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The sky was pitch black.
The ocean stretched endlessly in every direction.
Dr. Merrick—face pale, lips turning blue—struggled to keep himself from sinking into the increasingly turbulent water. His hands frantically paddled as his eyes filled with desperation, his mouth moving constantly, his voice trembling.
"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name..."
"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven..."
"May your glory shine like the light of dawn, illuminating..."
Hawk stood on the deck, one hand in his pocket, looking down at the stopwatch on his wrist. The second hand ticked forward relentlessly.
Then, he looked up at Dr. Merrick thrashing in the water and smiled faintly.
"Time's up."
"NO, NO, NO—"
Dr. Merrick, hearing Hawk's calm voice and seeing his equally calm expression, immediately panicked. His prayer became more frantic, more desperate.
Even when Hawk used telekinesis to lift him out of the water—even as Hawk's hand closed around his throat—Merrick's prayers grew more rapid, more fervent, his hope for divine intervention painfully visible.
And yet—nothing happened.
Hawk glanced up at the night sky, where not a single star was visible, then looked back at Merrick, who was still praying nonstop.
"Your God isn't coming."
Hawk wasn't particularly disappointed.
If God didn't show, that was God's loss. Not his. When Hawk stormed Heaven Dimension, God would figure it out then.
But Dr. Merrick was utterly devastated.
"No. No. God wouldn't abandon me. I'm God's most devout follower."
"I've bled for God. I've been imprisoned for God."
Merrick's voice grew more agitated as he stared at Hawk. "God wouldn't abandon me! Wait—it must be the wind. Too loud. Or the water. Too cold. My prayers didn't reach him. Yes, that's it! Let me go. Let me go back to land, and I'll pray for God to forgive you—"
Hawk watched Merrick—dangling from his grip, his expression cycling from desperation to self-delusion to fanatical fervor, even offering to have God forgive Hawk—and his mouth twitched involuntarily.
Merrick's expression turned rapturous.
"I am the new Noah! Believe me—I'm the only one who can lead humanity to survival in the coming war between angels and demons!"
"Noah?"
"Yes, I am—"
"You look more like an idiot to me."
Hawk cut him off, staring at the doctor in his grip with a frown. "I'm starting to think you're not actually a believer in God at all. Just a fraud using his name."
Merrick grabbed Hawk's arm with both hands, his voice rising to a frantic shout.
"No! I am! I'm the new Noah! God told me himself!"
"Oh, really?"
"Otherwise, how would I have God's gift—the red apple?"
"You mean this?"
At Merrick's words, Hawk's mind flickered. He pulled the bitten red apple back out of his Underworld and held it up.
Merrick's eyes lit up at the sight. He reached for it immediately. "THAT'S MINE! GIVE IT BACK!"
Hawk withdrew the apple and smiled at Merrick. "Tell me how God found you, and I promise I'll reunite you with your red apple."
Merrick stared at Hawk, his expression suspicious.
"Really?"
"I never lie."
Hawk's tone was calm as he met Merrick's skeptical gaze. He released his grip, let Merrick drop to the deck, then stepped back and leaned against the railing. The ocean breeze ruffled his hair as he smiled at the doctor. "Tell me your story. When you're done, I promise I'll reunite you with your red apple."
Merrick—soaked, shivering, even shaking slightly—sat slumped on the deck, staring at Hawk.
"Swear to God."
"..."
"Sure."
"I swear to God—as long as you tell me the truth, I promise I will reunite you with your red apple. If I'm lying, may I be barred from Heaven and captured by God himself after death."
Hawk raised his hand without the slightest change in expression, swore his oath to God, then lowered his hand and gestured to Merrick.
"Your turn, Doctor. Go ahead."
"It all started when I was invited to help SHIELD solve a case..."
Merrick—seeing that Hawk had sworn an oath to God—lowered his guard. After a moment of silence, he began recounting the entire story of his encounter with God.
The story was long. And tedious.
The short version: As a global expert in the biological sciences, Dr. Merrick had naturally worked with SHIELD before.
On one particular job, he'd been sent to SHIELD's Sandbox Warehouse—the facility that stored strange and unusual items SHIELD had recovered or confiscated from around the world. His task was to analyze some kind of gooey substance that appeared to have its own biological activity.
The analysis took a month. Since he and SHIELD had worked together multiple times before, Merrick was given certain privileges during his time at the Sandbox. For instance, he was allowed to browse the warehouse's collection of bizarre artifacts during his breaks.
Things like a mirror that bled. A talking comb. A severed reindeer head that still spoke.
The red apple was something he'd discovered during one of those browsing sessions.
And he'd become obsessed.
According to Merrick, the moment he laid eyes on the red apple, he heard God's voice.
God told him the reason his secret cloning experiments kept failing was because the clones lacked souls.
Because of Merrick's devotion, God—who had long ago abandoned Earth—was moved. His attention returned to this world, corrupted by demons after his departure.
God told Merrick he would be the new Noah. The new Jesus. He would use the tens of thousands of pure souls stored inside the red apple to create a new humanity.
Soon, God would descend to Earth and unleash a second great flood, cleansing the world of demonic corruption. Only Merrick and his newly created humans would board the new ark and survive into the cleansed world.
Merrick believed every word. He stole the red apple, used it to attract wealthy investors under the pretense of providing perfectly matched replacement organs, and expanded his cloning operation. He intended to create an unprecedented population of new humans—an entire race of his own design.
Then SHIELD caught him.
But Merrick was convinced this was God testing him—just as Jesus had been tested when foolish humans nailed him to the cross.
His arrest didn't shake his faith. It strengthened it.
He, Merrick, was the new Jesus.
Then Hydra broke him out. At first, Merrick had been reluctant to work with them.
After all, he was God's chosen. And Hydra? They looked like servants of the Devil.
But he quickly rationalized it.
Hydra had saved him. SHIELD had persecuted him—just as they'd persecuted Jesus.
So—
Hydra wasn't evil at all.
Merrick struck a deal with them. Hydra would provide funding and a cloning facility. In return, Merrick would help them use Hawk's blood to create their own Hydra Captain.
Hawk listened to Merrick's story—his tale of being chosen by God as the new Jesus and new Noah—then looked up at him.
"What about the mass graves outside the base? The ones filled with clones. You said you were building a new human race. So why did you create them just to kill them?"
"God's will."
"Oh?"
"After God left humanity in disappointment, demons took control of Hell. For God to bring his light back to this world, he needs devout souls as his vanguard—souls to fill Hell and reclaim it."
"So—"
Hawk's expression turned thoughtful as he looked at Merrick. "You kept cloning me, then killing the clones, so the formatted souls from the apple could pass through my clones' bodies before going to Hell?"
Merrick nodded.
"Exactly."
"You were using my clones as a washing machine for souls."
"There was no other way. True believers are rare in this world. God has lost faith in them. That's why he chose me."
Merrick explained, puffing out his chest with visible pride when he mentioned being chosen by God.
Hawk's expression remained flat.
"Why me?"
"What?"
"If you're washing souls for God, why single me out? Why not clone someone else?"
"I couldn't."
"Why not?"
"God said you're Samael."
"Who?"
Hawk blinked, then his eyebrow rose. "Lucifer? The Morning Star?"
Merrick looked surprised, then seemed to realize something and smiled. "Yes. You were raised in a church, Hawk. That wasn't a coincidence. You're Samael. The former archangel."
Hawk let out a dry laugh but didn't argue. He gestured for Merrick to continue. "So I'm the Archangel Samael. And God told you this?"
"Yes."
"You are Samael."
"At least, part of you is."
"God told me your soul has been corrupted by this demon-occupied world. So cloning you—then killing the clones—is actually helping you."
Merrick nodded with absolute certainty, then looked at Hawk with fanatical eyes. "The souls that pass through your clones will eventually become part of your own soul. As they develop, grow, and mature, they'll cleanse your corrupted soul and allow it to evolve. And you—you will return as the Archangel Samael!"
Hawk understood.
He nodded, looking at Dr. Merrick.
"So God wants to use those souls to possess me?"
"No, no, no."
Merrick shook his head vigorously.
"Not possession. Evolution. Your soul has been tainted by demons. Only by merging with pure souls can you remember your true identity. You are Samael. You are an archangel. You are—"
"Enough."
Hawk raised his hand, cutting him off.
Merrick—who'd been working himself into a frenzy—immediately fell silent, staring at Hawk.
Hawk looked back at him.
"One last question."
"Yes, Samael?"
"..."
Hawk's mouth twitched again as Merrick tried to rename him. He forced down the urge to vaporize the doctor on the spot and spoke curtly. "Strucker. Where is he? Do you know?"
Merrick shook his head.
"No."
"You really don't know?"
"I've told you everything I know. After all, you're the new Samael. I'm the new Jesus. We're on the same side."
This guy's brain has been turned into mush.
Hawk thought to himself, then smiled at Dr. Merrick.
Merrick stood up from the deck and shrugged.
"So... can I have the red apple back now?"
"Of course."
Hawk's smile didn't waver. His eyes flared crimson.
"Poof."
The Phoenix beams lanced out. Dr. Merrick—still smiling, still dreaming of serving God—vaporized instantly.
Hawk lowered his gaze, watching as Merrick's soul was pulled into his Underworld and dragged down into the Infernal Prisons. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.
When had he ever said he'd give the apple back to Merrick? When had he ever said he'd let Merrick go?
He'd promised to reunite Merrick with the red apple.
The apple was currently in his Underworld. Being played with by his sister, Anya.
And Merrick had just gone to the Underworld too.
So—
Hawk hadn't lied. He hadn't broken his promise. Though honestly, he'd been tempted to break it just to see if God would show up.
But he'd decided it wasn't worth burning his integrity for God.
God wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Manipulate the poor, delusional Merrick into cloning Hawk's body like some kind of spiritual money-laundering scheme. Wash the souls through the clones, let them seep into Hell unnoticed. Meanwhile, develop the Death Angel in secret, and gather those cleansed souls—now imprinted with Hawk's essence—to eventually use them to possess him.
Tsk.
The ambition...
It rivaled old-school Hydra.
Back in the day, Hydra fought on two fronts—battling the Soviets while also fighting the West.
This God was doing the same thing.
He wanted to wage war on Mephisto while simultaneously taking down Hawk on the side.
Yeah.
Truly befitting of God.
Hawk had called Hydra's strategy "monumentally stupid."
But for God's plan? He'd use a different phrase.
Bold. Admirably bold.
But if you've got that kind of courage, why not show your face and talk to me directly?
Your new Jesus. Your Noah. Even the red apple you used to infiltrate Earth—I've got all of them now. And you still won't show yourself? Not even a projection? Not even a single threatening line?
At least pretend to care about your image.
You're supposed to be God. Act like it.
Hawk stood on the deck, looking up at the still-black night sky, hoping—just for a moment—that God might make an appearance.
But—
Once again.
When he'd told Merrick to pray for God's arrival, God hadn't shown.
Now that he'd killed Merrick—taken his soul, stolen the apple containing tens of thousands of souls—God still wasn't showing.
Clearly, God was offline.
Hawk sighed, mildly disappointed he wouldn't get to meet God tonight.
But something else did...
SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!
Just as Hawk lowered his gaze from the sky and glanced at the turbulent ocean surface, four columns of water exploded around the speedboat.
Four... mermaids?
No.
Black mermaids.
Four figures that blended perfectly with the darkness—blue-gray skin, wielding spears—burst from the water in unison. Their eyes burned with rage and hatred as they stared at Hawk and shrieked in unison:
"Genocidal murderer—DIE!"
That voice...
That language...
Wakandan?
Hawk raised an eyebrow. He looked at the figure frozen mid-air in front of him—apparently a Wakandan survivor—then reached out, grabbed her by the throat, and pulled her closer for a better look.
Up close, he realized she wasn't actually from Wakanda.
Wakandans were black. This woman's skin was a blue-gray color—like certain deep-sea fish.
And her features were distinctly different from Wakandans.
She had webbing between her fingers. Not just her hands—her toes too. Translucent membranes stretched between each digit.
Her ears were pointed.
Her eyes were large and deep-set. Her exposed blue-gray skin was covered in faintly glowing patterns.
Clearly—
These four weren't Wakandan survivors.
But they'd definitely been shouting in the Wakandan language.
Hawk was certain of that.
But—
When he'd wiped out Wakanda, he hadn't seen any blue-gray-skinned, webbed, pointy-eared new species.
Were they from the coast near Wakanda?
Underwater Wakandans?
Hawk frowned, puzzling it over. He looked at the woman in his grip—her blue-gray skin gradually turning red—and assumed he was squeezing too hard. He loosened his hold, letting her breathe.
Her pupils continued dilating. Her face turned redder.
And it wasn't just her. The other three—still frozen mid-air around the speedboat, spears in hand—were reacting the same way.
Hawk released the telekinetic hold on her mouth.
The next instant, Her mouth opened. She looked at Hawk, her eyes filled with fear and desperation.
"I..."
"I can't breathe."
"I CAN'T BREATHE!!"
"..."
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~# 70 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!
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