Gwen stared at Natasha, face blank.
"I don't know."
"…"
Seeing Gwen's steady gaze, Natasha lowered her voice. "Last night wasn't us. If S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted you two, we'd have come long ago—no need to wait till now."
Gwen ignored that.
"Are you here to arrest me?"
"No."
Before the word finished, Gwen pushed the door open and got out.
Natasha stepped out from the passenger side as well, watching Gwen shut the driver's door.
"Thanks for bringing my car back," Gwen said evenly.
"Gwen—"
Gwen turned and headed back toward the house without looking back. Natasha watched her go, fell silent, then turned and slid into the black panel van parked nearby.
The door shut; Natasha immediately opened a line to Maria Hill at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion.
"Commander."
"How'd it go?"
"She won't talk."
Natasha reported it straight. She could, in theory, take Gwen in and squeeze answers out of her—but the memory of waking up after getting clocked with a stick, very much alive, pushed that option right off the table.
"I expected as much," Hill said. "Don't press it. We've already found Hawk."
Natasha blinked. "You've found him?"
"Mm-hm."
"Quantico?"
"No. New Mexico."
"New—" Natasha froze. "Why is he in New Mexico?"
"Because the Ross family cemetery has been obliterated."
Natasha pulled up the fresh clip that just hit her phone.
On screen: a sea of shattered headstones; graves blasted open like a shelling; coffins and splintered debris strewn across the grounds. The camera swung—what had been a lavish Ross manor now lay in ruins, a gutted husk.
Natasha drew in a sharp breath. "This…"
"New York field agents confirmed it: Hawk's sister Anya's grave took minor damage—likely from last night's fight. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. Wrecked Ross estate, Ross family cemetery—this looks like Hawk's payback."
"Yikes."
Natasha hissed under her breath, then frowned. "Does General Ross know?"
"He does."
"He's going to lose his mind."
If it were her family plot in pieces, she'd lose it too.
Still… serves them right.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was still mid–risk assessment and first-contact planning, and the Army just… charged straight in. Did they hear "Hawk" and think he was just another "Hulk"—a Bruce Banner they could chase into hiding? Not everyone runs from you.
Now look—so cocky at the start; so miserable now.
Tsk.
What's next, dig up the first Ross who stepped off the Mayflower?
Natasha's thoughts snagged. "Wait, Commander—that's a long haul from New York to New Mexico. It's been, what, six hours since it happened. How could he get there that fast?"
"To be precise, under three," Hill said. "And this isn't the part to fixate on. If I'm right, his next stop is Quantico."
Revenge for Anya could be read one way. But after he leveled the Ross family plot, the pattern was hard to miss:
Hawk repays blood with blood.
If he'd go that far for a grave, why would he spare the man who backed last night's raid—Thaddeus Ross?
They'd lost Hawk's physical trail again, but Hill was sure of the destination.
Quantico.
Natasha frowned. "Then I—"
"Stay put."
"…Huh?"
"Find a way to remain close to Gwen," Hill said, voice firm. "Until this is over."
Natasha's brows rose. "Commander, you mean—"
"Not sure yet. But we prepare for the worst. And this stays between us. No one else hears it. Understood?"
"Understood, but—"
Natasha glanced around the van at the three S.H.I.E.L.D. techs quietly working.
Hill seemed to read her mind. "I handpicked this team with Victoria. They handle the perimeter until this wraps."
"Got it, Commander."
"Good. Hill out."
In her Triskelion office, Maria Hill set the phone down and leaned back, fingers rubbing at a spike of trigeminal pain. She'd been about to order Natasha back—when a jolt of instinct made her pivot hard and leave Natasha with Gwen.
Because if the Army couldn't beat Hawk head-on… they might use Gwen as bait.
It wasn't a hunch. It was the kind of ugly probability you learned serving in the military and running intel.
The military will do anything to win a war.
And this was a war.
Back then, Hulk's girlfriend had been Betty Ross—Ross's own daughter. Swap in any other girlfriend, and Ross would've gladly "helped" her and laid the trap.
Now Hawk had toppled the Ross family cemetery.
So—guard against the worst.
Also…
Another name surfaced. Hill's eyes lifted toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director's office.
Her gut said the Army's surprise strike wasn't clean of Nick Fury's fingerprints. Among the seventy-seven federal soldiers found dead at Calvary, one ID came back fake. Not Army. S.H.I.E.L.D.
Only a handful inside S.H.I.E.L.D. even knew about Hawk—and she'd already ordered zero unsanctioned contact. Yet there he was: a dead S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. And—how convenient—he was Black.
Hill strongly suspected Fury sent him.
Why? Simple timeline.
Yesterday afternoon, the World Security Council abruptly unfroze Nick Fury's operational authority.
By nightfall, the Army launched a raid.
No connection? Seriously?
Her desk phone rang.
"Hill."
"Commander, we have a possible Hawk sighting."
Hill stood at once and left the office.
Right then, the opposite door opened.
Freshly re-empowered Nick Fury stepped out.
Hill didn't wait. She took the command elevator down to Ops. Moments later, she and Fury walked in nearly back to back.
"Haw—" Hill began.
"Where is that damned criminal right now?" Fury boomed, voice back to full brass. He passed Hill with a smile. "Sorry. We're not in wartime."
Hill's smile was strictly by the book. As Deputy Director and wartime commander, she outranked Fury only under formal wartime protocols. With his authority restored and no war declared, the Director's word sat above hers.
"Director," an analyst called. "Possible sighting in Maryland."
"Put it up."
A still from an ATM camera filled the screen—Hawk, a streak, almost a ghosted smear.
Fury stared. "WTF. Anything else?"
"No, sir."
"Do we have a read on his obj—"
"Sir!" another tech blurted, eyes wide at a fresh feed. "Quantico just suffered an explosion. Five seconds ago."
…
(End of Chapter)
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