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Back in his native universe, Hawk kept his word. He slaughtered one incubating Celestial a month.
But it felt hollow... After Gargaratus escaped, there were no real Celestials left alive in that universe. Destroying unborn fetuses helped Hawk vent some anger, but it didn't satisfy him.
Universe-616 was different.
Gargaratus wasn't the only Celestial hiding in this reality.
'So, let's see what happens if I destroy every incubating Celestial in this dimension. Let's see if you still choose to hide.'
Hawk stood on Gargaratus's severed head. He stared into the deep void, eyes flashing. He remembered that brief, fleeting glimpse of the unknown Celestial before it bolted.
Suddenly—
Golden light erupted. When it faded, the dead zone was empty. Only the colossal corpse of Gargaratus floated silently in the vacuum.
Hawk was gone.
The cosmic brawl had dragged on. In Earth time, the fight lasted seventy-two hours. Three straight days of carnage.
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Back on Earth, the war was already over.
The Avengers were attending a funeral.
The good news was that it wasn't for Natasha or Tony Stark.
The bad news was that the ones who died were T'Challa, King of Wakanda and the Black Panther, and Okoye, general of the Dora Milaje.
War is unpredictable. Until it ends, no one is guaranteed to survive—not Natasha, not Tony, and certainly not the Wakandan vanguard.
Thanos was dead. Ebony Maw caught an explosive arrow to the throat. Cull Obsidian, cornered by T'Challa and his guard, realized he was out of options.
He yelled. In a desperate move, Cull Obsidian grabbed the Black Panther and triggered an explosion.
The shockwave instantly vaporized Okoye and a dozen Dora Milaje, then wiped out the second and third lines as well.
When the dust cleared, Cull Obsidian had left behind a crater a kilometer wide and fifteen meters deep.
There were no bodies to bury.
But they died saving Earth, so the funeral took place on a newly cleared patch of land northwest of the Avengers compound.
The ceremony was somber. A monument for the Black Panther was set in the ground. After the service, Princess Shuri boarded a jet back to Wakanda, carrying only an urn of dirt.
Soon after, the team turned to their final task.
They had used the Infinity Stones to restore half the universe. Now they needed to return them to the exact places and times from which they were taken to avoid a temporal paradox.
Same teams as before.
Tony, Cap, and Bruce handled the Space, Time, and Mind Stones.
Thor and Rocket took the Reality Stone.
Rhodey and Quill took the Power Stone.
Nebula stayed behind for a simple reason: no one wanted her cybernetics to accidentally summon another Thanos.
More importantly, Rhodey wanted Quill to see what his dance routine looked like without any music.
Natasha partnered with Hope, the Wasp, for the Soul Stone.
Clint also sat this one out—not because he was benched like Nebula, but because he was injured and couldn't physically join.
It wasn't a battle wound. At first, the team was worried and kept asking what happened. Natasha stayed quiet, but when the questions didn't stop, she finally explained.
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Standing on the newly rebuilt quantum platform, the four teams faced each other. The first trip had felt like a suicide mission—do or die—with grim faces all around.
This time? Everyone was smiling.
"See you in a minute."
"See you."
"See you."
"See you."
The goodbyes were lighthearted. They tapped their quantum suits, and in a flash, the platform was empty.
A second later, they returned.
"Reality Stone is back," Rocket announced. "And you wouldn't believe it. Thor cried again. Little baby Thor."
"HEY!" Thor's eyes were bloodshot. He lifted Rocket into the air, annoyed that his secret had lasted only two seconds.
"Soul Stone returned." Hope took off her helmet. "Wow. Deep space is beautiful. Maybe we should borrow Quill's ship and take a vacation."
She looked down at Scott, standing next to Hank Pym.
Scott caught the hint immediately. He flashed a grin and gave the perfect answer. They shared a smile.
"Power Stone returned," Rhodey said with a smirk. "So, Quill, did watching yourself dance make you want to crawl under a rock?"
"Don't talk to me." Quill's face was stiff as he tried to forget the memory of his own singing. It was embarrassing.
Right on cue. Tony and Bruce phased onto the platform.
"Mind Stone is back."
"Time Stone, returned."
The team exchanged smiles, feeling accomplished. Then they noticed something was missing and stared at the empty space next to Tony.
"Wait."
"Where's Cap?"
"The console says he's already back."
Scott blinked. He ran over to the main monitor. He checked the GPS ping on Cap's quantum tracker, then looked back up at the platform.
Just then.
Zzzzt!
Cap materialized on the pad, looking exactly as he did when he left.
"Space Stone returned."
Cap stated the fact, then caught Tony giving him a weird look for the delay. "Tony. I think my suit glitched. The data scrambled on the way back."
Glitched?
Tony frowned. He took the quantum GPS from Cap, stepped off the pad, and plugged it into the main console.
A second later, the code used to stabilize the Mobius strip navigation appeared in the air.
Lines of dense, chaotic code filled the air. Unless you had a PhD in theoretical physics, it looked like gibberish. Tony narrowed his eyes.
Bruce leaned in and spotted the anomaly. "Data isn't missing. It's bloated. Tony, look. The temporal signatures on these lines don't match our timeline."
Tony had already seen it. He isolated the rogue data blocks, ran a quick decryption, and compiled the code.
Fragments of video files rendered on the screen.
It looked like their mission. But slightly off.
The team watched the projection. It showed Natasha on Vormir. Sacrificing herself for the Soul Stone.
They immediately turned to look at the very much alive Natasha standing right next to them.
Natasha frowned at the screen. She felt the stares and let out a dry laugh.
"Hey. I'm right here. I'm fine." She cleared her throat, walked over to the console, and queued up the next file.
This time, all eyes shifted to Tony.
Because on the screen...
"I am Iron Man."
Snap.
The Infinity Stones flared. Thanos's army crumbled to dust. But the cosmic feedback fried Tony alive.
Pepper Potts instinctively grabbed Tony's hand, gripping it tight.
Tony glanced at his wife. He stared at his own death on the monitor. "So this is an alternate timeline?"
Bruce frowned. "But what triggered the split?"
Natasha watched Tony snap his fingers on the screen. Realization hit her.
"A timeline without Hawk."
Hawk?
"..." The team looked at Natasha. They pictured the guy who casually seized control of the sky and butchered Thanos like a hog.
Natasha met their eyes and took a slow breath. "I did die on Vormir. Hawk was there. He brought me back."
Sharp intakes of breath filled the room.
A second later. Cap connected the dots. "Wait. He was on Vormir? In the past?"
Natasha nodded.
Cap furrowed his brow.
Scott saw the stunned looks and shrugged. "Guys, don't forget. He's from another universe. If he can jump realities, time travel is probably a walk in the park."
Scott had a point. The team snapped out of it.
Right. This Hawk wasn't the same person they remembered. He was a multiversal apex predator who had arrived from another universe.
Just then. Natasha's gaze locked back onto the monitor.
"There are two more files here..."
"Play them."
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