Carol Danvers felt like her head was humming crazily, the ringing in her ears so intense it was almost like she'd drunk 200 bottles of alcohol in one sitting and then tried to do advanced calculus.
Her internal organs felt like they'd been run through a blender set to maximum speed, then reassembled incorrectly by someone who'd never seen human anatomy before.
This wasn't supposed to happen, some distant part of her mind protested weakly. She was Captain Marvel. She'd fought Kree armadas, stopped planetary invasions, punched through starship hulls.
How was one guy with a hammer doing this to her?
....
Thor could feel that if he became even slightly careless, if he gave this woman any opening to recover and counterattack, even he might actually die by her hand.
Her raw power was genuinely comparable to his own, and her energy absorption ability made conventional attacks useless. If she managed to fully charge up, to reach her absolute peak potential, the fight could turn dramatically against him.
So he didn't stop his assault at all, didn't give her any breathing room. He kept beating her methodically, each strike calculated to prevent recovery, directly intending to either kill or completely incapacitate her.
After another devastating hammer blow fell on Captain Marvel's head, this one making a sickening impact sound—
CRACK!
With that strike, it seemed the fight was finally reaching its conclusion. The brilliant golden glow suffusing her body started to visibly fade, her cosmic energy reserves depleting from the sustained damage and inability to absorb more power.
Her eyes rolled back slightly, consciousness flickering.
Thor extended his hand, and Stormbreaker directly flew back into his grip from where it had been embedded in the ground nearby, the axe responding to his will.
He raised the weapon high overhead, preparing for an execution strike. One clean blow through the neck, merciful and quick.
But before the axe could fall and complete its deadly arc—
Suddenly Thor felt an intense threat coming from directly above him, his combat instincts screaming danger.
Before he could dodge or raise a defensive barrier, a concentrated energy beam hit the exact spot where they were both standing, directly blasting both combatants apart with explosive force.
BOOM!
Although Thor defended at the last possible moment, raising Mjolnir and channeling lightning to absorb some of the impact, he was still blown backward violently, tumbling through the air.
While steadying his figure mid-flight, regaining control of his trajectory, Thor watched as the spacecraft that had brought Captain Marvel quickly descended. It caught the unconscious woman who'd also been blown away by the rescue blast, scooping her up with a tractor beam before she could hit the ocean below.
The ship immediately began accelerating away at maximum speed, engines glowing with emergency power.
With a swing of his hammer, generating momentum and electromagnetic propulsion, Thor directly chased after them through the sky.
.....
Inside the spacecraft, the newly formed Guardians of the Galaxy looked at the unconscious woman who was now lying on their medical bay floor.
Her face was black and blue with bruises, one eye completely swollen shut, her nose clearly broken, various bones bent at wrong angles. She looked like she'd gone ten rounds with a Celestial and lost every single one.
"What the fuck?" Peter Quill said eloquently, staring in disbelief. "Didn't this woman just beat Ronan the Accuser like... like a child being beaten by an angry father? Without any chance to fight back? Complete domination?"
"And now she's been beaten by that Thor guy in exactly the same way?" Peter continued, gesturing at Carol's battered form. "Is Ronan really that weak? Was he just talk?"
"Or is Thor that strong?" Drax added, his literal mind trying to process the power scaling.
"Did that punch that almost killed you not tell you enough?" Rocket spoke from his pilot seat, furiously working the controls. "That electric bastard is insanely strong! We need to get out of here NOW!"
"I am Groot," Groot chimed in agreement, his tone conveying worried urgency despite the limited vocabulary.
"Exactly! Thank you, tree!" Rocket continued. "It's just this lightning guy is too strong, way out of our weight class! We punch above our weight, but not THAT far above!"
"It seems Asgard's reputation across the galaxy really isn't overblown at all," Gamora said quietly, checking her weapons even though she knew they'd be useless. "The stories about them conquering realms... I thought they were exaggerated. They're not."
"So what should we do now?" Peter asked nervously, looking between his crew members. "Seriously, does anyone have an actual plan beyond 'fly away screaming'?"
"Who are you asking?!" Rocket shot back without turning from the controls. "We are leaving! Getting the hell out of Earth's orbit! I don't care what you guys decide to do individually!"
"This whole situation has nothing to do with me anyway!" Rocket added. "I didn't sign up to fight gods! I shoot things, I steal things, I blow things up—normal criminal stuff! Not cosmic warfare!"
Looking at Rocket who'd already started to maneuver the ship into a retreat vector, turning away from the battlefield entirely, Peter became increasingly anxious.
How had they even gotten into this mess?
While they'd been chasing Ronan the Accuser across several star systems, trying to stop his genocidal plan involving the Power Stone, they'd encountered this woman who called herself Captain Marvel.
After learning what Ronan was planning—the destruction of Xandar and potentially other worlds—she'd directly joined them to help stop the fanatic.
And there had been an incredible fight, mainly a battle between Captain Marvel and Ronan that had been almost mythological in scope. Energy blasts that could destroy cities, impacts that cratered moons, speeds that blurred reality.
And they'd won. Actually won. Ronan had been defeated, the Power Stone secured, Xandar saved.
While they were enjoying the victory, celebrating not being dead, they'd suddenly received distress signals from Earth. Carol had explained that Earth was her homeworld, and it was under invasion by Asgardian forces.
Peter, feeling heroic and stupid in roughly equal measure, had also decided to help. To join her rescue mission. And the newly self-proclaimed Guardians of the Galaxy—Rocket and the others—had also agreed to provide assistance.
Mainly because with this incredibly powerful woman fighting alongside them, they'd thought it would be a very easy operation. They'd only have to tag along in the ship, provide support fire, and then directly enjoy the glory and gratitude.
Maybe get paid. Definitely get recognition. Possibly medals or honors or something.
But this outcome was clearly beyond all their expectations and worst-case scenarios.
"Peter, don't be stupid!" Rocket's voice cut through his thoughts. "This is a even bigger monster"
"If we stay here, we'll probably die a miserable death!" Rocket continued. "And don't expect a quick, clean death after we fired a death beam directly at their prince's face! They're going to take their time with us!"
But their argument was directly interrupted by a weak voice from the medical bay.
"Wait..."
Everyone turned around quickly, hands going to weapons out of reflex.
Captain Marvel, who had been lying motionless and unconscious just moments ago, had gotten up at some unknown point during their argument.
She was now sitting upright on the medical platform, legs hanging over the edge. Most of her visible injuries seemed to be already healed—the broken bones reset, the bruises fading, the swelling reducing.
But looking at her posture, at the way she held herself gingerly and the pallor of her skin, it was clear she still hadn't recovered anywhere near her full strength. Maybe forty percent capacity at best.
"Give me the Power Stone," Carol said quietly, her voice hoarse but determined.
"Absolutely not!" Rocket said immediately, his paws tightening on the controls. "We are leaving! Right now! This conversation is over!"
"Wait," Carol insisted, trying to stand and wobbling slightly. "With the Power Stone, I can definitely beat him. I can win. I can save Earth."
"Dude, he's not even the king!" Rocket shot back, gesturing wildly. "Their king might be even MORE powerful than that electric nightmare! And you want to fight them again?!"
"So let's just run away while we still have the opportunity!" Rocket concluded. "Before they decide we're worth chasing!"
Seeing Rocket's absolutely resolute expression, his determination to flee written clearly across his furry face, Peter Quill suddenly spoke up.
"They might have already identified us," Peter said quietly, his tactical mind—buried under layers of pop culture and humor but still functional—finally engaging. "Our ship, our faces, everything. This close, their sensors definitely caught us."
"Now running might actually not be a good option," Peter continued, working through the logic. "Even if they don't chase us personally after this incident, just putting a bounty on our heads will make our lives absolutely miserable."
"Think about it," Peter pressed. "Asgard's reach is universal. Every system, every major civilization. If they want us found, we get found. We'd be looking over our shoulders forever."
Hearing Peter's words, watching the human's face as he explained the political implications, Rocket's hands paused on the controls.
His eyes subconsciously drifted toward the purple glowing object secured in their cargo hold. The Power Stone, pulsing with barely-contained cosmic energy.
One of the six Infinity Stones. The artifact that made Ronan powerful enough to threaten entire worlds.
"If we use it..." Rocket started slowly, his calculating mind running probability scenarios.
"We might survive," Gamora finished quietly. "Or we might die even faster. The Stone doesn't guarantee victory—Ronan had it and still lost to her."
She gestured toward Carol.
"But he had it for what, minutes?" Peter argued. "He didn't know how to use it properly. But she does. She's been absorbing cosmic energy for years. She might actually be able to wield it."
"I can," Carol said with more confidence than she felt. "I've channeled the Tesseract's energy before. I understand how Infinity Stones work. Give me the Power Stone and I can end this."
Rocket looked at the Stone, then at Carol's determined face, then at his crew, then at the pursuing Thor who was rapidly gaining on them even through the clouds.
"I am Groot?" Groot asked, the tone somehow conveying a complex question about risk versus reward.
"Yeah, buddy," Rocket sighed. "Yeah. We're really considering this insane plan."
He pulled the Power Stone from its containment, the purple light washing over the cabin.
"If this kills us," Rocket said, holding it toward Carol, "I'm going to be really annoyed in the afterlife."