Chapter 589

The incident was over.

Technically.

It was difficult to call it satisfying.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had lost its target to the Black Badge Division, and Michael hadn’t exactly been some irredeemable monster. Everyone involved knew he was fundamentally a decent man who had been manipulated, crushed beneath years of pressure, and then blinded by power he had never been prepared to handle.

Once he calmed down, there was a good chance he’d find his way back to something resembling normal life.

Unfortunately, he’d still have a criminal record.

The factory foreman he’d injured in a fit of rage was still in the hospital. His rampage had caused tens of thousands of dollars in property damage. Then there was the mass panic he’d caused in a crowded train station.

The district attorney was almost certainly going to press charges.

That was simply the price of taking the wrong path.

American law didn’t suddenly erase a crime because someone had been emotional when they committed it.

Still, with S.H.I.E.L.D. behind him, Michael probably wouldn’t be spending years in prison.

And honestly, having a record in the United States wasn’t exactly the end of the world.

Evenson had intended to leave as soon as the incident was over.

He’d originally come as an informant to collect a bounty. He’d gotten his money and even done S.H.I.E.L.D. a favor on the side.

What reason did he have to stay?

Coulson, however, had insisted that he wait.

"Now I understand."

Evenson stood on the boarding stairs of the aircraft and watched Coulson’s red convertible come racing toward them.

"I was wondering why Coulson kept insisting his car was better than mine."

Coulson had taken Skye to deliver Michael’s son to his mother. Now he was returning in his beloved Lola—and racing was exactly the right word.

The car wasn’t touching the ground.

It was flying.

Only as it approached the aircraft did Coulson slow down and lower the wheels.

The convertible touched down smoothly.

Coulson stepped out with an unbearably smug expression.

"Well? What do you think of my car now?"

"I didn’t know it could fly."

Evenson shrugged.

"But..."

He looked toward the passenger seat.

Skye was practically crawling out of the vehicle.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she stumbled away from the car and promptly threw up beside the aircraft.

Evenson raised an eyebrow.

"The passenger experience must be terrible."

"It’s just her first time. She’ll get used to it."

Coulson glanced awkwardly at Skye before changing the subject.

"The technology is practically revolutionary, but it’s actually very old. Howard Stark developed the system during World War II."

"At that point, Captain America hadn’t even appeared yet."

"The technology was nowhere near mature enough for practical use back then, but the underlying principle was already there."

Evenson shook his head.

With the Stark family, scientific breakthroughs were so absurd that he’d long since stopped being surprised.

The only thing he still couldn’t understand was why J. Robert Oppenheimer had been the one associated with developing the atomic bomb.

Perhaps Howard Stark had been too busy studying the Tesseract to waste his time on such a primitive little weapon.

"I’ll bet it drinks fuel like a jet."

Evenson waved a hand impatiently.

"Enough about the car. You didn’t make me stay behind just so you could show off Lola, did you? What’s going on?"

"Actually..."

Coulson headed toward the aircraft.

"My team has been assigned a new mission, so you—"

"Don’t even start."

Evenson cut him off.

"I’m a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant. I’m also an Avenger."

He folded his arms.

"Michael was different because I was the one who originally got involved. But I’m not one of your agents, Coulson. You don’t get to assign me to every mission you feel like."

This was exactly what Evenson had been afraid of.

Help once, and suddenly everyone assumed you’d help forever.

"Right. I understand."

Coulson continued walking as though he’d heard nothing.

"By the way, how are my agents doing while I was gone?"

Evenson narrowed his eyes.

"Simmons and Fitz are having the time of their lives. I think they’re one step away from throwing Skye a welcome party."

He paused.

"May and Ward, meanwhile, had a disagreement."

"Oh?"

"They couldn’t decide whether to throw Skye out of the plane because she’s a Rising Tide member..."

Evenson smiled.

"...or whether they should kick her in the ass first."

He suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

His eyes narrowed.

"Don’t change the subject, Coulson! I’m not your subordinate. I said I’m not participating in this—"

"This is a mission you have to attend."

Coulson turned around.

The easygoing expression was gone.

Evenson blinked.

"What? Why?"

He’d only been joking before.

Now he genuinely didn’t understand.

"Did I sign a contract somewhere?"

"Director Fury’s orders."

Coulson’s tone left no room for argument.

"He specifically requested that you participate."

"Oh."

Evenson rubbed his nose.

"Then what’s so special about this mission?"

If Nick Fury himself had ordered Evenson onto the team, then this wasn’t merely another assignment for Coulson’s unit.

It was important.

"We found another 0-8-4."

Evenson repeated the designation.

"An 0-8-4..."

He sighed.

"Hopefully this one doesn’t turn into another disaster."

Within S.H.I.E.L.D., an 0-8-4 was an object of unknown origin whose properties, usefulness, and threat level had yet to be determined.

The last one had been Thor’s hammer after it fell in New Mexico.

Given that precedent, Fury apparently didn’t want a group of agents staring at some bizarre artifact and scratching their heads while trying to figure out whether they’d just discovered Frostmourne, some legendary weapon called Flame of Happiness, or something equally ridiculous.

Evenson sighed.

Well, it was a mission.

That meant he couldn’t really refuse.

Besides, Coulson had brought along an offer from Fury that was considerably more persuasive than duty.

From now on, S.H.I.E.L.D. would handle the taxes on Evenson’s salary.

They would also make up for the taxes he’d failed to pay in previous years and speak with the IRS on his behalf.

The last thing Fury wanted was for Evenson to somehow end up facing a life sentence over unpaid taxes.

That settled it.

Peru—the South American country that had once been home to one of the great pre-Columbian civilizations—was practically America’s backyard when it came to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s reach.

And that was where their latest 0-8-4 had been discovered.

"We’re not the first ones here."

Evenson looked out the window as the S.H.I.E.L.D. convoy pushed deeper into the jungle.

Everyone was traveling in rugged off-road vehicles this time. The terrain was too rough to risk Lola.

As they neared their destination, Evenson noticed an increasing number of people along the route.

Simple tents had been set up beside the road.

Tire tracks crisscrossed the ground.

"Archaeologists, probably," Coulson explained.

"An archaeology professor discovered the object inside an Inca pyramid."

"An Inca pyramid..."

Evenson rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Now that sounds like a place where something mysterious ought to be hiding."

He paused.

"Hopefully we don’t find some giant, wrestling-obsessed woman inside who immediately decides to throw all of us around."

They soon arrived.

The pyramid stood beneath the dense rainforest canopy.

It was unmistakably Inca in design, but something about it immediately struck Evenson as wrong.

It was tiny.

Barely twenty meters high.

And unlike the great pyramids he’d seen in photographs, this one didn’t even seem to have a proper base.

That bothered him.

Pyramids carried enormous religious significance.

Egyptian pyramids had been built as tombs for divine kings.

Inca pyramids were sacred structures, often serving as temples or sites of worship.

Buildings with that kind of symbolism were usually massive, imposing monuments designed to overwhelm anyone who saw them.

So why was this one so small?

Perhaps the deity worshipped here had been considered unimportant.

Or perhaps the size was deliberate.

Maybe whoever built it had wanted to hide something.

Evenson dismissed the thought.

That was a problem for the archaeologists.

Right now, he was more interested in seeing what exactly made the object inside an 0-8-4.

The team entered the pyramid.

Toward the back of the group, Simmons and Fitz struggled under an assortment of scientific instruments while discussing the dangers of Peru.

Hundreds of species of snakes.

Hundreds of monkeys.

Venomous animals.

Predators.

Diseases.

The two could somehow turn any conversation into an endless academic debate.

Evenson eventually lost patience.

He glanced back at them with a dangerous smile.

"The most dangerous creature in Peru—and South America in general—isn’t a monkey or a snake."

Simmons and Fitz looked at him.

"It’s the Leopard-Man."

Evenson nodded solemnly.

"I hear there’s nothing in existence that can escape his absolutely flawless death hook."

The two scientists immediately forgot about monkeys and snakes.

"Leopard-Man?"

"Like a werewolf?"

"Does that species actually exist?"

"What’s its biological structure?"

"Is it intelligent?"

Evenson regretted everything.

Fortunately, they reached the pyramid’s entrance before the interrogation could become a full-scale scientific symposium.

An archaeology professor hurried out to meet them.

Coulson spoke with him briefly, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team was allowed inside.

Evenson didn’t immediately follow.

"Professor."

He stopped the man.

"Have you learned anything about this unusual pyramid?"

The professor looked surprised.

"You noticed it too?"

"It’s unusually small."

"Exactly."

The professor nodded.

"I’ve never seen an Inca pyramid of this scale."

He hesitated.

"As for our research..."

The excitement drained from his expression.

"I’ll admit, we haven’t gotten very far."

He gestured toward the entrance.

"The inscriptions inside are unlike any previously discovered examples of Inca writing. We can’t decipher them."

"I even asked some of the local people about this place."

He lowered his voice.

"Either they know nothing, or they refuse to talk about it."

"They claim the pyramid is cursed."

The professor swallowed.

"They say anyone who enters will eventually be swallowed by the sea."

Then, just as quickly, his expression brightened.

"But that could mean we’re dealing with an entirely unknown civilization. A previously undiscovered culture!"

His eyes widened with anticipation.

"I could become famous."

"I hope you do."

Evenson patted him on the shoulder and stepped into the pyramid.

He hadn’t even reached the 0-8-4 yet.

The inscriptions and strange carvings covering the walls had already captured his attention.