Ms. Marvel and her Lightning Storm team stand in the Minicarrier’s holding cell face-to-face with a Skrull agent! The Skrull had assumed the form of Ms. Marvel but was revealed to be an impostor. She now has shape-shifted into William Wagner, who Carol thought was killed but was in fact, a Kree spy captured by the Skrulls.
Carol approaches the Skrull and demands that she stop using William’s form immediately. The Skrull complies and tells Carol once again that William is actually a Kree spy sent to uncover the Skrull’s invasion plans. Like the Kree warrior Mar-Vell, William assumed the identity of a deceased human when he arrived on Earth. Ms. Marvel glares at the alien and tells her that she has three seconds to convince her that William is alive or she guarantees that she’ll be as dead as her Skrull companion, Rl’nnd.
The Skrull reveals that they gave William to their human allies in AIM. Carol asks where they are now and the Skrull replies that they were to take him south to a place called “Orlundia”. Carol surmises that she means Orlando and the Skrull confirms this and that they have already left the city. Ms. Marvel powers up and tells the Skrull that there’s clearly nothing else she can actually do to help her. The Skrull agrees that she’s told her everything and says “Now do what you will”.
Carol lets the Skrull live though she confesses to Agent Sum as they leave the holding cell that all she wants to do is “kill that thing”. She asks him if she’s wrong to feel that way. He replies that it would have killed them all and may still try to. Carol says that the important thing is that they have a Skrull prisoner and that they may be able to learn more about the Skrulls’ plans from her. She adds that she’s tired of feeling like she’s running around in the dark and feeling like an idiot. Sum stops her and says that he needs to apologize for how he handled things earlier. He’s not sure how else he could have handled things but he wishes he had done a better job. Carol tells him to forget it, that he did what he thought was right given the circumstances. She tells him that if he had done anything different, she wouldn’t have him on her team.
A short time later Carol and her team assemble in the Communication Room. She asks Machine Man what he’s got and he replies “…A question as to why the robot had to be the one to use Google maps.” Carol tells him that she’s in no mood for his jokes and asks if he’s found the truck that is transporting William Wagner yet. He makes another snarky comment as he pulls up images of the fleeing vehicle. Ms. Marvel asks if he enjoyed it when she tore him apart earlier in the evening because she can do it again. She then asks if he has a lock on the vehicle and knows where it is right now. Aaron replies in the affirmative and Carol orders him to get that info to the bridge with instructions to intercept the truck within the hour. Aaron disconnects himself from the communications array and says that he liked Ms. Marvel a lot better before she learned that her boyfriend was an alien.
It is not long before Ms. Marvel’s Lightning Storm team is hovering above the Mac-Ray truck that is secretly an AIM transport. She commands Sleepwalker to halt its progress using his “warp gaze” and he answers dutifully “Yes sir, Ms. Marvel.” Focusing his reality warping gaze on the road in front of the truck, he causes it to arch upward into a ramp.
Carol orders her team to surround it and she flies in front of it and braces herself to stop it in its tracks. She thinks to herself “I’m coming for you, William” as she does this. To her surprise, the truck appears to be intangible and passes right through her! She asks what just happened as the truck proceeds up the ramp created by Sleepwalker and launches into the air.
She asks Machine Man to examine the vehicle for an explanation and after scanning it on multiple spectrums he concludes that the vehicle doesn’t truly exist. Sleepwalker has immobilized the “vehicle” in his warp gaze and Machine Man flies up and emerges from the illusion of the truck holding a highly sophisticated mobile hologram projector. He hands it to Ms. Marvel who realizes that AIM has William and they now have no clue where to find him. She says to the others that it is her fault that they got away. Agent Sum assures her that they’ll find him.
Aboard the Minicarrier, the Skrull agent is ranting to the camera in her holding cell. She tells those watching to “Look upon the face of your destroyer!” She declares that the Skrull empire will rule over them and feast on their young. Meanwhile, two armored SHIELD agents drag away the body of her Super-Skrull partner. Ms. Marvel enters and is clearly ticked off. She pushes past the SHIELD guards and grabs the Skrull prisoner by the throat. She says that the Skrull knew it was a trick all along and demands to know where William is. The Skrull merely laughs at Ms. Marvel.
Carol tosses her across the room and demands that she tell her everything she knows. The Skrull hits the wall hard and slumps to the ground. Carol is on her in an instant. She asks why they are on Earth. The Skrull replies “Because it is ours, not yours!” Carol kicks the Skrull in the face and asks what they are doing with AIM. Before the Skrull can answer, Ms. Marvel grabs her by the throat. The Skrull looks Carol in the eye and tells her to listen closely. She says that she has something important to say to her but she will only tell her once. The Skrull’s eyes begin to glow an eerie green as she utters the words “He loves you.”
The Skrull says this religious mantra and it causes her body to explode with incredible force! The Minicarrier is torn asunder by the explosion and crashes to the ground in a fiery blaze. Some members of the crew are thrown from the craft as it disintegrates. Machine Man crashes into a car on the street below. Sleepwalker hits the road nearby as does the super-durable Agent Sum. Ms. Marvel remains aboard the ship and frantically begins searching for survivors. She immediately begins to blame herself for angering the Skrull and causing it to lash out in this way. She staggers from the wreckage to get a clear look at the damage. The Minicarrier crashed directly into the middle of a busy freeway. Cars are strewn about and the Minicarrier is consumed by flames. Machine Man is helping a motorist to safety while Agent Sum radios for emergency personnel.
Sleepwalker cries out with a heart-wrenching “NOOOOOOOO!” when he discovers the grievously injured body of his human host, Rick Sheridan. He tells Ms. Marvel that Rick is dying and that he will cease to be as well if Rick dies. He says that he needs a doctor immediately and Carol thinks of Doctor Farrell. She turns to look for him amongst the wreckage and spots him immediately. His body lies just a few feet, crushed by a large section of the ship. His eyes are wide open and he clearly died a painful death. Seeing him there, the reality of the situation sinks in for Carol.
The next night, Carol explains what happened to Wonder Man at his apartment. She says that it took a few hours to complete the rescue efforts. He asks what happened with Rick and Sleepwalker and Carol reports that Rick is now in stable condition. Carol continues her tale and tells Simon that when the work was done, she felt things start to fall apart. She felt herself losing control as if the whole world was tumbling down around her.
Simon starts to interrupt her to offer some words of encouragement but she demands that he listen to her. She says that she doesn’t know where to start. She points out that people think a lot of good things about her and she’s been given a lot of responsibilities, like leading the Avengers and her own SHIELD strike team. But she doesn’t know why she keeps being given these responsibilities or why people think she can handle them. Simon stops her and places a hand on her shoulder. He tries to tell her that she is good at what she does and has done a lot of good these past few months.
Carol pulls away. She tells him that she foiled the Brood invasion by sheer luck and then betrayed her friends during the Civil War. She adds that she tried to kill the Doomsday Man and an evil, alternate reality version of herself called Warbird but she proved too strong and angry to die. She confesses to him that she didn’t care id MODOK lived or died, so long as he didn’t harm anyone else. She then admits to him that she killed the Puppet Master.
Simon is taken aback by this and says that she originally told him that he pushed the button that detonated his lair himself. Carol says that he did but she didn’t stop him and that she could have. Simon argues that he was crazy and blew himself up before she could react. Carol tells him that she could have stopped him, that she had plenty of time but that she consciously chose not to. He tries to calm carol down but she tells him to stop. He won’t hear any more. He tells her that she’s been going on about what an “awful human being” she is but that he just doesn’t see it. He asks if she wants him to agree with her, if that’s why she came to see him. He yells at her “What do you want, damn it? Why did you come here?” She stops him with a passionate kiss!
Carol realizes the moment that she kisses Simon that it’s wrong. But she also knows that what’s she wants and needs and what is right are very far from each other. All she wants it to not think about everything for a while. Simon pulls away and asks what she’s doing. She says that she doesn’t want to think for a few hours, that she doesn’t want to deal with responsibility or anything else. She pulls Simon back into a kiss and says “Please, Simon just…” and he gives in. He pulls her to him and returns the kiss with all the passion and feelings that have been growing for Carol for the past several months.
The next morning, Simon is awoken by an Avengers priority alert. It notifies him that a Skrull ship has entered Earth’s atmosphere. He yawns and asks what’s happening. Carol is already suited up and hands Simon his keys. She tells him “you heard the man, Williams. Get up. Get dressed. Avengers Assemble!”
