Chapter 916

August 9th. Clear skies.

An excellent day for causing trouble, opening shop, and showing people the way.

The almanac probably didn’t say anything of the sort, but that hardly mattered. For a Warlock, practically any day was suitable for those activities.

There was an unremarkable little curiosities shop tucked away somewhere in New York. I was its owner. You could simply call me the shopkeeper.

Business was slow, admittedly, but whenever I had some free time, I made a point of returning.

This shop was the first place I’d truly been able to call home in this world. It held too many memories to abandon. My car was parked outside, and I’d even hidden some emergency cash beneath the bathroom tiles.

Some things simply weren’t worth giving up.

I leaned against the counter, watching the street through the shop window.

In the past twenty minutes, eight potential customers had passed by. One had come in to ask for directions, two had taken one look at the shop’s interior and promptly fled, and the remaining five hadn’t even bothered to enter.

I wasn’t particularly discouraged.

Business was all about timing. Start too early, and you couldn’t satisfy everyone’s tastes. Wait too long, and the opportunity would burn away.

Life worked much the same way.

Every transaction concealed another transaction.

Years passed, memories accumulated, and eventually everything became a jumbled mess. There were plenty of things I could no longer remember clearly. Sometimes, something unexpected happened and caught me completely off guard.

I thought I’d grown accustomed to that by now.

For the next three minutes, however, nothing happened.

I considered whether I should simply kill the uninvited guests standing in front of me. After all, I had somewhere important to be.

And that was a fact nobody could change.

I was heading to Washington again.

Apart from its reputation as the nation’s capital and the lofty ideals associated with the Founding Fathers, I didn’t have many particularly strong impressions of the city.

Perhaps I should brew myself a potion that would let me forget everything. Something that could wash away these strange, fragmented memories and leave me free of the past.

But some things were difficult to leave alone. Knowing there was something happening and choosing not to get involved was an excellent way to give yourself a headache.

At 1:28 p.m., my phone rang.

I wasn’t sure when I’d developed the habit of leaving it somewhere rather than carrying it around. Phones were disruptive. They interrupted daily life, interfered with business, and even got in the way of a perfectly good train of thought.

I picked it up.

"Hello? Hello? When are you getting here? Have you even left yet?"

Of course.

No concern for my current circumstances. Just another reminder that everyone was waiting for me.

"Go ahead with the plan. I’ll be there shortly."

I slowly lowered the phone.

Then I turned my attention back to the people in front of me, shaking off the dazed expression that had settled over my face.

All right. Enough nonsense.

Evenson had apparently been so startled by the situation that his thoughts had wandered into some rather bizarre territory. Fortunately, his mind had finally returned to the matter at hand.

"Agent Hand..."

He regarded the woman standing before him.

"Now, this is a surprise."

Victoria Hand responded with an unusually philosophical observation.

"Life has a way of surprising us. An unchanging fate would be terribly boring."

The moment the words left her mouth, she felt something was wrong.

Why had she spoken like that?

The tone, the cadence, even the choice of words sounded nothing like her.

Had she somehow caught Evenson’s strange personality by proximity?

That wasn’t important.

What mattered was the phone call he’d just received.

Hand forced the muscles in her face into something resembling a smile. The result was unsettling.

"There’s another operation, isn’t there?"

She leaned forward slightly.

"What are we doing this time? Cleaning up the SHIELD Academy to secure Hydra’s next generation? Eliminating all the independent field teams and cutting off the remaining branches of SHIELD?"

She paused, apparently arriving at another possibility.

"Oh, I see. This time you need to handle things personally. Are we recruiting dangerous criminals from the Fridge to work for us?"

Evenson ignored her questions.

Instead, he slowly walked behind the counter, brushed the dust off a chair, and sat down.

He looked at Victoria Hand with an increasingly peculiar expression.

"Agent Hand, are you actually Hydra?"

He tilted his head.

"Because I distinctly remember you weren’t."

What was going on here?

How had someone he’d considered perfectly reliable suddenly switched sides?

Even if the butterfly effect was responsible for unexpected changes, this was rather excessive.

Hand’s heart skipped a beat, but she maintained her composure.

"I’ve been deeply undercover. I’ve remained dormant for years, without responding to communications or making contact with other members. It’s perfectly understandable that someone in your position wouldn’t know about me."

"I see."

Evenson nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, Agent Hand, that’s where things get awkward."

He smiled.

"You’re Hydra. I’m not."

Silence.

The atmosphere in the shop changed instantly.

Victoria Hand was usually so expressionless that even a slight twitch of her facial muscles was noticeable. At that moment, the corner of her mouth visibly spasmed.

The men accompanying her exchanged bewildered glances.

What the hell?

You were so confident before we came here! You practically convinced us to commit to this operation!

And now you’re telling us you’ve got the wrong man?

After a long pause, Hand finally managed to speak.

"You... don’t need to be so cautious anymore. The message has already been transmitted. Nick Fury is dead. Our victory is practically assured."

She straightened.

"You no longer need to conceal your identity. Show your allegiance. Say it. I know you want to."

Evenson spread his hands.

"Why do I get the impression you’re desperately hoping I’m Hydra?"

He shook his head.

"Relax, Agent Hand. There isn’t a single Hydra operative in this room."

After his initial surprise, Evenson had already worked out what was happening.

Victoria Hand couldn’t possibly be Hydra.

Otherwise, what kind of standing did she have within the organization? Had they really sent her to his shop specifically to expose herself?

That would be absurd.

"How can this be?"

Hand pressed a hand against her forehead.

She staggered two steps, suddenly feeling as though the entire room were spinning.

For someone who had always presented herself as an iron-willed professional, it was an unusually vulnerable display. Very few people had ever seen her like this.

But she was reaching the end of her rope.

Nick Fury’s sudden death. Hydra’s mysterious transmission. SHIELD’s apparent collapse.

One disaster after another had pushed even her formidable resolve toward breaking point.

She had no idea how to stop Hydra.

Then she’d received the news.

Captain America had supposedly betrayed SHIELD and gone on the run. Every available agent was being mobilized to hunt him down.

Yet to Hand, that news had also offered a glimmer of hope.

The man who had defeated Hydra once before could do it again. If anyone could save the situation, it was Steve Rogers.

Her job was to clear the obstacles standing in his way.

But there was a problem.

Only a superhero—or a supervillain—could stop a superhero.

And the greatest obstacle facing Captain America was the man standing in front of her.

Evenson Richter.

In Hand’s mind, he was Hawkeye, the mysterious Clairvoyant, and a wicked Warlock serving Hydra.

She had come to the shop fully prepared to die.

If she could expose Evenson’s true identity, she would eliminate him at any cost, even if it meant sacrificing herself. Removing such a dangerous obstacle would give Captain America a fighting chance.

But this...

This was not the outcome she’d expected.

"You’re really not Hydra?"

After taking a moment to steady herself, Hand looked at Evenson.

He nodded.

"Then how do I know you’re telling the truth?"

"Proof?"

Evenson laughed.

"What do you want me to do? Pull out a certificate proving I’m a law-abiding citizen?"

He leaned back in his chair.

"But if you’re really that desperate for evidence, I can show you something."

Snap.

Evenson clicked his fingers.

Hand blinked.

And suddenly, he was more than two hundred meters away.

She stared at him.

Wait.

Was this shop always that big?

She looked around in bewilderment.

Everything in the shop except the white surfaces had been stretched out of proportion. The walls, the ceiling, the floor—all of it had expanded according to some impossible spatial geometry.

Before she could process what was happening, an enormous force seized her.

She was dragged sideways and slammed against the wall.

Then the wall began to move.

It was almost as though the structure had become alive. The surface slowly swallowed her body until only her head remained outside.

The men who had accompanied her suffered similar fates.

One was swallowed by the floor. Another was pulled into the ceiling. A third found himself restrained by metallic tentacles extending from a suddenly animated chandelier.

Evenson glanced at the unfortunate man.

Wait. Why is that thing trying to put a tentacle in his mouth?

And why does he look so pleased about it?

"Welcome to my magical fortress."

Evenson approached them.

Because the entire space was governed by his spatial magic, his movements were anything but ordinary. He appeared to walk at a normal pace, yet each step carried him roughly twenty meters forward.

"Every corner of this place is filled with magical traps and defensive mechanisms. Coming here to fight me is probably the stupidest decision you could make."

He looked around with a hint of nostalgia.

"Actually, this is only the second time I’ve fully activated the fortress’s defenses. The previous occasion was when I had to deal with the most powerful White Mage on this planet."

Hand, whose body was still embedded in the wall, managed to turn her head slightly.

"And how did that turn out?"

"I’m still alive."

Evenson shrugged.

"Do I really need to explain further?"

He casually waved his hand.

The walls released Hand and her subordinates, returning them to the floor.

"Inside this fortress, I don’t even need to lift a finger to kill you. I could make you disappear without a sound, without leaving a body, and without allowing your souls to escape."

He regarded her.

"How’s that for proof?"

"Acceptable..."

Hand rubbed her aching muscles and nodded.

The most powerful White Mage on Earth had apparently lost to this place.

What chance did she have?

Evenson, however, wasn’t finished.

"But there’s something I’ve been wondering."

He looked at her curiously.

"I’m not Hydra. But what if I were? What exactly were you planning to do about it?"

He spread his hands.

"You know perfectly well how enormous the difference in our abilities is. Determination alone isn’t going to bridge that gap."

Hand sighed.

Then she abruptly threw open her long black coat.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Evenson immediately covered his eyes.

"I didn’t see anything! We can talk about this like civilized people. There’s no need to start stripping!"

Of course, he still managed to peek through the gaps between his fingers.

Something metallic was strapped all over Hand’s body.

Silver cylinders.

Dozens of them.

Evenson lowered his hands.

"Those are bombs?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Even if you planned to blow yourself up and take me with you, that wouldn’t accomplish anything. And judging by the others..."

The men accompanying Hand began opening their coats as well.

Every one of them was carrying the same equipment.

Evenson stared.

"You’re kidding me. You actually brought them?"

He shook his head.

"Still, those things aren’t going to hurt me."

"Of course not."

Hand calmly closed her coat.

"I’ve studied your records. I know perfectly well that conventional explosives wouldn’t be enough. You’ve survived a direct missile strike."

She looked him in the eyes.

"These aren’t bombs. They’re Nova 6."

Evenson’s eyes widened.

"Neurotoxin? Are you serious?"

He stared at her in disbelief.

"Do you have any idea what would happen if word got out that SHIELD possessed a weapon of mass destruction like that? The country we’re standing in could end up at war with you!"

"That won’t happen."

Hand shrugged.

"It’s not that SHIELD might possess such weapons. We actually do."

She spoke with the calm certainty of someone explaining a routine piece of equipment.

"Nova 6. Colorless, odorless, extremely lethal, and fast-acting. There is no antidote, and death is agonizing."

Her expression remained unchanged.

"An ideal solution for eliminating troublesome people."

She continued.

"If you really were Hydra, we would release the gas simultaneously."

"You’d die too."

"We never intended to leave this place alive."

Evenson studied her.

"And you didn’t consider what would happen if the gas escaped? There are innocent people outside."

"I’ve already accepted that I’m destined for hell."

Hand’s voice hardened.

"If sacrificing a few people allows us to eliminate the greatest threat to the world, then so be it."

Evenson chuckled.

"Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work either."

He raised one hand.

"On top of my defensive magic, I know a spell called Unending Breath. Neurotoxic gas won’t affect me. I could walk into a nuclear power plant and breathe radioactive dust, or stand in a vacuum, and I’d still be fine."

He waved dismissively.

"Put those things away."

He genuinely hadn’t expected Hand to go this far.

After a moment, he spoke again.

"Let me be honest with you, Agent Hand. You’re a good agent. You follow regulations, make decisive choices, and have the ability to take responsibility when things get difficult."

He paused.

"But I don’t particularly like you."

Hand looked at him.

"It’s not because you’ve been targeting me. It’s because you’re too convinced that you’re always right."

Evenson’s expression became more serious.

"Whether you admit it or not, there’s a certain arrogance buried deep inside you. You have a tendency to assume that whatever you’ve concluded must be the truth."

He leaned back.

"Eventually, that attitude will cost you. And when it does, the price might be your life."

Hand lowered her eyes.

"I’ll have to think about that."

After everything that had happened, she couldn’t deny that his criticism had some merit.

Her suspicions about Evenson had been based almost entirely on her own analysis. She’d gathered information, drawn conclusions, and constructed a theory.

But the same evidence could just as easily have been interpreted differently.

She’d treated speculation as fact and nearly sacrificed herself because of it.

Perhaps there really was some truth to what he was saying.

Evenson stood up.

"Anyway, I’ve got somewhere to be. I can’t spend the rest of the afternoon playing games with you."

He gestured toward the shop’s shelves.

"Buy something before you leave."

"Where are you going?"

Hand watched as he opened the cash register.

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, and placed it inside the otherwise empty drawer.

"Are you going to help save SHIELD?"

"No."

Evenson closed the register.

"I’m going to stop Hydra."

His answer was cold and straightforward.

For Hand, it was enough.

SHIELD was already beyond saving.

"Since you’ve bought one of my protective charms, I’ll give you a piece of advice."

Evenson looked at her seriously.

"You shouldn’t have shown me those nerve agents. Even after I’ve proven that I’m not your enemy, you should still keep some cards hidden."

He paused.

"Everyone needs something they can hold in reserve. No matter how much you trust someone, never surrender control of your weapons."

Hand studied him for a long moment.

Then she nodded solemnly.

"I’ll remember that."