SECRET INVASION CONTEST: "Before I Go."

[John Kilroy]

CONTINUITY NOTE: THIS TAKES PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DANCE WITH THE DEVIL EVENT

Joseph was sitting at the bar nursing a whiskey. He had fell off the wagon again. He felt like...no he had failed his daughter. One son was dead, the other was living in Maine and discovering himself. Carol was the only child he really had, and in his own weakness and stupidity, he pushed her aside. So he went back to the thing he was good at.



"Back here again Joe?"



Danvers looked over and saw his buddy Jacob or Jack as he was nicknamed, standing over him. Jack was smiling but his eyes revealed sadness.



"Disappointed in me? Get in line."



Jack pulled up a chair and ordered himself an Irish whiskey.



"Well, normally this is the part where I say it isn't your fault but..."



"Yeah...Yeah I know. You should have seen the way she looked at me Jack. She despises me."



"She doesn't hate you, Joe. She's just...going through a lot. Have you tried talking to her lately?"



"It's not for lack of trying. She's just always busy. Always on government business. I don't know Jack something doesn't feel right. Ever since she disappeared for a while...



"Hey guys look!"



The bartender turned on the TV and Carol was seen on the TV.



"We have tried to be reasonable with all of you. We've tried to meet everyone halfway, and yet we are treated like criminals, like tyrants. I've tried to be kind, I've tried to be patient, but my patients ended with these Devilgate riots. Well, Daredevil. You forced my hand. I've given you chance after chance and you have wasted all of them, so I will make one thing clear. We WILL find you and we will take you down. Let your fall be a lesson to all. Make the right choice of your own volition or it will be made for you."



Joe and jack looked at the TV with shock? Did Carol really just say what they thought she said. Had she lost it. No, no something wasn't right. This wasn't the Carol or at least not the Carol he knew. The Carol he knew was about as free-spirited as one could get. No this carol was going on a free-falling spiral. He winced upon hearing that last sentence. He had told his kids that once when they were children, it was meant as a way to express his authority as a parent...and now he was hearing those same words thrown back at him indirectly in what could only be described as a fascistic manner.



"What have I done...Carol...Carol I'm so sorry."



He got up from his seat.



"Let me guess you're going to..."



"Talk to my daughter...and do something I should have done a long time ago....go..go..go."



Joseph let out a gasp as he awoke in a cold sweat. He was no longer at the bar; he was back in his room. he silently cursed under his breath. "Another dream." He grumbled. he cursed himself for having yet another sleepless night, but it couldn't be helped. He let out a few violent coughs. Blast it, it was getting worse. He let out a huff.  there was only one thing he could think of doing besides getting drunk. He got dressed and went outside to take a walk.

In reality, Carol had not addressed the Devilgate riots in such a dark and brutal manner. So what was bothering him? Maybe it was the fact that he had not talked to Carol in a long time, not since after the Hero Civil War and she became the lead enforcer of the SRA. Every time he tried to call; she was always too busy with government-related stuff.



in a way this felt like was the sins of his past coming back to bite him, call it karma or reaping what one sowed the end result was the same. Carol had always assumed that he had resented her for the fact she was a girl, and as much as he wanted to deny it, him coming from not just a conservative, but an uber-traditionalist did come with its own baggage. Despite his desire to rebel and do otherwise, Joseph Danvers Jr. had inherited many of his old man’s demons, including his affinity for the bottle and his chauvinist tendencies towards "The Fairer Sex". Combine that with Jr’s overt paranoia of being hunted down due to the baggage his wife brought and you were left with a man who was in way over his head. Unfortunately, Carol was the one forced to carry his baggage, and seeing her growing up he was now watching her pay the price.



her affinity for the bottle was the first of the miserable fruits. She seemed to get addicted to it as easily as he had. It was weird to be honest. There were some days when she could drink entire cabinets' worth and not seem the least bit inebriated, and then there were times when she could only handle her liquor about as well as the average woman her size. It was as if she purposely suppressed that superhuman healing factor, or physiology or whatever of hers so that she could purposely get drunk.



Maybe it was purposeful. After everything she went through, especially with that mutant woman who nearly stole her soul, maybe she just sought a little bit of comfort and stability, stability that could only come from a lover, a bottle, or a father. Father, that word cut through Joseph’s stone heart like a knife. He thought of all the times she had longed for his acceptance, how she wanted nothing more than to hear him say “I love you” how she saved him, and what did he do? He rejected her. Was it because she was a daughter and not a son or was it because he just couldn't accept that the world was far bigger than he could ever dream, and he was just a tiny insignificant speck of it? In any case, it didn’t change the fact that he turned his back on her and watched as she spiraled into a jaded miserable person…just like him.



“The Iniquity of the Father shall be visited upon the children and the children’s children.” Joseph let out a deep sigh.



“Joseph Jr. You are a son of a…”



*CRASH!* Joe snapped out of his deep thought as he heard what sounded like the shattering of a vase of some kind. He looked up and noticed the house belonged to Thomas, the son of one of his old war buddies, his wife Kate, and their daughter Sarah. Kate could be heard screaming.



Joseph ran up to the house and started pounding on the Door,



“Thomas, Kate!”



There was no response. Katie could still be heard sobbing as Thomas cried out out.



“Katie, please! Don’t! Tell me what’s wrong! Let me help you!”



“I…I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I can’t think…I don’t know who I am! Help me!”



Joseph knelt down and grabbed an emergency key under the mat. He then unlocked the door. He immediately saw Katie crouched against a wall almost in a fetal position…holding a gun to her head.

[John Kilroy]

“Whoah whoah whoah, Easy Kate easy!” Joe said walking toward her. Katie however quickly snapped almost instinctively now aiming the gun at him. “Stay back!” she cried out. Joe took a couple of steps back with his hands in the air, showing he wasn't armed.

Katie’s entire world was spinning. Visions and memories flashed before her. Memories that weren't hers, or were they? She was Katie Millers (Maiden Name: Cantwell), her family move to America from ireland to escape “The Troubles.” She grew up in the smoky mountains but had a love for Ireland based on stories her parents would tell as well as visiting the countryside away from the conflict. before joining the Marines for a short time she would meet Thomas Miller. The two would move to New York, would marry and Katie would give birth to their daughter Sarah. Overall, Kate was a model American citizen, a kind loving wife, and an equally loving mother

Yet, something inside Katie awakened, other memories had come forth, another life, real yet Alien, Her name was Zora’roth. A former Skrull Shadow-Stalker turned bounty hunter after The End. Prior the the destruction of the Skrull empire her whole life was dedicated to infiltrating, sabotaging and ultimately conquering countless worlds in the name of the empire. Her life was like clockwork, create a faux identity fitting with the world she was infiltrating, infiltrate and integrate, prepare for the invasion, and once conquest was complete, tie up loose ends and await the next assignment. She saw her husband and her baby and suddenly Katie got visions of Zora with various families just like Katie’s. It all ended the same way she aimed a gun and she tied up loose ends.

“No don’t! stop it! Make it Stop! Make it Stop!”

She began to weep bitterly like a banshee mourning the dead. The murdered…her murdered. She dropped her gun and once again curled up into a fetal position. Both Thomas and Joe ran to her,

“Katie,” Thomas whispered, trying to hold her, but Katie smacked his hand away. This surprised him, but not nearly as much as when both Katie's skin and hair turned green seemingly. He jumped out of startlement.

“Katie?”

“I…I’m Katie…Please you have to believe me. I’m Katie…I’m Katie!!!”

Katie had expected Thomas to run away or at the very least recoil in fear but…he didn't. All he could do was put the baby in her arms and hold her tightly. Joseph couldn't help but watch the whole situation in awe, Thomas could only give Joseph a helpless stare.

“What do I do?”

Thomas was equally as helpless. This…whatever this was, it was well beyond his area of expertise.
“I’m calling my daughter.”

Joseph frantically punched in his daughter’s number… Bzzzt Bzzzt “Come on come on Pick up the phone."

~_~

Carol let out a deep sigh as she collapsed at her desk chair, to say she had a crazy last couple of days was a gross understatement. She had dealt with Daredevil, which went as well as one would probably expect. Daredevil escaped her grasp not that it really hurt her feelings, it was amazing how a self-reflection could cause one, she wanted to cooperate with him but that didn't seem to be on the cards. Daredevil was a lone wolf on his own and to be fair, her previous behavior had done a lot to get on people's bad side. It was honestly a good thing her powers helped sustain her to where she didn’t need sleeping because she probably had not closed her eyes for the past week.

She made a cup of coffee for herself only to hear her phone vibrate. It was her father. She remembered she hadn’t talked to her dad since before becoming Captain Marvel, it wasn’t for lack of desire truly. She meant it when she said she had been busy, and any free time she had was spent with the Avengers. Whatever excuse she had, one thing was clear. A father-daughter talk was LONG overdue.

She picked up the phone. “Dad, I’m so sorry! It’s not that I’m trying to ignore you it’s just. I’ve had to deal with government bureaucracy crap and…”

“Carol, I know you are busy but I need you to come by Tom and Kate’s house. Please!”

“Uh, sure…what’s wrong?”

“It’s Kate, something is wrong. She’s screaming and crying, she claims she doesn’t know who she is…and she turned green.

That made Carol stops in her tracks. “Wait, Green.”

“With Pointy ears.”

Carol bit her lip. “Does she have vertical veins across her chin?”

“Uh one sec…yeah, yeah she does…Carol do you have any idea what is happening? Is it like some kind of weird mutating virus or something?”

Carol was silent for a sec.

“Carol?”

“Dad, ask her if she remembers The Day HE blotted out the sun?”

“The what…?”

“Dad please…”

“Alright alright give me a sec.

~_~

Joe walked over to Katie whom was still crying and holding her baby.

“Katie..Katie, I’m going to ask a question and I need you to answer as best you can ok? My daughter wants to know if you remember The Day HE blotted out the son?”

Katie sharply looked up and gave a sideways glance. “How do…”

“So you know what she’s talking about?”

“Y-yes?”

Joe went back to his phone.

“Hey Carol, whatever you’re talking about she knows about whoever HE  is. Carol what’s going on? Is it a virus do Tom and I need to quarantine?”

“No It’s not a virus it’s…I’m on my way. Give me like two minutes tops. Ok?”

“Ok, and carol…thanks.”

“I need the address.”

Joe gave his daughter the address to Kate and Tom’s house up his phone and went to Katie, rubbing her shoulder.

“Katie, look. I have no idea what is going on but I called my daughter. she’s coming here to help you. If anyone can help figure out what’s going on with you she can.”

“How would she know about the destruction of Skrullos? Only…” Katie’s eyes widened as more memories suddenly flooded her mind.

“No…NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?”

She got up a look of sheer terror in her eyes.

“Kate?” Joe asked.

“You’ve led her right to me and my family! She’ll kill us! My Tommy...my baby...”

“Katie, what are you…?” Tom asked only for Katie to cut him off.

“Go! Get Sarah and yourself in the Basement now…NOW!”

Katie immediately went to a nightstand and pulled out a gun, a Canik,

Joseph tried to stop her. “Katie…”

“Stay Back!” Katie warned aiming the gun right at Joe. “How do I know you’re not an inquisitor?”

“An inquisitor Katie I’m as lost as you are. What is going on?”

Katie breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly the door swung open. A glowing light engulfed a humanoid figure. It was Captain Marvel.

“Katie?” Carol asked.

Katie quickly took aim at the Captain, finger on the trigger. “Stay Back! Mr. Danvers get away from her!”

“Katie please put the gun down,” Joe begged. “That’s just Carol, my daughter...”

“No! No no no no….she isn't who you think she is! She isn't who you think she is!”

[John Kilroy]

“Katie.” Carol pleaded again. She slowly walked forward, almost in a timid manner. But Katie tensed up after she took a mere couple of steps.

“I SAID STAY BACK!!!”

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

The bullets hit Carol right between the eyes, only for her to be unfazed as they flattened against her seemingly indestructible skin. Katie began to breath more heavily. Carol walked closer and closer. Katie didn’t see Carol Danvers though. She saw a monster. An unstoppable entity that could and would destroy her and her family. She fired more shots but it was all in vain.

“Katie,” Joseph pleaded. “Put the gun down before you…”

“No dad, it’s ok..It’s ok.”

Carol then looked back to Katie Holding her hands up. “Katie, Katie I promise I’m not going to hurt you.

“LIAR!” *BANG BANG*

Carol took a step back. She knew Katie couldn't hurt her, but if she made the wrong move Katie would hurt herself and possibly the others too. Carol had seen this before The Skrulls refer to it as “Ge’hadar, which in English literally translates as “Death of I Am” or “identity death.” It was something that sometimes occurs with a Skrull. They would be forced to shift into a different form and then brainwashed into believing that their shifted identity was their only identity. Reed Richard had nearly caused a handful of Skrull Agents to suffer Ge’hadar when he had forced them to take on the form of Dairy Cows and brainwashed them into believing they were always cows When the form was of a non-sentient creature. It wasn't hard to bring them back from Ge’hadar but even then the more they suffered from it the harder it was to bring them back. The Skrulls that were brainwashed into being cows were eventually recovered, but they had been brainwashed so frequently, they were never the same. The males took on feminine forms, and even referred to the bulls they mated with as their “Husbands” and it wouldn't be uncommon to find the Skrulls back in their cow forms either grazing…or breeding.

Then there were the Sleeper Agents. Sleeper agents were like those who underwent the Skrull Infiltration Ritual, albeit with an extra step…a darker step. To ensure that they could never be compromised, they’re memories as Skrulls would be forcefully suppressed to where only the memories of their template or conjured memories solely remained, but more often not, this would backfire horribly as those agents would suffer Ge’hadar, forgetting their past as a Skrull entirely. Integrating fully into whatever society they infiltrated, believing they had always been a part of that society. When these suppressed memories did come to the surface…the results were devastating. They would feel unreal to the Skrull suffering Ge’hadar, something akin to a nightmare, unable to tell the difference between what was real and what was not. The skrulls would kill their families…before turning the weapons on themselves. Recovery rates for sleepers were less than 1% Those who were not recovered and did not ultimately kill themselves, were executed for desertion. Because of this, the use of these sleeper agents was a major source of controversy among the Dard'van Sec, many viewed the use of sleepers as a necessity for the efforts of conquest and expansion or else the operation could be compromised, while others viewed it as a dishonorable practice that cost far too many lives with very little true benefit.



Now Carol was seeing the end results of the creations of these sleeper agents and the effects of Ge’hadar, and they were every bit as tragic as she imagined. She had recognized the facial scars of Zora’roth, among the Skrulls she was one of the best Shadow Stalker, she was cold ruthless, and almost sociopathic, she played the role of the loving wife and mother well, but her only true love was “For the Glory of the Empire” But once Carol looked into the Skrull woman’s eyes, she knew the truth. This was not Zora’roth the soul, those eyes, those scared innocent eyes were the eyes of Katie Miller. So decided to take a different approach to the situation. There wasn't a guarantee that It’d work but it was worth a shot.

“Zora’roth…”

Katie looked up seemingly responding, but soon shook her head both in confusion and frustration.

“My name…is Katie Miller, I was born in Dublin Ireland to Sean and Emily Cantwell, my parents moved to America when I was just a baby…I was raised in Townsend, Tennessee…!

“I know, I know. Shh…it's ok” Carol said softly in almost a motherly tone. “But you have the memories of Zora’roth…in your head, it’s like a nightmare isn't it, one you can’t wake up from. Being tossed into a whirlwind, unable to tell what's real and what's not...”

“Make it stop. It hurts so much…but…I don’t want to die....I don't want them to die!” Katie whimpered as tears flowed through her eyes.”


Carol held Katie’s shoulders. “Sh’ro Katie, no shame. I’m going to help you and I swear by Kly'bn The Eternal One and Sl'gur't The Great One, you shall not die nor will I lay a finger on your family. This is my oath to you, do you understand? I'm swearing an Oath to you under judgment of the gods, you shall not die. You're Husband shall not die. You're daughter shall not die. Sh'ro, No shame, do you believe me?

Katie reluctantly nodded.

"Good, Now I want to help you, but I have to know what “Zora’roth knows can you dig into those memories and tell me how things got to this point?”

 
"I'll...try..."

“Ok" Carol sat cross-legged and placed her hands on Katie's shoulders.


Take a deep breath in...out...good...you're doing great, close your eyes, concentrate, and try to remember.”

[John Kilroy]

Katie took a deep breath and closed her. She tried to focus as hard as she could, trying to find a calm within the storm. Her mind was swirling, the memories of fading in and out.Then she found it, an anchor of sorts, soon the images became more clear and katie began to explain what had happened to Zora’roth.

“After the Annihilation wave, Zora’roth went out on her own, she became a bounty hunter and a mercenary for a while. She was an assassin, a warrior, a killer so she continued to do what she did best. Then word came that princess Veranke had taken up the throne and was crowned the new queen. She called Zora’roth home. The Prophecy was coming to fruition and we needed to prepare. This was going to be a different mission. It was meant to be a slow integration into the empire that would lead to a first True Contract. Intelligence did it’s research but there was a complication Earth has Telepaths. In order to not let the mission be compromised many of the shadow stalkers partook in the forbidden risk. The queen warned us it was foolish but Zora'roth felt like the risk were necessary for the sake of the soon to be reborn Empire.”

“And you were left to pay the price,” Carol said.

Katie opened her eyes, “W-Who am I?"

Carol couldn't help but look at Katie with sorrow, Katie and Zora’roth were one in the same person, or at least from a technical perspective they were, but their spirits, their souls were different Zora’roth was a hardcore imperialist who only had one true love. Even if Zora’roth spared Thomas and Sarah out of obligation, she would never love them. Once Earth had been integrated into the Skrull empire she would leave and prepare for the next conquest, the next mission, the next identity she was to take up. It was a never ending cycle. This wasn't Zora'roth, not anymore.

"Who do you want to be?" Carol asked. "Who do you fight for? Are you Katie Miller or are you Zora'roth?"

Katie gritted her teeth. "Zora'roth is gone. My name is Katie Miller and I will not be forced to choose the empire over my family!"

“Katie?”

Katie turned around and saw Thomas coming up the stairs.

“Thomas I…”

Thomas stopped her. “Look I don’t care what you are or what you look like, I just need to know one thing. Was it real? Was the love that you and I shared real or was it just part of the cover? When we made our vows to each other on our wedding night, did you mean them?”

Katie smiled and all but jumped into her husband's arms wrapping herself around him and kissed him with such passion that could not be faked even by the greatest of undercover agents.

“Every single word of them,” she said. "Zora'roth is dead, consumed in a dark ritual never to live again, in a way the victims she left in her life of death...have been avenged, but in her place is something...new... something better."  Thomas smiled. and embraced her in true love's kiss That was all he needed to know.

“You look good in green by the way.” he teased.

As the couple walked off in the bedroom to have some...alone time, Joseph walked up to his daughter and patted her on the shoulder. “I have absolutely Zero Idea of what’s going on but you did good kid."

Carol just stood there in silence. Her arms were crossed and there was a look of brooding on her face.

"Carol?"

She made no response. imagine if you will a scenario....you answer a distress call coming from your team, but when you report, your allies look to you with suspicion and distrust. That's odd why are they suddenly looking at you like that? You ask them what the threat is, and they give a response that makes you grow pale. "We think you know." Suddenly your team charges at you attacking you, your own allies that you have fought alongside for years are suddenly trying to imprison or even kill you. Why, why are they doing this? What is happening are they being mind-controlled?  Suddenly you look in the mirror and see a face you can't recognize and then suddenly you get bombarded with images and memories that while they feel familiar they feel...unreal...

These aren't your memories yet they are... this isn't your face yet it is... who are you? What is real? Make it stop it hurts... and in the pit of your subconscious there is this overwhelming sense of dread... the feeling that if you don't "tie up loose ends," the Skrull empire will make you and everyone you love suffer a fate worse than death, yet you fight those fears, those feelings. After all, you and your team have been through worse. If you can just snape them out of this maybe you can figure out what is going on. 

But it's too late. One of your friends strikes the final blow either killing you outright or knocking you out so that you could be detained. You're in a cell the authorities you swore to protect are accusing you of terrorism and invasion calling you by a name you don't recognize. You're sentenced to death or are thrown in a hole for a crime you didn't commit, a crime committed by someone's whose identity died the moment they partook in the Dark Rite, your last thoughts ever being that of agony. Why did your friends betray you? You didn't do anything. 

This was the reality of what it meant to be a Skrull Sleeper Agent 99% of the time, Not a creeping boogieman who's goal is to induce paranoia, not a Skinwalker whose intentions are to use guise to get close to someone and betray them, just someone who is suffering from a loss of identity, doomed to die for circumstances that were not their fault...unless someone intervened. To say Carol's blood turned cold was a gross understatement. She was in full-blown panic mode. A state she never truly found herself in. Not since...

“I have to get to S.H.I.E.L.D…I have to get to S.H.I.E.L.D now!”

“Why what’s wrong?”

“Lives on both sides are at stake! I can't let McKinny happen again!”

“Lives on both sides? Carol, what are you talking about? What is going on? What happened to Katie?


Carol gave no response instead she blasted off flying into the direction of shield headquarters Her father ran after her.

“Carol wait! Stop!...I want to help you.” That last sentence came across more as a feeble plea but it was too late. She was long gone kicking a rock next to him. He walked off in a huff. He grabbed a handkerchief and started to violently cough into it. It was covered in blood. He was running out of time, and he knew it.

"Help me understand you before I go.”

He looked up to the sky. There was silence with little more than trees and the passing of cars. His lips were pressed tightly as his. No he wasn't going to give up to despair that easily. He was a Danvers and a Danvers never knew the meaning of the word quit. He was going to help his daughter in whatever way he could. He just needed to make a few phone calls.

FIN

NEXT TIME: Carol discovers a betrayal and reveals a secret that could very well shake the very foundation of the country if not the planet. Tune in to the Main Secret invasion line with CAPTAIN MARVEL: Secret Invasion #1: WHO DO YOU TRUST?