Age 16: Comprehensive Enhancement [One-time, Non-upgradable]: Bone density, muscle fiber, neural reaction speed, cellular vitality, self-healing capability... pushed to the theoretical limit of a mere mortal.
This allowed him, during a commercial kidnapping attempt, to crush the skulls of three professional mercenaries with his bare hands, moving so fast that his bodyguards didn't even register the action.
Age 17: He drew Energy Absorption Lv1.
This is another of Hawk's core abilities. This was also the year Hawk went through some dramatic events that prompted him to put on a costume and do something excitingly righteous.
He originally wanted to call himself "Preta" (Hungry Ghost), but after being ridiculed as idiotic, he settled on the "King." In his view, having this ability drastically enhanced his self-preservation. While Energy Absorption Lv1 couldn't compare to the Black King's, in little old Brooklyn at this point in time, absolutely no one could stand against him.
Age 18: The ability drawn was Hawk's second favorite: Male Skill Enhancement Lv1.
A perfect coming-of-age gift, a divine blessing. Hawk immediately put the ability to use on his sister Andy… Andy, who had by then become the CFO, took her first week-long vacation just to spend a week in bed with him…
Age 19: He drew an unremarkable Skill Card. He now had three Skill Cards in total.
Age 20: The ability he drew was heaven-defying, and by far the most incredible ability Hawk had ever received.
[Conceptual Immortality (Non-upgradable)]
No matter what form of life you are,
as long as any medium within the All-Mighty Cosmos records you,
as long as you are not forgotten,
as long as someone still speaks your name,
as long as traces of your existence remain,
you will never truly die.
Excited by this, Hawk celebrated by hosting yacht orgies for three full months, gathering various famous supermodels and second- and third-tier actresses from multiple countries, landing him on the entertainment and business headlines daily. After all, the ability description specified, "as long as traces of your existence remain…" Hawk naturally needed to leave as many traces as possible—all sorts of traces, which definitely included his genetic code… For a time, even the tabloid news of playboy Tony Stark was ignored.
In short, he lived a life of drunken abandon and debauchery… because, after all, he couldn't die…
However, the peaceful days were shattered a month ago.
The greedy vulture of Wall Street—Bates Capital—finally showed its true colors after repeatedly failing to maliciously acquire several of Lane Mining's properties. They were no longer satisfied with financial games; they directly hired a… monster squad.
The attack occurred when John Lane had assembled his top executives for an important meeting. The attackers were precise and ruthless. It was a four-person squad. Their movements were inhumanly fast, and their strength was enough to tear apart concrete walls with their bare hands. Most bizarrely, they possessed some form of telekinetic power; bullets fired at them seemed to hit an invisible wall and were instantly flattened into metal discs.
Fortunately, Hawk happened to be at the company. He rushed into the conference room, used his body to tank and absorb most of the shockwaves, and successfully covered the retreat of John Lane and most of the executives. The consequences would have been unthinkable otherwise. The Lane family's mercenaries and security teams suffered heavy casualties.
Blood, twisted steel, and strange energy fluctuations lingering in the air… all of it was like a cold needle puncturing the façade of tranquility Hawk had carefully maintained. Fury burned in his chest, but stronger than the anger was a cold determination, because someone had crossed his line.
And this time, with his "Conceptual Immortality," Hawk feared nothing.
Using information from irregular channels and his own Hacking Skills, Hawk tracked down the attackers' location. He took on the mantle of the superhero "King" and launched a relentless counter-hunt in New York's underworld.
Of the four:
Do-hoon was hacked into pieces; his self-healing couldn't keep up with Hawk's rate of injury. Hawk tossed him onto a train track, where he was crushed into meat paste.
Park Sung-mi was split in half; one half was buried at a construction site, the other sunk into the Hudson River.
Ha Su-min's head was blown apart by a Heat Ray, and her entire body was ultimately incinerated into a pile of carbon.
With three members dead, Hawk used the cruelest means to interrogate the leader of the squad—the woman who had caused him a slight bit of trouble: Won-bin. She was completely broken by Hawk's power. She struggled to lift her head, and sporadic words laced with terror spilled from her mouth: "We are… the Tow Squad… The base… Busan… Modifications… The Witches… Goo Ja-yoon…"
Project Witch!
A name, a location, and a vague outline surfaced.
Hawk's investigative capability far exceeded anyone's imagination. He used the Lane Group's global server nodes as a launchpad, employed a Skill Card to boost his Hacking Skills to Lv2, and breached the peripheral databases of multiple intelligence agencies, gleaning fragmented information. Combined with Andy's tracking of Bates Capital's covert financial flows through special banking channels, he finally pinpointed the target: the "Project Witch" base, hidden deep beneath Busan, South Korea, secretly funded by former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Alexander Pierce for the development of superhuman weaponry.
By investigating decades of financial movements, they starkly discovered that Bates Capital—the firm constantly opposing them and attempting to dismantle and annex the Lane Group—was actually one of Alexander Pierce's shell corporations.
So, it was Alexander, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. leader, who wanted to secretly devour the Lane company.
As for the motive, the first reason was: Who doesn't want more money?
The second reason: Alexander wasn't new to this kind of operation. In fact, he had long used his official position to engage in graft and secretly annex or take controlling stakes in various multinational corporations. This served two purposes: one, to provide funding for his secret activities; and two, to serve as his own private intelligence network.
"So, that's how Hydra slowly grows," Hawk thought, swirling his drink.
He needed to extinguish this small threat and give his opponents a little American shock and awe.