Marvel: Ned the Master of Mystic Arts

"Zzzzap!"

While Captain Marvel and her team, along with the orange tabby cat, were weaving through the base in an attempt to escape, a portal with sparking edges slowly opened in front of them.

Nick Fury and Coulson, both far less seasoned than they would later become, froze at the sight of the portal. Almost instinctively, they hid behind Captain Marvel, using her as cover while drawing their pistols and aiming at the portal.

"Buzz!"

But Captain Marvel, having seen much of the universe and confident in her abilities, stood her ground. She clenched her right fist, which began to glow with golden-red energy.

"Hey! It's me!"

Ned emerged from the portal, only to find himself staring down the barrels of two guns, with Captain Marvel's glowing fist ready to blast him. He was startled and immediately yelled, "Wait! Follow me! Everyone in the base is looking for you!"

He quickly stepped back through the portal, leaving Fury, Coulson, and Captain Marvel to exchange glances.

The main exchange of looks was between Fury and Carol. Coulson, being a new addition to the team, had no idea what was happening and was still in shock over how Ned had appeared in the first place.

Fury, however, had lost trust in Ned ever since failing to locate him in the archives earlier. He hesitated, unsure whether to step through the portal or not.

"Let's go," Carol said decisively.

Her confidence in her abilities left no room for doubt. She also loathed traitors, so if Ned were trying to pull a fast one, she was prepared to teach him a lesson with her glowing fist.

"Alright," Fury relented.

With Carol leading the way, Fury and Coulson followed closely, the former still cradling the orange tabby cat.

"Uh… what's going on here? How did we suddenly end up here? Spatial technology?"

Upon stepping through the portal, Fury and the others found themselves standing on a deserted road.

Given his experience as an agent, Fury quickly recognized the location—it was the same spot where he had first encountered Ned. He looked at Ned with a puzzled expression and asked, "What's going on here?"

"You can think of it that way," Ned replied, nodding. He then picked up a backpack from the ground nearby and tossed it to Carol. "This contains something you might want to see. I found it in the archives, and it proves I've been telling the truth."

Carol cautiously caught the backpack. At this point, she didn't trust Ned at all. She was ready to blast him into oblivion if he made any suspicious moves.

Opening the backpack, she pulled out a red folder and began flipping through it. This was the same folder she had been searching for earlier in the archives, though Fury's interruption had prevented her from reading it.

Carol's eyes scanned the pages quickly until she reached the final one. There, she saw a photo. The image featured Dr. Lawson, Maria Rambeau—whose face had appeared in her fragmented memories—and herself.

"Buzz!"

Carol raised her glowing fist, pointing it at Ned. "You're trying to deceive me, aren't you?"

"Of course not. I'm telling the truth," Ned replied calmly. "You were an Air Force pilot, Captain Carol Danvers. Yon-Rogg abducted you and lied to you, forcing you to work for him."

Carol stared at Ned intensely. She didn't want to believe what he was saying, but the fragmented memories in her mind...

"Perhaps—uh, I mean, maybe—this mysterious guy has never been wrong before," Fury interjected, attempting to smooth things over.

After all, Fury had deduced something critical from the conversation: Earth might gain a superpowered hero. He quickly added, "Remember, he knew my name the moment we met."

"We're going," Carol said after a moment's thought, her expression unreadable.

"Where to?"

"Louisiana."

"And how do we get there?" Fury asked, looking around at the desolate surroundings.

Hearing this, Carol turned her gaze to Ned.

"Uh… my portal can only take me to places I've been to before," Ned explained.

"However…"

Just as disappointment crossed their faces, Ned continued, "I have an idea. I can get us to Louisiana. Just wait here."

With that, Ned opened another portal and disappeared once again.

"So… is he going to ditch us again?" Fury quipped, watching Ned vanish.

"Boss, who is he? He wasn't mentioned in any of the mission briefings," Coulson finally asked, breaking his silence after being bewildered for so long.

"I have no idea. I don't even know whose side he's on," Fury replied, shaking his head.

"Do you really trust that guy?" Fury asked Carol. "As much as I'd like you to be from Earth, that guy is incredibly sketchy. Are you sure about this?"

Fury wasn't entirely sold on Ned. He didn't want to lose the chance of Earth gaining a superhero, but he also couldn't ignore the possibility that Ned might be lying. If this turned out to be a deception, he knew Carol's temper might spell trouble for Earth later.

"No, I don't trust him at all. I'm even wondering if all of this was fabricated by him," Carol replied. "But… when I arrived at Hala, I was gravely injured and lost all my memories. My dreams are the only place where I see fragments of them."

"And when I got here, Yon-Rogg—my commander—his behavior was clearly off. There's something wrong about all of this."

"Even if that bastard is lying to me, I have to see it for myself," she said firmly.

As she spoke, Carol thought back to the first time she met Ned and his strange remark: "I'm your brother."

…

Meanwhile, Ned had returned to the base through his portal and located the advanced aircraft Captain Marvel had flown in the movie.

"Alright, you're pretty cool," Ned murmured, admiring the plane.

With a casual flick of his hand, he conjured a massive portal, moving the aircraft through it and making it disappear.

To ensure no one at the base noticed the portal, he used the power of the Mind Stone, effectively making it invisible to everyone nearby.

To the staff at the base, the plane had vanished in the blink of an eye.

Amid the alarms and chaos, Ned smirked and opened another portal to leave.

"Motherfu—!"

On the deserted road, Fury was still chatting with Carol when a gigantic portal suddenly appeared. The aircraft emerged from it, nearly crushing him beneath its weight. Fury jumped back in shock, shouting an expletive.

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