Marvel: Awakening the Universe.

Chapter 241 The Apple of Adam and Eve! (A 5K-word chapter!)
As the second Hydra agent frantically opened the door, preparing to leave through the emergency escape route...

He froze the moment he opened the door, then stared at Hawke, who was now standing before him, his eyes widening at a visible speed.

Hawke, on the other hand, smiled and was very polite.

"Hello, I'm looking for Dr. Merrick!"

"..."

Standing before Hawke, facing Hawke's smiling face, the Hydra agent swallowed hard, barely suppressing the rising fear in his heart.

"Fei..."

"puff!"

The Hydra agent vaporized on the spot.

Following closely behind, the Hydra agents who were preparing to flee hadn't even had time to react to why the person in front of them wasn't leaving. Just as they were about to cause a disturbance, they saw a burst of intense crimson light. Then, one by one, the Hydra agents blocking the doorway and preparing to escape were instantly turned into white smoke and vaporized on the spot.

In just a moment, the entrance to the command center, which had been congested, became completely clean.

It was so clean it looked like there had never been any traffic jams.

But Dr. Merrick had already run away.

While most of the Hydra agents were rushing to escape through the main entrance, he had already led his men down the secret elevator in the command center to the lowest floor.

As the elevator doors, disguised as mountains, opened to the sides, a speedboat lay quietly in the backwater of the sea.

Dr. Merrick and his men stood one in front of the other.

"Eli, untie the safety rope."

"clear."

Eli, the assistant who had been rescued from the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison by Hydra along with Dr. Merrick, nodded and quickly walked toward the safety rope that was securing the speedboat to prevent it from being swept away by the sea.

Dr. Merrick, without a care for his image, jumped into the backwater with a thud and then scrambled onto the speedboat in a few quick steps.

After all, at this point, why bother with appearances?

Image or life?

For Dr. Merrick, this was never a choice.

Just like Dr. Merrick, who also knew a saying.

When you run away, you need to be quick, accurate, and ruthless, without carrying any burdens.

Eli, who had already untied his safety rope, looked up happily.

"Doctor, can we send it..."

"Oh!"

Eli's assistant stared wide-eyed, his right hand instinctively clutching his chest. He looked down at his chest, where blood was seeping out, then looked up at Dr. Merrick, who was standing on the speedboat, pointing a pistol at him.

"PhD……"

"Oops, bang!"

"Boom!"

Eli, the assistant, was shot between the eyebrows and immediately fell backward.

The ruthless and taciturn Dr. Merrick then started the speedboat, which sped out of the cave behind him. Just as he emerged from the cave, he pulled a button from his pocket and pressed it sharply.

boom!
The cave exploded with a deafening roar.

It's not just a cave!

The moment Dr. Merrick pressed the button, the entire mountain seemed to come alive.

It first shuddered suddenly, just like a person who suddenly feels cold and involuntarily shivered.

next second!
break out!

boom!
The first loud bang, accompanied by a force powerful enough to tear the sky apart, caused the mountain's surface to explode, like a volcanic eruption.

But what erupted was not lava, but trees and rocks.

Everything on the mountain's surface was thrown high into the air by the shockwave from the inside out, like a torrential downpour flowing backward.

Immediately afterwards——

boom! ! !
A second loud bang followed immediately, accompanied by the complete collapse of the base inside the mountain. At that moment, the entire external structure of the mountain was also disintegrated, collapsed, and reconstructed, with a huge shock wave sweeping outwards in a ring...

The gray gale was also raging towards the sea.

Dr. Merrick, who was speeding away in his speedboat toward the high seas, pushed up his glasses without looking back.

It gives off a feeling that a real man never looks back at an explosion.

Of course.

The reason Myrick didn't dare to look back wasn't because he was a real man, but because he was afraid of the terrifying sight of Hawke unharmed and chasing after him the moment he turned around.

and so……

Merrick didn't dare turn his head; only one thought occupied his mind.

Drive faster, drive even faster.

that's it.

With Merrick pushing it to its full speed, the speedboat beneath them sped towards the boundless sea like a wild horse.

Dr. Merrick, feeling utterly exhausted, finally collapsed onto the deck with a thud after the sun set, after Molokai Island had disappeared behind them, after the last barrel of spare fuel was completely used up, and after the speedboat lost power.

Dr. Merrick turned his head and glanced behind him in the moonlight.

After confirming that Molokai Island was no longer visible and Hawke was nowhere to be seen, they breathed a sigh of relief.

next second.

Dr. Merrick clenched his right fist and slammed it against the deck, venting his emotions.

"Fake!"

"Fake!"

"Fuck, my calculations can't be wrong."

Dr. Merrick couldn't understand why, after six tweaks, he had finally created the most powerful clone to date, Captain Hydra, and yet Hawke had eliminated him before he could even get a chance to fight.

This is completely unreasonable and illogical.

Before the London attacks, Hydra had very detailed information about Hawke. However, after London, their information about Hawke became less complete.

Because of Hydra's only connection to Hawke, Ms. Anna Pierce has gone missing.

But that doesn't matter, because the Saint Cloths collected after the London incident have already confirmed one thing for them.

Hawk's fighting power is completely different when he's not wearing his Saint Cloth and when he is wearing it.

Hydra's data also supports this point.

Hawk, without his Saint Cloth, possesses an energy level comparable to Captain America, Steve Rogers.

However, Hawk's energy is explosive when he wears his Saint Cloth, as he has attacked several times while wearing it.

and so--

The vestment is the key.

They successfully replicated it, and indeed they did. The steel suit forged from vibranium, meteorite, and gamma rays formed a subtle relationship, though not enough to match their previous estimates of the Hawk Cloth.

However, with the vibranium energy manufacturing technology they obtained from Wakanda, their Iron Man suits are comparable to the Saint Cloths.

But Hawke's clone had a problem.

In the previous five cloning experiments, the clones were unable to absorb vibranium energy after putting on the Iron Man suit. Whenever the vibranium energy of the Iron Man suit was activated, the clones would explode and die without the slightest hesitation.

Their clones seem no match for Hawke's physical body.

But Merrick also found a solution.

Super Soldier Serum.

Although the original Super Soldier Serum formula has been lost, thanks to General Thaddeus Ross's tireless efforts over the years to replicate it.

So they do have a super soldier serum formula, although it's not as good as the original one.

After another failed experiment, Dr. Merrick successfully created a clone that incorporated the Super Soldier Serum, with a physical body comparable to 60% of Hawke's.

He was named Captain Hydra.

While not quite comparable to Hawk himself, their Iron Man suits, even though the Hydra captain couldn't support the full Iron Man suit, even with only half of it, provided a powerful amplification, along with the vibranium blades and Hydra's vibranium shield, resulted in a perfect victory over Hawk in countless computer simulations.

result……

Dreams are beautiful, but reality is harsh.

Hawke proved one thing with facts.

Piracy is piracy.

If Hawke himself is a 4K high-definition character, then the Hydra Captain he created would be a 270p image, and the kind of image quality recorded in the original movie theater.

Dr. Merrick couldn't understand it.

Hawke, who had been quietly standing behind Dr. Merrick, leaning against the speedboat railing, and who had used the Reality Stone to alter Dr. Merrick's perception so that Dr. Merrick couldn't see him, looked at Dr. Merrick, who was laughing heartily and pounding on the deck from time to time, with some confusion. He had been watching for quite a while.

Hawke was quite certain that the Dr. Merrick in front of him was the original Dr. Merrick.

The main reason he didn't show himself and take action was that he followed behind Dr. Merrick, watching to see if the angel would actually appear.

After all, the battle just now could be described as ending before he even had a chance to warm up.

As for that so-called Hydra captain...

If Hawke were to assess that guy, disregarding his equipment, he wouldn't even have one percent of Hawke's power in his current physical state without using his cosmos.

Once again, the Saints who have awakened their sixth sense and silver cosmos possess physical strength capable of moving mountains and splitting seas.

In a physical sense, it is like moving mountains and dividing seas.

That Hydra captain?
If that guy hadn't been wearing the Iron Man suit that Hydra had concocted, he probably wouldn't have been able to destroy even a wall made of C140 concrete.

and so……

Hawke wasn't quite done playing yet, feeling a bit stuck in the middle, so he wanted to see if God or some angel would appear after Dr. Merrick, who he believed was favored by God, prayed.

If so, that would be perfect. Chopping up an angel would be great, and if you're incredibly lucky, you might even be able to swindle a god for a treat.

Although he lived in a church as a child in this life, although he participated in the church choir, and although he even volunteered at the community church with Gwen.

But this doesn't mean that God can get away with offending him.

nonexistent.

As he told Gwen, rather than painstakingly believing in heaven after death, he felt it would be easier to kill Jehovah and storm into heaven.

As it happens, Gwen also wanted a paradise.

Mephisto also wanted Jehovah, so Hawke followed Dr. Merrick to see if God would appear.

result.

Hawke looked at Dr. Merrick, who was still slumped on the deck, laughing and crying and muttering "this is impossible," and almost wanted to step in and remind him that he should pray.

He was getting a little impatient.

Just as Hawke was thinking of reminding Dr. Merrick, the latter suddenly remembered something, stood up from the deck with a whoosh, and rubbed himself all over. Seemingly unable to find what he wanted, his expression turned to fear, panic, and unease.

at this time.

Dr. Merrick suddenly remembered something and muttered to himself, "That's right, my bag, my bag."

As he spoke, Merrick frantically searched the deck with his head down.

Hawke, leaning against the railing, glanced at a backpack at his feet, then looked at Merrick, who was so anxious he was almost crying. He raised an eyebrow, bent down to pick up the backpack, and handed it to Dr. Merrick.

"Give."

"Oh God, thank you."

Dr. Merrick instinctively took the backpack, glanced at Hawke, said thank you, then opened his own backpack and took out a plain-looking, seemingly bitten, bright red apple. After putting down the backpack, he held the apple in both hands and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God..."

Dr. Merrick muttered to himself, then seemed to realize something, his body stiffened, and then, like a zombie, his mind went blank, his eyes wide open, and he slowly looked to the side.

into the eye.

Hawke smiled broadly at Dr. Merrick and said, "Hello."

next second.

He reached out and snatched the half-eaten red apple from Dr. Merrick's hand.

Dr. Merrick was stunned.

Then he went mad, roaring as he lunged at Hawke, trying to snatch the red apple back.

"Give it back..."

"Crack!"

Hawke glanced at Dr. Merrick, who was rushing towards him like a mad dog, and then, on a whim, froze him in place. He then examined the half-eaten red apple in his hand.

He didn't notice the backpack at his feet at first.

But for now.

He looked at the red apple in his hand that had been bitten in, and suddenly realized that the red apple seemed to have a similar taste to the Infinity Stones.

However, this red apple is not an Infinity Stone, but rather... how should it be described?

A fetish?

Hawke thought to himself, then looked at the excited, bloodshot-headed Dr. Merrick in front of him, then at the red apple in his hand. As if he had thought of something, he raised an eyebrow and looked at Dr. Merrick: "This can't be that apple, can it? The apple that Adam and Eve took a bite out of in the Garden of Eden, can it?"

Legend has it that after Adam and Eve were created, they lived in the Garden of Eden, without clothes and carefree, until Eve was tempted by a serpent and ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge with Adam. From then on, she felt shame and was discovered by God, who expelled her from the Garden of Eden.

and so--

Is this the legendary fruit of wisdom?

Hawke looked at Dr. Merrick, but he didn't expect Dr. Merrick to answer, nor did he want to hear Dr. Merrick's answer. He focused his six senses on the red apple in front of him.

next moment.

Buzz!
Hawke's mind suddenly felt as if something had been punctured, and he found himself in a circular space that was missing a corner.

then.

After scanning the space around him with his six senses, Hawke subconsciously gasped.

so many people.

No, there are no people, to be precise, there are many souls.

The space was almost completely filled with countless souls, but unlike the restless souls in the hell dimension, the souls here were pure and white, like sheets of paper, as if they had been formatted.

and many more.

A brand new, pure white, formatted soul?

Hawke looked away from the red apple in his hand and looked at Dr. Merrick again: "Is this why your clones were successful? You used the souls here to give the clones their own souls?"

Just like Adam and Eve took a bite of the apple and developed a sense of shame.

But he has no sense of shame.

Rather, it would be more accurate to say that Adam and Eve, who were initially created, did not actually have souls. However, tempted by the serpent, they took a bite of the apple and thus gained souls. With souls came self-awareness, and with self-awareness, they naturally gained souls as well.

and so--

"This is not some kind of apple of good and evil."

"It is the apple of the soul."

Hawke thought to himself, and without hesitation, he unleashed his inner power and threw the red apple in his hand into his underworld.

In a word.

This is his spoils of war.

Thank God, with this apple, even if he didn't make a deal with Mephisto or go to heaven, at least after his cosmos materialized, the earliest life in the universe would have a place to go.

Hawke smiled and then unsealed Merrick.

Boom!
The very next second after he untied Merrick, the latter, still in a lunging posture, stumbled and slammed his head on the deck.

But Merrick, still thinking about his red apple, got up with his face covered in blood and lunged at Hawke.

"Give me back the apple, it was a gift from God..."

"Boom!"

The moment Hawk disappeared from the spot, Dr. Merrick pounced on Hawk's afterimage, crashed directly into the railing of the speedboat, and then, with a thud, flipped over the railing headfirst and feet first, falling into the sea with a splash.

After Dr. Merrick emerged from the seawater, he vigorously splashed the water with his hands. The seawater irritated the wounds on his face, which made him more alert. He looked at Hawke standing on the deck of the speedboat with a terrified expression.

"Hawk."

“You can pray now, Dr. Merrick. I give you hope to pray to God.”

Hawke had no intention of rescuing Dr. Merrick. He stood on the deck with his hands in his pockets, smiling as he looked at Dr. Merrick in the water: "I'll give you five minutes. That should be enough for you to expect your God to appear or send his angels to save you."

Night had fallen, and the seawater had become icy cold.

Dr. Merrick, shivering in the seawater, said, "Holy... no, Mr. Phoenix, I was wrong. Hydra coerced me into cloning you for them. I was wrong. Please, have mercy on me."

Hawke smiled broadly: "I told you to pray to your God, Myrick, not to me. I am not your God. Time, Myrick, pray."

talking.

He stopped looking at Dr. Merrick and instead stared at the ticking second hand on his wristwatch.

It's five minutes, as I said.

He gave God only five minutes: either appear and give him an explanation, or he would storm into Heaven and demand an answer from God.

……

(End of this chapter)