No matter what anyone else thought, Loki was genuinely thrown off.
Nothing about this made sense.
Midgard fears dark magic.
Dark sorcerers hide in the shadows.
If they’re discovered, they’re hunted.
That had always been true.
So why was this Warlock standing shoulder to shoulder with Earth’s heroes?
Had his information become outdated?
Surely humanity hadn’t changed that much in a mere three centuries.
Then again...
Nick Fury wasn’t an ordinary man.
Anyone reckless enough to experiment with the Tesseract would hardly hesitate to employ a practitioner of forbidden magic if it served his goals.
Men like Fury valued results.
Methods came second.
Perhaps he simply didn’t understand what Evenson’s magic truly was.
Loki stepped closer to the glass.
"Very well."
"So they know your magic is... unpleasant."
"But do they know you can summon creatures from beyond this world?"
For the first time, Evenson’s expression stiffened.
Loki noticed immediately.
There it is.
He pressed the advantage.
"That green meteor."
"The burning giant that descended from the heavens to battle the Destroyer."
A satisfied smile crept across his lips.
"You and I both know that wasn’t one of your own magical constructs."
"It came from elsewhere."
"It was summoned."
His smile widened.
"They may know your magic is dark..."
"But do they know you can bring beings from another world into theirs?"
Evenson suddenly looked tense.
A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
His lips trembled.
"...Yes."
"They know."
Loki blinked.
"What?"
"I told them."
Silence.
"...You what?"
Loki simply stared.
Who voluntarily confessed something like that?
Evenson wiped the fake sweat from his forehead and grinned.
"All right."
"That was fun."
The twitch in Loki’s eye returned.
He had been played.
Again.
"One of the foundations of cooperation," Evenson said casually, "is a reasonable degree of honesty."
"I’ve never felt the need to hide that particular secret from them."
His smile sharpened.
"And I’ll tell you something else."
"SHIELD isn’t the only organization that knows."
"Before long..."
"The World Security Council will know as well."
"They’ll know I can summon living beings from another world."
Loki’s expression finally darkened.
His attempt to expose Evenson had accomplished absolutely nothing.
Evenson yawned.
"I think we’re finished here."
"That conversation was disappointingly dull."
He glanced toward Natasha.
"Your turn."
Natasha stepped forward.
"Where’s Barton?"
Far from the Helicarrier, a stealth fighter sliced through the night sky.
Its destination was clear.
SHIELD’s airborne fortress.
Inside the aircraft sat Clint Barton.
Under Loki’s influence, he had become one of the god’s most loyal followers.
A heavily armed strike team filled the cabin around him.
Loki needed expendable soldiers to realize his ambitions.
Fortunately, SHIELD had accumulated no shortage of enemies over the years.
Finding volunteers willing to attack the organization wasn’t difficult.
This operation had even attracted an unexpected ally.
A woman’s smooth, confident voice drifted through the cabin.
"We’re almost there, Mr. Barton?"
"I’ve been looking forward to this."
"Almost," Barton answered curtly.
She stood near the open ramp with her back to him.
A long ponytail reached her waist.
A fitted purple tactical suit accentuated her athletic frame while exposing much of her back, where a large black spider tattoo stretched across her skin.
In one hand rested an unusually designed sniper rifle.
She had approached Barton shortly after Loki’s capture.
Once she proved her identity, Barton never questioned her loyalty.
The organization she’d once belonged to had been fighting SHIELD since long before he was born.
Its successor remained no friend of the agency.
"Excellent."
Her lips curved into a smile.
"I’ve waited a long time to settle old debts with SHIELD."
"And..."
"I’m overdue to reclaim a certain title from my successor."
Inside the Helicarrier, Natasha’s questioning had reached an uncomfortable point.
Loki smiled cruelly.
"When all of this is over..."
"Barton dies."
"I’ll kill him myself."
Natasha lowered her head.
Her shoulders trembled.
She turned away.
It sounded as though she were crying.
Evenson gently patted her back.
"There, there."
"We’ll stop him."
Then he pointed accusingly at Loki.
"Count yourself lucky Sarah isn’t here."
"She’d hang you upside down and whip you for saying something like that."
His attempt at comfort had the opposite effect.
Natasha’s shoulders shook even harder.
"You..."
"You monster..."
she sobbed.
Loki felt immensely satisfied.
At last, he’d managed to land a meaningful blow.
His mood improved enough that he spoke without thinking.
"The real monster..."
"...hasn’t appeared yet."
Natasha instantly stopped crying.
She turned around with a bright smile.
She slapped Evenson’s waiting hand in a perfect high five.
"So that’s it."
"Banner."
"You’re planning to use Banner."
"Thanks."
She spun on her heel and walked away with Evenson, leaving Loki frozen inside his glass prison.
Several seconds later, realization hit.
His face twisted.
If the containment cell hadn’t been suspended nine kilometers above the ocean, he might have tried clawing through the reinforced glass out of sheer frustration.
Natasha immediately contacted Fury through her communicator.
"Director."
"Loki’s target is Banner."
"He’s planning to use him."
Beside her, Evenson remained silent.
He already knew more than Fury did.
Fury understood that Banner was central to Loki’s plan.
What he failed to understand was how Loki intended to use him.
That misunderstanding would lead SHIELD into exactly the trap Loki wanted.
Evenson could have warned him.
He chose not to.
Some lessons couldn’t be skipped.
These heroes were brilliant.
Powerful.
Stubborn.
Each believed they could solve the coming crisis alone.
Only failure would teach them otherwise.
Sometimes unity was forged through conflict.
Sometimes trust required betrayal first.
Sometimes people needed to bleed before they truly fought together.
The price would be painful.
But necessary.
As they walked through the Helicarrier’s corridors, Natasha glanced sideways.
"I heard you can break Loki’s mind control."
"How?"
"I had Melinda hit the victims in the head."
Evenson answered without the slightest embarrassment.
"They were only under shallow mental influence."
"This time is different."
"Barton’s conditioning runs much deeper."
Natasha frowned.
"So how do we free him?"
Evenson considered the question.
"You could still try hitting him in the head."
He nodded seriously.
"It’s fast."
"It’s simple."
"A very physical form of therapy."
...
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