Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

After Natasha effortlessly wrapped Happy Hogan in a leg-scissors takedown, she collected the signed paperwork and left the room as though nothing unusual had happened.

Evenson followed her.

Even if Tony noticed, it wouldn’t matter.

After catching Evenson secretly snapping a photo of Natasha earlier, Tony would naturally assume his newly hired medical consultant had developed a crush on his stunning new assistant.

Besides, Tony’s attention was completely occupied by teasing the thoroughly humiliated Happy. He barely noticed that his doctor had quietly slipped away with his secretary.

Natasha didn’t stop until she reached a private coffee lounge.

The moment Evenson stepped inside, he shut the door behind them with an audible click.

He folded his arms.

"I thought I was the one with no undercover experience."

His voice carried unmistakable amusement.

"You were worried I’d blow your cover."

"And yet you’re the first one to make a mistake."

He shook his head.

"That leg-scissors throw wasn’t exactly something the average office assistant knows."

"Were you counting on Tony being too distracted to notice... or too distracted by you?"

Without turning around, Natasha calmly began preparing two cups of coffee.

"I thought you’d be too busy staring at those modeling photos to notice."

A faint smile tugged at Evenson’s lips.

"I noticed both."

Natasha poured hot coffee into a pair of porcelain cups.

"He was investigating me."

Only then did she look back at him.

"The second I stepped into the ring, I saw him pulling up my background."

"I’m trained to watch everything around me."

"When Happy threw that punch, I reacted on instinct."

"I saw it too," Evenson admitted.

He had also quietly saved one of Natasha’s glamour photos onto his phone.

Purely for Sarah’s future reward.

Definitely not for himself.

"Still," he continued, "Tony didn’t find anything suspicious."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. built your cover identity from the ground up."

"You should have a little more faith in your own organization."

Forging a complete life story was routine work for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Employment records.

Educational history.

Photographs.

Tax documents.

Medical records.

Even if the person had never existed, the agency could create an identity capable of surviving almost any investigation.

Natasha slowly shook her head.

"You say that because you don’t know Tony Stark."

"There are very few things he can’t uncover if he decides to dig deeply enough."

"Especially online."

Evenson couldn’t argue.

Tony’s technical skills bordered on the absurd.

If anyone could uncover inconsistencies hidden inside mountains of fabricated data, it was him.

"I listed mixed martial arts training in my background," Natasha continued.

"So if he stops with a routine investigation, everything checks out."

"But if he decides to investigate seriously..."

She shrugged.

"Whether I slipped today or not won’t make much difference."

She handed him one of the coffees.

"Anything else?"

Her eyes narrowed playfully.

"This is my assignment."

"You seem awfully interested."

She smiled.

"Unless..."

"You really are interested in me."

She punctuated the sentence with a teasing wink.

Evenson looked away with an awkward cough.

Someone’s interested in you.

It just isn’t me.

If Sarah ever succeeds, I wonder whether you’ll survive the experience.

Aloud, he said, "Actually, I wanted to ask about something else."

"The last time Fury spoke to me, he mentioned S.H.I.E.L.D. had a permanent solution for Tony’s condition."

"How’s that progressing?"

Natasha’s playful expression disappeared instantly.

"You noticed something?"

"His condition is getting worse."

"It is."

Evenson nodded grimly.

"He looks healthy."

"He isn’t."

"As far as I’m concerned, calling him terminally ill would be an understatement."

A warlock perceived more than ordinary physicians ever could.

The corruption spreading through Tony’s body had advanced far faster than Evenson expected.

He wasn’t even sure Tony could survive long enough to find a cure.

"And handing Stark Industries over to Pepper..."

He paused.

"Maybe it’s so he can focus entirely on finding a solution."

"Or maybe..."

"You know."

Natasha’s face hardened.

"I do."

If it wasn’t preparation for treatment...

Then it was preparation for death.

Entrusting his life’s work to someone he trusted before it was too late.

"How long?" she asked quietly.

Evenson thought for a moment.

"Two months."

"Possibly less."

"Realistically, someone in his condition should already be confined to a hospital bed."

"The only reason he’s still functioning is because he’s forcing his body to keep going."

"Whatever method he’s using..."

"It’s almost certainly burning through what little time he has left."

Palladium poisoning wasn’t some fantasy curse where you looked perfectly healthy until the exact moment you collapsed.

If Tony still appeared energetic, he was paying for it somehow.

"Less than two months..."

Natasha frowned.

"Our progress isn’t where we’d hoped."

"The timeline is becoming... difficult."

Then she looked directly at him.

"You said you could buy him more time."

"I can."

"But I also explained the price."

Evenson sighed.

"My method steals vitality from one person and transfers it into another."

"It sounds like forbidden magic because it is."

"And if the recipient isn’t a warlock..."

"The side effects can be severe."

"Potentially permanent."

"I don’t want to use it unless there’s absolutely no alternative."

"I know."

"So does Fury."

Natasha lowered her eyes.

"But our options are disappearing."

A dangerous treatment was still preferable to a funeral.

Evenson tapped a finger against the coffee cup.

"Does S.H.I.E.L.D. have anything temporary?"

"A way to stabilize him while searching for the final answer?"

Natasha shook her head.

"Our plan is straightforward."

"Replace the palladium-based Arc Reactor with a new design."

"There isn’t really an intermediate step."

"Maybe there should be."

Evenson leaned forward.

"Tony has found some way to suppress the symptoms."

"Find out what he’s using."

"Let your scientists analyze it."

"Maybe they can develop something that slows the poisoning."

"Even if it’s only temporary."

Natasha’s eyes brightened.

"I’ll report that to Fury immediately."

Then she added,

"But until we know whether it’ll work..."

"You still need to be ready."

Evenson nodded.

"That’s why I’m here."

Tony Stark handled impending death differently than most people.

Most would have locked themselves inside a laboratory.

Or hidden at home, obsessively searching for a cure.

Tony went on vacation.

Morocco.

Evenson sat alone in the dining room of a luxury hotel, idly turning an exquisitely crafted silver fork between his fingers while wondering whether anyone would notice if an entire set of cutlery mysteriously disappeared.

Natasha slid into the chair beside him.

"You’re not going over to say hello?"

She nodded toward another table.

Justin Hammer was doing his best to ingratiate himself with Tony Stark.

It was almost painful to watch.

Justin hated Tony.

He envied Tony.

He resented everything Tony had achieved.

His wealth.

His genius.

His reputation.

Part of him wanted to crush Tony.

Another part desperately wanted Tony’s approval.

It was an oddly pathetic combination.

"I’ll pass."

Evenson watched Tony dismiss Hammer with open annoyance.

"I might accidentally kill him."

Natasha chuckled softly, assuming it was a joke.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had never viewed Evenson as someone who casually murdered people.

In truth...

He had no intention of killing Justin Hammer.

Not yet.

The man still had a role to play.

Suddenly the restaurant erupted with excitement.

Every television switched to a live broadcast.

Tony Stark had climbed into a Formula One race car.

Apparently, he’d decided to race.

Reporters fled the hotel almost instantly.

The exclusive interview Justin Hammer had been enjoying ended on the spot as every journalist sprinted toward the racetrack.

Hammer watched them leave.

His expression darkened.

"You don’t seem thrilled with his schedule," Evenson observed.

"I don’t think racing was on today’s itinerary."

Natasha sighed.

"Tony doesn’t follow schedules."

"He doesn’t like being controlled."

"I’ve noticed."

Evenson smiled.

"Although he usually listens when Pepper asks."

As if summoned by the comment, Pepper Potts suddenly gasped.

Without hesitation she and Happy bolted toward the exit.

Before Evenson could ask what was happening, Natasha grabbed his arm.

"Move!"

She dragged him outside.

As they ran past the television screens, Evenson caught a glimpse of the broadcast.

A man wielding two crackling electric whips stood on the racetrack.

One swing.

Tony’s race car split cleanly in half.

Ivan Vanko.

Whiplash.

By the time they reached the parking area, Pepper and Happy had already driven away with the Iron Man armor.

"They’ve got the suit."

Evenson watched the car disappear into the distance.

"Tony should be fine."

"I hope he survives long enough for it to arrive," Natasha replied quietly.

There was nothing either of them could do.

Their only transportation had just left.

The rest unfolded almost exactly as history demanded.

At the final possible moment, Pepper delivered the armor.

At an even more impossible moment, Tony suited up.

Iron Man entered the fight.

Whiplash proved more dangerous than expected.

His electrified whips deflected Tony’s repulsor blasts before wrapping around the armor itself.

Unfortunately for him, his equipment was crude.

The electrical discharge looked spectacular, but accomplished surprisingly little against Iron Man’s suit.

In the end, Tony overpowered him.

Only after the battle had already ended did the police finally arrive to arrest the unconscious Ivan Vanko.

Someone else had watched the entire confrontation from beginning to end.

Justin Hammer.

His eyes gleamed.

The government had already canceled one of Hammer Industries’ defense contracts after his embarrassing performance during the Senate hearing.

For a businessman like Hammer, government favor wasn’t merely profitable.

It was survival.

Without official protection, men involved in gray-market arms dealing rarely enjoyed peaceful retirements.

Prison was one possibility.

A knife across the throat in a dark alley was another.

He desperately needed to prove his value again.

Building an Iron Man suit seemed impossible.

Until today.

Whiplash had given him hope.

Within days, Justin Hammer spent a fortune arranging Ivan Vanko’s escape from prison.

A substitute corpse conveniently took his place.

Two days later, Evenson watched the evening news.

A Moroccan prison had exploded.

Authorities confirmed that Ivan Vanko had supposedly died in the blast.

Evenson smiled.

The game had officially begun.

He reached out through his mental link.

"Sarah."

"It’s time."

Her cheerful voice answered immediately.

"I’m already here, Boss."

She stepped through the front entrance of Hammer Industries.

Walking to the reception desk, she carried herself with cold professionalism.

"My name is Gillian Valentine."

She placed a business card on the counter.

"Head of Security for Umbrella Corporation."

"I have an appointment with Mr. Justin Hammer."

"Mr. Whitehall arranged today’s meeting."

...

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