"Grandpa?"
"The one with the farm in Georgia growing cotton?"
When Hawk heard Gwen say this, a scene appeared in his mind.
A typical old-money American, wearing a cowboy hat, holding a whip that could fold five times, surveying his vast and beautiful cotton fields.
In the cotton fields, white and black mingle together.
The scene was quite beautiful.
Gwen glanced at Hawk, whose expression couldn't help but lift, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Stop imagining. The family doesn't have a farm anymore. The Foxes in Waterfall Town are just as ordinary as can be now."
Hawk heard this, sighed with some regret, and then curiously looked at Gwen.
"Why does Grandpa suddenly want to meet me?"
"What do you think?"
Seeing Hawk's attention shift again, Gwen also sat up from the bed, "We're already engaged, and Grandpa hasn't even met you yet. I was planning to take you to Waterfall Town this summer, but with everything going on with Peter and S.H.I.E.L.D., I never mentioned it. Then Grandpa called, asking if you're scared to meet him."
Hawk blinked, feeling a bit displeased.
"That's not my fault. You never told me. If you said we were going to Waterfall Town, I wouldn't have gone to see Peter."
"Don't worry, I've explained it to Grandpa."
"Oh."
"So during the Christmas holidays, we'll go to Waterfall Town to see Grandpa?" Gwen looked at Hawk, negotiating the time, then added enticingly, "Even though Grandpa doesn't have the farm anymore, he kept many old photos of the Foxes' cotton fields and watermelon patches."
Hawk raised an eyebrow, looking at Gwen, "I'll go, definitely. I'm not interested in photos, but I'm very interested in Grandpa himself. We should go see him and get his blessing."
Gwen nodded, "Alright, it's settled then. Tomorrow I'll call Grandpa and tell him we're visiting for Christmas."
Hawk gave a nod.
"Okay."
"Let's sleep."
"Mm."
Lying again, Hawk was a bit curious about how many old photos Gwen's grandpa actually kept.
Next to him, Gwen, who was already lying quietly, felt Hawk's movements and a hidden smile curved her lips.
The next day.
In the morning.
Feeling like she hadn't slept so well in ages, Gwen opened her eyes and found herself being stared at by Hawk.
Gwen was startled, looking at Hawk floating in mid-air with his left arm hanging there, her lips twitching and she took a deep breath, "New rule: no superpowers allowed in the house."
Hawk stared at Gwen with an accusatory look.
"But you don't follow the rules."
"...When did I not follow the rules?"
"Last night..."
"That was because you didn't remind me."
Hearing this, Gwen feigned composure, preparing to lift the blanket and get out of bed.
Hawk remained unfazed, just floating silently in the air.
Having reached the door ready to leave, Gwen turned to look back at this scene, her lips twitching again.
"Aren't you getting up?"
"No."
"..."
Gwen stood still for a moment, then sighed and turned, speaking with a tone of helplessness, "Fine, then lie back down."
As soon as she said that.
With a thud, Hawk dropped from mid-air, flipping over to lie comfortably on the bed.
An hour...
No.
By afternoon.
Gwen, looking vibrant and beautiful but with a slightly sore back, emerged from the bedroom.
"Wanna go for a walk?"
"...No."
Hawk's tired and weak voice came from the bedroom behind her.
Listening to Hawk's voice, Gwen's lips curled upward again.
She was now certain of one thing.
As long as she wasn't worn out, Hawk definitely would be, especially since she banned him from casually using his superpowers at home.
Hawk lay on the bed, still propping up his left arm, staring blankly at the ceiling.
At this moment.
The phone beside him started ringing.
Hawk remained unmoved.
After a while, the ringing stopped.
The next moment.
The phone rang again from outside before Gwen, who just went downstairs, came back into the bedroom, approached Hawk on the bed, "It's Tony's call."
As she spoke, Gwen put the phone on speaker and held it to Hawk's mouth.
Still looking at the ceiling, Hawk's voice was a bit dry.
"Hello."
"Sss!"
Tony's voice came through the phone: "What's wrong with you? Why do you sound like you're completely drained."
Hawk's voice continued to be ethereal.
"I am indeed being drained..."
"Pa!"
Gwen timely reached out, gently tapping Hawk's mouth, and took over the topic: "Tony, do you need something from Hawk?"
On the other end, Tony's thoughts quickly understood what happened and immediately shifted the topic: "A portion of the system data found in Striated Rock Ghost Town has been restored. We roughly know what Hydra is up to. If you have time, come to New York S.H.I.E.L.D., you'll definitely be interested in what Hydra is doing."
Hawk was unmoved.
Currently in a sage-like state, Hawk's mind was wandering deep in his Little Cosmos, immersed in why his Little Cosmos was so vast, why it was so radiant.
Eventually, it was Gwen who took over the conversation, indicating that they would head over soon.
After all, she was quite interested in what Hydra was secretly doing.
So...
After hanging up the phone, Gwen promptly urged Hawk to get up, and an hour later, Gwen drove Hawk to New York S.H.I.E.L.D. located in Times Square.
As the vehicle entered the disguised underground parking lot, just as it was about to hit the wall, the wall suddenly split open to the sides.
Gwen, already familiar with this, expertly drove the car into the car elevator exposed after the wall split open.
As the wall closed up again, the car elevator began to slowly descend.
Shortly.
The car elevator doors reopened, Gwen drove the car into the spacious underground base, parked, and both she and Hawk got out of the car one after the other.
Sharon Carter, already waiting, greeted them, and led them into the Combat Command Center.
Tony was currently in front of the big screen, moving his hands, and one by one, broken pieces of data found in Hydra's system in Striated Rock Ghost Town and segments of surveillance footage were continuously flashing across the big screen.
Gwen walked in, looked at the full seats filled with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on both sides of the big screen, and whispered to Sharon.
"Wasn't New York S.H.I.E.L.D. supposed to be disbanded?"
"It was disbanded."
"Then..."
"This is no longer New York S.H.I.E.L.D. Combat Command Center, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hub Headquarters, responsible for providing technical and operational support to S.H.I.E.L.D., and the medical center, lab, and tactical center are also under renovation, although not yet completed."
"...Alright."
Gwen listened to Sharon's description, showing a slight surprise on her face but didn't say more, instead looking at Hawk.
Hawk, upon entering, had already found a spot, sat down, and continued to immerse his mind deep into his Little Cosmos.
This was a place he hadn't been to before.
But Hawk's Sixth Sense told him this was the location of the Seventh Sense. If he could illuminate this place, he could could grasp the Seventh Sense.
This was the moment he completely entered a sage state, his incredibly exhausted mind allowed him to sink here, sensing this place.
But...
Just like when he felt the depth of the Sixth Sense, always unable to find a way to illuminate it, he now knew this was the place of the Seventh Sense but didn't know how to illuminate it.
And Hawk felt that he wouldn't stay here long, as soon as time ran out, he'd be kicked out.
There's a saying...
If he hadn't accidentally arrived here, seeing the Seventh Sense would be like a frog looking at the moon from the bottom of a well.
But now he was fortunate to come to the world of the Seventh Sense, seeing the Seventh Sense like a mayfly seeing the blue sky.
He was unwilling to leave here, taking advantage of still being around, trying his best to illuminate this place using the Power of the Little Cosmos.
So...
From the outside, Hawk's eyes looked vacant, appearing to be still in a drained state.
Gwen watched Hawk still in this manner, she began to wonder if she had indeed been too hard on Hawk.
Beside her, Sharon also saw Hawk's vacant look and whispered, "How many times was it drained?"
Gwen heard this and instinctively glanced around to ensure no one noticed, then whispered, "Not many times, just five more than before."
Sharon was momentarily stunned.
"How many times do you usually do?"
"Three times maybe."
"In one night?"
"No, one morning, he insisted."
"Sss!"
Sharon took a deep breath, instantly understanding why Hawk had come in this state: "He really was drained!"
After all, she had seen this state on Thor.
That was the second day Thor settled in New York with Jane, Thor was also like Hawk, eyes blank, seemingly in a trance.
Gwen heard Sharon's lament and quickly changed the topic, "Let Hawk recover slowly, by the way, you said you found evidence in Hydra's base of experiments targeting Hawk?"
Sharon heard, also withdrawing her inner lament, nodded seriously looking at Gwen.
"Gwen, you remember I told you that the reason Hydra launched its struggle was because I discovered the swapping of the cloning expert Dr. Merrick, right?"
"Yes."
Gwen nodded, then seemed to think of something, looking at Sharon.
"Isn't it..."
"Precisely!"
"They are secretly cloning Hawk!"
"..."