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Hawk held Jean in his arms.
Wanda held Billy and Tommy in hers.
This was the first time they'd ever stood face to face.
"..." Their eyes met.
But Hawk's gaze didn't linger on the woman before him—the one with flowing auburn hair and an unmistakable maternal softness in her features. Instead, his attention drifted downward to the two children cradled in her arms.
Billy and Tommy.
His bloodline descendants. Children he'd never met until this very moment.
'Just as I thought.'
These two hadn't inherited his power.
And that made perfect sense.
After all—
These children had been conceived after his engagement to Gwen. From that point forward, only Gwen's children with him would ever inherit his abilities. Only they would have that right.
Hawk had no intention of changing that arrangement.
It was a promise he'd made to Gwen. And he intended to keep it.
Wanda met his gaze head-on. As his eyes swept over the twins in her arms, she stared straight at him—crimson light flickering subtly within her irises, as though she were trying to see through him entirely.
Hawk noticed. He pulled back from his thoughts, glanced at her expression, and let out a soft chuckle.
Wanda caught the sound. The tension in her brow eased slightly. She opened her mouth to speak—
When suddenly.
"Daddy!"
"..."
Hawk's attention snapped downward to the little girl in his arms who'd just called out to him.
Jean gazed up at him with wide, innocent eyes. "Daddy, Mommy and Uncle were just saying you didn't care about us! I was about to tell them they were wrong, but then you showed up—perfect timing!"
Hawk looked at the child clinging tightly to his neck after delivering that declaration. His gaze drifted—almost involuntarily—toward Pietro.
Pietro felt the weight of that stare hit him like a truck. His heart lurched. Without missing a beat, his eyes shot upward, locking onto the seven-thousand-meter walls of water rising on either side of them.
"Wow, would you look at that..."
Smooth deflection.
Wanda, on the other hand, didn't flinch. She held Hawk's gaze without wavering.
Their eyes locked.
Neither spoke.
Then—
Hawk vanished.
Wanda's pupils contracted sharply. She whipped her head around, scanning the wreckage of the Hydra installation in the distance.
And there he was.
Hawk had reappeared atop the rubble, Jean still secure in his arms. His head was lowered, gaze sweeping methodically across the destruction beneath his feet—as if searching for something.
Jean—still clinging to his neck—noticed his behavior. Her voice came out sweet and curious.
"Daddy, what are you looking for?"
"Strucker."
One word. That was all Hawk offered.
Strucker's soul hadn't entered the Underworld.
Which meant only one thing.
The bastard was still alive.
Jean blinked at his answer, then pointed toward a section of the wreckage not far away—a spot where a faint, eerie glow seemed to be pulsing.
"Over there?"
Hawk followed her finger.
And saw it.
Deep within the rubble, a pale blue light flickered—growing brighter and more intense with each passing second.
Blue light?
The Mind Stone.
Hawk's expression shifted. Then his gaze snapped skyward.
Far above—cutting through the abyss overhead with the roar of jet engines—a S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical aircraft descended into view.
"HOLY SHIT!"
"Jesus Christ!"
"Central Command, are you seeing this?"
"We see it."
Back in New York, inside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s central command hub, Sharon and Gwen stood before the main display. The massive walls of churning seawater filled the screen.
Sharon's eyes flickered with something unreadable. She cleared her throat.
"Can you get a clearer image of what's happening down below?"
The S.H.I.E.L.D. operative aboard the aircraft responded with a clipped "Stand by." The underslung camera adjusted rapidly, focusing on the exposed seabed far beneath them.
The next second.
The image sharpened.
Pietro.
Wanda—holding Billy and Tommy.
And Hawk—holding Jean.
All of them appeared on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s main screen in an instant.
Gwen's gaze settled on Wanda, who stood there cradling her two sons.
At that very moment—as if sensing the surveillance—Wanda lifted her head and stared directly at the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft's camera lens. Her eyes seemed to pierce through the feed, meeting Gwen's gaze through the screen.
Just then.
Hawk glanced at the increasingly brilliant blue glow emanating from the wreckage. In a flash, he reappeared in front of Pietro—and placed Jean, who was still clinging to his neck, into his brother-in-law's arms.
Jean blinked her big eyes.
"Daddy?"
"Get out of here first."
Hawk offered a small smile to his daughter—now safely transferred to Pietro's embrace—then looked up.
Sixth Sense—Teleportation!
WHOOSH!
"HOLY SHI—"
"Hands up—"
"Hold your fire! They're friendlies!"
Inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft's cabin, the operatives watched a flash of white light deposit Pietro and Jean directly into the cargo bay. They reached for their sidearms by reflex—but Sharon, watching the live feed from New York, caught the movement and barked the order just in time.
After teleporting Pietro and Jean to safety, Hawk turned toward Wanda.
He was about to send her, Billy, and Tommy to the aircraft as well—
When.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A blinding blue beam erupted from deep within the rubble, streaking toward Wanda like a laser.
Hawk's eyes blazed crimson.
Phoenix Ray.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The searing Phoenix Ray intercepted the blue beam a split second before it struck Wanda. The two energies collided—and locked in a violent stalemate.
The next instant.
Hawk appeared at Wanda's side. Splitting his focus, he continued suppressing the blue beam with his Phoenix Ray while simultaneously placing a hand on Wanda's shoulder—and teleported her, Billy, and Tommy into the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft above.
WHOOSH!
"HOLY—"
"Again??"
The operative who'd just holstered his weapon jerked as another flash of white light delivered Wanda into the cabin.
Back in New York, Sharon spared a brief glance at the new arrivals on the monitor before her attention snapped back to the main feed—where something in the depths below appeared to be locked in a fierce energy exchange with Hawk.
...
Deep beneath the surface.
With Wanda safely evacuated, Hawk drew a deep breath.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
His Phoenix Ray surged—overwhelming the blue beam, forcing it backward—then tore straight through, slamming into the rubble that had spawned the attack.
The wreckage vaporized instantly under the Phoenix Ray's scorching heat.
But—
A streak of golden light burst from the destruction with a sharp crack, rocketing upward toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft at breakneck speed.
Hawk's eyebrow rose.
The next second.
RRRUMMMBBLE!
The towering water walls—each standing nearly eight thousand meters tall—collapsed without warning. The sea came crashing down like heaven's own waterfall, slamming into the golden object with the full weight of an ocean's fury.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The unidentified object's momentum died instantly. Caught beneath the descending deluge falling from eight thousand meters, it was hammered out of the sky in a heartbeat.
But just as the object was about to be dragged back into the depths alongside the collapsing water—
A flash of blue light.
The golden figure cleared the water's reach—and rocketed skyward once more, streaking toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft above.
Then—
WHAM!
Hawk materialized beneath the aircraft. He watched the incoming object close the distance—and threw a single punch.
The impact sent the unidentified object spinning wildly through the air. After several violent rotations, it finally stabilized mid-flight, revealing its true form.
And what Hawk saw—
A body forged entirely from Vibranium. No face—or rather, a face completely concealed behind a heavy, seamless faceplate.
But where eyes should have been, two pinpricks of pale blue light glowed through the metal—apparently serving as this thing's visual sensors.
The areas not covered by Vibranium appeared pitch-black, with an almost liquid quality—as though composed of countless microscopic particles in constant motion.
Nanobots.
Upon closer inspection, those flowing black surfaces were made of infinite swarms of nanoscale machines.
But that wasn't the main attraction.
No.
What caught Hawk's attention was the gemstone embedded at the center of this thing's chest—currently radiating a soft, eerie yellow glow.
The Mind Stone.
One of the Infinity Stones.
Ultron?
Vision?
Hawk studied the apparition before him, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Keh-heh-heh!"
"Hawk Phoenix."
While Hawk was still assessing what exactly he was looking at, the thing finally spoke.
The voice was raspy—metallic—like rusted gears grinding together.
But Hawk recognized it instantly.
His eyebrow arched.
"Strucker?"
"Keh-heh-heh—surprised?"
What stood before him was no longer human. It looked more like something that had fused its soul into this combat chassis via the Mind Stone—a knockoff version of Hawk's own Saint Cloth armor.
Strucker's twin blue pinpricks locked onto Hawk.
"You were one step too late. Just one more second, and you would've killed me."
That's right.
Just one second.
He was lucky his true trump card had never been Wanda or Pietro.
He was luckier still that the moment he'd seen Hawk, he hadn't hesitated—hadn't clung to any false hope—and had immediately fled to the secret laboratory at the base's lowest level, ordering the technicians to transfer his soul into this weapon.
Otherwise...
Strucker's consciousness flickered with the memory—the instant his soul had completed the transfer, he'd watched his flesh-and-blood body detonate alongside every other human in that room.
His voice turned venomous, hatred dripping from every rasping syllable as he glared at Hawk.
"Too bad for you—I survived. And now? You're the one who's going to die."
Hawk heard this and laughed.
"With that pile of scrap metal?"
"Keh-heh!"
Strucker's laughter turned savage.
"Scrap metal?"
"Once I've butchered you, you'll see just how much 'scrap metal' this really is."
"This body was designed specifically to destroy you."
"A frame forged entirely from Vibranium."
"Infinite nanobots capable of repairing any damage at maximum speed."
"A gemstone that provides me with limitless, inexhaustible energy."
"I call it—"
"The Sentry!"
"..."
Sentry?
Hawk listened to Strucker's grandiose, supremely confident declaration. His mind drifted involuntarily to the real Sentry—the hero said to possess the power of a million exploding suns.
He considered the comparison for a moment, then looked back at the thing before him—which resembled a bizarre fusion of Ultron and Vision far more than any actual Sentry—and let out a soft, dismissive laugh.
No point in arguing semantics.
"Sentry? Sure. Whatever makes you happy."
Strucker cackled in response.
"Oh, I'll be happy. Very happy—once you're dead."
"Good."
Hawk's smile didn't waver.
"I'll give you your shot."
With that, he turned toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft still hovering nearby.
"Get out of here."
"Roger that!"
The pilot met Hawk's gaze and immediately throttled up the engines, preparing to withdraw.
At that moment.
Strucker's roar tore through the air.
"You think you can run??"
"Dream on!"
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~# 70 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!
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~# Bonus Chapter every 300PS