Chapter 180: [284] - The Mother of His Firstborn

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WHOOSH!

BOOM—

A faint crack of displaced air sounded above Times Square—then a thunderous explosion ripped outward, instantly shattering the massive digital billboards on surrounding skyscrapers.

The next second, A silver streak—too fast for the naked eye, too fast even for motion sensors—wove through frozen traffic and stunned pedestrians, racing toward the city limits.

Quicksilver Pietro Maximoff—wearing a friction-reducing bodysuit, beard grown out—sprinted with the red-haired girl clutched in his arms.

The girl clung tightly to his neck.

"Uncle!"

"Jean—what are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I missed Daddy. But Daddy was acting weird... like he didn't recognize me. Oh! Uncle, can I stay a little longer?"

"No!" Pietro refused immediately. "Billy and Tommy haven't seen you. They've been crying."

Jean paused at this. Her voice turned worried. "Why are they crying? I was only gone a little while... Let's hurry back, Uncle."

Pietro exhaled with relief. He grunted acknowledgment, said nothing more, and entered the Speed Force—rocketing away from New York.

But—

"Found you."

Hawk, hovering high above, caught the speed ripples Pietro's acceleration had triggered. With an explosive BOOM—punching through a sonic barrier—he shot after Quicksilver.

When Pietro had appeared and snatched the red-haired girl, Hawk had still been thinking about the Time Stone. He hadn't reacted immediately.

By the time he gave chase, Pietro's signature was already far from New York—and accelerating rapidly.

Hawk had almost thought he'd lost him.

But then—

"Quicksilver?"

"Heh."

"You're not faster than me." Hawk's Cosmo blazed. He hadn't even pushed to his limit, yet he locked onto Pietro's signature with perfect clarity.

The gap between them was shrinking by the second.

True.

As the officially recognized fastest being in the Marvel Universe—so fast his codename was literally Quicksilver—Pietro Maximoff's speed was almost incomprehensible.

Official data placed Quicksilver's top speed at 800,000 kilometers per hour. Roughly 655 Mach.

But—

That was Quicksilver's limit. Not Hawk's.

A measly 655 Mach? After experiencing sub-light speed, Hawk found it almost sluggish.

The next second, The moment Pietro entered his attack range, Hawk didn't hesitate. His right fist drove forward.

"Phoenix Meteor Fist!"

"Tch!" Pietro's pupils contracted violently. He slammed to a stop on pure instinct.

And in that instant—

Before him, deep in the Texas desert, a ten-kilometer radius erupted as if a meteor shower had carpet-bombed the earth.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

Countless fiery projectiles slammed down. The sand trembled. The air itself shuddered.

Pietro stared at the desert—now transformed into a minefield—and swallowed hard.

He had no doubt. If he hadn't hit the brakes in time, he'd be scattered meat chunks right now.

And Jean in his arms would be—

Just as that horrifying thought crossed Pietro's mind, Hawk materialized behind him.

Hawk studied Quicksilver's back. Hands in his pockets, he chuckled.

"Keep running."

"..." Pietro turned, still cradling his niece Jean. He looked at Hawk. "She's your daughter."

Jean's eyes lit up. She whooshed out of Uncle Pietro's arms and threw herself at Hawk. "Daddy! You're so cool!"

Pietro saw this and instantly accelerated—entering the Speed Force again—trying to snatch his niece back.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Pietro hit maximum speed. Time stretched to infinity. In his vision, Hawk and Jean were frozen in place.

He reached Hawk in a heartbeat.

But the moment he extended his hand to grab Jean—

Everything changed.

In Pietro's perception, Hawk's gaze—which hadn't been on him a second ago—was now locked directly onto him.

And—

Pietro saw the smile curving Hawk's lips. Amused. With crushing pressure underneath.

'He sees me.'

That's impossible...

Pietro's heart lurched. He rejected the reality before his eyes.

But facts were facts.

Hawk had one arm around Jean. The other shot out—and in that instant, he reached into the Speed Force itself and grabbed Pietro by the throat, yanking him out.

Hawk looked at the man dangling from his grip. His lips curved higher.

"Haven't you heard the saying?"

"The same technique never works twice on a Saint."

That statement's value kept appreciating.

Pietro could snatch this red-haired girl from under his nose once.

But never a second time, Pietro's face was pure shock. Still, Hawk had no intention of hurting him. Because the red-haired girl in his arms spoke up.

"Uncle."

THUD!

Hawk released his grip and sent Pietro flying forward.

Pietro hit the ground, rolled once to absorb the momentum, and scrambled to his feet. He stared at Hawk. "I have to take Jean back. Otherwise my sister—and Billy and Tommy—will all die."

Hawk raised an eyebrow. He ignored the second half of that sentence, glanced at the red-haired girl in his arms, then looked back at Pietro.

"Jean?"

"Yes. Jean!" Pietro took a deep breath. "My sister said the name comes from French. It means 'God's gift.'"

In French, that was indeed what Jean meant.

But—

Hawk heard the name of what was technically his firstborn daughter. He looked at the four-year-old Jean in his arms, and something strange flickered through him.

Red hair...

His Phoenix power...

Named Jean...

"Holy cow—" Hawk sucked in a sharp breath. Then he collected himself and looked at his blood daughter—who had thrown herself into his arms one second, yawned the next, wrapped her arms around his neck, and fallen asleep again. He smiled.

Pietro watched Jean go from perfectly fine to unconscious in the span of a heartbeat. He glared at Hawk.

"What did you do to her?"

"Relax."

"She's too young to control my power effortlessly. She'll be fine after another nap."

Hawk glanced at Pietro—whose face was tense with worry, clearly thinking Hawk had done something to Jean. He offered a brief explanation but didn't elaborate. Instead, he shifted topics, asking the question burning in his mind. "I'm curious—how did your sister agree to let Strucker do this? Did they threaten your life?"

Pietro's tense gaze stayed fixed on Jean, who did appear to be simply sleeping. Hearing Hawk's question, he looked up. After a moment of silence, he shook his head. "No. My sister volunteered at first."

Hawk raised an eyebrow.

Pietro caught Hawk's expression and laughed bitterly. "Someone as powerful as you could never understand what two orphans go through in a war-torn country."

Powerful?

Me?

Hawk heard this and couldn't help but chuckle.

Pietro's expression turned angry again—he thought Hawk was mocking him.

But—

Hawk's voice was calm.

"I have a sister too."

"..." Pietro's anger evaporated. He stared at Hawk in surprise.

Hawk's tone remained level. "Her name is Anya."

"Wanda." Pietro offered his own sister's name.

Perhaps because they were both older brothers with younger sisters, the tension between them seemed to ease slightly.

Of course, the tension had been one-sided to begin with.

Hawk had never been on edge.

Pietro was fast—but not faster than him. If Hawk wanted to kill Quicksilver, it would be effortless.

Besides.

Setting aside the fact that Pietro was technically his "brother-in-law" in some sense—Wanda's reality-warping abilities alone made her someone he had no interest in antagonizing. The Scarlet Witch who would one day declare "No more mutants" and make it so? Not worth the risk.

Most importantly.

His "blood daughter's" mother was Wanda.

When Hawk had seen Anna in the Underworld and heard her mention a red-haired woman in Sokovia, the Scarlet Witch had immediately come to mind.

Pietro's arrival had just confirmed it.

But—

Hawk held Pietro's gaze. "Once more—why did you and your sister agree to let Strucker do this?"

Pietro's voice trembled with barely suppressed rage. "Because we wanted the power to take revenge!"

Stark.

At ten years old, the incident that destroyed their family home had planted deep-rooted hatred for Stark in both their hearts.

The murder of parents was an unforgivable sin.

Let alone both parents.

True, their parents had died in a warlord's conflict. But the missile that shattered their family had been stamped with the Stark Industries logo.

They wanted to grow stronger. Strong enough to stand before Tony Stark and demand answers—why had he done this?

So—

Unlike those Hydra had kidnapped and forced into experiments, he and Wanda had volunteered. They'd joined willingly. Participated in every test of their own free will.

"They told my sister the DNA came from a supreme being. That the owner of this DNA could kill Tony Stark like slaughtering a dog."

"Fair enough..." Hawk met Pietro's searching gaze and nodded calmly. "If I wanted to kill Tony Stark, he wouldn't have a chance."

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