Marvel: The Enlightened One#201+202: HYDRA's Lifelong Enemy! Hawk Meets Madame HYDRA

The faucet ran, water rushing into the sink in a steady stream.

Hawk stood there, brow furrowed, staring at the flowing water. Lost in thought.

Gwen didn't notice at first. Not until she'd finished plating the pasta and turned to see him still standing at the sink, motionless.

"Hawk?"

"...Yeah."

Hawk looked up at the sound of her voice, meeting Gwen's eyes.

Gwen studied him with suspicion.

"What's wrong?"

"Japan is 13 hours ahead of New York."

"What?"

Gwen blinked in confusion, then shook her head. "It's past midnight here, so yeah, it's one in the afternoon tomorrow over there. What's the problem?"

Hawk's expression turned thoughtful. "But when Anna called me earlier at the New York SHIELD branch, she said 'good evening.'"

Gwen frowned.

"It is evening here. So she said good evening. What's wrong with that?"

"Something's off about Anna..." Hawk's mind raced as he turned to Gwen. "I think someone just played me for a fool."

Gwen couldn't wrap her head around it.

"You think you got played... because you said good evening and Anna didn't say good morning? That's it?"

"Yes."

Hawk nodded, looking at Gwen as he explained his reasoning. "Because whenever Anna and I talk on the phone, we always greet each other based on our respective time zones."

He and Anna hadn't spoken often.

But every single time they did, without exception, Anna greeted him according to her local time. She never matched his timezone.

It was one of Anna's little quirks.

But earlier, when Anna—supposedly in Japan—had called him at the New York SHIELD branch, and he'd greeted her, she'd followed his timezone instead.

Bottom line, It didn't feel like Anna.

Gwen listened to Hawk's explanation, opened her mouth to respond, then looked at him. "Why don't you just call Anna again right now?"

Hawk shook his head.

"I'm starting to think the person I was talking to wasn't Anna at all."

"If it wasn't Anna, then who was it?"

"No idea."

Hawk's eyes gleamed with determination. "But once I get to Japan and confirm it, I'll find out."

Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"Japan? Now?"

"Yes."

Hawk thought back to the "Anna" whose greeting hadn't matched her usual pattern, then recalled Dr. Zola's final words before going offline. He looked at Gwen with a faint smile. "Of course, after we finish the midnight snack."

He really wanted to fly to Japan right now and see for himself.

But Gwen had already made food. If he just vanished without touching it and ran off to see another woman, Gwen would lose her mind.

Fortunately, Gwen wasn't petty like that.

Soon enough, She watched as Hawk demolished the carefully prepared meal in record time, then looked up at her expectantly. She shook her head with a helpless smile.

"Go. Come back soon."

"Will do."

Hawk didn't hesitate. His form vanished from the high stool in an instant. The moment he reappeared at high altitude, he transformed into a streak of light, shooting across the sky at incredible speed toward Japan.

Calling wasn't an option.

If he already suspected that the "Anna" he'd spoken to wasn't the Anna he knew...

Then there was only one way to dispel that doubt.

Seeing is believing.

Back home, Gwen blinked at the now-empty seat where Hawk had been sitting just a second ago. She stood, started cleaning up, and headed upstairs to bed.

But just as she was rinsing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher—

The doorbell rang.

Hearing the sound, Gwen instinctively glanced at the clock on the wall.

It was almost twelve-thirty.

Just then, Sharon's voice called out from outside.

"Gwen!"

"Sharon..."

Gwen recognized Sharon's voice immediately. She wiped her hands, walked to the door, and opened it. Her eyes lit up when she saw Sharon standing there—then her gaze shifted to the man and woman standing beside her.

She recognized the woman.

Natasha.

But what surprised her was the man standing next to Natasha.

"Captain America!"

Gwen looked like she couldn't believe her own eyes. Pure delight crossed her face as she stared at Steve Rogers standing in her doorway. "Oh my God. It's really you."

Once again, Captain America Steve Rogers' childhood home in Brooklyn had become a tourist attraction with daily reservations booked solid months in advance.

Put it this way: If Cap decided to run for president right now, his approval rating would be astronomically ahead of everyone else.

Gwen wasn't a fangirl, but Cap was different. He was a living historical figure. And now that historical figure was standing right in front of her.

Gwen invited all three of them inside, then dashed upstairs. A moment later, she returned carrying a copy of Captain America—the biography written by a famous federal author—along with a pen. She held them out to Steve Rogers.

"Captain, could you sign this for me?"

"...Of course."

Steve blinked in surprise, but when he saw the book, he quickly recovered. He took the pen with practiced ease and signed his name on the title page.

Clearly, This wasn't his first time doing this.

Gwen accepted the book, staring at the signature on the title page with obvious joy. "My dad is going to be so jealous when he sees I have a book with Captain America's autograph."

After all, this book had been the first one George ever bought for her.

Most native-born Americans' first biography was Captain America.

Of course, Orphans were the exception.

Books were expensive in the States. Most families rented them instead of buying. And for someone like Hawk, who'd grown up in an orphanage? Forget it.

Hawk's first book had been the Bible.

Yeah.

A gift from the priest at the church that had taken them in. If that priest ever found out that Hawk's first book had been the Bible, and he'd still ended up with the nickname "Demon King," he'd probably spend a week in the confessional begging God for forgiveness.

...

A little while later.

After Gwen carefully returned the signed Captain America book to its place upstairs, she came back down and looked at Sharon curiously, asking why they'd shown up so late.

Sharon explained. "It was the Captain's idea. He came looking for Hawk. He's hoping Hawk can help us."

When she'd first been at the hospital, she hadn't fully processed what Hawk had meant by his parting words.

But after she returned to the New York SHIELD branch and thought back to what he'd said in the hospital room—"The rest is up to you guys"—it became clear.

Hawk wasn't planning to get involved in what came next.

Sharon didn't push it. After telling Victoria Hand, the commander agreed that Hawk had already done more than enough. From here on out, they needed to handle it themselves.

And then—

Cap and Black Widow had shown up. They'd informed them of HYDRA's ultimate plan—intel they'd gotten from Dr. Zola—and then they'd heard the news that a short-range ballistic missile had destroyed the abandoned military base where Zola's servers had been housed.

So, Cap had gotten Hawk's home address from Sharon and decided to pay him a visit. The plan was to invite Hawk to join them tomorrow, travel to the capital together, set things right, and stop HYDRA's plot to destroy the world.

Except, Gwen listened to their explanation, opened her mouth, and looked at Sharon. "You're too late. Hawk's not home."

Natasha spoke up.

"Hawk hasn't come back yet?"

"No, he came back."

Gwen shook her head, looking at Natasha. "If you'd gotten here ten minutes earlier, you would've caught him."

Sharon frowned. "Hawk went out again?"

Gwen nodded.

Cap leaned forward slightly. "Did he go to Washington D.C.?"

"No. Japan."

"Japan?" Sharon looked genuinely curious. "It's this late. What's Hawk doing in Japan?"

Gwen shrugged.

"He said he thinks someone tricked him. So he's going over there to confirm."

"...Alright then."

Sharon didn't quite understand what that meant, but the bottom line was clear—they were too late.

Natasha looked at Gwen.

"Can you call Hawk?"

"There!"

Gwen gestured toward the phone lying on the couch across the room. "His phone's dead. He left it here. His words, not mine: 'I don't have international roaming, so the phone's useless in Japan anyway. Plus, I don't really use phones much.'"

Sharon nodded reflexively.

That tracked.

Before Hawk had gotten together with Gwen, he hadn't even had a driver's license. In the information age, he'd been a ghost among ghosts.

Natasha glanced at Steve.

"Captain..."

"Alright."

Steve Rogers, seeing that he wouldn't be able to meet with Hawk, didn't press the issue. He smiled, stood up, and shook Gwen's hand. "If Hawk comes back, could you let him know I stopped by?"

Gwen smiled warmly. "Of course. I'll tell him the second he gets home."

Steve thanked her, nodded to Sharon and Natasha, and headed toward the front door.

Gwen walked them out.

The moment she opened the door—

Her eyes widened.

A line of SHIELD's signature black Chevy SUVs sat parked along the street, one after another.

Gwen's mouth fell open. She stared at the scene, then turned to Sharon.

"..."

"The New York branch has been liberated. But D.C. SHIELD is still in HYDRA's hands. And they're planning to activate their world domination scheme tomorrow morning. We're going to stop them."

Sharon's smile was casual, almost relaxed.

Even though this trip to SHIELD headquarters might be dangerous—

They were SHIELD agents.

And they had Captain America.

When these SHIELD agents had heard that Captain America himself was planning to march on the capital and take it back, almost every single one of them had volunteered without a second thought.

Don't ask them if they were afraid of dying.

This was Captain America.

...

As one Chevy SUV after another—each equipped with signal jammers to prevent HYDRA from detecting their approach—pulled away from the neighborhood, Gwen stood in the doorway, slowly turning her gaze away.

Standing there in the doorway, Gwen's eyes shifted toward the direction of Japan.

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

It didn't actually take Hawk long to reach Japan.

By 1:30 PM local time, he'd already touched down on the street where the Yasukuni Shrine stood.

He didn't immediately go looking for Anna. Instead, he played the part of a curious bystander, blending into the crowd and watching the shrine continue to burn in the distance.

The local police had already cordoned off the area.

But even through the barriers, you could still see the former "spiritual symbol" of Japan—now completely engulfed in towering flames, unstoppable and all-consuming.

The wailing and shouting from the crowd around him was deafening.

Some of the locals had even dropped to their knees at the police line, faces twisted in grief, sobbing and screaming like their mothers had just died.

The firefighters had arrived to battle the blaze, but everyone knew Japanese architecture was primarily wood-based. Extremely flammable.

So—

Even though the firefighters fought valiantly for three and a half hours, by the time they finally extinguished the flames, the once-grand Yasukuni Shrine had been reduced to a smoldering ruin.

Once it was confirmed that the shrine had been completely destroyed and nothing inside had been salvaged, the crowd beyond the police barriers completely lost it.

The wailing intensified, crying that sounded like they'd lost their entire families.

Some of the more emotionally unstable ones even stood up, shouted something dramatic, and attempted to perform seppuku right there on the street.

And then, They immediately started screaming in pain, collapsing to the ground and crying for help.

Standing further back in the crowd, watching the scene unfold, Hawk felt genuinely satisfied.

But the show was over. Time to get down to business.

Hawk thought for a moment, then smiled and politely borrowed a phone from a bow-legged girl standing nearby. He dialed Sharon Carter's number.

Because he'd just realized something very important while watching the spectacle.

He had no idea where SHIELD's Japan branch was located.

HYDRA had already launched their second uprising, and the entire world was theoretically in danger.

But in reality, that wasn't quite accurate.

HYDRA's current operation was concentrated entirely within SHIELD itself. It hadn't spilled out into the wider world yet.

Just like New York.

If Sharon hadn't escaped HYDRA's pursuit and run to Bleecker Street, Gwen—like every other civilian—would have had no idea anything was happening.

It was the same everywhere else.

Success requires secrecy.

Alexander Pierce, the new-generation HYDRA leader running this operation, understood that perfectly.

The key to HYDRA's success this time was the three Insight Helicarriers loaded with Zola's algorithm. Once those carriers went airborne, all the HYDRA agents who'd spent years infiltrating every level of the federal government would reveal themselves and join the fight.

When that happened—

Helicarriers in the sky, HYDRA agents in every institution, working in perfect coordination. Forget just taking over SHIELD—HYDRA would take over the entire country.

So even though HYDRA's uprising seemed like a big deal, in reality, outside of SHIELD's internal systems, the rest of the world had no idea what was happening right now.

Same thing here in Japan.

But that was fine.

He didn't know where the Japan branch was, but someone did.

Sharon Carter—currently following Captain America on the way to the Washington battlefield—saw the unfamiliar number calling and almost declined. But then she noticed it was a Japanese number and immediately realized who it might be. She answered quickly.

"Hawk?"

"Yeah. Where's the SHIELD Japan branch?"

"Uh..."

Sharon blinked in surprise at the question, then rattled off the address. "You went to Japan without knowing where SHIELD's Japan office was?"

Hawk shrugged. "Things were urgent. I didn't think about it until after I landed."

Sharon let out a resigned "alright," then her eyes lit up. "Oh, by the way, Hawk—Cap came looking for you earlier. He wanted to invite you to—"

Hawk cut her off. "You guys go ahead. If I show up, you'll know. And don't call this number back. I borrowed it from a local."

With that, Hawk hung up.

He knew what Sharon was going to say.

She wanted to invite him to Washington D.C. to join the grand battle.

But what if he was wrong about Anna? And what if he'd already agreed to help Sharon? He'd end up breaking his word.

That wasn't acceptable.

A man's reputation was built on keeping his word. So he cut Sharon off rather than give her a definite answer.

He'd see Anna first, then decide.

So, After hanging up, Hawk returned the phone to the bow-legged girl beside him—who was staring at him with a look that screamed she'd throw herself at him if he asked. He thanked her politely, then turned and vanished from her line of sight the moment he took a step.

He was here on business, not to pick up girls.

Most importantly—

He, Hawk, was faithful to one woman and one woman only.

...

Meanwhile, having gotten the exact coordinates of SHIELD Japan, Sharon—who was now driving toward Washington D.C. and less than ten kilometers from the Triskelion headquarters—hung up the phone.

Seeing Sharon lower the phone, Natasha immediately asked.

"What did Hawk say?"

"He said we should go ahead without him."

Sharon relayed Hawk's answer, then looked at Natasha. "Hawk's attitude is kind of weird."

At first, when Hawk had just gotten back to New York, Sharon had felt the killing intent radiating off him and had been absolutely certain that HYDRA's fate would be the same as Wakanda's.

And it had seemed that way.

Hawk had been heading straight for total HYDRA extermination.

But then—

After Hawk came back from the New York SHIELD branch, he'd told her, "The rest is up to you guys."

Sharon hadn't thought much of it at the time. She'd figured Hawk was just fed up and didn't want to get involved in their fight with HYDRA anymore.

But now—

'You guys go ahead.'

That answer was way more flexible. To Sharon, it sounded like Hawk was weighing the options between "go" and "don't go," and he'd chosen "maybe."

Sharon frowned.

"I think Hawk's change in attitude means there's something going on that we don't know about."

"..."

Natasha listened to Sharon's words and seemed to realize something. She looked at Sharon. "I think I might know what it is."

Sharon turned to Natasha.

"What?"

"This was originally Level 7 classified intel."

Natasha shrugged, looking at Sharon. "Your clearance is only Level 6, so technically I shouldn't tell you. But at this point, it doesn't matter anymore. Long story short: Hawk has a friend named Anna. She's suspected of being HYDRA."

Sharon's eyes widened as she stared at Natasha.

"Are you serious?"

"Previously suspected. Now it's pretty much confirmed."

Natasha shrugged. "Commander Hand said Hawk took a phone call before leaving the New York branch. The person on the other end was named Anna. You also said Hawk's attitude changed after he got back to the hospital. If I had to guess, it was because of that call."

Sharon frowned.

"So him going to Japan now..."

"No idea. But it's probably because after you and Cap left, Hawk discovered something else."

That was as far as Natasha could deduce based on the available information. She looked at Sharon. "But honestly, this is good news."

Sharon raised an eyebrow at Natasha.

"How so?"

"Best-case scenario? Hawk helps us."

"Worst-case scenario should've been Hawk helping HYDRA. But Hawk already told you he's staying out of it."

Natasha smiled. "So from our perspective, that's actually good news. After all, you wouldn't want to see Hawk helping HYDRA, would you?"

Sharon listened to Natasha's explanation, her expression clearing.

Natasha continued. "Actually, this whole thing shows that Hawk leans toward lawful neutral."

Sharon nodded reflexively.

True.

If Hawk were chaotic neutral, he'd be forced to choose between SHIELD and HYDRA. No middle ground.

But right now, Hawk's choice was neutral—while leaning in SHIELD's favor.

That was... really good.

All that running around cleaning up after him last Christmas was worth it after all.

Sharon thought back to her canceled Christmas vacation last year and reflected on the thought.

The next second, She looked at Natasha, her expression serious. "I hope Hawk finds out that HYDRA's Anna played him."

Natasha nodded in agreement.

She hoped so too. Because if that happened, HYDRA was finished.

If Hawk entered the fight... HYDRA would be completely destroyed. They wouldn't even need to rush to D.C. to fight anymore.

Unfortunately, Hawk hadn't confirmed whether he'd join yet.

As the two women continued their conversation, Commander Victoria Hand's voice came through their earpieces. She was back at the New York SHIELD command center, providing intelligence support for this operation.

"Heads up. Security Council convoy approaching. Natasha, you're up. Sharon, provide backup."

"Copy that!"

"Roger."

Sharon and Natasha stopped talking and checked their weapons. They watched the bridge leading to the Triskelion headquarters come into view, took deep breaths, and steeled themselves.

...

"Achoo!"

Far away in Japan, standing in the office of the SHIELD Japan branch commander, Hawk sneezed and reflexively rubbed his nose. Then he noticed a photograph sitting on the desk in front of him and picked it up.

Two women in the photo.

One of them was Anna.

The other was a woman with striking emerald-green hair, the color of bamboo leaves.

Who's this?

Hawk wondered curiously, then heard footsteps approaching from outside. He turned toward the office door.

The next moment—

The door opened.

Madame HYDRA—Ophelia Sarkissian—walked in.

Their eyes met.