Hawkeye, The Marksman!
Our tale begins at Tony Stark's weapon factory where in Iron Man saves an employee from an accident at the workplace. Which naturally ends with gratitude from said employee. Soon afterward Happy Hogan requests Iron Man if he could ask Tony to put in a good word for him with Pepper Potts whom he's swooning over. Tony feels jealous but doesn't want to get in their way and risk their shot at happiness, however while trying to make good on the request Pepper jumps the gun and assumes Tony is asking her out.
Not wanting to correct the girl Tony decides to just take her out to a less romantic venue not trusting his feelings if he did otherwise. So off to Coney Island they go, where in many rides and games are on exhibit. The pair witness a show going on with a marksman by the name of Hawkeye who is putting on a display of skill with his bow and arrows hitting targets. The audience was less than thrilled to say the least. During the act however one of the rides begin to malfunction and it's up to Tony Stark to slip away and become The Invincible Iron Man! Iron Man handles the situation easily enough causing the crowds to cheer. There is one who isn't as thrilled as the others however, that being Hawkeye who feels under appreciated.
After everyone leaves Hawkeye takes the time to try and show up Iron Man and any other costumed hero by making a costume, and creating a persona himself. Clad in a colorful costume and keeping his stage name of Hawkeye he set out to prowl the streets using an assortment of arrows he created.
While patrolling the rooftops Hawkeye observes a jewelry store robbery in which he takes it upon himself to stop the crook. Hawkeye loosens an arrow pinning the thief to a telephone poll taking consideration not to injure the man, but while ziplining down to the street, the man rips free and takes off down the street. Clint takes this time to inspect the bag that the man dropped when two policemen show up after catching the thief that got away and accuse Hawkeye of being his partner in crime. Thinking the police would never believe him he takes off. While running he comes across a beautiful woman who just so happens to be the Black Widow. The woman offers to be his getta-way driver where in he accepts, thus beginning their alliance. Black Widow takes Hawkeye to her estate where she shows him some some Russian technology blueprints that could be useful if attached to arrows, and presents that she wants Iron Man taken care of. Hawkeye already bewitched by her accepts.
Meanwhile Tony feels bad for not showing Pepper a good time, ditching the girl to save people might have that effect especially if they don't know you're off saying people, so Tony decides to ask her out again to make up for it but also because he likes her. However Happy asks her out before he can and she accepts to make Tony jealous. At this same time Hawkeye is stealing away into an equipment truck headed for Stark's factory. Once on the grounds he's scales a wall and decides to blow up the main entrance to the factory which is sealed shut. Hearing the explosion echo the facility Tony suits up and gets ready for a fight. Iron Man tells the staff to stay behind him for their safety, but it's not long before he's hit by a barrage of arrows. Iron Man shrugs it off at first thinking his armor is more advanced then the arrows and that they'd be ineffective until he realized they are suction cupped with a vial of fast acting rusting solution that breaks on impact causing his suit to tighten up. The rust causes Tony to have to remove parts of his armor while also fleeing from Hawkeye. Hawkeye takes a few pieces of Tony's armor thinking that if you learn it's secrets you could become one of the worlds most powerful men. Then hits the road towards Black Widow's rendezvous point. At the same time Iron Man is frantically looking for replacement pieces for his Iron Man suit that he hid around the facility. After finding them all he heads out to confront Hawkeye.
Flying down the road Iron Man spots the car Hawkeye took off in not wanting him to get away with his armor pieces he fires an intensive blast at the car causing it to swerve off road. This marks round two. Hawkeye out of rust fluid attempts to fling other arrows at Iron Man, but Iron Man is a lot more prepared this battle. After a few arrows are deflected Hawkeye shoots an arrow that bursts in front of Iron Man and entangles him in some rope however Iron Man breaks loose as Hawkeye runs to the end of a nearby pier. Iron Man destroys part of the pier causing Hawkeye to be stranded on a lone wooden pillar which Iron Man uses to fling him into the water. Hawkeye plays dead and Iron Man pulls him out of the drink as Black Widow pulls up in her car. Biding his time once Iron Man begins to walk away Hawkeye pulls out a demolition blast warhead arrow that Black Widow had helped design and lets it fly straight at Iron Man. The arrow deflects off his armor stunning him but also hits Natasha, the Black Widow. So worried is Hawkeye about Natasha that he drops everything and runs to her aid picking her up and rushing her to a nearby boat that she had at the pier to make their escape in, however now it's needed so that he can take her to a doctor. Soon after they board the boat and set sail Iron Man recovers and begins to chase after them as a fog slowly rolls in. Eventually Tony realizes he's near an airport and doesn't want to be a menace to the planes so he decides to call it quits while he's ahead.
Lastly he goes back to his factory and notices Happy and Pepper aren't back from their movie date so he just hangs around and waits till morning while still thinking of Pepper and how to handle the situation with her.
The Watcher's Power!
A story featuring a Watcher.
The Runner
A single-page text story that continues next issue.
Log in to comment