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Just then, Felicia walked over.
Now that he had Hawk's not-quite-a-promise promise, Peter had let go of his worries about Earth's future destruction. He looked at Felicia curiously, wondering what the High Priestess had decided.
"So? Are they going back?"
"No."
Felicia shook her head. After stopping in front of them, she glanced back at the High Priestess—who was walking toward the Iwi temple, leaning heavily on her staff. Then she turned back to Hawk and Peter. "The High Priestess understands they'll never be able to go back. I think she just wanted to know the truth. After all these generations of wondering."
Hawk's gaze also settled on the High Priestess's hunched figure as he walked toward the temple. "The High Priests have been passing down their suspicions for generations. Otherwise, that first High Priest wouldn't have stayed down there to die instead of leaving with the others."
He thought about the skeleton he'd seen in the Hollow World Iwi temple—sitting before the ten god-like Adamantium statues, waiting for death.
The first High Priest. Ikaris and Sersi's first child.
He must have known something. So he walked into the temple, smiled, and calmly accepted his fate when his father came to take his life.
"You gave me life. So if you want it back, come take it yourself."
Hawk imagined what the first High Priest had been thinking in his final moments. That was also why, when collecting the Adamantium, Hawk had only taken it from the mountains. He'd left the temple—which was made entirely of Adamantium—and the ten Adamantium statues untouched.
Not out of respect for Ikaris or Sersi.
But out of respect for that first High Priest.
Fear of death was a natural instinct for all living things.
But the courage to face death head-on? That was what made humanity beautiful.
Ikaris might not have been human. But that first High Priest was.
If it had been Hawk? Without question. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. Retreat now, get stronger, come back for revenge. There's no shame in strategic withdrawal—survival comes first. Let them think they've won. Lie low for years if needed, build up power, then come back and crush Ikaris when the time is right.
That's what Hawk would have done.
Before he had the power to take revenge, the best strategy was not to even think about it. Just like how, before his Cosmo awakened, he'd never shown anyone even a hint of his hatred.
But—
Even though he didn't agree with the first High Priest's choice, one thing was certain.
That guy had guts.
Hawk thought about the skeleton that had maintained its sitting position even after death, and in his mind, he gave the first High Priest the highest compliment one man could give another. Then he shook his head, dropped the subject, and turned to Peter and Felicia. "Alright, we're done here. Ready? Let's go."
Peter and Felicia exchanged a glance, then nodded at Hawk.
"Ready."
"How are you planning to—"
"AHHH!"
Before Felicia could finish her sentence, she let out a shriek. In an instant, Hawk looked up and used his telekinesis to wrap around both Peter and Felicia, shooting straight into the sky.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A sonic boom erupted over Skull Island. Hawk flew at supersonic speed, flanked by Peter and Felicia—both wrapped in telekinetic shields—and dove headfirst into the massive storm system that seemed to stretch from the heavens to the ocean floor.
The next second—
RUMBLE!
The massive storm system seemed to take offense. Multi-colored lightning bolts struck all around the three figures cutting through the clouds in a triangle formation with Hawk at the lead.
Red linear lightning.
Blue ball lightning.
Thick black lightning.
Surrounded by countless lightning strikes, Peter and Felicia—protected by Hawk's telekinesis—gradually calmed down from their initial panic.
The massive storm system wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. In what felt like the blink of an eye, as the storm clouds spat them out, Hawk—along with Peter and Felicia, still wrapped in his telekinetic bubble—broke through.
Like waking from a dream—
The Pacific Ocean roared beneath them. Wind howled. Thunder crashed across the sky. Rain hammered the water's surface. All of it dragged the three of them fully back into reality.
Hawk didn't slow down. He carried Peter and Felicia—successfully retrieved—toward the Osborn experimental platform in the Pacific at high speed.
By now, the platform's power systems had been fully restored.
...
From a distance, Through the raging wind and rain, the Osborn platform—built right on the Pacific's surface—blazed with light. Like a beacon in the vast ocean.
THUD.
Hawk's feet touched down solidly. A moment later, Peter and Felicia—still wrapped in telekinesis—also landed safely on the platform floor.
The next instant, Ten armed guards rushed out of the platform facility, their weapons' red laser sights painting dots all over Hawk, Peter, and Felicia.
Just then, a voice echoed from inside the facility, accompanied by rapid footsteps. "Stand down! Lower your weapons!"
Moments later, A woman hurried out of the facility, frantically ordering the guards to lower their guns. She ran straight to Felicia and threw her arms around her, overcome with emotion. "Boss..."
It wasn't just anyone. It was Felicia's personal assistant.
Even though the old butler had contacted Hawk immediately, he'd also reached out to the assistant. She'd assembled an international security team and rushed here as fast as she could.
They'd found the surviving researcher, who told them Hawk had already been here and left again.
So the assistant and the security team had restored the power systems and set up camp to wait.
The security team didn't mind. They were getting paid by the hour anyway.
And so, They'd been here for seventeen days.
Inside one of the facility's rooms, Hawk raised an eyebrow when the assistant told him how long he'd been gone.
"Seventeen days?"
"About that. You were there for a day and a night, and we left around ten in the morning, so yeah. The time difference is real."
Peter explained, then gave Hawk a strange look. "Does that mean I'm technically a year older now?"
He might have only been missing for a little over a month on the outside, but he'd spent a full year on Skull Island.
Hawk heard Peter's random question and laughed. "I think you should worry more about how you're going to tell Aunt May she's going to be a great-aunt in few months."
Peter's expression visibly froze.
Hawk chuckled, then turned his attention back to the assistant. "Has anything particularly noteworthy happened in New York while we were gone?"
The assistant thought for a moment, then shook her head. "As far as I know, nothing major."
Hawk nodded.
Just then, Felicia came back in from outside, holding a satellite phone.
She'd stepped out to call the old butler.
The old butler had wanted to come himself. The only thing that stopped him was the very real concern that his old bones might give out halfway through the flight.
So when he'd gotten Felicia's call, he'd been overjoyed.
"Hawk, are you flying back yourself, or coming with us?"
"I'll go with you guys."
Nothing major had happened in New York anyway. Flying back would drain energy. Especially after that hard fight with Ikaris.
So yeah. Hitching a ride on their plane was the smart move.
Hawk borrowed the satellite phone from Felicia as he spoke, planning to let his fiancée know he was alright.
Even though he'd told Gwen before leaving that he might be delayed, now that he was out, he should call. Just to make sure she wasn't still worried.
Except...
The call wouldn't go through.
Hawk listened to the dial tone on the other end of the satellite phone.
His expression darkened.
...
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~# 70 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!
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~# Bonus Chapter every 300PS