HIATUS

LATER THAT NIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF MARIA RAMBEAU:

Inside Maria's house were Talos's family members, Fury and Carol. After the day they just had they built quite an appetite.

"SHIELD could always use a good pilot like you," Fury said to Maria.

"I'll consider it. Anyway's how's your eye?" Maria responded.

"Getting better every second", Fury said clearly a lie.

"Just so I'm clear, you were Soh-Larr, and the SHIELD agent?", Carol said to Talos.

"Keller. Tied my boss up, stole his identity", Fury interjected.

Talos defended himself by saying, " I borrowed his likeness. I'm no thief".

"It's a little like a thief", Talos's wife quickly said.

"Whose side are you on?", Talos responded to his wife.

"You're good to go here till you recover, but you and your family will need a new look", Fury said.

"I could go back to being your boss", Talos said to Fury with a smile.

"Please don't", Fury said as he drunk his beer.

"Come on. I love sporting his beautiful blue eyes", Talos said.

"You know what, I'll help you find a home, finish what Mar-Vell started. I just need to take care of that masked guy", Carol said.

"Wow, Am I on your hit list or something?", the masked man said as he appeared on the side of the dining room.

Seeing this Carol stood up and her hands began to glow. The rest were shocked but their reactions weren't as hostile as Carol.

"Jeez, easy fire hands. I didn't come here to be your enemy. I came us a friend or at least the chance to be one", the masked man said.

"Friend? Prove it", Fury said.

"I'll let you ask me questions but don't assume that I'll answer them all", the masked man said.

"Who are you?", Carol said.

"Hmm….You can call me Zero", the masked man said.

"Zero? What type of name is that", Maria said.

The masked man just shrugged and remained quiet.

"What are you? Are you an alien? Why do you have powers?", Carol asked.

"That's a lot of questions in one go. First of all, I am 100% human just like most people in this room, as for why I have powers let's just say destiny played a part in it", the masked man said.

"Destiny, even a kindergarten student has a better excuse than that", Fury said.

"Look at Carol, didn't destiny played a part in why she has powers. Even you can't deny that", the masked man said to Fury.

Fury squinted his eyes and did not respond to the statement of Zero.

"How did you know about us? The Skrulls, the Kree…what is your purpose?", Carol ask.

"My purpose is the same as you, the same as SHIELD, to protect this big spherical world of ours. It's flawed but it's all we got", Zero said.

"Who do you work for?", Fury asked.

"I work for no one, I am my own boss", Zero responded plainly.

"We can't just let you go. Go to S.H.I.E.L.D., get listed as someone with abilities. If you truly value this planet then you will allow this procedure. Having someone like you who is rogue and having no agency or country to supervise you is not something I can allow", Fury said in a commanding tone.

"Please, Fury you can try, but I promise you, you won't succeed, even if Carol helps you in that regard…Besides Agent Fury I came here to show you that I am not an enemy. I told you my name and my purpose, all in a show of good faith", Zero said.

For a while no one responded to what Zero said, both Fury and Carol were reluctant to trust Zero. For Carol who had been played by the Kree for the last 6 years of her life, trust was something she wasn't willing to give that easily, even if the person in front of her did save her and the lives of her friends.

"How do we know that you won't use your powers against normal people, civilians", Fury said.

"You won't Agent Fury", Zero stated.

Changing the topic about himself, Zero looks at Carol and said to her.

"You plan to help the Skrulls find a home?"

"Seriously, has anyone ever told you how creepy that is", Carol responded.

Inside the mask, Ethan smiled and he said to Carol, "You have one of the most powerful abilities I had ever seen".

" 'One of', there are other people who are stronger than me?" Carol said.

'Such as I feared', Zero thought. Along with her powers, Carol's confidence went through the roof. Right now I believe that she sees herself as the top dog of the universe, the most powerful being.

"Don't flatter yourself, Carol. There are many powerful beings in the universe.  One of those beings is a human and before you say anything it's not me. In fact, if you fight that person you won't be able to win, that person has a literally one-hit KO ability. Aside from that person, one such being came to earth a few years ago. These two people have one thing in common, they have enough powers to rival and beat you in submission", Zero said.

"…Why are you telling me this?", Carol asked reluctantly.

"A warning, when one is too confident in their abilities, one may not realize that they may fail", Zero said.

Ethan wanted to ingrain in Carol the idea of being not too overconfident since Ethan made some minor changes in the story at this point, he wanted Carol to be not too headstrong in her travels in space. No one would know if by some minuscule chance she would encounter such beings, like Ego for example. The changes in the story could have already made ripple to who knows's what.

"..." Carol wanted to say something but she stopped herself from talking.

"I am here to protect earth, I am Zero and I represent SHADOW", the masked man said as his figure disappeared in a puff of smoke. The moment he disappeared he left behind a note.

Fury picks the note and began reading it out loud, "P.S. I would really much appreciate that you tell no one about my person and the organization that I represent since we're a team in the protecting the planet gig and all that. Anyway take care".

After reading the note Fury glance at everyone in the room and he just sighed.

Ethan may have personally left the house of Maria but he left behind a clone to check what happens after he left. After he left Fury and Carol had a conversation while cleaning the dishes. They talked about what Zero said and how to help the Skrulls. Carol gave Fury a communicator, she said that she will travel with the Skrulls and help them find a new home. She also reluctantly told Fury to trust Zero, even if how shady the man can be. Fury nodded and said that he will not write any records about Zero in the SHIELD database.