Marvel: The Enlightened One-Chapter 105: [] - The Second Meeting with Maria Hill (Bonus)

Chapter 105: [105] - The Second Meeting with Maria Hill (Bonus)

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On the edge of the bottomless crater.

Hawk’s thoughts drifted to the Reality Stone—the key to making his Cosmo a permanent fixture of this universe—as he calmly watched the Demon Hulk’s body being slowly submerged by the inflowing lake water at the bottom of the pit.

His Cosmo began to settle, the storm within him calming.

At the same time, the Phoenix Armor dissolved in a flash of brilliant golden light, reassembling into the form of a majestic phoenix before merging back into the spectral universe behind him, awaiting his next summons.

Hawk was bare-chested again, dressed only in a pair of battle-damaged sweatpants. The countless wounds that had covered his body were already healing at a visible rate.

Behind him, the massive S.H.I.E.L.D. command jet descended vertically, landing on the savanna.

Maria Hill waved off her security detail and walked alone to the edge of the pit. She stood beside Hawk and held out a folded S.H.I.E.L.D t-shirt.

"Here."

"...Thanks."

Hawk glanced at the shirt, then took it and pulled it on.

The next second, he looked down at the S.H.I.E.L.D Logo emblazoned on his chest and laughed. He looked at Maria Hill, who was quickly becoming a familiar face. "Does this mean I’ve joined S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Maria Hill smiled. "If you want to..."

Hawk laughed out loud. "Nah, I’m not interested. And I don’t have the time."

"You could be an external consultant."

Maria Hill didn’t give up, but she kept her tone light, almost joking. "For example, if a world-ending crisis came up, you’d come and help us, right?"

Hawk looked at her, a curious glint in his eye. "I thought the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D was Nick Fury. How come I’ve only ever dealt with the Commander? Shouldn’t the Director be the one talking to me?"

"He’s been suspended."

"I see..." Hawk accepted her reason with a look of dawning realization.

After the Quantico incident, Maria Hill had spent most of her time studying every piece of intel she could find on him.

And yes...

Nick Fury had been suspended. Again.

The only reason Fury had been reinstated in the first place was because he had sold Hawk’s information to Thaddeus Ross. As part of the deal, Ross’s backers had pulled the strings to get Fury his job back.

But—

The deal had been for a joint operation. Ross had made his move, but when Hawk had attacked Quantico, Fury had gone dark.

And Ross had ended up dead.

Now those powerful backers were pissed. Ross had been their inside man, their ticket into the highest levels of the U.S. military, and now he was dead.

So, they had pulled their strings, and Fury was suspended once more.

Of course, the official reason for his suspension was that Maria Hill had reported him to the Security Council for leaking S.H.I.E.L.D intelligence.

After Quantico, she’d quietly gathered evidence proving that Fury had fed Ross intel on Hawk’s whereabouts. Then she’d taken it straight to the Council, cutting Alexander Pierce out of the loop entirely.

First, insubordination.

Now, leaking intelligence.

The Council was furious. Once again, it had been Alexander Pierce who had fought to save him, getting the punishment reduced to a simple suspension.

...

Fury really owed Pierce one.

Maria Hill thought, a frown creasing her brow as she thought of Pierce’s staunch defense of Fury.

She couldn’t understand why Pierce was so determined to protect him.

Was it just because he had been his hand-picked successor?

There has to be another reason.

She was still looking into it.

After a moment, she composed herself and looked back at Hawk, a small, casual smile on her face. "Well... it’s a good thing Nick was suspended. I can’t imagine his meeting with you would have gone very well."

Hawk just laughed and looked at her, his expression relaxed. "If you’ve got something to say, spit it out. I’m not some dictator."

"Alright." Maria Hill smiled and then looked down into the bottomless crater. "So, what’s the deal with this black Hulk?"

Hawk turned and looked, then sat down on the grass. He looked up at her as she stood over him.

Maria Hill smiled faintly and sat down next to him.

Hawk leaned back on his hands, enjoying the gentle breeze that had picked up after the battle.

"You saw what happened. The Demon Hulk. The result of Bruce Banner trading a life for a life. A Hulk that comes back from Hell is naturally going to be a Demon Hulk."

"And this Mephisto you were talking to in the air..."

"The Lord of Hell. The Demon Hulk was just a toy he threw up here to test my strength." Hawk didn’t hide anything.

He felt a sense of relief.

Because he had confirmed that his sister was safe in Hell.

Mephisto himself had confirmed it.

Hawk was certain that until he died, or until he went to Hell himself, his sister Anya would be well taken care of.

And that was enough.

As for what would happen when he eventually made it to Hell, whether Mephisto would use his sister as a hostage... that was a problem for the future.

I’ll let my future self worry about it.

Right now, he was happy.

His Phoenix Armor was complete.

He had news of his sister.

For the first time since awakening his Cosmo, Hawk—who had been pushing forward relentlessly—felt the need to pause, to rest, even if only for a moment.

And so, In his good mood, feeling a rare sense of leisure, Hawk was an open book, answering all of Maria Hill’s questions.

He was just killing time anyway.

Besides, Maria Hill knew he didn’t have a shirt and had brought one for him.

You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Most importantly, You show me respect, I’ll show you more.

That was another one of Hawk’s core principles.

...

Soon, Maria Hill had the full story.

Bruce Banner had traded his life for the Hulk’s. The Lord of Hell, Mephisto, had used the opportunity to remodel the dead Hulk into the Demon Hulk and send him back up to test Hawk’s strength.

But...

Maria Hill was still in shock. "Why would Mephisto suddenly want to test you...?"

"Because I was trash-talking him."

Hawk smiled faintly, and meeting Maria Hill’s astonished gaze, he added, "More than once. I’ve told him repeatedly to take good care of my sister. If she so much as loses a single hair in Hell, when I get there, I’m going to rip his head off and use it as a urinal."

Maria Hill’s eyes widened.

She knew about Hell.

Or rather, the existence of Hell was a classified fact in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database.

The S.H.I.E.L.D Texas branch had even dealt with demons a few times. Though they had resolved the incidents, every demonic incursion had resulted in heavy losses.

If a single demon was that hard to deal with, what about the Lord of Hell himself, the greatest demon of them all, Mephisto?

But, hearing his explanation and thinking about the love for his sister that was so evident in his file, she just smiled and nodded.

"You’re a good brother, Hawk."

"Thanks."

Hawk smiled and stood up. "So you see, there’s no reason to be scared of me. Like I told you, I don’t pick fights, but I finish them—and I’m not interested in destroying the world."

Maria Hill let out a breath of relief.

Although she had already concluded from his actions and the intelligence files that Hawk wasn’t some kind of supervillain—

That was just a judgment call. It didn’t mean much, especially since the battle at Quantico, and the one that had just happened here, both proved one thing.

If Hawk wanted to destroy the world, he was more than capable of it.

So, to hear him say it himself was a massive relief.

"Understood. Thank you."

"You’re welcome." Hawk smiled. Now that he had rested, he stretched, then looked at her. "Any other questions? If not, I should get going."

He had been gone long enough.

His Armor was forged, his mission was complete. It was time to go home.

Maria Hill nodded quickly. "One last question."

"That place over there..."

"Can you tell me about it?"

"..."

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