Marvel: The Enlightened One#207+208: HYDRA's Pierce, Fought Over by the Underworld and Hell

The phoenix burned.

HYDRA died.

All across the battlefield, SHIELD agents locked in combat with HYDRA operatives stopped in their tracks. They stood frozen, staring up at the sky as their enemies—one by one—were pulled into the burning phoenix above and reduced to ash.

And at the same time—

The phoenix's flames grew even brighter.

Soon, the phoenix vanished.

Hawk vanished with it.

THUD!

After incinerating every last HYDRA operative, Hawk reappeared in the top-floor conference room of the Triskelion. He walked straight to Alexander Pierce, grabbed him by the throat, and looked at Natasha.

"I handled the hard part for you. You don't need me for cleanup, right?"

"Of course not." Natasha snapped out of her daze and nodded.

Hawk smiled faintly. Without another word, he turned back to Pierce. His eyes turned cold.

The next second, he vanished with Pierce, disappearing from Natasha's sight—and from the view of the three Council representatives still in the room.

At the same time, Sharon's voice came through the earpiece, barely containing her excitement.

"We've secured the Insight command center. We now have control of Helicarrier Two."

"Three's under control too."

Tony Stark's voice joined the channel. "JARVIS, transfer command authority."

Soon after, Sharon watched as the third helicarrier came online. Her face lit up. "Helicarrier Three is operational."

There had been three Insight helicarriers in total.

Hawk had destroyed Carrier One. That left two.

"Carrier One has crashed into the Potomac. Agent Thirty-Five is leading a team to the scene now."

"Copy that."

"Rat-tat-tat-tat!"

As the excited voices of SHIELD agents retaking control echoed through the comms, a Quinjet streaked across the sky and descended vertically onto the Triskelion's rooftop landing pad.

The next second, A woman in SHIELD tactical gear stepped out of the jet. Maria Hill. She glanced at Iron Man, who had just flown over from Carrier Three and landed nearby. She nodded in greeting, then walked with him into the top-floor conference room.

Tony's faceplate retracted. He glanced around the room curiously, then his gaze settled on Natasha.

"Where's Hawk?"

"Just left."

Natasha shrugged, then looked at Maria Hill as she entered. "Commander."

"Thank you for your hard work." Hill nodded at Natasha, then turned to the three Council representatives still in the room. She held out a tablet. "Emergency directive from the World Security Council. I've been promoted to Director of SHIELD, effective immediately."

When Alexander Pierce had thrown SHIELD into chaos, she'd known something was wrong.

But—

Pierce had ordered her to stay in Africa with the Wakanda coalition forces, citing "security concerns" and her role as tactical commander.

Fortunately, after the New York branch was liberated, Victoria Hand had contacted her. Through the UN coalition stationed in Wakanda, Hill had managed to reach the Big Five. While flying back to the States, she'd waited for their orders.

By the time she crossed back into U.S. airspace, the Eastern and Moscow representatives had received emergency intel from their respective Council members. They'd unanimously approved her promotion to Director, giving her full authority to handle the HYDRA crisis.

The three representatives already knew about the directive. They glanced at the tablet Hill held out, then looked away. Leaving the room to Hill, they turned and headed for the exit.

SHIELD had its business to handle.

They had theirs. At the very least, they needed to report back to their governments and brief them on everything that had happened.

Soon after—

Thor walked in from outside, gripping Mjölnir.

"Where's Hawk?"

"Just left."

Natasha looked at Thor and shrugged again. Then she paused, feeling like she'd just said those exact words a minute ago.

Tony glanced at Thor. "JARVIS is tracking Hawk's energy signature, but it seems to have disappeared."

Thor frowned. "Did he go back to New York?"

Natasha shook her head. "No."

Commander Hand and a SHIELD team were still stationed at Bleecker Street.

They'd made their decision—they'd stay until Hawk returned. No matter how long it took.

Bottom line: they weren't giving HYDRA any openings.

So where had Hawk gone?

...

He hadn't gone far. In fact, he hadn't even left Washington D.C. After taking Pierce from the Triskelion—

The next moment, Hawk reappeared with Pierce at his secluded mansion in Rock Creek Park, hidden deep within a dense patch of trees.

"THUD!"

"Cough, cough, cough—"

After Hawk casually dropped him, Pierce—who'd been on the verge of suffocation from Hawk's grip—instinctively clutched his throat, coughing violently.

Hawk's Sixth Sense swept through every corner of the mansion. Then, hands in his pockets, he looked at Pierce as the man coughed and struggled to his feet.

Pierce—who had once carried himself with confidence and authority—now looked utterly defeated. His face was haggard, aged.

He'd lost.

Completely and utterly lost...

Still, Pierce held onto the last shred of dignity befitting a HYDRA leader. After pulling himself off the floor and catching his breath, he looked at Hawk.

"If I told you I never wanted to move against you, would you believe me?"

"Heh."

Hawk let out a dry laugh at Pierce's words. But a moment later, the humor faded from his face entirely. He stared at Pierce.

"I believe you. But it doesn't change anything. The fact is, you did move against me. I always thought you were smart, Pierce. I didn't give a damn about HYDRA. Hell, I didn't even care if you managed to take over the world this time."

He wasn't lying.

Out of everyone in HYDRA, he'd always considered Alexander Pierce the smartest.

After all, Anna worked for Pierce.

And Hawk's relationship with Anna had been genuinely good. In a way, if Pierce's strategy hadn't been to befriend him, he and Anna never would have become friends in the first place.

That was why, back in Wakanda, he hadn't suspected Pierce was lying to him.

Because it made no sense.

Pierce wasn't an idiot. Hawk's power was clear as day. Crossing him would guarantee HYDRA's grand ambitions would never come to fruition.

And yet—

Pierce had done exactly that.

It didn't fit Pierce's character. Unless there was one possibility: Pierce believed the cost of hiding the truth was lower than the cost of revealing it.

Hawk's thoughts churned. He thought about his friend Anna. He looked at Pierce.

"Where's Anna?"

"Dead."

Pierce let out a bitter laugh.

Hawk chuckled quietly, staring at Pierce—whose answer was the same as it had been at the Triskelion. "Anna's not dead. I'm absolutely certain. You want to know how I know?"

Pierce looked at Hawk.

Hawk had no intention of explaining. He didn't even entertain the thought. He just stared at Pierce thoughtfully.

"Anna's clearly alive. But you keep insisting she's dead."

"Which means one of two things."

"Either Anna's being held prisoner somewhere, or she's in critical condition."

"But that's not what matters. What matters is this: you'd rather have me believe Anna's dead than let me see her."

"So..."

"You're hiding something from me, Pierce."

"Why?"

"I've been thinking about that question ever since I got here. But I'm done thinking. There's no point..."

By the time he finished speaking, Hawk's gaze had turned ice-cold. He stared at Pierce. "I'm giving you one last chance. Out of respect for my friendship with Anna. Either you tell me right now, or you better take it to your grave."

He genuinely wanted to know what had driven the smart Pierce to do something so monumentally stupid.

He really did.

But If Pierce wouldn't talk, Hawk wasn't going to keep asking.

There was no point.

If he wanted answers, he could just ask one question.

He was the Strongest on Earth. And he had neither the patience nor the interest to play guessing games with these people.

"Your choice, Pierce."

"Heh."

Pierce let out a bitter laugh. The expression on his face grew even more resigned. "If I don't tell you, maybe you'll give me a dignified end out of respect for Anna. But if I do tell you? I won't even get that much."

Zola's plan to clone Hawk was one thing.

But the girl Strucker had been working on in Sokovia—

He couldn't talk about that.

It wasn't that he didn't want to.

It was because, at the end of the day—

He was HYDRA.

Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.

He might die today.

But if Dr. Zola's contingency plan succeeded, or if Strucker's project in Sokovia bore fruit, then one day, HYDRA's Third Struggle would begin anew.

And when that day came, HYDRA would finally, truly rule the world.

After letting out that bitter laugh, Pierce's expression shifted. The exhaustion and defeat vanished from his face. He looked revitalized—almost youthful—as he locked eyes with Hawk's cold gaze.

The next second—

His right arm shot up at a forty-five-degree angle.

"Hail HYDRA!"

"HAIL HYDRA!"

"..."

Hawk stared at Pierce—whose face was now filled with manic fervor, just like John Garrett's had been. No fear of death. Just fanatical devotion.

And Hawk laughed.

"Fine."

"You want to die."

"I'll grant your wish."

"But you're going to learn what it means to wish you were dead."

A smile spread across Hawk's face.

The next moment, his eyes turned crimson.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

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

Blazing Phoenix Rays shot from Hawk's eyes, striking Alexander Pierce—who stood before him in some kind of fanatical pose—dead center.

In an instant...

Alexander Pierce vaporized on the spot. Not even bone fragments remained.

But his soul stayed right where it was.

Pierce, now in spirit form after his instantaneous death, stood frozen in place. Confused. He couldn't quite understand why Hawk had killed him so easily.

After all, in Pierce's imagination, Hawk would have tortured him first. Extensively.

He'd already braced himself for it. He'd prepared himself not to reveal—no matter how much suffering Hawk inflicted—why HYDRA had been bold enough to test him in the first place.

Their second attempt at world domination had failed.

But they still had options.

Whether it was Dr. Zola's cloning project or Strucker's plan, as long as one of them succeeded, HYDRA could still achieve global dominance.

But instead—

Hawk hadn't tortured him at all. In fact, when death came, Pierce hadn't even felt a shred of pain.

Was Hawk... merciful?

Of course not.

Just as Alexander Pierce was processing this thought, he suddenly felt a pull. He turned his head and saw a gate slowly opening before him.

The Gates of Hell.

He had to enter quickly. If he didn't go in within the allotted time, he'd become a malevolent spirit.

In his soul form, Alexander Pierce instantly understood the meaning of that gate—and where his journey would end.

But—

Just as he took one last look at Hawk—who seemed unable to see him—and prepared to turn toward the Gates of Hell, he heard Hawk's voice.

"Pierce. Where do you think you're going?"

"..."

Alexander Pierce instinctively turned his head.

The next second, his eyes widened in shock.

Behind Hawk, the Underworld had opened. The pull from the Underworld immediately fell upon Alexander Pierce's soul, attempting to draw him into Hawk's realm instead.

Pierce had provoked him this much, and he thought he could just die and escape to Hell to live comfortably?

Not a chance.

Hawk would make Pierce understand exactly what he'd meant by his earlier words.

Perfect timing, too.

Since establishing his Underworld, Hawk's Eight Prisons of Hell hadn't had a single guest yet. Pierce would make an excellent first customer.

He'd learn what it meant to wish for death. Very soon.

In an instant, A roar echoed from the rift in reality.

"HAWK!"

RUMBLE!

Space twisted and collided violently. The Hell Gate that had been pulling Pierce toward damnation suddenly swung wide open. Then—horned, tailed, appearing in his giant demonic form—Mephisto emerged behind the gate, his face twisted in fury.

Powerful Hell energy surged forward, attempting to reclaim Pierce's soul from the Underworld's pull.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Hawk took one step forward. The Black Phoenix phantom appeared around him. The Black Phoenix Surplice rapidly assembled itself onto his body. By the time he was fully armored, he'd already reached the rift between reality and countless dimensions.

His Underworld manifested behind him, standing in direct opposition to Mephisto's Hell Dimension as the two realms battled for ownership of Alexander Pierce's soul.

In life, Alexander Pierce had stood above millions, living in luxury and power. Even in death, his soul was being fought over by Hawk's Underworld and Mephisto's Hell.

You had to hand it to him—Alexander Pierce had lived a hell of a life.

Literally stretched to his limits.

In the extreme tug-of-war between the Underworld and Hell, Alexander Pierce's soul had been pulled so taut it had practically become a straight line.

Mephisto roared furiously.

"HAWK! THIS SOUL BELONGS TO MY HELL!"

"I know!"

Beneath the Black Phoenix visor, Hawk stared back at Mephisto across an unknowable span of dimensions.

His eyes were calm. His tone was calm as he faced the demon lord standing at the edge of the Hell Dimension.

"But I'm taking this soul."

"Not happening!"

Mephisto bellowed.

"Fine."

Hearing that, Hawk didn't get angry. He just sighed, then addressed Mephisto again. "Let me rephrase. I'm taking this soul whether you like it or not. You've got two options: hand him over nicely right now, or we have another war. I'll find a way to break down your Hell's gates, storm into your dimension, trash the place, shatter your realm, turn your rivers upside down, and then I'll take this soul anyway. Two choices. Pick one."

Mephisto's voice grew even more furious.

His face turned red, like magma about to erupt from a volcano.

"You're still planning to fight me for Earth's souls??"

"Depends on you."

"WHAT??"

"I only want this one soul. He wants to die? Too bad. I'm going to show him what it means to wish for death. So either you give me this soul, or I really will start competing for all of Earth's souls."

Perfect timing, actually. Since his Underworld hadn't officially started processing souls yet, Pierce could be the first Beta tester for his Eight Prisons. He'd get to experience firsthand whether Hawk's designs were sufficiently... entertaining.

Pierce would test them out, and Hawk would make improvements as needed.

Just like a game in closed beta.

Common knowledge—

During closed beta, you could tweak any data you wanted. But once the game went live, making changes became a lot more complicated.

His Cosmo worked the same way.

Right now, his Cosmo hadn't manifested as reality yet. It only approached reality through the influence of the Reality Stone.

So at this stage, he could modify anything. But once his Cosmo became real, making changes would be a massive pain in the ass.

Hearing Hawk's blatant threat, Mephisto's nose practically bent sideways from rage.

"Damn it, Hawk! You made an oath!"

"Pfft!"

Hearing that, Hawk actually laughed. "An oath? What's that? Demons are the least trustworthy creatures around—your words, not mine, Mephisto. I'm just learning from you. Though I'm more considerate than you are. I'm leaving the choice in your hands. You can choose to let me keep my oath by giving me this soul. Or you can make me break my oath. I'm fine either way."

Listening to Hawk's completely shameless response, Mephisto's massive demonic body trembled with fury.

Hawk's expression remained flat.

Fight honor with honor.

Fight dirty with dirty.

When dealing with an untrustworthy Demon Lord like Mephisto, the best strategy was to be even more untrustworthy and even more shameless.

Most importantly, In this timeline, compared to Mephisto, Hawk was the one with nothing to lose.

Common knowledge:

Throughout history, people with something to lose have always feared those with nothing to lose. Never the other way around.

Like he'd said before, Right now, Hawk's Cosmo only existed within his spiritual platform. It hadn't become reality yet.

But Mephisto's Hell Dimension was very real and very much existed in the physical world.

Another war? So what?

Hawk could recklessly burn and detonate his Cosmo without consequence. After resting for a bit, his Cosmo would recover—and come back even stronger than before. After all, the Cosmo was forged through battle. Every fight made it grow.

Why else did Hawk act like a honey badger, picking fights with everyone he met? Why else did he actively look forward to them?

Simple, Saints grew fastest through combat. That was also why, as their sparring sessions continued, Thor had become increasingly reluctant to fight him.

He was too intense.

To sum it up: Hawk loved war. He actively craved it.

But Mephisto couldn't afford that. If Mephisto's Hell Dimension got wrecked, it was really wrecked. No respawns.

And so, Mephisto had no choice.

He stared at the expressionless Hawk standing before him—the one calmly giving him an ultimatum—and his entire body shook with rage. His face flushed red like churning magma.

"Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT!"

"Right. Right. Right."

Hawk's tone was completely indifferent. "Go ahead, keep stalling. If you stretch the soul I want into fragments, I'll just assume you're declaring war."

Mephisto's expression froze.

That had been exactly what he was thinking.

After all—

Just handing over the soul like this? He couldn't do it. Because what was the difference between that and giving in to extortion? Give him one today, five tomorrow, and where did it end?

Mephisto instinctively loosened his pull on Pierce's soul. He took a deep breath and looked at Hawk, his voice low and dangerous.

"You guarantee it's only this one soul?"

"I—"

Hawk was about to nod, but suddenly thought of something. He looked at Mephisto again. "There might be a few more souls I'll need to throw into my Prisons. I want to watch them suffer. So let's say ten... Give me ten slots."

Ten??

Mephisto felt like his entire demonic existence was collapsing.

He actually laughed from sheer rage.

"Why don't I just split it fifty-fifty? You and I can co-own Earth from now on."

"Sounds great to me."

"LIKE HELL IT DOES!"

Mephisto roared. "Hawk! I have never met anyone as audacious and shameless as you! Life and death are Hell's Authority, yet you keep challenging my domain! Do you really think I can't do anything about you??"

Hawk tilted his head slightly, looking at the furious Mephisto.

"You can do something about me?"

"You can't even enter my universe, but I can force my way into your Hell."

"So..."

"Let's not argue about that. I just want ten souls. I can swear an oath to Death herself—as long as you don't provoke me, I won't covet Earth's authority over life and death."