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"Resurrection is possible."
"But first, you have to prepare a vessel for the soul."
"…"
Hawk's expression froze again as he processed Mephisto's words.
"Wait…"
Hawk shook his head, collecting himself as he looked back at Mephisto. "You can't just resurrect her directly?"
He was sure Mephisto had that ability.
Mephisto met Hawk's gaze, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Of course, I can—If you're willing to play dumb and pretend the body your sister returns in isn't just a cheap construct of my own energy, that is."
Hawk's mind raced.
His crimson-gold eyes, a unique trait of his new state, contracted and dilated rapidly several times in a matter of seconds.
After a moment.
Hawk took a deep breath, his expression turning serious as he refocused on Mephisto. "So, let me get this straight. If I can find a body to house my sister's soul, you can bring her back?"
"Precisely. Find the vessel, and I will release her soul." Mephisto confirmed with a smooth nod.
Hawk let out a slow breath, his expression still deadly serious.
Just as he was about to offer his sincere thanks—
Mephisto's tone shifted again. "—That is, if you hadn't summoned her soul a few days ago."
Hawk's heart skipped a beat.
"What do you mean?"
"You're aware that during this time, all the dimensions connected to Earth have sealed their gateways, fearing the fallout from the World Tree's energy, are you not?"
"I know," Hawk nodded. "What does that have to do with my sister?"
"Your sister's soul was touched by that energy."
WHOOSH!
Hawk shot up from the sofa. "What?"
Across from him, Mephisto glanced up. "Don't worry. She's fine, for now."
Hawk closed his eyes, took a deep, steadying breath, and sat back down.
"If she had never stepped through my gate to meet with you," Mephisto continued, "I could have resurrected her at any time, once you'd procured a vessel. But that is no longer the case. Your sister's soul no longer bears only the scent of my domain. It now also carries the stench of Hel."
The World Tree's once-in-a-millennium energy fluctuation would assimilate any dimension it touched, making it a part of its cosmic system.
That energy was immense—otherwise, the leader of the Dark Elves, Malekith, wouldn't have tried to harness it to plunge the Nine Realms into eternal darkness.
Although Malekith had failed, the energy wave still happened.
And because of that, nearly every dimensional being active on Earth had retreated to their home dimension and sealed the gates.
If the dimensions themselves were affected, what chance did a soul have?
Even though Anya had only stepped through the gates and not fully crossed the border of Hell, she had still been grazed by the formless energy of the World Tree.
It wasn't much, but it was enough to cause a problem.
Simply put, Anya was no longer a soul belonging exclusively to Hell. A part of her now belonged to the Norse underworld, Hel.
"Hel?"
Hawk's mind flashed back to the desolate realm he had glimpsed during the Convergence. He frowned. "Hela? The Goddess of Death?"
Mephisto nodded.
"Yes."
"She was sealed away by Odin."
"But she's not dead."
Mephisto stated, a cold sneer on his lips. "And now she's convinced my son to escape from Hell, hoping to use him to break her seal ahead of schedule."
Hawk's brow furrowed as he looked at Mephisto.
"Blackheart?"
"Yes."
Mephisto shook his head and raised his glass, a look of profound family disappointment on his face. "If my foolish son finds the four Elemental Demons and uses the final echoes of the World Tree's energy to forge a new Hell, then Hela will be able to briefly break free—and your sister's soul will become hers."
Hawk's jaw tightened.
"That can't be allowed to happen."
"She is the Goddess of Death," Mephisto reminded him.
Not all gods were created equal. Hela was a True Goddess, one who held dominion over the souls of all non-warriors who died in her corner of the universe.
"You want me to help you stop Blackheart's plan to create a new Hell?"
"I do."
Mephisto nodded, looking at Hawk.
Hawk's mind spun as he looked at Mephisto. "If I stop Blackheart, you can resurrect my sister once I find a body for her soul?"
Mephisto nodded.
"Yes."
"I understand." Hawk nodded thoughtfully, then asked one final question.
"Blackheart. Where is he now?"
"Texas. The Elemental Demons were in Texas before I sealed Hell's gates. The aftershocks of the World Tree's energy are still ongoing, though they're fading. I need to stabilize my realm, and I have to fight Hela to keep her from taking your sister's soul. I can't go myself."
The Elemental Demons, despite their name, were not from Hell.
They were native to Earth.
To be precise, they weren't even true demons. They were primordial spirits of earth, water, wind, and fire that had taken on demonic forms when Earth fell from the World Tree.
In other words, they were elementals who had achieved sentience.
Hawk listened to Mephisto's explanation, nodded, and then drained his glass. "I'll take care of it."
With that, he set the empty glass on the table, stood up, and walked toward the door.
...
The moment Hawk disappeared, Gwen had wondered where he'd gone. The next second, he reappeared in the exact same spot.
From Gwen's perspective, Hawk had been gone for barely a second.
But the smell of bourbon was real.
Gwen shot a suspicious look at Hawk as he opened the car door and slid back into the passenger seat. Seeing his silence, she said nothing, just hit the gas and drove them back home.
An hour later.
In the third-floor master bedroom.
Gwen, dressed in her pajamas, emerged from the bathroom and saw Hawk standing on the balcony, staring out at something in the distance. She blinked.
Just then.
Hawk turned and walked back into the room. He saw her and smiled faintly, then gave her a brief summary of his conversation with Mephisto.
When he was finished, Gwen's face broke into a happy grin.
"So you're saying if you help Mephisto stop this Blackheart guy, he can resurrect your sister?"
"That's what he said."
"Uh…" Hearing his tone, Gwen paused and looked at him. "You don't believe him?"
Hawk nodded without the slightest hesitation. "Gwen, never trust a demon. Not even a punctuation mark."
Gwen frowned. "So you think Mephisto is lying to you?"
Hawk shook his head again.
Gwen was completely lost.
Hawk smiled and explained, "Mephisto wasn't lying when he said he would release my sister's soul. But did you notice? He gave me a condition."
Gwen's mind raced. The next second, her eyes lit up. "You need to find a body for Anya's soul first..."
"Exactly."
Gwen drew in a sharp breath. "How are you going to do that?"
Hawk just shrugged. "That's the easy part."
"Easy?"
"Cloning." Hawk smiled faintly.
The Marvel Universe had no shortage of black-market technology.
Cloning was nothing.
He might not know of any specific companies working on it, but he had no doubt the technology existed and was probably already mature.
And even if it wasn't available on Earth, there was always space. He could take a trip to Xandar, or even Sovereign.
The universe was a big place. Finding a body for his sister would be easy.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was the condition Mephisto had set.
Hawk looked at Gwen. "Which do you think needs to be taken care of first? The body for my sister, or Blackheart?"
Gwen blinked, thinking back to what Hawk had just told her about Blackheart. "Blackheart. He's already on Earth looking for those Elemental Demons."
Hawk nodded. "Right. So what if I help Mephisto deal with Blackheart… and then Mephisto goes back on his word?"
Gwen froze, her eyes locked on his smiling face.
Hawk smiled knowingly. "I believe Mephisto was telling the truth just now. But what's true today might not be true tomorrow. Demons can't be trusted. It's like Loki swearing he's really changed this time."
Gwen blinked again. "Loki?? What's that?"
"It's not important." Hawk waved it away and looked at her. "The point is, I have no guarantee, no leverage to make sure Mephisto will keep his promise. At the same time, I feel like he's testing me."
"Testing you?"
"Yes. A test."
Hawk looked at Gwen and laid out his suspicion.
"If I really do solve his Blackheart problem for him, I'm worried that from now on, Mephisto will use Anya as leverage against me!"
"…"
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