Chapter Summaries

After Ghost Rider survived Evenson’s explosion without a scratch, Evenson identified that Shadow Power could affect him and then used Fel flames to corrode and restrain him. Evenson planned to keep Ghost Rider weakened until dawn, when he would lose his power.

• Melinda told Evenson that S.H.I.E.L.D. would reassess his strength after they returned, and Evenson explained that Ghost Rider was too difficult to kill.
• Evenson learned it was four in the morning, with about an hour until dawn, and Ghost Rider emerged from the crater unharmed.
• Evenson attacked Ghost Rider with pain spells and noticed that Shadow Power disrupted his flames, confirming that it could injure him.
• Evenson turned six streams of fire into green Fel flames, which spread across Ghost Rider and proved difficult for him to remove.
• Evenson concluded that Fel could restrict Ghost Rider’s movements long enough to hold him until dawn.

Evenson fought Ghost Rider, whose Hellfire resisted the Fel energy but could be cleansed only by discarding the contaminated flames. After Evenson’s modified Chaos Bolt missed, Evenson banished Ghost Rider’s motorcycle and faced the Rider alone.

• Evenson’s Fel energy contaminated Ghost Rider, who expelled the affected flames and reignited himself with pure Hellfire.
• Evenson prepared a powerful Chaos Bolt and fired it at Ghost Rider as the Rider charged on his motorcycle.
• Ghost Rider leaped off the motorcycle, and the Chaos Bolt struck the ground, reducing the soil and stones to fine particles.
• Ghost Rider and his motorcycle closed in on Evenson from opposite sides, but Evenson used Banishment to freeze the motorcycle in another dimension.
• Evenson began gathering Magic as Ghost Rider reached him, leaving him one chance to act.

Evenson survived Ghost Rider’s attack and used Demon Transformation to overpower and drain the rider’s Hellfire. He left Ghost Rider unconscious and powerless, then asked Melinda to help him up.

• Evenson was badly wounded by Ghost Rider’s punch, but healed his chest with a Healing Stone.
• Melinda shot Ghost Rider and kept attacking him to protect Evenson, even after Ghost Rider lashed his chain at her.
• Evenson rose and caught Ghost Rider’s fist, then transformed into a demon using Demon Transformation.
• Evenson subdued Ghost Rider with Hug-and-Kill and absorbed the Fel energy and Hellfire from his body.
• Ghost Rider reverted to an ordinary man and fell unconscious, while Evenson ended his transformation and asked Melinda for help.

After defeating Ghost Rider, Evenson and Melinda discovered that the rider was Johnny Blaze and tried to leave before the White Wizards arrived. Their escape was interrupted by Mephisto, who appeared and revived Johnny.

• Melinda helped the injured Evenson to the car, and he explained that he had exhausted Ghost Rider's flames and left him unable to transform for about a week.
• Melinda identified the unconscious rider as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcycle performer, and explained that he had once cost her a month's salary in a bet.
• Evenson warned Melinda that the White Wizards might come looking for them, and the pair prepared to leave.
• Thunder sounded, and an old man appeared; Evenson recognized him as Mephisto, one of the Seven Lords of Hell and the King of Hatred.
• Mephisto tapped his cane on the ground, and Johnny Blaze coughed and slowly awoke.

Mephisto confronted Evenson after Johnny Blaze lost his ability to transform into the Ghost Rider, then proposed making a deal. The chapter ended with Mephisto insisting that Evenson was clever enough to avoid the kind of heartbreak Johnny suffered.

• Evenson warned Melinda not to answer Mephisto, and Mephisto told Johnny Blaze to focus on his assigned mission.
• Mephisto questioned Evenson about his unfamiliar magic and its demonic scent, while Evenson denied being a demon Sorcerer and claimed to be the master of demons.
• Mephisto blamed Evenson for delaying Johnny’s mission, but then said he would not force him to accept responsibility because devils preferred making deals.
• Evenson asked Johnny what he had gained from his deal with Mephisto, and Johnny answered that he had gained heartbreak.
• Mephisto explained that he had cured Johnny’s father as promised, but the man died during a stunt performance that same day.

Evenson refused Mephisto’s offers of power, authority, love, and money, then asked whether the devil knew The Order of Mages. Mephisto recognized it as a mage organization led by someone difficult to deal with, leaving Evenson’s intended bargain unstated.

• Evenson asked whether he could refuse Mephisto’s offer, and Mephisto said he could while urging him to reconsider.
• Mephisto offered Evenson Johnny’s Ghost Rider power and then authority, but Evenson rejected both.
• Mephisto offered to make Melinda fall in love with Evenson, and Evenson emphatically refused.
• Mephisto offered Evenson endless gold, but Evenson declined and asked to choose his own condition.
• Evenson asked Mephisto about The Order of Mages, and Mephisto recognized it as a mage organization with a difficult leader.

Evenson discovered that Mephisto and Ghost Rider could evade the Mages’ surveillance system and asked Mephisto to give him the method. Mephisto had not yet agreed, leaving their bargain unresolved.

• Mephisto explained that the Sorcerer Supreme was difficult to handle because powerful beings in Hell could not enter the human world, while those who could cross over were no match for him.
• Mephisto offered to deal with the Mages, but Melinda warned Evenson not to accept his help.
• Evenson declined to have Mephisto attack the Mages and instead asked about The Order’s system for detecting abnormal magic.
• Evenson reasoned that Mephisto’s concealment method had hidden his fight with Ghost Rider from the Mages’ surveillance.
• Mephisto admitted that he had a way to evade the system, and Evenson demanded that he give it to him as the condition of their bargain.

Mephisto explained how he avoided the Sorcerer Supreme’s magical surveillance and offered to teach Evenson in exchange for help dealing with his rebellious son. Evenson agreed to consider the task only after seeing the contract, while Mephisto assigned reclaiming it to Johnny Blaze.

• Mephisto described the flaws in the Sorcerer Supreme’s surveillance magic and how his knowledge of the world’s Magic nodes let him evade it.
• Evenson asked Mephisto to teach him the method, and Mephisto offered it in exchange for a favor.
• Mephisto revealed that his son had escaped Hell, gathered demons, and tried to seize the Soul of Mephisto Contract.
• Mephisto asked Evenson to help the Rider eliminate his son and reclaim the contract, but Evenson insisted he would do only one of those tasks.
• After noticing the secret of Evenson’s car, Mephisto assigned the contract to his Rider and asked Evenson to help kill his son in exchange for the surveillance-evasion method.
• Evenson said he needed to see the contract before agreeing.

Evenson carefully checked and signed Mephisto’s contract, then delayed fulfilling it until he handled another matter involving Thor’s Hammer. Mephisto realized Evenson had been given full authority over the matter and suspected he worked for Odin.

• Evenson inspected Mephisto’s contract for traps and ambiguities before signing it.
• Mephisto said he would get what he wanted without tampering with the contract, and Evenson asked what he intended to gain.
• Evenson told Mephisto he would fulfill the contract later because he needed to recover and handle another important matter.
• Evenson pointed in the wrong direction when indicating what had fallen, and Melinda corrected him.
• Evenson identified the extraordinary object as Thor’s Hammer and said he had been ordered to handle the matter with full authority.
• Mephisto recognized Odin’s restriction on the hammer and suspected Evenson was working for Odin.

Evenson convinced Mephisto that Odin had entrusted him with recovering Thor’s Hammer, and Mephisto let him go rather than risk provoking Asgard. Evenson left under the terms of their contract as Mephisto vanished before the sunlight reached him.

• Mephisto questioned Evenson about the person who gave him authority, and Evenson described Odin’s sacrifice of an eye to protect Earth.
• Mephisto concluded that Evenson knew Odin personally and believed Odin had chosen an outsider because Thor’s lost hammer threatened Asgard’s succession.
• Evenson hinted that Odin’s two sons had caused family trouble, and Mephisto inferred that Thor’s loss of the hammer could spark a fight for the throne.
• Mephisto told Evenson to handle the matter and warned him not to break their contract.
• Evenson promised to honor the contract, and Mephisto disappeared just before the sunlight reached him.

Evenson and Melinda discussed Ghost Rider’s recovery and the threat of Mephisto’s contract as they drove away. Before falling asleep, Evenson asked Melinda to find a remote, century-old cemetery connected to Johnny Blaze and a groundskeeper named Cartesley.

• Melinda drove Evenson away from the desert, leaving Johnny Blaze behind to recover from his forced transformation.
• Evenson warned Melinda that S.H.I.E.L.D. should not try to recruit Johnny Blaze because Mephisto controlled him through their contract.
• Evenson explained that the contract could not turn the whole world into hell, though it might distort an area as large as a small town.
• Evenson asked Melinda to investigate cemeteries Johnny Blaze had visited, specifying a remote site over a hundred years old with a groundskeeper who had used the name Cartesley.
• Evenson fell asleep before Melinda could ask him more.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s poorly designed laboratory around Thor's Hammer struggled to keep out curious intruders. Agent Melinda May arrived with Evenson, whom she identified as a Plenipotentiary Envoy, and learned that an especially fierce intruder had tried to break in the previous night.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists researched Thor's Hammer but gained little beyond useless diagrams and warnings for nearby civilian airliners.
• A sentry stopped Melinda May's car and prepared to block it when she claimed she was on official business.
• The sentry recognized Melinda's Level 8 credentials and authorized her to enter.
• Melinda identified the reclining Evenson as a Plenipotentiary Envoy.
• The sentry complained that someone had made a particularly fierce attempt to break into the base the previous night.

Melinda and Evenson arrived at the base, where Agent Coulson introduced them to Agents Silvett and Barton. Evenson discussed his history with Natasha and his relationship with Sarah before the group proceeded to deal with the mysterious object in the laboratory.

• Melinda woke Evenson with a punch after they reached the base, and Evenson used Magic to shut off the car.
• Melinda and Evenson met Coulson outside the sealed laboratory passage, and Evenson joked about Coulson's encounter with a supermarket cashier.
• Coulson introduced Level Seven Agent Silvett and Level Nine Agent Barton to Evenson.
• Evenson complained that Natasha's assessment had called him greedy, lazy, unambitious, and questioned his orientation because he had not responded to her flirting.
• Melinda told Coulson that Evenson cared deeply about his girlfriend, Sarah, and Evenson said Sarah did not like men.

Evenson touched the Divine Word on Thor's Hammer and was forcibly expelled after glimpsing a scene from Odin's perspective. He then watched surveillance footage of a skilled intruder who had recently tried to reach the hammer.

• Barton told Evenson that Natasha had praised his analytical skills and strength, then changed the subject to Black Claw.
• Evenson tried to lift Thor's Hammer and used his magic to examine the Divine Word written on it.
• Evenson touched the Divine Word with his Mental Power, glimpsed two people beside him through a golden curtain, and was driven back by a voice shouting at him to get out.
• Thor's Hammer struck Evenson with lightning, and Evenson concluded that Odin had warned him not to probe its secrets.
• Coulson told Evenson that an unusual man had broken into the base the previous night, and Silvett showed footage of the intruder fighting his way toward Thor's Hammer.
• Melinda judged the intruder highly skilled, and Evenson joked that Barton would have become Princip if he had shot him.

Evenson and Melinda discovered that Coulson’s judgment and memory had been tampered with after Thor’s encounter at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Evenson identified Loki as the likely cause and asked Melinda to help restore Coulson and Sitwell’s minds.

• Evenson confirmed to Melinda that the intruder was Thor and suggested something had happened in Asgard.
• Coulson explained that he had released Thor, identified as Donald Blake, after Dr. Erik Selvig vouched for him.
• Evenson found a security alert showing Thor’s identification was forged and questioned Coulson about his unexplained mistakes and forgotten phone call.
• Melinda suspected Coulson might have a secret assignment, but Evenson noticed footage of Thor speaking to someone invisible and recognized Loki’s involvement.
• Evenson explained that Loki had confused Coulson and Sitwell’s minds, then told Melinda to use physics to recalibrate them.

Melinda knocked Coulson and Silvett unconscious to correct Loki’s manipulation of their minds, and Evenson explained what had happened after they recovered. Thor, meanwhile, stayed with Jane Fox after learning of Odin’s death and his own exile, while Evenson prepared to meet him.

• Melinda struck Coulson and Silvett to make them pass out, and they regained consciousness three hours later with bruised faces and clear minds.
• Evenson told Coulson and Silvett that Loki had manipulated their consciousness and explained the risks and possible immunity from repeated mind control.
• Coulson dismissed the Asgardians as aliens and asked why Thor had come, while Evenson said he planned to meet Thor as Nick Fury’s Plenipotentiary Envoy.
• Dr. Selvig tried to get Thor drunk and send him away, but Thor carried the unconscious Selvig home and stayed to prepare lunch with Jane Fox.
• Thor’s grief over Odin’s death and his permanent exile changed his temperament and freed him from the responsibilities he had placed on himself.

Thor settled into a peaceful life with Jane, but Evenson arrived with Coulson and a delegation to question him about his sudden appearance on Earth. Thor agreed to answer, and Evenson asked why he came, what he intended to do, and when he would leave.

• Thor helped Jane prepare lunch when three black Chevrolet SUVs arrived at their home.
• Jane, Darcy, and Selvig suspected the visitors had come over the belongings S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken and Thor's injuries to its personnel.
• Evenson entered with Coulson and a Chinese woman, ordered Coulson to return the group's belongings, and dismissed the value of Selvig's research.
• Evenson greeted Thor with an Asgardian salute and explained that people were nervous about his arrival.
• Thor said he was no longer Crown Prince but agreed to answer Evenson's questions about why he came, what he planned to do, and when he would leave.

Thor explained that Odin banished him to Earth after his arrogance endangered Asgard, and that he believed Odin had died and Frigga would not let him return. Evenson ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring Thor and his companions to the base, then revealed that Thor had been deceived and Odin was still alive.

• Thor told Evenson that he had been banished to Midgard after defying Odin and putting Asgard at risk.
• Thor said he had come to accept Odin’s belief that Asgardians were not gods and had no need for humans to worship them.
• Thor said Odin had died and Frigga had refused to let him return to Asgard.
• Evenson decided to take Thor and his companions to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, while Thor warned that he would protect his friends.
• Evenson told Thor that Odin was not dead and that someone had deceived him.

Evenson convinced Thor that Loki had lied about Odin’s death and persuaded him to accept S.H.I.E.L.D.’s protection. After they left, Melinda reported that they had found Cartesley, and Evenson planned to meet him the next day.

• Evenson showed Thor that Odin’s enchantment on Mjolnir was still active, proving Odin was alive, and revealed that he was a mage.
• Thor accepted Evenson’s account that Loki had deceived him, though Evenson avoided explaining his suspicions about Loki’s motives.
• Evenson persuaded Thor to come with them for the safety of Jane, Selvig, and the others, and Thor agreed.
• Melinda told Evenson that S.H.I.E.L.D. had found Cartesley in a secluded cemetery, and Evenson planned to leave early the next morning.

Evenson led Melinda and a masked special-operations squad to a remote cemetery to confront a reclusive man, ordering the soldiers to expose him to sunlight. After the man survived a shotgun blast and a hail of rifle fire, Evenson headed to the wreckage to see for himself.

• Evenson told Melinda his magic had recovered and explained that he wanted to hide his identity, then named the mission Operation High Noon.
• The convoy reached the cemetery, where soldiers confirmed the target was alone in the house; Evenson ordered them to demolish it and ensure the man was fully exposed to sunlight.
• The soldiers blew up the house and found the target pinned beneath rubble.
• The target rolled over and fired a Winchester shotgun, wounding one soldier before the others shot him with their automatic rifles.
• After the team reported that the target had taken at least 150 rounds but remained in one piece, Evenson put on his mask and went to the scene with Melinda.