Summary:Carol and Noh-Varr run into each other in SHIELD HQ. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Late afternoon is late for lunch and early for dinner so the cafeteria not particularly full. Still, there's always people in here as missions don't follow schedules and agents are used to grabbing a meal when they can. Noh-Varr's seated at one of the tables off to the side, his chair tilted back on two legs and leaning against the wall. While in a SHIELD uniform, he's wearing short sleeves. This leaves the Nega-Bands very visible as is the bracer with the red gem that covers his lower right arm, incorporating the band into its design. As he eats a sandwich with one hand, he holds a data pad in his left and reads it.
Well, being in space for a decade isn't enough to escape debriefings when you get back. Quite the opposite, as they want more information on the past few years. And well, since Carol still has semi-active SHIELD status (along the lines of "break glass in case of planetary armaggedon"), she plays nice to help the Avengers get info when they need it.
However, it's a break for her, so she sneaks down to the cafeteria in her SHIELD uniform, grabbing a bagel and an espresso there. She catches Noh-Varr out of the corner of her eye and pauses, blinking a bit as she notices the Nega Bands which… well, yeah, she knows what those things are.
Noh-Varr, quite intentionally, has an unobstructed view of one of the entrances and any time someone walks in, his eyes flick up over the edge of the datapad to catalogue the person, then goes back to eating. In Carol's case, the gaze lingers a few moments before he takes another bite, uses a pinky to swipe to the next screen, then continue reading.
Carol pauses a bit, then wrinkles her nose slightly. She immediately pivots over towards Noh-Varr's table, making her way over towards him. When she arrives, she tilts her head, "Hi, I'm Carol Danvers. Where did you get those nega bands?" She grins a little, "Hope you don't mind my asking." Because, well, obviously she's going to.
Noh-Varr looks up as he sees Carol approaching and waits. Looking curious and expectant, he's half smiling as she approaches. "Hi, I'm Noh-Varr. I took them off the corpse of a dead Skrull who was impersonating Captain Mar-vell." he replies. "How do you know they're Nega-Bands? Did you read my file?"
Carol chuckles, "No, but I knew Mar-Vell… pretty well. So yeah, I recognized them. So you're Kree then?" The name is pretty obvious to those that know, of which she's one, and then she switches to speak in Kree, being surprisingly fluent at it, "Mar-Vell and I were… close. Mind if I join you?" She gestures to the other chair at the table.
Now that is obviously a surprise. "You knew Mar-Vell? Is he alive? I've always wanted to meet him." Noh-Varr sets his sandwich and datapad down though he stays leaning back against the wall as he motions to the chair. "Captain Noh-Varr of the Marvel, the 18th Kree Diplomatic Gestalt. Though since the Marvel is destroyed, I'm not really a captain of anything." Not to mention he was only an ensign before everyone else was killed. "But giving yourself a rank seems to be the thing on Earth." Switching to Kree, he says "Your accent is very good."
Carol smiles at the comment about her accent, continuing in Kree, "Thanks. I knew him, but he died… well, over a decade ago. I actually started calling myself Captain Marvel, to continue his legacy." She opens her hand, and energy sparks around her fingertips for a moment before stopping. She then shrugs a bit, looking at Noh-Varr, "How did you end up on Earth?"
Noh-Varr doesn't look surprised at the news of his death. "He's dead in my reality too. I was hoping he was alive in this one." He shrugs a shoulder and his head cocks slightly to one side as he considers the question. "That's a long story but I'll shorten it. The Marvel was heading home after concluding a peace treaty with the Skrulls when we were lured off course and ambushed by a few Astro-Gods. We won but ended up lost in the multiverse. We were trying to find our way back when we got shot down over Earth and everyone was killed but me. Stuff happened, more stuff happened, I repaired the Marvel, started heading home, was passing through the solar system here when the Kree destroyed my ship. And here I am. So how did you meet Mar-Vell?"
Carol hmms, "He was actually sent here by the Kree to investigate Earth, keep an eye out for Skrull infiltration and monitor Earth's spaceflight programs. See if we might ever be a threat to the Kree." She smiles wryly, "As it turns out, I was assigned to work security with NASA regarding possible extraterrestrial infiltration. Little did I think that he was the actual infiltrator, though I found out eventually."
"Yes, he's considered a traitor by some. And since the Kree fired on me immediately without warning, probably here too." Noh-Varr shifts his weight so the chair comes back down to rest on four legs. "I was so close to destroying their ship but reinforcements were coming." he sighs. Maybe some day.
Carol nods, "Yeah, he wanted to end the war between the Kree and the Skrulls. Sadly, he didn't get a chance to live to see that accomplished. But it isn't an easy process, as I'm sure you're aware." She smiles a bit ruefully at Noh-Varr, "So a parallel universe? That's something you don't typically hear every day."
"More alternate than parallel." Noh-Varr corrects. "Events can differ a lot depending on which you're talking about. There's millions if not billions of them. It makes finding the right one a little difficult." Understatement of the century. "I was surprised to find out the idea is such a foreign one. Even without the technology to travel among them, their existence is integral to several mathematical and cosmological laws."
Carol hrms, "I know some theories talk about it, but here on Earth it always seemed to be more of an intellectual exercise than something to actually look into doing. But then I've been more of an engineer than a scientist anyway."
"If you think of something as nothing more than an intellectual exercise, you're not likely to start trying to prove it." Noh-Varr points out. "So that would explain it. Just as well. You aren't ready to be traveling among realities. You're not even ready for space." It's said matter of factly with no judgement.
Carol chuckles, "Well, I am, but yeah, humanity, not so much. Got a few things to sort out on the ground first before really looking into the stars." She smiles wryly, "I spent the last decade out there, and it definitely helps provide some perspective."
"Why?" Noh-Varr asks then elaborates. "Did you spend so much time off planet? And how? Were you taken for experimentation?" A favorite Kree past time. "Is that how you developed powers?" A nod toward the hand that the energy swirled about briefly.
Carol chuckles, "Had a mishap with something called a Psyche-Magnetron, which apparently spliced my DNA so I became half-Kree, effectively. Gave me my powers, and an instinctive knowledge of Kree civilization. Including the language." Which is how she speaks it that well. Then she grins, "Well, I didn't really go off world much, but ten years ago… well, some things happened, and I needed to get perspective. Which is one thing space is good for."
"Things happen." Noh-Varr agrees. Too many damn things sometimes. "I haven't heard of a Psyche-Magnetron. Do you have the plans for it? It sounds interesting. Some sort of matter transference device if it merged your DNA with Kree? You're fortunate you're not blue."
Carol hmms, "Not sure what exactly it was, to be honest, it was destroyed in the explosion and the scientist that built it died there too." Of course there was an explosion, but yes, there's scant knowledge about what it was even with SHIELD. "And yes, blue is not my best color."
"Probably would have made you unbearably convinced of your own self importance. And boring. The blue Kree are soooo insufferable." Noh-Varr informs Carol, rolling his eyes. "As if inbreeding is some kind of virtue." Anyway. "So where do your loyalties lie? With Earth?"
Carol nods, "With Earth. I'm with the Avengers, as well as still with SHIELD, though most of my work is with the former, of course." She grins, "And what about you? Doesn't sound like you have a lot of fondness for the Kree, not that I blame you."
"I am a loyal member of the Kree Empire." Noh-Varr tells Carol quite seriously. "But my people aren't like the Kree here or the ones in the last reality I was in. We ended the constant state of war that we were engaged in for hundreds of thousands of years. While I'd gladly bring the Earth into the Empire, I'd no longer do it using force. And while I'm here, no one else will either, whether they're Kree or Skrulls."
Carol sighs, "You'd think after that long people would get tired of war, but I think it just gets to a point where that's all they know, so changing to something else frightens them too much." She shrugs a bit, taking a sip of her coffee, "Would be interesting to see your version of the Kree, though. They might actually be noble warrior heroes."
"Thank you." says the noble warrior hero with a grin. "Usually something major has to happen before someone will change. Something really, really major when it's an Empire. And all sides need to agree." Noh-Varr points out. "Getting the Skrulls to talk peace was much harder than killing them."
Carol nods, "Yeah, it definitely takes two to tango, there." She hrmms, "Well, it happened in your universe, no reason it couldn't happen here, given time."
"Maybe." Noh-Varr agrees. "But my people haven't been back to this planet in thousands of years so it wasn't a prize to be won in the Skrull conflict. That's going to make things harder right there." His communicator beeps once and he listens before standing up. "Gotta get going. It was good speaking Kree again with someone. Talk to you later."