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Evening.
On the rooftop of the new apartment building.
His workout finished, Hawk tugged at the hem of his shorts and sat down, leaning his back against the cool metal of the ventilation shaft. He grabbed a Coke from beside him and took a long drink.
Just then.
A thought occurred to him. He put the soda down and opened his right hand, palm up.
The spot where Gwen had seen a patch of new skin was now completely gone, without a trace.
After awakening his Cosmo, his strength, speed, and durability had all transcended the limits of a normal human.
Even without burning his Cosmo:
His strength could easily shatter boulders, demolish thick walls, and even bend steel.
His speed, if he pushed it, could break the sound barrier.
His durability was just as impressive.
He could withstand impacts that would kill a normal person instantly, even without the protection of a Saint Armor. And if he did get injured, his Accelerated Healing allowed him to recover from fatigue and minor wounds far faster than any human.
That piece of shrapnel from the centrifuge today was a perfect example.
If he hadn't intervened, Gwen wouldn't have stood a chance. The shard would have killed her instantly.
But that wasn't what was bothering him.
The important thing was...
Hawk replayed the moment in his mind, his left hand tracing the spot on his right palm where he'd felt the impact.
He frowned, lost in thought. Just then, the phone lying next to him began to ring.
Hawk snapped out of it, surprised. Since he'd gotten the SIM card, this was the first time it had ever actually rung.
He answered.
"Hello?"
"...Yeah, it's me. Are you there?"
"Okay, I'm on my way."
He hung up.
Hawk sprang to his feet. In a blur, his figure vanished, reappearing a moment later by the fire escape. He slipped back through his window, grabbed five hundred dollars from his backpack, and headed out.
...
Ten minutes later.
At the entrance to Queensbridge Park, across the street.
Hawk stood by the gate, scanned the empty surroundings, then pulled out his phone and dialed the only number in his contacts.
A moment later, the headlights of a parked van down the street flashed once.
Hawk's eyes snapped toward the vehicle.
The driver's side door opened, and a young Asian woman with long, thick brown hair, looking to be in her early twenties, stepped out. She held up a phone, showing him his own number on the screen.
Hawk looked at her face and raised an eyebrow.
Skye?
Skye, standing next to her van—which also looked like her home—called out the agreed-upon code phrase. "Faster than a speeding bullet?"
Hawk nodded. "But not as strong."
That was the signal. Skye didn't waste any more time. She pulled a laptop from the van and handed it to him. "Just like we discussed online. Three years old, but in great condition. I've already wiped it and installed a fresh OS. Check it out. If you're happy, you can pay me."
Hawk took the laptop without a word.
After all, this was a five-hundred-dollar transaction.
If he had been a little less proud, he might have just asked Gwen if she had an old laptop he could have.
Again.
A line in the sand is meant to be crossed.
He had already accepted the phone Gwen had practically forced on him.
But, Hawk thought, a man's got to have some dignity.
Still, he never would have guessed that the random seller he'd found on a used electronics forum this afternoon would turn out to be another major player in the Marvel Universe.
Skye.
The future Quake.
Hawk shook his head at the irony. He opened the "girl's old laptop" and ran a quick diagnostic, confirming that it booted up and ran the basic programs without any issues. Satisfied, he closed it and handed over the five hundred dollars he had brought.
Skye took the five crisp hundred-dollar bills and inspected them just as carefully.
A moment later.
She pocketed the money and extended her hand. "Pleasure doing business with you."
Hawk shifted the laptop to his left hand and shook hers. "Likewise."
No small talk.
Just business.
The transaction complete, Skye got back in her van, started the engine, and drove off without another word.
...
Hawk returned to his apartment, placed the "girl's old laptop" from Skye on his folding table, and set the "girl's old phone" from Gwen next to it.
Comparing them like this, Gwen was better.
Wait, what am I thinking?
Hawk frowned again, shaking the distracting thoughts from his head. He connected the laptop to the mobile hotspot from Gwen's phone.
Next step.
Quantico.
He opened a satellite map and zoomed in on the coordinates of the military base.
Some of the more classified buildings were blurred out.
But it didn't matter.
With a single glance, Hawk found it: a ruined, fenced-off structure on the edge of the base.
He spent the next half hour cross-referencing information, confirming that this was, in fact, the remains of the lab where Bruce Banner was exposed.
The internet was a powerful tool. After the Avengers were revealed to the world, and with Banner's own public incident back in '09, his history was all out there.
His life story, how he became the Hulk, when he became the Hulk... it was all online.
Even the gossip about his past relationship with Betty Ross had been dredged up.
But that wasn't what Hawk was focused on.
Sitting in his new apartment, one hand propping up his chin, the other scrolling on the trackpad, Hawk stared at the satellite image of the abandoned lab, a thoughtful, calculating look in his eyes.
Hawk had a feeling he was about to cross that line.
He had no choice. He had no money, and even if he did, the military wasn't about to sell him a piece of a top-secret Gamma experiment.
But he needed that Gammanium.
His Saint Armor depended on it.
However...
Stealing the Gammanium from a US military base was not the same as stealing Vibranium from Wakanda.
To put it simply:
If he stole the Vibranium and got caught, the world wouldn't come after him. It would be like starting a raid and having the rest of the server automatically join his team. The world would come after Wakanda. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council would undoubtedly demand that Wakanda share its resources, or at the very least, allow a UN peacekeeping force within its borders.
So, he wasn't worried about Wakanda.
Hawk stared at the satellite map on his screen, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
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