Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

"I obviously know that name. He’s a member of the World Security Council."

Evenson said it naturally enough.

He knew Gideon Malick, of course.

More importantly, he’d been hoping for an opportunity to meet the man for quite some time.

"This assignment was actually his request," Fury said. "Though he’s not a council member anymore. He resigned after the Battle of New York."

Evenson’s knowledge of Malick’s public identity didn’t surprise Fury. Anyone who paid even a little attention to current affairs would have heard of him.

"So he’s basically retired?"

There was something strange in Evenson’s tone.

"Then what authority does he have to assign work to S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"That’s not quite how it works."

Fury shook his head.

"The council made some disastrous decisions during the Battle of New York. They nearly turned a bad situation into a catastrophe."

"Malick resigned and took responsibility for the whole mess."

That alone had earned him considerable goodwill from the other council members.

"And someone like him isn’t going to sit around doing nothing. After stepping down from the council, he became an adviser to the President of the United States."

"So S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t exactly afford to refuse him."

Evenson already knew the answer.

The World Security Council had been S.H.I.E.L.D.’s direct superior.

The U.S. government, meanwhile, had been one of the organization’s most important patrons before S.H.I.E.L.D.’s transformation. Funding, facilities, political support...

And there was still the small matter of Fury borrowing a multibillion-dollar research project from the government to study the Tesseract, only for the entire operation to end in disaster.

That particular mess still hadn’t been completely explained.

So antagonizing someone like Malick wasn’t exactly wise.

"I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t do favors."

Evenson turned his head and deliberately put on a disappointed expression.

"We don’t do favors during missions."

Fury sounded mildly embarrassed.

"But this isn’t technically a mission."

He paused.

"It’s an... invitation."

"An invitation?"

Evenson’s eyes widened.

"From him? To me?"

He put on an expression of genuine astonishment.

"I’ve never even met the man. Why would someone like that invite me to his home?"

Inside, however, Evenson wasn’t surprised at all.

If anything, he’d been waiting for this.

Gideon Malick’s public identity was exactly what Fury had described.

His private identity was another matter entirely.

Malick was one of Hydra’s most powerful figures.

His family was almost as old as Hydra itself. The Malick family and several other ancient bloodlines had helped create the organization.

But centuries had a way of reducing great families to footnotes.

The other founding families had disappeared into history.

The Malicks remained.

Gideon was the current head of the family.

He controlled a vast portion of Hydra’s resources and knew the organization’s true history and original purpose.

Most importantly...

He possessed the Key.

Evenson had deliberately told Fury that he could summon creatures from other worlds. Later, while interrogating Loki alongside Black Widow, he’d deliberately brought up the subject again while knowing they were being recorded.

He’d wanted the right people to hear it.

And Evenson had been certain that once Malick learned about his ability, the man wouldn’t be able to sit still.

He’d been right.

During the incident involving the Son of the Devil, Rumlow, another Hydra operative, had already come to verify whether the rumors were true.

And now, barely after Evenson had returned, the invitation had arrived.

"Well..."

Fury thought for a moment.

"Malick has a daughter. Stephanie."

He paused.

"She’s at a good age, very beautiful, and she..."

"Stop."

Evenson immediately raised a hand.

The longer Fury spoke, the more this sounded like a matchmaking service.

"If you’d said this when we first met, maybe I’d have believed you. But now?"

He shuddered.

"You’d be signing my death warrant."

Fury chuckled.

"I didn’t realize you were such a henpecked husband."

"What are you talking about?"

Evenson straightened indignantly.

"It’s called love. You know, something normal human beings experience?"

"Sure."

Fury rolled his eye.

"Love."

He clearly didn’t believe a word of it.

"What I was actually going to say was that the young lady is interested in your magic. She wants you to visit their home and tell her some interesting stories about magic."

"Oh."

Evenson considered that.

Was Malick actually losing his mind?

That was the best excuse he could come up with?

"So you want me to go over there and entertain some rich kid?"

"She’s actually a year older than you."

Fury stood and stretched.

"And Malick has gone so far as to swallow his pride and ask several of his former colleagues to help arrange this. Secretary Pierce has personally approached me about it more than once."

He shrugged.

"I can’t exactly refuse him outright."

"Hmm."

Evenson rubbed his chin.

He remained noncommittal.

Then Fury casually added:

"Your appearance fee should be substantial."

Evenson’s expression changed immediately.

"What?"

He looked offended.

"How can you say something like that? This isn’t about money."

His voice became righteous.

"Money has nothing to do with it."

He paused.

"How much money?"

Fury rolled his eye.

"Don’t bother pretending. I know exactly what you’re like."

He sat back down.

"Someone of Malick’s stature obviously isn’t going to hand you a wad of cash. That would be terribly gauche."

Fury smiled.

"But consider this. He has approximately $9.2 billion in personal assets."

Evenson’s eyes widened.

"Personal assets?"

"That’s right."

Fury leaned back.

"So what kind of gift do you think a man like that would give someone if he wanted the gift to reflect his status?"

Evenson thought about it.

"That actually sounds pretty good."

The assignment had suddenly become much more interesting.

"Fine. I’ll take it."

He immediately leaned forward.

"When am I going?"

He looked like a man who had just spotted a mountain of money waving at him from across the room.

"Don’t get ahead of yourself."

Fury looked him up and down.

"First, we need to deal with Coulson’s situation. You also need to rest."

He pointed at Evenson.

"And dress properly before you go."

"You’re not visiting the neighbors for coffee. You’re being invited into the home of one of the country’s elite."

"Fair point."

Evenson nodded.

He considered the purpose of the visit.

Maybe he really should put some effort into his appearance.

"But..."

Fury took a slow breath.

His eye settled on Evenson.

"Once you get there, how are you planning to handle it?"

Evenson looked at him.

Fury continued.

"I’ve given you the official explanation, but you don’t seriously believe Malick invited you over because his daughter wants to hear stories about magic, do you?"

His voice became more serious.

"You know what he’s really after, don’t you?"

Evenson stiffened.

For a split second, he wondered whether Fury had somehow discovered Malick’s true identity.

No.

That wasn’t what Fury meant.

He was talking about something else.

"I know."

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