Marvel: The Awakened One

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”The birth of a new Celestial inevitably leads to the destruction of its host planet.”

”To prevent the birth, you must keep the planet’s population below the critical threshold. Therefore... When a new Celestial is born, Gargaratus fully integrates with this universe.”

”When a Celestial is prevented from being born, it requires a massive culling of life. And the more life that is extinguished, the more control he gains over the fabric of this universe through the resulting influx of death energy.”

”A two-pronged approach.”

”A win-win.”

”For him.”

Thanos rushed his words, fighting to get them out. His purple skin had gone ashen, and golden blood kept leaking out, pooling beneath him.

Hawk listened in silence, his face growing darker with every word. ”So, you’re telling me I was almost used as his personal hitman?”

”Yes.” Thanos’s breathing became shallow, and he spoke quickly. ”That’s why I had to see you. Earth was no longer an option. As long as I stayed in this universe’s timeline, I was stuck in his domain. I could never reach Terra. But you exist in this universe’s time, yet you act outside its control. If you came to me, the only way he could stop you was to leave the timeline and face you himself. And he couldn’t do that.”

After all. When he was at his strongest, with all six ’Eyes,’ Gargaratus had been knocked aside like a stray dog and humiliated by Hawk.

Try again?

That would be suicide.

”So, he came for me.” A crooked smile appeared on Thanos’s lips. His huge body shook as he kept bleeding. ”He forgot I had the Power and Space Stones. And since you had just beaten him nearly to death, he made a mistake. I managed to hold on until you got here. But it cost me my life.”

Hawk looked down at the warlord.

”One last question.”

”What?”

”Where do I find Gargaratus?”

He had to admit, Thanos had just dropped a bombshell.

Hawk even started to wonder if the universe he’d ended up in was really Marvel-616, the one from the movies.

In the MCU, Eternity was just a background concept. But Death? She’d definitely shown up.

In Agatha All Along.

But that was all background noise right now.

Thanos had just shared a ton of cosmic information, but it all boiled down to one thing.

The entity responsible for Gwen’s disappearance was the Celestial—Gargaratus.

That was all Hawk needed to know.

He just needed to find Gargaratus. And when he did, he’d get his answers the old-fashioned way: by beating them. If Gwen didn’t come back safe, Hawk would make sure the Celestial learned about every kind of pain he could deliver.

He couldn’t help but wonder.

What would give out first—the will of a Celestial, or Hawk’s imagination for new ways to make him suffer?

”You won’t find him.”

”Huh?”

”He has usurped the Space and Time of this universe. He can manifest at any point in time, in any location across this reality.” Thanos, his face the color of ash, shook his head weakly. ”If you hadn’t severed your own timeline, he wouldn’t have needed to detach from the universal flow to fight you. If you were bound by Time, he could have simply used a temporal trap to drag you into his domain and erase you from existence without ever showing his face.”

Hawk frowned. ”So, you’re saying I can’t find him?”

”Yes. But not for the reason you think.”

”Then why?”

”Because he is no longer in this universe.”

”...” Hawk stared at Thanos in dead silence.

Thanos could no longer hold himself upright. He slumped sideways, his massive body hitting the dust. The rattle of approaching death laced his voice.

”You crippled him. When he tried to silence me, he used up the last of his strength, and I struck back and finished him. He can’t conquer this universe anymore. So he took that variant Bruce Banner, the one who came from another multiverse, and escaped from this reality.”

”...” Hawk stared blankly at the dying warlord.

He was starting to think Thanos had dragged him all the way out here just to mess with him.

Just think about it... Thanos had just spent ten minutes hyping up Gargaratus as the big boss of Space and Time.

Hawk had been ready to tear the universe apart just to drag him out of hiding.

And the punchline? He’d already skipped town.

This wasn’t just a plot twist—it was a cosmic bait and switch.

”So... you called me all the way out here just to brag that you killed Gargaratus?”

”No...” Thanos shook his head weakly. With effort, he lifted his left hand and pointed at the Infinity Gauntlet floating in front of Hawk. The Gauntlet held the Space Stone. ”When I realized you had crippled him... and that he knew I knew his secret... I knew his next move would be to silence me. I also knew that after being beaten by you and then by me, he would permanently lose his grip on this universe. So, I used that variant Bruce Banner. I set a trap for him.”

As Thanos pointed out, Hawk had already plucked the glowing blue Space Stone from the Gauntlet, holding it in his hand.

The moment Thanos finished speaking, Hawk sensed a strange energy radiating from the gem.

He looked down at Thanos, who was now lying flat on the ground.

”This is...”

”A multiversal coordinate.”

Thanos lay on the pulverized metal sand.

”I used the Space Stone to lock onto the exact coordinates of that variant Bruce Banner’s home universe before Gargaratus took him. If you can navigate the multiverse and find those coordinates... You will find Gargaratus. And if you find Gargaratus...”

”I find my wife...” Hawk stared at the Space Stone.

Seeing the look on Hawk’s face, a weak smile touched Thanos’s lips. ”Yes. And because Gargaratus has fled, the natural flow of Time has returned to this universe. You are still within this universe’s Time, but you operate independently of it. You no longer have to fear temporal traps.”

”...Thank you.”

Hawk felt grateful. He absorbed the Space and Power Stones into his Cosmo. After the Reality Stone confirmed they had the same origin, he stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and looked down at the dying Titan. ”Is there anything I can do for you?”

Thanos, his eyes already clouded with the gray film of death, looked at Hawk. He didn’t waste time on false modesty.

”When I die, bury me here. This was my home.”

”Done.” Hawk nodded. ”Rest easy. Once you’re gone, no one will ever disturb you or your home again.”

Thanos looked at Hawk and gave a silent nod of thanks. Then he looked up at the orange sky.

In his fading consciousness.

He thought he saw the old Titan, its sky filled with a million bright stars.

And then—

Thanos forced himself to his feet. He stood tall, turned to face the ruins of his once-glorious city, and slowly closed his eyes.

And with that!

The Mad Titan fell.

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The exact moment Thanos closed his eyes and breathed his last, a spaceship roared through the atmosphere, touching down a short distance away.

Gamora and the cybernetic Nebula charged out of the ship, screaming Thanos’s name. Star-Lord, wearing a glowing brain-like pendant around his neck, followed close behind, weapons drawn, ready to kill the Titan who had chosen to die on his feet.

Hawk’s eyes narrowed.

”Optic Blast!”

BAAAAAAM!

Gamora was blasted backward.

THUD!

Nebula was swatted out of the air, crashing hard into the dirt.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Star-Lord, who was last, got it the worst. The telekinetic force hit him hard, sending him flying until he crashed into the side of their ship.

The violent repulse stopped them in their tracks. As they scrambled to their feet, bruised and confused, they finally noticed the truth.

Thanos was already dead.

Hawk glanced at the shocked Guardians, who stared nervously at Thanos’s body. He gave a dry laugh. ”You’re late.”

Gamora stared at Thanos’s body, then looked at Hawk, who was standing there in his immaculate suit.

”Mr. Phoenix... did you kill him?”

”No.” Hawk knew exactly what she was getting at. He jerked his head toward the mountain-sized corpse of the Celestial in the distance. ”He took himself out bringing that thing down.”

Thanos had been a dead man walking for a while. Only stubborn willpower had kept him upright long enough for Hawk to arrive, long enough to pass on his intel before he finally let go.

His only regret was that he hadn’t been able to finish off the Celestials himself.

In a way, Thanos had picked Hawk to take his place. After all, they now shared a common enemy.

The Celestials!

As Hawk’s thoughts drifted, Gamora cast a dismissive glance at the dead Celestial before fixing her gaze on Thanos’s standing corpse.

She didn’t know or care about the Celestials.

But she knew Thanos. He was her adoptive father, and the monster who had slaughtered half her race. He was her mortal enemy.

”Mr. Phoenix, can I have his body?”

”No.” Hawk snapped back to the present and flatly denied her request. ”I gave him my word. I promised to bury him here, and I promised that no one would ever disturb his rest or the peace of this planet.”

It was about principle. A man’s word mattered.

Once again, he didn’t have any personal beef with Thanos. If anything, Thanos was the reason Hawk ever caught his first real break.

Just think about it. If Thanos hadn’t sent the Chitauri to invade Earth, Hawk never would have gotten his hands on those alien weapons. He never would have gone online to sell them, never would have met Anna.

To everyone else in the universe, Thanos was a monster.

But to Hawk? Thanos was a pretty decent guy.

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