Gwen looked at Natasha expressionlessly.
"I don't know."
"..."
Natasha looked at Gwen, who was calmly looking at her, and said in a deep voice, "We really didn't do what happened last night. If we wanted to find you, we would have come long ago. Why wait until now?"
Gwen ignored Natasha's words.
"Are you here to arrest me?"
"No."
As soon as she finished speaking,
Gwen pushed open the car door and got out.
Natasha also opened the passenger door, got out, and looked at Gwen, who was closing the driver's side door.
Gwen's voice was calm.
"Thank you for bringing the car over for me."
"Gwen."
Natasha frowned, watching Gwen turn around and walk into the house without looking back after saying those words.
After watching Gwen's back for a while, she turned around and opened the door of the black van parked not far away.
As soon as Natasha got into the car and closed the door, she immediately contacted Maria Hill, who was currently overseeing the operation at S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Commander."
"How is it?"
"She won't talk."
Natasha reported the situation truthfully.
She could capture Gwen and torture her to extract information about Hawke's whereabouts.
But seeing Gwen reminded Natasha of the day she was hit with a stick and woke up to find herself alive, instantly ruling out that option. Maria
Hill, hearing Natasha's answer, seemed unsurprised and said directly, "No need to ask anymore, we've found Hawke's whereabouts."
Natasha was slightly taken aback.
"Found Hawke?"
"Yes."
"Quantico?"
"No, New Mexico."
"New…"
Natasha was stunned: "How did he end up in New Mexico?"
Maria Hill looked at the video just sent back by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in New Mexico, and after a moment of silence, said, "The Ross family cemetery has been destroyed."
As she spoke, Natasha took out her phone, which had just received a message.
She opened a video that had just been sent.
What she saw was a scene of utter devastation.
Tombstones were destroyed, graves lay scattered like they'd been bombarded, and shattered coffins and debris filled the entire cemetery.
Not to mention the Rose Estate in front of the cemetery.
As the video panned away, the once lavishly decorated estate was now a ruin, utterly destroyed.
Natasha was shocked.
"This"
"The New York agents have just confirmed that Hawke's sister Anna's grave has some minor damage, likely from last night's battle. If nothing unexpected happens, the destruction of Rose Estate and the Rose family cemetery is Hawke's revenge."
"Hiss!"
Natasha gasped, then seemed to realize something and subconsciously asked,"Does General Ross know?"
"Yes."
"Wouldn't he go crazy?"
Natasha asked instinctively, then glanced again at the video playing on her phone screen.
Others might not know, but if her family cemetery were desecrated like that, she would definitely go crazy.
But serves him right!
Natasha pursed her lips.
SHIELD was still in the danger assessment and contact planning stages regarding Hawke, but the military, without any preamble, just barged in.
Did they really think Hawke, with a name similar to Hulk, was just another Bruce Banner?
Bruce Banner was being chased by them and could only hide; did they really think everyone would hide from them?
Now look what's happened.
The more arrogant they were at the beginning, the more miserable they are now.
Tsk tsk.
This must have even knocked out the bones of Mr. Ross, who came down from the Mayflower back then.
Natasha thought to herself in amazement, then suddenly her expression froze.
"Commander, that's not right. New York City is very far from New Mexico. It's only been six hours since this happened. How could he have gotten to New Mexico so quickly?"
"To be precise, he got to New Mexico in less than three hours."
"What?"
Natasha exclaimed in shock, "That's impossible."
Maria Hill said in a deep voice, "But that's the fact, and now is not the time to dwell on how fast he was. If I'm not mistaken, his next step should be Quantico."
Perhaps it's not clear from Hawke killing Hulk to avenge his sister.
But after the Ross family cemetery was desecrated, it almost revealed one thing.
Hawke is vengeful.
So if he even desecrated the Ross family cemetery, how could he possibly let Thaddeus Ross, who supported last night's operation, go?
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. has lost track of Hawke again, Maria Hill is very certain about Hawke's next destination : Quantico.
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Natasha frowned as she listened to Maria Hill's speculation.
"Then I"
"Stay there."
"Hmm?"
Maria Hill said in a low voice, "Try to see if you can stay by Gwen's side until this is over."
Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"Commander, you mean..."
"It's not certain yet, but better safe than sorry. Also, don't mention this to anyone, understand?"
"Okay, then."
Natasha nodded, raising her eyes to scan the three SHIELD agents working in the van.
Maria Hill seemed to know what Natasha wanted to say and shook her head: "The people we sent this time are agents that Victoria and I trust. They will be responsible for perimeter security until this is over."
Natasha understood.
"Yes, Commander."
"Bye."
Maria Hill, in her SHIELD headquarters office, hung up her phone after saying this, placed it aside, leaned back in her chair, and unconsciously massaged her trigeminal nerve.
She had originally intended to have Natasha withdraw.
But just as she was about to tell Natasha to withdraw, for some reason, a sudden thought struck her, and she changed her mind, telling Natasha to stay and protect Gwen.
She felt that the military might use Gwen as bait, in a situation where they couldn't defeat Hawk head-on.
This wasn't a misperception; it was a judgment based on her past service in the military as an intelligence officer.
The military would stop at nothing to win a war.
And this was war.
It was because Hulk's girlfriend back then was named Betty Ross, General Ross's daughter. If it were any other girlfriend, Ross would probably have kidnapped her and set a trap for Hulk.
Now Hawk had desecrated General Ross's family cemetery.
So just in case, they had to be cautious.
And after thinking about General Ross, another name popped into Maria Hill's mind.
She subconsciously looked up, her gaze drifting towards the office of Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Her intuition told her that Nick Fury was involved in the military's surprise attack on Hawke.
After all, of the seventy-seven federal soldiers found at the scene, one soldier's identity was detected as an imposter by S.H.I.E.L.D. in New York.
That body wasn't a military soldier, but a S.H.I.E.L.D. member.
And very few people within S.H.I.E.L.D. knew of Hawke's existence; even those who did had already ordered that no one contact or investigate Hawke privately without her direct orders.
Yet now, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had appeared.
And coincidentally, he was Black.
Maria Hill strongly suspected that this Black agent who died in the New York battlefield was sent by Nick Fury.
The reason was simple.
Yesterday afternoon, the Security Council abruptly announced the unfreezing of Nick Fury's operational privileges.
Operational privileges were unfrozen in the afternoon.
The military launched the attack that evening.
Could there be no necessary connection between the two?
Was it possible?
Just as Maria Hill frowned, lost in thought, the phone on the table rang.
"Hello."
"Commander, we've spotted a suspect resembling Hawke."
"..."
Maria Hill immediately stood up and left the office.
Coincidentally,the door to the office opposite opened as well.
Nick Fury, whose operational privileges had been restored, walked out.
Maria Hill didn't wait, but instead took the dedicated commander's elevator down to the operations center.
A moment later,she and Nick Fury entered the operations center almost one after the other.
"Hawk..."
"Where is that damn criminal now?"
Before Maria Hill could speak, Nick Fury, having successfully staged a triumphant return, walked up from behind, his voice as loud as ever. As he passed Maria Hill, he chuckled, "Sorry, it's not wartime right now."
Maria Hill gave a formulaic smile and remained silent.
She was the deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the wartime commander; simply put, her privileges only automatically superseded Nick Fury's when S.H.I.E.L.D. entered wartime status.
Normally, even with his operational privileges revoked, Nick Fury, as the director of SHIELD, still held more authority than her.
"Director."
"We just spotted someone resembling Hawke in Maryland."
"Retrieve it."
The SHIELD agent nodded, and then a photo appeared on the large screen, seemingly taken from an ATM, except Hawke's shadow in the photo was almost blurred.
Nick Fury looked at the photo, regaining his operational privileges and reverting to his usual catchphrase.
"WTF, any other photos?"
"No."
"Analyze his motives..."
"Sir!"
A SHIELD agent in front of the large screen, seemingly having just received some crucial information, turned to Nick Fury and Maria Hill, reporting loudly,"Five seconds ago, an explosion occurred at the Quantico military base."
"..."
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