Evening time.
On the rooftop of the new apartment.
After finishing boxing, Hawk tugged at his shorts and directly sat on the ground leaning against the ventilation duct behind him, grabbing the cola next to him and taking a swig.
At that moment.
Hawk seemed to have thought of something, put the cola aside, and opened his right hand.
What he saw.
The mark that Gwen had seen, which looked like new skin, had now completely disappeared.
After he awakened his Little Cosmos, whether it was his strength, speed, or constitution, these three basic attributes have completely surpassed the realm of ordinary humans.
Without igniting the Little Cosmos.
His strength can easily shatter boulders, destroy thick walls, and even twist steel.
His speed, if he wants to, can reach the speed of sound.
His constitution is the same.
Strong impacts and blows that could instantly kill a normal person on the spot, even without the protection of Holy Armor, he can withstand, and even if injured, a self-healing ability far surpassing ordinary people still allows him to recover quickly from fatigue and minor injuries.
The fragment shooting out from the high-speed centrifugal machine today is just that.
If he hadn't intervened at that time, Gwen would have had no chance of survival under this fragment and most likely would have been killed by it.
But that's not the point.
The point is...
Hawk recalled the scene where he instinctively intervened at the time, while rubbing his left hand against the spot on his right palm where the pain occurred.
As he furrowed his brows, unsure of what he was thinking, the phone placed nearby rang.
Hawk snapped back to reality, slightly surprised, looking at the phone that rang for the first time since he bought a SIM card.
Answer the call.
"Hello?"
"… Yes, it's me, you arrived?"
"Okay, I'll be right over."
Hang up the phone.
Hawk got up from the ground, and with a whoosh, his figure disappeared and reappeared near the fire escape stairs, then returned to his new apartment through the window, pulled out five-hundred US Dollars from his backpack.
His laptop had arrived.
Ten minutes later.
At the entrance of the Bridge Park across the street.
Hawk arrived at the park entrance, looked around at the desolate surroundings, took out his phone, and dialed the only number in his call log.
At that moment, the lights on a van parked not far away flashed.
Hawk instinctively looked towards that van.
The driver's door of the van opened, and a young Asian woman with lush brown hair, appearing no more than in her early twenties, stepped out, waving her phone at Hawk.
Hawk raised an eyebrow at the sight of the young Asian woman.
Skye?
Standing next to her van-turned-RV, Skye looked at the approaching Hawk: "Superman cannot compare to me?"
Hawk nodded: "Yes."
Skye, hearing this, wasted no words and took out a laptop, handing it to Hawk: "Just as described during our chat in the afternoon, used for three years, ninety percent new, I've already redone the system, check it out and pay me if there's no problem."
Hawk responded with a grunt, not saying anything unnecessary, and took the laptop.
After all, this was a big purchase worth five-hundred US Dollars.
If he wasn't a bit shy, he would've asked Gwen if she had any unused laptops she could give him.
As the saying goes.
Boundaries are there to be broken.
Although the phone he had now was forced on him by Gwen, he accepted it in the end.
But Hawk thought about it and believed a man should remain somewhat reserved.
However…
He never expected that the seller he'd randomly found at the second-hand market using the office computer in the afternoon would be another famous figure from the Marvel Cosmos.
Skye.
The future Quake.
While contemplating this, Hawk examined the laptop Skye had brought to sell, checking that it could boot and run some pre-installed programs without issue, then closed the laptop and handed the prepared five-hundred US Dollars to her.
Skye took the five Franklin bills and checked them as well.
After a short while.
Skye put away the five-hundred US Dollars, extended her hand to Hawk, and smiled: "Pleasure doing business."
Hawk transferred the laptop to his left hand and extended his right hand: "Pleasure doing business."
No chit-chat.
Only business.
After the transaction was complete, Skye, without a word, got into her van and RV, started it, and drove away with a hum.
Hawk, upon returning to the new apartment, placed the "beauty's used laptop" bought from Skye on the folding table, and also placed the "beauty's used phone" gifted by Gwen beside it.
Hmm.
Comparatively speaking, Gwen is better.
Wait, what am I thinking.
Hawk furrowed his brows again, shaking off the distractions in his mind, then connected the laptop bought from Skye to the hotspot of the phone gifted by Gwen.
Next step.
Quantico.
Hawk directly opened the satellite map webpage and set it to Quantico's coordinates.
Though some of the more classified buildings and objects were hidden on the satellite map.
That doesn't matter.
With just one look, Hawk spotted a dilapidated structure on the satellite map surrounded by iron sheets.
He took half an hour to confirm that this building was Dr. Bruce Banner's laboratory in Quantico.
The internet is very advanced now, especially after the exposure of the first-generation Avengers, let alone Dr. Bruce Banner, who had been exposed once back in 2009.
So...
Information on Dr. Bruce Banner's life, why he became Hulk, and when he transformed into Hulk, all these details are available online.
Additionally, gossip about Dr. Bruce Banner's past relationship with Betty Ross had also been exposed.
But this wasn't Hawk's focus.
At his new apartment, Hawk rested a hand on his chin while his other hand glided over the laptop's touchpad, reading the descriptions of Quantico Military Base and the satellite map, eyes dwelling thoughtfully on the locked-down abandoned laboratory.
He felt he might have to prematurely break his boundaries.
No choice.
He was broke, and even if he wasn't, Quantico wouldn't sell him the Gamma Stone.
Yet he wanted the Gamma Stone.
Considerations concerning Holy Armor.
So only one path lay before him.
If you won't give it, I'll have to take it.
But…
Robbing Quantico's Gamma Stone is different from robbing Vibranium from Wakanda.
Put it this way.
Even if exposure follows his theft of Vibranium from Wakanda, he would remain unscathed, similar to the automatic match of teammates once he initiates a raid; rather than trouble him, the world would trouble Wakanda, and the five great powers would undoubtedly demand Wakanda hand over Vibranium and, if need be, agree to United Nations garrison.
Thus, Hawk did not concern himself with Wakanda.
But robbing Quantico is different.
However…
The Gamma Stone.
I must have it.
Hawk looked at the satellite map of Quantico on his computer screen, his eyes flickering.
…