Chapter 9: The Archive Request That Was Never Fulfilled

The request was logged on a Tuesday.

I know this because FRIDAY's administrative intake system timestamps everything to the millisecond and stores the records in a format that is, in theory, immutable — a word I have learned, over fifteen years of forensic consulting, to treat with the same warm skepticism I extend to words like *certain* and *conclusive* and *the suspect has no reason to lie.* The timestamp read 14:47:23, a Tuesday seventeen days before Marcus Vell died in a briefing suite four floors above my office, and the subject field read: *Request: Access, Legal Archive Annex, Level 47, Re: Historical Engagement Records, Avengers Operational Files, Approx. 4 Years Prior.*

He had been, as always, precise.