Chapter 18- All of Infinity in the Palm of my Hands (Complete)

At the end of the day, we needed to take two ships. One flagship, the Vanguard, and the other, the troop career for the team of Fifty Kylosians that had expressed desire to come with me and been chosen for their lack of familial attachments and their phenomenal combat scores and tactical awareness. They were the best of the best from AIKO’s graduating class, and that would have to be enough for us. We’d see how that matched up against Kree intelligence and soldiers, however. 

“Are you ready to go” The woman asked. Just like before, she shone with an intensity that could have put some stars to shame. Captain Marvel was visible from one end of the solar system to the other. From the information I had, I could see that the brightness was at least partially actively maintained. It wasn’t just a byproduct of her powers,. How could I tell? The fact that she’d been basically undetectable when looking for the opportunity to intervene with the fight against the Kree Starships made me pretty certain it wasn’t a constant effect, and common sense made it easy to conclude that shining like a second sun wasn’t her default state. It was probably a defence/intimidation tactic that she employed when meeting with possible hostiles to make them wary of facing her, but if she was like that as a default setting, then I had to wonder at how strong she could possibly be. And all this was based on power granted by a single stone. It made me wonder at the true potential of the infinity stones. Getting one to study would be imperative at some point or the other. What exactly gave the gems so much power? And what could they do? Surely their power was not entirely limited to the area reality that they governed. If it was, then how would the Space Stone have given her strength, and energy blasts. Let’s not even get into the mind stone and super speed. 

There had to be something about them. Som thing different that extended beyond the aspect of reality they governed. 

“Yes, we are. The Army of New Kylos is with you, Carol Danvers” I said to her, and she nodded. 

“Good. We head straight to Xander now. Nova Command is waiting for us” She said. 
I nodded at her, before making my offer. “Would you prefer to ride in my flagship instead? I doubt flying everywhere would be completely comfortable” I said to her, and she gave me a long look. I was almost taken aback by the intensity in her gaze. In the way in which she stared at me, looking as if she was assessing everything from my threat level to my worth as a living being before she finally replied. 

“Yes. But no  funny business” She said, and I nodded without bothering to ask what she meant by funny business. It was clear that the woman had trust issues as large as the Galaxy, and even more other and further issues. Me from my old life would have tried to find out more. Maybe even tried to help. I’d had quite a crush on Brie Larson. But now? Maybe it was the Kryptonian physiology, or even Zod’s training in the military, but while I felt such desires, it was child’s play for me to ignore them. 

“Welcome abroad, the Vanguard.” I said grandiosely as she followed behind me as we walked into my flagship. All the Kylosians were aboard the Death Star, much larger than this ship, but with comparatively less amenities. They would want for nothing, but the ride would just not be as comfortable as this one. 

“This is quite a ship” She said with a whistle as she looked around. I could understand her reaction. I’d had much the same when I’d stepped into it. It was a lot more like a yacht than a space ship in a lot of ways. If a Rolls Royce was a yacht on wheels, then The Vanguard could best be described as a Yacht in space. The exterior was all Kryptonian steel, made to be pure and durable, but in the interior, it was a whole different story. There was not a single inch of steel to be seen by the naked eyes. Every surface was either lined with soft wood, leather, or a half a dozen other materials that combined for a luxury feel. Even the entrance, the hanger that opened up to the outside had steps that were coated in a soft rug that made it feel like you should have taken off your shoes outside. Cleanliness would not be an issue, but it still made one worry. White carpet running the entire area of the entrance did nothing to assuage that worry. 

“Yes it is” I said, agreeing with her. 

“Are you some sort of noble for something?” She asked next with a raised eyebrow as we stepped even further into the ship. 

“I’m king to a planetary system of seven whole planets” I said to her with a deadpan, making her eyebrow return to normal, and her face to show a bit of embarrassment.

“How could I have known that?” She asked. “All your people call you Captain so I thought you were a General of some sort. Not the kind to the whole damn thing” She said, and I could tell she was being honest. That made me wonder exactly how much information the Xandarians had bothered to gather about me before sending her here. Surely something as basic as that would not have missed them. And if it hadn’t, what did it say about the kind of relationship that Captain Marvel had with them if they hadn’t given her information that basic. 

“Are you aware that we hail from the same planet?” I asked her, an attempt for small talk, but also to get in with her. A combatant of her quality on my side would be useful for when the Mad Titan came calling. 

“Truly? Did the Kree experiment on you too?” She asked, echoes of anger in her voice. 

“Nothing so exotic, I’m afraid.’ I said to her

“So how do you have powers like mine? Last I checked, humans couldn’t fly.” She said with an amused tilt to her voice, likely thinking of some sort of inside joke or the other. 

“Oh, I never claimed to be human. I’m the last of a dead species, and to save me from my planet’s destruction, my parents sent me to Earth in a space pod” I said to her, making her look at me with even more intrigue. 

“So there was a whole species of people like you?” She asked.

“And they died when your planet was destroyed? How did it even get destroyed? And if they were like you, why didn’t they just survive? I know how much damage those Kree canons can cause and the fact that you were able to take the concentrated force of three of them without so much as a scratch tells me a lot about your durability.” She said, placing her thoughts logically and concisely. Part of me would have loved to assume that it was an echo of her military training, but my knowledge of canon told me it came from having had the Supreme Intelligence mucking about in her mind. 

“Yes they did, to answer the first of your questions first. My people, Kryptonians, were ambitious and greedy. They used our planet for its resources, and then some. They dug and dug until they managed to make the planet’s core unstable. Even worse, was the fact that they had no forewarning to prepare them for the cataclysm as my father’s theories were ignored. When the planet was destroyed, it took them by surprise. And let’s just say in the same way you’re special amongst your people, I am special among mine.” I said, lying through my teeth with ease. Why would I tell her that I’d lose my powers while under a red sun? Why would I even tell her that I’d get stronger the closer we got to a yellow one? Captain Marvel and I were allies now, but I had no misconceptions about things. We were allies for now, and while that had potential to develop into something much more permanent, it was also possible that we’d find ourselves at odds with one another before this thing came to an end. I’d try my best to avoid that, but it would all be dependent on how I was treated when we got to Xander. I was grateful to Marvel, but all that good will would buy her was an audience with the Nova Corps leadership. Anything beyond that would be dependent on them. I was grateful, not beholden. It wasn’t a distinction without difference. 

“That’s tragic” She said, looking me in the eyes. 

“Yes it is. But it is also fine. I am the last of my people, but that just means I get to be the one to bring them back.” I said to her with a smile on my face as I sold another lie. If I could have them believing that my motivations lay in restoring my species, then they’d believe that they could put me in a box and mark me as figured out. The more they felt they knew about me, the more comfortable they’d be with me, and the more likely they’d be to put their trust in me as an ally. I had no plans to betray them, but nothing wrong ever came from an overabundance of caution. 

“A noble dream” 
“What about you? What are your dreams? I’ve been able to find a little bit about Carol Denver of Earth, the famed Mar-Vell but nothing on what drives her.” I said. 

“I am not Mar-Vell” She snarled at me, almost making me take a step backwards as she turned to me with fire in her eyes. 

“It’s a name that is not mine to bear. It belonged to someone special to me. Someone actually important. I’m sorry for snapping” She said, when she saw the effects that her words had had. I wondered about that. About why the name had been given to her, or even why it had such an effect on her. But seeing how she’d reacted to the mention of it, I knew it was best for me to step back and leave well enough alone. 

“My dream. My dream is to live in a world where people like the Kree can’t get away with what they do. Not just to live in that world. No, my dream is to make it. To drag this world, this miserable, foul place drenched in darkness into the light. Kicking and screaming, if I have to. That is my dream.” She said to me, and the fire in her eyes was beyond what I’d seen at the heart of a blue sun. She was aflame with a passion I’d never seen in any human. It was a dangerous thing, I could tell. Because only looking at her for a few seconds told me that she was committed to her goal. It was not half-hearted like my desire to kill Thanos or whatever. It wasn’t born out of a lack of anything meaningful to aspire to. It was raw passion born out of need. She saw something wrong with the world and would not rest until she saw it fixed. That made her far more dangerous than I’d originally estimated. It also meant that this mission meant far more to her than I’d previously assumed. Would that be useful when the bargaining began? Maybe. It was also likely that from what I knew about her from the movies, she’d tell me to fuck off and move ahead to confront the Kree on her own. 

XXXXX

Xandar was beautiful. That was my first assessment of the capital of the Nova Empire. She was truly the crown jewel of the Universe, as the Xandarians liked to proclaim her as. She was also one of the most protected planets in the Universe. Once we got close enough, we were no longer able to travel at Faster than Light Speeds as the system’s shields made it impossible. Even after Kelex had placed shields around the system, I still couldn’t understand how exactly the tech worked. It was like a warning system that crushed everything moving faster than certain speeds, but beyond that, I was beat. Since we had to approach at normal speeds, we also had to respond to various hails to stop. Captain Marvel’s security clearance codes made it faster than usual for us to beat the checks, but according to her, a ship could take hours to reach Xander from the edge of the system simply because of the famed Nova Corps border patrol division. Even in the middle of a period of unprecedented peace, Xandar’s security was a thing to behold. 

Still, that was secondary to the view of the planet I’d just gotten. I could see the famous algae farms covering much of the planet’s surface, giving it a notable green tinge. And then there were the oceans. Oceans that I knew rarely stayed still ran through the planet. With so few visible population centres, it was difficult to imagine that this planet was home to 12 billion people. But I guess that was what came with proper management of space. Earth had managed to feel cramped with about 7 billion people, but that was mostly down to entire parts of the planet being uninhabitable and unusable. Here, every scrap of land was in use. Those not used residentially housed power stations and military bases, and dozens of other things that meant that the Residential space got to remain as just that. 

Even the oceans were not left out of this culture of maximum utility. Parts of the oceans were tinged in green as they housed the famous algae farms, and even those parts too wild to be used for planting and cultivation were being used to power turbines to generate power that spread across the planet. Xandar was not home to much in the way of manufacturing or production, but it was still one of the capitals of the Universe. Her political and cultural importance could not be understated. And the lack of manufacturing was definitely a boon. The planet’s beauty was unmarred by the ills of manufacturing. It made me even more certain that the path I’d taken with New Kylos would prove to be the right one. In time, my planet would be jewel of the Universe to rival this one. It would happen. I’d make it happen. 

“Look alive” Marvel said, joining me in gazing across the planet. 

“She’s beautiful but every rose has thorns. Be careful, Kal. From one earthling to another” She said before leaving me to my view. 

XXXXXX- RANDALL DARE- NOVA DENARIAN

“I thought he’d be taller” He heard his best fried say as they stood at the entrance to the hangers for the Corps headquarters. 

“Are you ever going to learn to shut up? It was your big mouth that got us into this in the first place” His other friend whispered from his side. Argent was pissed to be given what she saw as a job for regular corpsmen, not a big bad Centurion-to-be like she was. She’d lost touch with what they used to be. With the days when they used to be wide-eyed corpsmen, fresh from the academy with dreams of how they’d change the world. Change the universe, even. Now, those children had been forced to grow up into adults. Adults who prepared for the war to end all wars. He’d found that he much missed those halcyon days of his youth. Especially when compared to the present day reality. 

“Last I checked, you were the one who agreed with me about the rod jammed up Agatha’s arsehole” He said, referring to their uptight Commanding Officer with a sneer on his face. 

“Shhhh. She has ears everywhere” Argent said. Still spooked from when they’d gotten caught gossiping about the woman. Randall was surprised that she was yet to figure it out. The way Agatha had been able to figure out what they’d said about her. Even Wesley had figured it out, he knew. That was why he was fine with speaking of her with impunity here. 

“No she doesn’t” He stepped into the conversation. 

“Yeah, Randall’s right. Lenier isn’t here to snitch on us.” Wesley said, backing him up and letting the cat out of the bag.  

“He snitched on us? And you both knew this?” Argent asked, confused. Her confusion had the effect of confusing Wesley in turn. It always amused Randall, how his friends who saw so much could be so blind. 

“I can’t believe I slept with that idiot” Randall’s ears barely picked up her whisper. But he knew that if he’d managed it at all, then even all the way on the other side, Wesley would have heard it loud and clear. Something that was signified in the way red crept up his pale cheeks. 

“Look alive. They’re coming this way” He said, heading off the argument that he sensed about to take off. He snapped to attention as the famous Captain Marvel approached them and both his friends wasted no time in joining him.

Besides her was the man who Wesley’s first sentence had described, and he just knew his best friend was a dirty liar. Because the man was a giant, easily towering over all three of them who weren’t short by any stretch of the imagination. He had black hair, grown long into a ponytail that broke at least a dozen Nova Corps regulations. His outfit was also distinctive. It was a gleaming black one-piece that caught the light as he moved. It had an “S” stylised and engraved on the raised chest piece, along with a black cape that swept the floor as the man walked. He was, to use a single phrase, “attention-grabbing”.

That was what made the small army of humanoids trooping along behind him almost escape notice. 

“Kal-El of New Kylos. We have been expecting you” He said, easily falling into the role of spokesperson like he usually did. 

“Thank you. You have a beautiful planet.” His voice was a smooth baritone that made Randall’s heart twinge. 

“Your army will have to wait in the hanger while we take you up to Nova Prime, however” he said hesitantly, expecting some resistance. 

It was refreshing, then, when instead of posturing like every other politician he’d had the displeasure of escorting, Kal-El turned to his people and wasted no time in ordering them to return to the ships to await him. And weren’t those a sight. The two ships the man had come with had been able to even keep Wesley’s mouth shut for a noticeable period. 

“Let’s go up then” He said once his people had returned to their giant ship.  

A/N;Done with the chapter. I’m going to be placing a lot of my own spin on the characters and setting here. It’s basically an AU, so be warned.