Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) resumed her role as an (unlicensed) PI in Los Angeles to try and uncover her father Derek Bishop's connection with Madame Masque. Last issue MM lured her into a trap with a pendant that used to belong to her mother but was mysteriously missing when Eleanor Bishop died. Hawkeye fought her way through a small army of goons in a tall office building to reach the penthouse suite where she found not Masque but her father.
This issue starts a new case but interspersed with flashbacks to Kate's chat with her father. I'll do all the flashback bits 1st.
She comments that he looks much younger in the new LMD body he's got from Masque (Kate learned about MM's use of SHIELD Life Model Decoys in Hawkeye (2012) #20 last time she was PIing in LA). Derek claims that he doesn't work for MM but he *did* get the body from her. However it's much better than an LMD. Ignoring that, Kate accuses him of employing cult leader Aggregate to depress property values in Venice Beach (#1-4). Derek admits it but denies telling him to attack her and her friends. They return to the subject of his new body. He claims the old 1 got very ill, but she thinks this is just another of his lies. (And she wants to ask him about her mother's death but wouldn't believe what he said about that either.) Then he tells her that the new body came with a 'super' power of suggestion. He tells her it's a clone. MM has been cloning herself for some time trying to get superpowers, but he thinks she's missed something. The clone can only get a superpower if it's in the original DNA. Her DNA obviously doesn't have it and his does. So his daughter might have the same potential. He confirms that Aggregate got his mental power this way, but Kate warns him that she saw that guy explode (#4) so he might end up the same way. She makes to leave but he uses his power of suggestion to make her sit down. He tells her he's going make her forget their whole conversation. But at some point she has stuck an exploding arrow on a window which now blows the glass out. Grabbing her bow and arrows she dives out of the window and fires a grappling line which enables her to survive hitting the ground.
Now Kate returns, weary and hurting from her battle and escape, to her Hawkeye Investigations office and apartment where she finds a new client waiting who unusually wasn't expecting the male Hawkeye (Clint Barton). Kate apologises for forgetting her appointment but tries to put her off until she's had time to recover. But Anna Donnelly begs her to help find her missing father. She admits to being only 15 but had dressed older because she was worried she wouldn't be taken seriously. Kate asks for background info while nursing a sore head with a bag of frozen broccoli (she's run out of frozen peas since last issue). Anna says Liam Donnelly's been gone for 2 weeks. She saw him once on the street 6 days ago but he ignored her, so she followed him to a place they probably wouldn't allow her in. She's told the police but they dismissed her. Kate promises to investigate tonight and Anna leaves.
1 of Kate's friends/aides computer whiz Quinn pops round to see if she and Lucky the dog are OK. She leaves him to do some background checks while she takes Lucky for a walk. Outside she spots another friend Mikka Nguyen in a cafe with Larry Gort who had been stalking her. She bursts in angrily reminding Larry she'd warned him off, but Mikka says that she invited him for a chat. She tells Kate she wants to understand why he did it, and also why he joined TBC (Aggregate's cult) which she's still investigating as a student journalist. And anyway their mutual friend Ramone Watts is here (getting a coffee) to make sure she's OK. Kate doesn't tell them that her dad was behind it all.
Later Hawkeye goes to investigate the last place Liam was seen. Quinn, Ramone and her brother Johnny Watts tag along despite her telling them not to. Johnny says he's heard bad things about the place and he begs her not to go there, especially in the distracted state she's in (and with the usual sticking plasters on her face). She brushes his concern off but all 3 follow her to confront the bouncer at the front door. She gains entry by saying she wants to see Liam Donnelly, and she tells the bouncer to keep the others out.
Inside she sees that it's a fight club. And she bumps into a man, spilling his drink, and he challenges her to a fight. In the arena Kate keeps dodging the big guy's blows and suggests he calls it off because he'll be so embarrassed to be beaten by a girl. And even if he wins it won't do anything for his rep. When he keeps going she launches herself from bars at the side of the ring, gets his neck in a scissor hold and flips him over to smash his face on the floor. But the audience isn't happy and 3 more men enter the ring to beat her unconscious. The last thing she hears is someone telling the bouncer he shouldn't have let her in if she was asking about Donnelly.
And elsewhere in the city Madame Masque reviews a recording of the Bishops' meeting. She finds Derek's DNA theory very interesting.