Marvel: The Enlightened One-Chapter 58: [] - A Power Bought with a Sister’s Life (Bonus)
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"My sister."
"We were found on the steps of St. Paul’s Community Church in Queens."
"The only thing we had on us was a slip of paper with our birthdates."
"Hawk and Anya. The priest at the church gave us our names."
"Anya always loved her name."
Hawk, leaning against his sister Anya’s headstone, didn’t bother asking Gwen how she had found him. He knew it would have been a pointless question.
He spoke softly. "Anya was always happy."
"She lived her life happily. Even when the hole in her heart kept her in and out of the hospital, she never stopped smiling."
Fortunately, because they were orphans, he never had to worry about medical bills, no matter how many times she was admitted. The state and federal government covered everything.
He glanced at Gwen, who was now sitting beside him, her back resting against the same headstone. "Sometimes I wonder if that’s why they left us. If they knew that by making us orphans, they were guaranteeing we’d get the best care, free of charge..."
Gwen’s expression tightened, and she just shook her head.
"Weren’t there any birth records when they found you?"
"None."
Hawk shook his head. "The church checked with all the hospitals in the city, but there were no matches. A doctor later suggested we were probably born at home, not in a hospital."
Home births weren’t uncommon.
Especially among families with strong religious convictions. The more extreme ones wouldn’t go to a hospital even if it meant both mother and child dying during a complicated birth.
"But it doesn’t matter."
"I never wanted to find them. They chose to abandon us, so we owe them nothing." Hawk shrugged, then continued his story.
"At first, there were people who wanted to adopt us."
"But because of Anya’s heart condition, most of them backed out."
"Father Moses was a good man. He didn’t want to separate us, so he became our legal guardian, and we stayed at the church until we were four."
"But then he passed away, and Anya and I were sent to a group home."
"We grew up there."
A group home—a residential facility designed like a large family, where a dozen or so orphans were cared for by staff from a nonprofit.
Gwen frowned. "No one ever took you in? Not even a foster family?"
"Who would want us?"
Hawk let out a short, humorless laugh. "The moment Anya left the system, her medical bills would have become their responsibility. And I was never going to leave my sister. Foster care was an option—they wouldn’t have to pay for her treatment—but the foster system... heh."
Adoption and foster care were two different worlds.
One was usually about love. The other, more often than not, was about the check.
Many foster families took in kids just to collect the government subsidies, using the money for themselves while providing the bare minimum for the children in their care. As long as the kids didn’t die, no one looked too closely.
Gwen had heard enough stories from her father to know this was true. She simply nodded, acknowledging the bitter reality in his words.
"So, what happened...?" Gwen’s voice trailed off. She glanced at the dates on Anya’s headstone.
1995.5.20 - 2009.9.10
Her gaze lifted, and she looked around at the other graves in this section of the cemetery.
"I remember this section. Most of the people buried here were the ones who died during the fight between the Hulk and the Abomination..."
"..." A flicker of something cold and hard passed through Hawk’s eyes. It was there and gone in an instant. He looked at her and nodded.
"That’s right..."
"Anya didn’t die from her illness. She was killed by the collateral damage from that battle."
The pieces clicked into place. Gwen finally understood. "So all these years, all your training... it’s for..."
"VENGEANCE!!!"
Hawk turned to face her, the word forced from between his teeth, the flames of vengeance finally burning free in his eyes. "I repay every kindness, and I avenge every wrong."
He had been an orphan in his past life, and he was an orphan in this one. But here, he had a sister, someone who had been with him from the very beginning.
So even when he was thrust into this new world—the Marvel Universe—without any powers, he had never felt lost.
Hawk had always been content with what he had.
He never had any grand ambitions of changing the world. His dreams were simple: Find happiness in what he had.
No powers? Fine. Life goes on.
He worked hard in school. He maintained his grades, even in the underfunded public system, until he caught the eye of a recruiter from Midtown Tech and was offered a scholarship.
His plan had been simple: study hard, get a good job, and make enough money to pay for his sister’s treatment.
On that day—September 10th, 2009—during his first weekend as a Midtown student, he took his sister to Times Square. They took a picture, a snapshot of a moment Hawk believed would be the turning point in their lives, a memory they would cherish forever.
And it was a turning point.
Just not the kind he had imagined.
After their day out, as they were waiting for the bus to go home, the unthinkable happened.
The Abomination appeared. Then the Hulk.
The two monsters began to tear the city apart.
When Hawk had watched it in the movies, he had thought the fight scene was spectacular. But being in the middle of it, he saw the carnage hidden behind the spectacle.
The screams.
The agony, the terror—in the face of that battle, normal people were utterly helpless.
Hawk was there, in the chaos, pulling his sister through the stampeding crowd, trying to escape.
And then...
The Hulk smashed the Abomination into the side of a building. The facade crumbled, and a wave of concrete and steel rained down from the sky, directly on top of them.
That night, Hawk lost his sister.
And in that same moment, his power awakened.
A Blessing?
Hardly...
It was a curse, bought and paid for with his sister’s life!!
The ones responsible for her death... they shared the same sky as him, but not for long.
A debt of blood has been incurred. And Hawk would see it paid in full.
...
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