INT. BASE 2 – NIGHT
The heavy, metallic doors groan open slowly, releasing a stale breath of recycled air as the group steps in. Only the soft buzzing of failing electricity pulses through the base, accompanied by the distant flickerclick of faulty fluorescent lights.
The walls are a mix of cracked concrete and old alien alloy plating, peeling at the edges, wires exposed. The ceiling pipes hiss faintly with steam.
They move through the main corridor, boots echoing against the steel floor. The lights above them stutter, sometimes dimming completely for seconds before gasping back to life.
They pass the server room, its wide glass panel smeared and cracked. Inside, half the screens are dead, some playing scrambled security feeds silent footage of long empty rooms, blurred figures. A half eaten meal sits on a desk. No sign of life.
To the left, they reach the experimental wing, old surgical chairs lined against the wall, stained with old, dried streaks of green and red. Alien medical pods some cracked open, some sealed shut emit soft whirring sounds. A few still show vitals, though no bodiesremain inside.
One table is overturned, syringes scattered on the floor. A distant monitor replays a looped recording of a screaming Skrull child, his voice silent, just his mouth moving.
Further down, they enter a living quarters area. Rows of thin mattresses laid out in military alignment, clawed and scorched, as if someone left in a hurry. Photos made of biological film hang crooked on the wall, showing Skrull families, half burnt or cut.
The team naturally breaks into three groups without needing to say much.
GROUP 1: Talos and G'iah, They move slower than the others.
Talos moves ahead, his eyes sweeping the bunkroom with a heavy gaze.
GROUP 2: Sam, Bucky and Yelena, They take the right hall moving toward the command bridge.
The doors to the central console room hang slightly ajar, dented from an old explosion. Inside, maps of Earth are still lit up on digital glass tables, marked with former safe zones. Most of them are crossed out.
Sam runs his fingers over a datapad, seeing it spark faintly.
Bucky stares at the wall behind the console hundreds ofSkrull names etched in rows, all marked "21F".
GROUP 3: Maria Hill and Sharon Carter, They take the far left wing the armory and communication hub.
The doors there are sealed shut, but Sharon pries the panel open with an old blade, sparks flying. The room is barely powered. On the central console, a frozen feed shows the surface it hasn't updated in days.
Hill finds a half broken comm unit. She picks it up, the receiver sticky with dried blood.
She glances at Sharon.
Sharon walks over to a weapons rack. Most of the slots are empty. Only a few alien tech rifles remain, one of them scorched, another one bearing the initials "P.R." scratchedin deeply.
They look at each other no words.
No other Skrulls.
INT. RUINED STORAGE ROOM – DAWN
The room is dim the kind of gray that blurs the line between night and morning. Sunlight hasn't quite arrived, but the darkness has begun to loosen its grip.
Shattered crates lie scattered across the floor. Glass crunches under footsteps.
G'iah stands near the back, trembling. Her fists are clenched. Her breathing erratic. Her face twisted with anger.
Then it begins.
She grabs a chair slams it against the wall.
Another crash. A crate. A shelf. Loose tools spill onto the ground.
G'IAH (shouting, her voice cracking)
She's not coming back! SHE'S GONE!
She hurls another piece of metal across the room. It hits the wall and bounces harmlessly. Her strength gives way. Her arms fall limp. She spins her chest heaving.
Tears well, but don't fall.
Talos enters quietly, his silhouette dark in the doorway. He doesn't speak immediately. He watches her. He steps forward cautiously.
TALOS (softly)
G'iah...
She backs away from him, not wanting to be touched.
G'IAH (whispering, shaking her head)
She's not coming back... ever.
TALOS
No, she
G'IAH (sharply, interrupting)
Stop! Stop giving fake hope! You don't know that. You just want to believe it.
Like always.
Talos stops. His face folds in pain.
TALOS (quietly)
You have to control yourself, G'iah...
You can't lose yourself like this.
G'IAH (desperate, tears now brimming)
Why not?! What's left to hold on to?
What's the point if everyone we try toprotect just, just disappear?
Her voice breaks completely now. Her knees buckle slightly.
G'IAH (barely audible)
She was all I had left of hope...
Talos steps closer slowly, without saying a word. G'iah doesn't resist. She collapses into him, her arms wrapping tightly around his torso, gripping him like he's the lastthing anchoring her to existence.
He holds her. Arms wrapping her completely. One hand gently cups the back of her head. And then the world slows. Nosound. No chaos. No cold. Just silence and warmth.
G'iah buries her face into his chest. Finally, the dam breaks. Her sobs come freely, but the sound of them is muffled swallowed by his body.
And then Talos cries, too. He doesn't wail. He doesn't shake. But his face twists, and slow, steady tears fall from his green eyes, gliding down the lines of age and pain.
He just holds her.
Like a father.
Like a refuge.
Like home.
Time folds in on them it becomes meaningless. In this small, forgotten corner of the war, they exist outside of everything else. A pocket of grief, love, and silence. And then after what feels like eternity Talos speaks.
TALOS
The sun is about to rise.
They don't move.
INT. BASE 2 – SERVER ROOM – NIGHT
Sharon Carter kneels beside an open console, soldering burnt wires, her brow furrowed. Beside her, Maria Hill leans silently against a cracked metal column, arms crossed, eyes distant.
There's a long pause. Just the hum of dying tech.
SHARON (softly, without looking)
You remember the old times?
Hill's gaze slowly turns to Sharon.
She doesn't answer right away. Her lips tighten.
HILL (quietly)
Yeah... every damn day.
She sits down beside Sharon.
HILL (after a beat)
I was in the Marines before S.H.I.E.L.D.
Joined young. Too young. Thought I could escape home that way.
(pause)
My father blamed me for my mother's death.
She died giving birth to me.
He... never said it out loud. But henever had to.
Sharon slowly stops soldering. She exhales.
SHARON (softly)
Maria...
HILL (interrupting gently)
It's okay. I don't say it for sympathy.
Just... sometimes I think the past leaves bruises no one sees.
Sharon stares at the server lights, blinking.
SHARON (quietly)
It's the past that makes us who we are.
Hill glances over.
HILL
What about you?
Sharon hesitates. Her fingers fidget with a loose cable. She gives a faint smile.
SHARON
I still remember the day Peggy Aunty started training me.
(half laugh)
I was seventeen. I walked in wearingheels, thinking I'd impress her.
First thing she said was, 'Intelligence starts with your feet.'
Made me run ten laps around the training field... in boots, sizes too big.
Hill chuckles lightly.
SHARON (continuing)
She was strict. But kind.
She didn't just teach me how to fight.
She taught me when not to.
When to walk away… when to standalone.
HILL (nodding)
She had that gift... made you feel likeyou mattered.
Even when the world made you feelinvisible.
They share a look.
SHARON (softly)
I watched everything fall apart.
S.H.I.E.L.D. crumbled, Avengersbroken. Steve and Natasha vanished.
And I was left in a city that saw me as a traitor.
HILL (quietly)
You kept fighting.
I always admired that.
Even when we lost the war... you neverlost your fire.
Sharon looks down, eyes glistening. Not crying.
SHARON
Fire can burn you, too.
Another silence. The servers flicker again. The system hums to life.
HILL (looking at the screen) - This base this war
It's not S.H.I.E.L.D.
But maybe... maybe it's our secondchance.
SHARON (quietly)
Not to fix the past.
But to fight for something that deserves to last.
They exchange a look and for a fleeting second.
A faint beep confirms the server reconnection. Sharon gently leans back against the wall, shoulder brushing Hill's.
SHARON (smiling faintly)
We're still here, aren't we?
HILL
Yeah.
Against all odds.
They sit there in silence for a moment, side by side.
INT. CENTRAL CONSOLE ROOM – DAWN
The doors creak as they swing open.
Inside, the central console room is frozen in a half functioning state a relic of war and resilience.
Digital glass tables still pulse faintly with life. Maps of Earth glow softly in blue and red zones marked SAFE now mostly crossed out in deep crimson. A few locations flicker, either due to technical damage.
Scattered papers lie around, coated in a thin layer of dust.
Amid this haunting quiet, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes stand near one of the main consoles.
Bucky leans against the edge of the table, his metal hand slowly flexing open and shut. His eyes don't meet Sam's. He stares at a spot on the map somewhere near Louisiana.
BUCKY (softly)
I'm sorry.
For yelling at you. That day.
Sam doesn't answer right away.
BUCKY (continued, still not looking)
I was angry...
But not at you. Not really.
It was the shield. What it meant.
I didn't even know if I wanted it...
But I sure as hell didn't want to see it in someone else's hands.
He finally looks up, meets Sam's eyes.
BUCKY (continued)
I guess I was scared.
That maybe Steve made the wrong call not just about you...
But about me, too.
Sam steps closer, folding his arms across his chest.
SAM
You weren't the only one thinking that.
When Steve gave me the shield, I smiled.
But deep down?
I was terrified.
SAM (continued)
Not because I couldn't fight.
But because I didn't know if I could carry the weight.
His legacy...
Everything that came with it.
BUCKY (nodding slowly)
I spent decades trying to undo whatI'd done.
But there's no undoing. Just livingwith it.
Every day, it's a choice to wake upand not fall back into the shadows.
He exhales, voice almost cracking
BUCKY
Steve believed in us, Sam. But some days, I wonder if we've doneanything to deserve it.
Sam walks beside him, resting a hand on the console.
SAM (soft chuckle)
Maybe not.
But belief isn't about who we were.
It's about who we can be.
SAM (smirks slightly)
And besides...
Steve was stubborn as hell.
You think we could've changed his mind, even if we tried?
Bucky chuckles.
BUCKY (smiling faintly)
Not a chance.
They both share a long glance.
Across the room, near an old, flickering terminal, YELENA is crouched beside a cracked data console. She turns her head toward them, raising an eyebrow.
YELENA - If you two are finished baring your tragic little hearts like it's somedramatic American TV show...maybecome over here and do something useful?
Sam smirks, stepping back.
SAM
She's got a way with words.
BUCKY
At least she didn't call me old.
Yelena brushes aside a loose cable and taps the side of a nearby terminal. A holographic interface flickers on, displaying rotating 3D models of internal structures. Behind her, Sam and Bucky step closer.
YELENA (half whispering) - There.
It's the only node that's stable.
No flickers, no corrupted frames just... data.
Clean, precise, like clockwork.
She points at the monitor, where digital vitals tick in aperfect rhythm heart rate, oxygen level, neural activity.
YELENA (cont'd)
Whatever's running in there it's still alive.
But those structures?
Covered in dust.
They all look up toward the tall steel vault door, bolted shut.
SAM (frowning)
Locked.
(then, under breath)
Of course.
Without waiting, Bucky steps forward.
He places both hands one flesh, one cold and gleaming vibranium against the heavy doors. His feet slide apart slightly for leverage.
Muscles tense. Metal creaks.
With a deep grunt and a push that rattles the frame, Buckybegins forcing the two massive doors open, inch by inch. His body shakes from the resistance, arms locked, jaw clenched.
The hinges groan. Dust explodes into the air as the seal breaks. A faint light flickers inside. They step in slowly.
Inside, the chamber is narrow, temperature controlled the air dry and dead. Rows of sealed cryo pods line the walls, each marked with faded serial numbers, each framed in layers of dust and cobwebbed wires.
Sam walks forward, heart hammering. His boots echo across the floor. He wipes the thick dust from the nearest pod, hand dragging across cold glass. The smudged outline of a face emerges from beneath. He freezes.
His hand drops to his side. He leans closer. His breath catches in his throat.
SAM (whispering)
No...
He wipes more furiously. Eyes locked.A man inside. Weak. Breathing. Alive.
SAM (shouting, stunned)
Bucky! Bucky It's it's Rhodey!
His voice cracks. He backs away slightly.
SAM
Oh my god it's him.
It's really him...
Bucky's face drops. He rushes forward and leans in beside Sam, staring hard through the fogged up glass.
Inside, James Rhodes lies unconscious. His body is pale, restrained gently by medical harnesses. Electrodes line his head. The steady beep of a vital sign monitor pulses near the base of the pod.
He places a hand on the glass slowly, reverently. His palm rests where Rhodey's shoulder is.
Minutes - Later
Talos, G'iah, three Skrull commanders, Maria Hill, Sharon Carter, Sam, Bucky, and Yelena now stand around the two cryo pods.
The flickering monitors above each pod display stable vitals but no signs of consciousness. Inside one: James Rhodes. In the other: John Walker.
A heavy silence hangs in the air, broken only by the mechanical hum of the vault's systems and the pulsing green light on each pod's console.
SAM (solemnly, eyes fixed on the pods)
So Rhodey and Walker.
Probably in induced sleep.
Deep, synthetic. Maybe for years...
He exhales slowly, jaw tight.
BUCKY (stepping forward)
Then what are we waiting for?
Let's open them.
He places his hand on the side of one pod, testing its weight, inspecting the seams.
Sam joins him, fingers hovering near the control panel, tension in his face.
SHARON (sharply)
Wait.
Everyone turns.
SHARON (continued, stepping forward)
I went through some files from theprevious lab we raided.
I couldn't decode everything it was messy, half corrupted.
But I did catch something... warnings.
These pods are rigged.
Security measures.
SHARON (lower, grave)
If we try to force them open...
Something triggers.
A toxin, maybe or sedation overload.
Either way, it could kill whoever's inside.
A beat. Everyone looks at each other.
YELENA (arms crossed, unimpressed)
Woah. Fancy.
Who builds things like this?
HILL (stepping beside Sharon)
We can't just sit here watching them sleep.
We need a way in safely.
TALOS (finally stepping forward, calm but firm) Then we find a way.
We don't rush this. If there's a sequence or key...
But suddenly
A sharp whirring begins behind them. A strange vibration in the air.
They all instinctively turn, hands reaching for weapons.
On the opposite wall orange sparks burst into the air, swirling like fireflies, carving glowing rings across the cold metal.
A spark portal spins open, ripping the silence apart with a loud hum. Beyond it: blinding snow, howling winds, and an icy mountain landscape blurred by the storm.
G'IAH (alarmed)
What the hell?
A silhouette stumbles in through the portal. Heavy, armored, falling.
THUD. The ground shakes.
The War Machine suit collapses forward, landing hard on its knees then flat onto the floor. The impact echoes.
Everyone stares in stunned silence.
It lies motionless, the reactor in the chest dims to black.
Offline.
SAM (cautiously)
Wait don't shoot!
Bucky kneels beside the armored figure, placing a hand on the backplate.
BUCKY (softly)
Mira…?
No response.
The helmet hisses, then unlocks with a faint hiss of depressurized air. Bucky lifts it slowly, carefully.
It was Mira. Her face is pale, lips chapped from the cold, eyes barely open, and bruises line her temple. A thin trickle of blood escapes her nose.
She looks up at Bucky, dazed, lips trembling as she forces out a whisper. And then she passes out. Everyone is stunned.
Talos and G'iah rush forward, boots striking the cold floor. Bucky is kneeling, arms braced under the heavy War Machine suit, holding Mira.
Talos drops beside him, his hands already reaching. Without hesitation, Bucky eases Mira into Talos' grasp.
Her armored frame slumps against him far. Her head tilts limply against his shoulder, the helmet gone, revealing that pale, frost bitten face.
G'IAH immediately slides in on the other side, knees hitting the ground. She brushes back strands of Mira's damp hair, palm pressing gently against her forehead.
TALOS (hoarse, urgent)
Hey Mira. It's me. Wake up. Please...
His voice trembles, the words catching in his throat.
The others Sam, Sharon, Hill, Bucky, Yelena stand close, weapons lowered, watching.
Seconds stretch. Then
A faint click inside the War Machine chest plate.
The suit's reactor core flickers, faint blue lines chasing through the plating. The heating systems pulse to life, and a soft, mechanical whir builds.
A wash of warmth spreads from the armor. Mira's eyelids flutter. Her breathing shifts from shallow to steady.
G'IAH (relieved, whispering)
Come on... there you are.
Mira stirs, eyes half open, dazed. She keeps one arm hooked around Talos for balance, the other finding G'iah's shoulder.
Talos exhales a breath. G'iah's lips curl into a fragile smile, but her eyes are wet.
Mira forces herself upright, still leaning on them. They three wrapped their arms on each other and their forehead touched.
And then Through the far window, the black of night fractures.
A sharp beam of early morning sunlight slices into the room, cutting across dust and metal until it spills directly onto the three of them.
The storm outside has broken. Half the sun hangs over the horizon an orange semicircle bleeding warmth into the icy blue.
The light brushes Mira's face, gilding the lines of her bruises, softening the tension in Talos' brow, catching in G'iah's eyes. For the first time in what feels like forever, the moment doesn't feel like war it feels like possibility.
No one says a word. They just stand there, bathed in gold, holding on to each other as the base hums quietly around them.
INT. BASE 2 – CONTINUED
Mira, still in the battered War Machine suit, takes a slow, shaky step forward. Talos and G'iah flank her, each holding an arm.
They guide her to a worn metal bench against the wall. She lowers herself onto it with a soft, metallic clank, the armor creaking under the movement.
Talos sits beside her, G'iah on the other side. Without a word, the three lean in until their foreheads touch eyes closed, breaths syncing.
A father and his daughters. Sisters reunited.
No strategy. No war. Just the quiet press of skin and the warmth of being alive.
Across the room, Sam, Bucky, Maria, and Sharon watch exchanging glances. For the first time in days, their shoulders seem to ease, their eyes less guarded. They don't ask why Mira was in the mountains, or what happened at S.W.O.R.D. The moment is too rare to shatter with questions.
Silence stretches not the heavy kind, but the kind you want to stay in.
Then, softly, Mira breaks it.
MIRA (dry, steady)
I met him.
The others look up.
HILL
Nick?
TALOS (turning to her, voice low)
What was happening there?
Mira draws in a slow breath.
MIRA
When I reached S.W.O.R.D., I foundsome Skrulls kept in cells,restrained. I tried to get them out, but I couldn't. I kept searching… and then I heard a voice. I followed it. What I found... Skrulls and humans, sideby side, working preparing. Forsomething. It felt like they were getting ready to strike.
Maria's eyes widen.
HILL (under her breath)
Oh my God... Then that means... Nick knew Gravik's plan? Or... was that even Nick?
MIRA (shakes her head, certain)
I reached him. He was in a hurry, butwhen he saw me.. he was relieved. I could feel it. But, he didn't show it.That's when I knew. He was our Nick.
Across the room, Sharon exhales. Sam's jaw clenches. Hill's eyes glisten.
MIRA (continuing)
He didn't say much. Before I could speak, he told me...
FLASHBACK – INT. S.W.O.R.D. STATION – DIMLY LIT HALL
Nick Fury's face is half in shadow, the cold glow of control panels painting sharp lines across his expression.
NICK FURY (voice low, firm)
I know what you're doing. And I'm glad you've decided to unite. It's not the time to explain what'shappening here. Find the rest... and(a pause, eyes locking with hers) ...wait for the order.
His tone is heavy.
INT. BASE 2 – BACK TO PRESENT
Mira's voice falters for a moment, then steadies.
MIRA
The station started shaking violently. He ordered me to go.
FLASHBACK – INT. S.W.O.R.D. STATION – AIRLOCK BAY
MIRA (reaching for him)
Come with me.
Fury moves fast, pressing a control panel on the wall. With a deep metallic hiss, reinforced glass doors slide open, revealing the black void beyond. Earth hangs far below a swirl of blue and white against endless dark.
NICK FURY (shaking his head)
It's not the right time.
Before she can argue, he shoves her toward the opening. The world spins her body weightless as the station's artificial gravity gives way to the pull of space.
EXT. SPACE – FALLING INTO EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE
Mira plummets from the station, the War Machine suit twisting helplessly in the void. The HUD flickers red warning glyphs flashing SYSTEMS OFFLINE.
Her breath fogs inside the helmet. Frost crawls across the outer plating, each joint stiffening. The cold gnaws at her chest like knives.
She spins Earth swelling in the visor, blue and white streaks rushing closer.
MIRA (under her breath, ragged)
Not like this...
Her trembling fingers scrape against the gauntlet controls nothing but static. The suit groans, power draining.
She forces her other hand to her side clutching the sling ring tied against her armor. With a shaky motion, she twists her wrist, forcing sparks into the air.
Nothing. The sparks scatter.
The atmosphere grabs her flames lick across the armor as she plummets faster. The HUD dims further. Alarms blare, CRITICAL FAILURE.
Her heart races. She grits her teeth, slamming her hands together in the circular motion. Sparks ignite again larger this time, golden threads fighting the drag of the fall.
MIRA (shouting through the chaos)
Hold hold come on!
The sparks rip wider, bending into a circle against the rushing sky. Through the distortion: jagged peaks, snow drenched silence, a mountain range blurred by storm.
The circle collapses once. She twists her wrist again, screaming with effort.
The spark portalsnaps open just as her suit gives a final POWER LOSS chime.
She disappears into it swallowed in gold.