"WEE-OOH! WEE-OOH!"
Sirens ripped across the sky above Quantico. Soldiers froze mid-step, eyes wide, then snapped into motion.
"Shit!"
"Battle stations!"
"Enemy attack!"
Confusion rattled through the base. Some muttered about Japan and Pearl Harbor, others cursed out loud—but they all ran. Quantico wasn't just any base; it was Marine HQ, right next to the FBI Academy and Langley itself. No one invaded Quantico.
Except someone just had.
Within minutes, boots thundered, rifles clattered, and officers barked orders.
"Where's the breach?"
"The old Gamma Lab!"
A colonel swore and bolted out of his quarters, phone pressed to his ear.
"General! We've got an intruder in the Gamma Lab!"
Miles away, in a car leaving the Pentagon, General Thaddeus Ross froze.
"What did you just say?"
"The Gamma Lab, sir."
"Goddammit!"
Ross ripped at his collar, eyes flashing. "Driver—Quantico. Now."
The car shot forward, weaving past sirens and Capitol police, Ross's fury boiling.
Back at the lab, the rapid response team poured in. Inside the steel barriers, the sound of explosions and tearing stone echoed from deep within. Scientists fled in terror. Guards tackled them down, demanding answers.
"How many intruders?"
"One."
"…One?"
"He's not human," a trembling scientist blurted. "Bullets don't touch him. He smashed the walls with his fists. Everyone who shot at him—dead."
A surviving soldier, leg twisted from a bone-shattering blow, shouted through clenched teeth:
"He's telling the truth! Just one man. After the Gamma Stones!"
The squad leader's stomach turned cold.
Below, in the gutted basement, Hawk crouched at the mouth of a crude tunnel. The walls glimmered faintly green. Pickaxes lay scattered on the floor.
"So primitive… or maybe deliberate," he muttered. "Not every general plays for the same team."
The Phoenix in his cosmos stirred, its cry echoing inside him.
"Devour. I'll refine it."
Hawk's lips curved. He'd expected to dig like a miner. Instead, all he had to do was touch the irradiated stone, burn his cosmos, and let the Phoenix drink deep.
He placed his palms on the glowing walls.
But before the surge could begin, his instincts screamed.
He spun, fist lashing upward.
BOOM!
The tunnel entrance above collapsed in an avalanche of dirt and steel. Dust and shockwaves blasted down the shaft. Anyone who had been preparing to drop in was buried instantly.
Now he was sealed in.
Perfect.
No interruptions.
"Alright… let's begin."
His cosmos flared.
WHOOM!
WHOOM!
WHOOM!
The underground chamber trembled as Hawk's small universe erupted, the Phoenix blazing, hungry, devouring the Gamma Stone veins embedded in the rock.
…
(End of Chapter)
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