Chapter Summaries

Evenson and Gabriel convinced Thanos that the Third Magic offered salvation through cooperation with the Sorcerer Supreme. They revealed that the Sorcerer Supreme sacrificed herself to create an opportunity to observe the Dark Dimension merging with reality and complete the Second Magic, Parallel Space Interference, a crucial step toward the Third Magic.

• Thanos doubted the Third Magic was real, so Evenson and Gabriel claimed it had been developed with the Sorcerer Supreme and the Sanctums.
• Evenson argued that the Sorcerer Supreme’s reported death was not as simple as the story that Kaecilius had killed her.
• Evenson explained that the Sorcerer Supreme deliberately sacrificed herself to create a chance to repel Dormammu and observe the Dark Dimension merging with reality.
• Evenson revealed that the observation completed the Second Magic, Parallel Space Interference, and advanced a crucial step of the Third Magic.

Evenson explained to Thanos how the Second and Third Magic could save the universe, claiming the Ancient One sacrificed herself to study death and help compile the Third Magic. He revealed that universal salvation required forging a Great Holy Grail connected to the Sea of Origin through the Infinity Stones.

• Evenson told Thanos that Dormammu had originated in their universe, while the Dark Dimension was a parallel universe where Dormammu had succeeded in merging with the universe.
• Evenson described the Second Magic as a way to steal resources from parallel universes and shield their own universe from outside interference.
• Evenson claimed the Ancient One had crossed into death to study its concept, enabling the Third Magic, Soul Materialization, to be compiled.
• Evenson explained that the Third Magic could remove death from all people, but required a Holy Grail to bear the world's evil and humanity's malicious desires.
• Evenson said a universe-wide version required a Great Holy Grail connected to the universe's Sea of Origin through the Infinity Stones.

Evenson and Thanos distrusted each other’s plans to save the universe, so Evenson proposed an all-out war between their factions to decide the universe’s future. Thanos considered the challenge, while Evenson warned that their conflict could cause mass casualties.

• Thanos questioned Evenson’s perfect-sounding plan and accused him of seeking power for himself.
• Evenson said he also doubted Thanos’s motives, and Thanos’s advisor condemned Evenson for suspecting a supposed saint.
• Thanos proposed a fight, but Evenson rejected a duel and called for a war between the factions supporting their competing ideals.
• Thanos wondered how many lives the war would cost, and Evenson suggested that the conflict might kill half of all life even if he lost.

Gabriel and Evenson escaped Thanos after Evenson used a fierce debate to persuade him to let them leave. Aboard their ship, they questioned Thanos’s plan to erase half of all life and concluded that it would only be a temporary fix requiring Thanos to rule the universe.

• Gabriel sighed with relief after Thanos’s flagship vanished into warp, and Evenson explained that his uncompromising argument had helped them escape.
• Gabriel said Thanos’s proposal deserved serious investigation, while Evenson and Gabriel debated what impartiality and the universe’s survival required.
• Evenson questioned Gabriel about when she would use the Infinity Stones to erase half of all life, and she realized she would never find a suitable moment to do so.
• Evenson argued that population growth would quickly undo the plan’s benefits and that enforcing lasting limits would require Thanos to rule as an emperor.
• Gabriel teased Evenson that his fate as one of the universe’s halves seemed decided, leaving him blushing.

Evenson returned to Xandar and learned that Sif had faced repeated assassination attempts amid the collapse of the planet’s economy. Alfhil and Sif revealed a plan to let Xandarian magnates exploit a relief committee before exposing and punishing them, leaving the crisis unresolved but their scheme in motion.

• Evenson visited Sif and Alfhil, offered to help, and learned that the Salvation Army had repeatedly tried to assassinate Sif.
• Alfhil explained that Xandar’s former financial magnates were likely behind the attacks, seeking to intimidate the new rulers after the currency collapse.
• Sif and Alfhil described how the economic breakdown had caused shortages, unemployment, and the threat of famine and riots.
• Sif revealed that they had established the Nova Self-Rescue Committee and given its Xandarian magnates sweeping control over supplies.
• Alfhil explained that the magnates had abused their authority to hoard and sell relief supplies, giving the rulers grounds to expose them and win public support when they were purged.

Evenson and Sif searched for a way to revive Xandar’s economy, but every proposal failed because of shortages, Asgard’s limited capacity, and a lack of competent administrators. Sif discovered Evenson had invested Xandar’s six trillion in a Kree bank and could not withdraw it for five months, so he fled to Earth to find another solution.

• Evenson proposed issuing new currency, but Sif and Alfhil explained that Asgardian coins were too costly and paper money lacked enough supplies to back it.
• Evenson suggested using work and ration coupons to restart production, but Alfhil said Xandar lacked the administrators needed to manage the plan.
• Evenson urged Asgard to send relief supplies, but Sif explained that Asgard had few people, limited food reserves, and no surplus large enough to feed Xandar.
• Sif revealed that Nova Supreme had told her Evenson had received six trillion in Kree currency and urged him to invest it in Xandar.
• Evenson admitted he had invested the money in a Kree bank, acquired most of its shares, and could not withdraw the funds for at least five months.
• Sif drew her greatsword in anger, and Evenson ran off to Earth to seek another solution.

Evenson returned to Earth after leaving Xandar, but delayed seeing his wives while he prepared for their reaction to his long absence. Meanwhile, Coulson and Melinda discussed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s difficulties and Umbrella Corporation’s sprawling influence, leaving Coulson reluctantly dependent on its products.

• Evenson returned to Earth, hid in his former shop, and asked Gabriel to test the waters before he faced the Eredar Twins and Klayya.
• Evenson found a flood of messages from Skye asking to meet and nearly fainted after reading the final message.
• Coulson reflected on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s persecution and struggled to understand Umbrella Corporation’s growing reach across industries.
• Melinda told Coulson that Victoria Hand commanded Umbrella Corporation’s Black Badge Division and that its former IRS recruits had tracked S.H.I.E.L.D.’s funds.
• Melinda pointed out that Coulson used Umbrella Corporation conditioner and wore one of its bulletproof suits, while explaining that its spider-silk fabric came from Spider Demons exploited by the Eredar Twins.

Skye became consumed with uncovering who had hacked a country's public broadcasting system, then realized the attack might have been created by copying her consciousness through equipment Evenson had used on her. She contacted Evenson to ask for answers and froze his bank cards to make sure he would come.

• Melinda and Coulson found Skye exhausted and ordered her to stop working, but Skye insisted she had a lead on the hacking attack.
• Skye concluded that Ward had not hacked the broadcasting system because the attacker copied her techniques and habits too perfectly.
• Skye recalled that Evenson had used a Gospel Company exoskeleton linked to her nervous system and suspected Umbrella Corporation had copied her consciousness through it.
• Melinda mentioned unconfirmed intelligence that former World Security Council members had secretly arrived in New York, while Coulson questioned Umbrella Corporation's motives.
• Skye told Coulson and Melinda she had contacted Evenson, despite Coulson's warning, and revealed that she had frozen all of Evenson's bank cards.

Evenson tracked down Coulson and Melinda after they locked his bank cards, then accepted cash as compensation for his unpaid bonus. He learned that someone had stolen Skye’s identity to hijack Constantinople’s broadcast system, and the chapter left him asking about the song that had played.

• Evenson found Coulson and Melinda by remotely repairing the Magic Array he had left on their plane.
• Coulson explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. had locked Evenson’s accounts to protect them from cybercriminals and offered him a twenty-thousand-dollar bonus.
• Evenson accepted the deal, collected the money in cash, and checked it with his portable money counter.
• Coulson told Evenson that someone had stolen Skye’s identity to carry out a hacking operation, and Melinda warned it could cause international political disputes.
• Melinda explained that a hacker had hijacked Constantinople’s citywide broadcast system and played “You Will Return Like Lightning” for two hours.

Evenson denied involvement in a hacker prank that played Roman music through a city broadcast system, while Coulson explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. feared Skye would be blamed. Evenson predicted that the victim would decide the culprit’s identity, and Coulson revealed that the Sultan had already ordered a former cathedral turned into an Arabian Temple.

• Evenson insisted he had nothing to do with the broadcast prank and said he had just returned to Earth.
• Evenson suspected the skilled hacker Sambora might be involved, but could not understand why she or the Eredar Twins would have done it.
• Coulson said S.H.I.E.L.D. suspected Evenson for technical reasons and feared the incident would be pinned on them because it involved Skye.
• Evenson argued that the victim, not the evidence or Hydra, would decide who was responsible.
• Coulson revealed that an edict had already ordered the legendary cathedral, now a museum, converted into an Arabian Temple.

After the Ottoman broadcast prank was blamed on Roman restorationists, Coulson realized S.H.I.E.L.D. had never been implicated and confronted Evenson about his disappearance. Evenson said S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse had put everyone connected to it at risk, so he had taken steps to protect himself.

• Coulson gathered S.H.I.E.L.D. remnants to oppose Hydra and restore S.H.I.E.L.D.
• A hacker hijacked Constantinople's broadcasts with methods identical to Skye's, leading Coulson to suspect a frame-up.
• The Ottoman government blamed hidden Roman restorationists, leaving Coulson relieved that S.H.I.E.L.D. had not been named.
• Evenson confronted Coulson over the economic sanctions that had frozen his bank cards, and Coulson asked where he had been.
• Evenson told Coulson he had taken necessary measures to protect himself after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell.

Melinda argued that S.H.I.E.L.D. should withdraw and rebuild before fighting Hydra, while Evenson explained why he had turned down Tony Stark’s offer to join the Avengers. The chapter ended with Coulson guessing that Evenson’s way of preserving himself was the Umbrella Corporation.

• Melinda supported self-preservation and urged Coulson to pull S.H.I.E.L.D. back, consolidate its people, and prepare carefully before confronting Hydra.
• Melinda worried about Coulson’s increasingly agitated behavior and backed Skye bringing Evenson back to help him.
• Coulson asked Evenson how he was preserving himself and whether he planned to join the Avengers.
• Evenson said he had rejected Tony Stark’s offer because the Avengers could become a private armed organization that violated other countries’ sovereignty.
• Coulson guessed that Evenson’s means of self-preservation was the Umbrella Corporation.

Evenson deflected Coulson’s questions about his ties to Umbrella Corporation and warned that Coulson was unfit to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. He left Coulson and Melinda questioning his loyalties while arguing that the United States had recruited better people from the Third Reich than S.H.I.E.L.D. had.

• Coulson asked Evenson when he began working with Umbrella Corporation, fearing he had been a double agent before S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed.
• Evenson criticized Coulson’s leadership and suggested that he might have to abdicate if agents challenged his authority.
• Coulson nearly accepted Evenson’s argument before Melinda interrupted and accused Evenson of being a double agent.
• Evenson claimed his Umbrella Corporation cooperation had been authorized by senior U.S. government officials and the Council.
• Coulson and Melinda confronted Evenson over his claim that Umbrella Corporation had ties to the Third Reich, and Evenson compared U.S. recruitment of Von Braun with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s recruitment of Arnim Zola.

Evenson explained to Coulson and Melinda that he had escaped the world’s governments by seeking refuge on Asgard, where he had gained favor with Frigga and risen to a high rank. The revelation left Coulson and Melinda realizing that S.H.I.E.L.D. had unintentionally imposed economic sanctions on an important official from another planet.

• Coulson asked whether Evenson had used Umbrella Corporation to protect himself, and Evenson said the organization alone could not have hidden him.
• Evenson explained that he had first stayed with Tony, but General Ross’s seizure of Agent Hill convinced him that the five great powers could not be resisted.
• Evenson revealed that he had sought help from Asgard, where he had formed friendships during his earlier visit.
• Evenson said Frigga had accepted him into the Scholar of the North Gate and granted him the rank of Bugeng.
• Evenson revealed that he now served as Deputy Governor of the Xandar Protectorate with the rank of Da Liang Zao, and Coulson and Melinda realized S.H.I.E.L.D. had unintentionally imposed economic sanctions on him.

Evenson’s titles revealed that Asgard had established a powerful governorship on the advanced planet Xandar, once battered by a thousand-year war with the Kree. Melinda connected Xandar’s expansion to Asgard’s reforms and territorial ambitions, leaving her alarmed by the scale of the Heavenly Queen’s plans.

• Melinda learned that Sif led the Xandar Grand Protectorate, with Alfhil and Evenson holding senior posts, and questioned why Asgard had a territory outside its Nine Realms.
• Evenson explained that Xandar was a newly expanded territory: a unified, technologically advanced planet that had fought a thousand-year war against the Kree Empire.
• Evenson said Carol Danvers had been the main obstacle during Asgard’s conquest and sent Coulson her regards.
• Coulson pressed Evenson about fighting Carol, and Evenson admitted she was a little stronger than him.
• Melinda concluded that Asgard was vigorously reforming, expanding its territory, and strengthening its state.

Melinda realized Asgard’s reforms followed the Qin and Han legal system and feared the consequences when Evenson revealed he had returned to Earth on a mission. She identified him as a Han envoy, leaving Evenson alarmed by her warnings about what happened to those who killed one.

• Melinda learned Frigga was personally leading Asgard’s reforms and tried to persuade Evenson to mediate, but he said the Heavenly Queen would not be swayed.
• Coulson objected to interfering in Asgard’s internal affairs, while Melinda remained alarmed by the reforms’ resemblance to Qin and Han law.
• Melinda asked why Evenson had returned from Xandar, and he said he had a mission after helping sign a treaty with Asgard and the Kree Empire.
• Melinda declared that the Han envoy had arrived, prompting Coulson to ask about the Han Empire.
• Melinda recounted how Han envoys’ killers had been punished, and Evenson panicked when he realized she was speaking as if he had been declared dead.

Melinda feared Asgard’s militarist reforms would lead to war with Earth, while Evenson tried to reassure her. Coulson suggested imposing economic sanctions and intercepting Evenson before Asgard could use him as a pretext to invade.

• Evenson told Melinda the situation was not as bad as she thought, but she rejected his reassurance.
• Melinda reasoned that Asgard’s militarist reforms would drive it toward war and could make Earth its next target.
• Melinda recalled that Earth’s leaders had long concealed Earth’s status as an Asgardian subject to delay a confrontation.
• Melinda suspected Asgard’s Heavenly Queen had sent Evenson as an envoy and might invade if Earth detained him.
• Coulson whispered to Melinda, asking what crime economic sanctions and intercepting a Han envoy would constitute.

Coulson and Melinda feared that kidnapping Evenson would bring Asgard’s wrath, while Evenson repeatedly hinted that an apology could settle the matter. He finally revealed that his mission was peaceful and posed no threat of war, leaving the two S.H.I.E.L.D. veterans embarrassed by their assumptions.

• Coulson imagined that his crimes would lead to lifelong confinement in a mental hospital if the kidnapping became known.
• Evenson hinted that a sincere apology could make him conceal the incident, but Coulson refused to offer money or compensation because S.H.I.E.L.D. had no funds.
• Melinda and Coulson proposed making the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. solely responsible, reasoning that Earth’s governments could distance themselves from the rebels.
• Evenson explained that his peaceful mission was unimportant to the Heavenly Queen and would not lead to war.
• Coulson and Melinda admitted their intelligence analysis instructor had been poached from the CIA, and Evenson criticized their judgment.

After Coulson and Melinda’s wild, unfounded deductions embarrassed them, Evenson urged them to abandon their old S.H.I.E.L.D. methods and find new jobs. He suggested they join the government, but they rejected the idea of serving a monarch.

• Coulson and Melinda fell silent after realizing their assumptions about alien politics had been baseless.
• Evenson criticized S.H.I.E.L.D.’s failed governance and disorganized intelligence work, and suggested the organization should not continue as it was.
• Coulson asked whether Evenson would help revive S.H.I.E.L.D., but Evenson refused to join their efforts.
• Evenson told Coulson that the world no longer needed them to save it and offered to help them find government jobs.
• Melinda rejected the suggestion of pledging loyalty to a monarch, and Coulson said his ancestors had served in Cromwell’s New Model Army.

Evenson visited Skye with Coulson and Melinda and found her in a filthy room, asleep and struggling after S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse and Ward's betrayal. Melinda said Skye needed an explanation from Evenson, but he left after putting her hand in a basin of warm water, drawing the others' disapproval.

• Coulson took Evenson and Melinda to see Skye, whose room was foul and whose appearance shocked Evenson.
• Melinda explained that Skye had been overwhelmed by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse, Ward's betrayal, and the revelation that someone she trusted had used her.
• Evenson asked whether Skye's memories could be removed, but Melinda insisted she needed him to explain why he had hurt her.
• Evenson took pictures of the sleeping Skye, then placed her hand in a basin of warm water and slipped out without waking her.
• Melinda and Coulson condemned Evenson for behaving worse than Ward and failing to do anything decent for Skye.