Mephisto compromised.
After Hawk swore an oath to the Goddess of Death, Mephisto chose to trust him one more time.
But…
He didn't really have a choice.
The barefoot are never afraid of those wearing shoes—and right now the situation was exactly as Hawk had said. Mephisto was the one wearing shoes.
Mephisto couldn't enter Hawk's universe.
But Hawk could block the gateway to Mephisto's Hell Dimension. More than that, Mephisto suddenly remembered something Hawk had said back in the Hell Dimension:
"I could spend the rest of my life doing nothing but blocking your hell-gate. If you've got the guts, stay in there forever. I'll wait you out."
Remembering that,
Mephisto shuddered and, with nothing else he could do, swallowed his rage.
Their eyes met.
After Hawk finished his oath, Mephisto turned without a word and left.
Why stay?
To be humiliated?
But—
He wouldn't let it end like this.
Time is long. Just you wait.
At the instant the Gates of Hell thundered shut, Mephisto twisted back. Those demonic eyes met Hawk's once more, burning with a suffocated fury that bordered on madness.
Hawk felt Mephisto's hatred and didn't care.
The moment he'd used force in the Hell Dimension to make Mephisto collect his sister's soul, he knew he was deadlocked with the devil.
Here's the thing:
Demons don't just break their word—they're petty to the extreme. A single look can be "disrespect."
As the biggest devil in the Hell Dimension, Mephisto's pettiness was practically art.
Still—funny thing.
Hawk wasn't exactly broad-minded either.
In fact, most transmigrators aren't.
So—
One day, I'll swallow your Hell Dimension whole.
Watching Mephisto vanish from sight, Hawk muttered that to himself. The Black Phoenix Surplice dissolved from his body and flew back to the Sanctuary of the Underworld. He took a single step and returned to the real world, then sank his mind into his own microcosmos.
His exchange with Mephisto had happened within a spatial rift. It wasn't long—no more than a blink.
And the instant Mephisto relinquished the claim over Alexander Pierce's soul, Pierce's spirit, dazed and confused, was guided into the Underworld and cast into its prisons.
Hawk's Underworld has Eight Great Prisons.
He built them when he created the Underworld—using shards of the Law of Life and Death blasted out of that sorcerous fiend, plus the primordial Four Elements he ripped from the Elemental Demons, and the Reality Stone—shaping it all after the Underworld Prisons from Saint Seiya that he remembered from his past life.
Each of the Eight Prisons torments in its own way:
First Prison: the Underworld Tribunal. One day it will preside over all living beings within his microcosmos, holding the Book of Life and Death, governing lifespans, judging sins committed in life, rewarding and punishing accordingly, and consigning each soul to the fitting hell.
Second Prison: the Acid Downpour. An endless world unto itself where the condemned endure daylong rain so caustic it melts souls. They die, revive, and die again, on and on, until their term is served.
Third Prison: the Grindstone. A vast circular millstone turns beneath three hill-sized pillars that sweep across its surface at a constant speed. The condemned must run. They can stop—if they choose to be flattened to death by the rolling pillars. Then they revive… and it starts again.
Alexander Pierce was there now.
One second he felt a yank through his very spirit; the next, he was on that enormous stone mill. Staring around in horror at the barren, ocher desolation, he saw—in the distance—a colossal hill-pillar blotting out the sky as it rolled toward him.
No time to think.
Pierce spun and ran by reflex.
The hill-pillar chased.
Pierce ran.
But…
He could run; he couldn't fly. Within moments he felt something wrong—his legs were heavy as lead—and before he could wonder why, the roaring pillar was on him with a howling gale.
The next second,
Alexander Pierce was crushed to death beneath the hill-pillar.
The second after that,
He revived behind it. Before he could process anything, the rumble came again.
He looked up.
Another hill-pillar entered his view.
"WTF…"
"Welcome to my prison, Pierce."
Hawk appeared in the Grindstone without a sound.
Pierce's eyes narrowed. He looked at Hawk, then at the hill-pillar, frozen in place by Hawk's will.
In that instant,
He finally understood why Hawk had killed him so easily—and what Hawk had meant by "worse than death."
So death truly wasn't the end. It was the beginning.
Remembering the agony of being crushed, Pierce stared at Hawk, even his breath seizing up—
Though he had forgotten he was dead and had no need to breathe.
Pierce's face twisted.
Hawk chuckled.
"You think I'm going to keep asking what you've been hiding from me?"
"Relax."
"I won't."
"I gave you one last chance, and you wasted it. You don't get any more."
"So…"
"Stay here."
"Forever."
"…"
By the time Alexander Pierce came back to himself, Hawk was gone. The hill-pillar resumed its roll.
Pierce ran again—and died again.
He would remain in the Grindstone, forever and ever, endlessly cycling through flee—be crushed—revive—repeat.
High above the prison, after ending his little chat with Pierce, Hawk looked down calmly.
Just like he'd said:
There was only one chance. He'd given it; Pierce hadn't cherished it. Fine—let him carry his secret and suffer forever.
Hawk didn't care what Pierce had hidden.
Well… not that he didn't care at all. He just couldn't imagine a secret so serious you'd rather die than speak.
No problem.
There was still Anna.
When Anna died and her soul came to the Underworld, Hawk was sure she'd tell him.
Of course,
Anna was only the fallback. Hawk had other options.
HYDRA didn't begin and end with Alexander Pierce and Arnim Zola.
HYDRA had several leaders.
And Hawk happened to know two more.
First: Daniel Whitehall.
A ruthless bastard—he prolonged his life by transplanting organs from the Inhuman Jiaying, Skye's mother.
That left an impression.
But…
Hawk only knew of him; he didn't know where Whitehall was hiding now.
No matter. There was number two:
Wolfgang von Strucker.
Or—
Baron Strucker.
Right.
The HYDRA leader who used the Mind Stone to awaken Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's powers.
And Hawk knew exactly where he was.
Sokovia.
Conveniently, the Mind Stone was in Sokovia too. Perfect time to go and grab both.
So—
Boom!
Hawk's figure flashed to the stratosphere. A cone of vapor bloomed around him as he broke the sound barrier, then he became a streak and howled toward Sokovia.
Meanwhile,
In S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Triskelion headquarters, Tony Stark heard J.A.R.V.I.S.
"Sir, Mr. Phoenix's energy signature detected."
"Put it up."
"Yes, sir."
J.A.R.V.I.S. projected a live satellite feed.
Hawk was moving so fast the camera had to stay zoomed far out to avoid constant switching.
"That's not the way back to New York."
"No, sir."
"Can you predict his destination?"
"One moment."
Using Hawk's current trajectory, J.A.R.V.I.S. highlighted a small landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordering Slovakia and the Czech Republic—Sokovia.
"Sokovia."
Tony read the name, then glanced at Natasha. "Do we have a S.H.I.E.L.D. base there?"
Natasha shook her head. "No."
Tony frowned. "Then what's Hawk doing out there?"
Just then,
J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke again. "Sir, signal scan complete. We have confirmed a suspected HYDRA transmission source hidden off Palm Street."
"Send it."
"Sent."
Tony studied the marked location and said to Natasha, "Nothing else here needs me. I'm heading back to New York to wipe out that HYDRA hideout."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
His faceplate slid shut as he strode out. "Hawk's easier to deal with than Hulk. With Gwen around, I don't need to develop 'anti-Hawk' armor."
That was true.
With Gwen there, no matter how volatile Hawk got, she could calm him down.
Unlike the Hulk—
Who didn't listen to reason and smashed first.
Still…
Anti-Hawk armor?
Tony was, in fact, quietly working on it.
Just in case.
…
(End of Chapter)
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