Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue PI Kate Bishop/Hawkeye was hired by young Anna Donnelly to find her father Liam. She went to the last place he was seen and inside discovered it was an illegal fight club. She was forced to fight and won the bout but was beaten unconscious by 3 other men.
Now she wakes up with her usual post-fight aches in a small cage. There are others imprisoned there and in a nearby cage is Liam Donnelly.
Also last issue Kate prevented her friends/assistants Ramone Watts, Johnny Watts and Quinn from following her into the club. Now they're waiting anxiously in her office/apartment when Detective Rivera walks in. They are suspicious but Rivera says she's here because Bishop asked for her help. She shouldn't do it but Kate "gets under her skin". The others agree, including Lucky the dog. When they tell her where she's gone Rivera rushes off to the rescue.
Meanwhile Kate has been put back in the arena to face someone named Clem, and the house gives him 15-1 odds. He has a metal axe (and metal hands) so Hawkeye asks for her bow and arrows. She doesn't get them but then his torso and axe burst into flame. She avoids his attack acrobatically and leaps up the bars of the cage to drop down and kick his flaming head. He's stunned a bit but she has to put out the flames on the sole of her shoe.
She remembers talking to her criminal dad last issue who has a new young clone body courtesy of Madame Masque. He told her that the clone has a superpower that was latent in his DNA, and he suggested her DNA might house a superpower too. She now desperately tries to activate it but nothing happens except Clem attacks again.
Just outside the arena/cage Kate spots her bag of weapons where she dropped it. With more leaps and flips she lands near the bag and reaches through the bars to grab it and retrieve an arrow. She stabs him with it and it emits safety foam to douse Clem's flames. She takes the opportunity to get her collapsible bow and more arrows. Clem seems to have lost his axe but his metal fists still pack a punch. Shaking off dizziness Kate fires a fishnet arrow which entangles her foe.
At this point Det Rivera bursts in with an armed police squad. They arrest the fighters and clientele. Rivera finds Bishop lying on the floor exhausted. Kate tells her about the people in cages and Rivera calls a medic to look after her as she finally passes out again.
Later Kate isn't arrested but she's standing in front of the perp photo height chart while she nurses her head with a box of frozen pizza. (By the way she's only just over 5'.) Meanwhile Rivera is interviewing Donnelly about taking part in an illegal fight club. Liam claims that he owed the bad guys money and they wanted him to pay it off in the fight club. They'd threatened his daughter to make him agree and kept him in a cage so he couldn't escape. Kate points out he's a victim and Rivera agrees to let him off if he'll testify.
Kate claims Rivera owes her for giving her an excuse to bust the fight ring. Rivera points out that she rescued her. Kate objects that she was doing OK on her own ... but then admits that the Detective is right. She makes to follow Liam out but Rivera asks for her pizza back. And she also gives Kate back the necklace and pendant that she dropped off at the police station (#7). Against her better judgement she had the blood on it tested. Some of it matches Kate's dead mother, and some of it her father. Kate remembers back to the last time she saw her mother (as seen in #7). She was wearing the necklace as usual when dad dragged her away.
Kate and Liam return to the Hawkeye office where they find Johnny, Quinn and Ramone still waiting, this time with Liam's daughter Anna. There's a tearful reunion and the family pair leave. Kate can't help remembering back to a time before she found out her dad was a crook. She thinks about telling her gang about what he's up to, but then remembers that Aggregate was working for him and *he* kidnapped Ramone's friend Mikka so she decides not to talk about it, telling herself she'll leave it until tomorrow when Mikka will be around as well. Reluctantly they leave her alone with Lucky.
Before going to sleep off the day's exertion she eases her bruised head (again) with the only thing left in her freezer, a frozen steak. Then the doorbell rings and a woman walks in.