Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

"To protect the world from destruction."

"To preserve peace."

"To uphold freedom and justice."

Evenson’s voice rang through the quiet apartment.

"Peggy Carter..."

"Are you willing to fight once more?"

"Are you willing to stand beside Captain America again..."

"...and send Hydra back to hell?"

"I..."

For a fleeting moment, her eyes lit with the fire of the woman who had once led soldiers into battle.

Then the light faded.

"I’m old."

Only two words.

Yet they carried the weight of an entire lifetime.

The enemy she had once defeated had risen stronger than ever.

The man she had loved had returned unchanged by time.

She alone had been left behind.

There were few cruelties greater.

Evenson acted as though he hadn’t heard her.

"Will you fight, Ms. Carter?"

She frowned.

"Didn’t you hear me?"

"I said I’m..."

Her irritation flared.

His first question had stirred old memories.

The second felt like he was deliberately refusing to acknowledge reality.

She stopped herself halfway through the outburst.

"...If I say yes..."

"...what exactly do you expect me to do?"

She assumed he meant offering advice.

Sharing intelligence.

Helping coordinate strategy.

No one could possibly expect an elderly woman in her nineties to shoulder a submachine gun and charge into battle with the Howling Commandos again.

Evenson’s answer caught her completely off guard.

"My position within SHIELD is Special Affairs Consultant."

"That means I possess... special abilities."

"They’re called magic."

He raised a hand before she could interrupt.

"Don’t dismiss it yet."

"Magic exists."

"If you want proof, we can spend weeks discussing it later."

"But right now..."

"...all you need to know is this."

He looked directly into her eyes.

"My magic can restore your youth."

Peggy didn’t scoff.

She had already seen impossible things today.

Instead she asked,

"Like Whitehall?"

Evenson almost looked offended.

"Him?"

"He isn’t even worth comparing."

"The methods he used are so grotesquely..."

He stopped himself.

Peggy naturally assumed he refused to compare himself to Whitehall because the Hydra scientist’s methods were monstrously inhumane.

Evenson, meanwhile, had been thinking something entirely different.

Whitehall’s tricks were amateur hour compared to some of the things practiced by Azeroth’s warlocks.

Seeing her still hesitate, Evenson rose and walked to the window.

His back remained turned as he spoke.

"The last time Steve fought Hydra..."

"He barely survived."

He stared out across London’s rooftops.

"This Hydra is larger."

"Smarter."

"Hidden."

"Do you think he’ll be that lucky again?"

Especially without someone he could trust watching his back.

Peggy fell silent.

She didn’t know the details of Steve’s return yet.

But surviving a plane crash, decades beneath the ice, and awakening alive...

That miracle wouldn’t repeat itself forever.

If Hydra truly controlled governments from the shadows...

Steve wouldn’t just face armies.

He would face assassins.

Saboteurs.

Traitors.

That was never his strength.

He might die before the real battle even began.

"He needs help."

Evenson turned around.

"He needs someone he can trust without question."

"There is only one person who fits that description."

"You."

Peggy’s eyes drifted toward the laptop.

"Steve doesn’t know any of this."

"And neither does little Tony."

She deliberately used the nickname.

Given her age, she had every right to.

Evenson nodded.

"Neither of them knows."

"And that’s intentional."

"Steve isn’t the sort of man who hides his emotions."

"Tony Stark is even worse."

"If either of them learns the truth too early..."

"...they’ll make everything worse."

His hand rested on the laptop.

"Especially this."

The paused image of Howard Stark’s assassination remained on the screen.

"I’ve already uncovered the Winter Soldier’s real identity."

He sighed.

"Honestly..."

"I almost wish I hadn’t."

"It would’ve made things much simpler."

He looked at Peggy.

"Want to guess who he is?"

"You knew him well."

Peggy slowly shook her head.

Evenson answered.

"James Buchanan Barnes."

"Bucky..."

"He never died."

"Hydra captured him."

"They transformed him into their assassin."

"They erased his mind."

"He became the Winter Soldier."

Peggy had no words.

She knew Steve better than almost anyone.

If Hydra ever sent Bucky back pretending to have escaped...

Steve would welcome him without hesitation.

And if Hydra manipulated Howard Stark’s murder into becoming public...

She could easily imagine the disaster that would follow.

Captain America.

Iron Man.

Friends turned against one another before they ever realized who was pulling the strings.

A flicker of determination returned to her eyes.

She truly did need to stay beside Steve.

Someone had to protect him from Bucky.

Someone had to make sure Tony never learned the truth at the wrong moment.

Then another thought struck her.

"Hydra was never particularly good at brainwashing."

She frowned.

"When Bucky was first captured during the war, they attempted it."

"It barely worked."

Steve had snapped him out of it almost immediately.

That wasn’t sophisticated mind control.

"It wasn’t Hydra alone."

Evenson nodded.

"They had help."

"From someone you know."

Peggy sighed.

"Of course I know him."

She thought for a moment.

"Johann Fennhoff?"

Evenson smiled.

"Exactly."

Near the end of the war, the Allies had attempted to use an experimental combat gas that allowed soldiers to fight for days without exhaustion.

The prototype had been catastrophic.

It induced hallucinations, uncontrollable aggression, and total psychological collapse.

The battlefield became a slaughterhouse.

Johann Fennhoff had been the only survivor.

After witnessing every one of his comrades descend into madness, he dedicated his life to revenge against the man responsible for the project.

Howard Stark.

Eventually, Peggy herself had captured him.

His talent for psychological manipulation bordered on supernatural.

With nothing more than carefully chosen words, he had once turned the director of the Strategic Scientific Reserve into little more than a puppet.

"So he was Hydra all along?"

Peggy asked.

"Not when you arrested him."

Evenson shook his head.

"But prison introduced him to an interesting cellmate."

"Arnim Zola."

"The Red Skull’s chief scientist."

"The one Captain America captured."

Peggy closed her eyes.

"What else can I even say?"

"It seems SHIELD never stood a chance."

A long silence settled between them.

Finally, Peggy nodded.

"I’ll do it."

She couldn’t leave Steve alone.

Not with a brainwashed Bucky somewhere in the world.

Not with Tony Stark one revelation away from disaster.

"Excellent."

Evenson let out a quiet breath.

Then his tone became serious.

"There’s one more thing."

"Magic isn’t free."

"Nothing in magic ever is."

"The greater the miracle..."

"...the greater the price."

Peggy nodded.

"I expected as much."

"I can restore your youth."

"I can even grant you strength comparable to Captain America’s."

"You won’t simply advise him."

"You’ll be able to fight beside him."

Her eyes widened.

"Strength too?"

That was even better than she’d hoped.

Protecting Steve personally would become far easier.

And after waiting sixty years for the dance he’d promised...

She had no intention of letting old age steal the opportunity.

"So..."

She met his gaze.

"Evenson."

"What is the price?"

Evenson leaned forward.

"Your eyes."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!