Pint Sized Pugilist

November 26, 1939

The fire brigade was putting out the last traces of the apartment fire, but that wasn't what Dinah Laurel was interested in. She skirted through the crowd of onlookers, her attention locked on the adjacent rooftops, where she had last seen the figure. Cordoned off by police, a group of firefighters cared for a handful of tenants who had nearly been lost to the blaze. Dinah could hear them talking about their savior, the "short man in the blue mask." She broke from the crowd, tracing a path into the back alleys, where a fire escape gave her a route to the top.

Calvin City was quaint by Dinah's standards, all apple pies on windowsills and afternoons spent at the country club. The locals were friendly, but reserved. They had their standards and were quick to suss out whether or not you met them.

The local college was the reason for the upturned noses, the smug assuredness. It had one of the best programs in the nation, particularly in the sciences. A part of Dinah was curious about where her life could've gone had she attended a university. She imagined vast lecture halls, listening to storied professors explain complex topics. Picnics on the campus lawns with her peers. There was an allure, but that possibility was long past.

Her family had drifted across the country, her father picking up odd jobs that carried them onto the next leg of the journey. He was a mechanic by trade, but he knew a bit of everything. There was a long stretch in Dinah's youth where it seemed like half the country was on the move, all stirred up by the Depression. They all had different ideas of where things where different. One would say California still had jobs. Others would claim there was a new factory opening in Louisiana. The reality of these prospects mattered little against the promise they offered. It was through this wandering that they ended up in Gotham in 32'.

Dinah was here to check the last box off a long list. Dodds thought they could be done already, but she wanted to be thorough with their invitations. It had been no easy feat tracking down the majority of the mystery men and women they invited to their team. Superman and Batman remained out of reach, ironic considering Dinah shared a city with the latter. The Flash was eager from the get go, an enthusiasm that apparently swayed Green Lantern to their cause. Hourman was on board from the start. Hawkman had been receptive. Dodds claimed that even the enigmatic Doctor Fate had been persuaded at last, though Dinah had her doubts.

It had not all gone so smoothly. Their kind was an odd, disjointed bunch and a few prospective candidates had turned them down outright or been ruled out for other reasons. Dinah had rejected a gregarious, if foolhardy, boy named Johnny Thunder. He wielded some sort of esoteric power, but the kid was a liability. Crimson Avenger was too bloodthirsty. Plastic Man had laughed off Dodd's offer, claimed Hub City kept him busy enough. Red Bee was underwhelming.

Dinah hit the rooftops, a thin haze of smoke giving the air a blurry quality. She wasn't wearing her wig, but no one here had learned to look up yet, so she wasn't worried. Dodds almost always approached his targets as Sandman, but Dinah understood the value of her method. She took short leaps across the gaps between buildings. Her first few weeks out in costume, she came close to throwing up from the fear, but now it never even crossed her mind. Funny what this life did to you.

It wasn't long before she found her man, slouched against the edge of one of the roofs. It was the coughing that gave him away, brought on by smoke inhalation no doubt. There was something delicate, almost childlike to him in that brief instant of first contact. She barely got a look at him, before he saw Dinah and hastily pulled his blue mask back on. Red hair poked through a series of holes in it, singed through by the flames. He got up quickly. The papers hadn't lied about his height. The man barely cleared five feet, though his body was knotted with dense muscle.

"Easy friend, I ain't here to hassle you," said Dinah.

"Just enjoying an evening stroll on the roof then?" said the man. There was a standoffish quality to him that made Dinah appreciate the value of a light touch.

"I won't lie. I was hoping to find you. Been looking for the past few days," said Dinah.

"Got a score to settle? Did I rough up your brother or something? If I did he had it coming," said the man.

"No doubt they did. I'm not here to pick a fight," she said.

The Atom lost a degree of the tension animating his body, though Dinah could tell from the way he was wheezing out his words that it would be a while before he could breathe easy again.

"Hell of a thing, running into a burning building like that," she said.

"Comes with the territory," said the Atom. "You in the business as well?"

"I am. It's no small feat when you don't have powers though."

"Who says I don't?"

"I did my research. Unless their real subtle, you've been getting in harm's way with nothing more than your fists and a loose approach to self-preservation."

"Lotta interest in me," said the Atom. "Why is that?"

"You've been around less than a year, but you already got a strong track record."

He grunted, in affirmation or dismissal, she couldn't tell.

"Took on twenty crooks at once in your first month."

"It was twelve."

"Still impressive."

"You've had a few run ins with masked villains. Gambler, Blue Snowman. The Carnival of Crime."

"A bunch of fools," he said with a huff. "Except the Gambler. Gave me this reminder." He pointed to a scar on his neck.

"Look kid, you can do the modest act all night if you want. I've come to offer you an invitation. There's a group of like-minded folks starting up and we want you on it," she said.

He shook his head, giving a bitter chuckle.

"Now I know I didn't make it out from that blaze. I'm passed out somewhere in that goddamn fire trap."

"It's that hard to believe?"

"If you're for real, which I have my doubts on, why would you want me?"

"You got guts. I saw you carrying out those people from the fire. You came huffing and puffing with that man and woman over each shoulder, and what did you do the second you dropped em off? Went right back in to grab more."

"Anyone would in my position," said the Atom.

"No they wouldn't. Because they wouldn't put themselves in your position. People like us, there might be something off, something screwy in the head like the rags say, but we each made a choice to help people. You made that choice," said Dinah.

"Maybe. Who are you anyhow?"

"Black Canary."

"She's blond."

"It's called a wig."

"Awful trusting, don't you think?"

"A way to show that I'm serious in asking you to join us."

The Atom sighed. He pulled off the mask. The man beneath was younger than she expected, with bushy eyebrows that matched his hair. The look he gave her was careful, the face of someone who had been on the receiving end of a joke one too many times. He was still waiting for the rug to be pulled from his feet.

"Name's Al."

"Dinah."

There was something about the moment that prompted Dinah to take a gamble.

"How'd you get into the life Al?" she said.

Al gave Dinah a questioning look. He leaned against the edge of the rooftop.

"I go to the college round here. Studying physics. It's big deal with my family. My dad works at a slaughterhouse. My older brothers went down similar paths. I managed to get into Calvin College. I felt a bit guilty, being the only one, but they insisted I take the chance.

I know I'm small, but if you had seen me three years ago, when I first enrolled you woulda thought a strong breeze would knock me over. The fellas at the college enjoyed reminding me of that fact. Called me a weakling. A child. It was relentless.

Things got outta hand when me and my girl got mugged. I tried to fight back and got knocked out. Never felt so useless in my life. The other students made sure I'd remember it too. You ever felt powerless before?"

"I have. I figure that's why many of us choose this life."

"Probably. Anyway, I knew I had to get stronger. I always loved those circus shows. With the strongmen. As luck would have it, I met a man, an old boxer, by the name of Joe Morgan. He took a liking to me. Saw something. Said he had a fondness for long shots. The man trained me. Helped me build all this muscle and the skill to back it up.

I had all these notions that when I was strong, the other students would stop. They'd realize they had been wrong. Maybe even be afraid.

They never did though. It's the same as it was. Some folks, the ones who are mean like that, they barely need an excuse."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Al," said Dinah.

"Oh, it's alright. It wasn't too long before I saw some tough guys robbing a pair of folks, out on a date, like I had been. I found something to cover my face and gave them what for. And that was that. It wasn't about me. It was about helping others. Protecting the ones who couldn't do it themselves."

"Change a few details and it sounds like you're talking about me," said Dinah.

"It's not really a rational life is it?"

"Probably not. But it's not a rational world."

"So you really want me for this team of yours?"

"I do. We do."

"I can't abandon college. Or Calvin City."

"We won't make you do that. We've got some ideas on how to share the load."

Al examined his mask, then grinned at Dinah as the remains of the smoke cleared out.

"When do we start?"