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The moment Hawk appeared inside the tent, his gaze immediately fell on Alexander Pierce, sizing him up.
Gray hair, but meticulously groomed.
A face radiating intelligence, but with gentle eyes.
A perfectly tailored dark suit paired with glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. The first impression he gave off was that of a mild-mannered, sincere, upstanding politician.
But—
It was all a mask.
Because beneath that gentle exterior lurked one of Hydra's core leaders—a man who embodied cold-blooded ruthlessness and would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
Here's the joke.
The Security Council's Federal Representative was also one of Hydra's core leaders.
Not that any of this had anything to do with why Hawk had suddenly come here.
Wait—no.
It did.
He'd come here because on his way back, he'd suddenly remembered something. So he'd decided to drop by and find Hydra's leader, Alexander Pierce—not the Security Council Representative, Alexander Pierce.
Alexander, seeing Hawk appear out of thin air in front of him, immediately cut off his communications while his mind raced. He stood from his chair, walked around the desk, approached Hawk with a warm smile, and extended his right hand in a gentlemanly fashion.
"Mr. Phoenix."
"Representative Pierce."
Hawk smiled and shook Alexander's hand, then got straight to the point without wasting time.
"Anna's vacation still isn't over?"
"Anna?"
Alexander Pierce heard the name, and his heart skipped a beat. But as a politician—and more specifically, as a seasoned politician who had risen to the position of Security Council Federal Representative while secretly leading Hydra—his control over his facial expressions was impeccable.
After reflexively repeating Anna's name, his face took on a confused expression.
Hawk noticed Alexander's reaction but didn't pay it much mind.
Walls have ears, after all.
He hadn't expected Alexander Pierce to immediately confess he was a core Hydra leader the moment Hawk dropped a name.
Hawk wasn't here to expose Alexander's true identity anyway.
Like he'd said before—
He had his own things to deal with. He didn't particularly care about Hydra's beef with this world. Even if Hydra eventually took over, it wouldn't really affect him.
Hawk was here for his friend Anna.
Over the past while, whenever he'd thought about it, he'd tried calling Anna a few more times. The phone would connect, but no one ever picked up.
Hawk withdrew his hand and looked at Alexander.
"Yeah, Anna. My friend. She works for your company. Does your company really give out vacation time this long? It's been almost half a year, and Anna still hasn't come back to work?"
"..."
Alexander Pierce met Hawk's gaze but didn't immediately respond. Instead, he said, "One moment," then walked to the tent entrance, called over his assistant, instructed them to stand guard at the door and not let anyone in, then returned to the tent. His expression conveyed surprise and confusion as he looked at Hawk.
"Anna's vacation ended a long time ago. She was transferred to Japan right around Christmas to oversee operations there. Anna didn't tell you?"
"Japan?"
Hawk raised an eyebrow and shook his head at Alexander.
"No."
"I'm really sorry about that. Listen, I can arrange for—"
"I don't want someone else." Hawk cut him off, looking directly at Alexander. "My friend is Anna. Not someone else."
Alexander's mouth opened slightly.
Hawk smiled faintly.
"Since you're saying Anna went to Japan, can you give her a call?"
"Of course."
Without any hesitation, Alexander nodded, then turned and walked over to grab the phone on the table.
Hawk stood calmly, all five senses wide open, watching as Alexander picked up the phone and dialed a number.
Soon enough—
The call connected.
Hawk heard a voice speaking Japanese come through from the other end. "Moshi moshi..."
Alexander immediately asked for Anna.
Though his tone was different from the warm voice he'd used moments earlier—this time it sounded lower, more serious.
But that was normal. He'd switched identities. Of course his voice would change too.
Hawk's suspicions eased slightly.
After a moment, as Alexander conversed with whoever was on the other end, accompanied by the sound of footsteps on that side, Anna's voice finally came through. "Sir?"
Alexander then handed the phone to Hawk.
Hawk took it.
"Anna."
"Hawk?"
Anna's voice carried a mixture of surprise and slight confusion.
Hawk smiled.
"You're in Japan right now?"
"Yeah. Got promoted. I'm running a facility over here. All thanks to you, actually."
"Me?"
"Yeah. Remember? You told me to talk to the boss about getting a promotion and a raise."
"Right, I did say that."
Hawk recalled having said exactly that. He glanced at Alexander and smiled. "Thanks."
Alexander's expression remained warm as he waved it off.
Hawk then got down to business with Anna.
"But you got transferred to Japan so suddenly. Why didn't you tell me? And how come your phone's been unreachable?"
"The transfer was last-minute. I didn't have time to bring anything over. And my phone—it shouldn't be unreachable. Wait. Hold on. I sent you an email letting you know I changed numbers. Didn't you see it?"
"An email?"
"Yeah. I sent it right around Christmas."
"..."
Hawk didn't respond. He pulled out his phone, opened his email, and scrolled back to the time around Christmas last year.
There it was.
An unknown email, buried between a bunch of spam marketing messages.
And it was marked as read.
Hawk opened it and checked the timestamp. Sure enough, it was from that Christmas period.
But he had absolutely no memory of this email.
"Damn."
'Did I just skim it while I was busy tracking down the Four Elemental Demons in Texas and then completely forget about it?'
Hawk stared at the email, his thoughts racing.
Just then—
Anna's voice came through the phone. "Did you find it? I'm sure I sent you an email. It was Christmas, and I didn't want to bother you during the holidays, so I emailed instead."
Hawk snapped back to the present and pocketed his phone. Hearing Anna's explanation, he let out a soft laugh.
"We're friends, Anna. You can call me anytime."
"Alright, my bad."
Anna on the other end of the line immediately admitted fault. "I've still got some things to handle over here, but if you don't mind, I can fly to New York in about two weeks. I'll buy you afternoon tea as an apology?"
Hawk chuckled. "Sounds good. I'll hold you to that tea."
Anna laughed in agreement, then shifted to the present. "By the way, Hawk—did you need something from me? I'm in Japan right now, but I can recommend someone—"
Hawk cut her off. "No need. It's not urgent. We can talk about it when you're in New York in two weeks."
The Mind Stone was different from the Reality Stone.
To put it simply—
When he'd obtained the Reality Stone, timing had been critical. If he'd missed that window, Malekith would have taken the Reality Stone. And even if Thor had defeated Malekith according to the original storyline, the Reality Stone probably wouldn't have ended up in Hawk's hands.
Plus, even if the Reality Stone had been given to the Collector like in the original story, with his strength at the time, he wouldn't have been able to go to the Collector and demand it.
So—
The window for obtaining the Reality Stone had been limited. He'd only been able to get it during that specific timeframe.
But the Mind Stone was different.
There was no time limit. Getting it now or getting it two weeks from now made no difference.
And—
To be honest, after not seeing his good friend Anna for so long, he actually kind of missed her.
Next month, when his old friend came to New York, they could catch up. That sounded nice.
After all, he'd initially worried that something had happened to Anna and that she might be dead.
But then he'd thought about it and realized that was unlikely.
Because Anna hadn't shown up in his Underworld.
Don't forget—Hawk had made a deal with Mephisto. Anyone he knew who praised his name wouldn't go to Hell. They'd go straight to his Underworld.
So—
If Anna had died, given her status as Hawk's friend, she would have gone to the Underworld and been sent directly to the Elysian Fields.
But Anna hadn't appeared in the Underworld. Which meant Anna wasn't dead.
But since he hadn't been able to reach her before, when Sharon had mentioned in New York that Security Council Representative Alexander Pierce was overseeing negotiations in Wakanda, Hawk had figured he'd just come ask why Anna wasn't answering his calls.
Anna, on the other end of the line, heard Hawk's invitation for next month and didn't hesitate.
"Sounds great. See you in New York in fifteen days."
"Perfect. I'll let you get back to work."
"Alright..."
Hawk hung up and handed the phone back to Alexander.
Alexander accepted it with his usual warm expression.
Hawk thanked him again.
"Thanks. Sorry for the interruption."
"Not at all. I'm glad Anna's become your friend."
"I won't keep you any longer. I'll head out."
"Take care."
Alexander didn't push the conversation further.
The setting wasn't right for that.
Hawk didn't mind.
He'd come here to confirm Anna's situation with Alexander. Now that he had his answer, it was time to go home.
The next second, Hawk's figure vanished instantly, reappearing miles above in the sky. A sonic boom erupted around him as he transformed into a streak of red light, flashing toward New York City.
...
Alexander Pierce stood outside the tent, watching the red light disappear over the horizon. Once it was gone, he withdrew his gaze and turned back into the tent.
But in that brief moment between stepping out and stepping back in...
His expression completely darkened.
His face turned black—
Terrifyingly so.
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