Four eyes met.
Hawk smiled faintly.
"Why are you looking at me? It's up to you!"
"...Then let's not go!"
Wanda frowned.
Hawk shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, but our daughter might carry that guilt for life."
"...That might be a trap aimed at you."
"I know."
Hawk's voice remained calm, and he looked at Wanda: "That's why I have a plan!"
Wanda watched the smile on Hawk's face.
"What plan?"
"I'll go over and check it out first."
"Wha..."
Wanda was slightly startled.
The next second.
Before she could react, with a bang, Hawk, standing beside her, had already soared into the sky, creating a sonic boom cloud in the air and disappearing from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.
Red light streaked across the altitude.
Hawk rushed at supersonic speed toward Egypt Cairo's direction.
Once more.
His dictionary included many words, but evasion was not one of them.
Hawk could choose a tactical retreat when sensing danger, but he also had the courage to face it head-on once he stepped into a trap.
Moreover, when he arrived in this cosmos, he already sensed that something was amiss.
Yet he still chose to set foot here, and in doing so, was prepared for the possibility of this being a trap targeted at him.
However, compared to when he first entered this cosmos and pondered whether it was a trap or merely a low-level threat, Hawk felt relaxed now.
Better dealing with a thief upfront than being haunted by one!
When he first arrived, the enemy was hidden, and Hawk couldn't even be sure if there was an enemy.
But now the enemy had revealed themselves.
So what was there to worry about?
Apocalypse?
The legendary first mutant?
Wow!
Quite the intimidating reputation.
But...
And then?
Would that alone make Hawk back down?
Not possible.
Therefore—
Egypt, Cairo.
Sand tossed under the scorching sun like a golden ocean, and in the desert outskirts, a towering metal pyramid built recently by Magneto symbolized the newest throne of the Mutant Apocalypse.
Standing on a dune before the pyramid, Apocalypse was protected by his four horsemen by his side.
Apocalypse's dark blue skin shimmered with a metallic sheen under the sunlight.
Apocalypse had a towering and sturdy frame, deep facial lines, and a wrinkled chin.
Dressed in ancient religious and Egyptian Element-inspired black armor, Apocalypse looked like an ancient Tyrant from Egyptian mythology.
At this moment, Apocalypse had his eyes slightly closed, and his mind flashed with images from the moment of his revival.
Just then...
Boom!
A thunderous roar suddenly sounded from the sky.
In this world were Cairo's thieves, the mutant Angel with numerous dreadlocks, the mutant Psylocke wearing a purple tight battle suit that outlined perfect muscular lines, the mutant Angel with giant, sharp metal wings, and the mutant Magneto, who, after the tragic death of his wife and daughter, donned his red helmet and dark armor once more. They all simultaneously looked up toward the vast sky.
In sight!
A crimson light streaked swiftly from afar, instantly piercing the clouds and then hurtling at a speed faster than sound, landing hundreds of meters away from Apocalypse and his four horsemen.
When Hawk's feet touched the ground, the impact wave instantly leveled the surrounding dunes, and tremors reached miles away.
Violent, smoke-like sand swept toward Apocalypse and his four horsemen.
Apocalypse remained still.
But his four horsemen were swept off their feet by the sudden gust.
Despite the collapsing dunes beneath him, Apocalypse stood firmly in the raging sand due to his molecular manipulation ability, his reddish eyes opening, his gaze piercing through the sweeping sand and settling on Hawk, who was clad in a crimson tight battle suit, towering in stature and stern-faced.
Four eyes met.
"I'm really curious..."
Hawk spoke, his voice as usual, cold and calm, as if merely chatting: "I understand you can sense me, but knowing I'm from the outside, that's what I can't comprehend, so who's behind you, the Celestial God Team?"
Indeed.
He certainly didn't believe Apocalypse alone could challenge him.
As Hawk had just said, perhaps Apocalypse could sense his existence, but there was absolutely no way he could know he was an outsider.
Without a doubt.
There must be a guy from the outside, like himself, who found Apocalypse and made him the vanguard of this time.
Hawk's first suspect was naturally the Celestial God Team, with whom he's had past grievances.
But he wasn't sure.
After all, if it were orchestrated by the Celestial God Team, then when Apocalypse captured Professor X, he should have also seized his daughter, Jean.
Because only in this way, Hawk might have some scruples.
Unlike now.
Apocalypse holds no leverage against him.
Because his daughter, Jean, is now with her mother. If the mastermind wants to play some trick of luring enemies away, they will be disappointed, as they will face the overwhelming fury of the Scarlet Witch, fierce in her motherhood.
But...
Apocalypse listened to Hawk's words, remained motionless, his red pupils fixated on Hawk.
Except for Magneto, the other three knights nearby had a feeling of the master being humiliated leading to the knights' death, attempting to attack Hawk.
Hawk caught everything with his eyes, watching the unmoved Apocalypse.
"Alright!"
"Don't talk? Then ask the questions again during the fight!"
"Bang!"
Hawk's figure drew a crimson shadow in the desert, a second ago still a hundred meters away, and as the words finished, Hawk's fist was already close to the face of Apocalypse.
Apocalypse crossed his arms in front of his chest, under "Mutant Ability - Molecular Reconstruction," transforming his arms into an indestructible alloy shell.
Boom!
The instant Hawk's fist collided with Apocalypse's arms, a deafening metallic boom erupted.
The three knights eager to try were once again blasted away.
Magneto quickly dodged the range of attack, then, according to the agreement with Apocalypse, ascended into the air, starting to exert force, twisting and shifting Earth's magnetic field.
The ground under Apocalypse's feet began to crack in a radial pattern, the fissures extending from beneath him towards the base of the giant Metal Pyramid towering in the desert.
The entire desert seemed to tremble under Hawk's strike.
The next moment.
In just an instant, Apocalypse finally could not withstand Hawk's punch, as if a star collided, was instantly blown away, his body like a cannonball penetrating three sand dunes, relentlessly pursuing the fissure extending towards the pyramid's base, finally, with a bang, slammed into the outer wall of the pyramid.
Just as he raised his head, Hawk had already appeared in front of him again.
The second punch.
Boom!
"Mutant Ability - Molecular Reconstruction!"
At the moment Hawk's second punch landed, Apocalypse instantly decomposed his molecular structure; Hawk's second punch passed straight through Apocalypse's body, instantly piercing the outer wall of the pyramid behind him, a metal crater was formed with a sound.
At this moment.
Apocalypse's body opportunely reassembled, then formed behind Hawk, his right hand transforming into a pitch-black blade, with a puff, stabbed towards Hawk's chest as he turned around in an instant.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Hawk below.
Apocalypse above.
Apocalypse pressed one hand on Hawk's body, pushing Hawk towards the inside of the Metal Pyramid, while forcefully stabbing at Hawk's chest.
But...
The blade's tip collided with the crimson tight Battle Armor on Hawk, sparking a series of sparks, yet unable to penetrate Hawk's armor.
For the first time, a look of dismay appeared on Apocalypse's metalized face.
Hawk's mouth curved upward, as he was about to slam against the metal floor below, he turned in midair, grabbed Apocalypse's wrist, and reversed over the shoulder throw, slamming Apocalypse towards the metal ground inside the pyramid.
Boom!
Apocalypse's back intimately contacted with the metal ground, making a muffled noise.
Like ringing a bell.
But people outside this bell might find the sound pleasant.
But if trapped inside the bell, it's uncomfortable.
Hawk instinctively frowned, his gaze quickly scanned the pyramid's interior filled with dense runes, invisible from the outside.
The next moment.
As the muffled sound gradually elongated, Hawk also felt the surrounding air suddenly becoming viscous.
This made Hawk feel as if suddenly trapped in a quagmire.
Something's not right here!
Hawk raised his sword-like brow, looking up at the huge hole from which he had just arrived, quickly trying to leave.
But just then.
The hole he had just blasted started healing rapidly, sealed completely in the blink of an eye.
"Boom!"
"Buzz!"
Hawk's punch landed on the wall, instantly, the runes carved on the wall seemed to come alive, flashing with golden light and resonating, the viscous sensation intensified.
At this moment.
Hovering in midair, Hawk listened to the commotion, turned then looked down.
Into his sight.
Apocalypse had already risen from the metal floor, as the surrounding viscous sensation weakened, Apocalypse's body began expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Two meters.
Three meters.
Until five meters.
And as Apocalypse's body grew taller, likewise, his blue skin also appeared with complex golden runes similar to those inside the pyramid's walls.
Apocalypse's exposed golden runes breathed and echoed with the golden runes on the pyramid's interior walls.
Hawk wasn't in a rush to leave now, lowered his altitude, then gazed at Apocalypse, who had transformed into a five-meter giant.
"So—"
"Is the pyramid your energy amplifier?"
"..."