Josie's Bar often attracted the type of lowlife scum that nowhere else would take. The combination of such people and any kind of alcohol was rarely a good thing; the front window had been replaced twice this month alone. At the moment things were relatively quiet, the window miraculously intact. Two regulars were playing pool on a table that had seen more repairs than actual games. The first man broke, an ugly guy whose jaw, like most things in the bar, had seen so much repair work that the original warranty was now a joke.
"Double the black?" He asked
"Turk ya dumbass, ya don't know what that means!" Said the other man
"Sure I do Grotto" Turk protested
"You heard the last two guys who played say that. All you know about pool is that ya hit the balls with the stick"
"Cue, Grotto, it's called a cue"
Grotto laughed. He loved times like this. Cold beer, Turk making a fool of himself and above all nobody to make trouble.
"Hey Grotto, check that out!" Turk nodded towards the door where a young man wearing a very smart suit had just entered. Nobody like that came into a bar like Josie's, unless he had a death wish. Turk smiled like a shark, quite an achievement for someone whose jaw has been wired shut on more that one occasion. He and Grotto sauntered over to the man.
"Hey buddy, ya looking for somethin'" Grotto smiled.
"My name is Agent Gerrins. I have reason to believe that the vigilante known as Daredevil comes here from time to time"
Turk's smile froze; he rubbed his jaw slowly. It had been Daredevil who had done the breaking. Turk had a few scores of his own to settle.
"Now why would a nice man like you be looking for the devil?" He asked nicely
"Government business" Was Gerrins reply. Turk didn't like that. He picked up a chair.
A few minutes later Turk was thrown neatly through Josie's window. Grotto followed closely behind. The rest of the drinkers decided to give the agent their respect and not try anything. Gerrins' phone rang.
"I'm following up a lead. Daredevil is reputed to use this bar as a source of information" He reported. After a few moments he hung up, then approached the bar.
"I hope that by now you know why I'm here" He said in no uncertain terms.
-
The JLA Watchtower was empty when John Stewart arrived. He had hoped to catch Batman here, Kyle had said that he had started an investigation of his own. John activated a communicator. Batman's image sprang to life on the screen.
"Green Lantern" Said Batman in a formal manner. The man was always about business.
"Batman, Kyle told me you were investigating the Barret case"
"That's right"
"Well, Kyle asked me to keep an eye on his lawyer and something interesting came up" John explained about his meeting with Daredevil and what had been said.
"Do you trust him?" Batman asked when John had finished.
"I'm not sure, if this Bullseye character is even half as bad as he told me then if I were in his shoes I'd want to give anyone else involved the heads up"
"On the other hand Daredevil could be the killer and the Bullseye story could be a cover"
"I thought of that too, but it fits. It would take a professional hired killer to even get near Barret, his security was good"
"According to the reports they didn't even realise he'd been attacked until after he was dead. This may seem like an obvious question, but if Barret's security was as good as you say how did Kyle get so close to him when he fell?" John could see the cogs turning in Batman's head. To him things were starting to make a kind of sense. John made a stab in the dark.
"You think his bodyguards were bought off?"
"Did you know that since Barret's death his opponent took the seat on the council?"
It was true; Edward Barret had been the firm favourite to win. But when he died his opponent, a man named David Healy, had made a statement expressing his condolences and taken the position.
"I'd have thought that the election would have been postponed" Argued John.
"It wasn't. Healy had no chance of a victory against Barret; his position was too strong. But if Healy hired Bullseye to assassinate Barret and bribed his security to let it happen..."
"Kyle's off the hook!" Said John
"Not so fast, first we need proof. Do you think you could track down Daredevil again?"
-
Matt had returned home. He thought briefly for a moment about changing out of his Daredevil costume. The way things had been going lately he would probably need it. He settled for a clean costume underneath his regular clothes. As he snapped his Billy club back into the shape of his cane his phone rang. Matt could find his way around his home without even thinking.
"Hi Matt, it's Foggy, have you heard the news yet?"
"No, what is it?"
"Healy took the office! You'd think he'd wait a while, as a mark of respect or something. But no, he gives a press conference and takes the job everybody knew Barret was gonna get! It stinks of an inside job to me!" Foggy ranted. Matt put two and two together. It didn't take a genius.
"What did Barret's people have to say about it?"
"Oh they complained, who wouldn't. This time last week they were set for victory"
"Foggy, do me a favour. Stick with the Healy case; let me know if anything new comes up. In the meantime I need to check in with Kyle"
"You got it buddy. Anything happens and you're the first to know, after me of course. Later" Foggy hung up. Matt barely had time to hang the phone up before it started ringing again.
"Hello?"
"Matt? It's Kyle. I'm at the hospital"
"Kyle? What happened?"
"It's not me; it's this guy. Ben Urich. He's a reporter" Kyle explained
"Kyle, slow down. Tell me everything"
"Ok, it's like this. He was following me asking about the court case and he... a truck hit him. He's been asking for you ever since we got here" Kyle lied. Matt knew he was lying, he had asked Ben to tell him about Bullseye. If Bullseye had done something to Ben he would never forgive himself.
"Stay there. I'm on my way"
-
Glass breaks easy when you throw bricks at it. Every idiot knows that. But sometimes the easy tricks were good ones. Bullseye broke into Kyle's apartment. There were pictures around the place. Not that unusual, but the girl in some of them were. She had green skin and hair, and she certainly didn't look like the She-Hulk. Bullseye picked up the picture and laughed to himself. The phone rang a few times, and then the answer phone took it. Bullseye didn't listen to Kyle's message, but the voice of a young man got his attention.
"Hello Kyle, It's Terry. Have you seen that new zombie movie yet? If not don't bother. It's not worth it, trust me! I'll let you know haw bad it is when I see you. You could use a break from all that legal stuff. Talk to ya later!" The speaker sounded like a young man. Bullseye checked the picture. It was a group shot. Kyle, the green chick, a black man who was probably older than Kyle, and a blonde kid in his late teens. An ugly grin split Bullseye's face.
"Rayner, you've just made this too easy"
-
Matt made it to the hospital in next to no time. Ben had suffered massive trauma. He was bandaged up and hooked up to more machines than Matt could make out clearly. The doctors had said that he was in no condition to see anyone. He found Kyle in the waiting area. He looked like he had seen a ghost.
"Kyle, I want to thank you for getting Ben here so quickly. He's an old friend of mine"
"Don't mention it" was it Matt's imagination or did Kyle seem distracted? He weighed up whatever was on his mind, then he turned to Matt.
"I have a few questions for you" There was an edge of determination in his voice, as though he had been thinking of this for quite a while. The patch of anti-sound was still around his hand. Green Lantern must still be keeping track of him. Matt nodded. Kyle sighed.
"For a start, why were you not surprised when I said that I was with Ben?"
Matt considered his options. There was really no point lying.
"I asked Ben to go see you. I suspected Bullseye was involved and I thought that you should know about him. What I didn't know was how you'd take the news from me, I thought it would be better coming from someone neutral"
"How do you know about Bullseye in the first place?"
How did Matt answer this one? Bullseye had made it his life's mission to destroy him. Matt wasn't the type of person who got close to people easily, but when he did he fell hard. Her name was Elektra, and she had been the first girl Matt had ever fallen in love with. After the death of her father she had disappeared only to turn up years later as a merciless assassin. Matt had tried to reach her but it was no good, and she had died at Bullseye's hands. A few years later he had fallen again. Her name had been Karen Page, and Bullseye had killed her too. He had heard about Elektra's 'resurrection', but it didn't change the fact that she had died in his arms.
"Because he killed someone I was very close to" He said quietly.
"I understand" Said Kyle. He thought back to when he had first gotten his ring, the ring that had turned him into Green Lantern. He had been in love with a girl called Alex deWitt, and while he had been away Major Force had murdered her. Kyle had found her body cruelly stuffed in a freezer. He knew what Matt was talking about only too well. For a moment the two men were silent, then Matt spoke.
"Ben wasn't hit by a truck, was he?"
"No, he wasn't" It was Matt's turn to sigh. Kyle thought about it for a moment.
"I have to ask, you're not psychic, are you?"
"What? No, I'm not psychic. Why?"
"Just checking"
-
In the elevator, a young orderly was busy sorting out the contents of the trolley he was pushing. He didn't pay that much attention when another man got into the elevator.
"What floor you heading for?" The man asked good naturedly.
The orderly looked up for the first time at the other man. He was tall, muscular, wearing orange and purple and smiling sharply...