The Accusers' ships overtook us and started bombing Skrull strongholds on Torfa. It hurt to see the beautiful planet destroyed, but Yon-Rogg didn't seem to feel the same way. Quite the opposite actually. His eyes shined and he looked more than ready to kill some Skrulls.

I wanted to glance behind me and see what look Vers had on her face, but something told me she felt the same way as me. Her compassion for other people was going to be her downfall one day, but I loved that trait of hers.

Yon followed the bombs down and crashed the ship into the water. That way, we were hoping to go unnoticed by the Skrulls.

Activating my breathing mask, I unbuckled from my seat and made my way over to the doors, following Yon. Taking a look around, everyone was focused and ready to go. Maybe I had been wrong about the team.

Launching ourselves through the water to the shore, we quietly made our way onto the beach. The thick smoke-filled air hit my face when my mask retracted. I wished I could keep it on, but it restricted my sight and hearing, making it dangerous on land.

Yon-Rogg instructed his team quietly. 'Vers, track Soh-Larr's beacon. Att-Lass and Minn-Erva, find elevation.' It were exactly the same instructions I would have given my team. Minn-Erva was one of Hala's best snipers, so she would be on lookout and cover us from above. Att-Lass would do the same, covering her in the process.

Vers looked at her Com, following the beacon as she walked. I watched her back, making sure nobody attacked her from behind.

We slowly made our way over to the stronghold. Everything seemed to be fine when we passed pillars of stone and mountains. It almost felt too easy, making me be on edge. My priority this mission wasn't to protect myself, it was to protect the woman in front of me. This is also why I didn't want her on my team. We would want to protect each other before ourselves. Making it even more dangerous.

We walked further when suddenly, our earpieces started making a lot of static noise. We could make out Minn-Erva's voice, but it wasn't clear what she was saying. The Skrulls must be intercepting our signal somehow, because this had never happened before. I looked at Yon worryingly. 'Minn-Erva?', he asked in his ear quietly. More static noise followed. 'Repeat', Yon tried to fix the problem but it looked like we were on our own.

Meanwhile, Vers didn't seem too worried about the situation and kept following her Com to a bridge. She was way too exposed for my liking, so when I reached her, I pulled her down with me, crouching behind some big rocks on one side of the bridge's walkway. 'His beacon is coming from that temple', she said, gesturing to the temple on the other side of the bridge. For us to reach it and thus save Soh-Larr, we had to cross it. 'Let's move', she added, eager to save her fellow soldier.

'No. This is the perfect spot for an ambush. Only one way in, only one way out', I said to her and Yon, who sat across from us, but mostly to her. He nodded when I said that. Even he knew this was too risky.

The man with the beard who hadn't said anything until now, added 'And we have to pass the locals.' Even with connections to Minn-Erva and Att-Lass, this was dangerous.

'We don't know if they are locals. Too risky', Yon said. Referring to the shapeshifting the Skrulls can do. I was glad everyone agreed with me and didn't want to send Vers into the line of fire. But I knew she was stubborn and she always wanted to prove someone wrong. So I was not surprised when she offered to go alone. 'You don't have to go with me', she said to Yon, acting as if he was too scared to go. 'I'll go alone'.

I groaned at her heroics. 'No! You won't', I said sternly. She was not going over that bridge.

But Yon assessed his surroundings and saw that this was the only way to get to Soh-Larr fast. We had no time to find another way to the temple. This bridge was our only hope. I shook my head at him, as a way of saying that we had to abort mission, but he ignored me and looked at Vers.

'Right. Keep a close radius, we lose comms we meet back at the Helion. Come on.' A triumphant smile had formed on Vers' face. Alright, she wanted to get herself killed, but I was not letting her do that alone. 'I will go with you', I said to her. Yon looked at me weirdly, but said nothing, so I followed her over the bridge.

Yon and the others trailed a little behind us, protecting the temple from the outside while Vers and I slipped in.

'What are you doing here, Yala', she finally asked me when we were alone.

'Soh-Larr is the closest thing I have to a friend, and I owe him a debt', I answered her honestly.

'What kind of debt?', she asked again, a little smirk on her face. I had no idea what kind of debt she was talking about.

'He saved my ass once, I am just returning the favor.' Outside the temple, I could hear some commotion. It sounded like the locals were getting too nosy. We needed to get out of here fast. 'We need to move', I told Vers. I was getting nervous. 'Working on it', she said concentrated, still looking at her Com to find Soh-Larr.

Just when I was sure we were misled, the sound of shuffling feet filled the atmosphere. Vers heard it too and turned to where Soh-Larr was creeping away from behind a large stone, sitting down against it. Her eyes widened for a second, happy she found him and temporarily distracted. But she quickly remembered her orders and looked at the numbers and letters that had appeared on her Com. 'HGX-78', she started.

'TRT79-VVX6', Soh-Larr finished simply and fast, having known the code for his whole life. I finally relaxed a little at this development, but it didn't last long. The sound of gunshots reached my ears and I knew something bad was going on outside. All three of us whipped our heads to the entrance of the temple, expecting someone to walk in.

'Vers!', I then heard in my ear. The way Yon said it made me realize it was worse than we thought. 'Skrulls! It's an ambush!'

Vers and I had just enough time to turn back to what we thought was Soh-Larr, before he shocked both of us with a big load of electricity, making us go down. I heard the voices of her team in my ear, but couldn't make out what they were saying. We were both paralyzed and couldn't do anything but stare up as Soh-Larr slowly changed green, revealing his true form.

I wanted to move my head and see if Vers was okay, but all my limbs refused. 'How did you know the code?', she asked the Skrull. Her words came out weak and shaky and it sounded like she needed all her energy to ask it.

'How about I tell you my secret, when you tell me yours?', he said smugly, looking down at her. Then, he hit us again with his stick of doom, making the light in my head go out.

~~~~~~

The first thing that came into view was a meadow. A beautiful meadow. I knew immediately where I was. I was back on Atera. Slowly walking around on the grass with my bare feet, I smelled the gorgeous Ateran flowers I forget existed. Breathing in deeply, a sense of belonging I had missed for so long filled my body. But it also felt like something was missing. Or rather, someone. Atera was my home, but somehow I knew I had found a new home somewhere recently.

'No, this is too far back. Go further.' A voice spoke in my head. It was harsh and didn't belong in my head. Turning around, I saw no one. It was just me in this endless meadow. But that meadow suddenly disappeared and my mind was thrown into another memory.

I was standing in the Commander's offices now, reading through important information. Secret information. 'Yes, that's better. Focus please.' The voice said again. I wanted to resist it, but it was like my body wasn't my own anymore. 'Beautiful.' I heard again when my eyes focused on the information. It explained Kree strategies, revealed Kree outposts we had throughout the galaxy and all the weapons we had. I resisted harder. No one should have this information but me. Where even was I?

Slowly, everything came back to me. The mission, Yon, the temple, Soh-Larr, Vers. Vers. She was in danger. 'No, no, we are losing her! Keep her in play!' The voice in my head yelled, but it was too late. I had a girlfriend to save.

The first thing I felt when I came back to myself, was the pressure in my head. It felt like all the blood in my body had gathered in my head. And when I carefully opened my eyes, I saw why. I was hanging upside down. My hands and feet were bound by very strong shackles that I would not be able to get off.

Peeking around I saw some Skrulls standing before large screens, showing the memories they had just stolen from my head. But mine weren't the only memories I saw. There was a little girl crashing a kart, a woman falling down some ropes and a big plane that looked really fast. These were Vers' memories. She was here.

I slowly turned my head to the right a bit more, not wanting to alert them that I was awake, and there she was. In the exact same position I was in. Her blonde hair hang down and her eyes were moving behind her eyelids.

'Open please. That's it. That's it. You're almost there. Don't fight it.' A Skrull said to her. She must hear his voice in her head the same way I had heard it in mine. 'Don't fight it', the Skrull said a little more panicky. It seemed like she was fighting the mind control too, knowing something was wrong. I didn't expect anything different from her. She was very smart. 'Focus!' But even I could see that she would wake up soon.

My predictions proved to be true when the Skrull started yelling at his minion. 'Get her back! Get her back now!' Vers opens her eyes only halfway, but it was enough for me to let out the breath I had been holding in. When she realized that she was stuck like me, she closed her eyes and waited for an opportunity to escape.

'This doesn't make any sense', one of the Skrulls said.

'Do we have any information we can act on?', the leader asked him impatiently.

'Just that Lawson was somewhere on planet C-53. We're on our way', he answered.

'Then dig, dig, dig, deeper. Lawson is our only link to that lightspeed engine! And everything we're after', he yelled back.

I had no idea what they were talking about. A lightspeed engine? On planet C-53? Planet C-53, or better known as Earth, did not possess the knowledge to build such an engine. Why would it be there? And who is this Lawson they were after? One thing was certain. Vers was the key to all this, and that made me very nervous.

Suddenly, a smaller Skrull walked over to Vers and tapped her forehead. I didn't want them touching her, but it was a little difficult doing anything about it hanging here.

'Oh that did something! Do it again!', the leader yelled, enthusiastic.

But what the small Skrull didn't notice is that while he tapped her forehead again, her restrains started glowing orange. She was using her powers to break out. I wish I could do that, but my fire didn't get hot enough to burn through, I had tried.

So I watched helplessly while she burned her hands free and reached up to break the metal around her feet. Turning around in the air, she landed on her feet, which I was quite impressed at. She then knocked down every single one of the Skrulls in the room. Making sure they were down.

I had never seen her in action before, and even though her hands were still in the metal tubes, she hit them around as if they weighed nothing. When she stood in the middle of the room, looking proudly at all the people on the floor, I coughed once to get her attention.

'Eh, babe, little help?', I asked sheepishly.

She turned her head to me and cocked her head, as if to decide whether to leave me hanging. 'Hmm, I don't know. You look quite comfortable hanging there', she said with a teasing smile, looking me up and down.

'Oh just get over here and get me out please', I said impatiently.

'Fine, but you will never hear the end of this', she laughed, walking over to me. I just narrowed my eyes at her, but the fact that I was hanging upside down so it looked very non-threatening made her laugh even more.

When I stood on my own two feet next to her, I looked around at the mess she had made. 'I must say, I am impressed', I said, eyebrows raised.

'Thank you', she said sweetly, 'Now let's threaten one.' She picked up the one we believed was the leader and pushed him against a table, holding a brightly glowing orange restraint against his head. She was seriously angry about whatever they did to her, to us.

'What did you do to us? To me?', she demanded an answer.

'We're just after a little information', he answered her question, also looking at where I stood behind her, wanting to know the answers just as badly as she did.

'What did you put in my head?', she was seriously distraught over whatever she had seen and it hurt me to see her this way. Her lost memories were something she had struggled with over the past six years. I had tried to figure out ways to get them back, but had come up empty handed. I knew how lost she felt sometimes, not knowing who she truly was.

'Nothing that wasn't already there', he answered her calmly.

'But those aren't my memories', she said. Half to herself and half to him. As if she was unsure of what she said herself.

'Yeah, it's like a bad trip in there. I'm not surprised you can't keep it straight. They really did a number on you.' Oh, I was definitely angry now. He had no right saying that and I really did not like the way he was talking to her. So I took over from Vers and yelled in his face. 'Enough of your mind games! What do you want?!'

Apparently, I looked more threatening to him than Vers, so his eyes widened a little and finally decided to give a useful answer. 'We're looking for the location of a Doctor Lawson and her light speed engine', he answered quickly, still looking at me.

'We don't know any Doctor Lawson', Vers said to him.

'Then why is she in your head?'

~~~~~~~~

Aayala is a really protective girlfriend and it will only get worse haha. Earth is up next!

Thanks for reading!

By the way: has anyone noticed I am using song lyrics and titles as chapter titles? Shout out to anyone recognizing them ;)

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