How does that saying go?
You can run from the monk, but not the temple.
In Hawk's original cosmos, although he also fulfills his promise, maintaining the pledge to destroy one newly born Celestial God every month.
But...
He finds it somewhat tedious.
After all, in his universe, after Celestial God Griss fled, there were no Celestial God Team members left alive in that universe.
So killing those newly emerging Celestial Gods can certainly give Hawk a sense of satisfaction, but it does not allow him to achieve peace of mind.
But this 616 Cosmos is different.
Here, besides Griss, there are other members of the Celestial God Team present.
So!
Once I slaughter all the newly born Celestial Gods in this universe, I want to see if any of you dare to show yourselves.
Hawk stood with his foot on the head of Celestial God Griss, gazing into the depths of the starry sky, at the unknown Celestial God that had just made a fleeting appearance and then vanished, his heterochromatic eyes sparkling.
The next moment.
Golden light flashed, and when it disappeared, amidst the void surrounding him, the body of Celestial God Griss floated quietly in the cosmos.
As for Hawk, he had long since vanished from the original spot, nowhere to be seen.
The battle between Hawk and Celestial God Griss lasted for a while, if described in Earth time, it took about seventy-two hours from start to finish, roughly three days.
The battles on Earth had also long since concluded.
At this moment, members of The Avengers were attending a funeral.
Good news.
It's not Natasha or Tony Stark from the original story.
Bad news.
The deceased is Wakanda's King T'Challa, also known as Black Panther, along with the captain of Wakanda's Royal Guard, Okoye.
On the battlefield, swords and blades show no mercy; no one is guaranteed to survive until the end without a declared end to the battle.
Natasha couldn't, Tony Stark couldn't either.
Black Panther and the Royal Guard he led to support the battlefield, were no exception.
Just as Thanos was dead and Blackwood Throat followed Thanos to explode, being surrounded by Black Panther and his Royal Guard, the hopelessly desperate Black Dwarf roared, opting to exchange injuries in the last moments by grabbing Black Panther and initiating a self-detonation.
The tremendous explosion's shockwave instantly vaporized Captain Okoye and over a dozen guard members who were encircling him inside, then it was followed by the second row and the third row.
When the explosion subsided, a giant crater with a diameter of one kilometer and a depth of fifteen meters appeared where Black Dwarf was.
So...
Black Panther, Captain Okoye, and his Royal Guard didn't even leave behind complete bodies.
However, this time, Black Panther and the others sacrificed themselves to save Earth.
Thus, his funeral was held on the vacant land, cleared out in haste over three days, located in the northwest side of The Avengers base.
The funeral was overwhelmingly solemn.
Black Panther's tombstone was permanently erected here, and Princess Shuri of Wakanda, after the funeral, took a jar of earth and left New York City by plane.
Soon.
The last crucial matter was placed on the agenda.
According to the plan, after using the Infinity Gemstones to bring back the half of the population that had vanished, once affairs concluded, they must return the Infinity Gemstones to their original places to avoid causing time-space paradoxes.
While going.
Tony, Captain America, and Bruce Banner were responsible for the Space Gemstone, Time Gemstone, and Mind Gemstone.
Thor and Rocket Raccoon managed the Reality Gemstone.
War Machine Rhodes and Star-Lord took care of the Power Gemstone.
The reason for excluding Nebula from this mission was simple: to prevent Nebula from switching channels and causing another Thanos scenario.
The most crucial point.
Rhodes genuinely wanted Star-Lord to witness himself dancing and singing awkwardly without a BGM back then.
Natasha partnered with Wasp to handle the Soul Gemstone.
Hawkeye didn't come either.
Unlike excluding Nebula, the main reason Hawkeye couldn't come was because he was injured.
But the injury wasn't from the battlefield; at first, everyone was concerned about Hawkeye's injury, asking what happened. Natasha kept silent but faced with too many inquiries, she eventually told everyone that Hawkeye was injured because of his wife's return, causing a back injury.
Everyone listened to Hawkeye's injury truth, looking at each other with odd expressions.
But urgent matters take precedence.
On the transport platform, hastily built in three days, divided into four groups once more, everyone exchanged glances.
Compared to the first time traveling through time with serious expressions filled with ''succeed or sacrifice'' sentiments, this time everyone wore smiles.
"See you soon."
"See you soon!"
"See you soon!"
"See you soon!"
The four groups spoke joyfully this time, then pressed the traversal device, instantly making the crowded platform become empty.
In a blink of an eye.
The four groups returned.
"Mind Gemstone returned, can you believe it, Thor cried once more, baby Thor."
"Hey!"
Red-eyed Thor directly lifted Rocket Raccoon, who had promised to keep the secret, and upon returning couldn't wait to speak.
"Soul Gemstone in place."
"Wow, the cosmos is really wonderful."
"Maybe we can borrow Star-Lord's spaceship for a cosmic journey."
Wasp, returning the Soul Gemstone from Vormir, looked down at her boyfriend, Ant-Man Scott, standing with her dad Hank Pym, and sighed.
Ant-Man Scott instantly caught the key in his girlfriend's words and gave the answer Wasp wanted.
The two exchanged a smile.
"Power Gemstone is in place."
"Hey Star-Lord, seeing yourself dance awkwardly, don't you feel like killing yourself?"
"Don't talk to me."
Star-Lord kept a straight face, trying not to think about the embarrassing scene of himself dancing and singing awkwardly just now.
It was so damn humiliating.
Next up.
Tony Stark and Bruce Hulk Banner's figures also appeared almost simultaneously on the teleport platform.
"Mind Gemstone has been returned."
"Time Gemstone is returned too."
"..."
Everyone exchanged glances, smiling happily, and then seemed to discover a blind spot, instinctively looking at the empty spot next to Tony Stark.
"Hiss!"
"Where's Captain?"
"The display shows he has already returned."
Ant-Man Scott was stunned, then ran to the monitor, checking the coordinate information of Captain's time-space bracelet currently displayed, instinctively looking up at the teleport platform.
Just then.
With a swish!
Captain America returned to the platform in the same appearance he left.
"Space Gemstone is in position."
Captain said briefly and glanced down at Tony, who looked at him as if asking why he was a few seconds late: "Tony, my device seems to have a problem, the data was somewhat scrambled when I came back."
Scrambled?
Tony was slightly stunned, taking the time-space traversal bracelet Captain handed over, then walked off the platform and placed it on the control console.
The next second.
The data inside the time-space traversal bracelet used to stabilize the Möbius ring structure was projected into the air above the console.
In sight.
The data was densely packed. Any less than a doctorate probably couldn't understand what was displayed.
Tony frowned.
On the side, Bruce Hulk Banner glanced at it and seemed to see the clue: "No data is lost, but there's something extra, Tony, look, these data seem different from our space-time characteristics."
Tony, having noticed it when Bruce Hulk Banner spoke, had extracted the extra data by the time the latter finished speaking.
Then...
After a series of editing and compiling, it presented some fragments of footage.
They seemed to be snippets of scenes they had experienced but seemed different.
Because—
Looking at the scenes projected, where Natasha chose to sacrifice herself on Vormir Star to obtain the Soul Gemstone, everyone instinctively glanced at the very alive Natasha standing beside them.
Natasha looked at the projected scene, frowned, then smiled at everyone's gaze.
"Hey, I'm alive, aren't I?"
Natasha said, coughing once, walked to the console, and directly decided to play the next file.
This time everyone's gaze shifted to Iron Man.
Because!
"I am Iron Man!"
"Snap!"
When the snap sounded, Thanos's army was turned to dust, but Iron Man was taken away as well.
On the side, Little Pepper Pepper Potts instinctively squeezed Tony's hand.
Tony glanced at his wife and then frowned at the projection: "So this scene shows another possibility?"
Bruce Hulk Banner frowned.
"But which possibility?"
"..."
Natasha looked at Tony snapping his fingers in the projection, then seemed to think of something, speaking calmly: "The possibility without Hawk."
Hawk?
Everyone glanced at Natasha upon hearing this, their minds conjuring up the image of Hawk swiftly taking air superiority and slaying Thanos.
Facing everyone's gaze, Natasha took a deep breath: "On Vormir Star I indeed died, but Hawk appeared then and resurrected me."
Upon hearing this, everyone gasped.
The next moment.
Captain reacted: "Wait, where did he appear, he also went back in time?"
Natasha nodded.
Captain frowned, while Ant-Man Scott on the side shrugged, reminding everyone: "Remember, he's from another multiverse; he can freely traverse the multiverse, time travel doesn't seem like a big deal."
Being reminded by Scott, everyone snapped back.
True.
The current Hawk is not the Hawk in their memories.
But a Hawk from some multiverse, like a dragon across the river.
Just then.
Natasha's gaze returned to the projection.
"There are two more clips here."
"Open them up."
"..."