Marvel: The Awakened One

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It was true.

What was done was done. There was no changing it now, so they might as well go on their honeymoon.

Everyone knows: After the wedding comes the honeymoon. If a ruined wedding would have made Gwen angry, skipping the honeymoon would have made her lose her mind.

Gwen looked at Hawk, her expression still a bit dazed from the cosmic revelation.

Hawk had only asked her one simple question:

”It is what it is. Do you have a better idea?”

”No.”

Gwen shook her head. He was right. There was absolutely nothing they could do right now to bring back the Peter and Felicia they knew.

So—

Honeymoon first.

Gwen decisively closed the subject. She grabbed her purse from the sofa, turned, and headed for the garage.

Hawk watched her, a little confused.

”Where are you going?”

”The lab!”

Gwen opened the door leading to the garage. She didn’t even look back as she called out, ”I need to drop off my vacation schedule and delegate my work to Fiona before we leave. Pack our bags. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, she opened the door to Hawk’s Audi A8, fired up the engine, and pulled out, heading toward Oscorp…

Wait.

Gwen caught herself, quickly changing her GPS destination from Oscorp to Stark Industries. She found a route with light traffic and sped off toward Stark Tower.

Hawk stood in the living room for a second, shook his head with a laugh, and went upstairs to pack.

’Delegating work, my ass.’

She just wants to get to Stark Industries as fast as possible to see if her lab there is any different from the one she had at Oscorp.

Hawk thought to himself.

Fine.

He was curious, too.

”The lab is bigger.”

”At Oscorp, we only had a quarter of a floor. Now, we have the entire sixty-sixth floor of Stark Tower.”

”And we’re off the grid.”

”Pepper had a miniaturized Arc Reactor installed just to power our floor.”

”The team is exactly the same, though.”

”I asked around. None of them have any memory of Oscorp ever existing.”

Three hours later, Gwen was back. She had dropped off her schedule, done her recon, and was now eagerly debriefing Hawk.

Hawk listened, then nodded.

”So, this is a good thing?”

”I guess you could say that.”

Gwen thought about it. The lab was bigger, they had more equipment, limitless clean energy, and a significantly larger budget.

For Dr. Gwen Phoenix, this was undeniably an upgrade.

But for Mrs. Gwen Phoenix, the loss of her friends was a bitter pill to swallow.

”Hawk, promise me something. When you have the power… you’ll bring them back.”

”I will.” Hawk, who had just armed the house’s security system, turned and looked at his wife. He met her serious gaze with a warm smile and a nod. ”I promise.”

Hearing that, a brilliant smile broke across Gwen’s face.

The next second, She took a deep breath, her eyes sparkling with excitement. ”So. Xandar. Another planet. Wow. We’re actually going to another planet for our honeymoon.”

Hawk laughed.

”Yes, another planet.”

”So how are we getting there?” Gwen blinked, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up at him. ”Are you just going to hold me, and then, whoosh, we’re there?”

Hawk shook his head. ”I could. But like you said, the destination isn’t the most important part of a honeymoon. It’s the journey we take together.”

Gwen’s eyelashes fluttered.

”You remembered.”

”Of course. You’re my wife. I remember everything you say.”

”So how are we traveling?”

”We’re taking a ship.”

Hawk smiled, keeping one arm wrapped securely around her waist.

The next second.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

They broke through the atmosphere.

”Wow!”

Gwen felt a momentary blur, and then the infinite, starry expanse of the cosmos filled her vision. She gasped in awe, then suddenly froze.

”I can hear my own voice?”

”Telekinetic barrier. If I didn’t have a barrier up, the vacuum of space would rip the air from your lungs.”

”Right...” Gwen held onto him tighter. She looked down at the massive, brilliant blue marble of Earth beneath them, then back out at the vast emptiness of space.

”I thought you said we were taking a ship. Where is it?”

”Watch.” Keeping Gwen close with his left arm, Hawk extended his right hand toward the void. The spectral image of the Phoenix projected behind him. In an instant, the Reality Stone, acting as the eye of the Phoenix, fired a beam of dark, Aether-red energy into the empty space before them.

Gwen’s pupils dilated, her mouth falling open in shock.

Because!

Right before her eyes, a massive, incredibly sleek, futuristic spacecraft was materializing from thin air.

Its pristine silver hull gleamed in the starlight. Like a graceful, metallic swan, it appeared silently in the void.

As everyone knows—the Reality Stone can rewrite reality, creating something out of absolutely nothing, bringing imagination to life.

So, Manifesting a perfect, life-sized replica of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek was perfectly within his capabilities.

Hawk looked at the absolute shock on Gwen’s face and felt a surge of satisfaction. With a thought, he teleported them both directly onto the bridge of the Enterprise.

This was the nerve center of the ship.

Every command originated here. In the center sat the Captain’s chair, offering a commanding view through the massive main viewscreen, looking out at the sea of stars.

The moment Gwen’s boots touched the deck, her eyes locked onto the Captain’s chair. She let go of Hawk, ran over, and sat down, her eyes wide as she took in the bridge.

The layout was a masterpiece of retro-futuristic design. The various consoles and workstations were arranged with elegant precision.

The helm and navigation consoles were positioned front and center.

The science officer’s station, equipped with massive computer displays for sensor data and analysis, sat to the side.

The operations officer’s station, handling communications and tactical systems, flanked the other side.

In short—

Everything the USS Enterprise was supposed to have, Hawk’s manifested bridge had it.

And!

Even things the Enterprise didn’t have, this one did.

Gwen took it all in, buzzing with excitement. But after a moment, she realized a problem. She looked at the empty bridge, then at Hawk. ”How are we supposed to fly this thing with just the two of us?”

Hawk smiled faintly.

”Enterprise.”

”Yes, sir.”

The moment Hawk spoke, a smooth, synthetic voice—feminine but with a slightly androgynous edge—echoed through the bridge.

Gwen blinked.

”Is that…”

”Give the order, Captain. Let’s set a course for Xandar.”

Hawk, who had taken a seat in the First Officer’s chair to Gwen’s right, smiled at his Captain.

Gwen got the message. She cleared her throat, straightening her posture.

”Enterprise.”

”Yes, ma’am.”

Gwen beamed at the title.

”SET A COURSE FOR XANDAR. ENGAGE!”

”Acknowledged.”

With Gwen’s command, the massive, silver saucer-shaped vessel began to thrum, its hull glowing with a soft, ethereal blue light.

The next second—

VMMMMM!

The Earth beneath them seemed to shoot backward.

No.

The Enterprise had shot forward, rocketing away from the planet.

The smooth, synthetic voice echoed on the bridge again.

”Warp drive engaging in ten seconds, ma’am. Please secure your restraints.”

”Oh, right.”

Gwen snapped out of her awe, grabbed the seatbelt on the Captain’s chair, and quickly buckled herself in.

Ten seconds later.

ZOOOM!

The Enterprise seemed to stretch and distort, its physical form elongating before it vanished entirely, blurring into a streak of light as it jumped to warp.

Sitting in the Captain’s chair, Gwen stared in shock as the stars outside the viewscreen stretched into brilliant, blinding lines of light, rushing past them at unimaginable speeds.

A moment later.

She turned to Hawk.

”This is theoretical warp travel. I thought you were studying law.”

”I am. And the laws of physics are still laws.”

Man-made laws are laws.

The laws of reality are laws.

Hawk’s expression was completely deadpan.

He didn’t know the first thing about the actual physics of a warp drive.

But that didn’t stop him from manifesting one. After all, the Enterprise in the movies had a warp drive.

So…

If he manifested the Enterprise, naturally, the warp drive came with it.

If the bridge was a masterpiece of clean, orderly design, the engineering deck, where the warp core was housed, was a testament to untamed power.

The space was cavernous, filled with a complex, labyrinthine network of pipes, a pulsing antimatter reaction chamber glowing with intense blue light, massive warp coils, and humming plasma conduits.

The central reactor core was the beating heart of the ship, the source of all its power.

As soon as the Enterprise settled into its warp cruise, Gwen had practically dragged Hawk down to engineering.

Right now, Gwen’s jaw was practically on the floor as she stared at the massive warp coils.

She might have majored in biology, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know her physics.

Again.

Gwen was a genius. And in the world of geniuses, there is no such thing as a weak subject.

Standing next to her, Hawk let out a conspicuous yawn.

”Honey, it’s late. We should go to bed.”

”Shh!” Gwen, who had called up the ship’s AI, ’Enterprise,’ and was currently peppering it with highly technical questions about the theoretical mechanics of the warp core, didn’t even look back. She just shushed him and reached back, pressing a finger against his lips to stop him from interrupting the AI’s explanation.

Hawk stared down at the finger pressed to his mouth, then looked at Gwen, whose eyes were shining with the manic intensity of a scientist making a breakthrough. A very bad feeling washed over him.

He had made a terrible mistake.

Giving a genius, scientifically-minded wife an actual, functioning warp drive was like giving a cat...

Nope.

Hawk quickly banished the crude analogy from his mind. His eyes darted around, and he leaned in, whispering seductively in her ear. ”Honey, I’ve got something much better than a warp core to show you.”

Better!

Gwen snapped out of her scientific trance and looked at Hawk.

”Where?”

”Follow me.”

Hawk felt a surge of triumph. He grabbed Gwen’s hand and practically sprinted out of engineering, leading her to the Captain’s quarters in the crew deck. He ushered her inside.

Gwen looked around the room. It was laid out like a luxurious, futuristic master bedroom. She frowned, turning back to Hawk as he closed the door behind them. ”Where’s the treasure?”

With a mere thought, Hawk’s clothes vanished.

”Right here!”

”...”

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