by Joseph Harris and Greg Luzniak
by Joseph Harris and Greg Luzniak
This issue starts with a close-up of Hornet. We can see up his nose. Of course, that hardly matters, as he's in the grip of the Griz and its claws are getting just a bit too close. Hornet's extremely scared - you would be too - and the narration is talking about how he feels weak, how somehow he's always felt weak. Dusk is there, and reassures him she is. However, she has no idea what to do, as the Griz would kill Hornet faster than she could teleport herself in there. They're all still surrounded by mutated rats. This is what we call a problem. The Griz is taunting Hornet, telling him that it's sure that Eddie feels helpless, and this can't be the first time. It offers to tell him a story....
Flashback time! The Griz was once Mac Garrity - go back and read one of the #1s if you can't remember him! - and he used to work on the construction site of the Grand Royale Hotel. Man, that place screwed everyone over, didn't it? Anyway, he was helping to move the barrels of that nasty toxic stuff. Accidents happening with that stuff would be bad - and that's just what happened to poor old Mac. Some of the toxic waste got spilled on him, and it started burning him terribly, under his skin. Later, after his outsides healed, he tried to kill himself on the train tracks. Of course, the Slingers dropped in and saved the day, but unfortunately.... Hornet was the one that saved Mac's life, and so when Mac became the Griz, he hated Hornet the most.
Its story told, the Griz gloats and holds Hornet - costumed but gloveless and wingless - in a chokehold. Dusk, still watching, realizes she can't do anything to help, and teleports off to get more help while the Griz carries Hornet off to parts unknown.
Elsewhere, Ricochet is hard at work in his garage. He seems to be putting something together, and it looks frightening to say the least. The narration talks about how much he wants to help his friend, to keep from feeling useless. He creates...the Ricochet Mobile! Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. Just as he puts Hornet's winged jet-pack on the back, his dad knocks on the door, wondering what he's doing....
Quick cut to our friend Prodigy, who's back to being fully armored - without the cape, of course - and is taking on a small gang on a rooftop. As he beats the stuffing out of them, he says that he needs a messenger. Apparently, they're not up to the job. One of them pulls a gun as Prodigy thinks that he was meant to do the hero thing alone. He breaks the arm of the kid with the gun as he shoots, and tosses him away. Ouch. Unfortunately, the bullet hit an innocent bystander, a woman. As what's left of the gang runs away, Prodigy carries the woman over his shoulder and jumps off into the city. He realizes that to do this right, he can't do it alone. Who else here thinks he's going to find the rest of the team next issue, eh?
Back to Hornet and the Griz.... Eddie is trying to tell the Griz that there's people that can help it, while it rants on about rats being survivors and reveals its plan to dump the waste barrels into the clean water-filled drainage tanks at the sewage treatment plant. That would be bad. Hornet tries to go for the gloves, but the Griz knocks them out of the way, pinning him down and mocking him for needing them. It says that it's going to make Eddie the same as it, with the same chemicals. Eewww.... As Hornet gets mad, the Griz throws him across the room, making him knock some of the barrels into the water. Oops. The gloves are nearby, though, and he grabs them and puts them on even as the smelly rat-man mocks him. Hornet goes off with the lasers in the gauntlets, killing some of the rats and setting the Griz aflame. He's still alive, though, and corners Hornet on a bridge over the tanks....
Back at Rico's house, his dad is still knocking on the door. Ricochet makes the lame excuse that he's cleaning. Nice going, Rico. Dusk teleports in, avoids arguing, and says that she needs the jet-pack...which is attached to the Ricochet Mobile. He hops in, she jumps on, and they both teleport out of there - just as Rico's dad comes in! He catches the tail end of Dusk's leaving, and is left wondering.
Back with Hornet and the Griz, it's got his head in its hands and is threatening to kill him, like every good villain does. Suddenly, the buzzing of the jet-pack fills the air, and Ricochet and Dusk zoom in in the Ricochet Mobile - now with special disc-firing action! Hornet grins, the Griz grimaces, and Ricochet drives the car into the Griz, knocking him into the water, as well as ruining the Ricochet Mobile. Rico escapes with the jet-pack, and Dusk pulls the barrels out of the water. The Griz, however, gets pulled through the grating at the bottom, where he's chewed up by the gears below. Ouch.
The Slingers slowly make their way out of the sewers. Hornet isn't feeling too good about the entire thing, naturally. Ricochet is trying to kid around with him, to no avail. Out on the shore of the river, though, the mutated rats slowly gather the pieces of the Griz...and put it back together...it's alive.....