After seeing Natasha and Steve off, Hawk had already returned to Zola's machine room.
He hadn't heard what the two of them were discussing.
If he had, he would definitely have stated that the Impact crater, which was even larger than the Victoria crater discovered on Mars' Meridiani Planum, was formed when he punched Thor, sending him crashing into the surface of Mars.
Of course.
If Thor had heard it, he would also have stated that Hawk had made it.
As for the truth.
This would likely remain a permanent secret.
Returning to Zola's machine room, Hawk looked at Zola's electronic face on the old computer screen with a playful expression.
"I take back my previous comment, you're not smart. You think this steel plate can stop them, but can it stop me?"
"No, but I have to try."
"You are very brave, Zola."
"You have nothing to threaten me with, Mr. Phoenix."
"Indeed."
Listening to Zola's electronic voice, Hawk nodded in agreement: "You have no family, no descendants, so I can't use them to teach you a lesson. And you're an electronic being, an outdated one at that, who only knows logic, with no emotions whatsoever. Even though you know I'm about to pull your plug, you don't feel any fear."
It must be said that Dr. Zola was indeed a genius.
In 1972, he was able to transform himself into an electronic life form that, while not advanced at the time, sounded very sci-fi.
Unfortunately.
The era also had its limitations.
For example, Dr. Zola might be able to access any part of the internet through the network here, but his physical body could only remain here, unable to be omnipresent wherever there was a network, like other AIs.
Therefore, destroying Dr. Zola was also very easy; simply blowing up the servers here would suffice.
If the servers here were blown up, Zola would be completely dead, with no possibility of escaping through the network (the movie mentioned that the servers here were Zola's physical body; if the servers here were blown up, Zola would be completely dead).
However…
Before pulling Zola's plug, Hawk looked at Dr. Zola with some curiosity and asked the question that had been bothering him on the way here: "I'm very curious, logically speaking, with your computational abilities, you should know the price you'd pay for offending me. The question is, facing a 100% certainty of offending me, you still did it. Why?"
Dr. Zola did not hesitate.
"My calculations were wrong."
"What?"
Hawk raised an eyebrow, looking at Dr. Zola after hearing his answer.
"Calculations were wrong?"
"Yes, according to calculations, you shouldn't have returned to New York City so quickly."
On Dr. Zola's monitor, information streamed like a waterfall: "According to my previous calculations, I predicted that if your friend Peter went missing, you would definitely go to rescue him, and you did. But I didn't calculate that you would return so quickly."
Hearing this, Hawk quickly reached out: "Wait, are you saying that Peter and Felicia's disappearance was your doing?"
Dr. Zola did not deny it.
"Yes, I sent people to attack their offshore experimental Base."
"So you intended to draw me out of New York City before this?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because of the Insight algorithm."
"You mean the algorithm you used to calculate, through big data, that certain individuals in the future would become stumbling blocks on HYDRA's path to success, and who could be eliminated through early intervention?"
"Yes."
"So I would become your stumbling block?"
Hawk immediately chuckled, looking at Dr. Zola: "There must be something seriously wrong with your algorithm. If I didn't like HYDRA, I wouldn't have befriended Anna. If you hadn't tested me this time, I would have just stayed at home, watching to see if you could win against S.H.I.E.L.D. this time."
Dr. Zola's electronic voice remained calm: "Because you are too close to Sharon Carter. According to the Insight algorithm, the longer you interact with Sharon Carter and Maria Hill, the lower our chances of success in the future."
Hawk chuckled.
"Just because of that?"
"Yes."
"And now, is this the result you wanted?"
"When you first returned to New York City, according to the algorithm, HYDRA's chance of success dropped to ten percent. But after you sent Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff away, the success rate returned to sixty percent."
"...Is that so?"
Hawk rubbed his chin: "How did you get that success rate?"
Dr. Zola still did not hide anything.
"When you first returned to New York City, according to the algorithm, there was a ninety percent chance that you would act against us, and even disrupt our current plan."
"But just now, you sent Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff to New York City, not directly to New York S.H.I.E.L.D. At that moment, according to the algorithm, there is a ninety percent chance that after you eliminate me, you will not disrupt our Washington operation."
"Is that correct?"
Dr. Zola even specifically asked Hawk at the end.
Hawk smiled.
"Your algorithm certainly has something to it."
"Thank you."
"So you deliberately blockaded this place just now to verify whether I would disrupt your Insight Mothership plan in Washington?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
Hawk shook his head and chuckled, then looked at Zola with some curiosity: "You knew Alexander Pierce betrayed you, yet you still support Alexander Pierce so much?"
Zola's voice was calm.
"For HYDRA to be great again."
"Fine!"
Listening to Dr. Zola's answer, Hawk lost interest in further conversation and decided to pull Dr. Zola's plug, then go home to have a late-night snack with Gwen.
He had already gotten the answer he wanted.
Zola's algorithm had predicted that as he interacted more with Sharon Carter and Maria Hill, his heart would gradually lean towards S.H.I.E.L.D., so it chose to move him out of New York City and then initiated the second phase of their plan.
The result was a miscalculation; it didn't expect him to return so quickly.
But the Zola before him was not the real Zola after all, so even after realizing that Alexander Pierce had betrayed him, he still chose to obey his primary directive: Make HYDRA great again.
As Hawk thought, he scanned Zola's 'physical body' once, then his gaze finally settled on Zola on the computer screen, asking one last question.
"I'm very curious, are you a program, or are you truly Arnim Zola from 1972?"
"I am Arnim Zola, but Arnim Zola is not me."
"Understood."
Hawk nodded thoughtfully, his eyes beginning to glow crimson, intending to completely shut down Zola.
Just then.
He seemed to sense something, looking up, his gaze piercing through the ceiling above him, landing on a short-range ballistic missile rapidly approaching from tens of thousands of feet in the sky.
Hawk chuckled, looking at Zola.
"Is this your last resort, trying to see if you can take me with you?"
"No."
As the short-range ballistic missile roared in, Zola's electronic face on the computer screen, which had begun to show static, seemed to curl into a strange smile.
"That's not to try and take you, but to eliminate me."
"Hail HYDRA!"
Accompanying Zola's final, somewhat sharp and even cracked 'Hail HYDRA!', the short-range ballistic missile heading straight for this location also crashed down.
Boom!
The moment the brilliant fire appeared, the electronic Zola went completely offline, and just as the flames were about to engulf Hawk, who stood rooted to the spot, Hawk's figure also vanished from the machine room.
The ground shook, and fierce flames, like a flood, rapidly consumed the entire machine room. Simultaneously, a violent explosion instantly shattered the military supply warehouse used for camouflage on the surface.
Flames dozens of meters high erupted from the center of the explosion, illuminating nearly half of the military Base.
The Impact wave formed by the explosion swept across the ground like an invisible giant hand. The surfaces of the concrete guard post foundations, which had stood strong for an unknown number of years, suddenly became covered in spiderweb-like cracks, then collapsed and disintegrated with a dull roar.
Hawk appeared silently above the explosion, looking at the flaming crater that had completely erased the ground. In his mind, he recalled Dr. Zola's last words before going offline.
That's not to try and see if it can take you, but to eliminate me.
So…
Is this an internal conflict within the organization?
Or…
To silence Zola?
Hawk pondered.
Just then.
Hawk snapped back to attention, glanced at the police cars rapidly approaching from nearby, their警灯 flashing, took a deep breath, then turned and transformed into a rainbow light, quickly soaring towards his home at 521A Palm Street.
Thump!
Gwen, who had already prepared late-night snacks at home, heard the commotion in the backyard, walked out from the kitchen, poked her head out, and looked at Hawk as he pushed open the French windows and entered from the backyard. She smiled and said, "You're back. Perfect, the late-night snack is ready. Let's eat."
Hawk smiled in response and walked into the kitchen.
Just as he was about to grab some fries from the plate, Gwen quickly spoke up.
"Hey, wash your hands."
"Alright."
Hawk, ever compliant, shrugged and walked towards the sink, simultaneously taking out his phone, which had just made a sound.
It was a video sent by Anna.
Hawk opened it.
What he saw.
It was currently one o'clock in the afternoon in the island nation, a beautiful sunny day, and the toilet, hailed as the spiritual pillar of the island nation, was now engulfed in towering flames.
Hawk watched the very 'fiery' video, a slight smile playing on his lips, and put his phone back into his pocket with satisfaction.
But…
Just as he turned on the faucet, preparing to wash his hands, he suddenly froze, as if an electric current had passed through his brain.
The island nation's time is thirteen hours ahead of New York's.
…
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