Issue #5

Reasons

by David Tillinger

"You watching this?" Guy asks me over my cellphone.

"This" is the conflict between the members of the neophyte hero group Bad Blood and an armada of alien robots over the Gulf of Mexico. And yes, I'm watching it. I'm in Mac's office watching it on all 8 of the TV screens in Mac's media room.

"I'm already in route to pick you up if you want in."

"I…" I don't get the do out as Guy suddenly arrives in the room, using his power ring to phase through the wall.

"I figured you might." Guy says, smiling.

"I was going to say that I'm not sure how much I can help in this one. It looks like an aerial fight for the most part and I can't fly, last time I checked."

"I can help us with that. Catch." Rebecca says entering the room. She's dressed in a long purple trenchcoat and pants, with a ruffled shirt. She's tossed a large, white metallic object at me which simply cannot be what it looks like. She's holding one as well.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Kind of." Mac breaks in. "Let's just say your friend Adam Strange likes to play a little blackjack between Zeta beams."

I laugh, but Guy does not. "What's with the outfit, Rebecca?"

"I'm coming with you."

"Are you the Gambler now?" Guy responds, noting that the costume she's wearing is identical to her grandfather's outfit.

"No. There's only one Gambler. I'm Hazard, just like I always was." Her voice is icy and determined.

I can see the tension between the two. I've got the feeling that there's something brewing between them, something that could be really good for both of them. But as an absolute expert in the fine art of picking the wrong fights with my significant other, I can recognize the trouble signs here.

"But Becky, there's not much you can do in this sort of fight. You've got…." I interject.

"Better training than either of you and all of the kids in Bad Blood. I was trained to fight by Paula Crock, the Huntress, who I might add was one of the people who trained Deathstroke among others. I may not do the villain thing anymore, but I've still got the skills. I've been ready for this since birth, practically Ollie. And I've also got this." Suddenly out of nowhere, she swings her right hand at a metal file cabinet. Surprisingly, her hand doesn't break, but rather the punch makes a huge indent into the solid metal cabinet. She wobbles slightly for a second, but smiles at our surprise.

"I call it my lucky punch. It's like this. What are the odds that someone my size can punch a hole in a metal cabinet? A thousand to one? Five thousand to one? Remember, changing the odds is what I do. My lucky punch is just me pushing the odds into my favor. I can't do it that often, but it's something I've been developing, a new way to use my powers."

We're all quiet for a moment. I can tell she wants this badly and her eyes are pleading now. "Please, let me do this."

Surprisingly it's Guy who responds, summoning a platform from his ring. To make a joke, the platform consists of two slot machines with casino stools in front of them. "Let's get going. All of us. If we don't hurry up, the Bat will show up and take all the fun out of beating down the aliens."

I laugh at this as we get on the seats. Rebecca, no Hazard is probably more accurate, smiles slightly.

Having had his joke, Guy has changed our flying set of slot machines into a generic yellow bubble as we jet towards the Gulf. Both Hazard and I have managed to get out jet packs into place, an easier task for her than me, since I need to loop it over my quiver. She's been quiet all the way thus far.

"You don't need to do this, Rebecca."

"That's just it, Ollie. I do." She pauses, collecting her thoughts. "I was never a very good criminal, you know. I was efficient enough, I suppose, but I was never really a crook, not like the people I associated with. Most of them, being a criminal was an identity for them. For me, it was just something I did. It was out of anger at first, and then out of loyalty to my friends. Arty once told me…."

"Arty?"

"Artemis Crock, my best friend. You'd know her as Tigress."

I did know that, by the way, I just had a feeling that Rebecca needed to get this all out.

"When we were kids, Arty told me, that I should have been the granddaughter of the Green Lantern or someone like that. When we were kids, it was kind of an insult, like saying I had cooties because we were raised to believe that the costumes were the real villains. But it stuck with me."

"And now?"

"Now, I've got to see if I can really do this. Not just do the right thing, per se. I've been law abiding for years now. But be a real hero. Like you."

"I'm not all that heroic, Becky." Which is true, in my own opinion. I may be a superhero and in the League and all that, but I don't see myself as a hero in the same vein as guys like Clark and Hal. "I got into all this because I needed to. I got marooned on an island and had to learn to do this to survive. I got back to the mainland and did it because it was fun. Now, I do it because it has to be done sometimes. But I'm not a shining knight or anything."

"You are to me, Ollie." Guy cuts into the conversation, effecting a girlish voice. As he had been dragging us in a bubble before, he has to move closer to join us in the bubble and we slow a little.

"Look, Becky, like I told you before, you belong here." He says, looking her right in the eye. "I told you that before. You're one of us now."

We drift for a few moments and outside the bubble we can see that we have reached the battle site. As we do, Guy dissolves the bubble and it's just a platform. The scene is absolute carnage and action everywhere. For just a moment, Rebecca looks nervous at the sight, but it's only for a moment.

"I don't think I want to be one of you any more." She jokes as she reaches for the button on her jet pack. She's full of it, of course.

"Of course you don't."

We all laugh as we enter into the battle.

To be continued in Bad Blood #25