WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Hit-Girl Season 2 #8 from Daniel Way, Goran Parlov, Giada Marchisio and Clem Robins, on sale now.
Since Dave Lizewski's tenure as Kick-Ass came to an end and Patience Lee took over, Mindy McCready's job as Hit-Girl has gotten tougher. Not only does she still bear the scars of the death of Big Daddy, she's lost as to what having a partner truly means, opting for near-suicidal missions on her own. Lately, she's been rolling solo through Europe in Hit-Girl Season 2 with Hong Kong now on her list following a stint in Italy.
Mindy's going up against the Liu Triad, one of Asia's biggest cartels, and while the villains prove to be some of her deadliest to date, one bright ray of hope emerges at the end of the arc. Hit-Girl ends up inspiring a legion on the continent, which gives Mindy her very own army.
In Hit-Girl #8, Hit-Girl sets up Liu, the triad leader, by turning herself in to the corrupt Inspector Wu. He brings Mindy to Liu's compound to pay for the damage Mindy inflicted on the drug dealers and traffickers in the cartel. However, Hit-Girl escapes captivity and shoots up most of Liu's thugs. However, she's shot several times after Ai Kong sells her out, whihc leaves her reeling.
Ai and her group of runaways, led by Song Ju, initially found Mindy battered and bruised after her first assault on Liu's compound. They helped nurse her back to health and plotted with Mindy to take Liu out, sincethey know the villain is responsible for so much of what's wrong in Hong Kong. Sadly, Liu's goons killed Shi En Tan in a hit on Ai's crew, and a bitter Ai decided to betray Hit-Girl for this. She doesn't like her allies idolizing Mindy and thinks Hit-Girl brought trouble to their doorsteps.
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However, when Ai's shot in the melee at Liu's home, a fleeing Mindy puts her to use, opting not to kill her out of revenge. Instead, Mindy switches costumes with Ai and uses her as bait, luring Liu's gang to the kitchen at the mansion where they're all blown up. Mindy rigged the house with explosives earlier without telling Ai's team, since she sensed there could be a mole.
Wisely, Song Ju and the rest of the squad were kept away from the battle site as Mindy suspected they were clean. With her enemies dead, namely Ai and Liu, Mindy quickly leaves that vile alliance in flames and departs, ready to travel to India for a new mission. However, in the epilogue we see Song Ju recruiting members for a squad of vigilantes. They're all in costume, with one actually wearing a suit paying homage to Kick-Ass. There are some parody characters as well, poking fun at Deadpool, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and Cyclops. But there is a catch -- we don't know if Song's legion was sanctioned by Mindy.
Mindy didn't want them in the triad fights in the first place because she saw them as inexperienced and only used them for intel. Unless she trained them to be soldiers following Liu's downfall, it's unlikely they're ready to cut it in battle. Mindy would simply have to spend a lot of time training them, the same way she did with Dave and it might be too big a risk. That said, they're fiercely loyal and they could be an intriguing expansion to Mindy's international war on crime.
Big Daddy and Dave would certainly endorse it, considering the group's strength in numbers, as opposed to Mindy's lone wolf mentality. Mindy could even surprise herself as a not-too-disciplined mentor. After all, if she doesn't get Song's team in gear quickly, they could be heading to their deaths, and Mindy wouldn't want that to happen after they helped her.
Hit-Girl: Season Two #9, by Peter Milligan and Alison Sampson, arrives Oct. 16 from Image Comics and Netflix/Millarworld.