Buzz!
Two thirty in the afternoon.
The flight from New York landed smoothly at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington D.C. after landing.
Half an hour later.
Hawk, traveling light, walked out of the airport, then approached a taxi, opened the back door, and got in. He told the young black driver the name of a motel located in Quantico Town.
The young black driver nodded, started the meter, and then accelerated, driving the vehicle away from the airport.
Although the Marine Corps base and the FBI Academy are in Quantico, that doesn't mean ordinary people can't go there.
Ordinary people just can't freely enter military-controlled areas.
But Quantico Town itself, which is the base's perimeter, is open.
Anyone self-disciplined possesses extraordinary mobility, let alone Hawk, a man who consistently practices throwing punches 10,000 times a day.
Hawk's mobility is also unprecedented.
He had just left the Osborn Biotechnology Building in the morning, and by noon, he was already at the airport purchasing the fastest ticket to Washington.
Hawk didn't even go home to fetch some change of clothes.
Luckily, he spent the whole night looking at the satellite map of Quantico last night and roughly planned how he needed to proceed if he wanted to retrieve his Gammanien from Quantico.
Otherwise, Hawk, who just got off the plane, might be wandering around like a headless chicken, not knowing where to go.
"Plan A."
"Sneak in quietly if you can."
"But if discovered, switch straight to Plan B."
"Quick and decisive!"
Sitting in the backseat of the taxi, Hawk once again silently thought, then collected his thoughts and looked at the scenery outside the car window.
And then…
Hawk discreetly lifted his gaze to glance at the driver in front while taking out his phone, which he forgot to restart after turning off on the plane.
The phone booted up quickly.
With the ding-dong of text messages coming in, Hawk raised his eyebrows, just about to unlock the phone to see what junk message the carrier sent this time, when a low voice accompanied by a black muzzle aimed at him from the front sounded in the car.
"Don't move, hand over the phone."
"..."
Hawk fell into silence.
Who am I.
Where am I.
What am I supposed to do?
No.
I'm the one going to Quantico to rob, yet I've just landed, not even at Quantico, and I'm getting robbed instead.
Damn!
How come it's the Special Zone, yet is the public order worse than New York City?
In an instant.
Hawk's impression of Washington D.C. dropped to freezing point.
The driver, who was driving, meanwhile, looked at Hawk sitting in the backseat, seemingly stunned, and said in a deep voice, the black muzzle waved again: "Don't move, hand over the phone."
Hawk snapped out of it.
"Do you want me not to move, or do you want me to give you the phone?"
"..."
Hearing this, the driver also fell silent for a while.
The next second.
He seemed to be breaking down.
"Motherf*cker, less nonsense, give the phone..."
"Ring ring!"
Just as the driver was breaking down, an incoming call ringtone rang from Hawk's phone.
Gwen's.
Hawk blinked as he saw the only number stored in his phone's contacts.
His phone had only one number stored.
As he said earlier, he didn't need to use the phone because he didn't need to call anyone, and no one would call him.
Uh...
Except for Gwen.
Looking at Gwen's incoming call, Hawk directly connected it and then put it to his ear.
"Hello…"
"..."
The young driver broke down.
He saw through the rearview mirror that Hawk completely ignored his 'All Beings Equalizing Device,' answering the call without hesitation, not even pretending, breaking him down utterly.
The next second.
The driver slammed the brakes abruptly, suddenly braking, then his body swayed on the seat, reaching back towards Hawk.
"Motherf*cker, I f*cking..."
"Thud!"
"Ah!"
"..."
On the other end of the phone, just as Gwen was about to speak, she suddenly heard a scream seemingly coming from Hawk's side and blinked.
"Is someone screaming, Hawk?"
"...Uh, was a passerby playing a movie, probably watching some violent action flick."
"I guessed so, that scream sounded just like when ribs get broken."
"Uh..."
Hawk, bending over, with one hand covering the mouth of the small black driver pressed against the console, looked at the spot on the driver's ribs he had just struck: "You can tell where someone's injury is by their scream?"
A laugh came from the other end of the phone.
"Of course, my dad is the sheriff. Let me tell you something, new police officers may not be as professional as I am."
"...I can see that."
Hawk was speechless.
What else could he say, just that a genius is a genius, learning everything faster and better than everyone else.
At this moment.
Gwen's laughter became bright and hearty.
"I'm teasing you, how could I possibly."
"...Okay, I believed you."
"By the way, why was your phone off? I called you many times but couldn't get through."
"What's up?"
Hawk, maintaining his bent posture, kept one hand over the small black driver's mouth to prevent him from screaming, while the other hand held the phone, talking to Gwen.
"Come downstairs."
"What?"
"Dr. Connor knows you got fired and also knows you're a scapegoat, so he felt bad and prepared a gift for you. But I couldn't reach you by phone, so I just came over. Aren't you home?"
Gwen, having driven her yellow Corolla to Hawk's new apartment, pressed an envelope on the passenger seat while looking at Hawk's new apartment through the window.
After hearing that Gwen was already downstairs at his apartment, Hawk fell silent for a second or two, then realized.
"Right, I'm not home, maybe you can take it back and give it to me when school starts?"
"I've already gotten out of the car."
Closing the car door, Gwen started walking towards Hawk's new apartment and said, "You're on the top floor of the apartment near the street, right? Your window is open; I'll just go up the fire escape and leave it inside your place."
Hawk was dumbfounded.
Gwen knowing where he lived wasn't surprising; after all, Gwen had been present when he filled out his paperwork, so she probably saw it.
But...
"How do you know?"
"I saw the shorts hanging by your window."
"Uh..."
"You've worn those shorts for three years, and if I'm not mistaken, they weren't shorts before, right? I think you turned them into shorts back in tenth grade."
"Alright, that's it, I'll just leave it inside your place, I'm in a hurry to get back."
"..."
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