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Just as Black Super located what appeared to be a data storage unit and was about to dismantle it for a closer look, the ship's power suddenly became unstable. Parts of the vessel flickered, some systems tripped and shut down, and even the mainframe in front of him was affected.
That said, this incident also highlighted one of Kree technology's strengths: a mainframe reboot didn't immediately cripple critical systems. At the very least, life support and artificial gravity didn't fail on the spot—otherwise everyone aboard would have died right there.
However, some devices that required massive energy input were very likely taken offline.
Black Super glanced toward Carol Danvers' location. Several compartments away, Captain Marvel had—just as expected—gone full power.
In her binary form, she was already at the very top of the Marvel Universe's superhero power scale, so long as one didn't compare her to beings on the level of the Celestials.
At this stage, all she needed was time to adapt to and fully master this power. Once she did, she could pretty much walk sideways across the universe without issue.
The real problem was her… questionable judgment. She trusted people far too easily.
Whether in the comics or the movies, even back when she was still Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers had always been like this—solving every conspiracy by smashing it head-on with overwhelming force.
In short, wherever she went, she inevitably became the center of attention, which ran completely counter to Black Super's operating principles. Best to stay far away.
He had no interest in jumping into the X-Men's mess, and even less reason to become some kind of cosmic police officer alongside Captain Marvel.
As for the contrived excuse that someone had to go into space to uphold justice—it was probably just the movie writers' way of preventing Earth-based supervillains from getting instantly vaporized by Captain Marvel before the "main characters" had a chance to shine.
Besides, one crucial piece of Kryptonian intel he'd gotten from the Skrulls was that Kryptonian fleets were affected by the color of the local star, which could alter their temperament.
Even if their powers weren't directly lost, Black Super still preferred to stay on Earth, bathing comfortably in yellow sunlight. Otherwise, every time he wanted to "deliver justice" in some star system, he'd first have to check the color of its sun—way too much hassle.
As for the one person he did need to keep alive this time—Nick Fury, whose heart might well be as black as his skin—he still needed Fury to clean up the mess the Skrulls had caused. As someone in the know within S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury was the most suitable choice.
At the moment, though, Fury was holding Goose the Flerken like the ultimate talisman, and things seemed fine.
Flerkens were hit-or-miss—sometimes they didn't do anything unless they spotted a threat—but with that trump card in hand, plus the stolen Kree weapons, it should've been enough for them to escape…
That was when Black Super suddenly remembered why he'd entered the ship in the first place.
The Kree's small combat craft were still patrolling outside.
Could the modified Quadjet really dogfight that many enemy fighters in space? In the movie, only a single Kree Starforce fighter had chased them.
This meant that escaping the cruiser might be Nick Fury's real bottleneck.
On the other hand, the Kree boarding force was larger than Black Super had initially expected. He'd forgotten that the Skrulls also had more fighters accompanying Fury and the others.
Their total numbers were still inferior to the Kree, but at least it wasn't like the movie, where Talos alone had to protect a bunch of civilian Skrulls while being chased everywhere.
From the overall situation, Fury's side was still at a disadvantage. As long as Carol Danvers hadn't gone on a full killing spree, her binary form could be tied down, making it hard for her to support others.
With their numerical advantage, the Kree naturally deployed in full force—to suppress the rebelling captives and defeat their own traitor once again.
Failure wasn't even a consideration to them. One side was the already-defeated Skrulls, the other was C-53's powerless natives. Only their former Starforce member posed any real trouble.
This chaos inevitably affected Black Super as well.
A three-man Kree squad was moving toward his position.
Avoid them—or engage head-on?
Now that everything had descended into chaos, continuing to waste time playing hide-and-seek instead of taking advantage of the confusion would be stupid. And he also needed to make sure Nick Fury didn't die by accident—there wasn't much time left for him to do what he came for.
So Black Super chose to act boldly.
He positioned himself in a blind spot just inside the doorway, preparing to ambush the approaching Kree squad.
Unlike their portrayal in the movies, Kree soldiers had well-developed tactics for close-quarters combat aboard ships. They didn't recklessly rush into open spaces or blindly leap around corners without understanding the situation.
Especially the latter—that would be like offering themselves up as live targets. Even if their armor could stop some bullets, it wasn't meant to shrug off everything.
That said, they hadn't progressed to the point of tossing grenades before entering either. Still, the three-man fireteam entered with proper discipline, each soldier raising their weapon to cover a different direction.
That kind of tactic worked against conventional enemies.
It meant nothing against Black Super.
He burst behind them with super speed, kicked off the wall, and rebounded midair. Before they could even register his presence, two of them were smashed to the ground by his fists, and the third was tackled.
The problem was force.
Against humans of similar size, that punch would have been more than enough to knock them unconscious. Against Kree soldiers, it felt just a bit lacking.
The two he'd knocked down were on the floor, but still conscious, struggling to push themselves up and raise their weapons.
Black Super delivered a follow-up—one kick each—handing out a concussion combo. He then kicked the third man's weapon away and planted a foot on his chest.
Since Black Super was completely covered head to toe, with no insignia or markings, all that could be confirmed was that he was a humanoid lifeform—nothing more.
The pinned Kree soldier began shouting in his native language. Black Super didn't understand a word of it.
The reason he'd left one alive was because he remembered that Kree wristbands came with universal translators—capable of translating the languages of intelligent species across the galaxy. Maybe he could make use of that.
"Can you understand what I'm saying?" Black Super asked, his voice emerging from the throat-mounted speaker.
The Kree soldier continued shouting.
Annoyed, Black Super delivered two sharp slaps—firm but controlled—finally quieting him down.
Pointing at the man's wristband, Black Super said, "Translate."
Even if he still didn't understand Black Super's words, the Kree knew what to do. He activated the universal translator and said:
"You are a native of planet C-53? Do you think you can trample the dignity of a Kree warrior without facing punishment?"
Black Super's attention shifted to yet another piece of black-box technology.
This universal translator didn't use a separate microphone or speaker to replace the user's voice or hearing. Instead, it allowed the user to speak and understand the target intelligent species'… language directly.
Or perhaps it was some kind of brainwave interpretation system, enabling communication on a higher cognitive level altogether.
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