Evening!
Stacy's apartment.
"Helen."
"Oh, God!"
After opening the door, Helen looked at Hawk, who had entered with Gwen, and immediately let out a cry of surprise: "Hawk, what happened to you?"
Hawk, his left arm in a cast and sling, said in a relaxed tone, "It's nothing, I just fell when I was changing the curtains."
Helen gasped in surprise again, covering her mouth.
Hawk, on the other hand, felt a sudden sense of guilt under Helen's genuinely concerned gaze.
But…
It was all Gwen's fault.
Hawk glanced out of the corner of his eye at his fiancée, who had entered the room first.
Gwen ignored Hawk's look, her gaze straight ahead: "It's fine, Mom, the Doctor said it's a minor fracture, a month of rest and recuperation will do."
George, hearing the commotion, also came down the stairs from the second floor.
Helen quickly called out to George: "George, come quickly, Hawk is hurt."
George walked over, his gaze falling on the cast and sling on Hawk's left arm.
"What happened?"
"Minor thing."
Hawk was concise, after all, Gwen hadn't told him much, and he didn't know what George and Gwen had discussed.
So!
It was best to say less.
Anyway, he was already playing the role of a silent, inarticulate person.
"Just as I said on the phone, I lost my footing when changing the bedroom curtains and fell, then we immediately went to New Amsterdam Hospital."
Gwen interjected, looking at George: "Otherwise, why do you think Hawk and I ran to the hospital that night, to see the scenery?"
Yes.
When they took Sharon Carter to New Amsterdam Hospital that night, they were seen, or more accurately, they were seen when they were returning from the hospital, and the patrol officer who saw them happened to be from the Twenty-First Precinct, so George knew.
His daughter went to the hospital at night?
That was unacceptable.
George immediately called Gwen to ask about the situation.
Tell the truth?
That was definitely not an option; if George knew that she had faced the infamous HYDRA, and even dodged HYDRA's threats twice, he would definitely go crazy.
Moreover, Commander Victoria Hand and others were still at home at the time; if George came, it would really be impossible to explain.
So, in a flash of lightning, Gwen instantly fabricated a very plausible reason.
Hawk had fractured his left arm, and they went to the hospital for a cast and sling.
This was why Hawk was in this state.
Hawk, hearing Gwen's words at the time, was bewildered and somewhat speechless: "Then why am I the one who's hurt, and not you?"
Gwen's explanation for this was flawless.
"I've lived at home for so many years and never been hurt, and after getting engaged to you, it hasn't even been a year, and then my left arm is fractured. What do you think Dad's reaction would be if he knew?"
"…He would take you back."
Hawk was silent for a moment, then gave this answer.
Putting himself in their shoes.
If he had a daughter in the future, and his daughter ran off with a wild boar, lived together, and then less than a year later her arm was fractured, and she ran to the hospital in the middle of the night.
Hiss!
Hawk would explode.
Without a doubt.
If Gwen had said she was injured and went to the hospital, George would also definitely flip out.
It's just…
Hawk looked at Gwen, somewhat conflicted at the time: "Do I really have to wear a sling for a month? Can't I just pretend to wear it for a bit? If not, can't I just avoid seeing George for this month?"
Who was he?
Hawk Phoenix.
The Demon King certified by both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, and he had single-handedly destroyed HYDRA's second attempt at ambition, even scaring Strucker into fleeing without looking back and hiding.
Yet one moment he had just foiled HYDRA's plot, and the next he was wearing a sling?
Was this appropriate?
Hawk was somewhat conflicted at the time, but Gwen's explanation once again made him willingly choose to obediently go with Gwen to New York S.H.I.E.L.D. and then fake a left arm fracture.
Gwen only said two sentences.
First sentence.
"Dad is an old police chief; if he doesn't see it with his own eyes, he might go to the hospital himself to inquire."
Second sentence.
"Look on the bright side, even though you have to pretend to be injured for a month, you don't have to do any work during this month, and that includes in bed too."
"Done!"
Hawk barely hesitated; after Gwen finished these two sentences, his conflicted expression turned extremely serious as he looked at his fiancée: "Let's make a plan."
Indeed, a plan was needed.
Because, as Gwen said, George was an old police chief, and no one could guarantee that George wouldn't suddenly decide to go to the hospital to check Hawk's medical records.
However, there was no need to worry about this.
New York S.H.I.E.L.D. would handle it, not only taking care of the medical records within the hospital, but also the cast on Hawk's left arm was handled by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
It wasn't heavy, and it was breathable, completely lacking the stuffiness of ninety-nine percent of casts on the market.
Sure enough.
After Hawk appeared with his cast and sling, George gently told him to be careful, and after wishing Hawk a speedy recovery, he said nothing else.
But Hawk believed that if Gwen had entered the house with a cast and sling.
The moment Gwen stepped through the door, George would have a Glock 19 pointed at his forehead.
But thankfully, they managed to fool their way through this matter.
And because Hawk was injured, after dinner, Helen didn't keep the two of them this time; instead, she urged them to go home quickly, and before they left, she specifically reminded Gwen not to bully Hawk just because he was injured.
Hawk smiled.
Gwen was speechless.
By the time the two returned home, Hawk was already in bed early. Although he was somewhat unaccustomed to suddenly losing the use of his left arm, he felt it didn't matter when he thought of the compensation for it.
Gwen, emerging from the bathroom, looked at Hawk lying in bed, smiling warmly at her, and couldn't help but roll her eyes. But remembering her promise, she still unbuttoned her pajamas and walked over.
The next day.
Hawk, refreshed, wore a pair of shorts and lay on the living room sofa with a smile on his face.
Of course.
His left arm was still in a cast.
Gwen, rubbing her lower back as she came downstairs, looked at Hawk, who was sprawled on the sofa like he was paralyzed, and twitched the corner of her mouth: "I suddenly regret letting you get injured."
Hawk chuckled: "Then tell George the truth."
Still the same old saying.
Playing the pig to eat the tiger?
What kind of nonsense was that? Public display of power and level suppression was the way to open a new transmigration novel.
He thought so, and he had always done so.
But others didn't think that way.
For example, S.H.I.E.L.D.
And Gwen.
S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't want him exposed to public view, even now that Thor had appeared.
But Thor was an alien after all; no matter how powerful he was, those who knew would at most be envious and jealous.
But Hawk was different.
He was a native Earthling; those who knew him might be envious, might be jealous, but more often than not, they would definitely hate him.
Hating that others have what they lack.
Human nature is inherently evil; that was the mainstream.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had no doubt that once Hawk was exposed to the public eye, people's first reaction would definitely not be to worship him like Thor, but rather to wonder if they could replace him, for example, by capturing Hawk to learn the secret of his strength.
Hawk was indifferent to this.
One sentence.
War, he loved war the most.
But S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't allow that; after all, no one could guarantee that some peerless genius wouldn't provoke Hawk to destroy Earth.
Although the probability was very low, what if?
This was why S.H.I.E.L.D. took the initiative to help Hawk conceal his identity.
As for Gwen.
Gwen looked at the indifferent Hawk, rolled her eyes again, and then said seriously: "Only I can know your secret."
Hawk knew this answer wasn't his fiancée's true thoughts.
However…
"Okay, you call the shots, I'll listen to you."
"Good girl."
Gwen smiled brightly, then sat beside Hawk, glanced at his thigh which he had casually placed on her lap, then looked at Hawk and changed the subject: "Hawk, has HYDRA's second struggle, such a big event, really just settled down like that?"
Hawk chuckled: "Big? Not big. If Sharon hadn't come to our house for help, you probably wouldn't have known what happened."
HYDRA's second struggle was within S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. itself was a secret organization.
In addition, this time, because of his intervention, Natasha also did not completely publicize S.H.I.E.L.D.'s information online.
So…
The most sensational news yesterday was undoubtedly the Insight Mothership that crashed over the capital of Washington and the reappearance of Thor and Iron Man Tony Stark.
But the officials had already given an explanation.
This was a temporary joint exercise held by the Pentagon in conjunction with Iron Man Tony Stark and Thor, aimed at improving humanity's defensive capabilities against dangers when venturing into space in the future.
Although this explanation sounded a bit far-fetched.
Most of the public still believed it.
After all, seventy percent of the federal population followed the path of happy ignorance; some people even believed in injecting disinfectant, so when faced with the Pentagon's slightly more normal explanation, what reason was there not to believe it?
Gwen blinked.
"So, Sharon and Commander Hand, they're fine too?"
"I don't know."
Hawk shook his head, thought for a moment, and looked at Gwen: "They probably won't be directly replaced by the Five Great Benefactors."
With this HYDRA incident, it was impossible for S.H.I.E.L.D. to be unaffected.
But…
No matter how the Security Council dealt with S.H.I.E.L.D., they definitely wouldn't directly downsize S.H.I.E.L.D. and let it naturally die out as in the original plot.
The most important point.
It was still because of Hawk!
…
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