Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

"I’m warning you in advance."

Evenson wore an unusually serious expression.

"Lady Sif is one of Prince Thor’s closest companions, and Odin himself considers her a suitable future queen of Asgard."

He leaned across Fury’s desk.

"So don’t get any funny ideas."

"No dissecting her."

"No drawing blood."

"No secret experiments."

"Absolutely none of that."

Nick Fury stared at him.

One corner of his mouth twitched.

After several long seconds, he finally said,

"...What exactly goes through your head all day?"

"Do I honestly strike you as that kind of person?"

He folded his arms.

"If I wanted biological samples, I’d just collect a few strands of hair from her comb."

"If I needed skin cells, I could recover them from bathwater."

"And if I really wanted blood..."

He paused thoughtfully.

"...When women have their monthly..."

He looked at Evenson.

"Do Asgardians even menstruate?"

Evenson froze.

...That’s disturbingly thorough.

"I..."

He rubbed his chin.

"I assume so?"

Come to think of it...

Sarah did have a recurring monthly expense in the household budget for certain... necessities.

If demons had biological cycles...

Surely Asgardians did too.

Then another thought occurred to him.

He looked at Fury.

"You know..."

"If someone actually collected biological samples that way..."

"There’s basically no difference between a scientist and a serial creep."

"..."

Fury opened his mouth.

Closed it again.

He hated admitting it.

The kid had a point.

"Anyway."

Fury cleared his throat and sat back behind his desk, his joking demeanor disappearing.

"Let’s return to the real issue."

"Frankly, I’m far less interested in the anatomy of a single alien than I am in communication between two civilizations."

He spread his hands.

"Lady Sif is here because of an accident."

"But that accident gives us something invaluable."

"A window."

"A window between Earth and Asgard."

"The question is..."

"How do we open it correctly?"

Evenson blinked.

"Are you seriously asking me?"

He pointed at himself in exaggerated disbelief.

"A decision that could influence the future of human civilization..."

"And you’re asking my opinion?"

"I’m honored."

"You’re S.H.I.E.L.D.’s consultant for extraordinary affairs."

Fury shrugged.

"This falls squarely within your responsibilities."

"And it isn’t only me."

"The World Security Council wants your assessment as well."

"Me?"

"The Council?"

Evenson laughed.

"When did I become that important?"

"In most fields?"

"You aren’t."

Fury smiled faintly.

"But when it comes to Asgard..."

He reached across the desk.

With a flick of his hand, several holographic images appeared in the air.

"I had Stark install this projection system."

"I’ll admit..."

"It’s surprisingly useful."

Evenson watched Fury operate the holograms with unmistakable satisfaction.

Useful, sure.

But mostly you just think it makes you look cool.

His attention shifted to the floating images.

Every one of them featured him.

There was footage of him greeting Thor using formal Asgardian protocol.

Another showed him instantly recognizing that Loki had manipulated Phil Coulson’s perceptions.

Some images came from surveillance cameras.

Others...

Had been taken deliberately.

Evenson studied the camera angles for a moment before smiling knowingly.

"Melinda."

Fury nodded.

"Don’t blame her."

"She was doing her job."

"And when I assigned her to accompany you..."

"You already understood why."

"No, no."

Evenson waved him off.

"I’m not upset."

"If anything..."

He smiled faintly.

"I owe her."

He looked directly at Fury.

"I assume she told you everything."

"The demon."

Fury leaned back with a weary sigh.

"To be honest..."

"Until recently, I never imagined demons actually existed."

"A few weeks ago," Evenson replied, spreading his hands, "a living god descended onto Earth."

"Adding demons to the list shouldn’t be that shocking."

Fury chuckled dryly.

Over the course of a single month...

Gods.

Demons.

Ancient realms.

Magic.

Every new revelation chipped away at the worldview he’d built upon science and intelligence reports.

"Many myths exist for a reason."

Evenson’s tone became more thoughtful.

"If I were you..."

"I’d establish an entire department dedicated to researching the supernatural."

He lowered his eyes.

"Since Melinda already reported everything..."

"You know what happened during my first fight against Ghost Rider."

Fury nodded silently.

"I was exhausted."

"Running out of options."

"Melinda drew her pistol anyway."

"Not because she thought it would kill Ghost Rider."

"But because even a few seconds of distraction might save my life."

He smiled.

"She knew."

"So did I."

"If Ghost Rider had wanted to kill her..."

"It would’ve taken him less than a heartbeat."

"She risked her life to buy me time."

He looked toward the window.

"Whether she did it because of duty..."

"Or because of the mission..."

"It doesn’t matter."

"I owe her."

Fury didn’t answer immediately.

"...I see."

His voice remained calm.

Inside...

He couldn’t have been happier.

Previously, Evenson had cooperated with S.H.I.E.L.D. largely out of practical interests.

Mutual benefit.

Political protection.

Financial compensation.

Now...

One of his agents had stood beside Evenson in a life-or-death battle.

That created something far stronger than contracts.

Trust.

"Don’t worry too much about Mephisto," Evenson continued.

"Johnny Blaze kept the Spirit of Vengeance."

"As long as that’s true..."

"Mephisto won’t be causing much trouble on Earth for at least another century."

He deliberately emphasized Mephisto.

Other devils...

Those were someone else’s problem.

Fury nodded.

"Let’s return to Asgard."

"After everything happened, the Council consulted nearly every leading expert on Norse mythology."

He laughed softly.

"The results were... disappointing."

"Most of them simply opened the Poetic Edda and started retelling myths."

"There was only one scholar whose analysis contained anything genuinely useful."

"But it wasn’t nearly enough."

One expert?

Evenson’s eyebrows rose slightly.

Interesting.

"So we reached an unexpected conclusion."

Fury dismissed the holograms with a wave.

"The person who understands Asgard better than anyone else on Earth..."

He looked straight at Evenson.

"...is you."

"If we aren’t going to ask for your advice..."

"Whose should we ask?"

Evenson almost smiled.

Since you’ve asked so sincerely...

I suppose I’ll graciously enlighten you.

The ridiculous thought remained safely inside his head.

Instead, he simply cleared his throat.

"I’ll do what I can."

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