MV1	The World's Greatest Archer!!!
COMICS
#7

"Too Many Archers!"

Hawkeye's A.I.M. part 1

Scripts and Page Design: Scott Chamberlain
Scans and Images: Chris Luna
Editor and Figurehead: Van Plexico

Place: Avengers Compound. Time: Today.

Clint Barton sat soaking in the hottub, watching the Kings-Ducks game on LA SportsNetwork. Hockey wasnt his favorite of sports, but he was getting to like it as of late. Besides, it was a nice way to spend a quiet evening, trying to unwind from the worries of restarting the Avengers West.* The Kings were up, but Clint barely noticed. The warm water of the hottub making him drowsy.

*See Avengers West Coast #103 (still on sale!) --Self-plugging Scott

A news report broke into the middle of the game. "This is Meggan McCambridge for KJLA, coming to you from LA-X*, where a most startling scene has occured only moments ago. Apparently, the Avenger Hawkeye has been been involved in the hold-up of an armored bank-car, which was returning from a collection at the Airport. Eyewitnesses say that-"

*Los Angeles Executive Airport --Scott

Clint shot up, now wide awake. "Whaaaaaaaaaat!?!?!" he continued to watch the report, trying to soak in what the woman on the screen was saying.

"-and, so apparently, one of the Avengers has turned crook once again. Now back to the game."

"What the heck is going on? Who in the world would try to start a smear campaign against me? Cap, sure. Iron Man, maybe... but me???" He ran at a dead run to his quarters. In five minutes he was in costume and at the helipad, taking off on a skycycle, heading for LA-X.

"So, what did you think of Clint's BBQ?" said Tigra "I've secretly never been fond of his cooking. Too spicy for my tastes."

The Agent leaned back and smiled. "Oh really? I thought a girl like you would enjoy a bit of spice in her life."

"Well...." purred Tigra "It depends on what kind of spice we're talking About. In fact, I-"

"Shhhhh!" said the Agent, he was looking at one of the monitors, tuned to a local TV station. Something caught his attention and he turned up the sound.

Tigra frowed, annoyed at losing her one man audience. "What's going on, Jack?"

"Hush. Look whats happening on the news!" he said, staring wide-eyed at the screen.

They both looked on as the reprt came in. "-and police say that it was the Avenger, Hawkeye who attacked the armored car. Assaulting it with a variety of high-tech arrows, which are the bowman's stock-in-trade. On a related note, Chief of Police Harris said that-"

"Oh, Agent!" said Tigra with a gasp. "It couldnt possibly be Clint!"

"Of course it isnt Tigra." the Agent snapped. "Go find Barton right now! I'll stay here till you get back and try to find out more!"

Tigra ran swifty out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later...

The Agent was still watching the reports come in as Tigra returned.

"Agent, I cant find him anywhere. I talked to Carlos, the groundskeeper. He said he saw Clint take off on a skycycle over an hour ago! Jack, you dont think he might have really done this?"

The Agent sat and thought a moment. "No. An hour wouldn't have been enough time to pull that kind of thing off. Still, until we know what's really going on, I'd better go find Hawkeye and bring him in. The law is the law after all. You stay here and hold the fort until I get back."

Tigra opened her mouth to protest, but the Agent was already out the door and on his way to the helipad for a skycycle of his own.

Hawkeye flew his skycycle closer to the airport, trying to get a closer look without flying close enough to draw attention to himself. He doubted the horde of police scurrying all over the place were of a mind to listen to any explanations he might have to give. He was fairly sure that if caught, hed be hauled of to jail, no questions asked. Til later, that is... No, Clint thought to himself. that's not going to get me anywhere. I've got to stay away from the police long enough to figure out whats really going on. That means keeping a low profile.

Hawkeye turned the skycycle around, heading for downtown.

Ten minutes later, he had the skycycle parked atop one of the city's skyscrapers with a good view of the entire city.

"Now" said Clint "we wait and see what happens." he turned the radio on the skycycle to a police band and got comfortable.

Alarms go off at this building. One of the side walls has been blown out. Suddenly, a figure hops out of the hole and across the street. The figure carries a bow and quiver and is dressed in a Hawkeye costume. On the other side of the street a skycycle, identicle to the Avengers model waits. The figure hops aboard and lifts off as police sirens fill the air.

Hawkeye flies west towards the Standard Savings Bank. He heard the call on the police band, they arrived first, being closer to the scene than Hawk was at his location.

Hawk however, ignored the scene. He saw something that got his attention. Another skycycle head his way. He hoped his sharp eyesight meant that he saw the other guy before the other saw him. He quickly dove his cycle low, between a couple of buildings.

Hawkeye waited as the other cycle passed over. Satisfied that he was unnoticed, he crept his cycle slowly into the air. Following the other.

"Now," hawk said "We'll see just whats going on here."

after a few minutes, the other cycle descended onto the roof of a small warehouse. The figure got off and climbed down a ladder through a hatch in the roof.

Hawk waited a minute before landing as well. Then he crept to the hatch, trying to open it silently. Cursing as it squeaked. He waited a moment to hear if anyone noticed.

Hawk turned up the gain on his hearing aid as he descended the ladder. Looking around, he saw various boxes stacked in places, haphazardly. A coughing sound caught his attention. He moved in the direction. Coming upon a small table. At the table sat a man, he was counting a sack of money, but what caught Hawks attention was that the man was in his costume!

Hawkeye nocked an arrow and cleared his throat "Excuse me, what do you-"

Faster than lightining, the man flew out of his chair, even as Hawkeye released his shaft, which bounced off the chair. The man grabbed his own bow and faced off against Hawkeye. "So, glad to see you here, Avenger. My plan to draw you out obviously worked."

Hakweye frowned "What is this? You think you can go impersonating Avengers, and not have them track you down. You're going to jail, pal. Give it up." "Oh, I dont think so. Now that you're here, I can prove once and for all, that I am the better archer!"

"you got to be kidding me?" Hawk marveled "This was all set up, just for you to try to prove yourself against me? Well, I hate to disappoint a fan..." Hawk released a second shaft at the imposter.

The imposter countered by pulling out two blunt-tipped shafts from his own quiver and firing. The first kocked Hawk's arrow out of the air, while the second hit a disbelieving Hawkeye's bow dead on, breaking it in two.

"Oh yes!" shouted the imposter. "The mighty Hawkeye without a bow. Whatever will he do???" he cackled loudly and fired another shaft.

Clint was mad now. He was not off-guard, as the imposter clearly thought. He ducked the shaft, throwing one of his own directly from his hand with only slightly impaired aim.

The imposter neatly ducked Hawk's thrown shaft. "Ha! This is pathetic! The mighty Hawkeye! Why, I'll show you some real- OOF!" Hawk's boomerang shaft hit the imposter in back of the head as he gloated.

Hawk, using the opportuntiy, was on the dazed imposter in a flash. A jab to the face, a knee to the groin and a roundhouse kick, done just the way Cap showed him. The imposter flew back from the kick and crashed into a stack of boxes, unconsious.

Hawk smirked. "You wanted to know what I'd do without my bow? Well, what do you think of that?"

"So, thats it." said the voice on the speaker. "Hawkeye's gone and captured our plant. A bit disappointed in my student bein' beaten so easy by that bow-zo."

A figure in shadow responded "I wouldnt worry about it too much. Everything is proceeding according to plan. Initiate phase two."

The voice on the speaker replied. "Ya got it, chief. Phase two is underway. We'll se how just how da arrow-chucker responds to this!"

The shadowed figure leaned back and smiled. "I think he'll find it quite... alarming!"

Hawkeye, the Agent and Tigra all sit in the kitchen, discussing the evening's events.

"So," said Hawkeye "The police accepted the story and took him into custody."

"Sorry I didnt find you, Barton." said the Agent. "Not till after the police had arrived that is."

"Not a problem, Jack. The day I cant handle a cheap imitation of myself, is the day I hang up my bow."

Tigra laughed. "Well, it's after one in the morning. You sure you dont want me to take your place at monitor duty Clint? You must be pretty tired after all of that."

"Nah!" said Hawk "I'm actually pretty wound up right now. I'll be wide awake for hours."

"Okay, well you know where I'm at if you need me. Goodnight boys." Tigra walked out of the room.

"I'll be turning in too." said the Agent. "I'm an early riser. Got my exercise regimen to do first thing tomorrow."

Clint and Jack walked down the hall together. "Sure. See you tomorrow, Agent."

Hawk took the elevator to the sub-basement and had a seat in the monitor room. Immediately, he was attracted to something he saw on the local station. He turned the volume.

"...and once again, it appears the Avenger Hawkeye has stolen a sum of cash from another bank. Police now believe that Hawkeye's earlier capture of a suspect was simply a ruse concocted by the archer to throw them off his trail."

"Gah!" said Hawkeye "Just what in the world is going on???"

A few minutes later, Hawkeye was off again on his cycle, as a pair of LAPD patrol cars rolled up to the gates the Compound, sirens blaring.

Hakweye once again climbed down the ladder from the roof.

He lit a flare arrow and looked around. "Aw, stupid of me to come back here. Whoever is up to this would be pretty crazy to use this same hideout."

"Crazy, like a fox." said a voice from somewhere in the building. "It's real heartwarmin' ta know you can still depend on people ta show up when ya expect em. Thanks for that, bow-zo."

"Who? said Hawkeye "Who's there?"

A figure stepped out from the shadows. Once again, an imposter dressed in a Hawkeye suit.

"Aw, geez. C'mon you loser. I took down your partner earlier tonight. Why dont you just give up now. I don't want to hurt you."

"Well now," said the imposter "Aint that touching? Ya took down that student o' mine earlier, but now ya got ta deal with th' 'Master'."

"Huh?" said Hawk "The Master??"

"Thats right! And not just any Master." he clicked a button on a device attached to his belt. The Hawkeye costume faded. In its place was a man dressed in an orange, blue and white costume. It had a hood and cape, with a mask that resembled a skull. "Now yer dealin with th' TASKMASTER!!"

"Oh, boy..." said Hawk.

NEXT ISSUE: Hawkeye vs. Taskmaster!!! Nuff said!

Haranguing with Hawkeye

Send all letters to beezer@webtv.net.

From: lonni@idirect.com

Hey Scott! Another stellar issue. Poor ol Clint.... If it weren't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all. Somehow I had the sneaking suspicion that this wasnt gonna end quite the way Clint wanted it to. Getting hold of Satannish was a good move, but there's a price.... Wonder what it's gonna be?

I was intrigued by the 'spheres' that were with the Swordsman II. I've read this a couple of times now and keep almost getting an idea of who they might be - but can never quite get it. Hope they'll be be back. I love a mystery.

One of my favorite scences had to be when they found out Bobbi wasn't there. This was so reminiscent of the first LS when Hawkeye found out Sheila had betrayed him. He almost threw in the towel right there. Hawkeye has an almost indefatigueable spirit, but sometimes it just gets away from him. In the LS it was Bobbi who prodded him into action. This time, it was the USAgent. I always thought Gru was the first writer to really see the depth of this character... congratulations...you do too!

I'm really looking forward to the next issue. Not just because Hawkeye is my favorite character, I really enjoy the way you write him too!

Lonni

Thanks again for another thought provoking letter, Lonni! I felt when I started this story, that bringing back Mockingbird would be wrong. Sure, her death was a bad thing, but that dosen't neccessarily make bringing her back right! I truly feel that the outcome of this storyline makes more sense, and will ultimately create more character growth for Our Beloved Bowman. Besides, who knows if whether we've heard the last from Bobbi Barton?

As for the 'spheres', I have very definite plans for them, but nothing that will occur in the near future, nor even necessarily in this particular book.
PLUG ALERT!: Be sure to check out Lonni's very own fanfiction, Untold Tales of the West Coast Avengers, at the Avengers Assemble site! Great tales of the Whackos in their hey-day of the original run!

From: KRUSEFAM@prodigy.net

Hawkeye #5 was cool. Too bad Mockingbird was really dead. How about teaming Hawkeye up with Tigra? She's a favorite of mine and Mockingbird and her were always good friends. We never saw her reaction to Mockingbird's death. Keep up the good work!

Don E. Kruse

You want a team-up with Tigra, Don? Was this very issue quick enough for you? :) If you want more Tigra and Hawkeye action, check out Avengers West Coast #103, written by yours truly and now available on the Avengers Assemble site! Thanks for writing in!