Marvel: The Awakened One

That’s right.

Quicksilver Pietro hadn’t actually drunk that knockout juice.

After all, with his speed, dumping the contents in an instant and then feigning unconsciousness was child’s play.

Effortless, really.

And Pietro had done far more than just skip the drink and smuggle back the Andromeda necklace.

He’d brought something else too.

Under Wanda’s watchful gaze, Pietro reached into his jacket and produced another item—roughly the size of a wireless earbud case.

Wanda blinked.

”That’s—”

”GPS trajectory recorder.”

Pietro smiled at Wanda. As he powered it on, he explained, ”With this little gadget, we can finally figure out where the hell we are.”

Wanda said nothing. She simply moved closer to Pietro, and together they studied the tracker as it booted up and displayed their route.

What they saw:

”Holy—”

”Is that—”

”The Romanche Trench?”

Wanda and Pietro stared at the location marker on the GPS recorder and sucked in sharp breaths.

Ten minutes later.

Upstairs in the nursery, Jean was playing with her two little brothers. She turned to look at Uncle Pietro, who was asking if she could go outside again. She thought about it, then shook her head.

”I can’t.”

”You can’t?” Pietro frowned. ”Then how did you get out last time?”

Jean held onto Billy, who was crawling everywhere. ”I wanted to find Daddy. I felt like I could go. So I just... went.”

Wanda leaned against the doorframe. ”Jean, do you feel like you could go now?”

Jean glanced at her mother, lowered her eyes as if concentrating, then shook her head.

”I can’t.”

”I’m so tired.”

”...”

Pietro heard this. Something clicked. He turned to Wanda. ”When I caught up to them, Jean fell asleep the moment she was in... her dad’s arms.”

Wanda’s brow furrowed.

Jean spoke up. ”That’s because I really was exhausted. But after sleeping twice in Daddy’s arms, I’m not as tired anymore.”

Pietro smiled at Jean, then took Wanda’s arm and led her back out of the room.

He looked at the GPS tracker in his hand and shook his head.

”I was hoping if Jean could get out, she could bring this to that guy.”

”She probably used up all her energy last time.”

Wanda offered an explanation. ”When I project an illusion over this entire room, I can only maintain it for thirty minutes max. Jean’s only three—she probably burned through everything she had just getting out. But even if she could deliver this, it wouldn’t matter.”

Pietro looked at Wanda, confused.

Wanda shook her head.

”Brother, we’re seven thousand meters beneath the ocean surface. In the Romanche Trench—the third deepest point in the Atlantic. Even if he’s as powerful as they say, and even if he knew where we were... there’s no way he could reach us down here.”

”...True.”

Pietro considered Wanda’s words and nodded instinctively. Then he paused and looked at her. ”Wait—how do you know this is the third deepest trench?”

Wanda shrugged. ”I watched a lot of geography documentaries while I was pregnant.”

Pietro’s expression cleared with understanding. Then he sighed.

Wanda remained silent.

But the next second.

Pietro chuckled, changing the subject. ”By the way—he has a sister too.”

Wanda looked at him.

Pietro continued, ”And apparently he doesn’t have parents either. Raised his sister on his own, just like us. When you think about it, you two are actually a pretty good match.”

Wanda had been listening without comment at first. But as Pietro kept talking, her expression shifted. She rolled her eyes at him.

The next second.

Scarlet mist swirled between her palms. Instantly, the reality illusion blanketing the room dissolved.

”Huh!”

”...”

At that very moment, Hawk sat outside a café on Paris’s Champs-Élysées. His consciousness suddenly stirred.

His power had just been projected into some kind of parallel space.

The Andromeda necklace.

Hawk thought of the gift he’d given Gwen—which Gwen had just passed on to protect those two children he’d never met, worried he might eliminate them.

But—

In the instant his power had been projected through, another equally formidable force had blocked his gaze.

Chaos Magic?

Wanda?

Hawk’s thoughts churned.

Just then.

Madame Viper Ophelia stepped out of a car, her flowing emerald hair catching the light. She spotted Hawk and approached his table. Seeing him with his eyes lowered, apparently deep in thought, she chose not to interrupt. She simply pulled out a chair and sat down.

Hawk’s consciousness had descended into his Cosmo, examining this fleeting energy signature—brimming with infinite potential.

He was almost certain this was Wanda’s Chaos Magic.

After all—

That scarlet energy was unique in the entire Marvel Universe. One of a kind.

Hawk thought this to himself, then withdrew from his Cosmo.

He didn’t bother tracking the scarlet energy’s location.

Too much hassle.

More importantly.

He’d never expected the Andromeda necklace Gwen had given away to actually pinpoint Strucker’s location.

After withdrawing his consciousness, Hawk looked up at Madame Viper Ophelia sitting quietly across from him.

”Ophelia.”

”Mr. Phoen—”

”Call me Hawk.”

Hawk looked at Ophelia across the table and smiled. ”I’ve confirmed with Anna. You really are her friend.”

Ophelia blinked in surprise.

”Anna’s been found? Where is she?”

”She’s dead.”

”...”

”But her soul returned to my Underworld.” Hawk watched Ophelia’s momentary shock. He interlaced his fingers and leaned back in his chair. ”I set her up with a flower shop by the River Styx. When your life ends, you can join her there. I promise your soul won’t fall into the Blazing Prison. You won’t have to suffer.”

Ophelia heard this. Her thoughts raced. A smile tugged at her lips.

”Thank you.”

”Don’t mention it. You’ll find out if it’s true when you get there.”

Hawk had no interest in explaining the nature of his Underworld to Ophelia. Besides, this meeting wasn’t just about delivering that news.

After Hydra’s second uprising had failed, the Japanese branch had suffered equally devastating losses.

But Ophelia had fled Japan the moment Hawk had left the country.

A month ago, Sharon had called to ask if he knew an Ophelia.

That was when Hawk learned that Ophelia—who’d escaped to Paris from Japan—had been tracked down by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Just as they’d prepared to apprehend her, Ophelia had remembered Hawk’s promise back in Japan.

So—

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had contacted Commander Victoria Hand. Hand had contacted Sharon. Sharon had contacted Gwen. Gwen had handed him the phone.

After that, Ophelia had been released.

Though she remained under S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance.

When Hawk had arrived in Paris, he’d remembered Ophelia was here too. So he’d asked Sharon to give her a call.

”Werner von Strucker.”

”Know where he is?”

”Who?”

Madame Viper Ophelia had known this call from Hawk wouldn’t be simple. But hearing the name he’d spoken, she couldn’t help frowning. ”Strucker—he’s Strucker’s—”

Hawk’s expression remained calm. ”He’s Wolfgang von Strucker’s son.”

Strucker wanted to use his children as leverage?

Fine.

Strucker had made the first move. He couldn’t blame Hawk for responding in kind.

Hawk intended to capture Strucker’s son and play a little game with him.

The game was called:

I’ll kill your son. Do you dare kill mine?

Threaten me?

Dream on.

Hawk thought this to himself.

He knew Werner von Strucker was Strucker’s son—but he didn’t know what name Werner used publicly.

According to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. plotline, Werner von Strucker had apparently been completely ignorant of his father’s Hydra involvement.

But Werner’s ignorance was irrelevant to Hawk.

Billy and Tommy were equally clueless—and Strucker had still planned to use them as leverage.

Turnabout was fair play.

So—

Werner von Strucker could blame his dear old dad for this.

Not Hawk’s problem.

His mission was simple: find Werner, wait for Strucker’s call, and then blow his son’s brains out right in front of him.

Hawk was curious to see if Strucker would dare do the same.

After all, Hawk had the Underworld. Worst case scenario, those two sons he’d never met would go straight to Pure Land.

Perfect.

Anya was already there. If push came to shove, his sister could babysit for a few years.

Hawk had assumed Ophelia would know something about this.

But—

Watching the surprise flash across Ophelia’s face at this news, he realized she was equally in the dark.

Sure enough.

Ophelia recovered and smiled ruefully, shaking her head at Hawk. ”I’m sorry. This is the first I’m hearing of it. As I told you in Japan, the relationship between Hydra’s leaders is more like an alliance—and not a very stable one at that.”

When the new-generation Hydra leader Alexander Pierce had been front and center, the old-guard leaders had maintained some communication.

But after Dr. Zola and Alexander Pierce died, their relationships had reverted to what they’d been after Hydra’s first defeat.

Mutual blocking. Every man for himself. Waiting for fate to deal its hand.

Hawk heard this and frowned. He laughed, preparing to leave and find another approach—

When suddenly.

His eyebrow rose. He looked across the street.

The next second.

Hawk’s eyes narrowed.

Sixth Sense—Clairvoyance!

Instantly.

Hawk’s gaze pierced through three city blocks, locking onto an apartment—and specifically onto the phone in the hand of a young man who was pacing while making a call.

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