MV1 Presents:

CAPTAIN MARVEL

in

Prelude to Disaster!

by Van Plexico

Celebrating the 100th issue of the most cosmic super hero of all!

Four months before the Great Disaster came upon Earth, and upon the entire Milky Way galaxy...

Mon-Dria watched the blond-haired form of Captain Marvel fly off into the sky.  Then she gazed down at the data crystal in her hand.

The former lieutenant of the Kree Starfleet-in-Exile, currently in self-imposed exile on Earth, sat back in her chair in the outdoor cafe in New York City and smiled a wry smile.  That was pleasant.  And-- He's not quite what I expected.  More formal than I'd been led to believe... but not so stiff and starchy as most of the officers in the Fleet.

She adjusted her large, floppy hat that concealed her mane of long, white hair, and replaced the sunglasses that at least partially obscured her lovely blue features.  So far, no one had noticed her--or, at least, no one had made a fuss about having an alien dining there.

Mentally she re-wound the past couple of hours and worked through them again.

Clearly, Genis-Vell had been preoccupied with a number of pressing concerns.*  Despite that, though, he'd replied to her message and then agreed to meet, to have lunch, and to talk. 

*  Heck, see any of Ralph's recent issues to see what Genis has had to face lately!  --Van

Originally she'd simply wanted to meet him.  He was, after all, the son of a living legend--if not necessarily a positive one, back home on Kree-Lar--as well as a man in the early stages of building his own legend.  The thrill of meeting him seemed enough, at least at first.  But...

...But once she'd met him, and they'd talked for a while, she realized that she'd truly missed having another Kree around to talk to.  In the time since her father had left her here on Earth,* she'd had no contact with others of her kind.  Overall, it wasn't a problem--she'd learn to adjust, sooner or later--but for now, it was nice.

*  In IRON MAN #381.  --Van

Which returned her thoughts to the data crystal Genis had given her.  She'd mentioned to him that she wanted to know more about Earth-- not just official stuff, but some of what he and his father had discovered, as Kree, on this world.  And that she also wanted to start contributing to this world--doing the sorts of things that Genis and his father had done, to help others.

Genis had smiled, nodded, and given her this crystal, along with the words, "Then take a look at this. The Avengers had it in their records, and asked me to investigate it,  but I haven't even had a chance to look at it.  Things are sort of hectic right now."

She'd promised to pass on any important information to him immediately.  He had no problem trusting me, she thought.  I guess that's good.  If I'm going to be a super-person on this world, it'll probably be helpful to start working with the locals.

Reaching into a pouch at her side, she drew out a miniature computer unit, and inserted the tiny crystal.  The picture flickered, then stabilized into the image of Mar-Vell, Genis's father, seated at a computer console, speaking into a microphone.

Mon-Dria gasped.  That's him!

Then she sat back, sipped at her coffee, and watched...

...

Avengers files update.  Captain Mar-Vell recording.

After discussing my experiences earlier today with Captain America, he has asked me to describe them for these records, in case they should prove significant later.  I have agreed.

At 700 hours this morning, I departed Titan alongside Eros, en route to Earth.  Along the way, we overheard an automatic distress signal originating from the surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa.  Assuming it to be new, we raced to offer what assistance we could.

Arriving at Europa, we found the signal to be emanating from deep beneath the ice covering that moon.  After much difficulty, Eros and I managed to extract a spacecraft--of unknown origin--from the ice.

This ship appeared very, very old.

Our best guess is as follows:  Apparently, the ship had been submerged beneath that ice for thousands--perhaps millions--of years.  A recent shifting in the moon's orbit caused the ice to crack, allowing the ship to rise and the signal to reach us as we flew by.

The ship was empty, and indeed began to crumble once we'd moved it.  All we were able to salvage from it was... this box.

As you can see, it appears to have stood up quite well to the passing of so much time.  Approximately two feet wide, one foot high, one foot deep; no markings to speak of.  And opening it reveals only this-- a smaller box inside, glowing a dull orange.

It does not appear dangerous in any way-- no radiation or other emissions detected at all.  I have probed it with my cosmic awareness, of course, but to no avail.  Tony Stark and Henry Pym have both looked it over, and neither could offer any insights, as well.

Still... I feel a strange sense of... foreboding... from this object.  Perhaps it's my cosmic awareness, and perhaps it's simple paranoia.  But, in any case, I will leave it here, at the Mansion, in the hopes that one day we will learn more about it.  The Avengers have agreed to store it with their other important artifacts.  I trust it will be safe here.

After arriving on Earth this afternoon, Eros and I became involved in a brief confrontation with the villain known as Klaw, and...

BZZT.  Record ends.  Next record:

Avengers files update.  Vision, recording.

...was some time during the night that Henry Pym discovered what had happened.  Noticing a fluctuation in the Mansion's power supply, he traced it to one of our storage rooms, where an object of unknown but certainly extra-terrestrial origin had been stored.  The object, a box of approximately two cubic feet in size, had somehow sprouted slender filaments which had, in turn, somehow tapped into the Mansion's electrical systems.  Examining this alongside Pym, I was troubled to see that the filaments had not only sought out and found the power supply feed, but were also apparently closing in on the trunk lines for the Mansion's computer systems.  It is impossible to hypothesize what might have occurred, had the artifact been permitted to tap into our systems.  Carefully removing the filaments, Pym and I restored the integrity of the Mansion's systems and performed a careful sweep to make certain all traces of the filaments were removed.  The box itself has been returned to storage, this time in a sealed container which should effectively prevent any further...

BZZT.  Record ends.  Next record:

Avengers files update.  Captain America, recording.

...that sometime during our recent battle with Kang, our storage facility was broken into by person or persons unknown.  Somehow, they were able to scramble our security cameras and other sensors.  A thorough cross-checking of our catalogue reveals that only one object was taken-- a box given to us for safekeeping by the late Mar-Vell.  Since we'd never managed to discover anything of use about the box, other than that one incident involving the house's electrical system, we have no real way of knowing why it was taken.  I'm not happy about this at all, but, for the moment, I don't know what else we can...

BZZT.  Record ends.

Mon-Dria paused the playback.  She sat back, biting her lip.

A box.  Filaments.  Computers.

It sounded so familiar.  Something...

Reaching into her belt pouch, she removed a tiny device and thumbed a switch on its side.  "Mon-Dria to Fleet.  Request database search and file download."  Then she entered the keywords and transmitted.

A pause-- the Fleet was quite far away, and the signal would have to bounce around a number of hyperspace shunts to reach it.  She sipped more coffee, but hardly tasted it.  Something here was really starting to bother her.

Impatient, she un-paused the playback on the crystal.

Avengers files update.  Ms. Marvel, recording.

...but the strange thing about the encounter was that Ronan seemed controlled the entire time-- he wasn't himself.  He seemed like a robot-- except that I would surely have sensed that, were it the case.  Anyway, after I gave him a few solid shots to the head, he seemed to wise up and beat a hasty retreat--until the next time we ended up clashing, which was, of course, the incident with... [BZZT  Deleted to save space by Captain America--resumes-- ]  ...the other strange thing about Ronan, now that I think about it, was that box he was carrying at the start of the battle.  It was about two feet wide, and seemed to glow.  After our fight, though, it had disappeared, and he seemed to be more himself again.  I don't know the significance of...

BZZT.  Record ends.

Personal note appended by Captain America follows.

Genis, as you can see, this box keeps popping up.  It's starting to worry me a little bit.  After Carol's latest report mentioned it, I went back and checked, and sure enough, it's been in and out of our business for quite some time.

Since your dad was the first to find it, and since it does seem to be alien in origin, I thought you might be the best one to look into it.  Let me know what you've found at earliest convenience.  Thanks-- Cap.

BZZT.  Record ends.

Mon-Dria sat back, her unease growing worse by the moment.  This... box... it struck a nerve for her, somehow...

PING.

Mondy looked down; the file she'd requested from the Fleet had finally arrived.  She actually found that her hand was shaking as she hit the playback.

**Kree Data File 93755635758346612

Cross-referenced search complete.

Keywords provided:  Box; filament; glow; threat; electronics; computer subversion.

Best matches: 1 total.

Subject:  Blight Myth.

Sub-headings:  Threat of the Blight;  Myth of the Blight; Legendary Menaces; Subversion Boxes.

Body of message transmitted in attached file.

**END Kree Data File 93755635758346612

Breathlessly, Mon-Dria grabbed the telephone and connected to Avengers Mansion.  One quick conversation with Jarvis later, a familiar voice came on the line.

"Iron Man here."

"Iron Ma--Tony!"

A pause, then, "Mondy?"

"Yes-- yes, it is me.  I-- I need help. Can you contact Captain Marvel for me?  Immediately?"

Tony's voice reflected his incredulity, and his annoyance.  "Genis?  Again?  Jeez, Mondy, I'm not your dating service.  What are--"

She cut him off instantly.  "No, it is nothing like that.  Please, you must listen."

Her frantic tone spoke volumes to Iron Man.  He listened.

"I think we have a problem, Tony.  A serious problem."

Another pause, then:  "What scale of problem?  Are we talking Porcupine?  Ultron?  Galactus?"

Her tone allowed no possibility for anything but truth.  "Bigger, I fear, Tony.  Much...much bigger."

Just above her, two forms circled slowly, keeping watch.  Ultra-high-frequency messages flashed in an instant back and forth between them and a remote computer system.  And then, moments later, everything recorded, they lofted away, unseen.

Mon-Dria had stumbled onto one of the biggest secrets in galactic history.  The only question was-- would she live to tell anyone about it?

END PROLOGUE! 

THE THREAT IS OUT THERE! 
WHAT NEXT?!  STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT!