"Because you're my friend."
"..."
Natasha stood at the entrance of the Hell Tavern, stunned by Hawk's words.
Hawk chuckled softly, gesturing to the high stool in front of the bar.
"Don't worry, this is the edge of life and death. No matter how long you're here, to the outside world, it's just a blink of an eye."
"..."
Hearing this, Natasha looked at Hawk's smile, remained silent for a moment, then lifted her foot again, sitting back down on the high stool in front of Hawk.
Hawk raised his glass and clinked it with Natasha's.
"Remember more than twenty days ago, when you came to Palm Street to ask me whether I was the one in charge or was it the Hawk you knew?"
"I remember."
"Then you should also remember my answer."
"I am me, and I am also me."
Hawk said, then looked at Natasha, "But no matter which me it is, you, Natasha, are my friend."
This was the truth.
Although in his reality cosmos, his dealings with Natasha weren't many.
But that didn't mean Natasha wasn't his friend.
At the very least...
On his phone, Natasha's number was right after Sharon's, and if Natasha wasn't his friend, she wouldn't have been Gwen's bridesmaid.
This cosmos's Natasha was also Hawk's friend.
Everyone knew this.
Hawk was always serious about the friends he acknowledged.
The most important point.
Some say, after Iron Man, there is no more Marvel.
Then after Natasha, there is no more Avengers.
Because only Natasha, and only Natasha, sees the Avengers as family, supporting this family from being swept away into history's dust.
The most crucial point of all.
Still that saying.
The significance of a traveler is to make up for various regrets, isn't it?
So!
Hawk put down the glass in his hand, calmly looking at Natasha.
"You won't die."
"...But if I don't die, the Soul Gemstone won't emerge."
"Yes."
"Then..."
"But I can flip the table!"
"What?"
Natasha froze at Hawk's words.
The next moment.
Hawk's gaze shifted, fixing on the bar's main door, and with a smile, he said: "Death, aren't you coming in for a drink?"
Death?
What is this?
Instinctively, Natasha turned her head, following the direction of Hawk's voice.
What met her eyes!
The bar's door seemed to be blown open by a gust of deathly wind.
Immediately, a woman dressed in a flowing midnight robe, with deep, abyss-like hollow eyes, but with nostrils and mouth exposed beneath them, skin a marble-like pale gray, looking almost like a half-human half-skull yet with a divine aura, strutted into the Hell Tavern.
The person who arrived was—
The source, creator, and manipulator of all life souls in the Marvel Main Multiverse, representing all forms of life termination in the Main Multiverse.
One of the five Creator Gods!
Death!
After walking into the Hell Tavern, Death's hollow eyes fell on Hawk, locking onto his gaze.
Hawk gestured towards another high stool with his hand.
Death's gaze fell, in the blink of an eye, she was already on the high stool, and then, with a precise and graceful stance, she sat on it.
The next moment.
Death spoke.
Her voice didn't seem to come from any single direction but rather from all around, with a unique hoarse and lazy tone, both gentle yet ruthless.
"Mephisto, you killed him."
"I didn't want to."
Hawk smiled, taking out a glass, poured Death a bourbon, and pushed it in front of her: "But Old Mo, I gave him countless chances, yet he just kept avoiding them, like he had an automatic dodging system."
One sentence.
Anyone else, he might have made a mistake killing them.
But Mephisto!
Hawk could pat his chest and say he had done everything rightful by Mephisto.
Everyone knew.
He would always leave a lifeline for anyone, but for Mephisto, he left not just one, but forty-nine lifelines.
Yet Mephisto was determined to walk a dead end.
What else could he do?
If he didn't kill Mephisto, it really wouldn't have made sense.
As Mephisto's superior, Death naturally knew Mephisto's character well.
In fact, she knew perfectly well that this Hell Dimension came from the Multiverse.
Death's skull face smiled elegantly.
"Mephisto is indeed a unique Lord of Death."
"I think so too."
Hawk nodded in agreement and raised his glass towards Death: "If it were possible, I wouldn't want to kill him either."
After all, leaving aside the fact that Mephisto is inherently rebellious, to be honest, he genuinely enjoyed spending time with Mephisto in this tavern, listening to him call him 'Good Daddy' and 'Good Brother'.
Unfortunately...
With the passage of time, in this Hell Tavern, no one calls him 'Good Daddy' or 'Good Brother' anymore.
This is also the reason Hawk has always been reluctant to deal with the Hell Dimension.
Maybe, perhaps, he really can't bear Mephisto's departure.
With a clink.
Hawk clinked glasses with Death, and both took a sip of their drinks.
In the next second.
Hawk looked at Death, who had put down his glass, glanced at Natasha who was silently sitting to the side, and said to Death: "I haven't been fighting you for souls, you should be able to see that her soul was booked by me long ago."
Death rested his chin on one hand, lazily glanced sideways at Natasha.
Swoosh!
In the depths of Natasha's soul, a Phoenix lay quietly in the flames, seemingly awaiting rebirth.
And projecting that Phoenix was a golden Phoenix feather hidden deep within Natasha's soul!
The Phoenix is immortal, merely undergoing Nirvana.
Once his Phoenix Cosmos is completely projected into this cosmos, anyone, any life, possessing his golden Phoenix feather, will undergo Nirvana and be reborn in flames after death.
Death merely glanced at it and then withdrew his gaze, looking back at Hawk, his voice lazy with a hint of coldness.
"Your Divine Authority precedes mine, so, yes, her soul does not belong to me, but similarly, the Soul Gemstone won't appear."
"No."
Natasha instinctively interrupted: "Take my soul, give me the Soul Gemstone."
Death didn't even look at Natasha. After her words, he rested his chin on his hand and smiled silently at Hawk.
As if to say.
"See, your follower doesn't appreciate it."
"She's not my follower, she's my friend."
Hawk corrected Death's assumption, then shifted the conversation: "I'm curious, what is the motive of the Thanos in this universe to eliminate half of all life? For you, to stop the Celestial God Team, or does he truly believe the universe needs balance."
Death continued resting his chin on his hand, his empty eyes staring at Hawk: "The Celestial God Team, toys created by the Eternal?"
Here,
Death seemed to recall something, the corner of his mouth curved up into an attractive smile: "It seems in your universe, Thanos acted to stop the Celestial God Team."
Hawk and Death's empty eyes locked.
"The Thanos in my universe said you and Eternal were both banished by the Celestial God Team from that universe."
"Haha!"
Hearing this, Death chuckled.
Laughter...
Cold yet with a hint of seduction, penetrating directly to the soul, capable of stirring the soul.
Hawk didn't laugh.
Still, that saying.
A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets.
So when Hawk heard Thanos's final words, and learned that the Celestial God Team had driven out Eternal and Death, although shocked, he didn't take Thanos's last words as absolute truth.
"Eternal is the concrete manifestation of the totality of time across the Multiverse."
"I am the concrete manifestation of the totality of life across the Multiverse."
"So…"
"The fact that your universe rumors I and Eternal were banished by the Celestial God Team can only mean one thing."
Death's voice was cold and lazy, his eyes empty as he looked at Hawk, took a sip from his cup, and then smiled: "Your universe lacks presence, to the point that even when I and Eternal's projections disappear, it's not worth watching."
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
Listening to Death's explanation, he felt an urge to argue.
But…
Hawk had to admit.
Compared to Thanos's final explanation, the one from Death himself was more reasonable.
"Besides…"
"The Celestial God Team wanting to propagate, it's quite normal."
"Most importantly, the Celestial God Team propagating in some Multiverses is also with Eternal's tacit approval, after all, instead of leaving it for that perpetually hungry guy to devour, it's better to leave it to the Celestial God Team."
"..."
The perpetually hungry guy?
Devourer?
Indeed.
Compared to the other four Creator Gods, the Devourer, also a Creator God, is somewhat like a relic of the previous dynasty.
So…
Hawk stroked his chin: "Did the Celestial God Griss from my universe come here after I beat him up?"
Death smiled and said: "When a child gets beaten up outside, they surely would come home to their parents."
Hawk listened to Death's words and again locked eyes with Death.
In the next second.
He broke into a bright smile.
"I like the plot where the son's killed and the father comes, then the father's killed and the grandfather comes."
"So do I."
Death heard this, continued to rest his chin on his hand, and smiled at Hawk: "Well, Eternal's nowhere to be found, I can't find him to mold a few Celestial Gods as my slaves, can you kill some and gift them to me?"
Hawk beamed.
"Sure, give the Soul Gemstone to my friend, and I'll send a team of Celestial Gods down as your toys?"
"..."