Chapter 765

Peggy Carter reported the capture through the mental network. Evenson and the Eredar Twins arrived soon afterward, moving with considerably more urgency than usual.

Evenson was curious about the fool who had dared infiltrate this place. More importantly, he wanted to know how the spy had slipped past the defensive spells the twins had established around the facility.

Whatever her method, it was impressive.

Or alarming, depending on how one looked at it.

They were almost at the room’s entrance when Peggy stepped forward and blocked their way.

More precisely, she blocked Evenson.

"Hold on."

He stopped and gave her a puzzled look, keeping his expression carefully neutral.

"What’s wrong? Is there something I should know before going in?"

Peggy didn’t answer. Instead, she glanced toward the Fel-infused warriors waiting inside.

The Eredar Twins immediately understood.

"Galia," one of them called softly. "Come here for a moment."

Galia emerged from the room at once. She dropped to one knee, pressed both hands against her chest, and bowed her head with fervent devotion.

"Praise be to you, my great mistresses."

Naturally, Galia noticed Evenson standing beside the twins.

That didn’t surprise her. When she’d first been selected for the transformation program, she’d known he existed. She also knew that her transformation had everything to do with him.

What surprised her was how casually he stood beside the two women she regarded as supreme beings.

Even more astonishing, he stood slightly ahead of them.

Was his position an indication of his rank?

Galia considered the possibility for a moment, then dismissed it. Standing in front didn’t necessarily mean someone held a higher position. Back when she’d conducted missions in the Middle East, the person walking in front hadn’t been the most important member of the team.

He’d been the one sent to check for land mines.

"Rise," the twins said, raising their hands slightly.

Galia stood.

"Take your people and leave us for now."

"At once."

Galia didn’t hesitate. The order meant that she and her warriors weren’t yet trusted with whatever was about to happen. She felt no resentment over that. If her mistresses believed she hadn’t earned their complete trust, then she simply had more work to do.

Their judgment was beyond question.

She would prove herself worthy.

As Galia turned to lead the others away, Oreses called her name.

Galia spun around immediately and bowed again.

"Do you have another command for me?"

Salorass spoke without turning around.

"My loyal warrior, you and your people performed admirably today. I am very pleased."

Galia’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest.

"Being able to contribute even the smallest amount to your great undertaking is the highest honor I could ever hope for!"

Praise from the Eredar Twins meant more to her than any promotion or title. Their approval was a reward in itself.

Oreses then addressed the other warriors.

"You have all performed well. To reward you for your contribution, I have decided to grant you three days of leave."

The effect was immediate.

The recruits stared at her, stunned.

For weeks, they’d been subjected to surprise attacks and life-or-death combat exercises so relentless that even sleeping had become a tactical decision. Most of them had learned to keep one eye open at all times, just in case a demon decided to visit their beds in the middle of the night.

Three whole days without an ambush?

Three days of uninterrupted sleep?

It sounded too good to be true.

One recruit raised a trembling hand.

"Is... is that really true?"

Oreses turned toward him with a radiant smile.

"Of course it is. You may as well treat it as true."

Silence.

The recruits’ expressions stiffened.

That was somehow worse than being told the leave had been canceled outright. How were they supposed to relax when even their vacation came with an implied threat?

"Idiot!" Galia snapped.

She grabbed the unfortunate man’s neck.

"Why do you always have to open your mouth? I’ll kill you myself!"

The others joined in, dragging the hapless recruit away before he could make matters worse.

It was a brief interruption, but once the warriors had departed, Evenson turned back to Peggy.

"All right. You can tell me now. You recognize the spy, don’t you?"

Peggy nodded.

"The woman inside is a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative. Her codename is Ghost. She’s one of the agency’s most closely guarded assets. If we’re talking purely about infiltration and covert entry, even Natasha Romanoff is nowhere near her level."

"S.H.I.E.L.D., huh?"

Evenson immediately understood why Peggy had stopped him at the door.

If Ghost saw him here, his relationship with the company would be exposed. There would be little point pretending otherwise afterward.

But the name Ghost, combined with Peggy’s description of her infiltration skills, stirred a distant memory.

A particularly uncomfortable one.

Evenson looked at her sharply.

"Wait. Is she the one who specializes in using a sniper rifle and can designate targets for a nuclear strike?"

Peggy’s eyes widened.

"One agent has the authority to initiate a nuclear attack? Has Earth already entered the space age without telling me?"

Evenson shrugged.

"Probably not. From what I understand, even the leaders of nuclear powers have to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops to launch a nuclear weapon. If an ordinary field agent could call in a thermonuclear strike, we’d have to assume nuclear weapons were practically disposable."

He paused.

"Still, I’ve spent a fair amount of time around S.H.I.E.L.D., and I’ve never heard of anyone like her working for Nick Fury."

Peggy snorted.

"There are plenty of things Nick Fury hasn’t told you."

She folded her arms.

"Do you honestly think he’s an incompetent fool who spends his days getting tricked by everyone around him? Someone who hears the beginning of a secret and immediately blurts out the rest? He’s the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Evenson."

Her expression sharpened.

"If you think he’s easy to fool, it’s because he’s deliberately encouraged you to think that way. You believe you’re playing him, when he’s the one leading you around by the nose."

Evenson slowly nodded.

She had a point.

Somewhere along the way, he’d let his guard down around Fury. At first, he’d been extremely cautious, taking care not to reveal anything important. Over time, however, he’d begun treating the director as little more than an occasionally useful nuisance.

Perhaps that had been exactly what Fury wanted.

The man hadn’t become director of S.H.I.E.L.D. by being easy to deceive. He’d cultivated an image, and Evenson had walked straight into the trap.

Thank goodness he hadn’t become complacent enough to mistake Fury for a complete idiot.

"The legendary master of spies," Evenson muttered. "You really can’t afford to relax around a man like that."

"Exactly. Nick Fury is anything but simple-minded. Very few people can reliably tell when he’s lying and when he’s telling the truth. You’re no exception."

Peggy’s expression suddenly turned mischievous.

"Just like how you thought he genuinely knew nothing about the Kree."

Evenson froze.

Peggy continued before he could respond.

"Given my position, I no longer have the authority I once did, but I still have plenty of former colleagues and protégés throughout S.H.I.E.L.D. Finding out that Coulson had been brought back to life wasn’t especially difficult. The exact details were another matter, so I asked you about them."

The resurrection had naturally attracted Peggy’s attention. Through her own channels, she’d discovered that Evenson had been involved in the operation.

When she’d questioned him, Evenson hadn’t bothered hiding much. He’d told her about Project T.A.H.I.T.I., including the fact that Kree blood had been used to reactivate Coulson’s body.

He still remembered the peculiar expression on Peggy’s face as she’d listened.

At the time, he hadn’t understood it.

Now, he was beginning to.

"He knew all along..." Evenson murmured.

He remembered Nick Fury’s apparent curiosity about the Kree corpse. The director had listened with what seemed like genuine interest, asking questions while Evenson eagerly explained everything he knew about the alien species.

Evenson had even taken the opportunity to show off his knowledge and offer a few warnings.

Looking back, it was painfully obvious.

Fury had been testing him, trying to determine how much he knew about extraterrestrial civilizations, particularly the Kree.

And Evenson had practically delivered a lecture.

He’d strutted around feeling clever, while Fury quietly measured the limits of his knowledge.

The realization made his face burn.

He’d thought he was making a fool of Nick Fury.

Turns out, he was the one wearing the clown shoes.

Evenson covered his face with both hands and groaned.

"Please stop. If you keep going, my face is going to swell up."

He crouched beside the wall and remained there for a long, miserable moment.

What he really wanted to know was how many times he’d embarrassed himself in front of Fury without even realizing it.

How often had he thought he was demonstrating his superior knowledge, only to hand the director exactly the information he’d been fishing for?

Peggy let him suffer for a while before speaking again.

"Did you really believe Nick Fury had never heard of the Kree? Or that Thor’s arrival marked humanity’s first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization?"

She shook her head.

"No. That wasn’t the first contact. Fury had dealings with the Kree long before then. You hadn’t even been born yet."

Evenson made a muffled noise behind his hands.

"That’s enough. Please. I have a face to salvage."

Eventually, he dragged his hands down his cheeks, straightened up, and forced himself to move on.

His pride had taken a beating, but fortunately, he had plenty of it to spare.

"Fine. Let’s go see what this spy is doing here. I want to know what Nick Fury sent her to investigate."

Peggy tilted her head.

"You want to meet her personally? Aren’t you worried about exposing your identity?"

"That’s already happened."

Evenson gave her an amused look.

"The people who caught her are your knockoff soldiers. Once she considers your abilities and my relationship with you, she shouldn’t need to be a genius to figure out what’s going on."

Peggy’s expression suggested she couldn’t argue with that.

The group entered the room.

Ghost stood suspended inside the green barrier, immobilized by Galia’s binding spell.

The moment the Eredar Twins saw her, they spoke with genuine admiration.

"Binding!" Salorass exclaimed. "Well done, Galia. You’ve mastered the spell beautifully."

She then patted Evenson on the shoulder with affectionate familiarity.

"I have a favor to ask of you. When the time comes to take her to the battlefield, look after that girl. I have high hopes for her."

"Really?"

Evenson glanced at the twins in surprise.

The Burning Legion had never been particularly sentimental about cultivating promising recruits. Its method of determining who was strong enough to survive was brutally simple: send them into battle.

Those who returned had proved themselves. Those who died had failed, regardless of how much potential anyone had once seen in them.

The Eredar Twins clearly had a different philosophy.

They were willing to invest in their subordinates, nurture their talents, and give them opportunities to grow rather than simply throwing them into the grinder and letting fate decide.

It was little wonder Agatha remained so devoted to them, even at the cost of being branded a traitor to the Legion.

"Absolutely," Oreses said, smiling at Evenson. "Sometimes, I think that little Galia has considerably more talent than you do."

Evenson immediately pulled a face.

"That’s not a fair comparison. Demon Hunters are practically designed for fast progression. Warlocks have to fight for every single step!"

And that was the truth.

Demon Hunters practically started at level one hundred. Warlocks, on the other hand, had to claw their way up one miserable level at a time.

Some classes simply enjoyed better starting conditions.

Only then did Evenson get a proper look at the captured agent.

Ghost wore a sleek, all-white combat suit of advanced technology. Its close fit made it clear that the woman beneath it was in excellent shape, but the sealed white helmet concealed her face completely. Two pairs of crimson optical sensors served as her eyes.

Evenson studied the equipment for another moment before speaking.

"Let’s release her. We need to find out why she came here."

The Eredar Twins exchanged a cold smile.

Salorass raised a hand and pointed at the binding spell.

It shattered instantly.

Galia was undeniably talented, but breaking her spell was effortless for someone at the twins’ level.

The moment Ghost was freed, she staggered forward, nearly losing her balance. She looked around wildly, taking in the unfamiliar faces.

Then her gaze landed on Evenson.

"Evenson Richter!"

His full name burst from her lips.

Several afterimages suddenly flickered around her body, spreading in different directions as her emotions surged.

Evenson blinked, momentarily dazzled by the shifting images.

"What the..."

Before he could finish, Ghost spun around and hurled herself toward the nearest wall.

Evenson’s eyelid twitched.

What was she doing?

Wasn’t a top-tier agent supposed to carry a cyanide capsule for emergencies? Was slamming your head into a wall really the preferred alternative when an infiltration mission went wrong?

"Wait, Eva!"

Peggy reacted instantly, reaching for the fleeing woman.

Her hand passed straight through Ghost’s body.

She caught nothing but an illusion.

However, the name made Ghost hesitate for the briefest moment. She seemed to recognize it, but whatever thoughts crossed her mind were quickly pushed aside. She resumed her escape.

Oreses merely smiled.

She raised both hands and pulled them apart. A chain woven from green and fiery-red runes materialized between her palms.

Then, with the practiced ease of a cowboy lassoing a runaway calf, she swung the chain forward.

It whipped around Ghost’s waist and cinched tight.

Ghost ignored it and continued trying to phase through the wall.

Then came a solid, unmistakable thunk.

Instead of passing through the barrier, she slammed into it face-first. Her body bounced away, wavered for a moment, and collapsed flat on the floor.

Only then did Oreses tighten her grip on the chain.

She began dragging Ghost toward the group, one slow pull at a time.

Peggy hurried forward and carefully helped the agent into a chair. She removed the sealed helmet, revealing the attractive face of a Latina woman.

But the most noticeable feature wasn’t her face.

It was the enormous purple bump swelling on her forehead.

Ghost had managed to find the one wall in the room she couldn’t pass through.

And she’d hit it at full speed.

...