Chapter 146

Natasha was slightly stunned.

"Found Hawk?"

"Mm."

"Quantico?"

"No, New Mexico."

"New..."

Natasha was dumbfounded: "How did he run off to New Mexico?"

Maria Hill looked at the video just sent back by S. H. I. E. L. D. agents in New Mexico and said after a moment of silence: "The Ross family cemetery has been destroyed."

While speaking, Natasha took out the phone that had just received the information.

She tapped on a video that had just been sent over.

Entering her sight.

In the video, as far as the eye could see, tombstones were destroyed, graves looked as if they had been bombed by artillery, and shattered coffins and various debris almost filled the entire cemetery.

Not to mention the Ross Manor in front of the cemetery.

After the video frame shifted, the manor, which had been decorated with extraordinary luxury, had become dilapidated and had completely turned into a ruin.

Natasha was shocked.

"This..."

"Agents in New York have just confirmed that the grave of Hawk's sister, Anna, had some slight damage, which should have been caused by last night's battle. If nothing unexpected happens, the destroyed Ross Manor and the Ross family cemetery are Hawk's retaliation."

"Hiss!"

Natasha gasped, then, seemingly thinking of something, asked subconsciously.

"Does General Ross know?"

"Mm."

"Then isn't he going to go crazy?"

Natasha asked subconsciously, then took another look at the video playing on her phone screen.

Others might not know, but if it were her family cemetery that had been razed like this, she would definitely go crazy.

However...

Serves him right!

Natasha curled her lips.

S. H. I. E. L. D. was still in the middle of risk assessment and contact budget planning for Hawk, but the military was better; without any nonsense, they just charged in recklessly.

Did they really think that because Hawk's name sounded similar to Hulk's, he was just a second Bruce Banner?

Bruce Banner could only hide when chased by you, but did you really think everyone would hide from you?

Now it's done.

How arrogant they were at the beginning, how miserable they must be now.

Tsk tsk.

I'm afraid this even dug up the bones of that Mr. Ross who came over on the Mayflower back then.

Natasha marveled inwardly, then her expression suddenly paused.

"Commander, that's not right. New York City is very far from New Mexico. From the time the incident happened until now, only six hours have passed. How could he possibly have arrived in New Mexico so quickly?"

"To be precise, it only took him less than three hours to arrive in New Mexico."

"What?"

Natasha said in shock: "That's impossible."

Maria Hill said in a deep voice: "But that is the fact, and now is not the time to dwell on how fast his speed is. If I haven't guessed wrong, his next step should be to go to Quantico."

Perhaps one couldn't see much from the fact that Hawk killed Hulk to avenge his sister.

But after the Ross family cemetery was razed, one could almost see one thing.

Hawk repays every grievance.

Therefore...

Since he even razed the Ross family cemetery, how could he possibly let off Thaddeus Ross, who supported last night's operation?

Although S. H. I. E. L. D. had once again lost Hawk's trail.

But...

Maria Hill was very certain about Hawk's next destination.

It was Quantico.

Natasha frowned as she listened to Maria Hill's speculation.

"Then I..."

"Stay there."

"Hm?"

Maria Hill said in a deep voice: "Find a way to see if you can stay by Gwen's side until this matter is over."

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Commander, you mean..."

"It's not certain yet, but take precautions. By the way, don't mention this matter to anyone, understand?"

"Okay, then..."

Natasha nodded, raised her eyes, and scanned the three S. H. I. E. L. D. agents in the van who were doing their own work.

Maria Hill seemed to know what Natasha wanted to say and shook her head: "The people sent this time are agents that Victoria and I trust. They will be responsible for perimeter security until this matter is over."

Natasha suddenly understood.

"Okay, Commander."

"Hanging up."

Maria Hill, who was in the S. H. I. E. L. D. Triskelion headquarters office, hung up her phone after saying this, put it aside, then leaned her back against the chair and reached out to subconsciously massage her trigeminal nerve.

She had originally intended to have Natasha withdraw.

But...

Just as she was about to say to have Natasha withdraw, for some reason, her heart suddenly jumped, and then she thought of one thing, which is why she changed her words and let Natasha stay to protect Gwen.

Because she felt that the military might use Gwen as bait, in a situation where they couldn't defeat Hawk head-on.

This wasn't an illusion; this was a judgment made based on her having served in the military and having been an intelligence officer.

The military, in order to win a war, will stop at nothing.

And this was a war.

It was just that the girlfriend Hulk dated back then was named Betty Ross, who was General Ross's daughter; if it had been any other girlfriend, Ross would have long since kidnapped Hulk's girlfriend and set a trap waiting for Hulk to walk right into it.

Now Hawk has razed General Ross's family cemetery.

Therefore...

Just in case, one has to be on guard.

Also...

After Maria Hill finished thinking about General Ross, another name appeared in her mind, and she subconsciously looked up, her gaze directed toward the direction of the office where S. H. I. E. L. D. Director Nick Fury was.

Her intuition was telling her that in this incident where the military suddenly attacked Hawk, Nick Fury's shadow was also present.

After all, among the seventy-seven federal soldiers found at the scene, the identity of one soldier was detected by New York S. H. I. E. L. D. to be fake.

That corpse was not a military soldier, but S. H. I. E. L. D.'s.

And very few people inside S. H. I. E. L. D. knew of Hawk's existence, and even for those who did, she had already issued a strict order that no one was allowed to privately contact or investigate Hawk without her orders.

But now, an S. H. I. E. L. D. agent had still appeared.

And very coincidentally, it was a black-skinned one.

Maria Hill seriously suspected that this black-skinned agent who died on the New York battlefield was sent by Nick Fury.

The reason was simple.

Yesterday afternoon, the Anli Society abruptly announced that Nick Fury's operational authority had been unfrozen.

Operational authority unfrozen in the afternoon.

The military launched an attack in the evening.

Could there be no inevitable connection between these two?

Is it possible?

Just as Maria Hill was frowning, not knowing what she was thinking about, the phone on the desk rang.

"Hello."

"Commander, Hawk's suspected trail has been discovered."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Maria Hill immediately stood up and left the office.

Coincidentally.

The office door opposite also opened.

Nick Fury, who had already restored his operational authority, walked out from inside.

Maria Hill didn't wait, but went straight down to the combat command center by taking the elevator exclusive to the commander.

After a while.

She and Nick Fury walked into the combat command center almost one after the other.

"Haw..."

"Where is that damn criminal located now?"

Before Maria Hill could speak, Nick Fury, who had successfully staged a king's return, walked over from behind, his voice restored to its usual loudness, and then when passing Maria Hill, he laughed: "Sorry, it's not wartime status now."

Maria Hill smiled formulaically and didn't speak.

She was the S. H. I. E. L. D. Deputy Director and wartime commander; simply put, only when S. H. I. E. L. D. entered wartime status would her authority automatically jump above Nick Fury's.

But in normal times, Nick Fury, whose operational authority had been lifted, as the S. H. I. E. L. D. Director, had more say than her.

"Director."

"Hawk's suspected figure was just discovered in Maryland."

"Pull it up."

The S. H. I. E. L. D. agent nodded, and then a photo that seemed to have been taken by an ATM appeared on the big screen, only in this photo, Hawk's shadow was almost stretched into an afterimage.

Nick Fury looked at this photo, and while restoring his operational authority, he also restored his catchphrase.

"WTF, are there any other photos?"

"No."

"Analyze his desti..."

"Sir!"

An S. H. I. E. L. D. agent in front of the big screen seemed to have just received some incredible information, turned his head to look at Nick Fury and Maria Hill, and reported loudly.

"Five seconds ago, an explosion occurred at the Quantico military base."

"..."