Marvel: The Enlightened One#213+214: Hawk's Extended Medical Leave, Peter's Return and the Saint Cloth

That's right.

Nick Fury.

After all, he'd faked his death. He hadn't actually died.

Originally, Fury's plan had been to fake his death to avoid HYDRA's attacks, slip past their surveillance, then secretly contact Captain America and stage a triumphant "The King Returns" comeback.

Sure, HYDRA had grown powerful during his tenure as Director.

Sure, Alexander Pierce—the man who'd recommended and vouched for him to become SHIELD Director—had turned out to be HYDRA's leader.

But at the end of the day, he'd faked his death, escaped, and then worked with Cap to take down HYDRA.

One way to look at it—

Even if it wasn't a merit, it was at least effort, right?

Most importantly, The best way to cover up one problem was to create an even bigger one.

So, Fury had already planned it out. Just having a victorious return wouldn't be enough insurance. He needed an even bigger crisis to emerge. A two-pronged approach would guarantee the Security Council would be too distracted by his comeback to come after him.

And he already had a plan for that bigger crisis.

Nothing would give the Security Council more headaches than completely exposing SHIELD and the HYDRA infiltration to the public.

But he couldn't be the one to do it.

As for who would handle that particular task, Fury already had someone in mind.

Natasha.

A former Red Room operative, now a SHIELD agent. She was perfect for the job.

Except, Before he could even contact Captain America, terrible news reached him from afar.

HYDRA was done. Finished. Game over.

Damn it!

Fury was completely screwed now.

But once he'd recovered from the shock, he immediately reached out to Maria Hill.

Once again, He'd faked his death. He wasn't actually dead.

Hill didn't seem particularly surprised by Fury's call. She didn't express much concern either. She just reported the matter to the Security Council.

After several days of closed-door meetings, the Council's first order of business upon emerging was announcing Hill's promotion to the new SHIELD Director.

As for Nick Fury?

The Security Council didn't even discuss him.

But like the saying goes—sometimes silence speaks volumes.

Just as Victoria Hand was about to say something, the phone on Hill's desk rang.

Hill walked over and pressed the speaker button.

"Hill speaking."

"Commander—I mean, Director. The Pentagon sent people. They're here to pick someone up."

"Understood. Send them up."

"Yes, ma'am."

Hill hung up, then turned to Victoria Hand with a slight smile.

"See? Right on schedule."

"Yeah."

Hand caught on immediately and nodded. "So the rumors were true. When Fury's authority was first frozen and then unfrozen, the military helped him out. Looks like Fury and the Pentagon have a pretty cozy relationship."

Hill's tone remained neutral.

"That's none of our concern."

"True. Probably for the best that he's leaving."

Hand shook her head. "I've been going through the books these past few days. Alexander Pierce's tenure—the accounts were relatively clean. But Nick Fury's time as Director..."

She trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid.

Hill let out a dry laugh. "We're the Security Council's SHIELD. So, the Council has made their decision, and we follow it. SHIELD's former Director Nick Fury fell victim to HYDRA and tragically lost his life."

...

A short while later.

A military vehicle that had entered SHIELD's Triskelion headquarters left less than ten minutes after parking. The vehicle pulled out and drove away from the Triskelion.

Hill and Hand stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the top-floor conference room, watching the military vehicle disappear into the distance.

Hand withdrew her gaze. "I heard Nick Fury tried to implement containment protocols for Hawk multiple times, but you shot them all down."

Hill also looked away from the window, turned to Hand, and—understanding what Hand was getting at—smiled. "Tell Sharon that Nick Fury is no longer one of ours."

Hand smiled faintly and pulled out her phone.

"I'll call Sharon right now."

...

"What??"

"Nick Fury got picked up by the Pentagon?"

Still at home on Bleecker Street, cast on his arm, sling around his neck, wearing nothing but shorts and looking as relaxed as humanly possible, Hawk raised an eyebrow at Sharon's words. "Fury and the Pentagon are that tight?"

Gwen, sitting nearby, looked curious. "Who's Nick Fury?"

She genuinely had no idea who Nick Fury was. At first, she hadn't paid attention. Then after Sharon came asking for help, she'd learned about Commander Hand and Commander Hill.

She might have heard the name once...

But—

"Isn't this Nick Fury supposed to be dead?"

"Faked his death."

Sharon shrugged, looking at Gwen. "He claims he faked his death to escape, then planned to work in the shadows to take down HYDRA's conspiracy."

Gwen caught the tone in Sharon's voice and raised an eyebrow.

"But you don't believe him?"

"He only became SHIELD Director because Alexander Pierce recommended and vouched for him."

"Fair point."

Gwen nodded instinctively, looking at Sharon. "If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't believe him either."

Hawk, lounging on the couch, listened to the back-and-forth between the two women and let out a dry laugh. "Nick Fury really isn't HYDRA."

Sharon and Gwen both turned to look at him.

Hawk smiled. "You can call Nick Fury stupid. You can call him incompetent. But he's definitely not HYDRA."

Even though Hawk wasn't particularly fond of Nick Fury—hell, he'd originally thought he might end up killing the guy at some point.

After all, based on Fury's thought process, if he'd ever found out about Hawk's existence, he would have absolutely tried to bring him under control.

But that had never happened.

Hawk didn't entirely understand why, but he wasn't some rabid attack dog. Since Fury had never come after him, he wasn't going to go out of his way to cause trouble for Fury. And he certainly wasn't going to throw baseless accusations at him.

But he'd also picked up on why Sharon had come over today to mention this.

Clearly, His original assumption had been wrong. Nick Fury hadn't been indifferent to him. Fury had ideas about controlling him, but Maria Hill—or maybe the Security Council—had shut those plans down.

But now that Fury had left SHIELD, Sharon's message was crystal clear.

From now on, whatever Nick Fury did had nothing to do with SHIELD.

Nick Fury no longer represented SHIELD.

Hawk's mind worked through the implications, then he let out a soft chuckle and dismissed the matter, turning to Sharon. "So the Security Council's final decision is to downsize SHIELD?"

Sharon shook her head. "The downsizing was Director Hill's idea."

Hawk's eyebrows shot up.

The next second, he understood Hill's strategy. "Smart move."

Cut yourself before someone else does. Give the Security Council an explanation.

At the same time—

New leader, new team.

Now that Maria Hill was in charge, she was using the HYDRA crisis as an opportunity to completely reorganize SHIELD. Streamline operations to avoid getting shut down by the Security Council, while also ensuring the rebuilt SHIELD would be staffed entirely by people she trusted.

No question about it.

Maria Hill was far sharper than that corrupt one-eyed bastard who'd spent his time embezzling funds to build secret bases. Both in terms of strategy and execution, she was leagues ahead.

Hawk kept those thoughts to himself.

Gwen, meanwhile, looked at Sharon with concern. "If the New York SHIELD office is shutting down, then what happens to you?"

Sharon glanced at Hawk first, then turned to Gwen with a smile. "Thanks to you two, I got promoted. I'm now SHIELD's First Agent in New York."

Gwen's concern transformed into congratulations. "Really? That's great! Congratulations!"

Sharon smiled happily.

She'd actually been preparing to find a new job. She'd even drafted résumés for both the CIA and the FBI, just in case.

But then—

The promotion came completely out of nowhere. And yet, at the same time, it made perfect sense.

SHIELD was the Security Council's only bridge to Hawk.

And she was SHIELD's only bridge to Hawk.

So—

Sharon turned to Hawk, sitting on the couch, and gave him her most pitiful puppy-dog eyes. "Hawk, I can promise you that SHIELD has absolutely no agenda when it comes to you. So please, do me a favor. If something comes up, or if you need to leave town, just give me a heads-up?"

Hawk caught his fiancée's amused smile out of the corner of his eye, then looked at Sharon—who was practically begging with her hands clasped together—and his mouth twitched. He gestured to his cast and sling. "I'm in this condition right now. Where exactly do you think I'm going to go?"

Sharon grinned sheepishly.

Gwen, who had a very positive impression of Sharon—and who'd fought alongside her, no less—jumped in to help. "Sharon's our friend. And she finally got promoted. It's only right that we help her out."

Then she turned to Sharon. "Don't worry, Sharon. I've got your back. If anything comes up, I'll contact you right away. Besides, bone injuries take time to heal. It's only been ten days. Hawk's going to need at least three more months of recovery."

Hawk froze, staring at Gwen.

"Wait. Three months?"

"School's starting again in a few days. Your injury doesn't stop you from studying, does it? And you're not actually hurt, so what's the problem?"

"Uh..."

Hawk blinked as Gwen's words sank in. He recalled the past ten days of being treated like absolute royalty, then turned to Sharon with a completely serious expression and nodded.

"That's right. I'm injured. I need to recover for a full semester."

<><><><><><><><>

Through Gwen and Hawk's back-and-forth exchange—

Hawk's recovery time went from the original twenty days straight to an additional seventy days tacked on the end.

Sharon looked at Hawk's completely serious expression, then at Gwen's smiling face—though she'd just rolled her eyes—and got the distinct impression these two were playing some kind of elaborate game.

Still, If Hawk was willing to stay put for three whole months, that would be fantastic.

Because when she'd come over today, her orders had been to keep Hawk settled down for a while if possible.

Originally, Sharon had thought that would be nearly impossible.

Now?

Mission accomplished.

Sharon's face lit up with genuine happiness before she caught herself. She turned to Gwen—the person who'd just done her the biggest favor imaginable—with complete sincerity.

"Thank you."

"You're damn right you should thank me."

This time, Gwen didn't brush off Sharon's gratitude like she normally would. Instead, she looked equally serious. "Take me shopping sometime."

Only she knew how much she was sacrificing to support Sharon's work.

But that's what friends were for. Helping each other out.

Of course, Friends were also for roasting.

Like Peter.

Originally, they'd figured Peter would be back two or three days after Hawk at most. Instead, Peter didn't return until a full month after the start of sophomore year at both Empire State and NYU—finally showing up on the first weekend.

A noise came from the backyard.

Gwen, sitting in the dining room, perked up.

"I think I heard something in the back."

"Peter."

Hawk—still sporting his cast and sling, having traded Gwen's tender care for an extended fake injury—didn't even look up.

The next second, Peter walked in from the backyard. He'd just pulled off his mask and was grinning sheepishly, about to say hello, when his eyes landed on Hawk's left arm. "Holy shit, Hawk—you're hurt? What the hell happened?"

Spider-Man couldn't hide the shock in his eyes.

Because this was Hawk they were talking about.

Who on Earth could put Hawk in this condition?

After the initial shock wore off, Peter's next question followed immediately.

"Who did this?"

Hawk used his good right hand to point at his fiancée. "Who else could it be?"

Peter instinctively looked at Gwen.

"..." Gwen glared at her fiancé, who was clearly enjoying himself way too much, then quickly changed the subject. "Peter, Hawk's been back for a while now. Why'd it take you this long?"

Peter's mind raced. He didn't fully understand what was going on, but his Spider-Sense was telling him loud and clear not to dig any deeper into Hawk's injury. So he shrugged and went along with Gwen's question. "Felicia had something come up. I was keeping her company."

Gwen froze for a second, then her eyes lit up.

She remembered.

Hawk had mentioned it before—Felicia was pregnant. And the baby was Peter's.

In an instant, Gwen practically teleported across the room, appearing in front of Peter. Before he could even react, she'd planted him on the stool next to Hawk, then zipped back to her original position—now fully locked into gossip mode as she stared at Peter.

"Felicia. Spill. Now."

"..."

Peter looked at Gwen's gleaming eyes, then instinctively turned to Hawk for backup.

Hawk—currently playing the role of the One-Armed Devil—adopted a spectator's attitude and looked at Peter with amusement. "You don't want MJ thinking you cheated on her, do you?"

Peter looked at Hawk, who was clearly enjoying this way too much, then at Gwen with her gossip-hungry stare, and took a deep breath. He finally understood why his Spider-Sense had given him bad vibes the moment he'd landed.

"I shouldn't have come here."

"But you did."

"Come on, talk."

Gwen urged Peter on. "If MJ finds out and I need to explain things for you, I should at least know what actually happened, right?"

Her reasoning was, as always, completely airtight. No room for argument.

Peter certainly couldn't find any holes in it.

And he really didn't want MJ thinking he'd cheated while they were still together.

Of course, not for his own sake. For Felicia's.

He didn't care if people misunderstood him. But he couldn't let Felicia get dragged into it.

That was just who Peter was.

New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, through and through.

So, After a moment of silence, Peter—fully aware that Gwen just wanted the juicy details—told her the whole story. How he and Felicia had ended up on Skull Island, what they'd gone through there, and how they'd ended up together.

Gwen listened with rapt attention.

Hawk, sitting nearby, was also listening.

Even though Peter had already told him once before, that version hadn't been nearly as detailed. Not even close to the level of detail Peter was giving Gwen now.

Peter wasn't an idiot.

He knew perfectly well that Hawk just wanted to hear about his buddy's embarrassing moments, so he'd only given him the cliff notes version.

But Gwen was different.

Gwen would listen to everything and actually help him solve his problems. So naturally, to make sure Gwen could help him later, he was doing his best to satisfy her thirst for gossip right now.

Finally—

Peter accepted the bottle of water Gwen handed him—she'd been worried he'd get thirsty halfway through—took a drink, and looked at her. "Gwen, now that you know everything, you'll help me explain things to MJ, right?"

Gwen smiled. "No problem. If I ever run into MJ."

Peter let out a sigh of relief and nodded without thinking.

The next second, He caught himself. His head snapped up to look at Gwen, confusion written all over his face.

"If you run into her?"

"Of course, Peter. You've been gone for over half a year."

Gwen said it matter-of-factly, though she didn't drag out the suspense. "After you two broke up, MJ started dating someone new. You know him, actually. Flash Thompson. But they broke up at the end of last semester. Then at the end of last month, MJ left for Los Angeles. Hawk and I even drove her to the airport."

Peter's eyes went wide.

"Los Angeles?"

"Yeah."

Gwen nodded. "You know MJ's dream. She used to... anyway, she didn't want to miss this chance, so she went for it."

Peter's mouth opened and closed. Hearing that MJ had already moved to Los Angeles stirred up feelings he couldn't quite put into words.

Just then—

The doorbell rang.

Gwen glanced toward the door, then looked at Hawk.

Hawk gave her a look and silently mouthed a name.

Gwen's eyes lit up again. She hurried to the door and pulled it open.

Standing there was Felicia.

When she'd left Skull Island four months pregnant without really showing, her belly had been barely noticeable. Now she was visibly pregnant, wearing loose clothing that couldn't quite hide the bump.

Gwen's gaze dropped to Felicia's stomach, her mouth falling slightly open.

Felicia smiled warmly at Gwen's surprised expression.

"Good evening, Gwen. Peter's here, right? I went to his place, but Aunt May said he hadn't come home yet. I figured he might have come here to see Hawk."

"Yeah, he's here. Come in, come in."

Gwen snapped out of it and gestured for Felicia to come inside. Then she glanced at Felicia's stomach and asked quietly, "When's your due date?"

Felicia smiled. "End of January."

Gwen nodded, then looked over at Peter—who'd just spotted Felicia and was putting two and two together. She turned back to Felicia. "Peter's a lucky guy."

Peter was already at Felicia's side by then, looking completely bewildered. "What are you doing here?"

Felicia said, "We agreed I'd come to your place tonight, remember? But when I got there, Aunt May said you weren't home yet. So I figured you might be at Hawk's."

Peter looked sheepish and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I just got back from school and was passing by Hawk's place. I wanted to let him know I was back. I'm sorry."

Felicia shook her head. "You should have called, Peter. If I hadn't found you here, I would have been worried."

Peter looked at Felicia's serious expression and couldn't help apologizing again.

Hawk and Gwen stood in the dining room, silently watching this scene of domestic training unfold.

Just then—

Felicia looked up at Hawk, noticed his arm in the sling, and froze.

"Hawk, your arm—"

"Don't ask."

Hawk shook his head, cutting her off before she could finish.

Felicia's mouth opened, then she smiled. "Are you two done catching up? Because if you are, I'm taking Peter home. Aunt May's waiting for him."

Hawk didn't hesitate. "Take him. Please."

He couldn't let Felicia stick around any longer. At least not while she was training Peter right in front of them.

He didn't care.

But Gwen couldn't be exposed to this.

It was common knowledge: Gwen was widely recognized as the best girlfriend in American comics specifically because she was gentle, smart, kind, and understanding.

What if Gwen watched this scene and learned bad habits from Felicia?

And so, the moment Felicia said she was taking Peter home, Hawk nodded immediately. Zero hesitation.

Felicia chuckled, thanked Hawk, said goodnight to Gwen, then led Peter toward the door.

Hawk and Gwen stood in the doorway, watching as Peter nervously helped Felicia into the car like some kind of bodyguard, then scrambled to the driver's seat—still wearing his Spider-Man suit because he'd completely forgotten to change—started the engine, and drove off down Bleecker Street.

Once the car's taillights disappeared, they finally looked away.

After heading back inside, Gwen let out a soft sigh and looked at Hawk, who'd settled back onto his stool. She blinked. "I know MJ's my best friend, but after seeing that just now... I actually think Peter and Felicia are a really good match."

Hawk looked at Gwen and smiled. "I thought you'd be jealous that Felicia's pregnant."

Gwen blinked, then looked at Hawk.

"I am jealous. But do you have the guts to get me pregnant right now?"

"Absolutely not."

Hawk answered without hesitation.

Even though they were engaged and living together, if he got Gwen pregnant before she turned twenty-one, George would show up with a gun.

Just then, Gwen's phone rang.

Gwen glanced at the caller ID, raised an eyebrow, looked at Hawk, and answered.

"Hello?"

"Gwen, is Hawk with you? Tell him to get to Rhyolite Ghost Town in Nevada immediately. I tried calling him but he didn't pick up. We're detecting his energy signature here—"

"..."