Chapter 1: Five Rats
"Offer ye a spot, laddy?" the swaying sailor extends the brown bottle.
August sunlight projects the blinds onto the desk in the Heroes for Hire Park Avenue office. Iron Fist shoots a qualmish glance at Aguila beside the drunken longshoreman. Aguila smiles.
"I rarely touch the stuff," Iron Fist waves his hand, "Our mutual acquaintance Aguila believes you have some business that might interest me."
"Aye, laddy, that I do," the seaman slaps a sweaty hand on Iron Fist's shoulder and takes a long swig, "The handle's Nathaniel, an' I've been workin' Manhattan's east wharfs many a year. I've met Spider-Man and Human Torch. I've rassled the Grey Gargoyle. Gargoyle and I was quita match-up. . . . . [see Marvel Team-Up #2 & #13]."
Iron Fist interrupts. "Does this case involve Grey Gargoyle?" he asks Aguila.
Nathaniel answers for Aguila, "Nah, there're five o' 'em. Mean bucks I tell ye. Ye can tell by the looks in their eyes. Almost as mean as Grey Gargoyle. . . . ." Nat strikes a wrestling pose.
Aguila interrupts, "The Enforcers, Spider-Man's old dance partners, have been pestering longshoremen, especially Nat famous for meeting Spidey's allies and enemies."
"'Tis the schedule they seek," Nathaniel juts a finger into Iron Fist's face.
"Drink, my friend," Aguila tips the bottle to the tar's lips, "They want the time and place of a certain shipment's arrival. The cargo holds great importance to an unnamed employer. So far, they have roughed some men and wrecked some property. They feel veteran wharfman Nat with the big mouth can best get them their information. He has until tomorrow night. Otherwise, they rough and wreck him next. I have an ear to the docks and heard of the whole shakedown."
Iron Fist nods, "Alright, I waive my usual fee. As a K'un-Lun warrior, I protect the weak just as you do, Aguila. Let us gather troops. The Daughters of the Dragon, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, ought to do. And let us hope that we four heroes against these five villains do not miss the late Power Man's power."
The swashbuckling adventurer nods, "I miss Luke Cage too."
The kung-fu warrior steadies his nerves, "And, I more than most." He will review the Death of Power Man perhaps some other time.
Around midnight, amidst gigantic coolers' rumble, Nathaniel strolls the central aisle of a produce warehouse. His workboots tap the dank concrete, and his breath wisps before him. He sips more rum. Suddenly, a lariat grabs his forearm and flings the bottle onto the wall. Overhead, more fluorescents flicker on. Five figures—Fancy Dan, Ox, Montana, Snake Marston, and Hammer Harrison surround Nathaniel.
"You got our information, old boy?" Fancy Dan glares into Nathaniel's droopy eyes.
Nathaniel snorts, "I'm not scared o' ye hooligans."
Ox seizes a two-hundred-pound crate. Pressing his massive hands together, he splinters it into wood chunks and fruit pulp. "Ox hurt you," he raps his huge finger on Nat's chest.
"We all will," Hammer Harrison's metal-enclosed fist knocks clean through steel racking.
"Oh, we don't think so," more lights come on, and four heroes surround the Enforcers' circle. The speaker Aguila, Iron Fist, and the Daughters of the Dragon spring forward.
With a scream, Iron Fist flying front snapkicks Hammer Harrison, tumbles forward, and delivers a blur of jabs into Fancy Dan's face. With a ciseaux, Aguila gracefully slashes his saber across rubber man Snake Marston's chest. With a crackle, Misty Knight's bionic hand clamps Ox's left wrist. The Ox bellows. Colleen Wing's honed katana first slices the taut lariat rope between Montana's hands and then lops off the loop.
Bloody-faced, Fancy Dan armblocks Iron Fist's further blows. Hammer Harrison sneaks-up. Iron Fist—without looking—back-kicks him in the breadbasket. Touching swordtip to Marston's chest, Aguila pins him with a great blossom of voltage. Shockingly, Snake Marston is unaffected. Secretly, Marston is also the electricity-resistant Eel (see Daredevil #357). "Ox hit you!" Ox raises a deadly fist. "Kri-chak", Misty Knight cocks and raises a deadly .44. "Come peacefully" she orders. Colleen Wing's blade slices upward splitting Montana's cowboy hat, and it loops downward to rest against his neck. "Surrender" she demands.
By luck, Fancy Dan grabs Iron Fist's wrist. The kung-fu master chops the villain's collarbone and frees himself—only to have Hammer Harrison rabbitpunch him to the floor.
"Bet ya could use Power Man to box for you right now," Hammer viciously hooks Iron Fist across the face as the hero rises, "Where is that loser anyway?"
"Dead," Iron Fist, the death's only witness, reveals.
Sidekicking ribs, Fancy Dan joins the beating, "Soon you will be too."
Before Aguila's bewildered eyes, Snake Marston has seized the intoxicated Nathaniel. The human snake wraps an arm tight on Nathaniel's throat, and the two back toward a baydoor. The hero follows the villain and the hostage.
Releasing Ox's left wrist, Misty Knight handcuffs his right one to a forklift. Grunting angrily, Ox yanks the wheel-locked vehicle toward him. He steps closer to Knight, "Ox get you. Ox hurt you." A .44 slug across the kneecap "subdues" the giant.
Backing Montana away from Ox, Colleen Wing also produces handcuffs. Montana gabs, "Are you going to incapacitate me? You know, the Tinkerer and I once determined how to incapacitate the people I rope. And, we used produce just like in this warehouse."
"Oh yeah?" Wing replies, "How's that?"
"We made a little mixture of cayenne and fiberglass we called 'trail dust.' But, most call it teargas," Montana hurls a canister of teargas at the investigator. He sprints. The samurai warrior pursues—blindly—but accurately.
Fancy Dan's tornadokick crashes Iron Fist against a cooler door. Grinning, Hammer Harrison screams above the refrigeration din, "I bet ya want your partner now! I bet ya want your mommy and daddy!"
Beneath the mask, Daniel Rand flashes back through three mortal "failures": best friend Luke Cage slain, mother Heather Rand consumed by wolves, father Wendell Rand murdered by rival Harold Meachum. Daniel helplessly watched each death. No anger contaminates his warrior heart. Rather, his pain and fury flow to his fist. It begins to burn, and it awaits Hammer Harrison. Hammer Harrison raises a steel fist and fires it forward. Blazing, an Iron Fist meets it and blasts right through exploding the steel block and splintering the hand and forearm beneath. Mushy appendage flopping, Hammer Harrison collapses in pain. Fancy Dan falls after a few moves from his martial arts superior.
Outside, Snake Marston backs along the pier. Nathaniel chokes beneath Marston's arm. Aguila follows them.
"Throw down that sword," Snake Marston commands.
Aguila tosses the weapon aside, "With the sword go my mutant powers. Now, please, take me hostage instead of the sweet old drunk."
From nowhere, the old sailor a lockblade and buries it into the criminal's abdomen. Snake Marston squalls. He releases Nathaniel. Nat cracks Snake in the fangs. Snake goes limp.
"Well, my 'uman powers work jesh fine," red-faced Nathaniel totters, "Jesh ash the Grey Gargoyle." Aguila just scratches his chin.
Montana has fled to the warehouse's truckyard. Blindly, Colleen Wing has followed. Montana turns the ignition key in a rig. Still blinded, Wing hears the engine gun and the transmission grind. Twirling a chain and scythe, she aims the hooking blade for where the hood "must" be. The chain falls around the front axle instead. The truck accelerates past. It yanks woman prone and skips and skids her over rough asphalt. Abruptly, five ear-splitting booms rupture five of the eighteen-wheeler's tires. Misty Knight reloads as Montana halts the handicapped vehicle. Knight surveys her raw-eyed, road-rashed partner, "You okay, Colleen?"
Montana, Colt in hand, bursts from the cab and fires a quick shot just past Misty. Wing's shuriken pierces his hand, and the Colt drops. "Yes, fine," Colleen Wing tells the blur beside her.
Police and paramedics take the Enforcers away. Iron Fist and his allies agree that the mystery shipment deems further monitoring and investigation. Uptown, Kingpin, hidden in his tower, bemoans to Typhoid Mary the Enforcers' failure. The crime lord swears, "Von Strucker, his HYDRA, and his death spore will not invade my city."