...
Hawk stepped out of the swirling dust, shirtless, with heat rising from his skin like his blood was boiling. He showed no emotion as he stared across the wrecked base at the Sentinel.
The machine's blue sensors focused on him as its systems quickly reassessed the threat. Now, it judged Hawk as dangerous instead of dangerous.
The Sentinel lowered its head and held out its right hand for Hawk to see. It slowly closed its huge hand into a fist. Air trapped inside its palm compressed and then burst with a loud crack.
Hawk grinned at the obvious challenge.
"What's it doing?" Jean asked, her eyebrows drawing together.
"It's taunting your father," Wanda said, taking on her usual role as combat commentator. "It copied a mutant ability like reactive evolution. After adjusting to your father's strength, it gained enough power to go beyond what he's using now."
Jean pressed her lips together and watched Hawk with growing concern.
The Sentinel moved again. Its clenched fist opened, letting out the compressed air. Invisible blades of wind spun through the night, cutting across the base as they closed in on Hawk.
"You're built tough," Hawk said, making no effort to dodge.
"Good thing I am too."
The air blades hit his bare chest with a quick series of metallic clangs. None of them broke his skin.
"MUTANT. DIE," the Sentinel said, its mechanical voice cold and certain, focused only on its purpose.
The sixteen-foot machine slammed one foot into the ground, breaking the concrete. Its huge frame leaned back as it pulled its right arm behind and then threw a punch at Hawk.
Right before the metal fist reached him, the muscles in Hawk's back tensed and came to life.
His spine straightened, like a dragon waking up. Layers of muscle formed ridges across his back, looking like scales, while a new power, different from his Phoenix Cosmo, surged from deep inside him. It had always been there, hidden, waiting for him to use it again.
Instead of moving away from the Sentinel's fist, Hawk stepped right into its path. His left foot hit the ground hard, breaking the concrete and sending cracks outward. He drew strength from the ground and twisted his hips and shoulders in one smooth motion.
A dragon's roar filled the air.
Purple energy flowed from Hawk's back and spiraled upward, wrapping around him like a dragon rising into the sky.
"Rise to the sky—Divine Dragon!" Hawk yelled, thrusting his right hand toward the sky.
The purple aura exploded. A huge dragon rose from Hawk, its eyes shining as it shot into the clouds. Thunder echoed over Quantico, and the night sky turned violet in its glow.
"A dragon?" Jean stared as the creature circled through the purple clouds and came down toward Hawk with another loud roar. "Wait, isn't Dad supposed to be a Phoenix? Where did the dragon come from?"
"According to your father, the dragon stands for the path that led him here," Wanda said with a knowing smile. "He'll never let it go."
The Phoenix chose Hawk early on, and he returned that trust by making it the core of his Cosmo. After picking the Phoenix as his main constellation, he left the others behind.
The Dragon was the sole exception.
Hawk never gave up the dragon's power. It wasn't because of greed or indecision—the dragon stood for his heritage, and no matter how strong the Phoenix got, he never forgot his roots.
More importantly, Hawk's strongest finishing move was never the Phoenix's Hōyoku Tenshō.
It had always belonged to the Dragon.
Its name began with—
"Rozan—"
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The Heavenly Dragon descended from the clouds and poured into Hawk's extended right hand, gathering there as his fingers closed into a fist.
He punched.
The dragon merged with the shadow of his fist until they were one. Power and speed pressed the air ahead of the punch, forming a deep-violet glow. Above that light, the head of a dragon appeared, shaped by Hawk's strength and determination. Its whiskers flared, its jaws opened in a silent roar, and it carried the same unstoppable force that could turn back the Great Waterfall of Mount Lu.
"Rozan Shō Ryū Ha!" Hawk thundered.
The Dragon struck the Sentinel's incoming fist head-on.
The machine's adamantium chest burst open from the impact, revealing the delicate circuits inside. Its huge body flew out of Quantico like a missile, crossing the base and crashing into the nearby town.
Of all the places it could have landed, the Sentinel struck the same hotel where Hawk had once spent a night.
Its five-meter frame crushed the building as if it were made of wet cardboard. A huge shock wave burst from the impact—tearing up the ground and smashing nearby buildings.
Soldiers in town and reporters who had slipped past the military cordon were caught off guard. The blast threw them off their feet and sent them flying like rag dolls, scattering them everywhere.
Secondary explosions spread across town as the shock wave moved on. The place had avoided destruction two years ago, but tonight, it finally met its fate.
Back at the base, Hawk stood still with his eyes closed. The purple dragon circled across his bare back, letting out low, rumbling sounds that almost seemed like complaints.
Hawk looked inward and connected with the Dragon power that had always been inside him, calming the part of it that now protested after years of being ignored.
Their relationship was complicated.
In romance, Hawk never saw himself as a cheater, let alone someone who juggled two partners. But with the Phoenix and Dragon powers inside him, he had become just that.
The Phoenix had his body.
The Dragon had always held a place in his heart.
Since Hawk made the Phoenix the base of his Cosmo, he rarely used the Dragon. Partly, he didn't want the Phoenix to get jealous, but mostly, a secret trump card only works if it stays secret.
This setup had clear benefits. None of Hawk's enemies knew about the Dragon power until he used it. But every time he did, the Dragon complained: having Hawk's heart wasn't enough anymore. It wanted his body too.
The Dragon wanted top billing.
Hawk's answer was clear. His Cosmo would stay a Phoenix Cosmo. He wasn't going to turn it into a Dragon Cosmo, a hybrid, or any other strange mix to please every power inside him.
His reasoning made sense. The Phoenix had chosen Hawk from the start. It wasn't just a power source anymore—it was his constant partner.
As for the Dragon, what could he say? It should have made its move before the Phoenix did.
Some might say Hawk awakened the Phoenix constellation first, so the Dragon never got a fair chance. Hawk saw that as someone else's problem. If the Dragon wanted him so much, why didn't it come before the Phoenix sealed the deal?
Faith is faith, and reality is reality. Sometimes it's better to keep them separate.
Those were Hawk's private thoughts. He wasn't about to tell the Dragon any of that.
Instead, he gave it a hopeful promise that its time would come. The purple dragon on his back slowly faded as he sold it the dream, its unhappy roars growing quiet. After one last growl echoed in his heart, Hawk opened his eyes.
Jean finally looked away from the burning town. Her mouth had been open since the attack, and when she closed it, she took a sharp breath.
"Mom, was that Dad's strongest finishing move?" Jean asked.
"No," Wanda answered.
Jean whipped toward her. "What?"
"You've seen the stronger version before," Wanda said with a smile. "At the underwater HYDRA base. That time, he didn't call just one dragon. He called a hundred."
Wanda searched her memory for the name of the technique.
Right—Rozan Hyaku Ryū Ha.
Jean was beginning to remember the battle at the underwater HYDRA base when movement inside the burning town caught her attention. A huge silhouette was slowly rising from the wreckage.
"Holy crap, Mom. Look—it's still alive."
"Barely," Wanda replied.
Hawk shot into the air, breaking the sound barrier. A moment later, he hovered above the burning town, facing the Sentinel as it pulled itself up.
The machine's chest was torn open, with sparks pouring from the exposed circuits. Still, its damaged sensors stayed locked on Hawk as broken data ran through its systems.
[ANALYZING. ANALYSIS MODULE DAMAGED. ANALYZING. SENSOR MODULE DAMAGED—IRREPARABLE. IRREPARABLE. SIMULATING MUTANT REGENERATIVE ABILITY. BEGINNING SIMU—]
Hawk disappeared before the program could finish.
He reappeared right in front of the hole in the Sentinel's chest and thrust his open right hand into the exposed machinery. His fingers closed around an object glowing with ghostly blue light, the closest thing the Sentinel had to a heart, and he ripped it out.
The instant it left the machine's chest, the Sentinel exploded.
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