The massive pink brain twitched wildly in the slime, all its tendrils recoiling, forming a meatball in a state of ultimate shock.
"It should have been this way sooner," Hawk's tone was aloof, as if destroying a top-tier war machine was merely brushing dust off his coat. "Hand over all the alien technology data you possess, including but not limited to energy weaponry, bio-chemical engineering, Mech structure, dimensional travel principles... everything of value. Don't try to hide anything, and don't play tricks. My assistant will 'verify' the authenticity of your thoughts."
He glanced at Goo Ja-yoon.
Goo Ja-yoon responded by flashing a look that was innocent yet, in Krang's eyes, utterly demonic. Her psionic power, like an icy probe, stabbed at the edge of Krang's scrambled consciousness, delivering a pinprick of sheer deterrence.
Krang was completely broken. He didn't dare harbor even a trace of resentment; only pure, abject survival instinct remained.
"Yes! Yes! I understand! I'll give you everything! Open highest-level access!"
A relatively intact control platform on the Mech's wreckage lit up. Driven by Krang's surviving neural connections and mental commands, an information stream vastly more complex than Earth's technology began cascading across the screens. Simultaneously, a thick data cable, bristling with interfaces, extended from deep within the core chamber, connecting directly to a massive, spare storage server nearby.
The copy progress bar jumped wildly. Goo Ja-yoon closed her eyes, her powerful psychic energy acting as a scanner, simultaneously perceiving the information deep within Krang's consciousness to ensure nothing was missed or fabricated.
Countless precious documents—energy core blueprints, bio-mutation modifications, inter-dimensional space coordinates, and even schematics for what was, to their civilization, a primitive personal portable armor prototype—were continuously plundered like an undefended treasure trove.
The entire process lasted nearly an hour. When the progress bar reached 100% and the server indicator light solidified, Goo Ja-yoon opened her eyes and nodded softly to Hawk.
"Excellent." Hawk watched with satisfaction as Goo Ja-yoon telekinetically lifted the heavy storage drive and floated it toward him. This would be the cornerstone for Lane Technology, and the future Lane Bio-Tech, to maintain an absolute lead for years, perhaps centuries.
He took one last look at the ugly brain of Krang, now slack and trembling in the slime pool.
"You made a wise choice, temporarily saving your... brain." Hawk's voice was devoid of warmth. "However, this ugly toy is an eyesore."
No sooner had he spoken than the golden light in his eyes flashed and vanished again. Two white beams, much thinner than before but with even more concentrated heat, shot out with surgical precision. The target wasn't Krang's main brain, but the deactivated energy core node within the paralyzed Mech's core chamber!
BOOM!!
A dull explosion rocked the chamber. A blinding flash of fire erupted inside the core.
Krang let out a final, short, agonizing shriek.
The core device that encased his brain was utterly reduced to burning scrap metal. Deprived of energy supply and mechanical protection, the vulnerable brain twitched violently in the boiling slime and the aftermath of the blast before falling completely silent, floating amidst the wreckage and ooze, its fate uncertain.
The air was thick with the stench of scorched metal and destruction.
Hawk withdrew his gaze, as if he had merely crushed an annoying insect. He elegantly turned, took the glasses Goo Ja-yoon handed him, and put them on, smiling faintly: "A highly fruitful haul."
The two walked calmly out of the hellish warehouse—a ruin permeated by the smell of death and advanced technology—stepping over the metal fragments and green slime. Behind them, only the occasional gurgle from the slime pool and the gradually cooling remains of Krang broke the silence.
....
New York City.
Loaded with his spoils, Hawk drove his sports car back to New York, dropping Goo Ja-yoon off at home and giving her a few days off.
Night fell. Beneath the Steinway Tower, a cold wind whipped up a few fallen leaves.
Kobayashi Miu and Catherine Miller huddled in an unassuming black sedan, tightly wrapped in light jackets, their eyes fixed on the entrance of the brilliantly lit glass curtain skyscraper across the street—the location of Hawk's penthouse.
"It's been three or four days, and this guy's movements are harder to predict than the financial market's volatility!" Catherine rubbed her hands, complaining softly.
Their plan to approach Hawk disguised as dedicated students had essentially collapsed. The man was hardly a serious student; his move to donate a multimedia classroom in exchange for credits meant they could barely orchestrate a proper "coincidental" encounter. The few limited times they had observed him in class had been interrupted by a constant stream of admirers.
"Patience is a fundamental quality of an agent," Miu's gaze was steady, but her tightly pressed lips betrayed a trace of anxiety. S.H.I.E.L.D. needed every scrap of associated information on Hawk Lane, and time was pressing.
Just as they thought they'd have another fruitless night, a sleek, matte black sports car, its engine a low growl like a beast's roar, silently slid into a reserved parking spot.
"It's him!" Catherine's spirits lifted.
The door lifted like a wing. Hawk Lane's figure appeared in the cold moonlight mixed with the city's neon glow. He wore a perfectly tailored dark cashmere overcoat, his physique commanding. His face showed a hint of fatigue from finishing his business, but it didn't diminish his innate nobility and attraction.
The two agents simultaneously swallowed hard, suppressing certain thoughts. Truly, setting aside his identity, Hawk's appearance was the ideal partner every young woman dreamed of.
Miu and Catherine exchanged a look, decisively pushed open their car doors, and quickly strode forward.
"Senior Hawk!"
"Hawk-san!"
Their clear voices rang out distinctly in the quiet underground parking garage.
Hawk's steps paused. He looked up toward the sound.
Two familiar figures came into view: the cool, elegantly intellectual "Aloof Academic," Kobayashi Miu, and the vibrant, boldly dressed "Athletic Sweetheart," Catherine Miller.
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