Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

"Melinda, I’m done here."

Evenson finished speaking to the leader of the monks, then, without waiting for an answer, condensed the man’s soul into a soul crystal and slipped it into his pocket.

The man hadn’t exactly been given a choice. Agree, or go to Hell.

Simple.

Evenson left the room and wandered down the corridor as he opened his communicator.

"How’s your end going?"

"We made the delivery," Melinda replied.

"Where?"

"Sokovia."

Evenson had just reached the execution square from earlier. The monks of the temple had all died there, their bodies curled into grotesque shapes. Their flesh had begun to petrify, leaving behind twisted, stone-like corpses.

"Sokovia?" Evenson raised an eyebrow and curled his lip. "That place really can’t catch a break."

"Pretty much."

Melinda hadn’t immediately understood what he meant by that. Then again, a demonic invasion certainly qualified as having a bad year.

Sokovia had been struggling for years. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country had repeatedly sought greater independence without ever quite achieving stability. Its political situation had left the economy in terrible shape, and prolonged periods of conflict had made life there even worse.

So yes.

Calling it unfortunate was putting it mildly.

"When are you coming back?" Melinda asked.

She’d given Sokovia’s troubles only a passing thought. There were plenty of places in the world with problems. Surely Sokovia couldn’t somehow get any worse.

"Things have changed a little on this end," she continued. "It might get complicated."

"Complicated?"

Evenson’s brow furrowed.

Why did everything he got involved with have to turn into a production?

Couldn’t one job just go smoothly for once?

"There are a lot of armed men here," Melinda said, studying the images on her screen. "Roughly a hundred. They’re well equipped, carrying heavy weapons, and they have several armored vehicles."

"And according to our intelligence, more people are on their way. These aren’t ordinary soldiers, either."

"So Locke built himself quite the little army while he was operating in the human world."

Evenson summoned a flame into his palm.

The corpses of the monks caught fire. Flesh melted beneath the heat, collapsing into ash until nothing remained.

A moment later, Moru, Nadia, and the powerless Johnny arrived.

Earlier, the three of them had opposed the monk leader’s decision and been knocked unconscious and locked away as punishment.

Ironically, that had saved their lives.

Otherwise, they would have simply become three more ghosts haunting this place.

Well, two more.

If Nadia had actually been in danger, Evenson probably would have intervened sooner.

"I’ll wait here, then," Evenson said. "I’ll be back shortly."

He ended the call.

The three of them stared at him in shock.

Johnny was the first to speak.

"You came back? What the hell are you doing here? Didn’t you already give up on that kid? You were just going to let everyone else decide whether he lived or died!"

"What?"

Nadia stared at Evenson in disbelief.

She had reacted the most violently when the monk leader had made his decision and had therefore been knocked unconscious first. She had no idea what had happened afterward.

"How could you do that?" she demanded. "Aren’t you with SHIELD? Didn’t you promise that my son and I would be safe?"

"I did promise that."

Evenson remained remarkably calm beneath her accusation.

"Why do you think I’m here?"

His gaze shifted briefly toward Moru.

"I knew from the beginning that these people weren’t capable of handling this."

Moru opened his mouth to argue.

Nothing came out.

The monk leader’s decision had left him cold, and all along, Moru had been the one insisting that Danny would be safest inside the temple.

He had believed it.

He had defended it.

And now his decision had ended like this, leaving him responsible for a disaster he never wanted.

"Danny was bait," Evenson continued. "And that bait successfully hooked the big fish I was looking for."

His voice remained matter-of-fact.

"Now that I’ve found it, I’ll keep my promise."

Moru’s eyes widened.

"Your target was Locke from the beginning?"

The pieces finally clicked into place.

"You were looking for Danny because you wanted to use him to find Locke. You agreed to send Danny to the temple because you already knew Locke could take him from here."

Moru’s voice grew louder as his anger mounted.

"And you came here specifically to make sure Locke’s people succeeded, so you’d know exactly where they were!"

His fists trembled.

"So when my brothers were being slaughtered, you just stood there and watched? You could have saved them!"

Moru might only have been a peripheral member of the organization, and he had disagreed with the monks’ final decision, but thirty years of friendship didn’t disappear because of an argument.

He could have accepted punishing them afterward.

He could even have beaten them half to death himself if they had truly deserved it.

But he had never wanted them dead.

"Correct."

Evenson didn’t even bother denying it.

"As a warlock, the fact that I merely stood by and watched already puts my moral standards above expectations."

Moru’s expression twisted.

"They made the wrong choice. They misjudged the situation and overestimated their own strength. There are consequences for that."

"That price was far too high."

Moru gritted his teeth.

"When they chose to stand against demons, they should have understood what failure would cost them."

Evenson’s expression hardened.

"They knew the risks. They chose to fight anyway. That means they had already accepted the possibility of dying."

He stared directly at Moru.

"And your anger and regret now are an insult to their sacrifice."

Moru trembled.

His head slowly lowered.

They had died defending humanity.

They had died serving their cause.

That was supposed to be an honor.

He should have been proud of them.

Apparently, religious fanatics really did operate on an entirely different frequency from normal people.

"Enough!"

Nadia shouted, cutting through the argument.

She couldn’t care less about the monks anymore.

"If you’ve accomplished what you wanted, when are we going after Danny?"

"Now."

Evenson raised a hand.

A demonic portal tore open beside him.

He had prepared another portal aboard the aircraft before coming here.

"Time’s running out. Let’s go."

"Wait."

Moru suddenly stopped him.

"Shouldn’t we take some weapons with us? There’s an armory here. They’ve got plenty of guns."

Evenson gave him a long, almost affectionate look.

Then he walked through the portal without another word.

Nadia and Johnny exchanged a glance before following.

They both shook their heads at Moru.

What kind of idiot thought they needed to raid an armory?

This was SHIELD.

There wasn’t a firearm in that place they couldn’t find on their aircraft.

Evenson led them through the portal.

When they emerged, however, he discovered that the aircraft had already landed.

It was still operating under stealth.

Evenson stepped outside.

Melinda was waiting with the strike team, concealed on a high ridge overlooking the abandoned ruins below. From their position, they had an excellent view of the entire site.

"You made it."

Melinda didn’t turn around.

She was holding a pair of binoculars, her attention fixed on the people gathered around the ruins.

"Take a look at those people down there. Most of them probably look respectable enough in public."

The corner of her mouth lifted into a cold smile.

"Turns out they’re demon worshippers."

She lowered the binoculars slightly.

"Looks like next month’s execution list just got a few new names."

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