Even the closest allies will betray each other if their own interests are at stake.
Nick Fury understood this well—after all, wasn't he currently scheming against the Skrulls?
For years, he had helped them, yet they still refused to share even their outdated technology with him.
Since his trust in them had eroded, Fury needed to ensure they didn't suspect his real motives.
So, after pretending to be reluctant, he finally "agreed" to wait on Mars for William's ship to arrive.
The Skrulls had considered ambushing the ship mid-flight, but after weighing the risks, they abandoned the idea.
If this were the old days, they wouldn't have hesitated.
But ever since learning that England's wizards could see through their disguises,
they had completely changed their approach to dealing with Earth.
If their enemies—the Kree—ever learned how to counter their shapeshifting,
hiding and infiltrating would become impossible, and their species would be on the verge of extinction.
Ultimately, respect from an advanced civilization only comes when you can kill them in return—everything else is a lie.
Inside the Skrull spaceship, waiting for William's ship to reach Mars…
Nick Fury and Talos were reviewing surveillance footage from the past two months in London.
To remain undetected, the Skrulls had hidden their ship inside Valles Marineris—a massive canyon stretching over 4,500 kilometers.
Unfortunately for them, they severely underestimated William.
Sunday didn't detect the ship immediately due to a lack of probes in that area.
But the Skrulls made a critical mistake—sending scouts to investigate William's Mars base.
The moment two Skrull operatives got within two kilometers of the settlement,
they were spotted by William's spider bots, disguised as iron-red Martian dust particles.
At that very moment, William was casually strolling through his estate's garden with his mother, Lena.
As Sunday relayed the news into his earpiece, a smirk appeared on his face.
Lena, who had been watching him closely, immediately scowled and smacked his arm.
"You're scheming again, aren't you? Can't you take a break? You just got home!"
"It's not my fault—trouble finds me."
Seeing her frown deepen, William chuckled and reassured her.
"Don't worry, Mom—it's not Earth-related.
Something's happening on Mars, but Sunday has it under control."
Lena sighed and started leading him back toward the manor.
"If something really happens, I know you'll blame me for distracting you.
Go take care of it—I'll have Sunday remind you to eat lunch."
Since his mother was being so understanding, William didn't argue.
Once inside, he headed straight for the underground lab.
"Has the Skrull's genetic sequencing been completed?"
"The samples have been fully collected and are currently being analyzed.
Estimated time to complete the full genome sequence: 40 hours."
"That long?"
Two days wasn't much time in the grand scheme of things,
but William was eager to find out if Skrull DNA could replace Mystique's DNA in his Sentinel robots.
If it worked, he could immediately begin constructing shapeshifting Sentinels—capable of mimicking any power.
In large-scale warfare, standard robots could serve as cannon fodder, while the elite Sentinels would act as assassination and infiltration units.
Even against powerful alien forces like the Kree or the Chitauri, he'd finally have the means to fight back head-on.
Besides, at this stage, the Kree might not even dare to provoke him.
Just like the Asgardians with their Bifrost, William could now teleport entire armies into enemy strongholds, strategic sites, and even alien cities.
The only downside was that unlike the Bifrost, his teleportation required a clear mental image of the destination—or prior visitation.
Which meant…
"Looks like I need to start traveling the universe.
I need to map out strategic locations in case I ever need to teleport there."
His mind quickly shifted to the more immediate problem.
"If I want to fully capture these Skrulls on Mars, I need their star charts… and their ship's technology."
Raising his hand, William opened a portal between his X-17 production base and the Olympus Mons mining facility on Mars.
"Sunday, deploy a ship and scout drones to locate the Skrull vessel."
"Understood, sir."
A spacecraft soon emerged from the X-17 base, passing through the portal to Mars.
Activating stealth mode, it flew low and slow over Valles Marineris, deploying numerous scanning orbs.
Back in London, William prepared for the possibility of teleporting to Mars.
If the Skrulls detected his ship, he'd personally teleport over and steal their vessel before they could react.
However, things didn't go as expected.
While the Skrulls should have been able to detect his stealth ship, they didn't.
Either the Yautja (Predator) stealth technology was too advanced, or Talos' Skrull faction had inferior sensor technology.
By the time Sunday located the Skrull ship, William's heartbeat sped up.
He was ready to teleport at a moment's notice.
But…
The Skrulls showed no reaction at all.
Minutes passed.
Then ten minutes.
Then half an hour.
By now, surveillance orbs had completely surrounded the Skrull vessel—hidden just dozens of meters away.
William grinned.
"These aliens really have no clue they've already been exposed."
Sunday suggested using spider bots to infiltrate the ship, but William immediately rejected the idea.
"Every ship's hull has external sensors.
If a foreign object latches onto it, the risk of detection is too high."
Instead, he smirked.
"Let's wait for these arrogant fools to open their hatch themselves.
Once they do, our bots can slip in undetected."
"Understood, sir."
Once even a single spider bot got inside,
the ship was as good as captured.
At that point, William could directly open a portal inside their spacecraft—allowing his forces to flood in.
If he was lucky, he could even portal straight into the command center, capturing the Skrull leaders instantly.
"Deploy 1,000 combat robots.
Equip them with weapons and self-destruct mechanisms.
I want these aliens to fully understand what 'targeted teleportation' means.
By the time they realize what's happening, they'll already be surrounded—staring down the barrels of a thousand guns."
(End of Chapter)
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