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“Let’s open her up.”
A plane, over her head. Where was she? A hanger - no, now an airfield. Small planes, with wings and symbols atypical to standard Kree aircraft.
“Where are we?”
“Stand by.”
“Where’s your head at?” She turns, meeting the gaze of a woman with dark skin and kind eyes, wearing a green jumpsuit with patches. Her eyes catch the wings resting over the other’s heart.
“This can’t be right, go back even further.”
A boy, thin and tall, with a mustache and a honking laugh, she can feel the skin of her face stretch -
“No, even further.”
She screams as she careens off the side of the bike. the dust forms a plume around her, embracing her as her hands hit the ground. A man cries out her name, and she turns, her back aching, her joints protesting louder than her voice could. He’s running towards her, a short man - no, teenager - with dark hair, still saying her name, begging her to answer.
“______”, are you alright?”
“Who is this person? Are we in the right…?
“I think we went back too far.” Unbidden, Shaw hears her own voice.
“Pete, I’m alright.”
“Let me try something.” New voices. Mocking her.
“Give up already.” Her arms burn.
“You don’t belong out here.” The rope in her hands cuts into her flesh.
“You’re not strong enough.” Shaw swings herself backwards, then propels forwards towards the next rope.
“You’ll kill yourself.” Her hand extends, her fingertips grasping as she slips, and lands on her back. The world around her glows, oranges and blues, like she’s on fire. They’re laughing at her.
“They’ll never let you fly.”
“Am I the only one that’s confused here?”
“You’re a decent pilot. But you’re too emotional.” A man, leans over her. Tall, a pointed look in his eyes. His lips curl like he’s sharing a private joke with her. “You do know why they call it a cockpit, don’t you?” Suddenly, an arm is around her -
“Hey! That’s no way to talk to a lady, much less a pilot as talented as my wife here.” Shaw turns her head, and there, sitting in the dive bar booth next to her, one arm around her and the other braced against the wall, is the boy, now man, with a mustache and a honking laugh. Across from her, the dark-skinned woman with kind eyes and the short boy with dark hair. Her eyes meet the mustached man’s, and he smiles at her. There’s a sorrow in his eyes now, and Shaw knows they should reflect mirth, his infectious cheerfulness. Gently, he holds her cheek, and Shaw knows this isn’t how it went last time. “I’m going to show you the way home, honey.”
Suddenly, she’s in a different bar. A little nicer, a new woman to her right, her hair in soft curls. The same short boy with dark hair to her left, his arm around her. The singing strikes her like lightning.
“You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain,” Shaw knows, she knows something, but she doesn’t know what. She can feel the knowing gather in her gut, with nothing to transport the knowledge. Her neurotransmitters can’t reach beyond her head to pull the truth that lies in her stomach.
“Too much love drives a man insane,” A restaurant, the mustached man sitting at a piano facing away from her, a little boy with a cowboy hat. Her little boy with a cowboy hat, singing the lyrics out of sync with his father. “You broke my will, but what a thrill,” Shaw aches, in a way she hadn’t felt since she lost him. “Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!”
“A charming memory.”
“Hang on, I think I’ve got it.” The bar disappears around her. Shaw wants to cry, to scream, to go back, to let her see him again for the first time in nine years. This man she doesn’t recognize or remember, but longs for down to every cell of her body. Every atom of her being calls his name for her, when her lips cannot draw the shape it makes out of the recesses of her mind. The little boy who she knows is made out of their love for each other.
“Goose likes you.” Goose. “She doesn’t typically take to people.” She? The cat. No. He and the cat. They share a name. Goose. Shaw hears her own voice again, prompted by the images, the not-memories.
“Early start to your morning.”
“Uh, late night actually. I can’t sleep when there’s work to do. Sound familiar?”
“Flying your planes never feels like work.” Flying. Goose.
“Wonderful view isn’t it?”
“I prefer the view from up there.”
“You’ll get there soon enough, ace.”
“Wait! Wait, wait. That’s her. Get her back.”
“Stand by.”
“Sound familiar?”
“Wonderful view isn’t it?”
“I prefer the view from up there.”
“You’ll get there soon enough, ace.”
“What’s that on her shirt, I couldn’t read it.”
“Wonderful view isn’t it?”
“I prefer the view from up there.”
“You’ll get there soon enough, ace.”
“Focus.”
“Excuse me?” This is wrong. Shaw is there, but she isn’t. She is here, but she is somewhere else.
“Look down.”
“Focus. Pegasus. Dr. Wendy Lawson. That’s her.” Shaw’s heart is beating out of her chest. This isn’t right. These people weren’t there before, she shouldn’t be able to -
“Do you hear that too?”
“Do we have her location?”
“Got it.”
“Now track Lawson until we find the energy signature.” A new place now, Lawson aims a gun. “Interesting. Huh, hold on.” A Skrull approaches, his weapon squealing. “Go back right before this. Go back.” Shaw is flying. No, not just flying, she’s fighting. She’s in a dogfight.
“That’s no MiG, Lawson.”
“This is it. Now let me see where you’re headed. That’s right. Look at the coordinates. Focus.” Her eyes close but then the request - “Open please. That’s it. That’s it. You’re almost there. You’re almost there. Don’t fight it. Focus!” She ejects. Goose. Her eyes close. “Get her back! Get her back now!” Shaw opens her eyes and suddenly, it all makes sense. She is on a Skrull ship, and they’ve been cutting through her brain like a hot knife through butter. None of it was ever real. Through her blurry vision, she can see the Skrulls, on the bridge, and realizes she is upside down.
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Do we have any information we can act on?”
“Just that Lawson was somewhere on planet C53. We’re on our way.”
“Then dig, dig, dig deeper. Lawson is our link to that light-speed engine! And everything we’re after.”
The pit in Shaw’s stomach tells her there’s someone on planet C53 she should be concerned about too.