Gwen looked at Sharon's grave expression. As Sharon mentioned again the swapped-out cloning specialist, Dr. Merrick, a dreadful thought flashed through Gwen's mind.
Just as the shock set in—
Tony Stark's voice cut in, interrupting her and confirming the very guess that had burst into her head.
"Yikes."
"Cloning Hawk."
"But they don't have—"
Gwen sucked in a breath, turning to Tony as he approached. She was about to deny the terrifying idea when her words stuck.
She'd been about to say HYDRA didn't even have Hawk's DNA—so how could they clone him?
But then she remembered that time she accompanied Hawk when he sold his blood.
That was before Hawk went after the Hulk for payback.
She remembered it crystal clear.
And the buyer back then had been Anna.
Which meant…
Gwen snapped to, glancing at Hawk.
"Anna…"
"She wouldn't lie to me."
Hawk's mind had already returned—right when Tony said HYDRA appeared to be cloning him.
After he answered, he sighed inwardly.
Not because of the cloning.
Because he realized he couldn't get back to that depth of the Seventh Sense again.
But…
Forget it.
No rushing the heavens.
Let it flow.
If gained, fortune; if missed, fate. He still had the Mind Stone as a backstop. The Seventh Sense was a matter of sooner or later.
With that, Hawk stood, smiled at Gwen, and said, "If Anna had tricked me, do you think Alexander Pierce would really have chosen death rather than give up her location?"
Gwen arched a brow.
Hawk said no more. He turned to the big screen with the files J.A.R.V.I.S. had salvaged, and with a flicker appeared right in front of it.
Sharon shot Gwen a quick look. "This Anna had a sample of Hawk's blood?"
"Yeah."
Gwen nodded, glanced at Hawk studying the screen, and added quietly, "Hawk once made a deal—his blood for Anna."
Sharon and Tony exchanged a look.
So that was it.
After restoring this suspected "Clone Hawk" dataset, they'd been puzzling over how HYDRA got Hawk's DNA in the first place.
It wasn't like some janitor in disguise nabbed the trash from 521A Palm Street and fished out used—well—never mind.
More importantly, the timelines didn't match.
From what Tony's recovery showed, HYDRA seemed to have started evaluating the feasibility of cloning Hawk well before Hawk ever moved to Palm Street.
Now Gwen's explanation clicked everything into place.
And then—
the three of them turned in unison toward Hawk.
He had already skimmed all the files J.A.R.V.I.S. had managed to reconstruct.
Yes.
HYDRA really was trying to clone him.
Hawk wasn't surprised.
He'd already heard from Gwen that HYDRA's push had been triggered by Merrick's swap, and he knew the clone specialist he'd been hunting had been replaced by HYDRA.
So, when he thought about Pierce's silence unto death, and remembered Strucker in Sokovia saying, "No one in this world is immortal—not even you," a likely answer had already formed.
Now it was simply confirmed.
It also explained why Alexander Pierce had chosen to antagonize him rather than keep on good terms.
Cloning.
After abducting Dr. Merrick, HYDRA intended to clone Hawk—a version they owned and controlled—to replace the real Hawk, who, however civil with them, remained friendly with S.H.I.E.L.D.
It was the one act that, once discovered, would enrage him utterly—and doom HYDRA completely.
After all, Hawk had stated it himself: you can use my blood for anything—just don't clone me.
Hence Pierce's death-before-disclosure.
Even now, in the Frozen Wastes of the Underworld, dying and reviving without end, he hadn't begged for mercy.
Only…
All of this had been HYDRA's own bright idea.
Hawk?
Again—
When he sold the blood, he'd already considered that HYDRA might try every weird trick imaginable with it.
Cloning included.
HYDRA weren't "good men." You don't prep that many meteorites and pack that many "gifts" without aiming high.
But!
Hawk didn't actually care. Telling Anna "don't use my blood for cloning" had been more of a casual warning—a light rap across HYDRA's knuckles.
Between the lines: if you're going to clone, do it quietly. Just don't let me find out.
And yet…
HYDRA seemed to have read him wrong.
Which—
Hawk's thoughts turned; he chuckled softly, then shook his head and pivoted back.
The next second,
he faced three looks: one tense, one worried, one curious.
Hawk raised a brow at tense-faced Gwen and stepped up to her.
"What's wrong?"
"…Hawk, are you okay?"
Gwen blinked and spoke carefully when she saw nothing in his expression had changed.
This was cloning.
No wonder Pierce had died rather than talk.
If silence meant death, and speaking meant a worse death—why speak?
Hawk smiled at her concern. "Don't stress. It's just cloning. When Pierce chose silence, I already suspected."
"You figured it out early?" Gwen asked.
Hawk rubbed his chin with his good right hand. "It was only a hunch back then. Now it's proven. Why else switch out Dr. Merrick except for the cloning tech he controls?"
Cloning tech isn't rare.
In a Marvel world of black-ops science, cloning is high-end—not top-tier.
But messing with life is the scientific taboo.
Plenty of scientists tried. They could clone animals well enough, but when they tried people, they got heaps of meat.
Merrick was different.
Put simply:
he's the only one so far to clone a human and have the clone possess consciousness.
Science has no neat explanation.
Call it metaphysics: Merrick seems able to grant those clones a soul.
That's why S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't chase other cloners. They chased him.
Sharon, seeing Hawk calm in voice and face, still couldn't help asking, "Hawk, HYDRA is cloning you. You're not angry?"
"Look at my left arm."
"What?"
Sharon glanced at his sling by reflex.
"If I were angry," Hawk said with a smile, "I'd have ditched the cast already."
She blinked.
Fair point.
If he were truly furious, he wouldn't be standing here. He'd be—well—not here.
Tony, on the other hand, had a different concern. "If HYDRA really does clone you, then your clone's combat power…"
"You're asking whether he'd be stronger than me."
"Yes."
"Remember my Cloth?"
Tony nodded.
"You asked me this last night in other words—whether HYDRA's copycat suit could stack up to my Cloth."
Tony frowned. "What if it's your clone wearing that copy?"
Hawk laughed.
Then—
a phoenix cry rang.
In an instant, a vast, vivid, impossibly real fire-phoenix flared to life behind him.
Between its sweeping wings, a rootless cosmos seemed to gather—immense, crystalline, spangled with stars.
"This is the true source of my power.
"My blood descendants can inherit what's mine.
"But a clone?"
"Fake is fake. You can copy my face, but you cannot copy the source of my strength."
Cloning him to get what he bled for?
What a Greek joke.
Same reason no one will ever perfectly replicate his Cloth.
Because the key to a Cloth is the Saint.
Likewise—
the key to a Saint is the microcosmos.
So…
Even if HYDRA could clone him, what then—clone the microcosmos, too?
Even if they could—
They can't.
Not a chance.
Zero.
In short:
if HYDRA could mass-produce cloned microcosmos, would they still be skulking on Earth, losing two uprisings in a row?
If they had that tech, they'd have conquered the cosmos already.
…
(End of Chapter)
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