Chapter 839

By this point, whether Coulson could remember the secret of Tahiti hardly mattered.

Raina already understood the crucial factor behind the Death Soldier program—and resurrection itself.

The soul had to return.

That was the piece Hydra’s research had never managed to solve. They could restore a dead body to working order, but without its soul, they were only creating an extraordinarily convincing corpse.

Even so, Raina had deliberately manipulated Coulson into lying down inside the machine and dredging up those memories.

The memories themselves were no longer important.

The process was.

That was the test Nahash had given her.

Nahash was immensely powerful, but he still fell short of Mephisto’s level. If he wanted to remain active in the mortal world for an extended period and accomplish the work he’d left unfinished, he needed a vessel.

Preferably a good one.

He wasn’t some desperate spirit willing to possess the first body that happened to wander past. Nahash had standards.

It was like choosing clothes. Give him something comfortable and well-made, and he’d gladly wear it. Hand him a filthy, ill-fitting rag and he would have some objections.

Raina, fortunately, had passed inspection.

She was attractive, for one thing. More importantly, their temperaments were remarkably compatible.

They were both liars.

Professional-grade liars.

Still, Nahash believed in testing before committing. He wanted to see whether Raina could break Coulson’s resistance using nothing but words.

No threats.

No force.

No supernatural coercion.

Just manipulation.

Raina had no choice but to play along. Being possessed by a demon hardly sounded like a promising career opportunity, but when Nahash first revealed himself, he’d slaughtered everyone else in the room and left her alive.

That had to mean something.

Most likely, he saw potential in her.

If she refused—or stopped being useful—she suspected she would quickly join the others.

As it turned out, she had more than enough talent to justify his interest.

She hadn’t merely passed.

She’d finished early.

Coulson lay unconscious beneath the machine, his mind buried deep in its artificial reconstruction of his memories. Every so often, he muttered something incomprehensible.

"Director, which style of eyepatch do you prefer? Wearing one over your eye is terribly unfashionable. We’re spies, not pirates..."

Raina blinked.

"What is he talking about?"

"Probably some memory from his past," Nahash replied from inside her mind. "Interesting machine you’ve got here. It’s reconstructing the gaps in his memory, but the side effect is that it’s dramatically increasing his recall. Little things that should have faded over the years are now being brought back with perfect clarity."

"Though judging by what he’s saying, I suspect some of these thoughts never actually made it out of his head."

"Director, you’re very brave. You lost an eye and still refused to surrender to aliens..."

"See?" Nahash said smugly. "Exactly what I meant. Who actually says something that embarrassing out loud?"

Coulson’s expression suddenly twisted.

"No, Director! I don’t want a cat! I’m allergic to cats! No matter what you say, I am not adopting it!"

Nahash paused.

"Actually, that one probably did happen."

Raina sighed.

"Honestly, this feels incredibly strange."

"Because you’re invading someone else’s privacy and beginning to feel like a pervert?" Nahash asked. "Or because you discovered that a painfully serious government agent spends his free time thinking about things like this?"

"No."

Raina’s mood shifted for a moment before settling again.

"It’s because of me. I used to think I’d become... an angel."

"An angel?" Nahash scoffed. "You could become a queen, too. Personally, I think the second option is more realistic."

"You wouldn’t understand."

Raina shook her head.

Then she glanced toward the door.

"Can we leave now? SHIELD won’t take long to find this place. If they arrive before we go, you’ll be finishing your grand ambitions from a prison cell."

Raina was getting nervous.

She’d passed the test. Coulson’s memories no longer mattered. There was no reason to remain in a facility that was almost certainly about to be surrounded.

Nahash, however, was perfectly calm.

"Don’t rush."

"You’re part of an organization now. Your boss sent you here to complete a mission. You failed. Everyone who came with you is either dead or captured, while you’re perfectly fine. Do you really think they’ll welcome you back with open arms?"

"So what?" Raina snapped. "You said Clairvoyant isn’t worth worrying about."

Raina had once admired the Clairvoyant.

Someone who supposedly knew everything and could predict the future was difficult not to admire.

But Nahash had decades—millennia, really—of experience dealing with frauds, prophets, and self-proclaimed oracles. He had repeatedly assured her that the Clairvoyant was simply an exceptionally talented con artist.

That should have been the end of the matter.

"Frauds can still be useful," Nahash said. "And deception is a skill. Don’t underestimate how difficult it is."

"Imagine trying to convince a healthy man that he’s crippled. You can’t simply point at his perfectly good legs and tell him they’re useless. He won’t believe you. A convincing lie requires preparation, credibility, and enough truth mixed in to make the falsehood stick."

"This Clairvoyant managed to construct a deception on a massive scale. He even convinced someone as intelligent as you."

"That alone proves he’s competent."

"And competent people have value."

Raina narrowed her eyes.

"You want to meet him?"

The thought immediately made her suspicious.

The Clairvoyant was obviously a successful liar, and Nahash wanted to meet him. Was he planning to abandon her and possess the Clairvoyant instead?

What a shameless snake.

"Don’t overthink it."

Since becoming her passenger, Nahash had become disturbingly good at reading her thoughts.

"His deception is elaborate, but his actual methods are crude. Compared with you, he’s not particularly interesting."

"Then why do you want to meet him?"

Raina couldn’t quite hide her concern.

At first, she’d been reluctant to become Nahash’s vessel. Now that the arrangement was real, however, the idea of losing him frightened her.

Her entire life had been spent navigating dangerous people.

She had no physical strength and no extraordinary abilities. Everything she’d accomplished had been through intelligence, charm, and deception.

But lies could only carry a person so far.

Every conversation was a gamble. Every mistake could get her killed.

Now she had something else.

A demon living inside her.

It was unsettling.

It was also the closest thing she’d ever had to insurance.

"Pure lies don’t work," Nahash explained. "The best deception is built on truth."

"This Clairvoyant convinced people that he genuinely knows everything. And apparently he has enough real information to make the illusion convincing."

"That means he has access to an impressive intelligence network."

"You need that information?"

"Exactly."

Nahash’s voice became slightly irritated.

"I spent a long time infiltrating SHIELD while using Coulson’s identity. I used his credentials to search for information about something I need."

"I found nothing."

"So a man with an extensive intelligence network might possess the information I’m looking for."

He paused.

"After all, every snake has its own path through the grass."

Raina blinked.

"Is that actually how the saying goes?"

"I’m a snake. I prefer my version."

"Fine."

Raina looked down at the half-eaten green apple in her hand.

"And I have no objections to sitting here waiting to be captured either. But could you please stop talking?"

Her voice cracked.

She glanced at the pile of apple cores surrounding her feet.

"I’ve eaten thirty apples while we’ve been having this conversation. If I smell another apple, I’m going to throw up."

"You’re lucky."

"I used to swallow them whole while I was inside Coulson."

Raina stared at him.

"His digestive system must be incredible."

Meanwhile, SHIELD’s search for Coulson had finally produced a breakthrough.

They had Skye to thank.

After being thrown off the plane, Skye had relied on years of experience navigating the criminal underworld and managed to pose as a SHIELD agent long enough to exploit a wealthy man’s computer.

From there, she’d traced the finances of the Centipede organization.

They had purchased property in the desert.

A false town.

Coulson’s current prison.

The moment Skye reported her findings to Melinda May and the others, however, Victoria Hand received intelligence of her own.

A Centipede laboratory had suddenly become active.

The two reports pointed to completely different locations.

Hand trusted her own intelligence more.

She prepared to lead a strike team to the laboratory.

May trusted Skye’s information.

Neither side could convince the other, so they split up.

Hand took her people toward the laboratory.

May’s team headed into the desert.

Honestly, both groups were relieved.

Hand had never liked the way Coulson’s team operated, while Coulson’s people were equally unaccustomed to Hand’s rigid command style.

Once Hand had left, Evenson finally stepped out from the side.

"That location matches the information I received."

May’s eyes lit up.

"So we’re almost certain."

"That’s the problem."

Evenson shook his head.

"It’s almost too convenient."

May’s expression hardened.

"Skye’s report came in, and then Hand received completely different intelligence almost immediately."

"Two pieces of intelligence pointing to locations on opposite sides of the country."

"What does that tell you?"

May thought for a moment.

"If we combine our forces and hit only one location, the people at the other will have plenty of time to move."

"The laboratory could be a diversion."

"And the timing is far too convenient."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Someone leaked the information."

Evenson nodded.

"That’s my conclusion."

May’s stomach tightened.

The leak had to have come from someone aboard the plane.

Coulson’s team wasn’t just a special operations unit.

They were family.

They’d saved Coulson.

They’d saved her.

May had trusted every person aboard that aircraft.

And now she had to consider the possibility that one of them was working for the enemy.

It hurt.

But if there was a traitor among them, the traitor had to be removed.

Then another possibility occurred to her.

Hand’s people had also been aboard the aircraft.

Maybe the leak had come from them.

Skye’s investigation had been kept secret, after all. The timing made that explanation possible.

"Black Chapter."

May’s eyes brightened.

"You told them about the situation earlier. Maybe they leaked it."

The explanation was comforting.

And plausible.

Black Chapter was still an unknown quantity to SHIELD. For all she knew, they had an infiltrator of their own.

Or perhaps they’d deliberately leaked the information so SHIELD would chase the wrong target while they dealt with Centipede themselves.

Evenson sighed.

"Believe whatever makes you feel better."

Then his expression became more serious.

"But it’s always wise to prepare for the worst."

May shook her head.

She’d think about the traitor later.

Right now, Coulson came first.

"We’re finally here."

A luxury convertible rolled into the fake desert town.

Skye sat behind the wheel and let out a long breath.

The car had been borrowed—more accurately, acquired through less-than-honest means—from the wealthy man whose computer she’d exploited, so she wasn’t particularly bothered by the layer of dust covering it.

The drive, however, had been exhausting.

She’d gone more than a hundred kilometers.

And she hadn’t exactly been alone.

Skye glanced toward the empty passenger seat.

"Seriously? After I drove you all the way here, you could at least say thank you."

Silence.

"Fine. Don’t say thank you. Can you at least tell me what we’re supposed to do next?"

Nothing.

"You still there?"

She cautiously reached across the passenger seat.

Her hand touched nothing.

Skye stared.

"I’ve been talking to myself this entire time, haven’t I?"

Damn hitchhiker.

He’d claimed he wanted to help rescue Coulson. He’d shown up dressed like he’d walked straight out of a classified military operation, then vanished from the car at some point without so much as a goodbye.

She should have welded the doors shut.

With no better option, Skye climbed out and began creeping toward the town.

She’d barely taken two steps when a voice thundered from behind her.

"You shouldn’t be here!"

A heavily built Centipede soldier in combat gear approached, his expression hostile.

Skye immediately raised her hands.

"I’m lost."

Then she glanced at him.

"Actually, I think you should stop right there."

The soldier froze.

A triangular cluster of red laser dots had appeared on his chest.

The three points climbed slowly upward.

They stopped directly over his heart.

A split second later, a blast of plasma tore through his chest.

The heat cauterized the wound instantly.

He never even bled.

The impact threw him backward.

"Skye!"

May and Ward arrived moments later, pulling up beside her.

May stared at the dead soldier.

"What happened?"

Before Skye could answer, movement erupted around them.

Six Centipede soldiers emerged from different directions.

Ward immediately reached for his weapon.

"I think we should call for backup."

"Evenson?"

Skye smiled.

"I don’t think we’ll need him."

She’d made a new friend on the way here.

As if to prove it, one of the Centipede soldiers suddenly stumbled.

A cable had wrapped around his ankle.

Before he could react, the line yanked him sideways at incredible speed.

Straight toward a sword.

At some point, a strange one-handed blade had been planted upright in the ground.

The soldier hit it like a bullet striking a knife.

The blade passed through him without resistance.

He was cut cleanly in half.

The remaining soldiers froze.

A trap?

On their own turf?

When had someone prepared all of this?

One of them suddenly grabbed his throat.

A strangled cry escaped before he collapsed.

A dart protruded from the wall behind him, its tip still glistening with blood.

The remaining soldiers understood.

There was an invisible hunter among them.

Something—or someone—was picking them off like prey.

They moved closer together, desperately trying to cover one another.

It didn’t help.

One soldier suddenly jerked upward.

A spear had punched through his chest and lifted him off the ground.

Electricity crackled through the air.

A figure stepped into view.

Silver armor.

A full-face metal helmet.

A laser rifle mounted over one shoulder.

The mysterious warrior ripped the spear free and hurled the corpse aside.

May stared at the insignia on his chest.

"Black Chapter..."

The warrior’s voice came through his helmet in a rough, genderless rasp.

"I am Black Chapter’s classified operative."

He paused.

"Predator. Bangalore."

Two wrist blades snapped into existence.

The warrior laughed.

Then he advanced.

The remaining three soldiers exchanged glances.

At least they could see him now.

Their comrades had been slaughtered because they couldn’t identify the attacker.

Now the enemy was standing right in front of them.

Their enhanced bodies should give them the advantage.

They formed a line.

Bangalore raised both shoulders.

Two smoke grenades fired.

White smoke erupted around the three soldiers.

The warrior’s mask flashed red.

Thermal vision activated.

A few seconds later, the battlefield went silent.

All three were dead.