"Seriously?"
"It worked?"
After hanging up the call with Dr. Connors, Hawk leaned back, still a little amazed.
He hadn't thought it possible. In this world, there was only the Spider-Woman, no Spider-Man, so Connors's regenerative experiment shouldn't have succeeded.
And yet…
As he left the bedroom, Hawk replayed the conversation in his mind.
Connors had been in high spirits, explaining in unusual detail. In the latest round of mouse trials, one subject had died right after being injected with the lizard serum—but minutes later, its life signs returned. Even more incredible, the mouse's severed tail regrew before their eyes.
Connors was ecstatic.
Hawk found it fascinating… for a moment. Then he let it go.
Sitting at his fold-out desk, he flipped open the second-hand laptop he'd bought from Skye for five hundred bucks. His real concern wasn't Connors's experiment—it was Quantico.
He scoured the news.
No invasion.
Only… an "exercise."
The Washington papers claimed that night's alarm was just a routine drill. The collapsed Gamma Lab was labeled an accident. A dozen dead soldiers were written off as "unfortunate casualties during training."
Of course.
This was Quantico. The Marines' home. The FBI Academy next door. CIA headquarters down the road. No way would they ever admit their base had been breached.
As for the young carjacker he'd killed outside town—nothing. Not a word in the press. Either the body hadn't been found yet, or his death wasn't worth reporting. In New York alone, people like him died every day without leaving a ripple.
Hawk shut the laptop and shook his head. Enough. He went to bed.
…
The next morning, a ringing phone pulled him from sleep. He cracked an eye open—first thing he saw was the photo frame on his nightstand, exactly where he'd placed it. Then he reached for the charging phone.
"Hello?"
"Come downstairs."
He blinked.
Then pulled on a T-shirt, walked to the window, and opened it.
There she was. Gwen. Waving at him from across the street, standing next to her yellow Corolla.
Oh. Correction.
His girlfriend, Gwen.
Even now, the thought still made him smile.
Yes. Gwen Stacy was his girlfriend.
He waved back, then hung up and headed out.
…
Across the street, he found her waiting.
"What's going on?"
"Are you free tonight? My mom wants you over for dinner."
"…Uh."
Lemon sea bass!
That was the first thing that popped into his head. The infamous dish—practically a rite of passage.
But then he met Gwen's expectant gaze.
"All right," he nodded.
Her smile lit up. "Great. So what are you doing until then?"
"Heading to the library. Study a bit."
She tilted her head, smiling without a word.
Hawk chuckled. "I mean it this time. Really."
School started tomorrow. Senior year—the last year of high school. NYU would be scouting, awarding scholarships. And though he told himself it didn't matter anymore, he still wanted it. Law school, the dream of being a prosecutor, maybe a judge—those had been his goals before awakening the cosmos.
And he hadn't forgotten them.
Gwen studied him a moment longer, then broke into a grin.
"Then let's go."
"Go?"
"To the library, of course. I've got to stop by Oscorp first, but after that, we'll study together. Then I'll drive you home for dinner."
Hawk raised a brow—but climbed into the passenger seat without complaint.
He wasn't lying. He really did want to study today. Balance, after all. Training and books both mattered.
In his cosmos, the Phoenix constellation burned, its fiery wings still digesting the radiant gamma energy stolen from Quantico.
All day, they kept their plan. Oscorp first, then the library, where they spent hours in silence, books open before them. Hawk chasing law, Gwen chasing Berkeley. Two different paths, but the same determination.
When it was time to leave, Hawk checked out the book he hadn't finished.
Outside, Gwen was waiting in the car.
At the same moment, a man rushed out, groaning as he found a parking ticket stuck to his windshield.
Sliding into Gwen's car, Hawk glanced back. "Didn't you get a ticket too?"
She shook her head, smiling. "My dad had my plates flagged in the system."
Hawk blinked.
Of course he did.
...
(End of Chapter)
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