"Difficult?" Evenson said, raising an eyebrow. "I’m surprised to hear that. I didn’t expect even you to describe the Sorcerer Supreme as troublesome."
Had he underestimated the Ancient One... or overestimated Mephisto?
Mephisto seemed to read the thought from his expression. He chuckled softly.
"The ones who could deal with him are all trapped in Hell and can’t enter this world. The ones who can enter aren’t strong enough to challenge him."
He shrugged with theatrical resignation.
"A rather inconvenient situation."
"Makes sense," Evenson muttered.
It reminded him of the Burning Legion’s countless failed invasions of Azeroth.
The Titans’ wards surrounding the world prevented beings above a certain level of power from entering directly. The Legion’s greatest commanders were too powerful to cross the barrier, forcing them to rely on cultists, summoned demons, and other expendable servants to establish a foothold. Those weak enough to slip through were rarely anything more than cannon fodder.
Of course, there had been exceptions.
Sargeras himself had once attempted to force his way into Azeroth with the aid of the Scepter of Sargeras and enough forbidden magic to make reality protest.
That hadn’t ended well.
These days, tourists wandered through the Tomb of Sargeras looking for loot.
Some victories echoed for millennia.
Mephisto studied him for a moment.
"You don’t seem to get along with those sorcerers."
"What gave it away?"
If Mephisto already suspected he was a Warlock drawing on demonic magic, there was no universe in which Kamar-Taj welcomed him with open arms.
"Would you like my assistance?" Mephisto offered. "The Sorcerer Supreme is... inconvenient. His disciples are considerably less so."
That wasn’t an empty boast.
The gap between the Ancient One and an ordinary sorcerer was enormous. If Mephisto unleashed a Ghost Rider against Kamar-Taj’s rank-and-file, the results would be catastrophic.
Just as Evenson was about to answer, someone tugged gently on his sleeve.
He looked back.
Melinda met his eyes and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
Don’t.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had agreed to support him if the sorcerers targeted him first.
That did not mean they approved of launching the first strike.
Especially not with the Devil’s help.
"I do need something from you," Evenson said.
Melinda’s heart skipped.
Then he continued.
"But I don’t need you attacking the sorcerers."
She quietly relaxed.
Truthfully, Evenson understood the danger of accepting a Devil’s help far better than she did.
He was absolutely certain of what would happen if Mephisto attacked Kamar-Taj.
The Devil would disappear the instant the job was done...
...and leave Evenson standing alone to face the Ancient One’s wrath.
Devils had terrible reputations, but they weren’t in the habit of taking blame that belonged to someone else.
They would happily fulfill a contract.
They would not cover your tracks afterward.
Keeping a Devil silent required additional clauses, additional conditions, additional loopholes.
And every extra line in a contract was another place where they could ruin you.
Simple bargains were dangerous enough.
Complicated ones were invitations to disaster.
"What do you have in mind?" Mephisto asked with growing amusement.
Negotiating with Evenson had become unexpectedly entertaining.
He felt less like the ruler of Hell and more like an expert salesman trying to satisfy an impossibly picky customer.
"You know about the Sorcerers’ Conclave," Evenson said. "So I assume you’re also familiar with their surveillance network."
"The one built around the three Sanctums," Mephisto replied immediately. "It uses the world’s magical nexus points to monitor unusual mystical activity."
"I know it well."
"It’s incredibly sensitive."
Evenson frowned.
"There was a time when I released the faintest trace of psychic energy without masking it. That alone triggered their detection system."
He still remembered the night Iron Man first appeared.
Driven by curiosity, he’d briefly scanned the city with a tiny pulse of mental magic.
The spell had been weak.
It had lasted only moments.
Even so, Kamar-Taj had noticed.
Then there was the ritual where he had summoned the Twins.
His concealment array had still been partially active when two sorcerers somehow tracked the lingering magical residue to the site.
That surveillance network bordered on obsessive.
It forced him to treat every spell as though someone were watching.
"But tonight..." Evenson narrowed his eyes.
"I fought your Ghost Rider for quite a while."
"The battle produced enough magical disturbance to light up every alarm they have."
"And yet..."
"No one came."
No observers.
No investigating sorcerers.
Not even the familiar sensation of being remotely watched.
The entire confrontation had unfolded as though Kamar-Taj had somehow gone blind.
Which made no sense.
Even if they ignored Evenson...
How could they ignore the return of the Ghost Rider?
Or the appearance of an avatar of Mephisto himself?
Events like those should have sent every master of the mystic arts scrambling.
Unless...
"You and your Ghost Rider have some way of bypassing their surveillance system."
Evenson spoke calmly, laying out his conclusion piece by piece.
"You can cause as much chaos as you like without alerting Kamar-Taj."
He pointed at himself.
"And I was simply fortunate enough to be hidden inside whatever concealment you were already using."
"Isn’t that right?"
Mephisto smiled.
A slow, satisfied smile.
"Heh... exactly."
"I do possess a rather effective method."
"Otherwise those meddlesome sorcerers would never allow my Riders to roam the Earth as freely as they have."
That explained decades of history.
The Ghost Rider had become an enduring legend across the American frontier, appearing again and again for more than two centuries.
If Kamar-Taj truly monitored all supernatural activity, why had they never dealt with him?
Because he only punished criminals?
Hardly.
The Ghost Rider was still an agent of Hell carrying out the Devil’s will.
The Ancient One would never ignore that simply because the victims happened to deserve it.
Nor could strength explain it.
Even if ordinary sorcerers couldn’t defeat a Ghost Rider, the Sorcerer Supreme certainly possessed the means to imprison or banish one.
Allowing such a servant of Hell to wander the Earth indefinitely would make no sense.
There was only one logical conclusion.
Hell had discovered a way to disappear from Kamar-Taj’s sight.
Completely.
Evenson’s eyes lit with genuine excitement.
"How do you do it?"
His voice carried none of the hesitation from earlier.
"Teach me that method."
He met Mephisto’s gaze without flinching.
"That’s my price."
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