Chapter 111: Arc 3: Chapter 26: Farewell Wishes

It was 3 days later when Carol had finally cleaned up the space trash floating beyond the Earth's orbit.

Most of them were pushed into the sun, the massive burner would completely burn the wreckage to nothing; a small part of the searchable wreckage was delivered back to Earth, supposedly hidden somewhere for scientists to create new technology from them.

On the last day, Carol returned to Massachusetts alone, which was the place she was born and grew up in. That place was now a confidential location of SHIELD, known only by a handful of agents.

At midnight, Mar-Vell brought some gifts for children to Louisiana, where she spent the night with her best friend Maria and little girl Monica.

As dawn came, Carol returned to Mar-Vell's lab, the Skrull refugees led by Talos had finished calibrating the Light-Speed Engine.

They were going to depart.

They were going to leave the Milky Way and never return.

And Carol Danvers will act as their accompanying security personnel, helping Talos bring in his kin across the Milky Way and deliver them to their new home in the unknown.

This was the new life Carol had found for herself, no one knows how far this path would go, so everyone could only give her their wishes.

"You'll return eventually, right?"

Nick Fury holds his hands behind his back and stands behind Carol who was carrying a large backpack, he says in a deep tone:

"This is your home after all."

"Of course, Fury."

Carol puts her luggage into her cabin, then she turns and looks back at Fury. The bandage and black eye patch on the agent's left eye has become an unignorable feature; he had just left the hospital and was still somewhat weak.

However...

"Nice clothes, Fury."

Carol looks at the solemn yet cool black long trench coat and the brand-new black marine boots, along with the black turtleneck sweater and combat pants Fury was wearing, they incidentally gave the black agent a chilling vibe.

"You think so too, right?"

Fury spreads his hands and looks down at his new 'uniform', saying:

"I'd just received them this morning, I quite like it myself. Merlin went to London yesterday, he was the one who gifted this to me; that guy's quite nice since he brought gifts for everyone."

"Is it?"

Carol's expression changes slightly as she heard that name. She had not seen Merlin over the past few days and was wondering what he was doing.

"Knock Kock Knock"

Speak of the devil. Following a door-knocking sound, Merlin with a small bag walks into the room. Fury glances at Carol with his one eye and looks at Merlin, he feels that the two may want to talk, so he finds a reason and swiftly leaves.

But as Fury left, the room was still silent.

"That night..."

Merlin says hesitantly, to which Carol raises her head and says expressionlessly:

"Forget about that, it was just us being drunk."

"Alright."

Merlin shrugs and gives the small bag in his hand to Carol; the latter takes it and glances at it, she notices a female black flight jacket, along with the Kree neck guard she had used to save Merlin's life in her previous battle.

"I wanted to give you some gifts."

Merlin explains:

"We do that on Earth, we give friends gifts when they leave. But I didn't know what you'd like, so I just randomly bought something."

Carol takes out the black jacket from the bag and spreads it, although she hasn't tried it, she can see that this was just 'randomly' bought.

It fit her size.

Must've been tailor-made.

But Carol did not say it out, she folds the jacket and keeps it in her cabin locker. Merlin says behind her:

"There's a magic pocket sewed into the left pocket, it can fit many things, just don't try to store a car in there, it has a weight limit."

"You don't need to wash it, nor worry about it getting worn-down as it'll generate itself. You can wear it across the Milky Way, maybe I can still see it when you return to Earth."

"And that neck guard, I thought you may need it, so I cleaned it."

"I don't need it, Merlin."

Carol takes out the red neck guard from the pocket, the thing looked like a thin collar while unactivated. She throws the neck guard back at Merlin and says expressionlessly:

"I can breathe in space after awakening my powers. Take it, you'll need it more than I do."

"Err."

Merlin looks at the neck guard in his hand and says:

"This thing's designed for females, its style isn't really suitable for me."

"No, it's specially designed by the Kree Army for covert operations, its appearance can be altered just like my combat uniform."

Carol stands up and takes the neck guard from Merlin's hand, she places it onto the controller on her wrist, presses it, and the collar-like neck guard quickly began to change form.

It turned into a necklace, under the silver chains was a blue gem.

Carol reaches out and hangs the necklace onto Merlin's neck, she then takes a step back, crosses her arms, and nods:

"Not bad, it suits you."

Merlin reaches out and taps on the necklace, then, the necklace quickly changes into a visor that covered half his face, instead of the helmet-form as before.

The extended blue, glass-like respirator covered Merlin's nose, mouth, and most of his face, exposing only the eyes.

This made Merlin look like a top-secret ninja.

"It is nice."

Merlin looks at the mirror, he taps on his neck and the visor retracts back into the silver pendant.

This was a product of technology, but it was as magical as a magic creation.

He wants to turn around and bid Carol goodbye, but then, two arms stretch out from behind and hold his waist; Carol leans her head against Merlin's shoulder and says softly:

"I'm leaving, and it may take me dozens of years to return. Remember to take care of yourself, and if possible, find a girl that's more suited for you, don't always live in solitude."

"And..."

Carol lowers her voice and whispers to Merlin:

"Your existence isn't a coincidence, Merlin."

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"I can't tell you anymore, but I wish that you'll keep this in your heart, regardless of what terrible things you'll experience in the future, regardless of how much trouble you're in, promise me, Merlin...never forget who you are, never...never make a choice that you'll regret for the rest of your life."

Merlin senses something else from Carol's words, but he decides not to ask further.

He reaches out and pats on Carol's shoulder, saying:

"You too."

"Remember to get in touch with me when you return to Earth. We are, after all...mmm, better friends than friends, right?"

---

As Merlin walks out of Carol's room, he follows the straight pathway to the command platform of the lab.

The Skrull Talos who had a change in uniform was currently conducting the last test flights here, a few Skrull soldiers guarded the area, and they lowered their weapons and cleared a path for Merlin when they saw him. 

The Earthling in front of them had helped them before.

The Skrulls may have a horrible reputation in the Milky Way, but when they decide to back away from war, they regained the ancient virtue.

Gratitude was a feeling all intelligent lifeforms should have.

"Agent Merlin, have you not gone down for dinner?"

Talos calibrated the device while saying to Merlin

"Miss Maria and little Monica want to have a farewell dinner with us, they even brought food from their home, it's quite sumptuous."

"I'm here to say goodbye, Talos."

Merlin says to the Skrull in front of him:

"I still have work on Earth, so I'll get out of your way, me and Fury will be heading back to Earth in a while."

Hearing this, Talos stops calibrating the device, he puts down the tools in his hand and looks back at Merlin; after contemplating, he says:

"I just told agent Fury some things, and I think I should also remind you about it."

The Skrull's expression becomes serious as he says:

"You know some things about us Skrulls, we have a Queen and some aggressive fellows, they're too busy battling the Kree as to not be able to care about the Solar System at the edge of the Milky Way. But you must know, Merlin, war doesn't last forever, war always ends, war always has a victor."

Talos looks back at the blue planet and says with worry:

"With my estimations to the current situation, the Kree who lost their Supreme Intelligence may go mad and try to end the war in the quickest way possible to deal with their inner-conflicts. This means the Queen's faction in the Skrulls would take a heavy hit, they may fail, but they won't give up."

"I understand what my fellows are thinking all too well, people stuck in war need power all, so they may let go of much rationality. Once news of the Kree's failure on Earth gets out, it's hard to say what my fellows would do..."

Talos looks back at Merlin with a warning glow flickering in his eyes, saying:

"I think you should make preparations."

"Once the Queen decides to launch yet another war of subversion, with your current polity and civilizational strength...you won't stand a chance."

Merlin's expression changes slightly, he looks at Talos:

"Is there any way to prevent this?"

"That's the problem."

Talos picks up his tools again and says in low-spirit:

"There isn't."

"To try to prevent this depends on luck, there's nothing saying that there's no Queen's spy already infiltrated on Earth. If those elite spies want to infiltrate a civilization, not even I can differentiate their camouflage."

"After all, our ability was made for this."

"Then is there any way to see through your..."

Merlin asks again, but then he realizes that there is no answer to this question.

Talos betrayed his Queen to find a new home unaffected by the war, but he would not risk the extinction of his race to reveal the biggest weakness of his race to others.

Merlin should not have even asked this question, there is no answer, at least, not from Talos.

"Alright."

Merlin nods, he says to Talos:

"Thank you for the reminder, friend. I wish you safe travels, and I hope that you can find a perfect new home."

Talos chuckles and opens his arms, seemingly wanting to give Merlin a hug. Merlin was hesitant, but he still walks forward and gives the bulky guy a hug.

Talos pats on Merlin's back, and as they were about to let go, he suddenly whispers to him:

"The Skrull's camouflage ability goes as thorough as the DNA level, but it's not all-powerful..."

"Remember, Merlin, a faker will always be a faker..."

"There's no such thing as a 100% camouflage."

As he finishes, he lets go of Merlin and waves at him as if saying goodbye. As he saw Merlin leave, Talos begins to recalibrate the testing device.

The Skrull was about to bring his family and his kin away from the battlefield.

This was the last thing he could do for this world that had once helped him before he retires for good.

He told the Skrull's biggest weakness to Merlin, albeit in a riddle-like way.

Was this a betrayal against his race?

Maybe...

---

"Swish"

Mar-Vell's lab on Earth's orbit activates the Light-Speed Engine, and as Merlin and Fury watched in the remodified plane piloted by Maria Rambeau, they saw the lab in front of them immediately stretching out distortedly and abruptly disappearing in the dead space.

They're gone.

She's gone.

This left a void in Merlin, but soon he adjusts his feelings.

He looks back at Fury who was fiddling with a strange pager and says:

"Are you ready? Fury..."

"You promised me you would lead us to rebuild SHIELD."

"Now's the time for you to keep your promise."

 

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