust and Carol answered him in sync, "Your ass."

"Okay, I get it. We're all a little on edge here. But look, I just need your help decoding some coordinates. If you sit down, you listen to this, I assure you, it'll be worth your while." Talos reassured them in a calm voice.

Eventually, Carol relented and said, "Call your buddy back inside and I'll listen."

"Deal."

Goose walks onto the scene and begins pressing himself against Talos' legs. Talos, was scared shitless and jumps backwards.

"Oh my God! Get that thing away! How'd that get in here?"

Carol picks up Goose, and holds him out towards Talos, causing him to walk further backwards.

"The cat? This isn't what you're afraid of, is it?"

"That's not a cat. That's a Flerken."

Fury laughed not believing what he said, "A Flerken?"

Then Monica walks into the house and sees Maria standing next to Carol and Fury. She looks around and sees the Skrull assuming its true form.

Monica confused turn to Maria, "Mom?"

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