Chapter 540

While Captain America and Peggy Carter searched for answers, Evenson was still standing on the roadside, enduring the December cold while trying to calm Tony Stark down.

"You need to understand, Tony. This is a minor problem."

Tony looked up at him in disbelief.

Minor problem?

His girlfriend had just been kidnapped, and Evenson was standing there like they were discussing a scheduling conflict.

Still, Evenson looked so relaxed that Tony forced himself to ask, "So what are you planning to do?"

"It’s simple." Evenson smiled. "We split up. You continue to Miami according to the original plan. I’ll go rescue Pepper."

Tony’s eyes widened.

"That’s brilliant!"

It really was a simple plan. Unfortunately, his anxiety had kicked in at exactly the wrong time, and he’d been too distracted to think clearly.

Now that Evenson had pointed it out, everything clicked.

"Then don’t waste any more time." Tony stood and clapped a hand on Evenson’s shoulder. "Get moving. Make sure Pepper comes back safely."

"Don’t worry, my friend. I’ll handle it."

Evenson turned and walked away.

Once he was far enough from Tony, he raised two fingers to his forehead and opened the mental link.

"Dottie, open the door. I’m coming in."

There was a long pause.

"...Okay."

Dottie’s answer came with enough hesitation to make Evenson briefly wonder what was going on.

He sensed the teleportation array activate and immediately stepped through.

A moment later, he appeared inside a transport aircraft.

That made sense. Given the timing, they should already have been on their way back.

Except Dottie was standing in front of him with a distinctly uncomfortable expression.

She kept avoiding his eyes.

Evenson didn’t pay much attention to it.

"Mission parameters have changed. New priority target: Maya Hansen. Capture her."

"Mm... understood."

"This target is extremely valuable. She could become a major asset to Umbrella Corporation."

Evenson paced through the cabin, his impatience growing.

"So I want you to succeed."

He paused.

"No. I need you to succeed."

He glanced around the aircraft.

"By the way, this thing flies incredibly smoothly. The soundproofing is excellent too. I can’t hear the engines at all."

Dottie opened her mouth.

Evenson continued before she could say anything.

"Maya should be heading to Miami. I’ll give the pilot her precise location. Tony Stark is heading there too, so your operation needs to be fast. I want everything finished before Tony arrives."

"Actually..."

Dottie scratched the back of her head.

There was clearly something she was struggling to say.

Evenson interrupted her again.

"Also, Maya probably kidnapped Pepper. Find out where she’s been taken. If she’s being brought to Miami, even better. We’ll meet up there and rescue her together."

He gestured toward the aircraft.

"If she’s somewhere else, that’s fine too. Just turn the plane around and drop me off there."

Evenson finally noticed the increasingly miserable expression on Dottie’s face.

"What’s wrong? This shouldn’t be difficult."

He frowned.

"It’s not like I’m asking you to fly this transport into Nepal and conquer the country."

Tony was driving a car.

They had a plane.

Even with a detour, they should have more than enough time.

"Actually..." Dottie forced out a weak smile. "I was going to tell you earlier."

She took a breath.

"We’re not turning around."

Evenson stared at her.

"We’re having trouble even taking off."

"What?"

Evenson immediately rushed to one of the aircraft windows and looked outside.

Endless wilderness stretched beneath them.

The transport wasn’t flying.

It was sitting on the ground.

Evenson’s expression went blank.

Well, that explains a lot.

The flight had been incredibly smooth.

There had been no turbulence.

He couldn’t hear the engines.

Because there weren’t any engines running.

The aircraft wasn’t flying at all.

"Explain."

Evenson turned toward Dottie, his voice rising.

"What happened?"

"We had a small..."

Dottie lowered her head.

"...accident on the way back. We had to make an emergency landing here."

"A small accident?"

Evenson’s eyes widened.

"What happened? Did a hundred Marines attack you?"

"Actually, it was Farrell."

Dottie rubbed the back of her neck.

"Do you remember her rocket pod?"

Evenson sucked in a sharp breath.

For several seconds, he couldn’t speak.

Then his face darkened.

"She used that thing inside the transport?"

His voice rose.

"Doesn’t she know that using weapons inside a transport violates Umbrella’s safety regulations?"

Evenson had always despised people who fired guns inside aircraft.

It reminded him of idiots who opened fire inside someone else’s arcade, smashed up the machines, and generally behaved as though the concept of property damage had never been explained to them.

There was even some poor businessman somewhere who had supposedly been driven to suicide because of people like that.

Dottie hurriedly tried to defend Farrell.

"You can’t completely blame her."

"Why not?"

"When she trains at the company, she normally only has her flight suit and standard equipment. She didn’t discover that the weapon loadout included a rocket pod until she arrived."

Dottie spread her hands.

"She’d never used one before."

"So you’re telling me she accidentally discharged it because she didn’t know how to use the weapon?"

Evenson clearly wasn’t buying it.

Accidental discharge was a serious safety incident under any circumstances.

Doing it inside a transport aircraft was considerably worse.

"No."

Dottie shook her head.

"She’s actually even more innocent than that."

Evenson frowned.

Dottie continued.

"On the inside of the rocket pod, just behind the trigger guard, there’s a switch that can be reached by extending your thumb."

She looked at him.

"What do you think that switch does?"

Evenson answered without hesitation.

"The self-destruct."

Dottie froze.

"...How did you know that?"

She blinked.

"Wait. No. Anyone else would assume that was the safety!"

"Hmph."

Evenson turned his head away.

Normally, yes.

A switch like that would be the safety.

But if the weapon had been built by Gnomish engineers?

Then there was only one reasonable answer.

Self-destruct.

Because among certain engineers in the Burning Legion, the question "Where’s the safety?" apparently translated to "Why would anyone need one?"

"So Farrell accidentally hit the self-destruct switch, the weapon exploded, and you had to make an emergency landing?"

Evenson pieced together the sequence.

"Exactly."

Dottie nodded.

"Every soldier knows to engage the safety when storing a weapon. Fortunately, Farrell had removed the ammunition before doing so."

She paused.

"When she realized something was wrong, she threw the launcher away. It only destroyed some of the internal circuitry, but that was enough to force us to land for repairs."

Evenson considered that.

Honestly, they had gotten lucky.

At least she had enough time to throw it away.

Weapons designed with certain demonic engineering principles tended to have rather enthusiastic self-destruct systems.

Usually, they exploded immediately.

This one had practically given them a warning.

If Farrell’s entire missile load had detonated at once, the transport would have been turned into scrap before anyone could react.

Evenson shuddered.

There was no graceful way to describe that outcome.

First you’d be dead.

Then you’d land.

In pieces.

...