Death's Head #10

Issue Details

Synopsis

 “The Cast Iron Contract” Writer: Simon Furman. Artist: Bryan Hitch. Colorist: Euan Peters. Letterer: Annie Halfacree. The Iron Man of 2020 and Death's Head find themselves players in the games of the mysterious Dicemen. When Death's Head found out he had been dumped on Earth-8410, circa. 2020 A.D. he was initially disappointed, but soon realized that there was more crime than his old stomping grounds, circa. 8162. He was also glad to be rid of Spratt, though sad about the loss of his pet vulture. He immediately began to take advantage of the high crime rates, and quickly set up an office in Manhattan. His activities attracted the attention of the press, in particular the Daily Bugle. After two days in Manhattan, Death's Head went after the leader of the Warlords in order to claim the reward. Having defeated the leader of the Warlords, Death's Head allowed himself to be filmed in a brief interview for television. Death's Head's next assignment took him to downtown Manhattan, the area once known as Hell's Kitchen, when a man offered a reward to anybody that could find his kidnapped son. Death's Head found the trio of kidnappers in a rundown building and positioned himself in an adjacent room. Death's Head set the telephone ringing. One of the kidnappers answered the call, but soon began to wonder why nobody answered Death's Head's fist came smashing through the wall and punched the kidnapper who had answered the phone. He stepped into the doorway and revealed himself. One of the remaining kidnappers blasted at Death's Head, who got up close and personal. He knocked the rifle out of the kidnapper's hands, and a stray shot nailed the ceiling. The kidnapper pulled out another gun, but before he could use it the weakened part of the ceiling collapsed on him. The remaining kidnapper was too scared of Death's Head's demonic appearance to do anything. Death's Head took the boy and went to collect his reward. Upon returning to his new office, Death's Head was approached by Athey and offered a contract on two Arabs. While Athey told Death's Head that they were international terrorists protected by diplomatic immunity, they were in fact diplomats. Death's Head, took the assignment not realizing he had been set up to fight the Iron Man of 2020. He intercepted the Arabs at a hotel as they entered a lift (elevator). Iron Man attempted to get into the lift, but was casually pushed back by Death's Head. The lift door closed, and Death's Head was about to kill the Arabs when Iron Man broke in through the roof. Death's Head sent him hurtling back out, and climbed onto the roof of the lift in order to finish him off. Iron Man shot one of the cables supporting the lift. Taking advantage of the situation, Death's Head tried to sever the other cable. Iron Man charged into him and they landed on the roof of a nearby building. While Death's Head was recovering from the landing, Iron Man ripped off his head. Naturally Death's Head was rather annoyed, yes? He worked his aggression off, using his now headless body to give Iron Man a sound beating. He picked his head back up and set about reattaching it to his body, while comparing notes with Iron Man. They realized that they had both been hired by the same person and set up to fight each other. They scanned for monitoring devices, and found a flying monitor unit. Together they traced the monitors receiving signal back to its source. The signal led them to an expensive mansion, whose perimeter defenses they breached with ease. Inside the mansion they found a dead body, some dice, and more importantly the balance of their fees. Unknown to them, the dead man was Chance of the Dicemen. Athey had shot Chance in order to preserve the Dicemen's secrets, left the money and set the mansion to explode. Iron Man detected a massive energy build up beneath the mansion and they managed to make their escape. Iron Man was curious as to who was behind the set up, but Death's Head was just happy to have been paid. He gave Iron Man a pep talk, encouraging him to be more confident and, in particular, not to lose his head. Death's Head was surprised to see his spacecraft, the DH II, fly out of a dimensional portal and crash land in the streets. Spratt ran out of the ship, followed by their vulture, and dragged Death's Head away from the ship in a hurry. Unknown to Death's Head, Big Shot had been aboard the ship, too, and was close behind them.