Diamondback has been gunned down, an innocent bystander in a drug-related drive-by shooting. John Jameson discovers that she is alive, protected by her Kevlar-lined costume. He is stunned that she would risk her life to save his, belying her shady past….
Uptown, Captain America has invaded the Rhythm Room social club and has rounded up the occupants in search of the pusher Jerkweed. He taunts the punk with a combination of threats, insults, and chicken noises, until Jerkweed takes a kid hostage. Cap deftly throws his shield and cracks the baddie’s gun then seizes him and crashes out of a window. The out-of-control hero takes the hapless drug dealer for a ride on his Sky-Cycle, threatening to drop him unless he tells what he knows about Wilson Fisk….
[Elsewhere, Bullseye is on a similar mission, disguised as a homeless man; he captures the dealer Ground Chuck and forces him at gunpoint to reveal company secrets. This leads him higher on the chain, to Lowlife...]
The Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, is dining in a private restaurant when Captain America enters, shoves a bodyguard out of the way, and proceeds to question the Kingpin about the drug war. Without admitting complicity, the gangster reveal that it is a turf war, not a gang war that they are facing, and the two guardedly agree to share information. As he leaves the establishment, Cap is approached by Daredevil, who expresses concern about Cap’s increasingly reckless behavior. Cap responds violently and soon the two are engaged in combat. DD leads his adversary to a deserted playground to minimize damage. The severely paranoid and enraged Cap quickly gets the upper hand, beating down the red-clad hero and leaving. As the injured and groggy Daredevil lies there trying to recoup his strength, he hears someone approaching. Crossbones.
Give that special marvelite a timely gift
Story #2The Steel Balloon
Writer:
Mark Gruenwald.
Penciler:
Mark Bagley.
Inker:
Dan Panosian.
Colorist:
Nel Yomtov.
Synopsis
Battlestar awakens from the effect of the gas to find himself immobilized in a huge frame made of adamantium. The room is full of similar frames holding muscular men, all
Unlimited Class wrestlers and clients of
Ethan Thurm; what the prisoners all have in common is that they were recipients of the
Power Broker’s strength augmentation process. Soon, two massive goons enter and carry off one of the protesting prisoners, frame and all. Eventually it is Battlestar’s turn and he finds himself hauled into the laboratory of
Dr. Karl Malus. Also present is Power Broker
Curtiss Jackson, his grotesquely musclebound body able to move only by virtue of a hovering
exo-skeleton.
Lemar is strapped to a lab table and Malus recognizes him as a minor superhero, not a wrestler; Jackson doesn’t care and insists the experiment go ahead. Malus calibrates his machines and presses a button, and Battlestar’s enhanced strength is removed from him….
EnemiesPlus: Dr Karl Malus.