Hawk returned to New York City.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent discreetly left Palm Street No. 521A after receiving the signal.
Digging in the backyard garden, Gwen suddenly saw darkness, and then felt warm hands cover her eyes.
The next second.
A deep, bubbly voice sounded.
"Guess who I am."
"Mojo Jojo?"
"Mojo Jojo... Who's that?"
"A lunatic who wants to dominate the world."
"Oh, that's not me, guess again."
"Dr. Duken?"
"Du... Who's that?"
"A scientist with blue skin in a blue robe, obsessed with world domination."
Gwen shrugged, playing along with her fiancé who covered her eyes.
Standing behind, Hawk twitched his mouth.
"So, in your mind, I'm just a villain seeking to conquer or dominate the world?"
"Mojo Jojo is from 'The Powerpuff Girls'; Dr. Duken is from 'Kim Possible.'"
Gwen turned around with a smile, looking at Hawk behind her: "Mojo Jojo might want to rule the world, but he's not inherently bad; he just wants to catch Doctor Doom's attention. Dr. Duken is just too radical in thought. But my Hawk isn't inherently bad nor radical, right?"
Hawk looked at Gwen with her speaking emerald eyes and shook his head.
"You're just trying to cheer me up."
"Yes."
Gwen smiled, removed her gloves, hugged Hawk's neck, kissed him, and then asked: "Are you happy now?"
Hawk looked up, pondered for a moment, and then looked at Gwen.
"I'm happy."
"Then I'm happy too."
Gwen beamed brightly, kissed Hawk again, and felt Hawk's hand moving upward on her body. She passed the small shovel to Hawk: "Help me with this."
Looking down at the shovel in his hand, Hawk blinked at Gwen's meaningful gaze, chuckled, shook his head, crouched down, and helped Gwen dig the unfinished pit.
Gwen, wearing her gloves again, sat on a small stool beside, cleaning the flowers and plants shipped from her grandfather William.
"Dr. Merrick might have escaped, but don't worry, Hawk, you may fail countless times, but he'll fail once and you'll catch him."
"Dr. Merrick is handled."
"And the cloning..."
"Also handled."
"Uh..."
Gwen knew it was Hawk when he covered her eyes and realized he wasn't in a good mood.
If Hawk was feeling fine or normal, he wouldn't play such games.
She guessed it might be related to the trouble with Dr. Merrick, so she cooperated with Hawk.
In the end...
Curious, Gwen looked at Hawk digging a flower pit beside her: "Then what's the reason?"
Hawk shrugged and looked at Gwen.
"Alexander Pierce, I really want to grind him to dust."
"Alexandr..."
Gwen blinked, then understood.
"Isn't he already dead?"
"Yes, his soul is suffering in the Frozen Nether Prison, where this time Merrick is also tormented, and their punishment will be eternal."
"Then you..."
"I gave Alexander Pierce another chance to tell me where Anna is imprisoned by him, after all, Hydra's plan to clone me and kill me to conquer the world has already failed. Do you know how he answered?"
"He refused you."
Gwen laughed, looking at Hawk: "If he agreed, you wouldn't be like this. But why?"
Hawk furrowed his brow.
"I guess it might relate to Strucker."
"Strucker?"
"Wolfgang von Strucker, just last time when I went to Sokovia, the place was empty, an old-school Hydra."
"Reason?"
"Strucker probably has another plan against me, and Anna is likely with Strucker, which is why Alexander Pierce didn't say anything, obviously still harboring hope."
"He is willing to die for Hydra, understandable."
Gwen analyzed calmly: "Yet another plan? Didn't you suspect Merrick and this Strucker were in cahoots before, did Merrick say anything?"
Hawk snorted: "No, Merrick said he was just a fooled idiot with a mushy brain. I swear to God, as long as he tells me everything, I'll let him go, and he believed it. Didn't he know God had already provoked me?"
Even if he didn't use words to confuse Merrick, Merrick wouldn't survive.
God?
Come on, Merrick's God had chosen to antagonize him, he wished God would appear before him after breaking his vow.
"But during the final confession, I asked Merrick if he knew where Strucker was, he said he didn't know. Clearly, they didn't collaborate."
"Maybe he lied to you."
"He's dumb. I casually promised, and he believed it. Trust me, he's not that smart."
"True."
Gwen looked at Hawk, who was confident, thought about it, and nodded in agreement.
Anyway, for her, if someone approached and said revealing everything meant she wouldn't die, she wouldn't believe a single punctuation mark.
"So you suspect Strucker has another plan against you?"
"This is the only explanation."
Hawk grasped the shovel in his right hand, shrugged, and said to Gwen, "Anna might even be in Strucker's hands. That's the only reason why even after Alexander Pierce saw Merrick, he still chose not to disclose anything."
Gwen's brows furrowed deeply.
"Is Strucker over there also trying to clone you?"
"No way."
"Are you sure?"
"I initially suspected that too, which is why I confirmed with Merrick. The core of Merrick's cloning technology is only with him. Even the clone he made to confuse S.H.I.E.L.D didn't grasp it."
That's why he intended for that Merrick clone to help clone his sister Anna's body, which triggered his Sixth Sense.
Let's put it this way.
If that Merrick clone really cloned his sister, what they'd get wouldn't be a perfect body. They wouldn't even get a body, just a mass of rotten flesh that looks perfect from afar but bursts upon touch.
So...
"Strucker won't be cloning; it must be something else."
"Something else? What else could he do with your blood?"
Seated on a small stool, Gwen furrowed her brow, "Using your blood to extract your DNA, then craft a bomb suited to your DNA?"
Hawk shook his head.
"I'm immune to all toxins, darling."
"Darling, I'm talking about a DNA bomb — finding the flaws in your DNA, then crafting a biological weapon, not a virus."
"That's still impossible."
Hawk shook his head and looked at Gwen.
"Even if I stood at the center of a nuclear explosion, a nuke would do nothing to me, and nuclear radiation wouldn't give me a cold. Do you think something they've concocted like a biological DNA bomb could be more powerful than nuclear radiation?"
"That would certainly be impossible. No biological weapon could match the devastation of nuclear radiation on human DNA."
Gwen said this while sitting on the stool, thinking about what Hydra could do with Hawk's blood.
But other than cloning and biological weapons, she couldn't think of anything else.
Of course.
She did think of other things — like the simplest one: framing.
They could fake a crime scene, leave Hawk's blood there, and have him become globally wanted, isolated, and helpless.
But...
This method might work on others, but it's the least effective on Hawk.
The reason is simple.
Hawk truly dares to kill.
So, this method might work on Iron Man or Captain America and Natasha, but it's useless on Hawk.
Gwen pondered it over and ultimately shook her head.
"I really can't figure out what else they could do with your blood aside from those two things."
"If you can't figure it out, then don't bother."
Hawk saw Gwen's troubled expression and laughed, "Do you know why I really want to crush Alexander Pierce's soul but haven't done it yet?"
Facing the smile on Hawk's face, Gwen chuckled, "You want to catch Strucker and see Alexander Pierce's expression when he meets Strucker."
Otherwise, why would Hawk, who clearly wants to crush Alexander Pierce's soul, not have done it yet?
It couldn't possibly be love.
Hawk's smile was radiant.
"That's why Dr. Merrick's cloning plan poses no threat to me."
"And the fact has proven this true."
"The same goes for Strucker."
"No matter what he's planning."
"Just like when I went to Sokovia, met with him via projection, and I told Strucker."
"He better hide forever and pray I'll never find him."
"Otherwise..."
"His death will be miserable."
Hawk is just angry that his good friend Anna hasn't been heard from, not because of Strucker.
Even though Strucker still has the Scepter of the Mind that he wants.
But…
He's not in a hurry.
Even if he wanted the Scepter of the Mind, he wouldn't show it.
Plans succeed when kept secret!
Words spoken let defeat prevail!
He mistakenly took Alexander Pierce for Anna and revealed the Scepter of the Mind, leading Strucker to disappear with it.
The same trick doesn't work on the Saint Warriors.
Because —
The Saint Warriors never make the same mistake twice.
"I believe in you."
Gwen looked at the serious expression on Hawk, watched for a moment, then smiled slightly, "Okay, let's wait for this pest hidden in the soil to come out on its own. Do you know what you should do now?"
Upon hearing this, Hawk's eyes lit up.
"Sleep?"
"No, you should take off that S.H.I.E.L.D. T-shirt. We should visit mom and dad."
"We brought gifts back, remember?"
"..."