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Jane didn't hesitate. The moment she counted to three, her fingertips made contact with the sealed Aether.
Suddenly, the Reality Stone—like a living, viscous fluid, lashed out, instantly enveloping her hand. In less than a heartbeat, a third of the Aether had surged into her body like a ravenous tide.
At the same instant Jane made her move, Hawk was already in motion.
As he moved, the sealing device had begun to crackle with lightning—preparing to annihilate the intruder who had violated this hallowed ground.
But it was too late.
The Aether had already escaped its prison. With a deafening clang, the containment unit snapped shut.
The seal was broken.
Freed from its confinement, the remaining Aether surged, ready to completely consume Jane. But in that moment, Hawk appeared. He shoved Jane aside, intercepting the remaining two-thirds of the Reality Stone.
WHOOSH!
The dark red, blood-like substance flooded into him, a living torrent that began to sweep through every corner of his being. The side effects of the Reality Stone were immediate:
A parasitic draining, a voracious consumption of his life force.
The Aether was feeding on him.
Hawk unleashed his Cosmo.
With a single thought, the viscous, searing energy of the Aether was wrenched from his physical body and hurled into his Cosmo.
In that instant, his Cosmo—once calm as a still lake—erupted into chaos, as if a massive boulder had been hurled into its depths.
The Aether began to spread, its crimson ripples expanding to every corner of his Cosmo.
Just then, a Phoenix cry echoed through the void.
The Phoenix, which had already gone all-in and fused with his Cosmo, opened its eyes. A storm of fire erupted as the celestial bird emerged, its wings spreading wide as its flames washed over the entire universe.
The Phoenix slammed into the liquid form of the Reality Stone.
"SKREEEEEEE!!!"
As the two forces collided, a new flame was born—a fusion of the Phoenix's brilliant crimson-gold and the Aether's crimson essence.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The moment the scarlet flame appeared, Hawk's Cosmo was torn apart and reborn in a second Big Bang.
His universe twisted.
It detonated.
And then—
It expanded.
The scarlet fire spread with impossible speed. In the blink of an eye, a new Cosmo was born from the ashes of the old.
A universe vaster, expanding exponentially beyond its former limits.
And as Hawk's consciousness was lost in this new trinity—a universe forged from himself, the Phoenix and the Aether, a corresponding event took place in the Physical Universe.
...
In the heart of the Phoenix Constellation, 5.8 billion light-years from Earth, a tiny, almost invisible singularity, burning with a scarlet flame, blinked into existence.
It pulsed, on the verge of detonation. If it were to explode, a new parallel universe would be born, with the Phoenix Constellation at its heart.
At the same time, in a small country on Earth, a newborn baby girl's eyes flickered open, and for a fraction of a second, a spark of scarlet fire burned within them.
...
An unknown amount of time passed.
Lost in a Cosmo that now rivaled that of a Veteran Silver Saint, Hawk heard a voice—a faint, anxious call pulling him from the depths.
Is that…
Gwen??
His consciousness snapped back to reality.
The next second, he opened his eyes. He saw her, kneeling beside him, her face etched with worry, tears welling in her eyes.
She stared at him in disbelief. He had been gone for over four hours, and when he had reappeared, he had been a withered husk, his eyes sunken, his skin stretched tight over his bones like a skeleton.
Hawk, seeing the state of his own emaciated hand, understood.
With a single thought, His new Phoenix Cosmo blazed to life. In an instant, as Gwen watched in stunned silence, his withered frame began to fill out, his life force returning with the speed of an inflating balloon, restoring him to his former self.
The good news: he had the Reality Stone... Or part of it.
But it was enough. With its power, the ethereal potential of his abilities had become a solid, tangible reality.
He could now unleash one hundred percent of his power.
The bad news: he only had a piece of the stone. To truly elevate his Cosmo, to make it a physical reality, he would need the complete Infinity Stone.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Hawk stood up, pulling Gwen to her feet and wrapping her in a comforting embrace. He held her for a moment, then glanced around. "Where's Jane Foster?"
He was back, so she should be too.
Gwen, still clinging to him, looked up. "Dr. Foster? She appeared a little while before you did. She just went outside."
Hawk heard the roll of thunder from outside. He took Gwen's hand and led her toward the exit.
"How long was I gone?"
"Four hours."
"That's not so bad. I told you it could be up to six. I came back early. Why are you crying?"
"Have you seen what you looked like when you came back? I thought a vampire had drained you dry."
"Sorry. I was wrong."
Hawk apologized immediately, cutting off the rant that was clearly about to begin.
Outside, it was now pouring rain.
Just as they were about to step out of the building, Hawk's Sixth Sense flared. He saw a burst of Aether energy erupt from Jane in the distance, and he immediately pulled Gwen into his arms.
BOOOOOM!!
The Aether's self-defense mechanism unleashed a wave of energy, sending the three London police officers who had been trying to arrest Jane flying.
Thor, seeing this, ran to Jane, swept her into his arms, and looked up.
The next second, a brilliant seven-colored pillar of pure energy slammed down from the sky, enveloping them. An intricate Asgardian rune was burned into the ground, and as the light of the Rainbow Bridge faded—Thor and Jane were gone.
Hawk stared at the scorch mark on the pavement and fell silent.
A moment later, he just shook his head and laughed.
Fine.
The Dark Elves will be here by tomorrow at the latest anyway.
Let's see how this plays out.
Hawk thought to himself, then looked at the downpour. With a flicker of thought, the energy of his Cosmo flowed, and he led Gwen out into the storm.
Gwen braced herself, expecting to be soaked to the bone.
But—
She looked at the pouring rain surrounding them, then at the perfectly dry bubble of air they were walking through, and froze.
The next second, she thought of the Reality Stone. Her eyes lit up.
"Hawk, did you…"
"I got a piece of it."
He didn't hide it from her.
It was only a fraction of the stone's true power, not enough to turn his Cosmo into a true Golden Phoenix. But it was enough to alter the reality of the weather in a one-foot radius around him.
A little personal sunshine.
Hawk looked away from the Bifrost mark on the ground. "Let's go back."
Thor and Jane were in Asgard.
There was no way for him to get the rest of the Reality Stone now.
...
Hawk and Gwen's departure went unnoticed by Jane's assistant or the London police officers who were just picking themselves up off the ground.
He had used his newfound power to simply… edit their presence out of the immediate reality.
They walked out of the police cordon, hailed a cab, and headed back to their hotel.
The moment Mary Jane got Gwen's text, she was on their door. "So, are we still on for tomorrow's plan?"
"Uh…"
Gwen thought for a moment. "Probably. I'll check with Hawk when he gets back. By the way, have you guys eaten?"
Mary Jane shrugged. "Didn't I call you an hour ago? You said to go ahead without you."
Gwen remembered. She had still been waiting for Hawk to come back then.
She smiled and apologized.
Mary Jane, having gotten what she needed, left and headed back to her own room.
Gwen closed the door and walked toward the elevator.
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