Chapter 512

Strange.

That was the only word Evenson could think of for the man he’d just spotted.

And the more he sensed him, the more curious Evenson became about exactly what he was dealing with.

Thor was a good example of the difference.

Most of the time, Thor’s power simply flowed through his body in a steady, controlled current. Unless Evenson deliberately focused on sensing it, or Thor intentionally allowed some of that power to leak out, there was little about him that suggested he was anything other than an unusually large, blond man.

Well, apart from the personality.

The man in the lobby was completely different.

His energy seemed almost incapable of staying still. It raced through his body, triggering one reaction after another, building toward something that felt as though it could explode at any moment.

To Evenson, ignoring it was practically impossible.

It was like someone had deliberately dropped a wallet stuffed with cash onto the floor right in front of him.

There was no way he wasn’t going to look.

Not wanting to attract attention, Evenson turned around and walked back toward Happy. The oversized security chief was watching the conference room with narrowed eyes, apparently checking the information on Pepper’s current visitor.

At least the man took his job seriously.

Evenson focused his senses again.

Then he noticed something even stranger.

There was something inside the man’s body that resembled a lock or restraint.

Whenever the unstable energy approached the point where it should have detonated, that invisible restraint subtly intervened. It halted the reaction and redirected the excess energy elsewhere.

The process was so delicate that Evenson found himself almost frustrated watching it.

He wanted to help.

And yes, he probably could.

The restraint might have prevented the man from exploding naturally, but giving it a little push would not have been particularly difficult for a Warlock who had studied the magic of destruction.

A Fire Mage, on the other hand, might have had more trouble.

They’d first have to figure out how to turn an already-living bomb into an even better living bomb.

Evenson snorted at the thought.

"Hey, buddy."

He nudged Happy with his elbow.

"I wanted to ask you about that guy over there..."

Happy immediately looked down.

At Evenson’s chest.

"Your ID badge—"

"I KNOW!"

Evenson clenched his teeth.

"I’ll get one! I’ll do it when I get back!"

"Don’t forget the replacement fee."

Evenson nearly swallowed his own tongue.

Was Stark Industries actually making money from ID badges now?

He forced the imaginary blood back down his throat and pointed toward the strange man.

"Look. He doesn’t have one either."

Happy’s eyes narrowed.

His entire expression suddenly became frighteningly serious, like the undisputed king of the security industry had just spotted a major criminal offense.

"Hey!"

The shout drew the man’s attention.

Happy slapped a hand against the blue ID badge hanging from his own chest, pointedly reminding the man of the rules.

The man didn’t look remotely intimidated.

With half-lidded eyes and the lazy demeanor of someone who’d rather be anywhere else, he picked up the badge lying on the table and casually held it up for Happy to see.

Evenson raised an eyebrow.

"Who is that guy? He doesn’t seem particularly impressed by you, Head of Security Hogan."

"Hmph."

Happy grunted.

"He should be the bodyguard of the guy Pepper is meeting."

"Bodyguard..."

Evenson stopped paying attention to Happy and turned toward the conference room.

Inside, a man was sitting across from Pepper, apparently in the middle of a presentation.

He was reasonably handsome. Evenson was willing to admit that the man had crossed the threshold into objectively good-looking territory.

But something about him bothered Evenson.

He looked like Justin Hammer after changing his hairstyle and spending several months getting aggressively sunburned.

The man and Pepper had initially been sitting across from each other, talking about something Evenson couldn’t hear.

Then the man suddenly dimmed the lights.

He reached into his belongings and placed three glass spheres on the table.

A moment later, the spheres projected a breathtaking holographic image of outer space.

Evenson’s eyes narrowed.

Well, well.

This was getting interesting.

Was this guy actually trying to seduce Tony Stark’s girlfriend?

Evenson immediately decided that deserved further investigation.

Without making an obvious movement, he raised one hand and subtly pointed toward the conference room.

A faint green mist seeped through the gap beneath the door.

It condensed into a large green orb.

Well...

Not an orb.

The Eye of Kilrogg.

The moment the demonic eye slipped inside, the man in the conference room suddenly picked up a remote and changed the holographic display.

The starfield vanished.

In its place appeared a three-dimensional human brain.

"This is my mind," the man said. "Live transmission."

Evenson blinked.

The conversation suddenly became perfectly audible through the Eye of Kilrogg.

Apparently, this wasn’t merely ordinary technology. The man had somehow mapped his own brain and was broadcasting a real-time visualization of it as a hologram.

Interesting.

And before anyone asked why the Eye of Kilrogg could hear them in the first place, Evenson had a simple answer.

It was magic.

Why wouldn’t a magical eyeball have ears?

More importantly, once the Eye entered the room, Evenson sensed something familiar from the man himself.

The same general energy signature as the bodyguard outside.

But unlike the bodyguard, this man’s power was considerably more restrained and stable. The reactions inside his body were far less violent.

That explained why Evenson hadn’t noticed him immediately.

The man continued pointing toward the projection of his brain as he explained his research to Pepper.

His manner became increasingly intimate as he spoke.

"The neural potential of the ultimate organism has been completely unlocked and brought under control. The signals are transmitted here..."

He enlarged the holographic brain.

At its center, a black, hole-like structure appeared.

"Essentially, it’s an empty slot. It tells us that our brains, our DNA systems, are designed to evolve."

Evenson listened quietly.

Then he heard Happy’s voice through the Eye of Kilrogg as the security chief complained to Tony Stark about what was happening.

That was how Evenson finally learned the man’s name.

Aldrich Killian.

Apparently, he was a scientist who had once attended the 1999 scientific conference in Sweden.

And apparently, Tony Stark didn’t remember him.

Evenson wasn’t particularly surprised.

It didn’t matter.

He had heard enough.

Scientist.

Ultimate organism.

That strange energy inside Killian’s body.

And an unstable power signature that was far too similar to the one he’d sensed from the bodyguard.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

Evenson dismissed the Eye of Kilrogg and headed for the entrance.

Once outside, he raised two fingers to his temple.

"Hello. I think I’ve found that rival you mentioned."

Evenson remembered the Eredar Twins telling him that their company had encountered a powerful competitor.

Now he was almost certain he’d found the culprit.

He established a mental connection with the twins.

"You two are going to want to know who it is. So, about my allowance next month..."

"Aldrich Killian."

Salora grinned through the mental connection, sounding completely unconcerned.

"He’s the one behind that guy’s Extremis project, right?"

Evenson stopped dead.

He blinked twice.

He’d already reached his car and had one hand on the door.

Slowly, he turned his head.

"...How do you know that?"