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Vormir.
This was where the Soul Stone rested. Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton had come to find it.
Hawk emerged from the River of Time to see Natasha and Clint already making their way up the mountain.
High above... Hidden perfectly by Vormir's dense cloud cover, Hawk looked down. His gaze pierced the thick clouds, locking onto the two figures struggling up the steep incline.
"I bet that raccoon doesn't have to climb a mountain like this," Natasha grumbled.
Clint, out of breath beside her, paused to think. "Technically, he's not a raccoon."
"He eats garbage, Barton."
"Fair enough. He's a raccoon." Clint couldn't argue with that logic.
Suddenly, A hollow laugh echoed in their ears, cutting through their banter.
Natasha quickly drew her gun. Clint pulled out his Ronin katana. Both turned toward the noise.
"Welcome."
"Natasha, daughter of Ivan."
"Clint, son of Edith."
The voice came from a figure hidden in a tattered gray cloak and deep shadows.
"Who are you?"
"Consider me a guide..." Stepping out of the shadows, the cloaked figure revealed his face—a grotesque, crimson skull. "A guide for you, and for all who come here seeking the Soul Stone."
He looked like the Red Skull.
Because he was the Red Skull.
Decades ago, after his last fight with Cap, Steve Rogers was frozen in ice. The Red Skull, though, was banished to Vormir by the Space Stone. He spent endless years alone on this empty world, with only the Soul Stone for company.
After his dramatic entrance, the Red Skull turned and floated toward the altar. The huge stone structure was clearly man-made, but its builders were long forgotten.
Natasha and Clint shared a tense glance. Weapons still drawn, they followed the wraith up the steps.
Soon after, they reached the edge of the sacrificial cliff.
The Red Skull turned back to face them. "What you seek lies before you. As does what you fear."
Natasha walked to the precipice, staring down into the dizzying abyss.
"The stone is down there."
"One of you will leave here with the Soul Stone," the Red Skull said in a flat voice, like an NPC reading a script. "The other... In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul... for a soul. It is an everlasting exchange."
"..." Natasha and Clint stared at him.
An everlasting exchange? A deadly trade?
High above, Hawk narrowed his eyes, focusing on the cloaked figure as soon as he spoke those words.
The Red Skull paused. He sensed something. He instinctively looked up, staring into the thick, swirling clouds.
But he saw absolutely nothing.
Obviously... If he could actually spot Hawk, Hawk would have smashed his own head against a wall. After years of tough training, if a real Earthbound spirit could easily detect him, all his effort would be pointless.
That's right. An Earthbound spirit.
That was the Red Skull's current existence. A translucent, spectral ghost incapable of physically interacting with the world. A wraith cursed to haunt this rock.
As for why he ended up like this... Remember how the Infinity Stones worked?
If you have mana, it burns mana. If you don't, it burns your life force!
In 1945, the Red Skull tried to use the Space Stone. Cap stopped him, and the stone sent him here. Since he couldn't pay the price, the Space Stone took his life. Because this was the Soul Stone's domain, his soul was trapped at the altar forever.
It wasn't luck. It was a curse.
Think about it—
He knew the universe's greatest power was just below the cliff, but he couldn't reach it or leave. For someone obsessed with power, it was torture.
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While Hawk pondered the cosmic mechanics, the fight on the cliff edge ended. Natasha beat Clint to the punch, throwing herself off the precipice, plunging toward the abyss below.
BOOOOOMM!!
As soon as her body hit the ground, Natasha was overwhelmed by a flash of pain.
Then she opened her eyes and found herself standing in a strange void.
The next moment, she spotted a neon sign shining through the gloom a few yards away. It read: Hell's Tavern.
Natasha blinked, looked at the bar, thought for a moment, and walked to the door. She pushed it open and went inside.
The bar was empty, as if it had been closed for years.
Natasha stood in the doorway and looked around the room. "Hello? Anyone here?"
"Shut the door. I haven't had time to clean up outside yet."
"..." Natasha whipped her head toward the voice, her eyes locking onto the bar counter.
There he was...
Hawk stood behind the bar in a sleek suit, mixing a cocktail just like Mephisto used to do.
Hawk looked up. He saw Natasha staring at him without blinking and let out a laugh. "Shut the door. Doesn't it smell terrible out there?"
Since he defeated Mephisto and took over Hell, Hawk hadn't bothered to clean up. He honestly didn't care.
He never integrated Mephisto's Hell into his Micro-Universe or his World Tree either.
And Hawk definitely didn't expect the Hell Dimension to follow him all the way to this universe.
But then he remembered how Mephisto conquered the Heaven Dimension. Heaven had the innate ability to cross the multiverse. That slick old bastard probably lied to him again.
Mephisto claimed he moved Hell into Heaven. In reality? It was a bait-and-switch. He stripped Heaven of its multiversal travel engine and wired it directly into his own home turf—the Hell Dimension.
It worked out perfectly for Hawk.
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Hawk shook the cocktail, poured it into two glasses, and looked at Natasha who was still standing in the doorway.
Natasha snapped out of her daze, closed the heavy door, and walked to the bar. She pulled out a stool and sat down.
"Try it." Hawk slid a bourbon cocktail over the counter.
"Thanks." Natasha took the glass. Under Hawk's gaze, she took a sip, then looked at him. "A little sour. Too much lemon."
Hawk raised an eyebrow at her comment, then took a drink from his own glass. And then, his face grimaced in pain.
Hawk stuck his tongue out, glaring at Natasha. "A little sour?"
"I don't mind it."
"You're out of your mind." Hawk shook his head, took her glass, and poured the bad drink down the sink. He grabbed a bottle of '82 Thunder Bourbon, poured two shots, and slid one to her. "So. How was dying?"
Natasha took the glass. She pressed her lips together. "It hurt."
"Regret it?"
"No." Natasha smiled. Then, a thought crossed her mind. "If there was a way to get the Soul Stone without jumping off that cliff... yeah. Then I'd regret it."
Hawk chuckled. "The rule is a soul for a soul. Even if I wanted to take the stone, I'd have to play by the rules."
That was the law of the universe.
Sure, he could probably break the rules. But to get the stone the right way, he'd still have to pay the price.
Natasha stared at his smile, then glanced around the empty dive bar.
"So. Where exactly are we?"
"The edge of life and death."
"I'm not dead?"
"Depends." Hawk corked the bottle, picked up his glass, and took a drink. He looked her dead in the eye. "Do you want to be dead?"
Natasha ignored the question. She stared back at him.
"Did Barton get the stone?"
"Not yet..."
"Why not?"
"Because your soul hasn't been traded yet." The corner of Hawk's mouth ticked up. "A soul for a soul. Your soul is sitting right here with me. Until it passes on, the stone won't show. If you really want to die, just walk out the front door. Your soul gets sacrificed, and Barton gets the—"
Before he could finish.
Natasha hopped off the stool and sprinted straight for the front door without a second of hesitation.
Clearly... She was in a massive rush to die.
Unfortunately, Natasha grabbed the heavy iron handle with both hands and yanked. The door didn't budge a single millimeter.
Hawk stood behind the bar, quietly watching her struggle with the handle.
After a few more tries, Natasha saw it was pointless. She turned and glared at him. "If we don't get the Soul Stone, the whole plan fails."
Hawk crossed his arms and looked at her desperate expression, curious.
"Why, Natasha?"
"What?" Natasha frowned. She met his calm gaze, started to speak, then realized what he meant and stayed silent.
"..." Hawk's eyes remained flat.
Out of all the Avengers, Natasha was the only one who treated the team like an actual family.
Everyone else had something to go back to.
After the Snap, Natasha worked herself to the bone for five straight years, desperately trying to keep the "family" running. Unlike the others who had wives, kids, or quiet lives to go back to, the Avengers were all she had left.
Natasha took a deep breath, staring Hawk down. "You said you wouldn't interfere with our plan. What exactly are you doing right now?"
"Interfering. Because you're my friend."
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