Somewhere in the caverns of a faraway planet, two figures make their way through the dark caves – Dr Eve and the shapeshifting Mim. 'We're nearly there, just over that ridge' Dr Eve calls out. 'Just like the last ridge... and the one before that...' Mim mutters. Dr Eve tells her to have patience. 'We'll find it' she declares. Mim reminds Dr Eve that they searched the Negative Zone and the Dark Dimension before that. Dre Eve presses a button on her glove, which depicts a glowing green image, and declares that the energy signature says they are getting there. They arrive at some sort of alter and Dr Eve exclaims 'Imagine! It must be inside that shrine...the Heart of Gaia!' to which Mim asks 'You mean the rock?' Dr Eve tells her it is a relic, and explains that the ancients built this temple to honor the powerful gemstone that hides inside. 'So yeah. The rock' Mim points out, before asking her if the Hala children were the first phase of her plan, what does the rock have to do with the second. 'Everything' Dr Eve grins.
Elsewhere, Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel floats outside of Earth's orbit, she wakes, there is a pain in her head. She recalls that someone laid the whammy on her and wonders how the heck this always happens. She remembers they were searching for Bean, then Mim stole something from the lab, and Puck, Brand and Dante came to back her up in the old NASA shuttle. She looks around and wonders where the shuttle is. Carol remembers mim firing some kind of weapon, then calls out to her team via communicator – but gets no response from any of them. Carol knows that she tried to absorb the blast, but obviously wasn't fast enough and got knocked out. 'Still, if anything happened to the others...' she begins, before telling herself not think like that, as even those old shuttles are built like tanks, so the crew probably took the hit and fell back to Earth.
Carol flies back down towards the Earth, but she doesn't get far: 'What... the... what?' she gasps as she sees a reflection of herself. Carol tells herself that implies a reflective surface, cloaking something, and touches the air before her, which ripples – then gives way to a large floating space station. '...Alpha Flight?' Carol gasps. She thought T'Challa said they were behind on rebuilding the Alpha Flight Space Station. Suddenly, a voice announces 'Zeta Flight emergency protocols triggered!' Carol thinks to herself 'Zeta Flight, very funny'. The voice then announces that there is a perimeter breach. 'Invader, you are trespassing...' to which Carol calls back 'I'm the commander of this space station... and I've saved the Earth more times than I can count, so how about you open the air lock before I open it for you!'
The voice then states 'Corporal Carol Danvers, identity confirmed. Access granted'. Carol remarks that the title isn't right, but thanks the officer for letting her in. The air lock then slides open and Carol steps into the hangar bay. She decides that she can't blame T'Challa for not telling her it was up and running – considering she has blown up two of these things already. Glancing around the hangar, Carol sees that there is still some unpacking to do, but decides that the place looks great. 'Hello? Anybody home?' Carol calls out, but gets no response. She realizes that it is strange that the entire station is empty, and wonders where everyone is, as the AFSS' core systems need round-the-clock supervision – so someone has to be manning this thing.
Carol walks through the corridors of the AFSS, 'Olly olly oxen free!' Carol calls out, but there is no response. 'Where the heck is my crew?' Carol gasps as she walks onto the bridge and find Sasquatch, Puck and Wendy Kawasaki. Only Sasquatch has a bald head...and Puck has a full head of hair. 'Hiya, boss' Sasquatch calls out. 'Cutting it close again, aren’t you, Corporal?' Puck remarks. 'Excuse me?' Carol replies. Wendy tells her not to mind Eugene. 'You know how he gets before a mission' she adds. 'Hold up... Eugene?' Carol asks, before deciding that Puck must havve borrowed some hair from Sasquatch. 'Pu- Gene, Squatch, Wen... I'm so glad to be back at Alpha Flight' Carol smiles as she walks over to her team. 'Alpha huh?' Sasquatch asks. 'Alpha what?' Puck remarks. 'Forget it' Carol tells them, before asking where Brand and everyone else are. 'You mean Brand the dog? Our mascot?' Wendy replies, before Eugene reports that the others are on their way back to Zeta Flight. 'Seriously? Zeta Flight?' Carol asks.
'Zeta Flight. I.E. Here. I.E where we're standing now' Puck points out. 'Yeah, gonna stick a pin in that one...' Carol remarks, before Sasquatch announces that Parlay is less than an hour, and that there is no way his highness is going to call a truce, not this close to the heist. 'Sure you're ready?' he adds, before asking her what is with her funny space suit. 'She's undercover, Sasquatch. Duh' Puck points out. 'What he said' Carol agrees, when suddenly, there is a loud KA-DOOOM! Which rattles the space station. 'Do you hear th-?' Carol begins. 'What in the world -?' Wendy asks. 'We’ve got a social call' Puck reports. 'Sounds more antisocial to me' Carol jokes.
Shortly, Carol flies out of Zeta Flight Space Station, with Sasquatch, Eugene and Wendy in space jets, flying behind her. 'Um...Eugene, aren't they supposed to be on our side?' Wendy asks. 'They were...' Eugene responds from his jet as they fly towards the several Quinjets nearby. 'How did the bad guys get their hands on a fleet of Quinjets?' Carol enquires. Sasquatch informs her that heist was incredible, when the Widower stole 40 extra-orbital remote Quinjets. 'But you know that, boss. You were there'. Carol doesn't recognize the name “The Widower” and decides that it sounds as if Sasquatch is almost impressed. She tells him to catch her up later, as right now they have to pull off a little something incredible of their own. Carol insructs Zeta Flight that it is time to divide and conquer. 'Roger dodger' Sasquatch replies. 'Aye, aye, Corporal!' Wendy calls out, while Eugene asks 'Now?' and remarks that he hates this part. 'I love this part!' Sasquatch exclaims, and suddenly, Eugene speeds ahead towards the firing Quinjets, while Sasquatch tells him to back up, and points out that those Quinjets are no match for their Zeta fighters.
'Puck! What are you doing?' Carol shouts. 'It's Eugene...' comes the response as he smiles while piloting his jet. 'Respectfully, Eugene...if you don't move it...and start returning fire...you're gonna get us both killed' Carol snaps as she opens fire at several Quinjets which Eugene simply darts past in his jet. 'Okay, okay. You don't have to tell me twice' Eugene mutters. 'Well, technically, Eugene, she did...' Wendy points out. 'Can it, Kawasaki' Eugene replies over the communicators. Sasquatch tells Wendy that she knows Eugene is sensitive about his flying – that he isn't a natural-born pilot like the two of them. Carol slams her fist into one of the Quinjets and thinks 'Wendy a natural pilot? Squatch a feelings talker? Puck afraid to join a fight? Something's not just off... it's way out of whack... and if I had to put my money on it... I'd bet it has something to do with Mim... why she came here... wherever here is' Carol thinks to herself.
Meanwhile, Mim and Dr Eve walk through another part of the cavern, and Mim tells Dr Eve to atch her step. 'Underground lakes can be... full of... horrible... calamari' Mim calls out as an enormous squid-like alien slithers after them. Mim stands her ground though and starts to slice away the creature's tentacles one by one. Dr Eve watches and shudders.
Back in space, one of the Qunjets begins to prove difficult for Carol and Zeta Flight to deal with. 'That pilot's got some serious skills...deadly serious' Carol thinks to herself as the Quinjet navigates past Zeta Flight, and spins around to face Carol directly. 'Crap!' Carol utters as the Quinjet opens fire and blasts her backwards into Zeta Flight Space Station. 'Damn me and my hard head' Carol thinks to herself, muttering that T'Challa is going to kill her. 'T'Challa? I'd focus less on that toothless kitty... and more on what I'm going to do to you!' a voice calls out – and Carol looks up to see a woman in black standing over her. 'The Widower! She doesn't look too happy...' one of the Zeta Flight crew exclaims.
'Natasha? I thought you were -' Carol begins, before the Widower interrupts her: 'What, friends? Is that why you tried to cut me out?' Carol looks confused and upset and asks the Widower what she is talking about. 'You were dead, Nat! I saw Steve Rogers kill you!' Carol exclaims. 'That hundred-pound weakling? He couldn't hurt a fly' the Widower replies. Sasquatch, Wendy and Eugene land their jets back on Zeta Flight. 'What's the deal, Widower? Why the hostility?' Wendy asks as they approach the Widower, who just snorts at them. 'Why? Because you and your boss are a bunch of backstabbing thieves' the Widower snaps. 'Hey! That's not true...' Wendy replies, adding that they would hit the Widower right in the face – except that they haven't cheated her. '...yet' Sasquatch points out. Eugene informs her that they have been working on the big heist plan for a month.
'Wow. You even lied to your own crew?' the Widower exclaims, turning to Carol. 'No! Um. Maybe?' Carol replies, before the Widower tells the Zetas that the word is their boss is going to collect the bounty and cut them out. 'She is?' Wendy asks. 'I am?' Carol exclaims. 'Good luck with that. You're a thief, not a super-spy. No way you can disappear without my help, Danvers' the Widower snaps, before turning away and heading over to her Quinjet 'Nat -' Carol calls out, but the Widower tells her to go ahead and collect her money. 'Just know...you can cheat me. You can cheat your crew...but you'll never cheat him. His highness always finds his mark' the Widower points out. 'Huh?' Carol asks, while the Widower warns her that without her protection she will never be able to hide. 'Never?' Eugene asks as the Widower flies away in the Quinjet.
Back in the caverns on a distant world, Mim and Dr Eve walk into a large cavern with a platform that extends out over darkness. Dr Eve asks Mim if she can feel the power in this place, and suggests that it must be older than time itself. Mim reports that she feels strange, and tells Dr Eve that she doesn't like this. They approach a small podium on the platform and Dr Eve declares that this is their destiny, right in front of them. 'It can't be that simple, can it?' Mim asks. 'Simple? We've traveled galaxies for this moment. We've earned it' Dr Eve declares, reaching out she picks up a satchel on the podium, and tells Mim that all they have to do is take it – so she is.
Carol looks at her reflection in the reflective surface of Zeta Flight Space Station and wonders what she has gotten herself into. She reminds herself that she is supposed to be rescuing Bean, and yet somehow she has stumbled into her own personal Twilight Zone – an “opposite day” where she is a backstabbing criminal with a mutinous crew. 'Speaking of...' Carol thinks to herself as there is a communicator sound, and holographic images of Eugene, Wendy and Sasquatch appear before Carol. 'Sup, Puck?' Carol asks. Eugene sighs and reminds Carol of his name, before telling her that they have to talk. 'It's j ust...you've been acting very strangely...and as your crew, we feel you owe us an explana-' Eugene begins, before Wendy interrupts him: 'Spit it out, Eugene!' she snaps. 'Rude!' Eugene declares, as Wendy informs Corporal Danvers that they want their share. 'We've busted our humps here for a once-in-a-lifetime score. We deserve a piece of the action' Wendy explains. 'Wen...I...' Carol begins. '...don't belong here at all and would lock you all up if I could?' Carol thinks to herself, at a loss as to what to say to “her” crew. Sasquatch tells Carol that there is no use lying and that she needs to cut them in, or they walk. He adds that they will be on the bridge when she is ready to talk, before the three holo-images vanish.
'Even the bad guys think I'm a bad guy. Oh, man. I'm in a mirrored universe. Great...' Carol mutters. She tells herself that she has to get out of here, and wonders how. She thinks that she followed Mim here, so supposes that her best chances of finding Bean and getting home is to find that shape-shifting sociopath and figure out what is going on. 'So how does a criminal crew find a violence sociopath in a dark alien universe?' Carol asks herself.
Shortly, Carol approaches Sasquatch, Eugene and Wendy on the bridge, and announces: 'Here's the deal, Zetas. I'm still the boss here. So if you wanna get paid, you're gonna have to do what I say'. 'You mean like a plan?' Wendy asks. 'I mean exactly like a plan' Carol tells her.
Back at the caverns, Dr Eve and Mim run from the cavern with the platform, and Dr Eve tells Mim that they have to get out of here, as no one can know they have the stone in their possession. 'Understood, Doctor' Mim replies as she opens fire on the entrance to the cavern, which collapses behind them. Dr Eve hods up the satchel, which begins to glow, and announces that the second trials of Hala can begin, because the Heart of Gaia is hers. Dr Eve grins and boasts that even if half the thieves and smugglers and treasure seekers in the known universe are looking for her. 'Good ones, too...just not as good as we are, Doctor' Mim remarks. Dr Eve hands Mim the satchel and tells her to take it and hold the power in her hands and never forget how it feels. 'Doctor... I can feel it' Mim responds.
Nearby, a sniper has aimed his weapon towards the women – he pulls the trigger and Mim falls backwards with a thus. Dr Eve looks horrified and she is shot in the head, falling onto Mim. The sniper goes down and stands on Mim's arm, crushing it. 'Thanks, guys' he remarks before picking up the Heart of Gaia and communicating with someone, he declares 'This is Lord Starkill'. A voice is heard over Starkill's communicator, asking him if he was successful. 'Course I was...I told ya, no one can take a hit from my elemental rifle' Starkill boasts. His mask pulls backwards away from his bearded face, and he smiles as the Heart of Gaia glows in his hands. 'Target is down. Your dumb little rock is secure' he reports, as the mysterious person he is communicating with tells him that he did a good job, and instructs him to bring him the Heart of Gaia.
