Marvel: The Enlightened One-Chapter 90: [] - Gwen, Who Likes to Drink Hot Chocolate (Bonus)

Chapter 90: [90] - Gwen, Who Likes to Drink Hot Chocolate (Bonus)

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"Gwen, where are you?"

"I just left Hawk’s place."

"Ooh..."

"Don’t get any ideas. City Hall sent him a notice to mow his lawn or face a fine. He didn’t know how, so I went over this morning to teach him." Gwen, having just left the East Village, was on the phone with Mary Jane, whom she was supposed to meet for an afternoon of shopping.

Mary Jane laughed. "Our neighborhood has a landscaping service. You’re telling me a place as fancy as the East Village doesn’t?"

"They do. He just doesn’t want to pay for it."

"Why not?"

"Save where you can, spend where you must."

Gwen recited Hawk’s philosophy.

Mary Jane was stunned for a moment.

But then she remembered... Hawk from high school—the guy with only three outfits, who communicated mostly through grunts, who got around on his own two feet, who lived like a monk—and she had to admit, it sounded exactly like something he’d say.

But discussing Hawk’s ability to buy a mansion but not hire a gardener wasn’t the point of the call.

Mary Jane got back on topic. "So when are you getting here? Should I grab us a table at Madame Neuille?"

Gwen’s face lit up. "Yes! I’m on my way. I’ll be there in about half an hour."

She loved hot chocolate.

And the hot chocolate at Madame Neuille’s Patisserie was, in Gwen’s expert opinion, the best in all of Queens—no, in all of New York City.

Soon, Gwen hung up the phone. The thought of that hot chocolate made her foot press down on the accelerator.

Her yellow Corolla picked up speed and headed toward Queens.

Behind her, a nondescript Toyota sedan matched her acceleration.

"Think she noticed us?"

"No way. It’s a straight road..."

"Then why’d she speed up?"

"Who cares. Stick to the plan. Once we’re over the bridge and in Queens, we find a spot and box her in."

"Remember, the client wants her alive. A million for a live target, half a million for a dead one. Don’t fuck this up."

"Got it."

"Got it."

The two men in the back of the Toyota nodded, their eyes fixed greedily on the yellow Corolla ahead.

The confirmations hadn’t come from them. They had come from a walkie-talkie held by a bearded man in the passenger seat.

Clearly, this wasn’t their only car. There were three.

Sure enough, as Gwen’s Corolla approached the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge, two more nondescript Toyota sedans appeared, pulling up on either side of her.

Once they were on the bridge, the three cars, moving with the flow of traffic, shifted positions, forming a perfect pincer formation around her yellow Corolla.

A little while later, Gwen came off the bridge and turned onto the road that led to Mary Jane’s house. The Toyota to her left suddenly swerved into her lane. As if misjudging the distance, it bumped into the side of her car with a loud thud.

Gwen jumped, slamming on the brakes.

The other car pulled over too.

A middle-aged woman got out of the car, an apologetic look on her face.

Gwen opened her door and got out. She looked at the dent and sighed.

Just as she was about to get her phone to call and tell Mary Jane she would be late, the woman called out to her, insisting the accident was entirely her fault. She suggested they pull over to a side street so they wouldn’t block traffic while she called her insurance company.

Gwen was a bit thrown by how fast it all went down, but since the lady was being so cooperative about taking the blame, she went along with it. No police meant no paperwork and no waiting around.

Soon, Gwen followed the woman’s car into a quiet side street.

But the moment she was about to put her car in park, the screech of tires echoed behind her. Another Toyota had shot into the alley, blocking her exit.

"What the—"

Shit.

Gwen froze, a terrible feeling washing over her.

Robbery or kidnapping?

Her mind was racing, but her instincts took over. She hit the door lock button. Just as she was reaching for her phone to call 911...

CRASH!

Another massive impact.

Gwen cried out in shock. The four men in cartoon masks who had just gotten out of the car behind her were just as startled.

They all spun around.

A black Audi A8, so new it still gleamed in the sun, had slammed into the back of their Toyota.

Suddenly, the driver’s side door opened, and Hawk, wearing a fitted black t-shirt, stepped out.

The four masked men exchanged a look, then all raised their handguns and aimed them at him.

"Fuck you!"

"DIE!"

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!

Four bullets tore through the air, striking Hawk in the face, chest, and right arm.

And then... nothing.

With four metallic pings, the flattened slugs clattered harmlessly to the ground.

Hawk glanced down at the bullets at his feet.

The next second, he vanished, reappearing in front of one of the masked men. His right hand shot out, paused for an imperceptible moment, then his left hand joined it. He gripped the man’s head and twisted.

CRACK.

The sound of the man’s neck snapping was sickeningly loud in the quiet alley. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Another masked man recovered from his shock.

"Ah—"

CRACK!

He met the same fate as his partner.

The other two were no different.

From the moment Hawk had stepped out of his car to the moment the four masked men lay on the ground with their heads twisted at impossible angles, less than three seconds had passed.

By the time Gwen had processed what was happening, Hawk was already at the front of the alley.

The engine of the first Toyota was screaming, the rear wheels spinning uselessly against the pavement, kicking up clouds of acrid smoke, but the car didn’t move.

Hawk had the rear of the car in a one-handed grip, his four fingers sunk into the trunk as if it were tofu. The muscles in his arm weren’t even tensed, but he held the car firmly in place.

"SHIT!"

"COME ON!"

The woman in the driver’s seat was screaming, her foot jammed on the accelerator.

Hawk raised an eyebrow, then let go.

The next second—

BOOOOOOOOM!

Like a drag racer off the line, the Toyota shot forward, slamming head-on into a wall. The airbag deployed instantly, knocking the woman unconscious.

The moment he had released the car, Hawk had turned and walked back to Gwen’s Corolla. He tapped on the window.

Inside, Gwen was still gripping her phone. She looked up with a dazed expression and numbly rolled down the window.

"Hey, Gwen? Are you here? I ordered your favorite hot chocolate for you." Mary Jane’s voice came from the phone in Gwen’s hand.

But Gwen didn’t seem to hear it. She just stared at Hawk.

The last time Hawk had fought the Hulk, most of the battle had been underwater. By the time he had resurfaced, it was already over.

But this time, she had seen the whole thing.

Her mind was still replaying the image of Hawk’s ice-cold face, of the bullets flattening against his skin, of him appearing before the four men and snapping their necks—crack, crack, crack—and of him holding a speeding car in place with one hand.

Gwen was in shock. Hawk was not.

He looked at her dazed expression, smiled, and took the phone from her hand. "Hey, Mary Jane."

"...Hawk?"

"Gwen’s a little tied up. Can you get that hot chocolate to go?"

"Wha—"

Hawk hung up, then a thought seemed to occur to him. He looked at Gwen. "So, hot chocolate? I thought you said you didn’t like it."

Gwen snapped back to reality. "Hawk?"

"Yeah?"

Hawk smiled. "The police captain’s daughter is letting her guard down. Or was it the thought of hot chocolate that did it?"

Gwen’s cheeks flushed. She didn’t answer, just scrambled out of the car.

"There was another car."

"What?"

"There were three of them. Three Toyotas. There are only two here."

Gwen’s mind replayed the scene on the bridge. She remembered the three cars—one on her left, one on her right, one behind her. "There were three Toyotas following me."

She would absolutely not admit that her guard had been down because she was thinking about dessert.

Gwen’s expression was serious. "And I don’t like hot chocolate. I’m eighteen now."

Hawk just smiled.

"But I heard Helen say that when you were little, your biggest dream was to live in a house made of chocol—"

"Shut up." Gwen’s eye twitched. She quickly cut him off, changing the subject back to the third car.

"There was a third car."

"They got away," Hawk said with a small smile. He saw her worried look and added, "Don’t worry. They won’t get far."

Gwen blinked.

As she was trying to figure out what he meant by "they got away, but they won’t get far," the sound of sirens echoed in the distance, growing closer.

WEE-WOO, WEE-WOO!

THUMP, THUMP!

"NYPD! HANDS IN THE AIR! DO IT NOW!"

"..."

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