Our story begins on a nice Gramercy Park sidewalk, in Manhattan Island, where a youth swipes an apple from a local grocer, only to be stopped cold by a rather tall, smoking man. As the would-be thief flees, the man, one Mark Hazzard, finds himself checked out by several local women, who remark on his being one of the 'good ones', which makes him laugh.

That, of course, because he does a lot of really bad things for a living. You see, Mark is a mercenary, a gun for hire that often kills people to get his paycheck - and he's very, very good at what he does. Heading into his apartment, the man checks his answering machine, ignoring several messages from his son, his wife, and his last date. Eventually, though, he hears the message he was waiting for.

The call from his mercenary crew, telling him the gig was on.

Several days later, we catch up to Mark and Mal, a New Zealander mercenary who works in Mark's crew, as they are dropped onto a western Pacific isle by their pilot, Treetop. Their mission: to bring the island's current dictator, dead or alive, to the rebels that have been attempting to oust him. As Mal wires the dictator's house with explosives, Mark makes his way into his home - with ease.

Offering to take the man alive, Mark is nonetheless forced to kill both the dictator and his wife when they try to eliminate him. Unfortunately, the dictator's daughter saw this whole mess, and started screaming, bringing a gaggle of soldiers towards him. However, seeing that their President is dead, the men begin fighting amongst themselves, all proclaiming themselves dictator for life.

Soon after, all of the former President's men managed to get dead, either by their own hands or Mal's explosives. Later, the rebel forces, led by one Santos, declare a new republic, one where (of course) Santos will lead them until the citizenry can be educated enough to understand the 'freedom' Santos has 'given' them. Disgusted, Mark and Mal went to leave, when they saw something odd.

Soon enough, the two realized that several revolutionaries were flipping a coin to see who would get the former President's daughter first. Knowing what was about to happen, Mal covered for Mark as he nabbed the girl and made for the jungle, attempting to save her from a rather nasty fate at the hands of the island's 'liberators'.

As they fled into the night, Mark and Mal set several explosives and sharp traps for the revolutionary army, which was indeed after them soon enough. Splitting up, Mal didn't get to see Mark have to fight the girl off, who wanted nothing to do with the killer of her father, even though he was trying to save her life. She argued with him every foot of the way, despite his good intentions.

The argument brought back memories of Hazzard's childhood, however, as Mark wondered if he was this stupid as a kid. He flashed back to his own youth, remembering several arguments he'd had with his parents, as well as his time in 'Nam, thanks to the comparisons the girl made between her parents and his, as well as her accusations of his being a war-mongering American pig.

Meanwhile, Treetop was busy minding the group's chopper, when a jeep full of revolutionaries started wheeling his way, guns a'blazing. Knowing that Mark screwed up their job somehow, again, he fired back, killing the man with the R.P.G. that almost blew him up, and then firing several rounds into the jeep's gas tank as the revolutionaries turned it his way - a fatal error.

This was, of course, because Mal showed up at the heliport, and nailed the jeep with his flare gun. By the time Hazzard and his combative charge made it there, Santos and his men had arrived, and were taking pot shots at Treetop's chopper, as it was hanging around in wait for Hazzard. Luckily for them, Santos' men were really bad shots, and never got close to hitting the aircraft.

Before Hazzard could get to it, however, the former President's daughter broke free of him, running to get help. Cursing, Mark just jumped into the chopper, only to see Santos' men gun her down in cold blood. Enraged, he used the helicopter's mounted machine gun to mow Santos and his men to pieces, and the trio then landed to see what they could get their hands on.

As Mark had ensured they wouldn't get paid.

On the way home, both Mal and Treetop gave Mark grief about his annoying scruples, and how they were costing the two of them money. They got even angrier when he told them he couldn't go their next gig, a job in Libya, as he had to go to his son's baseball game that next Sunday. The others didn't like it, but Hazzard was their 'colonel', so they dealt with it - for now...

Back in New York City, Mark, Mal, and Treetop were busy practicing with their semi-automatic rifles at Dave's Shooting Gallery, an indoor range where you can shoot anything you bring in. The place is a hangout for gun-freaks and Rambo wannabes, but Mark and company found it useful for practicing with their guns. They rounded out a good day of training by pulverizing a television.

Once finished, Mark told the crew he was going to his son's baseball game, and Mal and Treetop bet that 'daddy' would regret not taking a gun to the event; Mark boasted that he wouldn't need one. Even Dave, the Gallery's owner, got in on the fun, though pausing to show off a new, high tech gun to the mercs: the Steyr Aug-5a. While Mark checked out the gun, a guy came in with a hot boom-box.

Soon after, whilst it played out a tidal wave of loud, bass-filled rap music, the import was blasted to smithereens by the assembled gun-loving crowd. Just then, a thuggish brute came in looking for the little 'geek' that stole his radio, and after learning Dave let his patrons blow it up, he started to rough the old man up, who had trouble fighting back; he had a missing left hand.

As such, Mark lent Dave a hand, smashing the Aug-5a into the brute's head, and kicking him around until he left. Meanwhile, Henri Graymalkin, a French entrepreneur, was talking with his friend Gordon when he found the man to be troubled. Inquiring as to why he was so down, Gordon whined about his wife's ex-husband, one Mark Hazzard, who suddenly returned to his step-son's life this week.

Expressing his feelings of inadequacy concerning both Scott (his stepson) and Joan (his wife), thinking that they both liked Mark better, Henri told him that maybe, just maybe, things would be looking up for the man soon. This was, of course, because Graymalkin was an old opponent of Hazzard, and saw this baseball game to be a perfect opportunity to hit the merc off-guard.

Later, when Mark got to the ballpark, he found that his son, Scott, wasn't playing. This was because he struck out last week, and the coach wouldn't let him play anymore. Going to set the coach straight, Mark told him who he was, and listened as the man babbled on about how Scott was bad for the team... until Mark's piercing stare forced him to let Scott play.

While Scott made his way to the field, Mark noticed a creepy looking fellow in a suit walking about. Seeing this as odd, the mercenary kept an eye on the potential troublemaker as he watched the game, and went to the park's restroom to set up an ambush. Sure enough, he was followed, and Mark beat the man senseless, seizing his gun and knife, in case the man wasn't alone.

Not wanting to endanger Scott, Joan, or anybody else, Mark went to leave, when Scott asked him where he was going - he was now at bat, and wanted his dad to watch. Shrugging and muttering under his breath, Mark decided to stay, though he knew it was a bad idea. Sure enough, a second thug appeared behind him, putting a gun to his back and leading him away.

However, Scott was watching this happen, and yelled out what was going on. Surprised by this, the gunman turned, allowing Hazzard to knife him (the thug found his gun, but not the knife). As the second man died, a third appeared, raging about how Hazzard would die for killing his partner. When Hazzard shielded himself with the dead man's body, the final thug then took a hostage.

After all, Hazzard was armed, and his dead friend's carcass kept blocking his shots.

Deciding that he wasn't going to let this goon kill him, Hazzard told the man to go ahead and kill his hostage, the coach's son. The man indeed went to do so, but when he pulled the trigger, his gun just made the 'click click click' sound of an empty barrel. Mark then shot the guy as he fled, since he was reloading and trying to kill him as he ran.

When the boy's parents freaked out about how Hazzard endangered their son, Scott spoke up, saying that Hazzard simply counted the man's bullets. Saying something to the effect of "Yeah, that's the ticket...", Hazzard then took off before the police showed up, hoping to avoid any more scrutiny by the local authorities. Of course, what with his record, the N.Y.P.D. knows exactly where he lives...

A week after the events of last issue, Mark was in his apartment, again being interrogated by two N.Y.P.D. investigators, one of which - Claire - was a friend of his. As they went over the details of the assault on his person by multiple unknown people, Mark got a call from an old associate, one Jacob Ram, an Israeli Secret Service man, who wanted him for a special job.

However, Mark didn't want to work for the man, since 'he was too bossy', but when Mark found out an old nuisance from West Point was in on the job, and that he'd get to boss said nuisance around, he agreed to go, despite a promise to Lieutenant Claire that he wouldn't leave town. That next morning, Hazzard found himself in Philadelphia, where he was to guard an Israeli politician during a parade.

Meeting the man, Eli Wisenthal, Mark found out that he was actually a rather unpopular politician, in that he favored giving the Palestinians more freedoms. As Mark and the Israelis made for the parade procession, they were met by Colonel Wolfson, Mark's main West Point antagonist, who (after seeing Hazzard on the job) got real upset - but couldn't do anything about it.

As the parade made its way through downtown Philadelphia, Mark and Ram continually taunted Wolfson about the man's past, including a sorry day when Hazzard hung him upside down from a flag pole for being such a pest. Soon enough, however, things turned ugly, and Mark saved his charge from being wasted by an R.P.G. round launched at their car at the last possible moment.

A second blast stunned Mark (the rocket missed, but the concussion didn't), and several terrorists made off with Wisenthal before he could recover. Attempting to blast the kidnappers, Mark failed when Wolfson kicked his gun away, since there were civilians present. This prompted Hazzard to slug the angry little man, who then had him arrested by the local police!

Languishing in jail, Hazzard had to now deal with his old enemy's taunts, until Ram showed up to break him out. He needed Hazzard to free Eli, who was being held hostage in an abandoned tenement building, and once Mark saw the thugs gloating about how they'd kill the man, the man he was hired to protect, Hazzard agreed to save him.

Ram fired up a gigantic wrecking ball, one located nearby (as the building the terrorists were in was about to be demolished anyway), and with Hazzard on top, swung the thing at the building. At the last minute, Mark hopped off the wrecking ball, though he landed hard despite the kevlar vest he was wearing. Nonetheless, Mark sprang into action and began plugging the terrorists.

Once Mark and Ram had dealt with these villains, Mark with his gun and Ram with the wrecking ball (!), Hazzard ran down the stairs of the building, finding where Eli was being held. He then gunned down the remaining thugs, though he hit them all in the legs - non-lethal shots, if the men got immediate medical attention. As the Israelis collected Eli and the terrorists, Mark smacked Ram for causing this mess.

You see, Hazzard had figured out that Ram knew there'd be an attempt on Eli, and that he was expendable; he was an unpopular politician, after all, and if he died, it would be the Americans' fault, not his own secret service men's. Further, he deduced that he was the fall guy for this operation, should things go horribly wrong, which Ram tried to deny - though he didn't try too hard.

Fuming, Hazzard then left Ram and his men to deal with the terrorists, which they did - namely, by having angry attack dogs maul them to death. Back in N.Y.C., Mark saw a doctor about his various minor injuries, and while trying to take it easy (by sitting in on a Rambo movie and mocking it a lot), he was approached by Claire and her crony, who then arrested him. He wasn't amused...