Marvel: The Enlightened One#171+172: Hawk Meets Alexander, Anna's Promotion and Transfer to Japan

T'Challa was dead.

Technically speaking, he'd killed himself.

His right hand's Vibranium claws had pierced through his helmet without resistance, penetrating his skull like a knife through butter.

In that instant—

All the rage. All the unwillingness to accept it. Everything died along with T'Challa.

THUD.

The moment Hawk released his grip, T'Challa's body fell to the ground like a dead panther.

Hawk stared down at the corpse with calm eyes.

Was T'Challa wrong to seek revenge against him?

No.

And Hawk wasn't wrong to retaliate either. But T'Challa had made one critical mistake.

Wanting revenge wasn't the problem. But before you had the absolute power to succeed, you had to swallow your hatred—no matter how great.

That's what Hawk had done.

Years ago, when Abomination and Hulk had fought and killed his sister Anya as collateral damage, Hawk had wanted nothing more than to tear them both apart with his bare hands.

But the fantasy was nice. Reality was cruel.

If he'd charged in back then, there would have been only one outcome: Abomination or Hulk would have ripped him to shreds.

One simple truth.

Weakness is the original sin.

Those were the rules.

At least in the Marvel Universe—whether on Earth or out in the cosmos—the law that reigned supreme was the survival of the fittest.

If you weren't at the table, you were on the menu.

Hawk felt no guilt over killing T'Challa. He certainly wasn't going to spew some garbage about regret. And he definitely didn't feel sorry for stealing Wakanda's Vibranium back then.

He just wanted to be at the table. Not on the menu.

No grudges. No right or wrong.

Hawk glanced at T'Challa's body one last time with calm indifference, then looked away. His gaze settled on the one intact palace still standing before him.

The next second, he raised his right hand and threw a single punch. The sound of collapse immediately followed. Accompanied by a cloud of rising dust, the palace—the last piece of evidence that Wakanda had ever existed—crumbled to rubble.

Hawk had said that after today, Wakanda would be no more.

He kept his word.

Looking around now, the only things left that could prove Wakanda had existed were T'Challa's corpse in front of him and the Vibranium artifacts buried beneath the thick layer of white ash.

Vibranium teeth.

Vibranium rings.

Various Vibranium components from Wakandan weapons.

And not far away, the once-sacred Vibranium mountain of Wakanda.

Though whether that mountain would keep its name going forward depended on whether the Security Council wanted to rename it.

They probably would. And this place would likely become a forbidden zone.

A military restricted area jointly managed by the Big Five.

But from a long-term perspective, with the Big Five maintaining a permanent presence here, the African continent—at least within artillery range radiating out from Wakanda's former location—would probably experience an unprecedented era of peace.

So from that angle, he'd done a good deed.

Hawk thought this to himself as he watched the collapsing palace. He turned to leave.

But—

Just as he was about to go, his sharp Sixth Sense suddenly detected something. The moment he began looking away, his gaze snapped back to the palace, now reduced to rubble.

The next second, Hawk stepped forward, appearing directly in front of the collapsed palace. At the same time, his telekinesis wrapped around several oddly shaped spheres buried in the debris, levitating them into view.

The spheres were entirely blue—the exact color of the ocean.

Wait.

Not just the color of the ocean. They were the ocean.

Hawk raised an eyebrow, reached out with his right hand, and grabbed one of the blue spheres. After examining it briefly, he tossed it away and used his Eye Beam to detonate it mid-flight.

Instantly—

SPLASH!

The moment the blue sphere exploded, extremely high-pressure water burst forth like a bomb. The water jet acted like an ultra-high-pressure water cutter, instantly slicing through everything in its blast radius.

"Huh."

"Wakanda had tech like this?"

"I don't remember seeing this in the movies..."

Hawk's eyes lit up. He recalled the Black Panther movies he'd watched before his transmigration and confirmed this particular water bomb had never made an appearance. He looked at the remaining three water bombs with genuine curiosity.

...

At the same time, In the safe zone, watching the area that had gone completely silent after the white light faded, Maria Hill handpicked a SHIELD strike team and sent them back into the Wakanda region they'd just evacuated in such a hurry.

What they saw—

A vast expanse of white ash, covering everything. Truly clean.

The forests were gone.

The rivers had dried up.

Everything was buried beneath a thick layer of white ash. But underneath that ash, they could faintly see the unmistakable gleam of Vibranium that no amount of ash could hide.

One agent bent down and picked a Vibranium tooth out of the ash. He blinked in confusion, then handed it to Maria Hill standing nearby.

Maria Hill took it and examined the Vibranium tooth.

At first, her expression was puzzled. But soon, she seemed to realize something. Her head snapped up, staring at the white ash covering the ground. A flash of horror passed through her eyes. Then her gaze landed on Hawk's back in the distance, standing before a pile of rubble.

Hill and her team left neat footprints in the thick ash as they made their way to what had once been the Wakandan palace district.

One agent discovered T'Challa's body lying in the ash, as if surrounded by snow.

"Commander!"

"...Give him a proper burial."

"Yes, ma'am."

The agent who'd found T'Challa's body nodded. He exchanged a glance with another agent he was close with. Then the two of them quickly moved to the body, lifting it from the front and back, preparing to carry it out first.

They didn't have much choice.

They now understood exactly what the white ash beneath their feet really was. And the more they understood, the more they felt an unstoppable chill creeping into their bodies as they walked through it.

This was bad enough in daylight. If it had been nighttime, they probably wouldn't have dared to enter at all.

At least not until someone cleared away all this ash.

Soon enough—

The two agents carried T'Challa's body outside. Hill, meanwhile, walked straight toward Hawk alone—just like the last time she'd come to Africa.

Hawk glanced at Hill standing beside him and chuckled. "You don't need to thank me. If you really want to show your appreciation, just tell me where I can clone a person."

Hill smiled at that. "SHIELD's underground cloning research is second only to our organ work. But human cloning? We genuinely don't have that."

Hawk glanced at Hill.

"I believe you."

"Thanks."

Hill smiled faintly, then continued, "Sharon already reported to me. I've authorized her to visit Black Site and meet with Dr. Merrick—the scientist who nearly caused a major disaster a few years ago with his human cloning research."

Hawk's curiosity was piqued.

"This Dr. Merrick can clone people?"

"More than that."

Hill let out a dry laugh. "He was conducting his research right under our noses. And he already had viable products. If we hadn't caught him in time, there'd be clones walking around society right now."

Hawk's eyes lit up. He looked at Hill.

"So—"

"Yes."

Hill cut him off before he could finish, nodding. "But Dr. Merrick is extremely dangerous. We can't hand him over to you. If you want to meet him, it has to be with Sharon present. And any experiments must be conducted under our supervision."

Hawk didn't hesitate. "No problem."

He wasn't planning to use this cloning tech for anything shady anyway. He just wanted to create a body for his sister so he could fully resurrect her.

So—

SHIELD could supervise all they wanted. He had nothing to hide.

Hill watched Hawk nod in agreement, and relief washed over her internally.

Dr. Merrick was a genuine lunatic. According to SHIELD's original plan, Merrick was supposed to spend the rest of his life locked away, never seeing daylight again.

After all, the man had abused his position as a SHIELD Academy instructor to collect blood samples from various agents. He'd even gotten his hands on Black Widow's blood.

Fortunately, they'd caught him in time and nipped the cloning crisis in the bud.

So if Hawk had actually wanted to take Dr. Merrick with him, that would have been a hard no. But luckily, Hawk hadn't refused their supervision.

Hill thought this to herself, smiling as she said, "Thanks for understanding."

Hawk laughed.

"He's your guy. And you'll probably be providing the equipment and materials too. Using your people and facilities to get my work done—I'm the one who should be saying thanks. If this Dr. Merrick can actually help me get what I want, I'll owe you a favor."

"Then I hope you get exactly what you're looking for."

"Thanks."

Hawk looked at Hill and said it seriously. Then he added, "I'm heading out."

Hill's smile didn't waver. "Take care."

Hawk said nothing more. He looked up at the sky and vanished from Hill's sight in an instant.

The next second—

Ten thousand meters above, Hawk was about to head home when he suddenly raised an eyebrow again. He seemed to remember something. His gaze dropped to the coalition forces' temporary camp near Hell Gate.

In an instant, he vanished from his position once more.

...

Inside a temporary tent at the coalition base.

Security Council Representative Alexander Pierce was in the middle of an online intelligence briefing with the other four representatives regarding the sudden developments in Wakanda.

The four other representatives listened to Alexander Pierce's description, their expressions all instinctively shocked.

"What do you mean Wakanda is gone?"

"Define 'gone.'"

"Just gone. Physically gone."

"..."

The four representatives fell silent.

Alexander Pierce was about to speak again when he looked up—and saw Hawk suddenly appear in front of him. His eyelid twitched. He pressed a button with his finger, cutting off the ongoing video conference.

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

The moment Hawk appeared inside the tent, his gaze immediately fell on Alexander Pierce, sizing him up.

Gray hair, but meticulously groomed.

A face radiating intelligence, but with gentle eyes.

A perfectly tailored dark suit paired with glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. The first impression he gave off was that of a mild-mannered, sincere, upstanding politician.

But—

It was all a mask.

Because beneath that gentle exterior lurked one of Hydra's core leaders—a man who embodied cold-blooded ruthlessness and would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

Here's the joke.

The Security Council's Federal Representative was also one of Hydra's core leaders.

Not that any of this had anything to do with why Hawk had suddenly come here.

Wait—no.

It did.

He'd come here because on his way back, he'd suddenly remembered something. So he'd decided to drop by and find Hydra's leader, Alexander Pierce—not the Security Council Representative, Alexander Pierce.

Alexander, seeing Hawk appear out of thin air in front of him, immediately cut off his communications while his mind raced. He stood from his chair, walked around the desk, approached Hawk with a warm smile, and extended his right hand in a gentlemanly fashion.

"Mr. Phoenix."

"Representative Pierce."

Hawk smiled and shook Alexander's hand, then got straight to the point without wasting time.

"Anna's vacation still isn't over?"

"Anna?"

Alexander Pierce heard the name, and his heart skipped a beat. But as a politician—and more specifically, as a seasoned politician who had risen to the position of Security Council Federal Representative while secretly leading Hydra—his control over his facial expressions was impeccable.

After reflexively repeating Anna's name, his face took on a confused expression.

Hawk noticed Alexander's reaction but didn't pay it much mind.

Walls have ears, after all.

He hadn't expected Alexander Pierce to immediately confess he was a core Hydra leader the moment Hawk dropped a name.

Hawk wasn't here to expose Alexander's true identity anyway.

Like he'd said before—

He had his own things to deal with. He didn't particularly care about Hydra's beef with this world. Even if Hydra eventually took over, it wouldn't really affect him.

Hawk was here for his friend Anna.

Over the past while, whenever he'd thought about it, he'd tried calling Anna a few more times. The phone would connect, but no one ever picked up.

Hawk withdrew his hand and looked at Alexander.

"Yeah, Anna. My friend. She works for your company. Does your company really give out vacation time this long? It's been almost half a year, and Anna still hasn't come back to work?"

"..."

Alexander Pierce met Hawk's gaze but didn't immediately respond. Instead, he said, "One moment," then walked to the tent entrance, called over his assistant, instructed them to stand guard at the door and not let anyone in, then returned to the tent. His expression conveyed surprise and confusion as he looked at Hawk.

"Anna's vacation ended a long time ago. She was transferred to Japan right around Christmas to oversee operations there. Anna didn't tell you?"

"Japan?"

Hawk raised an eyebrow and shook his head at Alexander.

"No."

"I'm really sorry about that. Listen, I can arrange for—"

"I don't want someone else." Hawk cut him off, looking directly at Alexander. "My friend is Anna. Not someone else."

Alexander's mouth opened slightly.

Hawk smiled faintly.

"Since you're saying Anna went to Japan, can you give her a call?"

"Of course."

Without any hesitation, Alexander nodded, then turned and walked over to grab the phone on the table.

Hawk stood calmly, all five senses wide open, watching as Alexander picked up the phone and dialed a number.

Soon enough—

The call connected.

Hawk heard a voice speaking Japanese come through from the other end. "Moshi moshi..."

Alexander immediately asked for Anna.

Though his tone was different from the warm voice he'd used moments earlier—this time it sounded lower, more serious.

But that was normal. He'd switched identities. Of course his voice would change too.

Hawk's suspicions eased slightly.

After a moment, as Alexander conversed with whoever was on the other end, accompanied by the sound of footsteps on that side, Anna's voice finally came through. "Sir?"

Alexander then handed the phone to Hawk.

Hawk took it.

"Anna."

"Hawk?"

Anna's voice carried a mixture of surprise and slight confusion.

Hawk smiled.

"You're in Japan right now?"

"Yeah. Got promoted. I'm running a facility over here. All thanks to you, actually."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Remember? You told me to talk to the boss about getting a promotion and a raise."

"Right, I did say that."

Hawk recalled having said exactly that. He glanced at Alexander and smiled. "Thanks."

Alexander's expression remained warm as he waved it off.

Hawk then got down to business with Anna.

"But you got transferred to Japan so suddenly. Why didn't you tell me? And how come your phone's been unreachable?"

"The transfer was last-minute. I didn't have time to bring anything over. And my phone—it shouldn't be unreachable. Wait. Hold on. I sent you an email letting you know I changed numbers. Didn't you see it?"

"An email?"

"Yeah. I sent it right around Christmas."

"..."

Hawk didn't respond. He pulled out his phone, opened his email, and scrolled back to the time around Christmas last year.

There it was.

An unknown email, buried between a bunch of spam marketing messages.

And it was marked as read.

Hawk opened it and checked the timestamp. Sure enough, it was from that Christmas period.

But he had absolutely no memory of this email.

"Damn."

'Did I just skim it while I was busy tracking down the Four Elemental Demons in Texas and then completely forget about it?'

Hawk stared at the email, his thoughts racing.

Just then—

Anna's voice came through the phone. "Did you find it? I'm sure I sent you an email. It was Christmas, and I didn't want to bother you during the holidays, so I emailed instead."

Hawk snapped back to the present and pocketed his phone. Hearing Anna's explanation, he let out a soft laugh.

"We're friends, Anna. You can call me anytime."

"Alright, my bad."

Anna on the other end of the line immediately admitted fault. "I've still got some things to handle over here, but if you don't mind, I can fly to New York in about two weeks. I'll buy you afternoon tea as an apology?"

Hawk chuckled. "Sounds good. I'll hold you to that tea."

Anna laughed in agreement, then shifted to the present. "By the way, Hawk—did you need something from me? I'm in Japan right now, but I can recommend someone—"

Hawk cut her off. "No need. It's not urgent. We can talk about it when you're in New York in two weeks."

The Mind Stone was different from the Reality Stone.

To put it simply—

When he'd obtained the Reality Stone, timing had been critical. If he'd missed that window, Malekith would have taken the Reality Stone. And even if Thor had defeated Malekith according to the original storyline, the Reality Stone probably wouldn't have ended up in Hawk's hands.

Plus, even if the Reality Stone had been given to the Collector like in the original story, with his strength at the time, he wouldn't have been able to go to the Collector and demand it.

So—

The window for obtaining the Reality Stone had been limited. He'd only been able to get it during that specific timeframe.

But the Mind Stone was different.

There was no time limit. Getting it now or getting it two weeks from now made no difference.

And—

To be honest, after not seeing his good friend Anna for so long, he actually kind of missed her.

Next month, when his old friend came to New York, they could catch up. That sounded nice.

After all, he'd initially worried that something had happened to Anna and that she might be dead.

But then he'd thought about it and realized that was unlikely.

Because Anna hadn't shown up in his Underworld.

Don't forget—Hawk had made a deal with Mephisto. Anyone he knew who praised his name wouldn't go to Hell. They'd go straight to his Underworld.

So—

If Anna had died, given her status as Hawk's friend, she would have gone to the Underworld and been sent directly to the Elysian Fields.

But Anna hadn't appeared in the Underworld. Which meant Anna wasn't dead.

But since he hadn't been able to reach her before, when Sharon had mentioned in New York that Security Council Representative Alexander Pierce was overseeing negotiations in Wakanda, Hawk had figured he'd just come ask why Anna wasn't answering his calls.

Anna, on the other end of the line, heard Hawk's invitation for next month and didn't hesitate.

"Sounds great. See you in New York in fifteen days."

"Perfect. I'll let you get back to work."

"Alright..."

Hawk hung up and handed the phone back to Alexander.

Alexander accepted it with his usual warm expression.

Hawk thanked him again.

"Thanks. Sorry for the interruption."

"Not at all. I'm glad Anna's become your friend."

"I won't keep you any longer. I'll head out."

"Take care."

Alexander didn't push the conversation further.

The setting wasn't right for that.

Hawk didn't mind.

He'd come here to confirm Anna's situation with Alexander. Now that he had his answer, it was time to go home.

The next second, Hawk's figure vanished instantly, reappearing miles above in the sky. A sonic boom erupted around him as he transformed into a streak of red light, flashing toward New York City.

...

Alexander Pierce stood outside the tent, watching the red light disappear over the horizon. Once it was gone, he withdrew his gaze and turned back into the tent.

But in that brief moment between stepping out and stepping back in...

His expression completely darkened.

His face turned black—

Terrifyingly so.