Killing Night

The time read 4:09 AM, only a few short hours before sunrise. A black Volkswagen and van pulled up to the hospital parking lot to execute their mission. From the Volkswagen, three of Tombstone's top enforcers exited the vehicle and entered the hospital lobby. Harry, the tallest and skinniest, was the brains of the operation. Marcus was the muscle, had a bald head and a thick black beard. Frank was a sharpshooter and the getaway driver if anything happened. Harry carried a briefcase with him.

As they passed through the lobby and began to navigate the hospital in search of Jamie, a nurse followed them. "Excuse me." He said, "You can't just walk around here."

Neither man said anything.

"Excuse me?!" The nurse started to shout.

"Handle it." Harry ordered.

Marcus turned and knocked the nurse out with a single punch to the jaw. The nurse hit the tile floor with a hard thud.

"Good, let's go."

——

Scott swung through the streets of New York recklessly trying to get to the hospital before it was too late. Phineas' voice came over the comms.

"You called Scott?"

"Phineas. I f**ked up."

"What's going on?" Phineas grew concerned, he could hear Scott's panic and heavy breaths. "Are you okay? I can pick you up."

"No need. Listen to me. Tombstone is going to kidnap Jamie so he can get information out of him. I'm trying to get there as fast as I can."

"Get there? I thought Adrian… I see."

"I'm sorry Phineas. Tell Adrian that. I'll do everything I can."

"No Scott. Do not engage them, wait for Adrian and Flint to come there. Do you hear me?"

"Jamie will be gone by the time they get to the hospital. I can hold them off long enough."

"Scott, you need to listen to me. I'm ordering you to not engage. You need to wait for the others."

"Tell everyone I'm sorry." Scott shut off the comms and continued racing to save his friend.

Scott had a feeling in his gut that he was facing certain death, which was ironic since he was going to a hospital of all places. In the last few days he had been beaten by Hydro-Man, Leap-Frog, and now the henchman at Cat's apartment. His body was a wreck, his suit was drenched in sweat and smelled of blood. He was afraid to take the mask off because he didn't know what he'd see underneath it, but none of that mattered right now. If he was fast enough, he could give his friend a chance to live. His friend who has a family, who has people to come home to. Maybe Scott didn't have that, but he could at least protect it for someone else.

——

Jamie laid in the hospital bed sound asleep, his room was dark when the three men snuck in. Harry set the briefcase down on the bed next to Jamie and opened it, inside were vials, needles and medical gloves. Harry put the gloves on and delicately attached the needle to a vial filled with a tranquilizer. He found a vein in Jamie's arm and prepared to stick the needle in when suddenly something whistled through the air.

Before either man could react, a surgical knife flew past them like a dart and stuck into Harry's neck. Harry gasped, but he was starting to choke on his own blood. From the back of Jamie's room, a man stood in the shadows. He wore a black Kevlar battle suit with a helmet that covered most of his head. On the forehead of his helmet was a white symbol of a bullseye.

Harry lost consciousness and fell, knocking over the medical equipment and waking up Jamie. Without hesitation Jamie emitted a vibro-shock blast from his hand towards the two men at his bedside, knocking them out of his hospital room. Without the gauntlets his shock bursts were harder for him to control, the blast was more powerful than Jamie expected and knocked. He then noticed the mercenary standing at the foot of his bed with a blood thirsty smile on his face.

"Who are you?" Jamie asked.

"Bullseye. A friend of a friend sent me." He answered.

In the hospital hall, Frank grabbed a radio from his pocket and talked into it.

"Send in The Wrecking Crew!" He yelled.

"I suggest you put on some pants, kid. I'll keep these two busy."

"Uh, okay."

Frank reached for his gun and aimed it, but Bullseye was faster than him and threw a knife into his hand. Frank lowered the gun in pain and accidentally fired a shot into the ground. "F**k!" The mobster screamed in pain.

Bullseye ran at Marcus, dodged his attacks, and elbowed him in the neck when he saw an opening in his defense. He then pulled the knife out of Frank's hand and used it to slit his throat. As Marcus was picking himself up from the ground and trying to catch his breath, Bullseye threw the knife he used to kill Frank into Marcus' back. With both hands Bullseye dragged Marcus up off his feet and began to hit him in the face over and over again. Jamie watched the masked killer inflict pain on the mobster and thought to himself that it reminded him of the brutality Tombstone inflicted on Leap-Frog.

A door slammed open, and Bullseye stopped beating the mobster to a bloody pulp to see four men walk through. All of these men were tall and hulking in size, they wore trench coats and baggy worker's pants. Wrecker, the leader of the group, wore a purple mask and held a glowing crowbar in his hand. Bulldozer, the largest of the four giants, wore a yellow jumpsuit and a titanium helmet headpiece. Piledriver wore a white long sleeved sweater and a red bandana over his face, which didn't cover his short blonde hair. While he was the smallest of the four men, his hands were massive. Lastly was Thunderball, who wore a dark green jumpsuit with a yellow belt and carried a demolition ball attached to a chain.

"Let's get to work boys." Wrecker roared.

The men charged down the hall, and Bullseye and Jamie prepared themselves for the oncoming attack. Jamie focused on controlling the power of his shockwave. Bullseye threw a barrage of knives and projectiles at the Wrecking Crew but it didn't phase them. The fastest member was Bulldozer, who ran at superhuman speed towards Jamie. When his opponent got close, Jamie punched him with a vibro-shock blast that created a strong enough surge of power to send Jamie back sliding across the tile floor. Bulldozer stumbled for a moment, but otherwise looked unphased by Jamie's attack.

"Oh no." Jamie muttered out loud.

Bullseye grabbed Frank's gun and fired the entire magazine into Thunderball, who held his arm up to block his face. His arms were littered with gunfire and only seemed to cause minor bleeding. Bulldozer chased Jamie down the hall while Wrecker swung his crowbar at Bullseye.

Jamie ran down the hall in his bare feet and when he got some distance threw shockwaves at Bulldozer that were strong enough to shatter the ceiling lights. Using too much power without his gauntlets would cause his body to be shocked as well, but he needed to put every ounce of power into his attacks. Bulldozer smiled, he was an utter tank and he knew it.

"Come on, try a little harder." Bulldozer mocked.

Bullseye dodged The Wrecker's crowbar swings, but when he punched Wrecker his body felt like it was made of iron. Bullseye changed his strategy and started pistol whipping Wrecker, which seemed slightly more effective.

Just then a noise distracted everyone, a glass window shattering. From behind Jamie a backpack slammed through the window and slid across the floor until it stopped at his feet. From the hole in the window Tarantula swung into the hospital.

"That bag has your stuff Shocker."

"I need time to put it on." Jamie remarked.

"I'll buy you time."

Tarantula sprinted full speed at Bulldozer, webbed the walls behind him, and used the slingshot maneuver to gain momentum and fly into him with a kick. This time it was far less effective, only causing Bulldozer to stumble back a couple of steps. Tarantula jumped away from the brute before he could hit him and webbed him in the face. That's when his spider senses tingled, he heard a chain rattling and dodged out of the way of the demolition ball as it made a crater where he was standing before.

"Man, what are your mothers feeding you all?" Scott joked.

"Agh, get this goo off of me! I can't see!" Bulldozer shouted.

"Imbecile fool, I'll handle this." Thunderball snarled.

Thunderball swung the demolition ball over his head and down towards Tarantula, who jumped out of the way of the attack. Tarantula was not expecting the sheer speed Thunderball could whip that thing around, and when the ball came flying towards him again he wasn't ready. The ball crashed into his stomach and sent him rolling across the floor in pain. Thunderball swung his demolition ball again, this time hoping to cave Tarantula's skull in, but Jamie stepped in front of Tarantula.

Now wearing the gauntlets, he made a stronger, more concentrated shockwave and sent the demolition ball flying back at Thunderball. The ball hit Thunder straight in the forehead and knocked him unconscious. Their victory was short lived though, as Bulldozer grabbed Jamie and tackled him through a wall where a patient screamed in terror. Piledriver confronted Tarantula, cracked his oversized knuckles and smiled.

"You're the new guy Tombstone said busted his plans."

Tarantula shrugged, "Guilty."

Piledriver went for a punch, which Tarantula easily dodged, but then he caught the spider in a grapple. Tarantula tried to break free from Piledriver's grasp, but his opponent was inhumanly strong and Scott was weak from the punishment he endured just hours earlier. Piledriver held him with his giant hands and slammed him into the floor with enough force to make him go limp. He then threw Tarantula into a room with lab equipment like he was a rag doll. Scott sank to the floor, his body wouldn't move anymore.

"I thought you'd put up more of a fight. Even Captain America gave us more of a fight before we broke him." Piledriver taunted him.

In the other room Bullseye was throwing everything he could get his hands on at Wrecker, but his body was resistant to every attack. Bullseye got up close and fought with hand to hand combat, and he was the better martial artist, but one hit of the crowbar dislocated Bullseye's jaw and dropped him to a knee. Wrecker didn't stop at one though, he kept swinging at Bullseye's head until he couldn't see the target anymore. Scott, laying on the ground with a broken body, was forced to witness the brutality these men could enact. He had to do something, or he'd be next.

Scott dug deep, he gathered every bit of strength he had left and got back on his feet. He was wobbly, but he could still fight. First he waited for Piledriver to make the first attack, which he did without hesitation. When Piledriver raised his fist Scott webbed it to the ceiling and slid under his legs. He then webbed his feet to the floor as well. Piledriver used his strength to break out of one section of the web but Scott made sure he couldn't move freely. That's when he charged at Piledriver and beat him with all of his might, using him like a punching bag. Scott felt his knuckles start to bleed but he didn't stop, he could feel himself winning the fight. Until Piledriver head butted him.

Scott could only see stars, and felt his nose break from the attack. He stumbled back and lost his balance. Piledriver ripped himself out of the webs and smirked.

"You actually got me to bleed. Good job."

That's when a hammer made of sand struck Piledriver in the back of his head, Flint had arrived, and presumably so did Adrian. Piledriver punched Flint in the face, but like his name, all Piledriver felt was sand. Flint then struck Piledriver with the sand hammer again, sending him hurtling towards lab equipment. He picked up a beaten Scott, who was starting to regain his vision again.

"Let's get out of here!" Wrecker ordered his men.

Scott could see that Adrian was fighting alongside Jamie as The Vulture, but he didn't come alone. Next to him was the red headed woman that Black Cat referred to as 'Typhoid Mary'. "What is she doing here?" He wondered.

Wrecker grabbed the unconscious Thunderball and ran, Piledriver and Bulldozer took different routes to escape but the gang didn't follow them. Authorities were on their way so they fled as fast as they could. Once everyone got a safe distance from the hospital Flint put Scott down. He struggled to stay on his feet, so everyone stopped to rest. That's when he saw Adrian, and he was ready for the verbal lashing.

"I know I messed up."

Adrian didn't respond, he walked over to Scott and wrapped his arms around him. "What have you been doing to yourself?" He said under his breath.

"Trying to keep everyone alive."

"You're lucky to be alive yourself."

Scott chuckled. "Yeah, I guess."

——

"Last night at The Brooklyn Hospital Center there was an attack around 4:00 AM." The news broadcaster spoke on the TV screen, "Security cam footage shows the involvement of the west coast mercenary gang Wrecking Crew who got in an altercation and killed the notorious criminal known as Bullseye."

"The media is all over this." Adrian groaned. "Law enforcement will start an investigation, and that might make Tombstone act more cautiously. God knows we don't need another fight."

"Adrian, we need to talk." Flint crossed his arms.

"What?"

"You need to get rid of Scott and Jamie."

"They made mistakes, but they have potential. I'm not going to -"

"Dammit Adrian that's not what this is about!" Flint shouted. "They're still kids! And they're fighting in a war against a gang that has no hesitation about wasting them."

"I know, and I didn't want it to be like this. That's why I allied with Fisk."

"Oh, like that makes things any better."

"Come on Flint! Those kids were destined to end up in a jail cell or killed with the way they were going. I'm trying to help them do it the right way."

"You keep telling yourself that Toomes."

Flint walked out the door and slammed it behind him. Adrian sat in a chair, watched the TV screen and took a sip of his coffee. Flint was right, this all had gotten too dangerous for Scott and Jamie, but they were in too deep for Adrian to kick them out now. He needed a plan, and he needed it fast.