Arc Twelve. Chapter Three-Hundred Forty-Six. The Final Word

Peter left once the job was done, happy enough now that he’d been paid, happier still that he’d taken a blood sample of every single Asgardian in the building, and it had provided some very surprising results. That was for another day. Now it was time to go home, rest for at least five minutes and then stop the invasion of shape-changing aliens. 

Every single sample they had taken from the Asgardians had come back as one of two types. A strange aline strand of DNA, which they now knew was Asgardian, and a set with two strands of DNA. One was obviously Asgardian, and the other was completely alien to it. It wasn’t even remotely similar. 

On Earth species that evolved separately still had a similar base code of genes, all following the same four basic proteins. It was only natural as all life evolved from a single organism.

The only explanation was a species of alien that used one strand for reproduction, and it was its basic form and another that allowed them to mimic any life they came in contact with. It would fool any scanner, as to a machine it would register the dominant DNA, it was only the ever brilliant, who had been and been kissed by not just Peter, but Gwen and Carol when she revealed her results.

Even Peter or Charles trying to read their mind would encounter the shapeshifted structure, and so, Coulson might be one but they would register his thoughts as Human, while Thor was alien enough they wouldn't be able to tell.

It was insidiously brilliant, and once Liv had long enough with the gene scanner she could set it to reveal any of the infiltrators. Using a simple process, the right frequency of energy, delivered to a thin enough point, such as the chest, would force the cells to revert to their original DNA, and reveal the alien. 

“Well, Maybe,” Liv had said, “as I can’t really say it’ll work on a full-sized person, I only have blood to test, and not a lot at that.” but as Peter thought it was still brilliant, he took her and Carol into the bathhouse anyway, and the duo made sure Liv knew exactly how wonderful she was.

~

With the Kree threat hopefully neutralised, Thor and Coulson sat in his office,

“Think they bought it?” Coulson asked and Thor could only shrug,

“I know they did. Thankfully Danvers never had a complete set of Kree DNA, and we could fool those primitive scanners they have. I am worried about Parker though,” Thor said as he shifted, and now a Skrull sat there. “He knew I wasn't Thor, and I think the only reason he held back was he thinks your Coulson.”

Coulson shook his head and changed as well. “No, I don’t think it's that easy.” Reaching a hand over the desk, “You look much better this way.” and Skrullor smiled and took his hand

“Flatterer. I need to report to Veranke, things should proceed much smoother now, we’ve shown the humans we can be trusted.”

Skrullson waved a hand over his desk, and a holographic display popped up, “We have protests across America, across Europe and a few in Australia, but, humans would protest free water in a desert, and social media just called them idiots and ignores them.”

“And Wakanda?”

“Queen Shuri has been stubborn. We still dont have access to the city, and her stranglehold over the vibranuim is annoying. But with Parker now working for us, we should have an easier time. Loki probably won't be happy though, but with the Klyntar we can't just replace one of his women, he would know immediately.”

“I heard Gwen doesn't have a Klyntar anymore, how about her?” Skrullor asked but Skrullson shook his head,

“The operatives we have in AIM say that he engages in intercourse with them several times a day, and anyone we send in would have to be willing, and convincing enough to fool him.”

Skrullor sighed and bit her lip, She was never going to admit it to her life-mate but several of the Skrull female agents had already approached her about that very assignment. In fact, several had already asked if they could approach him as Skrulls, given his acceptance of the robot female.

Skrullson sighed, “We just have to hope that once the truth comes out, Parker and AIM are on our side. Especially given where Phil is.”

To foster Human-Xandarian relations, several high-level agents and politicians had engaged in Skrull memory transferal and were now off-world visiting several planets. Coulson was on Xandar Prime, while Talos was taking his place, and regretting it.

Skrullor laughed, “Loki is never happy. She thought that ruling would be a picnic, and I hear that some of her advisors dragged her from her throne room and into a meeting with Xandar Prime, much to their annoyance.”

Skrullson snorted, “Well, that's what you get for playing Queen.”

Skrullor looked around, “Dont let Veranke hear that, she might be our daughter but she does have a temper.”

Skrullson laughed, “she gets that from you. I prefer logistics to fisticuffs.”

“Dont I know.” and Shrullor sighed, “Are we doing the right thing? Xavier was right, we could have asked for their help. Avalon would have welcomed us with open arms.”

Skrullson sighed and patted her hand, “And the Xandarians said the same thing, and we ended up on a dozen refugee shuttles, ready to be picked off by the Kree. Earth didn't welcome us the first time, why would they now?”

Skrullor leant back in her chair, “I know, but this feels, wrong somehow. We could have just slipped into the population again, or hidden somewhere remote. Nobody needed to know we were here.”

“But this way we can actually be ourselves, we dont need to hide. Once Earth is part of the Asgardian Empire then we finally have a home, and we can rebuild enough to find out own homeworld. And maybe give Veranke a sibling?”

Skrullor laughed, “If the rumours of our children are correct, I think she might give us a grandchild first. Those two are just as bad as Parker it seems.” She paused and leaned over the desk, cupping Skrullsons face with her hand and smiling gently at him, “but once I can stop being this muscle brained idiot, then maybe, but to find Thor and Coulson locked in a loving embrace would definitely not help our cause.”

Skrullson laughed “I know, I know. But after this, I want a vacation. After the signing ceremony. I want to get away from all this. Get someone else to play Director for a while. It's tiring and Parker is a giant headache.”

“Once the war is over, and the Earthlings are happy, we can both take a well-earned break, my love.”

Skrullson smiled and patted his wife on the back of the hand.

Skrullson shook his head and the Director of Shield, Philip Coulson sat behind his desk once more. He tapped on a small disk, “Tie me into the Skrull flagship. Tell Lady Loki that Philip Coulson is calling, on the orders of her brother, Prince Thor of Asgard.”

The disk hissed slightly, “As you command, Director.” and a small holographic display lit up, showing Veranke sitting in her command chair.

“Is this a social call, or are we free to talk?” she asked but Coulson frowned and shook his head

“Bit of both. We have secured the vibranium as requested, Peter Parker is being as much of a pain as we expected him to be, but everything else is on track.”

Veranke smiled, “Good. My flagship should be arriving on Earth within the next few hours. Is there anything else?”

Coulson looked over at Thor, “We have Kree on Earth.”

Veranke frowned, “that is unfortunate. Have they been dealt with?” but Coulson shook his head

“The Xandarians are blocking our investigation. Asgardian forces are clean though, so we isolated all Xandarians. No one is allowed off base without an escort, and all their patrol craft are to use low yield weapons unless it's an emergency.”

Venrake laughed, “Oh I bet they love you for that. Problems?”

Coulson pursed his lips but shook his head, “It’s not their planet, and as Asgard leads the main army, they can't complain. They came to us, not the other way around.”

Veranke tapped a finger against her chin, “I can issue a direct order from Loki, or as Queen Freya. We are at the final push, and the Kree have been pushed back into their own system. We aren’t pursuing, as we know what they’ll be like if they get desperate.”

Coulson nodded. The Kree were fanatically loyal to the Supreme Intelligence, and if it felt it had no other options it would probably destroy itself and its people rather than suffer the humiliation of defeat. 

Even the treaty the Kree signed was nothing more than a smokescreen so they could continue their attacks. A splinter group was hardly believable when they pulled the charred remains of Ronan from the wreckage of his very well known ship.

“The might be prudent. Otherwise, when the rest of our people arrive, we could be sending them to their deaths again.” Thor added.

“I will contact Queen Freya and have her convey the message. If anyone refuses, assume they are Kree and have them shot.”

“A bit extreme. We’re having to be careful. The humans are a lot more fragile than most. If we start executing people they’ll complain.” Coulson said,

Veranke waved a hand, “fine, fine. Have them imprisoned, and allow the humans to cast judgement on them. It’s their planet after all. Well, for now.”

Coulson looked over at Thor who snorted and nodded, “that's fine, daughter. We love you, and shall see you soon.”

As the display shrank and turned off, “Well, I see she hasn't grown up. Loki is a bad influence on her.”

Thor laughed, “Shooting them was a kindness. I would have pushed them out of an airlock. Kree can survive several minutes in space. It would have been most amusing.”

Coulson rubbed his forehead, “then we can both be glad that humans are a lot more tolerant.”

Thor sat on his desk and leaned forwards, “and that thinking gets your planet invaded and your species subjugated.”

Coulson patted Thor's hand, “which is why you are a general, and I do paperwork. And why you keep getting your disguise wrong.” He slid out a picture, ”it's this one, not the one with the long hair.” 

Tutting Thor shook himself and his hair and beard changed. “There, better?”

Coulson laughed. “There is just one thing we need to do to cement the deal with the humans, and then we can all be free.”

~

Above the Earth, monitoring the transmissions of outgoing traffic, the commander of the ship hissed as he saw the latest report.

They knew they had been discovered and had already reported that to the Supreme Intelligence. They were all on restricted duty, and their plans concerning the annihilation of the Asgardian fleet was now in ruin.

He flicked on a private communications channel, “Report,” said the young woman on the other end. 

He hated her, he was a pure Kree and she was a mongrel, but she fitted in better, and as such was in a higher position. Once this invasion was over, he would personally see to it that she was taught her place, by having her executed.

“We intercepted a transmission. Lady Loki is on her way here. She will contract Queen Freya and force the Nova Corp forces to undergo blood testing or face execution.”

There was silence on the other end of the communicator.

“Do we have a time frame as to her arrival?” he was asked,

“Several hours. If she is coming from Asgard and takes the Kylorian Cluster, she will arrive by two pm Galactic Standard Time.”

“Send an immediate transmission to the Supreme Intelligence. We can have our fleet here faster.”

He snorted, “I am not informing our forces of a half baked plan that required them to forcefully jump from an outer sector. You may command our forces on the ground, but I am in command of the fleet.”

“You are a fool,” she hissed at him. “I will send the report, and you may clean your neck for the Accuser's hammer. I will enjoy watching your crushed corpse twitch as you slowly die.” and she shut the channel off.

On the ground, Bereet stared up at the communications tower, and she knew that outgoing messages of that magnitude would be monitored, if she wanted to get the message out, she needed a distraction.

As she flicked through the prisoner roster for Earthing being brought to trial she skipped past Carol and focused on a single name,

Yes, he would do nicely indeed.