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When the second Hydra agent frantically threw open the door, prepared to escape through the emergency exit—
He froze the instant the door swung open. Standing directly in front of him was Hawk. The agent's eyes widened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Hawk smiled politely.
"Hello there. I'm looking for Dr. Merrick."
"..."
The agent, standing face-to-face with Hawk's pleasant smile, swallowed hard, forcing down the terror rising in his chest.
"Ph—"
POOF.
The Hydra agent vaporized on the spot.
The agents behind him—still crowding the doorway, confused about why the first man hadn't moved—barely had time to react before they saw the searing crimson light. One by one, every agent blocking the exit turned to white smoke and evaporated where they stood.
In an instant, the congested command center doorway was spotless.
Clean, as if there had never been a crowd there at all.
But Dr. Merrick was already gone.
While the majority of Hydra agents had swarmed toward the main exit, he and his personal assistant had taken the command center's secret elevator down to the lowest level.
The elevator doors—disguised as part of the mountain itself—slid open on both sides, revealing a speedboat waiting quietly in a sheltered cove, bobbing gently on the water.
Dr. Merrick and his assistant stepped out, one after the other.
"Eli, untie the mooring rope."
"Got it."
Eli—Merrick's assistant, who'd been broken out of a SHIELD prison alongside him—nodded and hurried toward the safety line keeping the boat from drifting out to sea.
Dr. Merrick, meanwhile, abandoned all pretense of dignity and jumped into the cove with a graceless splash, scrambling onto the speedboat in two clumsy steps.
After all, when survival was on the line, who cared about appearances?
Image or life?
For Dr. Merrick, that had never been a difficult choice.
He also understood another fundamental truth.
When running for your life, move fast, stay focused, and don't bring dead weight.
On the dock, Eli—having just finished untying the mooring rope—looked up with relief.
"Doctor, we're ready to—"
BANG.
Eli's eyes widened. His right hand instinctively pressed against his chest as blood began seeping through his shirt. He looked down at the wound, then slowly raised his head, staring at Dr. Merrick standing on the speedboat with a pistol aimed directly at him.
"Doctor..."
"Sorry."
BANG.
"Thud."
Eli took a bullet between the eyes and collapsed backward.
Dr. Merrick—ruthless and efficient—immediately fired up the speedboat. The engine roared to life, and the vessel tore out of the hidden cave at full throttle. The moment he cleared the cave mouth, he pulled a remote detonator from his pocket and slammed his thumb down on the button.
BOOM!
The cave exploded in a thunderous blast.
But it wasn't just the cave.
The instant Merrick pressed that button, the entire mountain seemed to come alive.
It shuddered violently—like a person suddenly struck by cold, shivering uncontrollably.
And then—
ERUPTION.
BOOM!
The first explosion tore through the mountain's surface with enough force to rip open the sky itself. Trees, boulders, and debris launched skyward in a shower of destruction—not lava, but the mountain's own flesh and bone.
Everything on the surface was hurled into the air by the outward blast, raining down like an inverted storm.
Then...
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The second detonation followed immediately. The base's interior structure collapsed entirely, and the mountain's outer shell disintegrated along with it. The massive shockwave spread outward in a devastating ring, tearing across the landscape—
A gray hurricane of dust and debris roared toward the ocean.
Merrick, piloting the speedboat at full speed toward international waters, adjusted his glasses without looking back.
Very much the image of a man who doesn't look back at explosions.
Of course, Merrick wasn't avoiding the view because he was cool. He was terrified. Terrified that if he turned around, he'd see Hawk—completely unharmed—chasing him down.
So—
He kept his head forward, a single thought dominating his mind.
Faster. Go faster.
Under Merrick's relentless push, the speedboat tore across the water like a wild animal unleashed, racing toward the endless expanse of the Pacific.
The sun set. Molokai Island vanished into the distance behind him. The last backup fuel tank ran dry, and the engine finally sputtered out. Only then did Dr. Merrick—completely drained—collapse onto the deck with a graceless thud.
He turned his head, squinting back toward where he'd come from in the moonlight.
No sign of Molokai.
No sign of Hawk.
He exhaled shakily, finally allowing himself to relax.
The next second, Dr. Merrick clenched his fist and slammed it against the deck, venting his frustration.
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!"
"Damn it—my calculations couldn't have been wrong!"
Dr. Merrick couldn't comprehend how his most powerful creation—Hydra Captain, perfected through six iterations of fine-tuning—had been destroyed by Hawk without even getting a chance to fight back.
It made no sense. It defied all logic.
Before the London incident, Hydra had possessed incredibly detailed data on Hawk. After London, however, their intelligence became significantly less reliable.
Because their only direct contact with Hawk—Anna Pierce—had gone dark.
But that hadn't mattered. The analysis of the Surplice recovered after the London incident had confirmed one critical fact.
Hawk without his Surplice and Hawk with his Surplice were two entirely different combatants.
Hydra's data had supported this conclusion.
Without the Surplice, Hawk's physical body contained energy levels roughly comparable to Captain America, Steve Rogers.
But with the Surplice? His power output was explosive. Every major attack Hawk had ever launched had been while wearing his armor.
So, The Surplice was the key.
They'd successfully replicated it. In fact, the data had proven it—vibranium combined with meteorite fragments, forged under gamma radiation, created a suit with unique properties. While it didn't quite match their initial projections for Hawk's Surplice, adding the vibranium energy technology acquired from Wakanda had brought their Iron Armor to a level that could rival the original.
But the clone had been the problem.
The first five cloning experiments had failed catastrophically. The moment the Iron Armor's vibranium energy system activated, the clones' bodies couldn't handle the absorption. They exploded. Every single time. No hesitation. No warning.
Their clones couldn't match Hawk's physical durability.
But Merrick had found a solution.
Super Soldier Serum.
While the original formula had been lost, General Thaddeus Ross's tireless efforts to recreate it over the years meant they had access to a working—if inferior—version.
After one more failed experiment, Merrick had finally succeeded in creating a clone infused with Super Soldier Serum whose physical capabilities reached sixty percent of Hawk's baseline.
He'd named it Hydra Captain.
While it couldn't match the original, when equipped with their Iron Armor—even though Hydra Captain could only handle half the suit's full output—the combination of vibranium amplification, a vibranium blade, and a Hydra-forged vibranium shield had dominated every computer simulation.
Perfect victory. Every time.
And yet—
Dreams were beautiful. Reality was cruel.
Hawk had proven one undeniable truth.
A knockoff is a knockoff.
If the original Hawk was 4K Ultra HD, then Hydra Captain was 270p quality—recorded on a handheld camera in a movie theater.
Dr. Merrick couldn't understand it.
Hawk—standing silently behind Merrick at that very moment, leaning casually against the speedboat's railing—was equally confused as he watched the doctor alternate between manic laughter and furious pounding on the deck.
He'd been watching for a while now.
Hawk was certain this was the real Dr. Merrick.
He hadn't revealed himself or attacked because he'd been waiting. Waiting to see if the angels would show up.
After all, the fight earlier had barely qualified as a warm-up. It had ended before he'd even broken a sweat.
As for the so-called Hydra Captain—
If Hawk had to evaluate it honestly, stripping away all the equipment, that thing didn't even possess one percent of his current physical strength without using his Cosmo.
Once again—a Saint who'd awakened the Sixth Sense and achieved Silver Cosmo could move mountains and split seas.
Literally. Physically.
That Hydra Captain? Without Hydra's custom Iron Armor, it probably couldn't even break through a C140 reinforced concrete wall.
So, Hawk hadn't gotten the fight he wanted. He felt unsatisfied. Incomplete.
Which was why he'd followed Merrick all this way—to see if God, or at least an angel, would answer the doctor's prayers.
If they did? Perfect. He'd chop down an angel for fun. And if he got really lucky, maybe he'd get to kill a god and have something to brag about.
Sure, he'd spent his childhood living in a church. Sure, he'd sung in the church choir. Sure, he'd even volunteered at the community church with Gwen.
But none of that meant God got a free pass if he crossed the line.
Not happening.
Just like he'd told Gwen—instead of working hard to earn his way into Heaven through faith, he figured it was easier to just kill Jehovah and storm the gates.
Besides, Gwen wanted Heaven.
Mephisto wanted Jehovah.
So Hawk had followed Dr. Merrick all this way, curious to see if God would make an appearance.
And yet...
Watching Merrick—still sitting on the deck, crying and laughing and muttering "impossible" under his breath—Hawk was starting to consider just revealing himself and reminding the man to pray already.
He was running out of patience.
Just as Hawk was about to speak up, Merrick suddenly thought of something. He shot to his feet and started frantically patting himself down, searching for something. When he didn't find it, his expression twisted into panic.
Then—
Merrick's eyes lit up. He muttered to himself, "Right. My bag. My bag."
He dropped to his knees and began searching the deck frantically.
Hawk—leaning against the railing—glanced down at the backpack near his feet. He watched Merrick, who looked about two seconds away from tears, raised an eyebrow, bent down, picked up the bag, and held it out.
"Here."
"Oh, thank God!!"
Merrick took the bag instinctively, glanced at Hawk, mumbled a quick thanks, then tore it open. He reached inside and pulled out something that looked completely ordinary—a bright red apple with a single bite taken out of it. He set the bag down, clutched the apple with both hands, and let out a shaky breath of relief.
"Thank..."
Merrick muttered under his breath. Then, as if struck by a sudden realization, his body went rigid. His head turned mechanically—like a zombie—eyes wide, slowly rotating to look beside him.
There stood Hawk, smiling brightly.
"Hello."
The next second, Hawk reached out and snatched the bitten red apple from Merrick's hands.
Merrick froze.
Then he lost it completely. He lunged at Hawk like a rabid dog, screaming as he tried to grab the apple back.
"GIVE IT—"
SNAP.
Hawk glanced at the charging Merrick with mild annoyance. A flicker of thought, and the doctor froze mid-lunge, locked in place by telekinesis. Hawk turned his attention to the apple in his hand, examining it carefully.
He hadn't noticed the backpack at first.
But now—
As he studied the bitten red apple, he detected something familiar. Something that felt faintly like an Infinity Stone.
But it wasn't an Infinity Stone.
More like... a divine relic?
Hawk's mind worked through the implications as he looked at the red-faced, furious Merrick frozen in front of him. Then his gaze returned to the apple, and a thought occurred to him. He raised an eyebrow and looked back at Merrick.
"This wouldn't happen to be that apple, would it? The one from the Garden of Eden. The one Adam and Eve took a bite out of?"
According to legend, after Adam and Eve were created, they lived in the Garden of Eden—naked, carefree, innocent—until Eve was tempted by a serpent. She and Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, gained shame, and were cast out by God.
This was the legendary Fruit of Knowledge?
Hawk stared at Merrick, though he didn't really expect an answer. He didn't particularly want to hear one, either. Instead, he focused his Sixth Sense on the red apple.
The next moment.
HUM.
Hawk's consciousness pierced through something—like breaking the surface of water—and he found himself inside a circular space with a missing corner.
Then, His Sixth Sense swept across the interior, and Hawk sucked in a sharp breath.
So many people.
No—not people. Souls.
Countless souls, densely packed, filling the entire space. But unlike the restless, chaotic souls in Hell, these were pure. White. Pristine. Blank as fresh paper.
Like they'd been wiped clean. Formatted.
Wait.
Brand-new, formatted souls?
Hawk pulled his consciousness out of the apple and looked back at Dr. Merrick. "This is why your clones worked, isn't it? You used the souls in here. You gave the clones their own souls."
Just like Adam and Eve, who ate the apple and gained shame.
But shame had nothing to do with it.
The real story was simpler. Adam and Eve had been created without souls. The serpent tempted them to bite the apple. The apple gave them souls. Souls gave them self-awareness. Self-awareness gave them individuality.
So—
"This isn't the Apple of Good and Evil."
"It's the Apple of Souls."
Hawk's mind crystallized around the revelation. Without hesitation, he expanded his Cosmo and hurled the red apple directly into his Underworld.
One simple truth.
This was his prize now.
With this apple, even if he hadn't made a deal with Mephisto—even if he never stormed Heaven—at the very least, when his Cosmo finally manifested in reality, the first lifeforms in his universe would have a proper origin.
Hawk smiled, then released Merrick from the telekinetic hold.
THUD.
The instant Hawk let go, Merrick—still frozen in his lunging posture—stumbled forward and smashed his head into the deck.
But Merrick's mind was still on the apple. Blood streaming down his face, he scrambled to his feet and lunged at Hawk again.
"Give me back the apple! It was a gift from God—"
CRASH.
Hawk vanished. Merrick charged straight through his afterimage, slammed into the speedboat's railing, flipped over headfirst, and plunged into the ocean with a loud splash.
Merrick surfaced moments later, thrashing and flailing in the water. The cold seawater stung the cuts on his face, shocking him back to clarity. He looked up at Hawk, standing calmly on the deck, and his expression twisted into pure terror.
"Hawk—"
"You can pray now, Dr. Merrick. I'm giving you the chance to pray to your God."
Hawk had no intention of pulling Merrick back onto the boat. Hands in his pockets, he stood on the deck, smiling down at the man struggling in the water. "I'll give you five minutes. That's enough time to beg your God to show up—or at least send one of his angels to save you. Right?"
Night had fallen. The ocean water had turned frigid.
Dr. Merrick, shivering and soaked, stammered, "H-Hawk—no, wait—Mr. Phoenix, I was wrong! It was Hydra! They forced me! They made me clone you! I'm sorry! Please, spare me!"
Hawk's smile didn't waver. "I told you to pray to your God, Merrick. Not to me. I'm not your God. The clock's ticking. Pray."
With that—
Hawk stopped looking at Merrick entirely. His gaze dropped to his watch, tracking the second hand as it ticked forward.
Five minutes.
That was all the time God had. Either show up and give Hawk an explanation, or Hawk would march straight into Heaven and demand one himself.
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~# 70 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!
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