Hawk spat onto the grass.
He glanced at Malekith, who had just asked if he still wanted to continue, and smirked.
"That was just the warm-up."
"Oh?" Malekith's pale lips curved faintly. "Then are you warmed up now?"
Hawk grinned. "I am… now!"
Behind him, a phoenix wreathed in crimson fire unfurled its wings.
In the next instant, the blazing image shattered into pieces of armor, each fragment slamming into place across Hawk's body.
Shoulder guards, greaves, vambraces—one after another, they fused with a metallic thunder, burning with phoenix fire.
Last came the mask, clicking into place over his cold, unflinching face.
Hawk's voice thundered as his cosmos surged.
"Lightning!"
"Mach Punch!"
His fist blurred, multiplying into countless strikes. In a flash, they hammered Malekith.
Crack!
A single blow smashed into the Dark Elf's face, distorting it with rippling force before sending him crashing through Stonehenge's protective wall.
The earth shuddered as Malekith struck the ground, dirt and stone erupting skyward.
From atop a monolith, Peter's jaw dropped at the sight of Hawk's blazing golden armor with its wings of fire.
Then Hawk casually ripped off the wings, tossing them aside into the rain.
They were for show, not battle.
He rolled his neck, crimson flames seething around his fists, and vanished.
By the time Malekith's crater settled, Hawk was already above him, fist blazing, phoenix fire crashing down.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom—
Each strike split the ice-cold ground with apocalyptic force.
Alarms blared in London's seismic center.
Peter's eyes lit up. "That's it? Over already—"
"Keheheh!"
The laugh cut through the smoke. Malekith's mocking tone chilled the air.
"Young one," he rasped. "I underestimated you."
When the smoke cleared, he stood tall, only his cloak dirtied. A barrier of Aether glimmered faintly around him.
"Your power is impressive," he admitted. "But it is not of this universe. Without the Aether, you cannot anchor it. And even with it, you don't fully control what you've forged."
His white eyes narrowed. "You remind me of another young fool… Thor. God of hammers, not storms."
The Dark Elf's patience thinned as the Convergence's peak neared. "One last chance. Surrender the Aether, and I'll spare your life."
"I refuse," Hawk snapped, without hesitation.
Malekith's smirk died. In a blink, he was in Hawk's face.
Boom!
A fist wreathed in Aether smashed into Hawk's mask, cracking it apart.
Another strike sent him crashing into the stones. And as the Convergence's energy rippled through Stonehenge—
Both Hawk and Malekith vanished.
Peter froze where he perched, staring at the empty space where his friend had been.
Then sirens wailed as London police closed in.
Before Peter could react, thunder boomed.
"Malekith! Face me!"
Lightning crashed into the stone circle. Thor descended, clad in armor, Mjolnir in hand. His eyes flicked to Peter in surprise.
"Malekith?"
"No," Peter said quickly, pointing at the spot where Hawk had vanished. "He was here—with my friend. Then they just disappeared."
Thor's deep voice rumbled. "A ripple of the Convergence. When they return? I cannot say. The last Convergence was thousands of years ago, before my birth."
Peter stared at him. "So… what now?"
"I don't know," Thor admitted bluntly. He had come too late—Frigga's funeral had held him in Asgard.
Now, with Heimdall's sight blocked, even the all-seeing eyes could not find Hawk.
The two heroes stood in awkward silence, the storm drenching the earth.
Meanwhile, on Jotunheim—
Hawk and Malekith reappeared mid-battle, shattering glaciers with their blows.
Icebergs crumbled. Frost forests splintered.
But Hawk was faltering. His golden Phoenix Cloth was spiderwebbed with cracks, his mask gone. Malekith, with his own Aether power, was pressing him mercilessly.
The Vibranium armor had helped at first—but Malekith adapted. Vibranium might be Earth's strongest metal, but in the cosmos it was far from supreme. Uru, the stuff of Thanos' blade, had split Captain America's shield like wood.
Now Hawk's defenses crumbled.
Still, he laughed through the blood. "Go on, then—kill me if you can!"
Malekith's grin was cruel. "Gladly."
He drove Hawk down into the frozen ground—
—but before they struck, another ripple of the Convergence swept over them. In a blink, both vanished again.
The Frost Giants watching from afar stared in shock. Their land lay in ruins once more.
"ODIN!!"
"ASGARD!!!"
On Earth, at Stonehenge, Thor and Peter waited.
Thor hefted Mjolnir, then glanced awkwardly at the policemen peeking from cover. He cleared his throat. "Jane told me Hawk saved her. That makes him my friend, too."
Peter nodded once. "Yeah."
Spider-Man might be a chatterbox—but Spider totem warriors were not.
…
(End of Chapter)
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