Marvel: The Enlightened One#223+224: Is Merrick Real or Fake? Vampires in the Marvel Universe!

Hawk had originally assumed Dr. Merrick could genuinely create life.

That was the whole reason he'd been willing to give Merrick a chance in the first place.

If the doctor could actually do it, Hawk wouldn't have minded letting bygones be bygones. He'd have welcomed Merrick as an honored guest, treated him with respect, made him comfortable.

After all, once his Cosmo fully manifested in reality, it would need life to populate it.

If Dr. Merrick's technology actually worked, then Hawk's manifested universe could develop its own native lifeforms at an accelerated rate.

But instead...

This was it?

What a letdown.

Still, Hawk didn't have any intention of killing Merrick.

At least, not right now.

After all, the original reason he'd been searching for Dr. Merrick wasn't because the man could create souls from nothing. It was simply because Merrick's cloning technology could use his sister's DNA to create a brand-new body for her.

Hawk's thoughts settled as he looked at Merrick, whose expression had turned ashen after having the true nature of his clones exposed. The scientist clearly thought his days were numbered. Hawk spoke up. "I can still let you live."

Merrick's defeated eyes immediately rekindled with hope as he turned to Hawk.

"Really, Mr. Phoenix?"

"As long as you clone a body for my sister."

"But my clones... you just said—"

"I only need the body. I don't need your soul imprinting."

"No problem."

Merrick's eyes lit up. He agreed without hesitation.

Hawk smiled faintly at that response but didn't bother engaging with Merrick further. Instead, he turned to Natasha. "He's all yours. Just don't let him die."

Natasha looked at Hawk with curiosity as he prepared to leave. "You're not taking him with you?"

She knew why Hawk wanted Dr. Merrick. After all, if Hawk hadn't been hunting for the doctor, HYDRA might have stayed underground for who knows how much longer.

But now Merrick had been found, and judging by Hawk's tone, he wasn't planning to take the scientist anywhere.

Hawk heard Natasha's question and smiled.

"You want the real answer or the official one?"

"There's an official answer?"

"I told Sharon I was just borrowing Dr. Merrick. So technically, he's still yours."

"Uh-huh. And the real answer?"

"I don't have the money to build a whole cloning lab like this. Plus, Gwen and I are heading to Georgia to visit her grandfather tomorrow. Not exactly convenient to drag Merrick along."

"Got it."

Natasha's expression cleared with understanding. She nodded. "I'll get him back to headquarters safely."

Hawk hummed in acknowledgment and turned to leave.

But—

Just as he was about to vanish, something stirred inside him. He stopped, turned back around, and locked his gaze directly on Dr. Merrick.

For a single moment, Hawk's eyes flashed with a piercing intensity, as if he could see straight through the man standing before him—body, mind, and soul laid bare under that scrutiny.

Dr. Merrick felt his blood run cold under that stare.

But just as quickly, Hawk's gaze softened. He said nothing.

Natasha glanced at Hawk, then signaled two SHIELD agents to escort Dr. Merrick out of the room.

Only after Merrick had been taken away did Natasha turn back to Hawk.

"What's wrong?"

"When you get back, have someone give Dr. Merrick a thorough examination."

"Why?"

Natasha's brow furrowed.

Hawk didn't respond right away. His mind was racing.

He'd been ready to leave. He'd already mentally checked out. But the moment he turned to go, an inexplicable sense of unease had welled up inside him—a prickling irritation that refused to be ignored.

Hawk knew better than to dismiss it. That irritation wasn't random. It was his Sixth Sense sounding the alarm.

As for why it was warning him—

Naturally, it had to do with his thoughts about Merrick cloning a body so his sister could finally be resurrected.

Which meant the problem wasn't with his sister. The problem was somewhere else.

And if his Sixth Sense was going off, there was only one possibility left.

Dr. Merrick was the problem.

Hawk's first instinct was that the man standing in front of him wasn't the real Dr. Merrick at all.

But—

He'd just scanned Merrick thoroughly with his Sixth Sense. He could confirm with absolute certainty that the man in front of him wasn't one of those soulless clones he'd just incinerated.

Yet his Sixth Sense didn't make mistakes.

Ever since he'd awakened it, his intuition had been frighteningly accurate. Every warning had been precise, every hunch validated.

Hawk trusted that implicitly. Which meant Dr. Merrick definitely had a problem.

After all, sometimes the absence of a problem was the biggest problem of all.

Hawk's eyes glinted as he turned back to Natasha. He didn't bother hiding his suspicion.

"This Merrick is wrong."

"What?"

Natasha blinked, momentarily thrown. Then understanding dawned. "He's also a clone?"

Hawk shook his head.

He'd already seen what Merrick's successfully activated clones looked like.

Sure, to the average person, they could pass for real. The illusion was convincing enough.

But not to Hawk.

He wielded a fragment of the Law of Life and Death. Which meant that even if a clone could fool everyone else, in Hawk's eyes, it was just a soulless puppet—a walking corpse with no true spark of existence.

If Merrick were a clone, Hawk would have spotted it instantly.

But Merrick wasn't.

At the very least, Merrick had a soul. He was nothing like those empty shells.

Unfortunately for Merrick, Hawk wasn't the type who needed hard evidence.

He trusted his gut. Just like he didn't judge his friends based on which side they were on.

Take Anna, for instance.

Even now, her original phone number was still saved in his contacts.

So, Hawk's thoughts clicked into place. He turned to Natasha. "Run a full workup on him when you get back. If nothing turns up, have him clone something random and see what happens."

Natasha studied Hawk with curiosity.

"You can't tell what's wrong with him?"

"Not specifically. But my instincts are screaming that something's off."

"..."

If anyone else had said that, Natasha might have dismissed it.

But coming from Hawk? That only meant one thing.

Dr. Merrick really did have a problem.

Natasha's mind started working through the implications. She looked at Hawk. "If this Dr. Merrick is compromised, then that means we didn't find this place because we got lucky. Someone wanted us to find it."

After all, their discovery of Dr. Merrick had seemed almost too convenient.

First, a HYDRA agent defected.

Then they noticed supply discrepancies at a warehouse.

Then they just happened to run into HYDRA agents leaving the base.

One word for it:

Smooth.

Everything had fallen into place like clockwork. Too smooth. Too natural.

But what if that smoothness wasn't luck? What if it had all been orchestrated?

What if HYDRA had deliberately let them "Capture" Dr. Merrick—feeding SHIELD a fake to make them think they'd caught the real one?

And the reason HYDRA would do that was easy enough to figure out.

Hawk might not be worried about clones of himself. But SHIELD absolutely was. Which meant SHIELD had been relentless in hunting down Dr. Merrick.

More relentless, even, than hunting HYDRA itself.

You could sum it up in one sentence: Until Merrick was caught, SHIELD wouldn't rest.

In the time since they'd learned HYDRA was trying to clone Hawk, the number of HYDRA bases destroyed had skyrocketed beyond anything they'd managed before.

In the past, SHIELD had hesitated when dealing with suspected HYDRA operations.

But now?

Sorry. If you're suspected of being HYDRA, you're getting investigated.

If they were wrong, they'd apologize later. They had agents with Japanese heritage—they could make it work. A formal bow, a public apology, problem solved.

Point being:

Because of Merrick, HYDRA had been under constant, crushing pressure for weeks. Every base that hadn't been raided yet was living in constant fear.

Under those circumstances, HYDRA absolutely needed to find a way to ease that pressure.

And what better way to do that than to return Dr. Merrick to SHIELD?

If they couldn't return the real one, a fake would have to do.

Natasha laid out her theory step by step. "...If this Dr. Merrick isn't the real one, that would explain why we had such a lucky break finding him in the first place."

By the time she finished speaking, her tone had shifted from skeptical to certain. Their "good fortune" hadn't been fortune at all. HYDRA had wanted them to find Merrick. So they'd made it happen.

But, Hawk's suspicions didn't need evidence.

SHIELD's suspicions did.

Natasha nodded decisively. "Understood. The moment we're back, I'll have him run through every test we've got. Soon as we have results, you'll be the first to know."

Hawk smiled. "No rush. I'll be gone for a bit anyway. You can tell me when I get back."

Natasha caught the key phrase in that sentence.

"When you get back?"

"Yeah."

Hawk nodded, smiling at Natasha. "Tomorrow—actually, today. Today, Gwen and I are heading to Mystic Falls. If everything goes according to plan, we'll probably be spending Christmas there this year."

That was the plan.

If he hadn't managed to bring his sister back from Hell, he'd have spent Christmas the same way he always did—keeping Anya company.

But this year was different.

His sister was safe in his Underworld. Which meant he could go anywhere. And Gwen was really looking forward to visiting her grandfather.

Natasha nodded. "Alright. Once we finish all the tests and confirm everything, I'll let you know."

Hawk honestly wanted to say he didn't care whether this Dr. Merrick was real or fake. It genuinely didn't matter to him either way.

But looking at Natasha's determined expression, he could only nod. Then he prepared to leave.

"Sounds good. I'm out, then."

"Safe travels."

Natasha smiled warmly. "See you."

Hawk returned the farewell, then turned and vanished from Natasha's line of sight.

The next second, he reappeared...

Natasha blinked at Hawk, who had apparently forgotten something and come right back.

Hawk smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, right. Could you—"

<><><><><><><><>

Mystic Falls, Georgia, sat nestled among dense forests and rolling mountains. Despite its remote location, the town's long history and stunning natural scenery had kept its population steady at around ten thousand. Every year, a decent number of tourists made the trip out to visit.

(PS: Have you guys watched The Vampire Diaries?)

On the highway leading into Mystic Falls, several cars shared the same destination.

Hawk and Gwen were in one of them.

Gwen sat in the passenger seat of the rental car Hawk had picked up at the airport earlier. She was practically bouncing with excitement as she rattled off every landmark and attraction the town had to offer.

Like the clock tower in the town square.

Like the mysterious falls that gave the town its name.

Like the cemetery rumored to be filled with buried vampires, and the Founders' Museum, which supposedly housed artifacts and tools used to hunt them down.

Hawk kept one eye on the GPS and the other on the road, smiling as he listened to his fiancée enthusiastically recount every ghost story and legend Mystic Falls had to offer.

Stories about vampires, werewolves, hunters, and witches.

Gwen was all over the place, jumping from topic to topic as they popped into her head.

Hawk just smiled and listened quietly.

After a while, Gwen noticed Hawk hadn't said a word in response. She blinked at him. "Hawk, I'm telling you—there really are vampires in this town. The Fox family used to be famous vampire hunters back in the day."

Hawk glanced over at Gwen, who looked equal parts mysterious and proud, and smiled as he nodded.

"That's amazing."

"..."

Gwen stared at Hawk's indulgent expression—the one that basically screamed, Whatever you say, dear—and rolled her eyes. "Hawk, I'm being serious."

Hawk shrugged. "I didn't say you were lying. Besides, you've already met a witch. And not just any witch—a Salem witch. Plus, you've met the most powerful sorcerer on Earth."

Carrie—the young girl covered head to toe in pig's blood whom Hawk had brought home after a Hell Witch showed up on his doorstep asking for help. Gwen had been the one to help clean her up.

The Ancient One—the most powerful sorcerer on Earth. No contest.

Gwen heard Hawk's response, blinked, then seemed to consider something. She turned to him. "Hawk, who do you think would win in a fight? A vampire or Carrie?"

Hawk thought about it for a moment.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Neither of them are stronger than me."

Hawk glanced at Gwen again and smiled.

It was the absolute truth.

Vampires, werewolves, Grimm hunters, witches—none of them were worth worrying about at Hawk's current level.

One sentence summed it up perfectly: He didn't even need the Phoenix Blast. A single Optic Blast—equivalent to hundreds of supersonic punches condensed into a beam—and how many supernatural creatures could actually survive that?

Gwen had been expecting Hawk to give a serious comparison. Instead, she got that answer. Her mouth twitched.

"I wanted you to compare vampires and witches."

"Fine."

Hawk shook his head with a laugh. They still had about half an hour left on the road. He glanced at Gwen again. "What do you think?"

Gwen, who had kicked off her sneakers and was now sitting cross-legged in the passenger seat, shrugged.

"I think witches would win. Carrie's really strong. When she awakened, didn't she tear apart the ground across an entire town?"

"True."

Hawk nodded. "Carrie's an incredibly powerful witch. And she's a Salem witch, which makes it even more impressive. Even an Original vampire wouldn't stand a chance against a witch who's lived long enough."

Witches, like sorcerers, got stronger with age.

The older they were, the more powerful their magic became.

Of course—

The Scarlet Witch was the exception.

Speaking of which...

He'd just raided Strucker's base in Sokovia, and the guy had already bolted. He hadn't accidentally erased Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver from the timeline, had he?

Hawk found himself genuinely curious about that.

Gwen, meanwhile, latched onto a specific phrase Hawk had just used.

"Original vampire?"

"The progenitor of a vampire bloodline. Basically, the source—the first vampire of that particular line."

"DRACULA!"

Gwen's mind immediately jumped to the most famous vampire of all time.

Hawk smiled faintly.

"He's one of them."

"One... of them?"

Gwen's eyes widened slightly. "There's more than one Original?"

Hawk chuckled. "Witches are divided into Hell Witches, Salem Witches, Dream Witches, and Dark Witches. Vampires are obviously split into factions too."

Gwen blinked, then shifted her entire body to face Hawk, sitting sideways in her seat.

"Tell me more."

"Sure."

Hawk laughed, grabbed his phone from where it sat next to the GPS, glanced at the remaining route, then turned off the navigation and tossed the phone to Gwen. "Check your email. Natasha sent something over. Look at it yourself."

He had zero issues with his fiancée using his phone.

After all, Hawk barely used the thing himself. Half the time, if Gwen didn't remind him, he'd forget to bring it at all.

That was why people like Sharon and Tony had stopped trying to call Hawk directly. If they needed to reach him, they just called Gwen instead.

Gwen unlocked Hawk's phone, opened his email, and checked the timestamp on Natasha's message.

"She sent this email this morning?"

"Yep."

Hawk glanced at Gwen with a smile. "You're the one who said Mystic Falls has vampires. Just in case, I figured I should do some homework first."

Gwen laughed and shook her head. "I was joking. There aren't actually vampires in Mystic Falls."

Hawk looked at Gwen again, smiling. "Better safe than sorry."

Are you kidding?

This was Mystic Falls.

He'd believe you if you said there were no demons here.

But no vampires?

Put it this way: If you climbed to the top of the clock tower at night and threw a brick into the crowd below, you'd hit a vampire seven times out of ten.

...

Twenty-five minutes later.

Hawk was driving through the final stretch of forest road leading into Mystic Falls. The bridge marking the town's entrance had just come into view.

His eyebrow twitched. He glanced over at Gwen, who had just finished reading SHIELD's file on supernatural vampire factions. She'd opened the window to breathe in the fresh mountain air and give her eyes a break.

More accurately, Hawk's gaze cut through the car door and into the dense forest beside them.

He didn't stop the car. Just kept driving toward town.

Gwen felt Hawk's eyes on her. She met his gaze, then glanced toward the trees herself.

She didn't see anything unusual.

But—

Gwen was absolutely certain Hawk had just spotted something.

"What did you see?"

"If I said vampire, would you believe me?"

Hawk smiled.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Dracula line? Cain line? Or Blood God line?"

Those were the three largest vampire factions on Earth according to SHIELD's files.

Dracula, Cain, and the Blood God were the Originals of those three bloodlines. While the vampires from each line had some differences, the supernatural world grouped them all under the broader category of "vampire."

Gwen had just finished reading all about it in Natasha's email.

And after reading it, she'd had one overwhelming thought:

She should probably thank SHIELD for keeping her alive all these years. According to their files, New York City alone had a significant vampire population. The only reason they weren't running wild was because SHIELD's headquarters was right there in the city, keeping them in check.

Good Lord.

She'd lived in New York her entire life and had no idea there were that many vampires around.

So when Hawk mentioned seeing a vampire just now, Gwen's mind had immediately jumped to those three major factions.

Hawk shook his head.

"None of those."

"What?"

"The vampires here..."

Hawk thought back to the file SHIELD had sent. "Should fall under the Mikaelson line."

Gwen's mind immediately pulled up SHIELD's entry on the Mikaelson Originals. "Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah?"

Unlike the entries for Dracula, Cain, and the Blood God—all of which had a certain mythological quality to them—the Mikaelson line was different.

There was nothing mythological about them.

According to SHIELD's records, the Mikaelson bloodline could be traced directly back to the Mikaelson family: Klaus Mikaelson, Elijah Mikaelson, and Rebekah Mikaelson.

But because those three Originals moved around constantly, kept to themselves, and seemed to be running from something, SHIELD didn't have much information on them personally.

However, SHIELD had plenty of intel on other Mikaelson-line vampires—the ones who'd been turned by those three Originals.

For example, Mikaelson vampires couldn't enter a home without an invitation. If you stabbed them in the heart with wood, they dissolved into blood.

Gwen recalled the details from SHIELD's file.

But—

She looked at Hawk with a somewhat helpless expression. "There really are vampires in Mystic Falls? I was just making that up. And I've been here before—I never noticed anything."

Hawk laughed and glanced at Gwen.

"New York has vampires too, and we've never seen any either."

"Fair point."

Gwen thought back on her nearly twenty years living in New York without ever once encountering a vampire. She nodded reflexively, then turned back to Hawk with curiosity. "Hey, Hawk—do you think we'll actually get to see a vampire this time?"

Hawk looked at Gwen.

"You want to?"

"I've never seen one. I'm curious."

Gwen was completely honest.

She'd met witches. She'd visited the most powerful sorcerer on Earth with Hawk.

So, If the opportunity presented itself, she'd definitely like to see a vampire.

Especially since Hawk would be right there with her.

Hawk looked at Gwen's curious, sparkling eyes, then turned his gaze toward the town now coming into view ahead. The corner of his mouth curved upward.

"If nothing goes wrong, you'll get your chance this trip."

"..."