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Fury breathed in the fresh air in deep gulps.
He touched his chest, feeling empty, as if something was missing.
But that hunger and madness that had constantly burned through his sanity had also vanished.
Fury raised his head and saw Carol standing to the side.
His expression became extremely complicated.
He didn't speak, just silently followed Homelander's footsteps.
Carol watched Fury's back, her brows furrowed tightly.
She had too many questions that needed answering. Why were the Skrulls being slaughtered? Why had Fury become like that? What exactly had happened to Earth?
To resolve the doubts in her heart, Carol bit her lip and followed in silence.
The three of them, one in front and two behind, walked all the way without speaking.
Soon, they arrived at the V.G.D. Headquarters Base.
The heavily armed guards and busy staff stopped in their tracks when they saw Homelander, bowing their heads respectfully.
No one stopped Fury and Carol who were following behind.
Homelander didn't stop, leading them to his office.
He walked to the liquor cabinet, took out three crystal glasses, and poured three glasses of whiskey, adding half a glass of fresh milk to one of them.
He pushed two glasses of liquor to the opposite side of the desk, picked up one himself, and sat back against the sofa chair.
Fury dragged his weary body inside, picked up a glass without hesitation, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Carol followed into the room, she didn't look at the liquor on the table, but stared at Fury, preparing to ask questions.
"Why are you here only now?" But Fury had already spoken first.
Before asking this question, in Fury's memory, those comments Homelander had made about Carol kept playing back.
"Carol is a person of the Universe!"
"You think you're a VIP? Actually, you're just one in a thousand in her contact list."
"I guarantee, if you press that shitty pager, being able to get in her queue within five years would mean your ancestors have blessed you!"
"In her eyes, Earth is no different from the countless other civilizations in the Universe waiting to be saved."
At the time, although Fury had been somewhat shaken, he still believed in Carol's feelings for Earth. As long as he pressed the pager, that radiant woman would immediately streak across the stars to come.
But reality gave him a harsh slap in the face.
He pressed the pager.
Then, he waited for more than two months.
During these two months, the Human Federation was established, the Skrulls were exposed, and the World fell into riots and massacre.
If it weren't for Homelander descending from the sky, who knows how many more people on Earth would have died.
And that woman, whom he had regarded as his last trump card, arrived late only after everything had settled.
Carol hadn't waited five years to get in line like Homelander said.
But between life and death, there was no difference between five years and two months.
Fury stared coldly at Carol, his tone revealing undisguised disappointment and indifference.
"I pressed the pager, Carol. I thought you would rush back the moment you received the signal."
Carol heard the estrangement and blame in Fury's tone.
She clenched her fists slightly, feeling some guilt in her heart. But she didn't think she had done anything wrong.
She lifted her chin slightly, meeting Fury's gaze with justification:
"I received the signal, Fury. But I couldn't just turn around and leave immediately!"
"At that time, the Universe was undergoing drastic changes. Countless Planets were suffering devastating blows, and there were cries for help everywhere! Billions of lives were waiting for rescue!"
"Unfortunately, they didn't have Homelander."
"Bang!"
Fury slammed a hand onto the table, standing up from his chair.
"They didn't have Homelander?! You think we were fucking born with Homelander?!"
Fury roared, pointing angrily at Carol, his spit almost flying onto her face.
"Until a few days ago, all of humanity thought he was dead in space! We didn't have him either, dammit!"
"You were flying high and mighty in the Universe, listening to the cries for help from those aliens. Did you hear the wails of the Earthlings?!"
Carol was somewhat at a loss when faced with Fury's sudden outburst.
But Fury didn't stop his tirade.
"Do you know what happened in these two months, Carol?"
"Those Skrull refugees you vouched for! They betrayed us! They replaced the Presidents, generals, and high-ranking officials of most countries in the World!"
"They established a dictatorial Federation, treating humans as slaves and driving them into factories! They slaughtered civilians on the streets in front of the whole World!"
"They even destroyed a city with a population of ten million!"
"We were pushed to the brink! Humanity almost finished!"
"Motherfucker!!"
Carol was stunned. She had just arrived on Earth and hadn't had time to understand everything that had happened here.
She looked at Fury's face, twisted with anger, and for a moment, she couldn't find words to refute him.
"You want to talk to me about cosmic justice? You want to talk to me about other civilizations?"
Fury let out a desolate sneer, pointing at his own chest.
"To fight against those innocent refugees you speak of, to save the last bit of hope for this Planet, do you know what I sacrificed?"
"I went and made a deal with the devils in Hell, dammit!"
"I almost became a monster that only knew how to kill! Every night, I had to endure the pain of Hellfire burning my soul, just to gain a bit of insignificant power to fight them!"
"And where were you at that time?!" Fury's roar echoed in the empty office.
"You think we don't rank in your contact list, that's fine. You think there are other more important civilizations in the Universe that need your salvation, that's also fine."
"But don't come back after the disaster is over, telling me in that patronizing tone that because we have Homelander, we weren't in a hurry."
"Earth doesn't need a hero who treats humans as a backup, and it definitely doesn't need a savior who only checks their voicemail once every two months."
Fury sat back down in his chair, his tone no longer angry, but turned into a chilling calmness.
"You go, Carol. Go back to your Universe and be your great Captain Marvel."
"You are not welcome here, and we won't need your protection in the future."
Carol's face was pale; she stood there, her lips trembling slightly.
She was a warrior; she wasn't afraid of bleeding, not afraid of sacrifice; she could smash through Kree warships single-handedly.
But at this moment, facing Fury's biting accusations, she felt ashamed to the point of wanting to hide.
She stared at Nick Fury, trying to find a trace of their past friendship in that man's eyes.
But what she saw was only a cold, high wall.
Homelander sat on the sofa, gently swirling the fresh milk whiskey in his crystal glass.
Smiling, he enjoyed the wonderful spectacle of this breakup.
"Well said, Fury." Homelander silently gave him a thumbs-up in his heart.
"It seems this old man has finally recognized reality."