New Mission

Evenson realized he had made another mistake. It was not that his hidden identity had been exposed, or that he had said something wrong and aroused suspicion. Nothing that serious—it was mainly an issue of personal conduct.

The case was more or less over at this point. As for when it would officially be closed, that depended on how long Simmons and Fitz needed to piece the Berserker Staff back together with superglue.

Strictly speaking, this had nothing to do with Evenson anymore. Yet he did not leave at this juncture, mainly because it was already late. Coulson said that since it was this late already, their group might as well stay, find a local hotel, have a good meal, spend the night, and discuss the return trip afterward.

When Evenson saw the situation, he figured he could not leave either! Before coming here, he had been performing rites for someone. The ritual was supposed to last seven days, but after Coulson and the others barged in, it had ended in half a day. That was a lot less money in his pocket. Besides, he had come all this way to help them with their mission, offering ideas, putting in effort, and worrying himself sick. Their mission was over and they were holding a celebration dinner—there was no way he was going to quietly slip away. He was not that noble, okay?

So there was no way he would miss out on a luxury suite and a delicious dinner. Coulson and the others were quite generous too; after all, it was public money. So they booked an entire floor of a five-star hotel in Norway's capital. Well, a five-star budget hotel!

That was the general idea, anyway. The food was quite good, but someone was in no mood to enjoy