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The faucet ran, water rushing into the sink in a steady stream.
Hawk stood there, brow furrowed, staring at the flowing water. Lost in thought.
Gwen didn't notice at first. Not until she'd finished plating the pasta and turned to see him still standing at the sink, motionless.
"Hawk?"
"...Yeah."
Hawk looked up at the sound of her voice, eting Gwen's eyes.
Gwen studied him with suspicion.
"What's wrong?"
"Japan is 13 hours ahead of New York."
"What?"
Gwen blinked in confusion, then shook her head. "It's past midnight here, so yeah, it's one in the afternoon tomorrow over there. What's the problem?"
Hawk's expression turned thoughtful. "But when Anna called earlier at the New York SHIELD branch, she said 'good evening.'"
Gwen frowned.
"It is evening here. So she said good evening. What's wrong with that?"
"Sothing's off about Anna..." Hawk's mind raced as he turned to Gwen. "I think soone just played for a fool."
Gwen couldn't wrap her head around it.
"You think you got played... because you said good evening and Anna didn't say good morning? That's it?"
"Yes."
Hawk nodded, looking at Gwen as he explained his reasoning. "Because whenever Anna and I talk on the phone, we always greet each other based on our respective ti zones."
He and Anna hadn't spoken often.
But every single ti they did, without exception, Anna greeted him according to her local ti. She never matched his tizone.
It was one of Anna's little quirks.
But earlier, when Anna—supposedly in Japan—had called him at the New York SHIELD branch, and he'd greeted her, she'd followed his tizone instead.
Bottom line, It didn't feel like Anna.
Gwen listened to Hawk's explanation, opened her mouth to respond, then looked at him. "Why don't you just call Anna again right now?"
Hawk shook his head.
"I'm starting to think the person I was talking to wasn't Anna at all."
"If it wasn't Anna, then who was it?"
"No idea."
Hawk's eyes glead with determination. "But once I get to Japan and confirm it, I'll find out."
Gwen raised an eyebrow.
"Japan? Now?"
"Yes."
Hawk thought back to the "Anna" whose greeting hadn't matched her usual pattern, then recalled Dr. Zola's final words before going offline. He looked at Gwen with a faint smile. "Of course, after we finish the midnight snack."
He really wanted to fly to Japan right now and see for himself.
But Gwen had already made food. If he just vanished without touching it and ran off to see another woman, Gwen would lose her mind.
Fortunately, Gwen wasn't petty like that.
Soon enough, She watched as Hawk demolished the carefully prepared al in record ti, then looked up at her expectantly. She shook her head with a helpless smile.
"Go. Co back soon."
"Will do."
Hawk didn't hesitate. His form vanished from the high stool in an instant. The mont he reappeared at high altitude, he transford into a streak of light, shooting across the sky at incredible speed toward Japan.
Calling wasn't an option.
If he already suspected that the "Anna" he'd spoken to wasn't the Anna he knew...
Then there was only one way to dispel that doubt.
Seeing is believing.
Back ho, Gwen blinked at the now-empty seat where Hawk had been sitting just a second ago. She stood, started cleaning up, and headed upstairs to bed.
But just as she was rinsing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher—
The doorbell rang.
Hearing the sound, Gwen instinctively glanced at the clock on the wall.
It was almost twelve-thirty.
Just then, Sharon's voice called out from outside.
"Gwen!"
"Sharon..."
Gwen recognized Sharon's voice imdiately. She wiped her hands, walked to the door, and opened it. Her eyes lit up when she saw Sharon standing there—then her gaze shifted to the man and woman standing beside her.
She recognized the woman.
Natasha.
But what surprised her was the man standing next to Natasha.
"Captain Arica!"
Gwen looked like she couldn't believe her own eyes. Pure delight crossed her face as she stared at Steve Rogers standing in her doorway. "Oh my God. It's really you."
Once again, Captain Arica Steve Rogers' childhood ho in Brooklyn had beco a tourist attraction with daily reservations booked solid months in advance.
Put it this way: If Cap decided to run for president right now, his approval rating would be astronomically ahead of everyone else.
Gwen wasn't a fangirl, but Cap was different. He was a living historical figure. And now that historical figure was standing right in front of her.
Gwen invited all three of them inside, then dashed upstairs. A mont later, she returned carrying a copy of Captain Arica—the biography written by a famous federal author—along with a pen. She held them out to Steve Rogers.
"Captain, could you sign this for ?"
"...Of course."
Steve blinked in surprise, but when he saw the book, he quickly recovered. He took the pen with practiced ease and signed his na on the title page.
Clearly, This wasn't his first ti doing this.
Gwen accepted the book, staring at the signature on the title page with obvious joy. "My dad is going to be so jealous when he sees I have a book with Captain Arica's autograph."
After all, this book had been the first one George ever bought for her.
Most native-born Aricans' first biography was Captain Arica.
Of course, Orphans were the exception.
Books were expensive in the States. Most families rented them instead of buying. And for soone like Hawk, who'd grown up in an orphanage? Forget it.
Hawk's first book had been the Bible.
Yeah.
A gift from the priest at the church that had taken them in. If that priest ever found out that Hawk's first book had been the Bible, and he'd still ended up with the nickna "Demon King," he'd probably spend a week in the confessional begging God for forgiveness.
...
A little while later.
After Gwen carefully returned the signed Captain Arica book to its place upstairs, she ca back down and looked at Sharon curiously, asking why they'd shown up so late.
Sharon explained. "It was the Captain's idea. He ca looking for Hawk. He's hoping Hawk can help us."
When she'd first been at the hospital, she hadn't fully processed what Hawk had ant by his parting words.
But after she returned to the New York SHIELD branch and thought back to what he'd said in the hospital room—"The rest is up to you guys"—it beca clear.
Hawk wasn't planning to get involved in what ca next.
Sharon didn't push it. After telling Victoria Hand, the commander agreed that Hawk had already done more than enough. From here on out, they needed to handle it themselves.
And then—
Cap and Black Widow had shown up. They'd inford them of HYDRA's ultimate plan—intel they'd gotten from Dr. Zola—and then they'd heard the news that a short-range ballistic missile had destroyed the abandoned military base where Zola's servers had been housed.
So, Cap had gotten Hawk's ho address from Sharon and decided to pay him a visit. The plan was to invite Hawk to join them tomorrow, travel to the capital together, set things right, and stop HYDRA's plot to destroy the world.
Except, Gwen listened to their explanation, opened her mouth, and looked at Sharon. "You're too late. Hawk's not ho."
Natasha spoke up.
"Hawk hasn't co back yet?"
"No, he ca back."
Gwen shook her head, looking at Natasha. "If you'd gotten here ten minutes earlier, you would've caught him."
Sharon frowned. "Hawk went out again?"
Gwen nodded.
Cap leaned forward slightly. "Did he go to Washington D.C.?"
"No. Japan."
"Japan?" Sharon looked genuinely curious. "It's this late. What's Hawk doing in Japan?"
Gwen shrugged.
"He said he thinks soone tricked him. So he's going over there to confirm."
"...Alright then."
Sharon didn't quite understand what that ant, but the bottom line was clear—they were too late.
Natasha looked at Gwen.
"Can you call Hawk?"
"There!"
Gwen gestured toward the phone lying on the couch across the room. "His phone's dead. He left it here. His words, not mine: 'I don't have international roaming, so the phone's useless in Japan anyway. Plus, I don't really use phones much.'"
Sharon nodded reflexively.
That tracked.
Before Hawk had gotten together with Gwen, he hadn't even had a driver's license. In the information age, he'd been a ghost among ghosts.
Natasha glanced at Steve.
"Captain..."
"Alright."
Steve Rogers, seeing that he wouldn't be able to et with Hawk, didn't press the issue. He smiled, stood up, and shook Gwen's hand. "If Hawk cos back, could you let him know I stopped by?"
Gwen smiled warmly. "Of course. I'll tell him the second he gets ho."
Steve thanked her, nodded to Sharon and Natasha, and headed toward the front door.
Gwen walked them out.
The mont she opened the door—
Her eyes widened.
A line of SHIELD's signature black Chevy SUVs sat parked along the street, one after another.
Gwen's mouth fell open. She stared at the scene, then turned to Sharon.
"..."
"The New York branch has been liberated. But D.C. SHIELD is still in HYDRA's hands. And they're planning to activate their world domination sche tomorrow morning. We're going to stop them."
Sharon's smile was casual, almost relaxed.
Even though this trip to SHIELD headquarters might be dangerous—
They were SHIELD agents.
And they had Captain Arica.
When these SHIELD agents had heard that Captain Arica himself was planning to march on the capital and take it back, almost every single one of them had volunteered without a second thought.
Don't ask them if they were afraid of dying.
This was Captain Arica.
...
As one Chevy SUV after another—each equipped with signal jamrs to prevent HYDRA from detecting their approach—pulled away from the neighborhood, Gwen stood in the doorway, slowly turning her gaze away.
Standing there in the doorway, Gwen's eyes shifted toward the direction of Japan.
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