The Marvel Knights Group presents: The Enforcers #5

The jack o' lantern bounced once. Twice. It hissed, wept steam, and exploded, flaring like a miniature sun. Snake Marston found himself flying backwards, bits of burning pumpkin clinging to his bodysuit. He hit the edge of a building and fell to the street, smoldering.

The day was not going well at all.

Well, if he was being honest with himself, he could make a case for his life not going well. Not at all. And it was about to be summarily, embarrassingly ended. By a lunatic dressed like a refugee from a horror film no less. Marston heaved himself to his feet, bits of debris dribbling off of him. Jack O' Lantern floated overhead, grinning down at him through a halo of flames. He didn't see the others anywhere.

"Marston, right?" the mercenary said, gesturing. "The contortionist."

"Jack O' Lantern, right? The jack-ass."

"Hey, hey, hey now. No call for name-calling, buddy-boy." Jack shook a finger. It gleamed like metal. "This ain't personal. Except for your boss of course. Bastard shot off my finger. This finger as a matter of fact." He held up the finger. "But I found a replacement. Like it?" The finger pointed at the center of Marston's mass and the tip sparked. A thin beam of energy shot out. Marston cursed and leapt aside, narrowly avoiding the blast. He rolled across the street, diving behind a car.

"Need some help!" Marston screamed.

"Busy!" 'Hammer' Harrison snapped, tumbling over the hood of the car while wrestling with three of Hammerhead's goons. Harrison slugged one, shattering his jaw with ease. Another one kicked him in the gut and tried to jam a stiletto into his chest. The blade jammed into his shoulder instead and Harrison yelped, bringing both fists around to slam against either side of the man's skull. He staggered up as the third slammed into him. Harrison tripped over his own feet, fell backwards, punching wildly.

So no help there then.

As usual, he was on his own. As usual, the point man was hung out to dry, be it hanging in Spider-Man's webs or otherwise. As usual.

Gunfire echoed up and down the street as Hammerhead's gunsels tried to fight back against the super-powered killers who had invaded his territory. They weren't doing very well.

They needed to get out of here. He had to find Dan. Or Jackie. Somebody. Marston looked around wildly, searching for the others. Anyone really. A beam of energy hissed near his head, scoring a groove in the car. He ducked, scanning the street. A hiss of steam caused him to look down just in time to see a jack o' lantern roll under the car and bump up against his foot.

"Oh come ON!"

Dan leapt over a chunk of debris, hitting the pavement hard and springing to his feet. Bullets plucked at the ground around his feet and he threw himself to the ground, twisting as he did so in order to return fire with the scavenged pistols in his sweaty hands. No idea who he was shooting at. Didn't really matter. Everybody apparently wanted them dead. He scrambled up, stumbling through the dust and smoke that hung low over the street. Somewhere in the distance he could hear sirens.

Great. Perfect. How much worse could this day get?

A gray fist the size of a tombstone cut through the smoke over his head, narrowly missing him. Dan ducked and spun, pulling the triggers as fast as he could. The Rhino bellowed and brought both fists down, shattering the pavement around them with a sound like a thunderclap. Dan fell backwards, still firing, trying to find a weak point in the brute's armored hide.

"Come one, man, this is really unfair!" Dan whined, crab-crawling backwards, trying to stay ahead of the Rhino's shadow.

"Tell that to Fred," the Rhino said, stomping forward.

"Who?" Dan tossed aside the useless guns as they clicked empty. Out of bullets. Out of time.

"Myers. Boomerang. He wasn't a friend, but he was one of us. A goddamn professional. He deserved better than that."

"You're right! I'm really sorry! Don't step on me!"

"Too late. All a bug like you deserves." The Rhino snarled, raising one foot over Dan's supine form. Dan's feet swept out, catching the leg the Rhino was balancing on right across the ankle. The mercenary didn't fall, and Dan hadn't expected him to. But he was off balance. Dan bounded to his feet and leapt at the Rhino's chest like a desperate pinball, arms curled protectively over his head. He hit with a bone-jarring thump and the Rhino toppled backwards, clawing at the air. Dan was up and running a second later, looking desperately for a weapon. Any weapon.

This wasn't what he'd wanted. It had all seemed so simple. Such a good plan.

They always seemed like good plans. Until they weren't.

The ground shook beneath his feet. The Rhino was back up. And running hard. Dan could hear his lungs working, his gray hide creaking as he moved.

Run, Dan, run. Runrunrun.

"Hey! Dan! Whoa, boy!" Montana yanked Dan around a corner, slamming him up against a wall. "You seen the others? When that bomb went off I lost sight of Snake-"

"Shutupshutupshutup..." Dan snarled, grabbing Montana and whirling him around against the wall, one hand over the taller man's mouth.

Montana struggled, but stopped as the looming shape of the Rhino stepped past the alleyway the two were standing in. He shook his horned head, looking this way and that, peering through the smoke of explosions and the dust raised by a fallen building.

"Where are you, Brito?" he roared. "We ain't done yet!"

Dan pointed at the Rhino, then gestured at the lariat in Montana's gloved hand. Montana nodded slowly, keen eyes narrowed as he gauged distance and wind resistance. Then he stepped away from the wall as the Rhino turned away, his back to the two men. With a graceful gesture, Montana tossed the lariat, looping it around the Rhino's uppermost horn and giving it a pull. The Rhino staggered forward in surprise even as Montana leapt forward, using the Rhino's own strength to pull himself onto the massive criminal's back. With a speed born of desperation, he wrapped the rope around the Rhino's face and neck like a makeshift bridle and dug his spurs in to the small of the brute's back. The Rhino spun in place, reaching for Montana, but in vain.

"Dan!" Montana yelped as the Rhino slammed himself into the wall of the alleyway.

"What?"

"Climb on!"

"What?"

"That was the plan wasn't it?"

"No!"

"Then you shoulda said something! Now come on!" Montana shouted, holding out a hand. Dan gritted his teeth and lunged, grabbing his partner's hand and suddenly finding himself flying through the air and up onto the Rhino's back.

"Get offa me you bastards!"

"Make us, horn-head!" Dan climbed past Montana and dug hooked fingers into the Rhino's wide eyes, eliciting a scream from the brute. The Rhino suddenly charged forward, head low, running blindly and shaking his body from side to side, trying to dislodge his attackers.

The explosion rocked the street, but Marston found himself unharmed. He looked up. And up. And on up into Ox's docile features. Smoke rose from over the big man's shoulders as he lowered his arms and turned, face screwed up in a scowl.

"That...hurt," he grumbled, glaring up at Jack O' Lantern.

"Sue me." Jack shrugged. His glider rose up higher and he bounced a bomb on his palm. "This'll hurt worse. I guarantee it."

"Hey! Peter Pumpkin Eater!"

"What th-" Jack whirled even as an engine block, pulled loose from a car, caught him in the gut and sent him falling towards the street. Jack hit the roof of a car, bounced off and rolled to the street. Hammerhead stalked forward, dusting his hands. He looked like hell, his clothes torn and stained. Bleeding cuts and scrapes covered his visible flesh.

"One down. Too damn many to go," the crime-lord snarled. He grinned at Ox and Marston. "Might as well start with you two."

"Hey, hold on now! This isn't our fault!" Marston said, holdin up his hands. Ox stepped between them, big fists raised.

"Hell it ain't," Hammerhead rasped. "I'm gonna make it slow, too."

"Really? I prefer speed myself."

Hammerhead whirled even as Harrison's fist crashed into the center of his face. His nose crumpled in a spray of red and the big man staggered back a half-step, reaching up to protect his face as Harrison hit him again. And then a third time. Hammerhead sank to one knee, head sagging towards his chest. Harrison smirked.

"Don't blink. You'll miss it." He raised a fist, then swung down. Hammerhead's hand shot out, catching the blow before it could land. Harrison gaped as Hammerhead staggered upright.

"Sorry, punk. Guess I blinked. Wanna show me again?" Hammerhead grunted through bloody lips. He reached up and wrapped his free hand around Harrison's throat and stood, lifting the Enforcer as he went. "C'mon, punk! Show me something!"

Harrison gagged and pointed over Hammerhead's shoulder. He turned, eyes growing wide.

"Oh shi-"

The Rhino's charge carried him full into Hammerhead. They collided with a sound like thunder and both criminals went sprawling. Montana and Dan leapt clear at the last second and Harrison was tossed aside like a rag doll. The three Enforcers landed in a heap but quickly disentangled themselves. Dan brushed his coat off and looked at the others as they gathered around him.

"We gotta get out of here, Dan," Snake said, looking around nervously. Gunfire rattled in the air and sirens beyond that. "We gotta go!"

"Just when things are getting good?" Harrison said, wiping the blood off his mouth. Montana swatted the younger man with his Stetson.

"Are you functionally retarded? We got a minute, let's go! Dan?"

"I-I didn't want this to turn out like this." Dan was looking at the devastation around them. Then at Hammerhead and the Rhino unconscious on the ground. "It wasn't supposed to be this way." He felt like crying. He'd killed a man, and for what? Somebody's idea of a joke? Somebody's...he blinked, jaw snapping shut.

Set-up. It was a set-up.

"C'mon, Danny. Before another super-twist comes along and decides to use us for target practice." Montana grabbed Dan's arm. "C'mon, man."

"Fine. Yeah, great, let's go. Cool. Now where the hell we going?" Harrison snapped. Dan shook off Montana's hand.

"Sheila. We'll hole up at Sheila's."

"Sheila? Sheila-you're-gonna-marry Sheila?"

"No, thunder-goddess Sheila. Yes, that Sheila!" Dan headed for the nearest undamaged car. "Besides, she's probably worried about me."

"Bastard!"

The pan whanged off the doorframe of the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room of the tiny apartment. Dan scuttled out of the kitchen, hands held protectively over his head.

"Jesus! What'd I do? What'd I do?"

"Howsabout not answering your goddamn cell-phone you selfish bastard!" Sheila Dupree, late of the Kittycat Club on Ninth, stalked after Dan, her tall, slim form quivering with repressed anger. "That's why I bought it!" She was as tall as Dan was short, a veritable Amazon clad in spandex and a t-shirt that had seen better days. She was round in all the right places with hair the color of honey and eyes that made emeralds pale in shame.

"She bought you a cell-phone?" Harrison snickered from the battered leather couch as he flipped through the latest issue of Cosmo. He mimicked the cracking of a whip. "Whu-pah!"

"What the hell was that?" Montana looked across at Harrison from the other end of the couch.

"What?"

"That noise you just made."

"I was just indicating how our illustrious companion here is whipped."

"That didn't sound nothing like a-"

"And we've all seen that joke on Friends, thank you both," Marston said lazily from between them as he snagged an apple from the bowl on the coffee table in front of the couch. Sheila smacked it out of his hand.

"Don't touch my fruit! I paid for that fruit! When you pay for fruit you can have it!"

"Technically sweetie I-" Dan said, raising a finger. Sheila whirled.

"You what?"

"Nothing, dear. Precious. Love of my life."

"Glad to hear it. And you-" she whirled on Ox, who stood placidly by the front door. Ox jumped, eyes going wide.

"Me?"

"Yes, you! Stop looming!"

"Looming?"

"Siddown, Ox, for mercy's sake," Montana said. "Just sit on the damn floor."

"Don't curse in my apartment!" Sheila rounded on Montana. He raised his hat as an impromptu shield.

"But you just-" Dan interrupted him with a sharp gesture.

"Hunh-unh."

"Christ, Dan. Get your cooze on a leash will you?" Harrison grunted. "We got problems."

"Cooze? Cooze?" Sheila hissed. She made to leap across the coffee table at Harrison, who jerked back in shock, but Dan intercepted her, slinging her over his shoulder and heading for the bedroom. He looked over his shoulder at his partners as he struggled to hold on to his bride-to-be.

"Sorry. She's really sweet. Just, y'know, kinda stressful. Us being here. I forgot my phone. I-hold on a minute, okay?"

Then he kicked the door shut, muffling Sheila's shriek. The remaining Enforcers looked at one another.

"Pretty lady," Ox said, scratching his chin.

"Crazy lady." Montana lowered his hat, shaking his head. "And that's why I'm single."

"I thought you were gay." Harrison glanced over at him. Montana blinked.

“What?"

"Y'know. Queer."

"Why in the blue hell would I be gay?"

"Snake said you was." Harrison pointed at Snake, who grinned sheepishly and sunk lower in his seat.

"Snake's the one who's gay!" Montana snapped. Marston threw up his hands as Harrison jumped up.

"Oh, thank you very much, Jackie. I feel so much better now. The burden is lifted."

"Hey, I didn't start this." Montana shrugged. "I just wanted to head off any Brokeback jokes on the kid's part here."

"You're gay?" Harrison said glaring at Snake.

"No. I'm morose. If, however, you're asking if I'm homosexual, the answer would be yes." Marston sighed. "Oh, sit down, Harrison. I don't bite." He grinned suddenly. "Unless you insist."

"Augh!"

"Shaddup!" Montana hurled his hat. "Sly's a better man than you kid and don't you forget it."

"Better at what?"

"Hopefully dying," a nasty voice said, interrupting the conversation.

The Enforcers looked up in shock as the open window across the room from the couch they occupied was suddenly full of a man clad in a black and white costume. He laughed and flicked one wrist and something metal flashed, cutting the air with a hiss.

Harrison staggered forward, clawing at his neck as a thin, razor edged blade sank several inches into his throat. He fell to his knees and sprawled on the floor. The others stared in stupefaction as the killer known as Bullseye slid into the apartment, his body festooned with blades of all sizes and descriptions. He pointed at Harrison. "See there? No grace at all." He smiled at them, a too-wide manic grin.

"Hello, boys. Consider this a public service message from the Kingpin. Crime kills."

TO BE CONTINUED

Next Issue: Holy crap it's Bullseye! Place your bets folks, our loveable losers versus the most dangerous man in the Marvel Universe! Be here in thirty for 'RED RIGHT HAND'!