"Daddy?"
Hawk instinctively caught the red-haired little girl who flew into his arms.
"Daddy?!"
Gwen, standing nearby, had her eyes wide open.
"Daddy!?!"
Phoenix, holding little Ben, and Peter were shocked. They looked at each other, then turned their incredulous eyes on Hawk and the red-haired little girl in his arms.
The red-haired little girl clung tightly to Hawk's embrace once she settled in.
Then...
She fell asleep just like that, even snoring softly.
"Uh..."
Hawk furrowed his brow, glanced at the sleeping girl in his arms, then turned to Gwen, who was staring at him in disbelief, and said, "If I say I don't know what's going on, would you believe me?"
Gwen was silent, just quietly watching Hawk.
One hour later.
New York S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
At the door of Sharon's office.
Felicia and Peter, holding little Ben, stood by the office window, their expressions brimming with gossip as they peeked inside.
Sharon came over from a short distance away, chuckling as she observed the little trio at her door.
"What are you doing..."
"Shh!"
Felicia quickly gestured for silence in response to Sharon's words.
Sharon blinked, then, imitating the little family, leaned in lightly, tiptoeing to the window to peek inside her own office.
Inside.
Hawk was gently laying the deeply sleeping red-haired girl on the sofa, casually pulling a blanket over her, then whispered something to Gwen nearby.
"Why don't you go in?"
"Eavesdropping."
"I don't dare."
Felicia, holding little Ben, glanced at Peter.
Peter, with a mix of curiosity and fear on his face, said, "I can't take Hawk on."
Felicia rolled her eyes, and in a low voice, asked Sharon, "Did the DNA results come back? Is she Hawk's daughter?"
Sharon shook her head, "They're still processing, it's not that fast."
Indeed, S.H.I.E.L.D. has high-tech capabilities.
And plenty of them.
But no matter how advanced the technology, you have to follow basic laws. Matching DNA takes more than a blink of an eye.
However...
"The global facial recognition database has no information on this little girl."
"And I just checked the surveillance, something strange happened."
Sharon looked at Felicia and Peter, "According to New York City surveillance, this little girl showed up at the doorstep of Palm Street No. 521A half an hour ago but didn't knock. It's like she knew Hawk wasn't home and walked all the way to Fifth Avenue."
Felicia frowned.
"What's so strange about that?"
"We couldn't see how she appeared on Palm Street. The surveillance wasn't tampered with; one second she wasn't there, the next second she appeared on camera."
"Hiss!"
Felicia gasped, then turned to look at the sleeping red-haired girl on the sofa through the window.
"Then how did she get here?"
"How should I know."
Hawk glanced at the sleeping girl on the sofa, then turned to Gwen, who was standing with arms crossed, shrugging.
Gwen blinked.
"Did you cheat?"
"No way!"
Hawk looked at Gwen helplessly. "This little girl looks only about three or four, what was I like three or four years ago? You should know better than anyone."
Three or four years ago, he was just sixteen or seventeen.
At seventeen? Forget it.
At sixteen, he was diligently focused on training and daily exercise, not even thinking about dating.
Cheating?
No way, back then he wasn't even considering romance.
By seventeen, even less so.
"Since you caught me at the waterfall, I've been your captive."
"...That part's true."
Listening to Hawk's words, Gwen recalled her grand feat of trekking through the jungle to capture Hawk, feeling a smile tugging at her lips, and her gaze softened.
From the moment she crossed the rainforest to find Hawk, she'd captured his heart, making Hawk her captive.
Gwen thought to herself.
Just then.
The office door swung open.
Sharon calmly entered, handing a test report to Hawk. "Her age, to be precise, is three and a half, and the DNA report just came out. She is indeed your daughter."
Hawk took the report, hearing Sharon's words, exchanged a glance with Gwen.
Gwen took the report from Hawk, glanced at it, then looked up at Sharon.
"That's impossible. Three years ago, Hawk was only seventeen. He was either at school with me or not at school with me."
"The report doesn't lie."
Sharon's tone was calm, trying not to show any bias. She looked at Hawk, "Moreover, this little girl appeared out of nowhere at Palm Street No. 521A two hours ago, then tracked you to Fifth Avenue. Her goal was clear: to find you, and she seems to know where you are."
Hawk's expression remained calm, nodding slightly, "Hmm, she carries my scent."
Gwen, hearing this, closed the report and looked at Hawk, full of confusion.
"I don't understand."
"She carries my scent, but not my current scent, rather the scent of my future self."
"..."
This time, it was Sharon's turn to be confused.
Gwen seemed to have thought of something and looked at Hawk, "Are you saying time..."
Hawk nodded, then turned to look at the red-haired little girl sleeping on the sofa.
At the restaurant entrance, he had already confirmed that the red-haired little girl indeed carried his bloodline.
But that wasn't the reason he gasped at the time.
The reason he had gasped was because he felt his scent left on the red-haired little girl in his arms.
And the scent wasn't something that could be left just by a glance from afar; it required close contact at the very least.
But Hawk could swear he had never seen this little girl before.
So the question arose.
How could he leave his scent when he hadn't seen this little girl?
The answer is simple.
His future self.
Future self is clear, but the current self is utterly confused, which is why he's not worried about the girl being lost but brought her directly to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Gwen glanced at the red-haired little girl sleeping quietly on the sofa, frowned, then looked at Hawk, seeming to recall something.
"Have you ever sold Life Essence?"
"What?"
"You know."
Gwen shrugged at Hawk's gaze, "You sold blood at that time; did you sell that thing."
Hawk was initially stunned, then realized, and his mouth twitched.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm very sure!"
Hawk faced Gwen's somewhat suspicious gaze, smiling slightly, "You know me, I don't like doing it myself."
Gwen was slightly stunned, felt the presence of Sharon, who stood by with a calm face but a sharp gaze, reacted, then rolled her eyes at Hawk and quickly changed the subject.
"What's the deal with this little girl then."
"Maybe I can answer that question."
A gentle voice sounded from outside, and following it, someone pushed the door open and entered.
Gwen looked toward the door, eyes lighting up, walked over and took the newcomer's arm, "Teacher!"
The visitor was a woman, with Asian features.
An authority in the field of biology, possessing an intelligence on par with Tony Stark, hailed as the seventh smartest person globally.
She was also Gwen's teacher.
Helen Zhao.
Hawk nodded with a smile to Helen Zhao, who entered, "Dr. Zhao."
Helen Zhao smiled back.
"Mr. Phoenix."
"Dr. Zhao, you just said..."
Standing nearby, Sharon glanced at Helen Zhao entering the room, and hurriedly changed the topic.
Helen Zhao walked up to the sofa, glanced at the red-haired little girl sleeping on it, and didn't mince words, directly addressing Peter's family of three and the other six who followed her inside.
"I found traces of editing in the genetic base code of this little girl."
"Hiss!"
"Shit."
"Jesus Christ!"
Helen Zhao's words caused Gwen, Peter, Felicia, and Sharon alike to gasp.
Hawk did not.
After all, he studied law.
However...
He glanced at Sharon, who graduated in agent studies but also gasped, a bit curious.
"Do you understand what Dr. Zhao means?"
"No idea."
"... Then why did you gasp?"
"They all gasped."
Sharon answered honestly, having learned leadership skills during her time as the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. First Agent.
For instance, a leader doesn't really need to know, as long as those under them believe they know.
Beside her, after gasping, Gwen looked at Helen Zhao.
"Teacher, you aren't talking about artificial gamete technology, are you?"
"Yes."
Helen Zhao nodded.
Hawk frowned and looked at Gwen, "Artificial... what's that?"
Gwen looked at Hawk, "It's the technology to extract DNA information from blood and then artificially synthesize gametes, which means as long as there's your blood, your little swimmers can be synthesized."
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
Next second.
He looked again at the sleeping red-haired little girl on the sofa, seeming to know the little girl's origins.
Three and a half years old, seventeen years old, at that time, only one organization had his blood.
Hydra!
Just as Hawk's thoughts shifted.
A soul suddenly crossed time and space and entered Hawk's Netherworld.
...