Hometown Hero (15th in Arrow/SPN Crossovers)

Bad Boy Doing Good

Just a young gun with a quick fuse
I was uptight, wanna let loose
I was dreaming of bigger things
And wanna leave my own life behind
Not a yes sir, not a follower
Fit the box, fit the mold
Have a seat in the foyer, take a number

I was lightning before the thunderThunder, thunder
Thunder, thun', thunder
Thun-thun-thunder, thunder, thunder
Thunder, thun', thunder
Thun-thun-thunder, thunderThunder, feel the thunder
Lightning and the thunder
Thunder, feel the thunder
Lightning and the thunder
Thunder, thunder
Thunder - Thunder - Imagine Dragons

"Duck, now block, no, not that way. Let me show you again." 

She threw her arms up, "I won't get this Harper. Like ever." 

Dina was tough, the amount of times she'd shown up all bruised to hell to the self defense class Thea and I were teaching in the Glades told me her story. It wasn't her boyfriend, not her dad, it was just life on the streets and she was small, which meant people thought she was easy pickings. I'd followed her a few nights to see who was kicking her ass. Arsenal had made a few appearances when the situation got too dire, she'd flipped me off, in costume and all, after I'd kicked a few asses on her account. Street life makes you stubborn, paranoid and with a huge chip on both shoulders that you show even to people trying to help you for free.

 It took seeing Thea drop a guy twice her size on his ass to get Dina to start listening.  Dina wasn't "in class" when she saw Thea do her thing, she just "happenend to be hanging out" in the back alley by one of two windows that give you a view of our training room. 

"Yes you will," I told her, "Look, you've got all the rest of these moves, this one is just a reverse of the same combo you learned last week. It's just on your off side, that's what makes it harder." 

She ran a hand through her short cropped multi-colored hair that seemed to change shades every other week. Her mixed race background gave her features that hovered between African American and Asian with a touch of Polynesian somehow thrown in. It darkened her skin to almost midnight black but gave her the delicate facial features you see in all the posters of luau dancers or anime characters. She was more striking than gorgeous but she'd been basically on her own her whole life. Missing Mom, Dad who worked three jobs, she'd raised herself. I knew that feeling. It sucked. She was nearly eighteen now, and should be in college or something, instead she was stuck in shit retail jobs in the Glades, scrounging by doing shady crap at night, thankfully not prostitution but she'd gotten hooked in with a few low end drug dealers for spare cash. She was smart, like so many other people in the Glades, smart with no way out. 

Thea, Oliver and I had tossed in some financial help for the worst cases here and there, mostly anonymously, using local charities. Even though it had been well over a decade since the destruction of half the Glades there was still some serious hard feelings towards the Queen family name, which was one reason I'd pushed Thea to come out with me and help train people. People had more issues with Oliver than her since she had been barely twenty when all that had happened. We'd rented floor space in one of the old buildings in the center of the Glades and I started coming out a few times a week to do free self-defense stuff for people here. It'd taken a few months but we had a pretty steady showing now and had gotten a lot more women after Thea started coming.  

Thea wasn't with me tonight though, "C'mon Dina, one more time then we'll call it quits, okay?" 

"Fine, whatever," she grudgingly huffed and took up her stance.  

The move wasn't complicated, I was throwing a roundhouse kick that she was supposed to duck, then when I followed it up with a punch she had to block. One thing years of fighting with Oliver had taught me is always work both sides. With one of his hands usually occupied with a bow that he'd learned to fight with and not just shoot, he'd become basically ambidextrous, which was a lifesaver when you fought against groups of people. Some people had a harder time thinking with their non-dominant side, Dina was one of those. She'd consistently move the wrong way and end up with my foot nearly in her face. Good thing I'm good at pulling my kicks.