Chapter 579

"Now that the plane has landed again, are you still refusing to talk?"

After a short flight, the Bus had returned to the ground.

In reality, it had never gone anywhere. It had simply flown a loop around the area before returning to the same airfield.

Evenson knew that immediately.

Perhaps it was a side effect of his profession, but his sense of direction was unnervingly sharp. No matter where he was, he could instantly tell which way was up, down, left, and right.

The short flight had served another purpose: to keep Skye uncertain about where she was.

The cold-colored walls, dim lighting, and deliberately disorienting environment were all meant to increase the psychological pressure of the interrogation.

Unfortunately for Coulson, none of it had worked.

The seemingly fragile young woman still had no intention of talking.

"All right."

Evenson rubbed his forehead.

"I told you I’m very good at interrogation. I wasn’t planning to use those particular skills on you, but it seems I’ll have to reconsider."

He slowly raised his right hand from the table.

Purple energy began to coil around his fingers.

"For people like you, the body might lie, but the soul is always honest."

Skye’s expression finally changed.

Her eyes fixed on his glowing hand.

"You... you’re going to pull my soul out and interrogate it?"

A thin sheen of sweat appeared across her forehead.

Most people still believed souls were nothing more than a comforting human fantasy.

But magic had been considered impossible too, and yet here it was.

If magic was real, then perhaps souls were real as well.

And if they were...

Skye had absolutely no idea what being tortured on a spiritual level would actually feel like.

Humans had a natural fear of things they couldn’t understand.

"If necessary."

Evenson’s expression remained completely flat.

"But I don’t need to go that far."

He flexed his fingers.

"Even while your soul remains inside your body, I can read it. Every experience you’ve ever had will be laid out before me. Even things you’ve forgotten, your soul still remembers."

He paused.

"I’ll be able to see everything."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Your showers. Your trips to the bathroom. Your private moments with your boyfriend."

Skye shrieked.

"Pervert!"

She yanked her clothes tighter around herself and leaned as far away from him as the chair allowed.

Even Coulson and Ward coughed awkwardly and took a few steps backward, as if they suddenly wanted to establish several feet of professional distance between themselves and Evenson.

"Hmm."

Evenson pursed his lips.

"Sometimes I admit it does sound pretty creepy."

He lowered his hand slightly.

"So I generally fast-forward through the irrelevant parts and focus on what matters."

His expression suddenly turned sinister.

"But there’s something you should know."

The purple glow intensified.

"Searching a soul hurts."

Skye swallowed.

"Humans rate physical pain from one to ten, right?"

Evenson smiled.

"So what number would you give spiritual pain?"

He leaned closer.

"Why don’t you experience it and tell me?"

Skye stared at his hand.

"But... would you really do it?"

She was terrified now, but her mind was still racing.

She was desperately searching for some way to keep resisting.

"Why wouldn’t I?"

Evenson nodded.

"If I were you, I’d try to make myself as comfortable as possible right now."

He smiled.

"Unfortunately, I don’t have any spiritual anesthetic."

"You’re a hero!"

Skye stared directly into his eyes.

"You’re seriously going to torture an unarmed woman? Is that how a superhero is supposed to behave?"

"A hero?"

Evenson looked genuinely puzzled.

"I’m not a hero."

He shrugged.

"I fought in New York, yes. But that was my job. S.H.I.E.L.D. pays me, and I do the work they give me. It’s that simple."

He paused.

"Even if I had my own reasons for fighting, it wasn’t because I was overflowing with some burning sense of justice."

His expression remained perfectly matter-of-fact.

"I lived in New York. That’s reason enough."

"But..."

Skye’s eyes darted toward his approaching hand.

"Even if you’re not a hero, even an ordinary person wouldn’t torture such a cute girl!"

She tilted her head and widened her eyes, desperately trying to make herself look as harmless and adorable as possible.

"Necessary evil, ma’am."

Evenson shook his head with exaggerated reluctance.

"If you’d cooperate, I wouldn’t have to do this."

Skye was sweating now.

She swallowed repeatedly, her lips trembling.

Evenson recognized the signs.

She was almost there.

One more push.

One more scare, and she’d probably spill everything she knew.

And that was exactly what he wanted.

Because he wasn’t actually going to touch her soul.

Coulson was standing right there.

Evenson had spent a great deal of effort cultivating a particular image within S.H.I.E.L.D.: someone who was willing to use questionable methods and wield dangerous powers, but who was ultimately a decent person.

That was one of the reasons Nick Fury was willing to trust him, albeit within very clear limits.

If Evenson actually used soul torture on a girl who looked like she spent half her life pretending to be a cyberpunk revolutionary, that image would collapse instantly.

Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. would start reassessing exactly what kind of person he’d become.

That would create a mountain of unnecessary problems.

As expected, Coulson eventually stepped in.

He gently patted Evenson on the shoulder.

"Does that spell have any side effects?"

Evenson immediately withdrew his hand and glanced at him.

He assumed Coulson was helping him increase Skye’s psychological pressure.

So he played along.

"Of course."

He nodded solemnly.

"As for how severe the side effects are, that depends on the victim."

He held up one finger.

"In the best case, they’ll need a regular hospital."

A second finger.

"In the worst case, a psychiatric hospital."

A third.

"And in the absolute worst case..."

He smiled.

"I can recommend a funeral director. I know one who’s affordable."

"Then wait."

Evenson froze.

He blinked twice.

Had he heard that correctly?

Coulson was telling him to stop?

Now?

Skye was practically about to confess!

Sure enough, Skye released a long breath of relief.

The confession that had been forming on her lips disappeared.

"I have another arrangement."

Coulson smiled pleasantly.

Then he led Ward out of the interrogation room.

At the door, he glanced back.

"It won’t be long. Don’t do anything stupid."

Evenson nodded.

Another arrangement, huh?

The question was whether Coulson had another arrangement for the interrogation...

Or for Skye herself.

"What the hell are you doing, sir?"

The moment they left the room, Ward turned toward Coulson.

Even he had been able to tell Skye was seconds away from breaking.

Why had Coulson stopped the interrogation?

"What is it, Agent Ward?"

Coulson deliberately changed the subject.

"You don’t like my team?"

He smiled innocently.

"Keep emphasizing all those unpleasant personality traits of yours. Maybe I’ll decide I can’t stand you and kick you off the team."

"That’s not what this is about."

Ward sounded frustrated.

"She was about to confess. Give me another minute and we’d have the answer."

He shook his head.

"And then you called it off. I don’t understand."

Coulson ignored the complaint.

He walked to a storage cabinet built into the aircraft’s wall and opened it.

Inside was a black case.

He pulled it out and set it on a table.

"She’s valuable."

Ward stared at him.

"She’s a what?"

"Valuable."

Coulson opened the case and removed a pistol-shaped injector.

"We know almost nothing about her."

He glanced toward the interrogation room.

"Someone this unusual doesn’t come along often. We’ve never had someone quite like her."

He held up the injector.

"We need everything she has."

Ward slowly nodded.

He understood.

Coulson wasn’t planning to break Skye.

He was planning to recruit her.

If that was the goal, terrifying her into confession was the wrong approach. They needed her cooperation. More importantly, they needed her to believe joining S.H.I.E.L.D. was her own choice.

Back inside the interrogation room, Evenson had nothing better to do.

He looked across the table.

"So, Skye. What’s your real name?"

"Skye."

She gave him an annoyed look.

Evenson stared.

Skye sighed and rolled her eyes.

"All right. It’s Lulu Midora."

She looked deeply embarrassed.

"That’s the name the orphanage gave me. Now you understand why I don’t use it."

"Hmm."

Evenson nodded.

"It is a little old-fashioned."

He thought about it.

"Actually, it sounds more like the kind of fake name someone would use in a nightclub."

Skye glared.

"Skye is definitely better."

"Anyway..."

Evenson leaned forward.

"Which orphanage?"

Skye reluctantly gave him the name.

Evenson stared at her.

"Seriously?"

She nodded.

"You really stayed there?"

"Yes."

Evenson laughed in disbelief.

"We were in the same orphanage."

He shook his head.

"And I don’t remember you at all."

"You were there too?"

Skye looked just as surprised.

For a moment, she wondered whether this was some new interrogation trick.

But Evenson knew the name of the orphanage director and even described what the man looked like.

That was enough to convince her.

"That’s pretty strange."

She thought about it.

"But I don’t remember you either. I was adopted when I was very young."

"Then you were lucky."

Evenson meant it.

Most children in orphanages dreamed of being adopted.

They might pretend otherwise, but deep down, most of them wanted a family.

"Not exactly."

Skye shook her head.

"I’ve always been bad at fitting in. I went through one foster family after another."

She suddenly straightened.

"Wait."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Just because we have that connection doesn’t mean I’ve changed my opinion of you."

She pointed at him.

"Especially after you threatened to torture me."

Her expression hardened.

"You’re a liar, a bastard..."

She paused.

"And a pervert."

"Like I said, it’s just work."

Evenson’s face remained expressionless.

Those are the only three insults you’ve got for a Warlock?

He sighed internally.

You need a larger vocabulary.

"But I’m curious about something."

He leaned back.

"Why are you so determined to go after S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

That question immediately reignited Skye’s passion.

"Because S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps hiding the truth!"

She leaned forward.

"They covered up the New Mexico incident. Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. And now they’re trying to hide the Centipede operation."

Her voice rose.

"They don’t get to do that. The public isn’t going to keep being deceived."

"Centipede?"

Evenson frowned.

"What’s that?"

Skye stared at him.

"You don’t know?"

"No."

Evenson genuinely had no idea.

He knew about the New Mexico incident. He’d been there when Thor first came to Earth.

He’d also seen Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s records. That had been connected to Howard Stark’s generation.

But Centipede?

Nothing.

Skye’s expression became smug.

"You really don’t know what Centipede is?"

She leaned back.

"You people have billions of dollars’ worth of equipment, and I beat you with a laptop."

"Let’s put that aside."

Evenson waved a hand.

"It doesn’t concern me."

Instead, he studied her.

"You believe S.H.I.E.L.D. hides the truth without the public’s consent."

Skye nodded.

"And you believe that withholding that information violates the public’s right to know."

"Exactly."

"And because of that, you believe fighting S.H.I.E.L.D. is morally justified."

"Isn’t it?"

Skye frowned.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. hides things without asking the public whether they agree. Why shouldn’t I fight back?"

Evenson considered her argument.

"It sounds reasonable."

He leaned forward, his expression becoming unusually serious.

"But I have one question."

Skye waited.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t ask the public whether they wanted those truths hidden."

He held her gaze.

"But before you exposed those truths..."

His voice remained calm.

"Did you ever ask the public whether they wanted to know them?"