Hawk's eyebrows twitched as he listened to Natasha's voice on the other end of the phone.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Natasha, who had already returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion Headquarters, said, "The scars on him are identical to the scars in the paper files from when we first arrested him."
As she said this,
Natasha looked through the glass in front of her at Dr. Mallick, who was still inside preparing for the test, and thought for a moment.
"Could it be that you really made a mistake?"
"Impossible."
Hawk chuckled, "He definitely has a problem."
It was still the same thing.
Although he didn't know why this Mallick they found had a soul, his Sixth Sense told him that this Mallick was also a clone.
Natasha, hearing Hawk's decisive answer, didn't say anything more. "Alright, Director Hill plans to find someone to conduct a DNA telomere length test on this Mallick."
If this Mallick truly had a problem, then this test would definitely reveal it.
Because a natural person's DNA will accumulate more mutations over time, leading to shorter telomere lengths, while also sustaining damage.
But if Dr. Mallick was also a clone, then this test would certainly yield results.
Hawk wasn't an idiot; he was a sophomore at New York University School of Law, after all.
His fiancée, Gwen, also studied biology.
So…
After hearing that S.H.I.E.L.D. planned to conduct a DNA telomere test on Mallick, Hawk thought for a moment: "Add a penetrating bone age test."
How long had Dr. Mallick been missing?
If the Mallick they caught was a clone, then he must have been rapidly grown by the real Dr. Mallick using hormones.
Since he was rapidly grown, his bone age certainly wouldn't lie, just like the annual rings of a tree; real rings and false rings can be distinguished.
Natasha responded to Hawk's words with a sound, then hung up the phone.
Hawk also hung up the phone.
He was already ninety percent certain that the Dr. Mallick they brought back was a clone.
Hawk just couldn't understand where this Mallick clone's soul came from.
After all, souls are something only dimensions that control the laws of life and death possess. It couldn't have been given by Mephisto, could it?
That's impossible.
Mephisto, that stingy old devil. Hawk believed it if someone said Mephisto was colluding with HYDRA.
But to say that Mephisto would casually give out a soul, Hawk wouldn't believe it for a million reasons.
Even for his sister's soul, when he asked Mephisto for it, he had to almost start a divine war to get Mephisto to reluctantly hand it over.
And Alexander Pierce's soul…
Let's put it this way: unless you hold a knife to Mephisto's throat, that old demon will never agree to compromise. Otherwise, you can forget about taking any soul from him, even if you are his ally.
The most important point.
Hawk had been to Hell, so if this soul was given by Mephisto, he would also be able to sense it.
But he didn't detect any scent of Hell from the soul of this Dr. Mallick, who was ninety percent likely a clone.
So…
It was very strange.
Hawk thought about the faint, pure scent he had detected from Dr. Mallick's soul at the time, feeling it become somewhat familiar. He then put his phone back in his pocket and walked towards the main building of the manor.
Soon.
As he re-entered the main building, his gaze fell upon Caroline, Gwen's cousin, who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa near the fireplace, chatting. At that moment, the confusion that had just arisen in his heart, feeling that the scent from Dr. Mallick's soul was somewhat familiar, finally found an answer.
Gwen's cousin, Caroline, still carried a trace of that scent.
No.
And that Vampire, Damon.
But this scent was different from the inherent scent of Dr. Mallick's soul. Whether it was Caroline or Damon, the scent on their souls was not their own, but rather seemed to have been picked up from contact with a soul that possessed that scent.
Caroline had a stronger trace of it.
While Damon had a fainter trace.
This was why Hawk hadn't realized it when he first saw Damon, but suddenly did when he saw Caroline again.
So…
Who could Caroline and Damon both know?
Hawk silently recalled the main characters from "The Vampire Diaries" in his mind, while walking towards the living room at Gwen's beckoning.
He took out his phone and returned it to Gwen.
Gwen reached out, took it, and then looked at Hawk.
"Just come back on Christmas Eve."
"It's nothing."
"It was about yesterday's matter, calling to tell me the results, but the final results aren't out yet."
Hawk said with a smile, then sat on the opposite sofa and brought up the topic of Caroline's university for next year: "Caroline, have you chosen your university yet?"
Gwen chuckled at the words, glanced at Caroline beside her, and said to Hawk, "I was just asking her too."
"The result?"
"She said she hasn't decided yet."
Gwen shook her head, then said to Caroline beside her, "After this year, you'll only have one semester left. High school isn't the end of our lives, and university isn't the end either, but rather the starting point. A good university determines your starting point for the future."
Caroline said with a smile, "Gwen, you sound just like my mom."
She didn't look at Hawk.
She didn't know why, but she felt a little afraid of Hawk, even though it hadn't been more than two hours since they met.
But she just felt very afraid of Hawk.
Gwen shook her head at Caroline's teasing. Just as she was about to speak, someone else walked in from outside.
To be precise, it was two people.
One was a middle-aged female police chief wearing a police uniform, looking somewhat similar to Helen.
The other was a young woman, probably around Caroline's age.
The female police chief was Liz Fox.
She was Gwen's aunt and Caroline's mother.
As for the young woman,
Elena Gilbert!
As the two walked in, Gwen and Caroline, who were chatting in the living room, also turned their heads to look.
The next second,
Gwen got up from the sofa and happily walked over to hug her aunt, Liz Fox: "Auntie!"
Caroline had also walked over to her friend Elena, who had arrived, thinking something had happened: "Elena, what's wrong?"
Elena breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Caroline was still alive.
Because just a moment ago, a blood-soaked Damon had rushed back, startling Stefan and her, who were on a date.
Damon told them that a stranger had come to Caroline's maternal grandfather's house, and he had been injured by that stranger.
After hearing this, Stefan and Elena thought the Werewolves had returned to kill, and immediately wanted to come and rescue Caroline.
As the two were coming, they met Chief Fox, who was Caroline's mother, Liz.
Elena reacted quickly, saying she was there to see Caroline.
So,
The two came in together.
As for Stefan, he stayed outside to provide support; if there really were Werewolves inside, Stefan entering would be like a sheep entering a tiger's den.
The result…
It seemed like nothing was wrong here.
It was just that there were strangers she didn't know at all.
Is it him?
Elena's gaze fell on Hawk, who had followed from the sofa and was shaking hands with Liz after being introduced by Gwen.
She knew Gwen and knew she was Caroline's cousin in New York City.
But this one named Hawk…
Elena looked at her friend Caroline beside her.
"He is…"
"Hawk, my cousin's fiancé."
"Fiancé?"
Elena heard this, glanced at Hawk and Gwen beside her, and lowered her voice: "Isn't your cousin only twenty years old this year?"
Caroline nodded: "Yes, my cousin said they met when they were sixteen."
Elena realized.
"Childhood sweethearts."
"…I guess so."
Caroline thought for a moment and agreed, although she always felt that her cousin's story of how she and Hawk met, got to know each other, and fell in love, which she had just described to her, had some artistic embellishment.
But she had no proof.
Caroline thought, then looked at Elena, who had suddenly come to find her: "By the way, Elena, why are you here…?"
Elena also reacted.
"Let's talk outside."
"Okay."
The two then turned and walked outside.
Hawk, who was beside Gwen, talking with Gwen and her aunt Liz, glanced at Caroline and the girl named Elena who turned and walked outside, but didn't pay much attention.
However, his inner confusion had already been resolved.
Next, he just needed to find an opportunity to confirm his guess.
There was no rush for this.
He was here to accompany Gwen to see relatives, not to deal with his own affairs.
Outside the manor.
Stefan, who had been anxiously waiting by the car after his girlfriend Elena went in with Liz, now breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his girlfriend and Caroline walk out of the manor.
Only Caroline was bewildered.
"What's wrong? Did Jules come back to kill again?"
"No."
Elena shook her head, then looked at Caroline and recounted how Damon had returned home severely injured, then said to Caroline, "Damon said the guy who almost killed him came out of Fox Manor."
Damon was injured?
Caroline frowned. She didn't know why, but she wasn't worried; instead, she felt a sense of schadenfreude.
After all, Damon was a scoundrel.
After Caroline became a Vampire, she had also awakened the memories of being hypnotized by Damon and used as a… tool.
It's just…
"Came out of our manor? Impossible. Today, only my cousin and her fiancé are in the manor…"
Caroline paused here, blinked, and looked at Elena.
"Is it him?"
"…"
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