Anya?
What does that even mean?
Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff exchanged a glance.
Hawk's eyes on Bruce grew calmer, and his tone turned even more level.
"September 10, 2009."
"Manhattan."
"That day, my sister and I were leaving Times Square after strolling around when Abomination showed up—and so did Hulk."
"Those two monsters fought, the whole block turned into chaos, and countless innocent people died in the shockwaves of that battle."
"Including my sister."
"When Hulk smashed Abomination into a high-rise, the falling debris crushed my sister."
"…"
As Hawk spoke in that unnervingly calm, hollow voice, the initially confused Bruce and Natasha gradually pieced it together.
Right.
A victim's family member had come to settle accounts.
Natasha thought as much and instinctively glanced at Bruce.
Guilt crept over Bruce's face.
He looked at Hawk, who was staring at him with that flat gaze, and opened his mouth. "I'm sorry about your sister."
Hawk snorted.
He was just about to speak when Natasha, frowning, cut in. "Haw—Hawk, we're sorry about your sister, truly—but this isn't Bruce Banner's fault. It was Abomination's. Dr. Banner stopped Abomination."
Hawk's eyes shifted to Natasha.
His voice turned quiet and cold.
"So you're saying my sister's death was what you call 'collateral damage'?"
"What?"
Natasha blinked, then shook her head. "What happened is heartbreaking. No one wanted it. Your sister's death was a tragic accident."
Hawk's face didn't change. "I'll deal with Abomination too. But my sister died because of Hulk. If Hulk hadn't thrown Abomination, that shattered debris wouldn't have fallen on her. She wouldn't have died on the spot."
Hearing his voice slide from calm to icy, Natasha sensed something was off.
Bruce spoke again, heavy with remorse. "I'm truly sorry for your sister. If there's anything I can do to make it right, I will."
He wasn't a bad person. He never had been.
Otherwise, when Hulk first manifested, his first instinct wouldn't have been to run.
Look at Abomination—he transformed and immediately acted like a tyrant.
So the guilt was real—and so was the desire to make amends.
Hawk listened and smiled.
He looked at Bruce, a bright smile blooming.
"Make it right? You'll get your chance. Hand over Hulk."
"What?"
"A life for a life. Hulk killed my sister. So Hulk pays with his life."
"…"
Bruce froze.
Natasha was stunned.
Her eyes on Hawk changed, wary now.
Did he hear himself?
This guy…
He might be a lunatic.
Natasha shook her head, exasperated, and tugged on Bruce's arm, heading for the sports car.
"Let's—"
Boom!
With a thunderous crack, a palm-shaped dent crushed into the car's chassis from afar, as though an invisible hand had pressed down on it.
In an instant, the car crumpled under that force.
Crack!
Natasha's instincts kicked in. She drew the sidearm from the small of her back, racked the slide, and leveled it at Hawk—the "lunatic."
Hawk narrowed his eyes at the muzzle trained on him.
"The guilty have names and faces. Hulk killed my sister. Are you planning to shield a criminal, Agent Natasha Romanoff of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"…"
Natasha's pupils tightened. He'd called her by name—and her affiliation. "Who are you?"
Hawk ignored the question and turned his gaze to Bruce, whom Natasha had just pulled behind her.
Seeing that, Natasha's voice hardened. "And another thing—criminal? Dr. Bruce Banner isn't a criminal. He's been pardoned by the President."
The President?
A pardon?
Hawk's lips curled in a cold sneer. "What's that got to do with me? Did the victim's family—me—ever say I wouldn't pursue it?"
Natasha's expression shifted, posture tightening even more.
Just then—
"Natasha."
Bruce stepped out from behind her, pressing down the muzzle of her pistol. He pursed his lips and looked at Hawk—the young man who'd come to seek justice for his sister. "Listen, kid. I'm truly sorry about your sister. But Hulk did that, not me. I'm a victim of Hulk too. Believe me—no one wants Hulk dead more than I do."
That was the truth.
At least right now, he felt that way.
He'd been Hulk's first victim.
Because of Hulk, he lost his position with the military.
Because of Hulk, he lost the big Quantico house and his general's-daughter girlfriend.
Because of Hulk, he had to flee the shining beacon of democracy and hole up in a land where the air reeked the moment you landed.
Standing before Natasha, Bruce spoke with earnest, heartfelt sincerity.
Hawk chuckled.
"Dr. Banner, I know you are you and Hulk is Hulk. That's why I haven't laid a hand on you. I said the guilty have names and faces. So I'll say this one last time—bring Hulk out. This is between me and him."
"No."
Bruce's face hardened. He shook his head. "Kid, I can't do that. If Hulk comes out, I can't control him."
Hawk sighed, head lowered.
When he looked up again, the calm in his eyes had frozen into thousand-year ice.
The next second—
Boom!
His figure vanished. Bruce Banner was blasted backward like a meteor, crashing straight through the cabin with a thunderous roar.
Natasha's eyes knifed down to slits at the man now standing where Bruce had been.
"Stop—"
Wham!
Hawk's kick sent her flying five meters. His voice was glacial. "This is between me and Hulk. If S.H.I.E.L.D. interferes, I won't mind turning the entire organization into unavoidable collateral damage."
Flat on the ground, Natasha stared in disbelief.
Then—
A low, guttural roar rolled out from the cabin's gaping hole.
Through the breach, a hazy figure writhed amid the wreckage, the sound like something straining to break free.
Sister.
I'm about to avenge you.
Expressionless at the threshold, Hawk drew a deep breath and snapped himself into peak condition.
Inside the shattered cabin, the roars intensified.
Obviously—
Bruce could no longer keep Hulk caged. With the rip of tearing fabric, the agitated cabin suddenly fell silent.
The next instant—
A massive green figure filled Hawk's vision.
"Hulk!!!"
With a boom, Hulk—sporting that bowl-cut head—vaulted out of the hole. He bellowed his freedom and brought both fists down like hammers at the "ant-like" waif in his sights—Hawk.
Hawk looked up. His right hand clenched. The ground at his feet spiderwebbed as he drove his fist up to meet the mountain-sized blow.
Hulk's massive fist and Hawk's smaller one collided.
In an instant—
Everything fell silent, as if the world had entered a void.
But—
It was only an illusion. Less than a second later, a mountain-splitting crack erupted, and from the point of impact a shockwave exploded outward.
Bang!
The ground beneath Hawk fractured inch by inch, webbing out in all directions from his feet.
Boom!
From his leaping height, Hulk had meant to pulp Hawk. Instead, he was hurled backward, crashing through the cabin again like a rolling hill of green muscle.
Rumble!
The shockwave from their clash howled like a hurricane, tearing outward and flattening everything in its path.
The cabin—closest of all—took the brunt.
A wooden structure stood no chance. In the blink of an eye, the planks at the threshold ripped free, followed by the door, the bed, even the walls.
Natasha, too, was swept up.
Five meters away, just as she pushed herself to her feet, the gale hit. Her cheeks visibly warped under the pressure, then her whole body lifted.
Thud!
The blast flung her in an arc, and she slammed down onto the roof of a yellow Corolla.
Pure bad luck.
The instant Natasha hit, all four windows and the front and rear windshields shattered.
The roof caved in.
From her hiding spot beneath the car—keeping her distance just as Hawk had told her—Gwen stared, mouth agape, at the Corolla her dad George had given her when she was sixteen.
And at the woman now sprawled on its roof—as if fast asleep.
…
(End of Chapter)
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