just want me. If you make a run for it, they'll probably let you go.'
'Forget it,' said Burns. 'They'll kill me anyway, just for being a Guard, and
being with you. Believe me, if I could see a way out of this mess, I'd take it.
I'm not crazy. Do me a favor, Hawk: Next time you feel like punching out a gang
leader, don't do it in front of witnesses. All right, you're supposed to be the
expert on winning against impossible odds: What are we going to do? There's
nowhere to run, and if we try and make a stand they'll roll right over us.'
Hawk nodded, still grinning at the ambushers and hefting his axe. Burns looked
away. The grin was starting to unnerve him. One of the toughs stepped forward.
Hawk looked at him, and the tough stopped where he was.
'I think our best bet is to try and lose them in the side streets and
alleyways,' said Hawk calmly. 'They're narrow and crowded, and the gang will
only be able to come at us a few at a time. We should be able to take them
easily, as long as we keep our heads.'
'What if they've staked out the alleyways with more of their people?' said Burns
tightly.
'Then we fight our way through and keep running. Maybe we can outrun them.'
'What happens if we get trapped in a dead end?'
'Then we see how many of the bastards we can take with us. Think positive,
Burns. We're not dead yet, and I've faced worse odds in my time.'
'When?' demanded Burns. Hawk just grinned at him.
Hammer suddenly barked an order, and the toughs moved forward from every
direction. Hawk lifted his axe threateningly and then sprinted towards the
nearest side street. Burns charged after him, his stomach churning sickly. Three
gang members made to block their way. Hawk cut down the first two with vicious
sweeps of his axe, and hit the third man with a lowered shoulder. The massive
tough was thrown aside like a child, and Burns hacked halfway through his waist
without even slowing. He pounded after Hawk down the narrow street, with the
gang howling behind them.
More gang members appeared out of darkened alley mouths, but somehow Hawk and
Burns managed to cut a way through them and keep on running, leaving bodies
lying in pools of vivid scarlet on the grimy snow. Hawk glared about him, trying
to figure out exactly where he was. This wasn't an area he knew particularly
well and he couldn't afford to stop and look for landmarks hidden or disguised
by the recent snow. His breath burned in his chest, and he could feel the
beginnings of a stitch in his side. Normally he prided himself on his stamina,
but it had been a long day and it wasn't getting any shorter. From the sound of
it, Burns was finding the going equally hard.
And then they rounded a sharp corner and skidded to a halt as they saw more gang
members waiting for them. There were ten of them blocking the narrow alley, all
armed with some kind of weapon and smiling confidently. Hawk glanced back over
his shoulder. The pursuers were coming up fast, and there was no way out. Hawk
felt more anger than anything. Being killed in a gang ambush was such a stupid
way to go. And now he'd never get the chance to clear Fisher's name. He'd make
them pay for that. He threw himself at the smiling faces before him, and laughed
aloud as he saw their expressions change to shock and terror as his axe tore
through them like firewood. He sensed Burns fighting desperately at his side,
but Hawk had no room in him for anything but rage.
The first few died easily before his fury, but there were too many of them for
him to break through, and soon the rest of the gang arrived. Hawk and Burns
fought back to back, surrounded by screaming mouths and flailing weapons, hemmed
in by the jostling press of bodies. The sheer number of attackers gave Hawk and
Burns a fighting chance; the gang were so eager to get at their victims that
they kept getting in each other's way and deflecting many of the blows meant for
the two Guards. Hawk fought on fiercely, sending blood spraying through the
freezing air, but knew it was only a matter of time before someone got in a
lucky blow. Then his guard would drop, and he'd go down under a dozen swords.
And if he was lucky, he'd die before Hammer could pull his people off. He was
just sorry he'd dragged Burns into this. Hawk fought on, as much out of
stubbornness as anything. If he had to die, he was going to make them work for
it. A sword licked in past his defenses, and punched through his side and out
again. Blood ran thickly down his hip and leg, and the strength seemed to flow
out of him along with the blood. He swung his axe clumsily, and the swords were
everywhere.
A thick mist sprang up suddenly in the alleyway, diffusing the amber lamplight
in strange ways, and misty grey ropes curled and tightened around the gang
members' throats. They dropped their weapons to tear at the strangling mists
with desperate hands, and fell gagging to the ground. Curling mists lashed
viciously among the gang, sending them flying this way and that, and they fled
screaming back down the alley and out into the surrounding streets. The mists
flowed after them like a relentless river. Dead bodies littered the alley.
Hammer stared uncomprehendingly about him, abandoned by his men, and then backed
away as Hawk loomed up before him, grim and bloody, his gaze colder than the
winter could ever be. He turned to run, and Hawk cut him down with one blow of
his axe. Hammer fell dying to the ground, and there was enough anger still in
Hawk for him to regret it was over so quickly.
He turned to see how Burns had fared, and fell back against a wall as the wound
in his side caught up with him. The stabbing pain filled his mind, and then a
strong arm curled around his shoulders, supporting him, and a cool hand pressed
against his bloody side. There was a brief, crawling sensation as the wound
knitted itself together, and then the sorceress Mistique stepped back and
grinned at him.
'I thought I'd leave the gang leader for you to take care of personally. But I
can't believe you just walked right into that ambush. If I hadn't been following
you too, they'd have had to bury what was left of you in a closed coffin.'
'I had a lot on my mind,' said Hawk, feeling gingerly at his side. 'And it must
be said, this has not been one of my better days. Thanks for the rescue.'
'You're welcome. But next time don't go dashing off like that. I nearly didn't
catch up in time.'
Hawk nodded, and looked across at Burns. The man's clothing was soaked in blood,
but he nodded quickly to Hawk and Mistique to show he was all right. Hawk looked
down at the gang leader, lying dead and broken on the dirty snow, and swore
softly.
'I should have taken him alive. He might have been able to answer some
questions.'
Burns frowned. 'What could he have known? He isn't connected with Morgan; he was
just after you because you made him lose face in front of his people.'
'Someone had to have told him where to find us! He couldn't have followed us all
the way from the Hook.'
