Pitch-black sky.
Vast, endless sea.
Pale-faced, lips blue, struggling in the increasingly turbulent waters to keep himself from sinking to the bottom of the sea, while paddling with both hands, eyes filled with despair, continuously muttering, voice trembling.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name..."
"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..."
"May your glory shine like the morning light, illuminating..."
Hawk, with one hand in his pocket, stood on the deck, his gaze lowered, watching the stopwatch on his wrist ticking away.
Then—
He raised his head, looked at Dr. Merick in the water, and smiled slightly.
"Time's up!"
"No, no, no."
In the water, Dr. Merick listened to Hawk's calm words and saw the equally calm expression on Hawk's face, instantly panicking, frantically reciting his prayers for God's protection.
Even when Hawk used telekinesis to lift him out of the water, and even when his neck was in Hawk's grasp, his prayers quickened visibly, desperately hoping for God to appear and protect him.
Result!
Nothing happened.
Hawk lifted his gaze, glanced at the starless night sky, then turned his focus back to the still-praying Merick: "Stop reciting, your God isn't coming."
He wasn't particularly disappointed by it.
If He doesn't come, then He doesn't come.
It's God's loss, not Hawk's; When Hawk reaches the Heaven Dimension, God will know.
But Dr. Merick was completely in despair.
"No way."
"No way."
"God won't abandon me; I'm God's most devout follower."
"I've bled for God; I've been imprisoned for God."
Dr. Merick looked at Hawk with increasing intensity: "God won't abandon me. Wait, it must be the wind too strong, the water too cold, causing my prayers not to be received by God. Yes, that's it, let me go, let me go, when I return to land, I will surely pray for God's forgiveness for you."
Hawk looked at Merick, who was in his grasp, seeing the transformation from despair to fervent self-consolation, even claiming that he would ask God for forgiveness on Hawk's behalf, and his mouth twitched instinctively.
Dr. Merick's expression was fervent.
"I am the new Noah, believe me, only I can lead humanity to survive in this war between angels and demons."
"Noah?"
"Yes, I am..."
"I think you look like a fool."
Hawk interrupted directly, looking at Dr. Merick, who he held, frowned: "I'm now even suspecting you're not a believer of God at all, just a fraud impersonating under God's name."
Merick clutched Hawk's arms, shouting furiously.
"No, I am, I am the new Noah, God said it himself."
"Oh, really."
"Otherwise, how could I have the Red Apple granted by God."
"You mean this?"
At those words, Hawk, with a thought, retrieved from the Netherworld the bitten Red Apple to show Merick.
Seeing the Red Apple right in front of him, Merick's eyes lit up, and he reached out to grab it: "It's mine, give it back."
Hawk held the Red Apple again, smiling at Merick: "Tell me how God found you, I promise to let you reunite with the Red Apple."
Merick looked at Hawk with a suspicious expression?
"Really?"
"I never lie."
Hawk's tone was calm as he met Merick's suspicious gaze, then released his grip on Dr. Merick's neck, stepped back, leaned against the railing, basking in the sea breeze, smiling as he looked at Dr. Merick: "Finish your story, I promise you'll reunite with your Red Apple."
Sopping wet and somewhat shivering from cold, Merick slumped on the deck, looking at Hawk.
"Swear to God."
"Okay."
"I swear to God, so long as you tell me the truth, I promise, I will let you reunite with your Red Apple, if I lie, let me be barred from Heaven and be captured by God after I die."
With no change in expression, Hawk raised his hand and swore to God, then put down his hand, signaling Merick with his eyes.
"Your turn, Doctor, speak."
"It starts when I was invited to help S.H.I.E.L.D solve a case."
Dr. Merick, seeing Hawk had sworn, also put down his guard, and after a moment of silence, began recounting his entire process regarding his encounter with God.
The story was terribly long.
To put it simply, as a global expert in the biological field, Dr. Merick naturally collaborated with S.H.I.E.L.D.
And during one such collaboration, Dr. Merick went to S.H.I.E.L.D's sandbox warehouse, a place storing the peculiar artifacts collected or confiscated worldwide by S.H.I.E.L.D, to identify a certain gooey substance that seemed to have its own life.
This identification lasted a month, and because Dr. Merick had collaborated several times with S.H.I.E.L.D, recognized as acquaintances, he received some special treatment, such as being allowed to browse the various peculiar artifacts stored in the warehouse during breaks.
Including mirrors that bleed, talking combs, and a talking reindeer head.
The Red Apple was something he saw during one such browse.
Then he became obsessed.