Chapter Summaries

Evenson met with Gideon Malick and revealed the true purpose of Project Insight: Alexander Pierce planned to use Zola’s algorithm and armed Helicarriers to massacre people deemed potential threats. Malick was horrified by the scale of the purge, and Evenson left him wondering whether Hydra itself could be caught in the slaughter.

• Evenson entered Malick’s home and steered their private dinner conversation toward Ghost and the intelligence she had obtained.
• Malick explained that he knew of Project Insight but believed it was a plan to expand S.H.I.E.L.D.’s power and build Helicarriers as a deterrent.
• Evenson revealed that the project would use Zola’s algorithm to identify anyone who might resist Hydra and target them with Helicarrier superguns.
• Malick smashed his glass after learning that the attack could kill tens of millions of people in a minute and eliminate a large share of the world’s population.
• Evenson warned Malick that rushed targeting could kill innocents, leaving him to consider whether he or other Hydra members might be mistakenly selected.

Malik learned that Project Insight would let Pierce purge his opponents in an hour and decided to organize against him. Evenson revealed Umbrella Corporation's escape plans and a virus that could kill all humanity, leaving Malik desperate to prevent its release.

• Malik realized Project Insight could identify and eliminate dissidents, including him, and resolved to contact other families and confront Pierce.
• Evenson warned Malik that assassinating Pierce could expose their faction and trigger a war, then described Umbrella Corporation's options for avoiding the purge.
• Evenson said Umbrella could threaten Pierce with the Genghis Khan virus, which targeted one-sixth of humanity and could spread worldwide.
• Evenson argued that Pierce's dictatorship could destroy human civilization and said Umbrella would use the virus only as a last resort.
• Malik urged Evenson to hide and closely guard the virus, insisting that their factions could join forces before it was ever released.

Malik and Evenson planned to expose Pierce’s branch when Project Insight was close to launching, then destroy its carriers and eliminate its members. Evenson warned Malik that the fallout could engulf his own Hydra faction and urged him to separate the ancient families from Hydra under a new name.

• Malik proposed waiting until Pierce’s people revealed themselves, then having governments arrest them and attacking the Project Insight carriers before they reached orbit.
• Evenson warned that Malik’s Hydra ties would become a liability after Pierce’s plan was exposed, and Malik admitted he could not easily separate himself from the organization.
• Evenson explained that Hydra’s neutral members might blame Malik for destroying Pierce’s plan and resent him for sacrificing the organization’s chance at world domination.
• Malik reconsidered Hydra’s factions and their conflicting ideals as Evenson urged him to let Pierce’s branch bear the blame and continue the ancient families’ aims under a different name.

Malik recognized that Evenson had guided him toward breaking away from Hydra and forming a new faction, then considered the offer to worship a stronger god. Evenson identified that god as Hela, Goddess of Death, and clarified her place in Asgard.

• Malik realized Hydra's factions had wasted the organization's power through internal conflict and considered leading the ancient families out of Hydra.
• Malik suspected Umbrella Corporation had used Project Insight to steer him toward splitting from Hydra, but decided the proposal could still protect his family's future.
• Evenson raised the ancient families' crisis of faith and suggested they could change their allegiance to a stronger god.
• Malik questioned whether Umbrella Corporation believed in gods, and Evenson explained that it rejected powerful beings called gods while acknowledging their existence.
• Evenson named Hela as the Goddess of Death and clarified that she was Odin's eldest daughter and Asgard's rightful heir.

Malik agreed to lead his family in converting from The Hive to Hela, Goddess of Death, after Evenson promised them influence as her first believers. The chapter ended with Malik performing a ritual to summon Hela for an audience.

• Evenson persuaded Malik that Hela was a more powerful and prestigious deity than The Hive, and Malik agreed to convert his family.
• Evenson described how Malik could become Hela's first Chief Priest, oversee religious affairs across Asgard's territory, and establish an Inquisition.
• Malik refused to share the opportunity with the other families, while Stephanie understood that their family could secure higher status as first-generation believers.
• Malik dressed in a bearskin cloak and horned helmet, knelt before a basin of ashes, and blew the ashes forward to begin the ritual.

Evenson brought Malik and Stephanie through a portal into Hela’s prison so Malik could meet the Goddess of Death. Malik mistook Evenson’s familiarity with Asgard for evidence of Umbrella Corporation’s vast influence, while Hela’s dramatic introduction faltered when she saw Malik’s outfit.

• Evenson used a ritual as cover while secretly opening a passage to Hela’s prison, and Malik and Stephanie prepared to meet a god face-to-face.
• Malik concluded that Evenson and Umbrella Corporation had deep ties to Asgard and possibly other civilizations, then considered seeking the role of High Priest under Hela.
• Evenson warned Malik not to greet Hela with Hydra’s old slogan, explaining that Asgardian royalty lived for immense spans of time.
• Malik and Stephanie arrived in Hela’s dim prison, where Malik interpreted the strange scent and his hunger as signs of Hela’s divine power.
• Hela began a dramatic entrance but started coughing when she saw Malik, then pulled Evenson close and demanded to know why he had brought her a believer dressed like a baby bear.

Evenson helped Hela meet Malik’s family as her new followers, coaching her on how to preserve her divine authority. Hela rewarded Stephanie by giving her swordsmanship and making her a member of the Goddess’s army.

• Malik watched Hela hold Evenson close, while Evenson explained that Hela objected to Malik’s bearskin clothing because she hated fur.
• Evenson argued that ritual etiquette reinforced hierarchy and urged Hela to maintain her mystery, then introduced Malik and Stephanie as prospective followers.
• Hela sat on a throne made from flying swords and let Evenson relay her words to the kneeling family.
• Evenson promised Hela food and supplies, persuading her to reward the new followers instead of demanding sacrifices.
• Hela struck Stephanie with a flying sword that merged into her body, granting her Hela’s swordsmanship and a place in the Goddess’s army.

Evenson secured Malik and Stephanie’s loyalty to Hela by explaining the rewards and afterlife protections offered by Hela’s Guard, then returned home to find Sarah and Dumen urgently calling him to work.

• Hela rewarded Malik and Stephanie with her sword technique and honorary positions in Hela’s Guard before dismissing them and indulging in Evenson’s supplies of instant noodles, gas, water, and pickled bamboo shoots.
• Evenson told Malik that Hela’s Guard was her army and suggested its members could gain protection from Mephisto’s Hell by serving Hela.
• Malik accepted that the arrangement benefited him and Stephanie, but concluded that they were only part of a larger transaction arranged for Evenson’s benefit.
• Evenson returned home, where Sarah and Dumen rushed out with bags and told him they had work for him; he ordered them to prepare his gear.

Coulson’s team investigated a Norwegian murder linked to an Asgardian weapon and discovered that a book sold by Evenson had led the pagans to it. They went to find Evenson in New York, where they found him and his staff conducting a funeral service.

• Coulson’s team identified Jacob Nestle Dragon and Petra Larsson as the pagans who killed a ranger while finding a rune-carved metal rod, and determined that more fragments were missing.
• Ward worked to integrate into the team after John Garrett told him their boss seemed dissatisfied, while Skye and Simmons’ recent breach of S.H.I.E.L.D. rules left them afraid to face Evenson.
• Melinda discovered that Nestle Dragon’s group had bought a book from Evenson’s shop, and Coulson decided to seek Evenson’s help locating the remaining weapon fragments.
• Unable to reach Evenson by phone, Coulson and the team traveled to New York and found him conducting a funeral service with Tripsy, Sarah, Tyler, and Dumen.

Evenson was pulled from a funeral job to help S.H.I.E.L.D. investigate an Asgardian Berserker Staff found in Norway. When the team identified a group of empowered Norse pagans as the likely finders, Evenson recognized that his revised novel might have led them to it.

• Melinda and Coulson persuaded Evenson to leave a Lei family funeral after he finished chanting and they paid for his services.
• The chapter recounted how Li Lin killed the Wing Chun school owner in a duel, leaving Evenson to conduct the funeral for his disciple's victim.
• Aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane, Simmons showed Evenson a model of a rune-carved object, which he identified as part of an Asgardian Berserker Staff.
• Melinda connected the object's discovery in a Norwegian tree to an online novel Evenson had sold, though he claimed not to remember it.
• Evenson recalled rewriting the novel into a fantastical story about Dragon Proudsky, while Coulson asked about its author.
• Ward showed footage of Norwegian pagans led by Nestle Dragon declaring war on the gods, and Evenson suspected they had found the staff through the novel.

Evenson dismissed Nestle Dragon’s followers as a disorganized group whose use of the Berserker Staff would eventually kill them, and explained the Staff’s limits and dangers to Coulson’s team. When Melinda tracked Nestle Dragon to Seville, Spain, Evenson agreed they should follow him and let him lead them to the Staff’s other pieces.

• Coulson reprimanded Evenson for playing games while the team discussed the rioters and the Berserker Staff.
• Skye offered to hack her game’s drop rates if Evenson could remove her electronic bracelet, but he refused to use cheats.
• Evenson argued that Nestle Dragon’s group was poorly led and unlikely to succeed, while Melinda noted that Evenson knew the Staff’s power was limited.
• Evenson explained that the Staff’s magic could injure or kill humans who used it repeatedly, though it gave them immense strength without protecting them from weapons.
• Coulson decided the team still had to address the violence and secure the dangerous Staff, and Evenson advised them to follow Nestle Dragon to find its remaining pieces.
• Melinda reported that Nestle Dragon had traveled to Seville, Spain, and Evenson prepared to follow him.

Coulson’s team traced Nestle Dragon’s search for the Berserker Staff to Viking ruins beneath a church in Seville and began searching the underground tombs. When Ward suddenly shouted nearby, Evenson eagerly went to investigate, hoping to find a corpse monster.

• Ward gave Coulson information about Viking ruins, but Coulson said S.H.I.E.L.D. had already searched Mount Thor without finding anything.
• Evenson tried to read Skye’s palm, alarming her with a prediction of a deadly romantic fate until Melinda interrupted him.
• Skye identified Seville as a likely destination for Nestle Dragon’s group, and Coulson ordered the team to investigate its Viking burial site.
• Evenson summoned Dumen and handed the agents claw pendants, warning them about the tombs and claiming the charms could ward off corpse monsters.
• Coulson’s team entered the underground tombs and split up to search; after Evenson frightened Skye with a warning about an extinguished candle, someone nearby shouted, apparently Ward.

Ward was struck by the Berserker Staff’s magic after encountering Nestle Dragon in the tomb, and his violent instability continued aboard the plane. Evenson summoned Hubbs to consume the magic, leaving the others recoiling as the Hellhound attacked Ward.

• Ward chased Nestle Dragon through the tomb, touched the Berserker Staff during their fight, and fainted after painful memories overwhelmed him.
• Skye followed Evenson to Ward and shook him awake, but Ward remained agitated and unstable after they returned to the plane.
• Coulson and Evenson discussed Ward’s abusive childhood and his recruitment by John Garrett while Simmons examined him.
• Ward lashed out at the team and blamed Evenson, who intimidated him into backing down.
• Evenson summoned Hubbs and ordered the Hellhound to eat the Berserker magic, and Hubbs pounced on Ward.

After Hubbs removed the Magic residue from Ward, Skye found Evenson’s online novel and the team realized it could lead them to the final piece of the Berserker Staff. Evenson sent Hubbs to track Nestle Dragon’s group, and the chapter ended with the Husky finding their base in Norway.

• Hubbs absorbed the Magic residue from Ward, leaving Ward emotionally shaken, while Evenson scolded Hubbs for smoking his cigarettes.
• Skye found the online version of Evenson’s novel, and Coulson recognized it as a possible source of clues to the Berserker Staff’s final piece.
• Evenson said Hubbs could track the group by the Magic scent of the staff, then ordered Skye to locate them and Melinda to change course.
• Nestle Dragon’s group returned to its base in Norway after searching in Spain, but Hubbs burst in and led Evenson to their hideout.

Evenson and Melinda raided Nestle Dragon’s hideout after Hubbs led them there, with Evenson interrogating the leader while Melinda fought the others. Melinda’s test showed she still needed more control before her final enhancement, and Evenson sent the surviving group into darkness.

• Evenson and Melinda found Nestle Dragon’s group in an underground hideout and identified themselves as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
• Evenson’s Fearful Hounds seized Nestle Dragon, while Melinda fought Petra and the rest of the group.
• The Berserker Staff dredged up Melinda’s memories, but she converted it into her weapon and defeated Petra.
• Evenson judged Melinda’s control insufficient and delayed her final enhancement after she had been affected by the staff.
• Evenson interrogated Nestle Dragon, then engulfed the group in darkness and sent them away.

Evenson returned with the shattered Berserker Staff after teleporting Nestle Dragon and his followers away, then went with Coulson to retrieve the final piece from a church in Ireland. He used a forged-sounding but genuine papal document identifying him as Black of the Above to secure the staff, and left with an additional sword hilt offered by the priest.

• Evenson told the team that he had teleported Nestle Dragon and the others to unknown destinations, and that they would not need to search for them.
• Evenson revealed that the Berserker Staff was in a Catholic church in Ireland, and he and Coulson went there to recover it.
• The priest refused to hand over the staff until Evenson claimed to represent the Papacy and threatened him with the Necessary Evil.
• Evenson showed the priest a papal document naming him Black of the Above, prompting the priest to surrender the Berserker Staff.
• The priest gave Evenson an ancient sword hilt as well, and Evenson later told Coulson that Mephisto had supplied the documents.

After the Berserker Staff brought Melinda’s buried trauma back to the surface, she turned to Evenson for comfort, and the two spent the night together. The next morning, S.H.I.E.L.D. assigned Evenson a secret retrieval mission involving Mephisto, with Coulson’s team serving as cover.

• Evenson stayed with Coulson’s group in Norway after the case ended and joined their celebratory dinner.
• The Berserker Staff’s magic resurfaced Melinda’s traumatic memory of killing a girl on Barin Island, and she drank alone before confiding in Evenson.
• Evenson told Melinda he felt no emotional burden from killing, and she later invited him to her room to relieve her distress.
• Maria Hill called Evenson with a retrieval mission requested by Special Client 666 and assigned Coulson’s group to accompany him as cover.
• Evenson told Melinda the mission involved Mephisto and asked her to keep Coulson’s group unaware of the real objective.

Coulson, Skye, and Evenson traveled to Batesville to investigate Hannah Hawkins, whose apparent telekinesis followed a fatal laboratory accident. As protests gathered outside her home, a ghost appeared in a police car, revealing that the incident was supernatural rather than merely a superpower case.

• Evenson joined Coulson's mission and explained that his girlfriend Klayya could use telekinesis, while warning that the ability could become dangerous.
• Evenson told Melinda that Coulson had dreamed about Tasidi, where Mephisto had given him false memories, and asked her to keep Coulson focused on Hannah.
• Evenson learned that protesters were blaming Hannah for an accident that killed four employees, though investigators had not determined responsibility.
• An apparently driverless police car drove toward the crowd, and Melinda saw a disheveled man in the driver's seat who appeared to be one of the accident victims.
• Evenson recognized the man as a ghost and concluded that Hannah's case was a supernatural incident.

Melinda and Evenson discovered that Hannah Hawkins’s apparent telekinesis came from Tobias Ford’s ghost, while Evenson suspected the ghost’s rapid escape from Hell was connected to the object Mephisto had sent him to find. Evenson investigated the laboratory accident and found evidence of a horrific ritual, concluding that the mysterious object had been there.

• Melinda identified the ghost as Tobias Ford and learned that he had filed safety complaints about Hannah Hawkins’s work before the accident.
• Evenson deduced that Tobias was protecting Hannah rather than trying to kill her, and he and Melinda suspected a link between the ghost’s abnormal escape from Hell and Mephisto’s missing object.
• Evenson sent Melinda to keep Coulson’s team from learning the truth while he investigated the accident site; Melinda knocked Hannah unconscious to buy time.
• Evenson arrived at the laboratory as Fitz and Simmons discussed pranking Skye, then entered the damaged building despite Fitz’s warning about hazardous materials.
• Evenson saw blood-covered walls, scattered body parts, and visions of the victims’ torture, and concluded that Mephisto’s object had been at the laboratory.

Evenson returned from the ruined laboratory and endured a harsh decontamination after the team feared she had brought radioactive dust aboard. Fitz and Simmons reconstructed the collider and found a cube-shaped socket, prompting Evenson to visit Hannah Hawkins and ask whether she knew a French person.

• Evenson returned to the plane, where Melinda forced her through an automated radiation decontamination chamber that destroyed her clothes.
• Evenson heard Fitz and Simmons invent an exaggerated account of Melinda’s Iron Cavalry mission, then joined in by telling Skye an even more outlandish version.
• Fitz showed Evenson a 3D reconstruction of the collider, revealing a cube-shaped socket at its core that Evenson recognized as connected to Mephisto.
• Evenson went to speak with the frightened Hannah Hawkins and asked whether she knew a French person.