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Everyone knows the truth about time.
It isn't a rigid, unyielding force.
It's flexible.
Like justice, it might be delayed, but it always arrives eventually.
Destiny is the same. It might hit a few speed bumps, but the main event is always going to happen.
And for the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, the main event—the end of her story—was scheduled to premiere the moment Mephisto finished digesting the Heaven Dimension.
This time, there would be no more delays.
Unless—
Hawk met the Sorcerer Supreme's gaze. Her expression was as unreadable as ever, giving away nothing about how she felt regarding her impending cosmic expiration date.
"I can kill Dormammu," Hawk offered.
"Undoubtedly."
The Ancient One's expression remained perfectly serene at Hawk's casual offer to murder a dimensional god.
"You certainly have the power to do so."
"So, do you need me to?"
"Are you trying to break our contract?"
"..."
Hawk's eyebrow arched in surprise.
Beside him, Gwen, who had been sitting quietly and acting as the perfect listener, couldn't help but look at her fiancé with a mix of curiosity and amusement.
Hawk smiled faintly and nodded.
"I understand."
"Thank you."
"Then let me officially welcome you to the Phoenix Universe. Though we'll have to rain-check the welcome party."
He looked at the Ancient One, a thought taking shape in his mind. "Or perhaps you've already looked downstream and seen your future. If so, then you know: I offer you the mantle of the God of Time in the Phoenix Universe. You will be the one to weave the timelines of all life within the primary multiverse of the Phoenix."
If he could promise Mephisto the throne of the Underworld...
Then of course, He could promise the Sorcerer Supreme the position of God of Time in his future multiverse.
In short:
The Ancient One had earned it.
The Sorcerer Supreme listened to Hawk's grand promise, her expression still betraying no emotion.
"I was rather looking forward to a long rest after my retirement," she said mildly. "It sounds like you're trying to put me right back to work the moment I step down."
"The future of the universe demands Time to precede it!"
"To give time to life."
Yes.
To give time to life, not life to time.
For humanity, time only had meaning because they existed to experience it. Life gave time its pulse.
But for the universe, the opposite was true.
The existence of life was meaningful, certainly, but without time, the universe was nothing but a hollow shell. Time was the canvas upon which the meaning of life was painted.
Therefore—
In the grand scheme of the cosmos, Time is greater than Life.
And so!
Hawk smiled. "Your responsibility will be immense, Sorcerer Supreme. I hope that the moment the primary multiverse of the Phoenix manifests into reality, life will blossom alongside it."
This time, the Ancient One smiled.
It was a small, knowing smile. She raised her teacup.
"It is exactly what I wished for, though I dared not ask."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
Gwen, seeing Hawk raise his cup, quickly picked up her own.
The three teacups clinked together over the table.
Soon.
With the Eye of Agamotto secured, Hawk took Gwen's hand, turned, and in the blink of an eye, teleported from the snowy peaks of Kamar-Taj to the sterile halls of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cloning facility.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists had already received Anya's casket. Currently, inside a clean room, they were carefully, almost reverently, extracting her remains to begin the process of sequencing her DNA for the cloning protocol.
Standing behind the reinforced observation glass.
Hawk watched as the skeletal remains were lifted from the casket. His expression was completely blank.
His sister, Anya, had died on the same day his system had activated.
So...
The condition of her remains was... grim. He hadn't exactly possessed any magical, preservation artifacts back then.
But no matter how difficult it was to look at, it was still his sister.
His flesh and blood.
Just then.
Sharon walked up to him, holding a single-use blood extraction device.
"We need a blood sample, Hawk. Just as a precaution, to verify the DNA match."
"Alright."
Hawk extended his right arm.
Blood sample!
The keyword triggered an immediate, deeply ingrained response from Gwen. Even though she knew Sharon wouldn't dare try to secretly clone Hawk or harvest his DNA for a super-soldier program, she couldn't help but ask, "Doesn't S.H.I.E.L.D. already have his DNA profile on file?"
Sharon nodded.
"We do. But not here."
"Hawk's genetic data is classified at the highest possible level. The cloning facility only has Level 8 clearance. They don't have access to his files."
"I have Level 10 clearance back at the New York office, but the authorization doesn't extend here."
"..."
Gwen frowned, struggling to understand the bureaucratic logic.
"Why not?"
"Because Hawk's primary residence is New York. As his designated point of contact, my Level 10 clearance is location-dependent. We're in Tahiti, and officially, Hawk isn't supposed to be here."
"Wait a second..."
Gwen caught something in Sharon's explanation. She tilted her head, glanced at Hawk's outstretched arm, and then gave Sharon a knowing, slightly amused smile. "Are you sure you're his designated point of contact? I'm pretty sure you spend more time talking to me than you do to him."
Sharon's smile was bright and completely unapologetic. "That's exactly right. Which is why I'm always so grateful for Dr. Stacy's continued support and cooperation."
Gwen chuckled softly.
"You're welcome."
Pfft!
Sharon pressed the device against Hawk's arm. With a quick hiss of compressed air, it extracted the necessary sample. She turned to Gwen. "Hawk's data will be run on a closed-circuit, air-gapped computer. Once the match is confirmed, the sample and the data will be destroyed under my direct supervision. Or, you're welcome to oversee the process yourself."
Hawk smiled and looked at Gwen, leaving the choice to her.
Gwen met Sharon's gaze, thought for a moment, and nodded. "I think I'll come with you. One Westview is more than enough. I'd really rather not have to deal with an Eastview popping up somewhere."
With that.
Gwen let go of Hawk's arm and followed Sharon down the corridor toward the secure lab.
Hawk didn't try to stop her. He turned back to the observation window, watching the scientists inside. Having successfully extracted the necessary DNA sample, they were now gently, carefully—as if handling a sacred relic—placing the remains back into the casket.
He was tempted to hit the intercom and tell them they didn't need to be quite so delicate.
But...
Hawk reconsidered. It was probably for the best that they were careful.
Even if it was just her bones, if he saw them tossing his sister's remains around like garbage, he'd definitely lose his temper.
However, once the casket was sealed again, it wasn't going back to New York. Instead, flanked by S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel and accompanied by Hawk, it was wheeled into a specialized incineration chamber.
Hawk held the ignition switch in his hand.
About an hour later.
Gwen and Sharon returned, carrying a laptop and the single-use extraction device.
Hawk turned as Gwen walked in.
She nodded.
"It's a perfect match."
"Good."
Hawk allowed a small smile to touch his lips.
To be perfectly honest, a dark thought had crossed his mind: the possibility that Sharon would come running back in a panic, telling him that the remains in the casket didn't belong to his sister.
That her body had been swapped out at some point over the years.
It wasn't an entirely irrational fear. This was the Marvel Universe, after all.
As everyone knows:
There's always some idiot out there who thinks they're smart enough to play with fire and not get burned.
Thankfully.
That hadn't happened.
Sharon placed the laptop and the extraction device into the incinerator alongside the casket, then stepped back and looked at Hawk.
Hawk's eyes flared with golden light.
BOOM!
In the blink of an eye, the incinerator, the casket, the laptop, and the blood extractor were all instantly vaporized, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
His sister was coming back.
There was no need for those bones to exist in this world anymore. Not even the ashes.
S.H.I.E.L.D. only had three active cloning pods at the facility.
They hadn't exactly planned on turning cloning into an assembly line operation. And even if they wanted to, they couldn't.
It always came back to the same problem:
A cloned body without a soul was just a lump of meat with a pulse. It had no consciousness.
Currently, two of the three pods were occupied.
At the third pod, a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists was busy importing Anya's sequenced DNA data.
"Sharon."
"Yes?"
"Christmas is coming up."
Hawk looked at Sharon, who had been standing by his and Gwen's side throughout the entire process. He smiled. "Consider this an early gift. From now on, any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and their immediate family members, will bypass Hell upon death. They will be granted direct passage to Elysium. They will live out their afterlives in peace, without having to suffer the torments of the Underworld."
Sharon stood frozen, absolutely stunned.
The next second.
A look of sheer, overwhelming joy washed over her face. Struggling to contain her emotions, she looked at Hawk.
"Thank you."
"Thank Gwen. She's the one who reminded me. I actually thought I'd already set that rule up."
Hawk smiled.
It was true; Gwen had brought it up. In Gwen's eyes, S.H.I.E.L.D. had stood by them from the very beginning and had helped them out more times than she could count.
Hearing this, Sharon turned to Gwen.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
Gwen replied with a warm smile.
Just then.
The lead scientist at the third cloning pod finished uploading Anya's data. He stood up and gave Sharon a sharp nod.
Under normal circumstances, even with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s advanced growth accelerators, the gestation process would take a minimum of three months.
But Hawk was about to put his thumb on the scale.
With a thought, Hawk summoned the Eye of Agamotto he had borrowed from Kamar-Taj.
As the ancient relic opened, the emerald-green Time Stone floated out, radiating a pulsing, temporal light that bathed the three cloning pods.
Hawk took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
The next moment.
His consciousness descended, instantly manifesting on the pristine plains of Elysium in the Underworld.
Soon.
Sensing her brother's arrival, Anya, flanked by her Blood Elf honor guard, came running toward him. She threw herself into his arms.
She looked up at him, her big eyes bright and knowing.
"It's time, isn't it, Hawk?"
"Yeah."
Hawk smiled and nodded. "It's today."
Anya's face broke into a brilliant, joyous smile.
And the moment she smiled, a million flowers bloomed across the entirety of Elysium.
At the same time.
Two other figures, a man and a woman, were escorted toward Hawk by a squad of Blood Elves.
Hawk held tightly to Anya's hand and looked at the couple standing before him, his expression perfectly calm.
"Are you ready to go back to the world of the living?"
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