Just kidding.
What is the right to education?
It's like an apple; you might not use it, but you can't be without it.
No matter what Hawk said, it was impossible for him to completely hand over his children's right to education to Gwen.
The most important point.
Why should the current him bear the blame for Hawk's future mistakes?
There's no reason for that.
So... Hawk decisively stopped the topic of 'education,' wrapped his arm around Gwen's slender waist, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at Osborn Manor on the outskirts of New York City.
But!
Where was Osborn Manor?
There wasn't even a manor; before them was a not-too-dense forest, and judging by the state of the plant growth, there hadn't been any human-made structures here for at least ten years.
"Hawk, this..."
Gwen looked at the not-too-dense forest before them and recalled the information she had found online when Hawk's consciousness had descended into the Phoenix Universe: "I searched for Osborn online before, but there was no information about Osborn on the internet."
"New future, new past."
Hawk repeated, withdrawing his gaze and looking at Gwen: "Did you find out where your laboratory is now on the internet?"
Gwen's 'Stacy-Phoenix Biological Laboratory' was located within Osborn Biological Industry.
If, in this new past, Osborn had never existed.
Then what had Gwen's laboratory been modified into?
It couldn't have just disappeared.
That's impossible.
Because if Gwen's laboratory were gone, it would involve modifying Gwen's timeline.
"Stark."
"What?"
Gwen took out her phone, turned it on, and showed the screen to Hawk: "Apparently, I never collaborated with Osborn; I collaborated with Stark."
Hawk looked at the phone screen in Gwen's hand.
It read.
'Dr. Gwen Stacy and Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts signed a memorandum of cooperation to establish the Stacy-Phoenix Biological Laboratory...'
Along with the article was a photo.
It was a photo of Gwen and Pepper shaking hands and posing at the Stark Industries Tower.
"While you were looking for answers, I also called Pepper."
"What did Pepper say?"
"She said that my leave application had been approved by the board, wished me a happy honeymoon, and told me not to worry about the laboratory, so I didn't dare say much and hung up."
"Alright."
Hawk acknowledged, then looked at Gwen, as if he had thought of something, embraced Gwen again, and the moment he turned, they had already arrived on a street in Queens.
Then--
He saw a clearly well-preserved middle-aged woman walking out of Peter Parker's house.
Was this Aunt May?
Bah!
This was clearly Aunt May, who strongly resembled Tony Stark's ex-boyfriend.
Gwen naturally knew Peter's house, so she also saw this Aunt May walking out of Peter's house.
She seemed to have thought of something.
"Hawk, don't tell me, she's..."
"Yes, Aunt May!"
"Jesus!"
"Yes, new future, new past."
Hawk, standing across the street from Gwen, looked at Aunt May appearing in his line of sight, his expression unreadable.
When Ancient One had said, 'A new past, just without the Spider-Man you know,' he had already guessed who the new Spider-Man might be.
Because this matter had puzzled him ever since he attended Midtown High School and saw the original Spider-Woman.
This was Marvel Universe 616, and there was indeed a Spider-Man in Marvel Universe 616.
But not the original Spider-Woman.
So after Ancient One said, 'In the new past, there is also Peter Parker, just not the one you know,' he had already made some guesses.
However!
Guesses are just guesses; seeing is believing.
Just then.
As a bicycle rode by from a distance, a boy who looked about fifteen, with slightly curly hair and some collagen on his face, appeared in their line of sight.
"Aunt May, I'll help you."
"No need, I'll be done soon. How was school?"
"It was smooth."
"..."
Gwen watched the fifteen-year-old boy, who looked somewhat sunny and had clear eyes, get off his bicycle across the street and run to help the young Aunt May. She opened her mouth and looked at Hawk beside her.
"Is he Peter Parker?"
"Yes."
"He doesn't look twenty, does he?"
"Fifteen, attending Midtown High School, ninth grade, second semester."
"Hiss, Peter became a child again?"
Gwen took a sharp intake of breath upon hearing this, then looked with a strange expression at the fifteen-year-old Peter Parker, who was at the door, helping the young Aunt May trim the lawn.
Peter Parker on the lawn seemed to sense something, raised his eyes, and looked towards the direction of Hawk and Gwen across the road.
Gwen met Peter Parker's gaze, which instantly sharpened.
"Hawk..."
"He can't see us."
If it were the Spider-Woman Peter he knew, even if he infinitely lowered his presence with the Reality Stone, Spider-Woman Peter would still be able to sense his presence through years of acquaintance and instinct.
But this Dutch Spider-Man, who also seemed to have been bitten by a spider and mutated?
He didn't have that ability yet.
Indeed.
The Dutch boy, who had looked over for a while, with his spider-sense vaguely warning him but finding nothing after a search, somewhat confusedly withdrew his gaze, then turned and went back into the house with his Aunt May.
"Hawk, where are our Peter Parker and Felicia? Can you sense them?"
"Yes, they are on a certain Earth in a multiverse."
Although that was a time trap at the time.
The light of the north cross constellation (cygnus) was indeed shining on that Earth in the multiverse.
"Then can you bring them back?"
"Not now."
Hawk shook his head: "I can sense the aura of the saint cloth necklace I gave Xiao Ben at the time, but I have no way to reach them, let alone bring them back, at least not now."
His main Universe and the multiverse where the Spider-Woman he knew resided were separated by endless cosmic bubbles and endless dimensions.
There were not only spatial barriers but also temporal barriers.
Hawk could sense the multiverse where Spider-Woman was because there was a saint cloth belonging to him in that multiverse, which allowed him to sense it.
But that didn't mean he could go there.
At least not now.
After all, the time trap was clearly waiting for him there; if he went, he would fall into the time trap.
But later?
Once he elevates his current Seventh Sense to its peak, then comprehends the Eighth Sense and manifests the Phoenix Universe, he will start as a multiversal Lord, completely transcending the time of the Marvel main multiverse, and then he can go there.
Or... wait until his godson, Ben Hawk Parker, grows up and comprehends the Little Universe cultivation method. At that time, he can directly descend to Xiao Ben's side through the illuminated north cross constellation (cygnus).
It's still the same saying.
A gentleman's revenge is never too late.
He can wait, and he will wait, until he has fully developed, until he has completely transcended the timeline of the Marvel main multiverse.
Hehe!
Eternity of time, I will let you know what true cruelty is.
I'll freaking obliterate your main multiverse then!
Damn it!
Hawk thought to himself.
"Let's go."
"Where?"
"Home."
Hawk shrugged: "New future, new past. In this new timeline, there has never been the Peter Parker we knew, only the little Spider we just saw, with whom we have no interaction. No one will remember the Peter Parker and Osborn we knew, except for the two of us."
If he hadn't contracted his own time, he probably wouldn't remember Spider-Woman either.
But he contracted his own time, so the temporal changes in the Marvel main Universe could not affect his already constant past.
As for why Gwen also remembered.
The reason is simple.
Gwen Stacy is now Gwen Phoenix. If the temporal changes in the Marvel main Universe had occurred before he and Gwen took their vows, Gwen would also have forgotten, but the temporal changes occurred after the vows.
So... Hawk Phoenix remembers, and naturally, Gwen Phoenix would also remember.
Back home, Gwen listened to Hawk's explanation, blinked, and just as she was about to speak, the phone rang.
"It's the laboratory."
Gwen glanced at the caller ID, was slightly surprised, then, encouraged by Hawk's gaze, answered the phone.
After a while.
Gwen hung up the phone, her willow-like brows furrowed: "It was my assistant, Fiona, who just called. She said I hadn't given her the laboratory work schedule for my honeymoon vacation and was asking for it."
Hawk shrugged.
"So?"
"I asked Fiona if she remembered Osborn, and she said she didn't."
"New future, new past."
Hawk walked to the bar, picked up the unfinished bourbon from earlier, took a sip, and repeated the phrase. Then he said to the somewhat worried Gwen: "Don't worry, the new timeline only modified the Peter Parker and Osborn we knew; it didn't modify anything else. Your assistant is still your assistant, the laboratory is still the laboratory. You can think of it as a kind of alternate cut and paste."
Gwen met Hawk's gaze, her expression serious.
"But I don't like this cut and paste."
"I don't like it either."
Hawk chuckled, drained the glass, then stepped out from behind the bar, embraced Gwen, and smiled as he looked at Gwen in his arms.
"Since things have come to this..."
"So?"
Gwen listened to Hawk's words, her eloquent emerald eyes fixed on Hawk.
Hawk shrugged.
"Since things have come to this, let's go on our honeymoon first."
"..." (End of chapter)
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