The moment Nick Fury asked the question, Evenson nearly coughed up blood.
His gaze darted back and forth between Fury and Melinda May.
"Oh, come on!"
"I get a girlfriend and suddenly this becomes a S.H.I.E.L.D. briefing?"
He pointed dramatically at Fury.
"You."
"The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Then at May.
"You."
"Level Seven Agent."
"I’ve been promoted."
May corrected him calmly.
"Level Eight."
"That is not the point!"
Evenson threw up his hands.
"Shouldn’t you two be worrying about world peace?"
"If you’re that desperate for gossip, go buy a tabloid and read about celebrity scandals!"
Fury waited patiently until the outburst subsided.
Then he smiled.
"Relax."
"Checking on my employees’ personal lives is part of my job."
There was truth behind the joke.
In intelligence work, every weakness could become a weapon.
Money.
Deception.
Blackmail.
Love.
Agents had exploited all of them.
Natasha Romanoff, in particular, had once built an entire career around using human emotion against her targets.
Many people looked down on those methods.
Few appreciated the sacrifices required to carry them out.
Evenson folded his arms.
"I’m a consultant."
"On paper."
"And yet," Fury replied evenly, "you know things some of my senior agents don’t."
He leaned forward.
"Has it occurred to you..."
"...that this woman could be approaching you deliberately?"
Evenson’s eyes narrowed.
He couldn’t tell whether Fury was joking.
Or completely serious.
"Are you?"
Fury met his gaze.
"What do you think?"
Evenson tilted his head.
"I think I should throw a Fireball in your face."
"I really don’t appreciate that accusation."
From a purely rational standpoint...
He understood Fury’s suspicion.
Hydra.
Umbrella.
The secrets Evenson carried would tempt almost anyone.
A cautious intelligence director had every reason to question coincidences.
Emotionally...
It was another matter entirely.
Someone he genuinely liked was being treated as a potential enemy for no reason.
That crossed a line.
Besides...
Why did every woman who got close to him automatically become a suspected spy?
Was his romantic luck really considered that unbelievable?
"Put your professional paranoia away for a moment."
Evenson’s voice turned cold.
"I’m a warlock."
"I can sense hostile intent."
"Claire bears me no ill will."
He stood.
Then, without warning, he struck a dramatic anime pose, miming the draw of an invisible sword.
"Evil..."
"...must be cut down."
Before either Fury or May could react, he smoothly shifted into another exaggerated pose, pointing heroically into the distance.
"A true ninja never abandons his convictions!"
Finally, he spread both hands.
"Would an undercover operative seriously behave like that?"
Silence.
Fury considered the question.
"...No."
"Probably not."
The Director let out a quiet sigh.
His suspicion hadn’t come from evidence.
Only instinct.
And Evenson’s confidence was enough to put the matter aside.
"If that’s everything..."
Evenson spoke stiffly.
"I’ll be leaving."
The casual jokes were gone.
So was the easygoing attitude Fury had come to expect.
The young warlock was genuinely angry.
Fury recognized it immediately.
"...I’m sorry."
He forced himself to speak plainly.
"I shouldn’t have doubted your judgment."
"You apologized to the wrong person."
Evenson’s expression remained unchanged.
Fury nodded.
"Then please..."
"Pass my apology to her."
Beside Evenson, Melinda quietly tugged on his sleeve.
Her eyes clearly said enough.
There weren’t many people on Earth who could make the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. apologize.
Pushing further wouldn’t help anyone.
After a long pause, Evenson nodded.
"...I’ll tell her."
The tension eased.
Barely.
Fury gestured toward the couches.
"Now."
"Let’s discuss why I actually called you here."
"When you first accepted the consultant position," Fury began, "I told you I’d occasionally need your help with supernatural matters."
"You did."
Evenson sat down, though he still looked mildly annoyed.
"Well..."
"I need that help now."
Evenson glanced around the office.
"What?"
"Is the building haunted?"
"Maybe somebody here accumulated too much bad karma."
Fury rolled his eye.
"I already apologized."
"If you keep taking shots at me, it’s going to get old."
May joined in.
"Try being a little more generous."
"Petty men aren’t exactly attractive."
Evenson shot back immediately.
"I don’t think you qualify as ’girl’ anymore."
A vein twitched visibly on May’s forehead.
Even elite agents had sensitive subjects.
Age was one of them.
Especially for someone who’d spent years pretending it didn’t matter.
Evenson quickly raised both hands.
"Fine."
"Truce."
"If I was going to storm out, I should’ve done it earlier."
"Let’s work."
Truthfully...
He was curious.
What could convince the relentlessly pragmatic Nick Fury that something belonged in the category of the supernatural?
Fury activated a projector.
"About two weeks ago..."
"Our satellites detected an object entering Earth’s atmosphere."
"It landed in New Mexico."
"A meteorite?"
Evenson frowned.
"That’s unusual."
"Not supernatural."
The impact must have been relatively small.
Otherwise the news would’ve been everywhere.
Still...
New Mexico.
The name tugged at something in the back of his mind.
"I know it wasn’t a meteorite."
Fury shook his head.
"Our satellites recorded an extremely high energy signature."
"And more importantly..."
"It didn’t lose any mass while passing through the atmosphere."
Evenson’s expression changed.
Now that...
...was strange.
Normal meteorites burned violently during atmospheric entry.
Only the largest survived intact.
For an object to emerge without any measurable loss...
"There are only a few possibilities."
He looked at Fury.
"Alien technology?"
Fury nodded.
"I’d normally send that to NASA."
"So why call me?"
"If we’d recovered a spaceship..."
"A life pod..."
"Or even an alien bomb..."
"I wouldn’t have."
Fury leaned back.
"But this object..."
"...is difficult to explain."
"What is it?"
Without answering, Fury picked up the remote and switched on the office television.
The screen displayed a lonely impact crater in the New Mexico desert.
At its center...
A short-handled hammer stood embedded in the earth.
Evenson stared.
His face slowly became unreadable.
"...Well."
"That certainly makes things interesting."
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