Anya was inside the room.
Hawk was outside the room.
He saw clearly Anya's expression on her face transition from confusion to shock, then from shock to disbelief, and finally to incredulity.
The next second.
Anya cried out.
"Brother!"
"Thud!"
Instinctively, Hawk reached out, catching Anya as she lunged into his arms. His hands stiffened for a moment, but although he knew very clearly she wasn't his real sister, he hesitated for less than a second before hugging Anya.
But...
Just as Anya embraced Hawk, Hawk suddenly sensed a gust of wind rising from below.
In sight.
Anya's joyful expression suddenly turned into one of raging fury. Immediately, a vicious upwards kick targeted Hawk.
Hawk's eyebrows furrowed, and with a thought, he stopped Anya's subsequent action in the nick of time, then looked at Anya who had stepped away from his embrace.
"This isn't how a sister greets her brother."
"Bah, you're not my brother!"
Anya's charming face seethed with anger as she stared at Hawk, her tone equally furious: "Although I don't know why you look so much like my brother, you're not my brother. Who are you?"
Hawk's tone was calm.
"Hawk Phoenix."
"Fuck!"
Upon hearing this, Anya's anger surged, looking at the impostor who tried to impersonate her brother, she stomped a foot and swung her torso, then kicked a whip-like kick towards Hawk again.
Hawk raised his eyebrows, sensing a hint of murderous intent from Anya's attack, curious but not opting for an overwhelming counterattack, instead choosing to spar with this sister, Anya.
Anya's fists and feet struck with solid force.
As Hawk blocked layer by layer, he felt those attacks weren't mere theatrics, growing curious. While blocking Anya's attacks, he spoke.
"Nice moves, who taught you?"
"Hehe."
Hearing this, Anya's charming face had a cold sneer, continuously attacking Hawk: "You're definitely a fake, if you were really my brother, you wouldn't ask such a stupid question."
Hawk's smile remained unchanged.
"I remember my sister had a congenital heart defect."
"Seems like you did a lot of homework, even knowing about such a secretive thing as my heart defect." Anya sneered again: "But unfortunately, your homework is outdated. My heart defect, when I was ten years old, was already cured by my brother."
Hawk raised an eyebrow, and after confirming the level of Anya's attack, he shifted his shape and left the combat range, thoughtfully looking at Anya.
"Ten years old?"
"Yes, surprised, aren't you, bastard."
Anya realized at this moment, this impostor pretending to be her brother wasn't one who could be easily taken down with mere martial arts. So as her right hand brushed past her lower back, she pulled out a Glock and, without hesitation, aimed and pulled the trigger at Hawk.
"Click!"
"Eh?"
Anya was slightly stunned as she looked at the empty casing Glock that fired after pulling the trigger.
The next second.
She saw Hawk open his right hand across from her.
In sight.
The golden bullet was conspicuous in Hawk's palm.
"Interesting."
Hawk let his right palm face the ground, allowing the bullet in his palm to drop to the ground, then with a smirk, looked at Anya in front of him with a gaze full of appreciation: "Too bad your vigilance isn't enough. The weight of a fully loaded gun and an empty one is different, you should be more careful."
Anya's eyebrows furrowed, and with a swoosh, she hurled the Glock in her hand towards Hawk while also charging at Hawk: "Die, bastard."
Hawk tilted his head to the side, dodging the gun attack, then snapped his fingers.
Telekinesis erupted!
Whoosh!
Anya was instantly frozen in mid-air in a side-kick stance.
Her foot was less than ten centimeters from Hawk's chest.
Hawk watched his sister Anya, whose eyes were filling with anger tinged with a hint of panic, with a slight smirk, then released the telekinesis restraint on Anya.
With a thud.
Anya landed on the lawn on her rear, letting out a cry of pain.
Instinctively, Hawk stepped forward.
The next moment.
A cold smile crossed Anya's lips, accompanied by a flash of cold light, as a dagger was drawn out, aimed right at Hawk's heart.
With a clank.
The dagger shattered upon touching Hawk, pieces falling to the ground.
Anya's mouth gaped open.
Hawk glanced down at the slight white spot on his suit's chest, chuckled softly, then shook his head at the sister Anya, one knee on the ground, the other foot standing in an assassin's pose.
"Now can we talk properly?"
"..."
The dagger in Anya's right hand fell to the ground, and with a whoosh, she retreated several steps, watching Hawk, her eyebrows knitted tightly.
"Who are you."
"Hawk Phoenix."
"Shut up, you're not my brother!"
Anya shouted angrily: "You might look just like my brother, even your aura might match his, but you might be able to fool Wanda, you can't fool me. Do you know how I figured out you're a fake?"
Hawk was also curious about how he differed from the Hawk of this universe, so he nodded.
"Where."
"You hesitated when hugging me."
Anya said in a deep voice: "If you were really my brother, you absolutely wouldn't hesitate during that hug."
Listening to Anya's reasoning, Hawk couldn't help but laugh and instinctively looked at Anya.
"Maybe I haven't seen you in a long time?"
"You mean, after being inseparable for so many years, considering me the most precious gift, after seeing me again, would he feel distanced?"
"...Sorry."
Hawk looked at the angry Anya, silent for a while, then apologized: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted the bond between you and your brother."
When Anya heard Hawk's apology, the fury in her eyes didn't dissipate, but continued to stare daggers at Hawk.
"So, I'll ask one last time, who the hell are you."
"I'm..."
Hawk met Anya's angry gaze, and just as he was about to speak, a thought stirred within him, and he instantly closed his eyes.
The next second.
He found himself above his own Time Galaxy.
At a glance.
Hawk looked at the Time Galaxy below, which belonged to him. Suddenly, it thickened, as if another timeline had unexpectedly appeared and merged with it when he descended into this cosmos.
Then–
A memory that differed from his original memories, seemingly belonging to 616 Cosmos's Hawk Phoenix, emerged in his mind.
"Brother."
"Mm."
"Why do we use Phoenix as a surname?"
"Because it's a transliteration of Phoenix, the Phoenix is immortal, just Nirvana, we will be reborn from the ashes."
"Brother?"
"Mm."
"Am I about to die?"
"How could that be? I won't let you die. Don't forget, our surname is Phoenix. I will definitely make you reborn from the ashes like a Phoenix."
"…"
"Dr. Anim Zola, I know you're in there."
"...Hawk Phoenix, ten years old, I'm curious how you knew of my existence."
"My sister is sick, cure her, and I will tell you everything."
"…"
"We've saved your sister. As agreed, you will be at our service. I'm curious how you know about us."
"I don't know either, I just knew those names. I don't know where I know you from, I'm just taking a gamble."
"No problem, we'll find out. But until we do, you and your sister must remain under our surveillance. If we detect any actions, you should know we will kill you immediately."
"Don't worry, I won't."
"…"
"Brother!"
"Mm?"
"Am I already dead?"
"How could you be? I told you, I won't let you die, you're better now."
"But the hospital said…"
"I made a deal with the devil."
"…"
"Phoenix, maybe you'll find answers to your mystery over with Strucker."
"Alright, this is what I owe you, but just this once. If Strucker doesn't give you the answers you want, then we're even."
"Deal!"
"…"
"Ah!"
"Sir, he's fading fast."
"Pause, send him back to his room."
"…"
"What's your name?"
"Wanda, what about you."
"Hawk, I feel like I know you."
"Your flirting is quite old-fashioned, brother, but you also volunteered for this experiment."
"Sort of, I owe them a favor, after this, there will be no more debts."
"What about you?"
"Seeking power, then revenge."
"Stark?"
"…You know?"
"I don't know, I said, I feel like I know you, but sorry, these days my mind has been a bit muddled."
"Alright, poor brother, maybe you should take a break, that's Pietro, don't bother with him."
"Okay!"
"…"
"Ah!"
"Boom!"
"Sir, the Avengers are attacking."
"Shit, shut down the machine and evacuate."
"Sir, we can't, the machine is operating, if we evacuate, Hawk Phoenix will die."
"Shut up, stop the machine!"
"…Yes!"
"Boom!"
"…"
Standing silently over his Time Galaxy, Hawk quickly processed the memories that had merged into the river of his time, then reopened his eyes, his gaze calm as still water.
Alright.
He had previously guessed wrong about something.
Hawk had always thought that, aside from himself, the versions of him in other multiverses had not awakened the memory of their past lives.
As it turns out…
It wasn't like that.
The other multiverse Hawks weren't his equivalents after all.
But—
His variants!
Simply put.
The Hawks of the multiverse are not Hawk!
But Hawk?
They are!
…