CHAPTER TEN:

THE TRUTH OF LAWSON

THE RAMBEAU RESIDENCE was quiet and empty now. The wind had gone silent, the sun already beginning to set with the time that had passed for the people living on planet C-53. The air was tense ever since the Skrulls had shown up, the humans in the room having so many questions playing through their brains.

The door to the shed was wide open as Maria stood at the doorway, taking various glances between the people inside and her daughter sitting outside. Monica found herself sitting on the bench just beside the doorway, a pleading look in her gaze as she stared up at her mother, who said her name in a firm tone.

"Why can't I listen, too?" Monica asks.

However, Maria only shushed her, giving her a stern look. With a huff, the young girl placed her headphones over her ears, music blasting through them. Once she knew she wasn't listening, the woman stepped inside and took the cd from Talos, moving towards the machine at her desk where Fury was sitting.

F/n could be seen leaning against the wall, arms crossed and a deep thought expression etched on her face as her eyes stared at the computer screen, the recording of their voices during the plane crash waiting to load on the old computer. Vers, too, couldn't keep his eyes away from the computer, eager yet hesitant to listen.

While Maria and Fury were also looking at the screen, Talos found himself staring at the two Kree in the room, waiting to see their reactions. The fear in his eyes slowly began to fade into confusion when Vers noticed how long it was taking on the computer, the loading screen taking much longer than he expected.

Vers furrows his brows. "What's happening?"

"It's loading." Fury replies.

It only takes a few more seconds until it finished loading and the recording came up. F/n felt her body tense at this, straightening up from where she was leaning against the wall.

"Punch in the coordinates 5-2-2-9, negative 4-7, 8.7-6-8,0.2." Lawson's voice comes through from the computer.

"Copy that." Vers' voice mumbles. "Where are we going, Doc?"

"My laboratory." Lawson's voice reveals.

"Your laboratory? What do you mean?" F/n's voice questions in confusion.

"Oh, no." Lawson murmurs.

"Is that... Wait, what is that?" F/n stutters out in question.

"It's not showing up on my radar." Vers informs.

"Go, guys. Fly!" Lawson demands.

As the recording continues, Vers and F/n listen to their own panicked voices yelling and shouting as they were being attacked by the 'bad guys' as Lawson had called it. The sound of the plane crashing could be heard and that's when they all started hitting her.

The familiar beach, the blue blood she saw on Lawson's head, talking about how her name wasn't Lawson and she wasn't human. It didn't take too long until Lawson's voice spoke about her real name known as Mar-Vell and how she needed to destroy the energy core. When a gunshot rang through the recording, F/n was reminded that she had been shot.

She straightened up even more at the sound of Yon-Rogg's voice coming from the recording, claiming to look for the energy core. Only hers, Vers and Yon-Rogg's voices could be heard as they spoke. The young Rambeau woman closed her eyes, remembering the way she grabbed the gun from Vers and shot it at the energy core, making it explode.

Though as it did, it blasted straight at her and Vers, letting them absorb it's whole energy until they were knocked unconscious. Once the recording finished, Vers didn't hesitate to storm out of the shed, walking a few feet away and keeping his back turned to everyone who followed him out. F/n was the last person to step out, still remembering everything.

"He lied to me. To us." Vers speaks up, turning to face the others. "Everything that we knew was a lie."

Talos nods. "Now, you understand."

"What? What do I understand now?" Vers harshly asks.

"Yon-Rogg killed Mar-Vell. He killed her..." Talos reminds, taking many glances between the two Kree. "...cause she found out that she was on the wrong side of an unjust war."

Vers shakes his head. "No. Your people are terrorists. They kill innocents. I saw the ruins on Torfa."

"Ruins that the Accusers are responsible for. My people lived as refugees on Torfa. Homeless, ever since we resisted Kree rule and they destroyed our planet. And the handful of us that are left will be slaughtered next, unless you two help me finish what Mar-Vell started." Talos explains. "The core that she found would've powered a light-speed ship capable of carrying us to safety. A new home where the Kree can't reach us."

"Lawson always told us that our work at Pegasus wasn't to fight wars, but to end them." Maria intervenes.

"She wanted you two to help us find the core." Talos adds.

F/n gulps, feet touching the grass. "Well, I already destroyed it."

"No, you destroyed the engine. The core that powered it is in a remote location. If you two help us decode those coordinates, we can find it." Talos tells them.

"You'll use it to destroy us." Vers hesitantly insists.

Talos sighs, shaking his head. "We just want a home. You two and I lost everything at the hands of the Kree. Can't you see it now? You both are not one of them."

F/n frowns. "You don't know us. You have no idea who we are. We don't even know who we are!"

The blonde beside her looked towards the young woman, a deep frown on his face as he notices the frustrated expression on her face, the tears pooling in her eyes that she so desperately wanted to let them fall down her cheeks.

Maria steps forward, a determined look on her face. "You are Y/n Rambeau. And you are Connor Danvers. You are the people on that black box risking their lives to do the right thing. My best friend and my sister who supported me as a mother and a pilot when no one else did. You are both smart, and funny, and a huge pain in the ass and you two were the most powerful people I knew, way before you guys could shoot fire from your fists. And you two love each other, so much that I know he would kill for my sister if he was asked to. You hear me?"

Finally, a tear fell down F/n-- Y/n's cheek as she felt her lips slowly twitch up while she and her sister just stared at one another. At her firm question, the younger sister nodded before Maria pulled her little sister into a tight hug. And with a relieved and saddened chuckle, Y/n hugged back just as tight.

All while Connor watched with a smile.

* * *

The sun had set and most people on planet Earth were asleep now. The crickets chirping throughout the countryside were loud as they hid in the tall grass. The lights in the household were on, letting the people inside see better as they spoke about their next plans for the upcoming war against the Kree.

Connor and Y/n were sitting at the dining table with Talos right across from them. Maria was leaning against the wall, a glass in her hand while Fury could be seen in the other room, making himself a sandwich, which received a look from Y/n, only for him to defend himself that if he were to be fighting, he'd need to eat first.

"I know I don't deserve your trust, but you two were our only lead." Talos admits. "We discovered that your guys energy signatures matched Mar-Vell's core. Now we know why. If only you knew the importance of it to me. I just need your help decoding the coordinates to Mar-Vell's lab."

"Those weren't coordinates. They're state vectors." Connor tells him.

"For orbital position and velocity." Fury adds, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"You didn't find her lab on Earth, cause it's not on Earth." Maria reveals.

"That was the location on the date of the crash six years ago. If we track it's course, we'll find it in orbit right now." Y/n states.

Maria shrugs. "It's just basic physics."

The entire time all of them had been speaking, Talos stood up in shock as he processed the news. Once he knew they finished explaining, he turned to look at the other Skrull in the room, making the others follow his gaze to see the Skrull standing there in an awkward silnce.

"In orbit?" Talos repeats, receiving a shrug from his fellow Skrull. "Was that so difficult to figure out? I mean, you're my science guy, right?"

"Yon-Rogg will catch up to us soon." Y/n reminds. "We've got to get to the core before he does."

Fury hums, taking another bite of his food. "We're going to space?"

"In what?" Connor questions.

"A few tweaks to your vessel should do it. I can handle the modifications." The other Skrull speaks up.

Fury points at him, mouth full of food. "Your science guy."

It didn't take too long until Talos and the other Skrull left the house and moved to Maria's workshop, beginning to work on the ship they came in so it would be good enough to go up and into space. Fury stood outside with them. Meanwhile, inside of the house, Y/n found herself sitting on the couch with Monica while Maria and Connor sat on either side of the room.

"Well, we could use a copilot." Y/n comments, looking at her sister expectantly.

Maria shakes her head. "No, I can't. I can't leave Monica."

"Mom, it's okay. I can stay with Grandma and Papa." Monica insists.

"There's no way I'm going, baby. It's too dangerous." Maria argues.

"Testing brand new aerospace tech is dangerous, and you used to do that." Monica reminds.

Maria sighs, rolling her eyes. "Your plan is to leave the atmosphere in a craft not designed for the journey, and you two anticipate hostile encounters with a technologically-superior foreign enemy. Correct?"

"That's what I'm saying. You have to go!" Monica exclaims.

"Monica!" Maria scolds.

"You have a chance to fly the coolest mission in the history of missions, and you're gonna give it up to sit on the couch and watch Fresh Prince with me?" Monica asks in disbelief, shocking the adults. "I just think you should consider what kind of example you're setting for your daughter."

The mother and daughter both look at the other two to see them both trying to hide in their laughter. Making eye contact with her niece, Y/n gives the little girl a thumbs up. And within some time, Maria was calling her parents, asking them to watch Monica for the night before they'd get back from the mission.

When a car pulled in, Y/n found herself staring out the window as she watched her sister walk out towards their parents. Maria greeted their mother with a hug, assuring she'd explain everything inside. The Kree woman felt nervous at the sight of her parents, watching them venture closer to the house.

When they stepped inside the house, their voices sounded so familiar to her ears. She could hear her mother asking her sister what was happening and she felt her heart skip at the sound of her parents voice. Peaking out from behind the wall, she made eye contact with Maria, who motioned with a jerk of her head.

Both parents snapped their gazes to the sound of footsteps. When Y/n looked at them, she noticed how they both froze in their spots. The last time they had seen her had been days before the mission with Lawson.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad." Y/n whispers.

It didn't take their mother too long until she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her youngest daughter. Maria watched with tearful eyes as their parents embraced her sister. Meanwhile, outside, Monica was sitting on the porch when Connor walked up behind her and sat down, now wearing his Kree suit.

"Your mom's lucky. When they were handing out kids, they gave her the toughest one. Lieutenant Trouble." Connor tells her.

Monica's eyes widen in excitement, smiling brightly. "You remembered."

"Is that mine?" Connor asks, pointing at the jacket she was holding, to which Monica nods as she begins to hand it back to him. "No, no. You hang on to it until I come back. And Y/n's. But there is something that I need your help with. I can't wear these Kree colors anymore. And since you are obviously the only person around here with any sense of style..."

He doesn't say anything else as he stands up, which she does the same. Monica watches with wide eyes as the blonde rubs his fingers along the keypad on the arm of his suit, changing the colors of the suit to give her an idea. Mumbling a 'woah' in wonder, the little girl switches through many colors until she tried finding one she liked.

"Well, since we're on the same team..." Connor points out, pointing his index finger at the printed picture the girl had on her shirt.

With a knowing smile, Monica changes the colors once again before stepping back to admire her handiwork. With an impressed nod, Connor glanced down at his suit. He tried to fight the smile that was twitching on his lips.

Connor raises a brow. "How do I look?"

"Fresh." Monica replies.

Both of them smiling happily, the blonde raises his hand, waiting for the girl to jump a bit and give him a high-five, which she does just that.