At dawn—
A thunderous boom shattered the calm ocean. The surface erupted into a two-hundred-meter-wide explosion of spray.
Then a colossal octopus, vast enough to blot out the rising sun, burst out of the water.
"Holy sh—!"
"Jesus!"
"Oh, God!"
In the S.H.I.E.L.D. command center, the agents—who had been silently watching the satellite feed—screamed in unison as the monstrous creature appeared onscreen, like a jump-scare in a horror film.
Even Hill and Hand's pupils shrank sharply.
But—
They were the Director and the Commander, both women in a world long dominated by men. And everyone knew: in a violent, male-led organization, any woman who rose to the top had to be stronger than most of the men around her.
So neither of them screamed. They simply clenched their jaws and kept their composure.
Then a female agent suddenly pointed at the screen, eyes bright.
"Look—it's the Phoenix!"
"God, it really is him!"
"He's alive! So that means the mer-man's dead?"
"Mer-man?"
"I wanted to call him a mermaid, but do you think he looks like one?"
"Yeah, let's stick with mer-man."
Hill and Hand exchanged a glance, then turned back to the monitor—where Hawk, bare-chested, had just tossed the sea beast aside and was hovering calmly over the waves.
His suit was in ruins.
When that massive octopus had churned the undercurrents, his jacket had been shredded into ribbons.
He was lucky he'd reacted fast—otherwise, he'd be completely naked right now.
Still…
How long had that thing been alive? Two thousand years? Maybe twenty thousand?
Floating above the sea, Hawk frowned at the enormous carcass sprawling like a waterfall across the water's surface.
He thought back to the moment it had appeared—right when he was about to finish Namor. It had clearly come to protect him.
Everyone knew DC's Aquaman's trident could command the ocean and communicate with sea life.
Marvel's sea king, Namor, possessed a similar trident—with the same power to control and summon ocean creatures.
Hawk hadn't spent much time killing this oversized squid.
He'd spent most of his effort searching for Namor.
But the result was obvious—Namor had fled.
Beneath the collapsed seabed where Namor had fallen, Hawk had found a deeper rift—and Namor's presence vanished into it.
He'd searched through that fissure and confirmed it: Namor was gone.
So he'd stopped chasing, hauled the enormous octopus to the surface, and leapt out of the sea.
After all, it was still a trophy.
He had never tasted takoyaki made from a twenty-thousand-year-old octopus.
And he still remembered the Christmas food fair back in Falls Town—Gwen happily eating takoyaki, saying it was her favorite snack.
Yes… Gwen would love this one.
As that thought crossed his mind—
Thup-thup-thup-thup!
Five S.H.I.E.L.D. speedboats approached from the horizon in attack formation.
Hawk glanced their way, raised a brow—and vanished.
When he reappeared, he was standing on one of the boats.
The two agents aboard nearly jumped out of their skin.
Sharon Carter, however, was ready. The moment Hawk appeared, she held out a black T-shirt with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo.
"Here."
"Thanks."
He took it, smiling faintly. "So, how many of these shirts do I have now?"
Sharon thought for a moment. "Four?"
"Five."
The first he'd received after showing off in Quantico.
The second, Hill had given him in Wakanda.
The third came from Natasha in London.
The fourth, in Texas.
And now this one—number five.
As he slipped it on, he said, "Gwen mentioned she wanted to ask who makes these shirts. She wants a women's version—matching set, you know."
Sharon chuckled. "She already asked me. I gave her the supplier."
"She didn't tell me."
"She mentioned it yesterday, when she flew back to New York. I met her at the airport."
"…Thanks."
He smiled at her tired face—she clearly hadn't rested after that trip.
Hawk tilted his head. "Alright then—ask away. I'll answer anything."
Sharon smiled softly. "Anything?"
"Anything."
Hawk sat cross-legged on the deck, spreading his arms. "Right now I'm an open book. Ask whatever you want. Oh, and that octopus—you guys can have it. Just leave me three of the fattest tentacles."
Sharon turned and signaled the nearby boats. One of them immediately contacted the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. ship.
Then she sat down beside him.
"That mer-man you fought…"
"Mer-man?" Hawk arched a brow.
"Yeah, that's the nickname Marlen from Command gave him."
"Oh. Well, his name is Namor Mackenzie—king of the underwater nation of Talokan."
"Talokan?"
"Formerly Atlantis."
Sharon's eyes widened. "The lost Atlantis?"
She'd never heard of Talokan, but Atlantis—that was legendary. Scholars argued for centuries about whether it even existed.
So it was real.
"Atlantis really exists?"
"Of course. It just changed its name. Now it's called Talokan. Its people live entirely underwater."
As Hawk scanned his mental archives on Namor and Talokan, he added, "It's somewhere in the Atlantic."
"The Atlantic…" Sharon repeated softly.
Then she remembered the fight. "So that mer-man…"
"Escaped."
"Escaped?"
She looked stunned.
Hawk laughed. "You look more shocked than I am."
"Of course! You've never let anyone escape before."
Hawk blinked. "Haven't I?"
Oh, right—the last time with the Eternal on Skull Island… but S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't been there to see it.
He grinned. "Namor Mackenzie's known as the Sea King. Just as I can't kill the Lord of Hell within his own domain, I can't kill the Sea King in the sea. Not yet, anyway."
It was true.
Even though he had found Namor's weakness, that didn't mean he could finish him—at least, not here.
On land, that single punch to the weak point would've ended him instantly.
But this was the ocean—Namor's territory.
By the time Hawk had finished off the giant octopus, Namor had slipped away.
"Still," Hawk said, smirking, "even if he's alive, he's barely hanging on. Won't recover for a year."
The corner of his mouth curved upward. Even a partial hit from his Phoenix-infused punch had made Namor vomit blood on the spot.
After all, he was constantly channeling his Sixth Sense—his small, silver cosmos of power.
Even without armor, every strike carried the fire of the Phoenix.
Fire and water don't mix.
So what if Namor was the Sea King? Unless he could command the ocean without his trident, he'd take months—maybe a year—to recover.
But Namor was just like Thor: called the God of Thunder, but really the God of the Hammer.
A god of the trident.
So his injuries would burn with Phoenix fire day and night.
That was why Hawk hadn't cared that he'd escaped.
Sharon looked serious. "We'll keep track of him. If he resurfaces, I'll alert you immediately."
"Relax," Hawk chuckled. "If I say he's out for a year, he's out for a year. Don't worry so much."
Then his eyes sharpened. "Oh, right. Talokan also has vibranium—and a special herb. The first Talokans ate it to gain the ability to breathe underwater."
"If the Five Good Men are interested, they can look for it."
"When they find it, tell me. Just like Wakanda—I'll clear the field for them."
…
(End of Chapter)
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