Hawke put away his phone, tucked it back into his pocket, and looked at the corpse under the Phoenix Fire, his eyes flickering.
The next second.
He shook his head and chuckled again.
Hawke understood what Gwen meant on the phone just now.
It was simply that she would protect the three children, Jean, Billy, and Tommy, and they couldn't be touched.
But... Hawke never intended to touch them.
More accurately, he was indifferent to it.
If he really had the thought Gwen was worried about, he wouldn't have just brought Pietro back to New York S.H.I.E.L.D.
In a word.
Hawke didn't care if Strucker gave him three children.
But if Strucker wanted to use these three children to threaten him, Hawke could only say that he was overthinking it.
Mephisto once tried to threaten him with the soul of his most cherished sister, and he didn't yield.
Why would Strucker think that these three children, who were not products of love but of technology, could make him yield?
What was he thinking?
Hawke was actually quite curious about Strucker's state of mind when he did this, and why he thought it would allow him to control Hawke.
Did he think that because he himself could be threatened by his enemies with his son, Hawke could also be threatened by his sons?
Right.
Strucker's son... Hawke's thoughts spun, and suddenly, his sword-like eyebrows raised, a cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he turned, instantly vanishing into the World's largest shifting desert.
Natasha, who was standing by, about to speak, watched Hawke disappear before she could even open her mouth, and her jaw dropped.
At the same time.
With Gwen's help, Pietro, now free, took Jean back to Paris, then received a satellite call from Strucker, and subsequently rushed towards the modified address Strucker provided.
After five such round trips, he finally met a HYDRA Agent, who handed him and Jean each a bottle of sweet water.
After drinking the sweet water, Pietro and Jean immediately fell into a sweet slumber.
Half an hour later, in an underground port, a submarine surfaced from the water.
And a long distance away, deep in the ocean, there was a massive underwater Base.
Six thick support arms radiated outwards, piercing the seabed and firmly supporting this huge underwater Base.
It was dull silver-gray overall, its surface covered with pressure-resistant composite armor plates embedded with dense explosion-proof portholes, like the compound eyes of an insect, emitting a faint blue glow in the deep sea.
Through one of the windows, one could see a space identical to a S.H.I.E.L.D. combat command center.
On a huge screen was a global satellite map, and on this global satellite map, there were originally countless red dots, but over the past year, these red dots had disappeared at a visible speed.
Just then.
A HYDRA Agent, having received a message, turned towards the Shadow behind him.
"Officer, Quicksilver and Jean have been picked up and are on their way back."
"Mm."
A low voice came from the Shadow, and then Strucker, with impeccably combed gray-white hair, wearing a monocle, a serious expression, and exuding a gloomy and cold aura, emerged from the Shadow, his voice equally cold.
"Have you still not found out how Jean got out?"
"Uh..."
The assistant, standing beside Strucker and emerging from the Shadow with him, hesitated for a moment and then looked at Strucker.
"The damaged surveillance has been restored."
"Jean disappeared abruptly, but before she disappeared, she said that Daddy hadn't seen her for a long time, that he promised to visit her once a month, and then she said she was going to find Daddy, and then Jean disappeared."
"..."
Strucker listened to the assistant's report, and the corner of his mouth twitched imperceptibly: "So, she has also mastered the 'Instant Movement' displayed by the Demon King?"
The assistant nodded.
"Looks like it."
"How are Billy and Tommy?"
"They haven't shown any abnormalities; they seem to be just ordinary life forms."
"...That's good too."
Strucker was silent for a moment, then smiled: "It's better if they're ordinary. With Billy and Tommy, we can control Wanda, Jean, and Pietro, and then with these three, we can control the Demon King. Oh, by the way, you said the Demon King now knows our plan. Will he be so angry that he'll tear us apart?"
The assistant looked at Strucker, whose face showed a morbid smile as he said this, opened his mouth, but said nothing.
Just then.
In the silent deep sea, a submarine appeared silently, slowly approaching the cold HYDRA Base on the seabed.
Half an hour later.
Pietro woke up, seemingly from a very comfortable sleep, yawning as he opened his eyes, instinctively sat up from the sofa, and then saw Strucker sitting on an adjacent sofa, drinking whiskey.
Strucker looked at Pietro getting up and pushed a pre-poured whiskey towards him.
Pietro chuckled, grabbed the glass, took a sip, and looked at Strucker.
"Thank you."
"Did you see the Demon King?"
"I did."
Pietro nodded, then seemed to remember something and looked at Strucker: "He's very strong; my speed is nothing in front of him. But he doesn't seem as terrifying as you said."
Strucker's mouth curved upwards, and he glanced at Pietro.
"That's because you haven't become his enemy."
"So you are Hawke's enemy?"
"I wanted to cooperate with him; he just didn't agree."
Strucker's tone was calm.
That's what he said, and that's what he thought. He had said it before when Hawke found Sokovia.
But Hawke rejected his goodwill and even told him to stay far away, otherwise, he would die a miserable death.
Strucker knew very well that Hawke's threat was not just words, but a real one.
At best, his family would be wiped out.
At worst, his entire clan would be annihilated.
Since Hawke's debut, anyone who has been his enemy, or tried to provoke Hawke, or even now, tried to test Hawke, either has grass growing on their grave, or their entire clan's land has become a barren waste.
So... Strucker said he wasn't afraid, which was a lie.
But!
Strucker was even more afraid that Hawke would not be used by them.
In a word.
Before we, HYDRA, take over the World, I need to be on good terms with you.
But when we, HYDRA, take over the World, and we still need to be on good terms with you, even coaxing you, spoiling you, and having to watch your every mood, then wouldn't all our efforts as HYDRA be in vain?
In short.
They must control Hawke.
What?
Alexander Pierce doesn't think so.
Haha.
What does a rookie like him know about HYDRA?
This was the unanimous opinion of the old-school HYDRA leaders: any power not used by them was absolutely not allowed.
So ever since the old-school HYDRA, he, Dr. Zola, and also Whitehall and Malik, unanimously decided that they must find Hawke's weakness to control him. Everyone has a weakness.
And they did find it.
Hawke's weakness was his family.
But... Thaddeus Ross, who previously tried to disturb his sister's eternal rest, had his family wiped out.
Wakanda, who previously tried to use Gwen to threaten Hawke, had its clan annihilated.
Hawke's sister was already dead.
As for Gwen.
They didn't dare touch Gwen; the risk was too great.
But that didn't matter. Hawke's sister was dead, and his fiancée was too risky. So they would just create a family member for Hawke that was under their control, and then threaten Hawke with them.
According to their profiling, if they had Hawke's bloodline in their hands, then their success rate of using this to threaten Hawke would be infinitely close to ninety-nine percent.
So... Strucker did it, and he succeeded.
Using the blood provided by Hawke, they successfully extracted DNA, then artificially synthesized gametes, and after experimenting with more than twenty subjects, successfully gave birth to an infant with Hawke's bloodline.
Code name — Jean!
God's grace.
Meaning, this child was God's grace to them, to control Hawke.
And it really did seem like God's grace.
Because after so many experiments, only this one was born, and the laboratory's analysis led to a conclusion.
Hawke's vitality was too powerful; ordinary life forms couldn't even conceive, let alone combine.
Only Wanda, who had expanded and enhanced her psychic abilities with the Mind Stone, could have enough energy to conceive Hawke's offspring.
It is well known.
The higher the life level of a creature, the exponentially more difficult it is to reproduce offspring.
According to the laboratory's conclusion, the possibility of Gwen conceiving Hawke's offspring was almost Zero.
So... this made Strucker feel even more that the success rate of threatening Hawke with the bloodline offspring they had conceived for him was almost one hundred percent.
That time in Sokovia, Strucker wanted to tell Hawke about this.
But!
Hawke didn't give him a chance to speak, directly telling him to clean his neck and wait.
But it was fine.
"Jean."
"Billy."
"Tommy."
"If you want offspring, then we can control you."
"Demon King."
"Our HYDRA's Demon King."
Strucker's face was calm as he sipped his drink, his mind already envisioning Hawke, after being threatened by the three children, serving them and helping them conquer the World.
Just then.
A ringing sound echoed.
It wasn't from Pietro, nor from Strucker, but from the drawer of the office desk.
Strucker heard the phone ring, paused slightly, then looked at Pietro.
"You can go."
"..."
Pietro looked at Strucker, whose expression had just changed, and frowned, but said nothing, getting up and walking towards the door.
Strucker also got up and walked towards the desk.
Just as Pietro pushed open the door and then closed it behind him, Strucker, looking at the incoming call, showed a slight smile on his cold face.
Then, at the moment Pietro closed the door, Strucker's lowered voice seemed to reach his ear.
"Son!"
"..."
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