Chapter 299: Hawkeye Gets Played
The moment Ebony Maw appeared in front of him, Hawkeye's stomach dropped straight to the floor.
He hadn't expected all three of them to come after him at once — an absurd overreaction for someone as ordinary as him.
He could feel it, clear and undeniable: this enemy was well beyond anything he could handle. He didn't even have the nerve to consider fighting back.
His only thought now was escape — get out, get anywhere but here. But the instant he moved to turn, Ebony Maw's voice cut through him like a blade of ice, straight into his mind.
"Kneel."
The word landed flat, quiet, and carried something that felt utterly impossible to resist.
The moment it left Ebony Maw's mouth, Hawkeye felt an invisible force close in from every direction at once, gripping his body tight, forcing him down onto his knees.
Fear and confusion flooded through him. He understood, on some level, that this was the alien's doing — but he couldn't fathom how two words alone had made him surrender so completely.
He tried to fight it, but the force held him like an iron band, unyielding, immovable.
Ebony Maw didn't even glance at him. His gaze seemed to pass straight through Hawkeye, settling instead on the two figures behind him. "The two of you," he said dryly. "Failed to catch him yourselves."
Hearing that, Hawkeye's heart lurched. Only now did he realize the two aliens who'd been chasing him earlier had already caught up and were standing right behind him. Their eyes were cold, merciless — the look of predators sizing up worthless prey.
Exhaustion and despair he couldn't put into words settled over him.
The wound Corvus Glaive had carved into his back was still bleeding freely, soaking his clothes through. He could feel his strength draining, his life ebbing slowly out of him.
Even in the middle of that hopeless moment, Hawkeye refused to give up entirely. He knew he probably wasn't walking away from this — but he still wanted to leave Steve and the others something useful.
Straining with everything he had left, he forced his head up and shouted at Ebony Maw. "Who ARE you people? What do you want here?"
Ebony Maw looked at him coldly, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "I don't believe I owe an insect like you any answers. And I don't much care for the way you're looking at me."
The instant he finished speaking, a searing pain tore through Hawkeye's eyes — and then, darkness. Panic surged through him as he realized he couldn't see anything at all. He'd gone blind.
"Wait — 'made real just by saying it'?" Hawkeye gasped, the words tumbling out before he could stop them, shock and despair thick in his voice.
He couldn't believe it — this alien's power was so absolute that a single sentence alone had cost him his eyesight.
Even so, he pushed the realization out loud on purpose, hoping to get the information to Steve and the others: this thing can make whatever it says come true. They needed to be extremely careful.
Blind now, Hawkeye could only feel his way through everything happening around him.
He'd lost the one thing he'd always taken the most pride in — his eyes. Like an eagle with clipped wings, despair settled deep into his chest.
He understood exactly what he was now: a lamb waiting for the slaughter, powerless to do anything but wait for the blade.
Ebony Maw's voice reached his ears again, cold and mechanical, like a summons from Death itself. "Tell you what. Give me Ethan Cross's location — where I can find Hell's Kitchen — and I'll let you live. How's that sound?"
A chill ran through Hawkeye's chest. He hadn't expected these aliens to already know Ethan — and to be actively hunting him.
Is this whole disaster somehow another mess Ethan stumbled into without meaning to?
Still, he had no intention of selling Ethan out. Whatever else Ethan was, he was still one of Earth's own — and Hawkeye didn't trust for a second that these ruthless aliens would actually let him go even if he did talk.
Watching Hawkeye stay silent, Ebony Maw's patience ran dry fast. He was already preparing to simply kill this worthless insect and be done with it.
That's when Proxima Midnight, apparently taking a genuine liking to this stubborn little human, stepped in.
She moved between him and Ebony Maw, hooking a finger under Hawkeye's chin, tilting his face up with a teasing edge. "Not bad-looking, this one. How about it, want to work for me instead? I'm Proxima Midnight, one of the five members of Lord Thanos's Black Order. The one with the scythe who cut you up — that's my husband, General Corvus Glaive. And the one who took your eyes — that's Ebony Maw."
Ebony Maw shot her a sidelong glance, clearly unhappy with the gesture, but said nothing, simply fixing Hawkeye with a cold stare.
Hawkeye let out a shallow breath of relief — at least now he had names to go with the threat, even if the words "Thanos" and "Black Order" told him nothing about what they actually wanted here.
He tried to focus, hoping to pull more information out of Proxima Midnight — but her next words landed on him like a boulder to the chest.
"I've been talking this whole time — surely your friends can hear us, can't they? So why haven't they come to save you? Are you Earth people really this cold? This heartless? Look at you. Your own people abandoned you."
Every word from Proxima Midnight dripped with mockery, each one a needle driven straight into Hawkeye's chest.
So — they'd known from the start that others could hear this conversation. Proxima Midnight had deliberately raised her voice, wanting Steve and the others to hear every word, wanting them to listen and do nothing.
Time seemed to stretch out, every second a blade balanced on edge. Hawkeye's mind churned in agony.
Part of him desperately hoped someone would come save him, pull him out of this. But another part of him prayed it wouldn't be Steve.
Steve was a good man, but he was no match for these aliens. If he showed up, it would only make everything worse.
Watching him, Proxima Midnight's expression shifted into something like disappointed mockery. She shook her head with a sigh. "Such a shame. Looks like Earth really has abandoned you. I really thought this planet might still have a few people left with some sense of honor."
The moment she finished, Corvus Glaive raised his scythe, ready to deliver the final blow to this discarded, forgotten human.
Hawkeye couldn't see it coming, but he could feel the cold edge of the blade closing in on his throat. He could feel his life slipping away, death's shadow falling over him.
Blood loss finally caught up with him, and Hawkeye's consciousness slipped away.
But just before the darkness took him entirely, a familiar voice reached his ears.
"Barton. You still with me?"
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