Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

"Yeah. He’s screwed."

Evenson watched the scene unfolding below from the aircraft and shook his head.

Claire glanced at him. "Huh?"

She had no idea who he was talking about.

Evenson leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Listen, and this stays between us. Melinda holds a grudge like nobody’s business. Every time I mess with her, even a little, she finds some way to get me back for it. And this time, Johnny Blaze completely wrecked her operation."

He glanced around to make sure nobody else was listening.

"With her temper? Yeah..."

Claire finally understood.

"Oh."

She looked down at Johnny, who had returned to his human form, with a trace of sympathy.

Poor guy.

You’re on your own.

A short while later, Rumlow and the rest of the team finally returned from the lower compartment.

They looked exhausted.

Working in a depressurized aircraft while exposed to freezing temperatures and dangerously low oxygen was brutal even for trained agents. For ordinary people, it was practically a death sentence.

They had also dragged Moru back with them.

The priest looked pale enough to have one foot in the grave.

That was partly his own fault. He had been far too outspoken earlier, and then Melinda had gone rogue and damaged the aircraft. Since Moru had already made himself a particularly troublesome loose cannon, the team had decided to keep a close eye on him.

Their solution had been remarkably simple.

Keep him within sight.

So they had hauled him down into the lower compartment with them.

Unfortunately, the aircraft had no spare protective equipment for him. That meant Moru had spent the entire time huddled in a corner, wrapped tightly in his coat while the freezing wind tore through the damaged section.

"I saw my God..." Moru muttered from the floor, staring blankly into space. "He sent angels carrying wine to come and collect me..."

Rumlow couldn’t have cared less.

He walked straight over to Evenson and gave his report.

"The opening underneath wasn’t very large. We managed to patch it with the emergency supplies."

He sighed.

"But it was an emergency repair while we were still in the air. This aircraft won’t be able to stay airborne for extended periods like it used to."

"No big deal." Evenson waved the concern away. "We’ll just land more often for maintenance."

He wasn’t exactly planning to do what he’d threatened Melinda with earlier and strap the Son of Satan onto the aircraft before spending the next month flying around to stall for time.

"Contact the local police and medical personnel. Have them deal with everything down there."

"Yes, sir."

Rumlow nodded.

Then he hesitated.

"About Agent May..."

His tone became noticeably more cautious.

"What do you intend to do about her?"

Rumlow had no idea that Evenson had secretly authorized Melinda’s operation.

From his perspective, Melinda had openly disobeyed the commander and gone off on her own.

That was a serious offense within S.H.I.E.L.D.

Of course, there were exceptions.

If someone had powerful connections and their unauthorized operation produced spectacular results, the whole thing could suddenly be reframed as initiative. Their disobedience might conveniently become evidence of their willingness to take responsibility.

But if they came back empty-handed after making a mess?

Then there was no special treatment.

Rules were rules.

"We’ll deal with it later."

Evenson waved dismissively.

"Everyone’s been working all night. Go get some rest."

Rumlow nearly stared his eyes out.

That was it?

The woman had openly disobeyed his orders. And from the looks of things, she’d even managed to botch the operation.

And Evenson’s response was simply, We’ll deal with it later?

Rumlow suddenly felt a deep and terrible understanding of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s internal discipline.

Apparently, the organization was even more dysfunctional than he’d thought.

The future looked bleak.

It wasn’t until nearly noon the following day that Johnny finally woke up in a hospital bed.

His head felt heavy.

He pulled open his hospital gown and inspected himself.

There were still several bruises and cuts across his body, but nothing particularly serious.

When he’d transformed back into human form while lying on top of a burning car that was actively exploding beneath him, he’d inevitably taken a beating.

His supernatural constitution had repaired most of the damage by now.

Unfortunately, healing didn’t mean the pain had vanished.

Johnny grimaced.

After frightening away the pretty young nurse watching over him, he stole several bottles of sedatives, changed back into his leather jacket, and prepared to leave.

He didn’t make it far.

In the hospital corridor, he encountered Nadia.

She had been brought in for treatment after the previous night’s events and was preparing to leave as well.

Something about her immediately caught Johnny’s attention.

Maybe it was the fragments of memory still lingering from the night before.

Maybe it was the Rider’s instincts buried inside him.

Whatever the reason, Johnny knew one thing.

This woman wasn’t ordinary.

Ignoring the pain in his body, he limped after her.

Unfortunately for him, Nadia was a woman who had lost her child.

That alone had left her hyper-alert.

Years of being hunted had made her even more paranoid. She had survived by assuming danger could appear anywhere, at any time.

Johnny’s attempt at following her was nowhere near subtle enough.

After a few turns through the corridors, Nadia suddenly spun around and aimed a gun directly at his head.

"Who sent you?"

Her voice was sharp and hostile.

"The Devil? Are you working for the Devil? Answer me!"

Johnny wasn’t particularly intimidated by the pistol.

A short while ago, someone had blasted him with an aircraft cannon for an entire minute.

Compared to that, this barely qualified as threatening.

"That child," Johnny said. "Danny. He’s your son, isn’t he?"

Nadia’s expression hardened.

Her finger tightened around the trigger.

"If you’re one of the Devil’s people, more bullets won’t hurt you anyway."

She kept the gun trained on his head.

"But right now, one shot is all I need. Give me one reason I should trust you."

"You shouldn’t."

Johnny looked miserable enough to be halfway dead already.

"But if I can’t find your son, I’m finished too."

Not everyone could suppress the Spirit of Vengeance forever.

Johnny already understood what would eventually happen if he lost control.

The Rider would completely consume his personality and take his place.

This might be his only chance to prevent that from happening.

He wasn’t going to waste it.

Perhaps it was the sincerity in his voice.

Perhaps it was the fact that he deliberately allowed Nadia to keep the gun pressed against his head.

Whatever the reason, she finally lowered the weapon.

Johnny had barely begun to relax when he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

His instincts kicked in.

He turned.

He didn’t even have time to see who was coming.

A furious roar erupted behind him.

Then a fist slammed into his face.

Bang!

The blow was brutal.

Johnny’s head snapped sideways and crashed into the car beside him.

His vision immediately blurred.

Before he could recover, someone grabbed his head with both hands.

A knee drove straight into the front of his face.

"Gah!"

The attacker didn’t stop.

Three vicious kicks slammed into Johnny’s ribs in rapid succession.

Then came one final kick that sent him sprawling forward.

Only then did the assault stop.

Nadia stared in shock.

"What are you?"

Her gun came back up.

"Are you with the Devil?"

She couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed.

Johnny was a huge, powerful man, yet the woman standing in front of her had beaten him down with frightening ease.

And every strike had been vicious enough to kill.

"I’m Melinda May, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

The woman who had just beaten Johnny into the pavement calmly straightened.

"I was sent to handle the matter concerning your son."

It was indeed Melinda.

After last night’s battle, she’d naturally ended up at the same hospital.

But unlike Johnny and Nadia, she wasn’t exactly someone the hospital staff could keep tabs on.

Her position gave her plenty of freedom.

She had been quietly observing Nadia from the shadows.

Then she’d happened to run into Johnny in this secluded area.

And, well...

She’d lost her temper.

"What?"

Nadia stared at her.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.? You people are investigating this too?"

She looked genuinely stunned.

Somehow, the entire situation felt like the wrong organization had wandered into the wrong story.

"S.H.I.E.L.D..."

A voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Is everywhere."

Nadia froze.

She spun around.

A blond man in a black coat was standing directly behind her.

"I’m Evenson Richter."

He produced his identification and held it up.

"I’m the commander of this S.H.I.E.L.D. operation."

He then extended a hand with impeccable courtesy.

Nadia was still full of questions, but she cautiously shook it anyway.

Then—

"Ow!"

She immediately yanked her hand away.

Her eyes widened as she inspected the back of it.

"You hurt me."

"I’m sorry. My apologies."

Evenson smiled apologetically.

At the same time, with practiced subtlety, he slipped a tiny vial of blood out of sight.

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