Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

Evenson regretted everything.

He regretted it deeply.

Why, after thousands of years of warlock history, had none of the great masters ever developed a spell for rewinding time?

And why hadn’t he borrowed the Time Stone from the Sorcerer Supreme the last time he’d had the chance?

Unfortunately, neither option was available now.

There was no point trying to bring the previous conversation back up, either. Evenson had no problem swallowing his pride, but Claire certainly wouldn’t agree to it. And, honestly, he had to admit that the laboratory probably wasn’t the best place for that sort of thing.

They weren’t some old married couple who could be casual about everything.

Never mind.

They had plenty of time ahead of them.

He’d just have to wait.

Evenson swallowed his regrets and forced his attention back onto the tiny amount of blood in front of him.

Time to work.

He didn’t bother with the laboratory’s high-tech equipment.

For one thing, most of it probably wouldn’t give him the information he actually wanted.

For another...

He had no idea how to use half of it.

The equipment was cutting-edge technology, the sort of machinery that belonged in the laboratories of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best scientists.

The only thing Evenson could confidently operate was a microscope.

And even then, he was fairly sure he could distinguish a nucleus from cytoplasm.

As for the cell wall...

Wait.

Did human cells even have cell walls?

Probably not.

Better to stick with what he knew.

Evenson placed one finger over the mouth of the test tube, sealing it.

Then, with careful control, he injected a tiny amount of fel energy into the blood.

Nothing happened immediately.

The blood resisted.

Only after the fel energy had remained inside it for some time did the liquid slowly begin changing color.

Green.

Evenson’s eyes narrowed.

Impressive tolerance.

He lifted the test tube and held it up to the light.

This wasn’t his first time exposing human beings to fel energy.

He’d experimented on plenty of disposable subjects in the past, including those unfortunate fools he’d force-fed blood from a pit lord.

And there had been more recent cases.

Peggy Carter.

Melinda May.

The disposable subjects had received no special treatment. The fel energy had simply overwhelmed them, twisting their bodies into something barely recognizable as human.

Peggy had been given the heart of a Doomguard, turning it into a seemingly endless source of fel energy. Even with Evenson and the Eredar twins helping stabilize her transformation, she’d developed several demonic traits.

For a Demon Hunter, however, those changes were normal.

Even beneficial.

Melinda’s transformation had been handled much more carefully.

Evenson had adjusted the process deliberately, administering it in stages and batches. Most of her power came from the Hellfire of the Ghost Rider, while the amount of fel energy involved was comparatively tiny.

Even so, her fingernails and the tips of her hair had turned green.

And, apparently, she’d gotten a little younger in the process.

But this blood was different.

The amount of fel energy Evenson had already introduced into the sample was greater than what he’d used during the first stage of Melinda’s transformation.

Under normal circumstances, with Evenson not deliberately suppressing its effects, that much fel energy should have transformed the blood into something barely distinguishable from demonic ichor.

It should have become thick.

Viscous.

Reeking of sulfur.

Instead, it had only just turned green.

That meant the blood possessed an extraordinarily high resistance to fel energy.

More importantly, it could withstand much greater concentrations without undergoing structural corruption.

The principle was simple.

A powerful pit lord could absorb enormous amounts of fel energy without immediately undergoing drastic physical changes. It took staggering quantities to force a creature of that caliber to mutate.

A weak demon, on the other hand, could be twisted by a comparatively small amount.

This blood belonged in the former category.

"What a treasure."

Evenson’s eyes gleamed.

"And exactly what I needed."

He carefully extracted all the fel energy from the sample.

Then he held the test tube toward Claire.

"Want to give it a try?"

A proper experiment required more than one set of observations.

Claire answered with an icy snort.

"Hmph."

She turned her head away.

After the misunderstanding he’d just put her through, she was still mortified.

And what had he done afterward?

Nothing.

He’d completely ignored her and spent all that time fussing over a vial of blood.

Now he suddenly remembered she was there?

Forget it.

"What’s wrong?" Evenson asked.

"This is actually pretty interesting."

What are you upset about?

I’m the one who lost out here. I’m the one still regretting it.

Claire turned back toward him.

Her expression was cold and serious.

"Evenson, answer me something."

"Sure."

"Are we actually dating?"

"Of course."

He answered without hesitation.

Claire stared at him.

"Then why don’t I feel like we’re dating?"

She climbed down from the table where she’d been sitting and walked over to him.

"I know you love me. I can feel that. I..."

She hesitated.

"I feel the same way."

Her expression softened, but only slightly.

"It’s just that sometimes it doesn’t feel like we’re in a relationship. It feels more like we’re really good friends."

Evenson scratched his head.

"The feeling of being in love?"

He gave an awkward shrug.

"Honestly, I don’t know what that’s supposed to feel like. I’ve never experienced it before."

"It’s..."

Claire struggled for the right words.

"It’s supposed to feel like getting struck by lightning, I think."

Evenson’s expression brightened.

"Then maybe the next time Thor visits, we can ask him to help set the mood."

Claire gave him a look.

Evenson smiled.

He was joking.

Then his expression became more serious.

"But if you’re talking about romance, roses, cheesy lines like something out of a television drama..."

He shook his head.

"Sorry. I don’t know how to do that. Those tricks are for picking up women."

He reached out and took one of Claire’s hands.

Then he looked directly into her eyes.

"But you?"

His voice softened.

"I don’t think of you as someone I’m trying to impress."

"I think of you as my partner for the rest of my life."

"My one true love."

Claire froze.

It was as if someone had just run an electric current through her.

She pulled her hand back with a tiny tremor and turned away, covering her burning face.

And he says he doesn’t know how to be romantic.

That was more than enough.

"Now can you come help me?"

Evenson wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Hmph!"

Claire still managed another snort, but the tone had changed completely.

One sentence and he’d already won her over?

Where was her dignity supposed to go?

Evenson thought for a moment.

"I heard that game you’ve been playing released a whole new skin set."

Claire’s body gave the tiniest twitch in his arms.

"I could buy it for you."

"Tch."

She tried to sound unimpressed.

"I don’t need you buying things for me. I have my own money."

And she wasn’t exaggerating.

Her private wealth in the Sanctum alone was considerable. Then there was the revenue from the little shop she ran, which regularly dwarfed Evenson’s earnings.

"But I have connections."

Evenson smiled.

"I can use my S.H.I.E.L.D. credentials to get you one of the collector’s edition skins from the convention lottery."

Claire’s eyes widened.

"Th-that..."

She abruptly broke free of his embrace.

"Fine!"

She turned toward him.

"What do you need me to do?"

Evenson nearly laughed.

One skin set.

That’s all it takes.

Where am I supposed to find another bargain like this?

"Can you use magic to extract this blood from the test tube?"

Claire looked at the sample.

Then at him.

Evenson handed over the vial.

His experiment was finally moving forward.

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