The air inside the landing bay of the Kree Imperial Cruiser hissed as the pressure equalized. As the Quadjet's ramp lowered, a cool, breathable atmosphere rushed in, smelling of ozone and recycled oxygen.
Jarvis stepped off the ramp first, his hand hovering near the small of his back where his sidearm was holstered. He reached back with his other hand, snagging the collar of Tony's jacket before the boy could bolt.
"Master Anthony," Jarvis said, his voice a low, warning hum. "I am going to insist—quite forcefully—that you remain within my immediate proximity. We are currently aboard a cloaked vessel of an expansionist alien empire. This is not the time for an unguided tour."
Tony, surprisingly, didn't argue. He looked up at the towering bulkheads and the glowing Kree glyphs lining the walls. "For once, J, I'm with you. I'm staying glued to your side. Mostly because I want to see what's behind Door Number One before I start poking around Door Number Two."
The group followed Talos, who moved with a frantic, unfocused energy. They moved through a series of sweeping, curved corridors until they reached a three-way corridor. Talos stopped, his eyes darting around until they landed on a stray baseball sitting in a corner. He scooped it up, his pace quickening to a near-run.
"Hey, wait up!" Fury called out, but the Skrull commander was already disappearing around a corner to the left.
They rush through a heavy set of automated doors into a room that looked like a cross between a NASA clean room and a 1980s pawn shop. Shelves were lined with experimental gadgets, strange Kree artifacts, and—bizarrely—vintage arcade games like Space Invaders and Pinball.
But in the center of the room, held aloft by two precision robotic arms, was a glowing blue square.
The Tesseract.
Tony stopped dead. He stared at the cube, his mind immediately calculating the sheer, unbridled power radiating from it. The Space Stone, he thought, his pulse hammering against his ribs. One of the six singularities of existence. Right there. Within arm's length. He wondered for a fraction of a second if he could just... grab it. If he could find a lead-lined box, stash it in the Quadjet, and keep it until he was old enough to build a gauntlet to snap Thanos out of existence without dying of course. But then he shook his head. No. Too early. If I touch that thing now, I might end up on Vormir or worse. Better to let Loki take the fall in the future and wait for a cleaner opening.
"Is that it?" Maria asked, her voice echoing in the vast room. "The Core?"
"In Dr. Lawson's notes," Carol said, walking toward the glow, "she called it the Cosmic Cube."
Tony actually choked. He coughed violently, bent over with his hands on his knees as his face turned a bright, panicked red.
"Master Anthony!" Jarvis knelt beside him, rubbing his back. "Are you alright? Is the air too thin?"
"I'm... cough... I'm fine," Tony wheezed, his brain screaming in a high-pitched tone. The Cosmic Cube? Not the Tesseract? Not just a stone container? In the comics he had read in his past life, the Cosmic Cube was a sentient, reality-warping engine of destruction far more volatile than the MCU's version of the Space Stone. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. What universe am I in?! Is this the MCU? Is this a hybrid? Am I in a world where Thanos is the least of my problems because the Beyonder might show up for lunch?!
"You look as though you've seen a ghost," Jarvis noted, his eyes narrowing with concern.
"Just... overwhelmed by the science, J," Tony lied, forcing his breathing to level out. "High-energy physics. It's a lot for a ten-year-old."
Jarvis clearly didn't believe him—he knew Tony's 'science face' better than anyone—but he didn't push. "Perhaps you should occupy your mind elsewhere. Look at these gadgets, but do not touch them. Perhaps you'll find some... inspiration for your little projects."
Tony's eyes lit up. Inspiration. If he was in a more dangerous universe, he needed better toys. And the best way to get them was to steal the blueprints. He scanned the room and spotted an old, bulky Microsoft computer—a relic from the early 90s—sitting on a workstation cluttered with Kree written notes.
"On it," Tony muttered.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a portable passport hard drive he'd swiped from the Pegasus base. While the adults were busy debating the nature of the Cube, Tony slipped over to the computer and plugged the drive into a modified port.
The screen flickered to life, showing a grey login box: PASSWORD REQUIRED.
"Great," Tony whispered. "Even in space, there's a lockout."
Suddenly, a soft meow sounded by his feet. Goose jumped up onto the desk, her tail swishing. She looked at Tony, then extended a paw, flicking a yellow sticky note that was tucked under the keyboard.
On the note, written in Dr. Lawson's neat handwriting, was: Password: Password.
Tony stared at the note, then at the cat. "Seriously? A genius Kree scientist used 'Password'?"
Goose just blinked at him.
"You're a lifesaver, you terrifying little monster," Tony whispered, hugging the Flerken briefly before typing in the code.
The desktop opened. It was a treasure trove. Folders were labeled in both English and Kree: SCHEEMATICS, PROPULSION PRINTS, BIOMETRIC CODE, ENERGY CALCULATIONS. Tony clicked 'Select All' and hit 'Copy to Drive.'
Estimated Time Remaining: 20 Minutes.
"Twenty minutes?!" Tony hissed at the screen. "I don't have twenty minutes! This is a heist, not a Sunday brunch!"
Before he could complain further, a strange, trilling sound echoed through the lab. Talos was making a rhythmic calling noise. From the shadows and the high catwalks, figures began to emerge. Green-skinned, pointed-eared... Skrulls.
But they weren't soldiers. They were families. Old men, young men, old women, young women, and children with wide, terrified eyes.
"He didn't come here for the Cube," Carol murmured, her voice thick with realization.
Tony watched as Talos approached a slender Skrull woman. He reached out, his hands trembling, and pulled her into a desperate hug. They spoke in the melodic, clicking tongue of their people. Then, a small girl—Talos's daughter—stepped out from behind her mother. Talos knelt down, leaning his forehead against hers, tears streaming down his face.
It was a moment of pure, raw humanity from a species Tony had always read about or watched as monsters.
Carol walked toward them, her head bowed. The Skrull woman gasped and pulled her daughter back, fear etched into her features.
"It's okay," Talos whispered to his wife. "She's a friend. She's the one who led us back to you."
"I'm so sorry," Carol said, her voice cracking. "I didn't know. I thought I was... I thought I was doing the right thing."
Talos stood up and looked at her. "This is war, Carol. My hands are filthy from it, too. But we're here now. You found my family." He gestured to the room. "This is just the beginning. There are thousands of us scattered across the galaxy, hiding in the dark."
As the tension in the room thawed, the group began to mingle. Carol sat on the floor, playing a game of pinball with Talos's daughter, a warm, genuine smile on her face. Fury was leaning against a wall, watching them.
"If I played the same game for six years in a metal box," Fury joked to Maria, "I'd have the high score, too."
Jarvis, ever the gentleman, had somehow ended up surrounded by a group of Skrull women. He was mid-story, gesturing dramatically as he recounted their escape from the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
"And then," Jarvis said, his voice a perfect theatrical baritone, "Master Anthony decided that a taser was the appropriate response to an interstellar commander. I must say, he does take more after his mother than his father."
Tony, meanwhile, found himself surrounded by a few Skrull children. They looked at his light-up sneakers with fascination. One of them reached out to touch the glowing heel, and Tony laughed and decided to waste time while the files loaded, showing them how to stomp to make it flash. For a moment, it was peaceful.
Then, the heavy blast doors at the far end of the lab hissed open.
The air in the room turned to ice.
Yon-Rogg stepped into the room, his Kree Starforce uniform gleaming under the lab lights. In his hand, he held Goose by the scruff of her neck. The Flerken meowed pitifully, her legs dangling.
"Fraternizing with the enemy," Yon-Rogg shouted, his voice booming with authority. "I expected better, Vers."
Instantly, Fury and Jarvis drew their weapons. But two Kree soldiers stepped from the shadows, their high-powered rifles leveled at the men's heads.
"Drop them," the soldier hissed.
With a grimace, Fury and Jarvis lowered their pistols to the floor.
Yon-Rogg sneered and tossed Goose aside like she was a piece of trash. She hit the floor with a thud and scrambled toward Tony. He scooped her up immediately, burying his face in her fur. "Aww, did the bad man hurt you?" Tony whispered, his eyes flashing with a very adult fury. "Don't worry. He's on the list now."
Yon-Rogg walked toward Carol, his eyes scanning her red, gold, and blue uniform with disgust. "What did you do to your uniform? You look like a child's toy."
"They got into her head," Minn-Erva said, stepping up beside him. "Just like we feared."
Korath the Pursuer walked toward the corner where Tony and the Skrull children were huddled. He drew his twin blades, the blue energy humming. The children trembled, backing further into the corner.
"Supreme Intelligence will set her straight," Korath growled.
Talos stepped forward, putting himself between Korath and the kids. "They aren't soldiers. Let the children go. You can have me."
"And the Core?" Yon-Rogg asked Carol.
"You lied to me," Carol said, her jaw set.
"I made you a better version of yourself!" Yon-Rogg shouted.
Carol tried to summon her photon blasts, but the energy flickered and died like a failing lightbulb. The inhibitor chip on her neck flashed a harsh red.
"What's given can be taken away," Yon-Rogg mocked.
He lunged forward. Carol fought bravely, but without her powers, she was no match for a Kree commander. He knocked her to her knees with a brutal strike, and his gauntlet expanded, emitting an anti-gravity field that pinned her to the floor.
Across the room, chaos broke out. A Kree soldier backhanded a Skrull father, shouting at the families to stay down.
Korath reached into the group of children and grabbed a young Skrull girl by her collar, hoisting her off her feet. She began to cry, her small hands clawing at his armored gauntlet.
"Detain the children!" Yon-Rogg ordered. "We'll deal with the lot of them back on Hala."
Tony felt a white-hot surge of adrenaline. He looked at the crying girl, then at Korath's smug, arrogant face.
"Let her go!" Tony shouted.
He dropped Goose and tackled Korath's leg. But Tony was ten years old. He hit the Kree soldier like a mosquito hitting a windshield. Korath didn't even stumble. He looked down, let out a bark of laughter, and released the girl.
He grabbed Tony by his hair, yanking him upward.
"A brave little primate," Korath mocked, holding Tony at eye level. "But primates belong in cages."
"How dare you!" Jarvis roared.
The butler moved with the speed of a striking cobra. He elbowed the soldier holding him in the gut, spun around, and used the man's momentum to judo-flip him onto the hard metal floor with a sickening crack.
Jarvis charged toward Korath, his face a mask of cold, British rage. "Release him this instant!"
But before he could reach Tony, two more soldiers tackled Jarvis, pinning him to the ground. Jarvis struggled with a strength that shouldn't have been possible for a man his age, his fingers clawing at the deck as he tried to reach the boy. "Don't touch him! Anthony!"
Korath sneered and tossed Tony onto the floor. The Skrull children rushed to help him up, whispering questions of "Are you okay?"
"Move!" a soldier barked, pointing a rifle at the huddle of children.
Tony, his scalp stinging and his heart pounding, looked back at Jarvis, who was being hauled to his feet by his hair. "I'm okay, J! Just stay alive!"
The children were marched out of the room at gunpoint. They were led down a long, transparent hallway—a scenic overlook that showed the curve of the Earth and the distant, burning sun. Tony looked at the glass, seeing the faint reflection of the two Kree guards trailing them.
Perfect, Tony thought.
He felt the weight of the heavy Kree pistol tucked into the back of his waistband—the one he'd snatched off Korath's belt during the scuffle.
Tony tapped the Skrull girl on the shoulder and put a finger to his lips. He signaled for the children to slow down, letting him move to the front of the pack.
The kids nodded, their eyes wide with a mix of fear and sudden hope.
"Excuse me, sir?" Tony called out, stopping in his tracks.
The lead guard turned around, his finger twitching on his trigger. "I told you to keep moving, brat! What is it?"
Tony pulled the Kree pistol from his waistband and leveled it at the guard's chest. "I think you've got a smudge on your armor."
PEW!
A massive bolt of blue energy erupted from the barrel. The recoil nearly took Tony's arm off, but the guard was sent flying backward, smashing into the bulkhead with enough force to dent the metal.
The second guard scrambled to raise his rifle, but Tony was already pivoting.
PEW!
The second bolt caught the guard in the shoulder, spinning him like a top before he collapsed in a heap.
The hallway fell silent, save for the hum of the ship's engines.
Tony stood there, his feet planted wide, his hand on his waist. He twirled the heavy alien gun around his finger with a cocky grin before bringing the barrel to his lips and blowing away the nonexistent smoke.
"Who said a ten-year-old couldn't handle a space gun?" Tony remarked, his voice cracking slightly but dripping with swagger.
He turned to the Skrull children, who were looking at him as if he had just turned into a god.
"Alright, squad," Tony said, gesturing with the gun. "Keep it quiet. We're going to find your parents. And then, we're going to find my butler."
Hi everyone, if you're enjoying this story so far and hope to read more faster, then for every 10 power stones I recieve I will post 2 chapters in a single day. So every 10 power stones is a day where i'll post twice ! Thanks for your support !!!