"Moloka'i."
"Mauna Loa."
"That's…"
Hawk listened to the locations Klaus rattled off, thought for a moment, then looked at him. "Hawai'i. Forty-eight nautical miles east of Honolulu?"
While wondering which big figure of the supernatural world Hawk really was, Klaus kept that slanted smile as he watched him. "Yes. You were there three nights ago."
"I've never been there. I haven't even been to Hawai'i."
Hawk glanced at Klaus.
The reason he could pinpoint it so precisely the moment Klaus said the place names was simple—his memory was excellent.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have picked law as a major.
He turned back to Klaus. "Mind telling me what happened on that island?"
"What do I get?"
Klaus toyed with his glass, amused.
He could, out of respect for the sheer oppressive presence Hawk projected, let go of a quarry he'd hunted for over five centuries—Katherine.
No great loss.
His wolf side was unbound now. Chasing Katherine had mostly been about the insult she represented.
And with someone that strong vouching for her, there was no point turning a powerhouse into an enemy.
But—
"You asking me to let Katherine go as a favor is one thing," Klaus said. "You wanting to know how I unbound the wolf is another."
"Another face favor?" Hawk asked.
Klaus leaned back, slowly spinning the whiskey glass on the table.
Hawk smiled, spreading his hands. "Will that do?"
"Of course." Klaus's crooked grin lifted. "As you wish."
He began recounting the full-moon night three days earlier, when he went to Moloka'i—forty-eight nautical miles east of Honolulu—to break his seal, and how he'd seen "Hawk" on that island.
"You know me well," Klaus said. "I don't know how you learned, but you do. So you know I've searched many, many years for the key—a doppelgänger—to unbind the wolf."
"At first I thought Elena, Katherine's doppelgänger, was the only one."
"But that wasn't true."
"One of my thralls told me, on my way to Mystic Falls, that there were doppelgängers on Moloka'i."
"Many."
"So I went—and I saw."
"And there, I saw you."
"More precisely, many of you."
"In a pit of bones."
"A charnel pit made of your doppelgängers. Piled high."
"…"
Hawk listened, expression flat, then raised his eyes. "So you used my doppelgänger's blood to unlock the wolf?"
Klaus's mouth curled. "Yes."
"Clearly, someone there had mastered the 'how' of manufacturing doppelgängers. They made you, then killed you."
"Cloning. Merrick," Hawk thought, then asked aloud, "Did you find the place churning out my copies?"
"I didn't need to. I only needed doppelgänger blood. There was a whole pit of them. All I had to do was have Elijah grab me a werewolf and meet me."
"And conveniently, the Moonstone lie I tossed out drew my potential enemies to Mystic Falls."
"I found a local witch there as well—and unsealed the wolf cleanly, easily."
"After that, I came here to meet those enemies who'd tried to seize the Moonstone and block me."
"You know the rest. I arrived; you arrived."
"If you're asking whether I spooked the snake out of the grass—the answer is no. If you go to Moloka'i now, you should find what you want."
Hawk's eyes flickered. "You want me to leave Mystic Falls?"
"Of course." Klaus didn't bother to hide it. "I can't read you. You're powerful—but you aren't my enemy, and I don't want you to be. The wisest move is to give you what you want. So I pardon Katherine, and I give you Moloka'i. My gut says you'll thank me."
Hawk met his gaze.
Then he smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Hawk rose from the booth. "If I find what I need on Moloka'i, I owe you a favor, Klaus. You can come collect anytime."
Head tipped up, Klaus watched him. "Exactly what I wanted. Thank you."
"Pardon Katherine Pierce. And Elena, too—you don't need her anymore anyway."
"Yes. I'll pardon them."
"Goodbye."
Hawk didn't say more. He turned—and vanished soundlessly.
Klaus felt that immense, traceless aura disappear with him; his face shifted.
Just then—
Elijah—immaculate in a suit, looking more Wall Street litigator than vampire—walked up from the back and sat opposite Klaus. "You could ask him to find Mikael."
Mikael Mikaelson.
Their father.
Just as Katherine had been hunted by Klaus, Klaus was hunted by his father.
After all—
Klaus wasn't his biological son; he was the child of Mikael's wife and the werewolf next door.
Klaus smirked at his brother. "My wolf is unbound now. Mikael isn't a problem anymore. Rather than spend that favor on him, I'd rather save it."
"For what?"
"I haven't decided." Klaus stared at the spot where Hawk had disappeared. "But I will."
Fox Manor.
Caroline, Elena, and Stefan were waiting on the living room sofa. The moment Hawk returned, all three stood at once.
Gwen also turned to look at him.
Caroline spoke first. "Brother-in-law—how did it go?"
Hawk didn't answer immediately. He first went to Gwen and kissed her—he always kissed her first when he came back.
This time was no exception.
After the kiss, Gwen asked, "Will Klaus give you that courtesy?"
"What do you think?" Hawk smiled at her, then looked to Caroline, Elena, and Stefan. "Klaus isn't your problem anymore. You don't even have to give blood. He found another doppelgänger and solved it."
Elena's relief was visible.
Stefan blinked. "Another doppelgänger? I thought Elena was the only—"
"Clearly not," Hawk said with a light smile.
"Then—"
"You can go," Hawk cut in.
He had no interest in chatting with Stefan and Elena. Honestly, he hadn't wanted to get involved at all.
But his fiancée had, in a way, promised to help Elena.
So—
He stepped in only to uphold his fiancée's word. Nothing more.
To be blunt:
If Caroline weren't Gwen's cousin, even meeting Hawk would've been difficult—just as when he'd been a normal person, he'd known of Tony Stark but could hardly hope to meet him.
Stefan heard the subtext and took the hint. "Understood. Sorry to trouble you, Mr. Phoenix."
"It's fine," Hawk said evenly. Then he murmured something to Gwen, and the two headed back to their room.
Behind the closed door, Gwen turned to him. "Go. I can get to the airport on my own tomorrow."
"Wow." Hawk, about to speak, chuckled at her beating him to it. "Is there really nothing I can hide from you?"
Eyes smiling, Gwen looked up at him. "I just know you, Hawk—better than anyone. So yes: you can't hide things from me. Where to?"
"Moloka'i."
"That's…"
"An island forty-eight nautical miles east of Honolulu."
"Because…"
"Merrick."
Hawk didn't hide the broad strokes: after meeting Klaus, he'd learned that the real Dr. Merrick was very likely on Moloka'i.
He did, however, skip one detail—Klaus's mention of a charnel pit possibly piled high with his clones.
Hawk didn't care. Gwen would, and worry. Call it a white lie of kindness.
Hearing the tip had come from Klaus, Gwen blinked, then smiled at him. "Then you should thank me, Hawk."
He arched a brow.
"If I hadn't promised Caroline we'd help," Gwen said, "you wouldn't have gone to meet Klaus. So—thank me."
Hawk grew solemn. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Her smile went bright, then faded as she fixed him with a look. "Go. Catch that bastard Merrick, finish it fast, and come back. I'll be waiting at home."
"Mm."
"Tomorrow…"
"Caroline can ride with me to the airport. Don't worry—I'll be fine. Go. And this time, don't let him slip."
"Okay."
He hugged and kissed her—then, as he lifted his head, his figure was already in the upper atmosphere.
Boom!
A cone of vapor popped around him; he became a rainbow lance and arrowed toward Moloka'i.
At the same time—
Gwen, smiling, opened the door to head downstairs when her phone rang.
She answered as she walked. "Good afternoon, Sharon."
"Gwen, S.H.I.E.L.D. just picked up a surge from Hawk—"
"He's going after Merrick," Gwen said as she reached the bottom step and crossed toward the living room. "Moloka'i. An island off Honolulu. He just got a tip—the real Dr. Merrick might be there."
"Thank you," Sharon said.
"You're welcome. You're our friend—and Hawk said if you're the one asking where he went, I can tell you."
"Thanks again. By the way, Agents Abby Bruce and Lorene Cross are already en route."
"…I'm flying back to New York tomorrow—and Hawk might be back soon."
"We insist. S.H.I.E.L.D. insists. With Hawk away, we need to make sure you're safe."
Sharon glanced at two moving signals converging on Fox Manor.
It was the rhythm they'd found with Hawk since the big purge and rebuild.
If he went out, S.H.I.E.L.D. watched over Gwen.
They'd learned—being good to Gwen was being good to Hawk.
So if anyone hated the idea of Gwen being in danger even more than Hawk did, present-day S.H.I.E.L.D. would claim second. Not even George and Helen would dare claim first.
Soon—
Sharon hung up and hit her superior on the satphone: Victoria Hand, formerly head of S.H.I.E.L.D. New York, now the Ops Commander at HQ.
"Commander—Hawk's headed to Moloka'i. The real Dr. Merrick is suspected to be there. Do we deploy agents?"
"No," Hand answered without hesitation. "If Hawk's already on site, we stay off. If Merrick is there, our deployment could spook him."
Even after Director Maria Hill's sweeping purge, HYDRA remnants still lingered worldwide.
Which meant Hill and Hand suspected there might still be snakes in S.H.I.E.L.D.
So they'd agreed that all direct contact with Hawk would go through Sharon—someone they trusted 100%—and she would hand-pick a small team she trusted absolutely, stationed at the rebuilt New York S.H.I.E.L.D. hub, handling all Hawk matters.
Any intel involving Hawk would go straight to her and Hill—minimizing leak risk.
"So," Hand finished, "leave Moloka'i to Hawk."
"Protect Gwen until he's back."
"Understood. Abby and Lorene are already nearby in Mystic Falls."
"Good. Keep Gwen safe."
"Copy."
Sharon hung up, glanced at the big screen, and told the techs to drop the satellite trace on Hawk's energy signature.
Better safe.
At his speed, he should already be over Moloka'i.
She stared at the darkened screen, thinking.
Moloka'i.
Also called the "Friendly Isle," fifth largest in the Hawaiian chain. Pine forests, bamboo groves, unique black-sand beaches, the world's tallest sea cliffs, and the 1,570-meter drop of Kahiwa Falls.
Most of the island remained natural.
Especially Wailau Valley on the north shore—
Steep, out of step with the rest of the isle, 99% primal. The only truly safe way in was by helicopter.
Thump.
With a red streak ripping the upper air, Hawk appeared, soundless, beneath the dense canopy where the light barely reached, deep in Wailau Valley.
The next second—
He stood at the lip of a clearly man-dug pit and looked down.
And saw—
Hawk's bodies.
So many Hawks, packed tight and criss-crossed, three layers down, three up. Naked. Faces all different, twisted, tossed like refuse in the hole.
But—
It wasn't the only pit.
He swept his gaze around. The soil nearby bore unmistakable signs of having been turned.
His Sixth Sense chased those veins of overturned earth downward—
And then—
He drew it back and looked at the pit before him—the eighth, by the look of it, not yet full, which was why it hadn't been covered.
A film flashed through his mind.
Resident Evil.
Umbrella used Alice's blood to create clone after clone, trying to reproduce the original's perfection.
HYDRA—or whoever ran this place—was doing the same.
Trying to use quantity to spark quality—hoping a clone of him would awaken power equal to his?
That…
Was wishful thinking.
Hawk snorted.
And then—
Boom.
A torrent of Phoenix rays ripped out and plunged into the pit. In an instant, those bodies sublimated—gassed to nothing. One blink later, the hole was empty.
He lifted his eyes—and vanished, reappearing on a sea-cliff far off.
Ocean to the horizon.
Below, one of Moloka'i's black sand beaches.
As for the HYDRA base—
Right beneath his feet.
He looked down into the rock beneath the cliff—
And unleashed his Six Senses, casting a net like a sky-wide web.
…
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[Thank You For Your Support!]