A/N: So, today I decided that I ship Aquamis (SeaArrow, for some of you) like a freaking crazy bitch. What does that have to do with this? Nothing, absolutely nothing at all. If you're wondering what's taking me so long to post (it really hasn't been that long, though), I've found a new best friend in Tumblr. I made an account and am following basically all YJ blogs under the sun. Why? Because I can! Follow me if you want, and I'll start putting progress updates and shit about this story.

I also posted a pic of Tess in her civvies on my DeviantArt page, just in case you wanted to know.

Oh! Right! Here is the intro to Mallory (JadeDragon220's character), and a whole crap ton of Roy and drama! The villain towards the end is a creation of my lovely kid sister, bless her, because I needed help and she likes being generally evil. If you can, review not just about the content of this chapter, but on Hydros, too, because I know that it will make her really, really happy :) Really.

Mount Justice, August 27, 7:58 EDT

"I need to talk to Aqualad," Batman spoke as we stumbled into the cave, covered in clay after our failed mission. We were investigating suspicious activity in a warehouse in Gotham City when Clayface showed up and attacked. Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Superboy, Robin and I were able to stay standing for only a few minutes before being knocked unconscious by his heavy blows. Aqualad, apparently, was the last one standing, but even he couldn't match up to the monster of a man, and Batman had to swoop on and save us. Had I known that all it took to disable Clayface was electricity, I probably would've done something. "The rest of you, hit the showers and head home."

"Head home?" Superboy snorted as he walked passed. "I am home."

I groaned, pulling chunks of clay out of my hair on the way towards the showers, limping slightly from the blow I had received early on in the fight.

"Tessa," a voice called from behind me, and I turned to stare at Batman, the owner of the voice. "I need to speak with you, too."

I nodded, biting my lip, before brushing my way past the others to head to my room and pack my things.

"Do you know anything about these?" Batman asked, pulling up images of various buildings all across the nation. He pointed the one labeled 'Star City.' "That one was found one block from your house."

There was an imprint of a lightning bolt on the brick, and I traced it with my eyes, mouth open. "I haven't seen..." I took a deep breath. "No, Bruce, I've never seen those before in my life."

"I thought as much," he sighed, rubbing his face as he showed emotion for a second. "They've been showing up increasingly around certain areas, but there is no evidence of vandalism on any of them. It's almost as if they've been –"

"Burned into the brick?" I finished for him, hugging myself around my stomach.

"Exactly. The League has been looking into it, but we haven't found the perpetrator. Should it be who I suspect it is..."

I could feel my posture stiffen and my eyes narrow at his hidden accusation. "Impossible. He's dead."

"He disappeared, Tess," he corrected, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Two different situations. There was no evidence of his remains..."

"It doesn't matter," I growled, glaring at him as moved away from his touch and backed up towards the transporter. "He died and that's the end of it."

The last thing I saw before the blue flash of light carried me to Star City was Bruce's sympathetic, worried look.

Star City, August 28, 8:12 PDT

(3rd Person Because I Can)

"Alright, it's eight o'clock on a goddamn Saturday, who the hell is that?" a groggy voice groaned reaching blindly for the phone that was surely somewhere near her. When her black varnished nails finally tapped against the screen of her own cell phone, Mallory blearily opened her eyes and brought it up to her face, wiping off some of the drool that had accumulated overnight. "What?"

Tess mumbled something unintelligible under her breath that sounded a little like 'hamster army,' and rolled over so she was sitting up on the armchair she had crashed on the night before. "Who is it?" she asked, yawning obnoxiously. The small purple phone was thrust in her face a moment later.

"It's for you," Mallory smirked. "Roy-boy says it's urgent."

Her eyes immediately shot open and she looked completely alert. Snatching the phone out of her outstretched hand, she eagerly put it on speaker and dropped it onto the pile of fashion magazines next to her.

"Tess?" Roy called.

"No duh," Mallory snorted, before continuing sarcastically, "I gave the phone to my brother. Who else would it be?"

"Cut him some slack," Tess laughed.

Roy groaned. "You put me on speaker?"

"Anything you're gonna say to Tess, you can say in front of me, bub."

"Something tells me one day you'll regret that statement."

"But that day isn't today, so carry on!"

"I was going to tell you that there's a carnival in San Francisco and see if you and Mal wanted to go but apparently you're busy making fun of me, so..."

"Well, somebody's a drama queen," Mallory retorted, rolling her eyes. She paused, rethinking her actions. "I'm rolling my eyes right now, by the way."

"Oh, I could tell."

"We'll be ready in a bit, Roy," Tess answered, drawing them from their argument. Her friend looked up to see her already dressed in her tank top, jeans, and cardigan, searching through her bag for her other sock.

"Buh-bye, Roy-boy!" Mal quickly ended the call before he could retort, before turning to Tess. "You get dressed fast."

"I've had a lot of practice," she shrugged and jumped up triumphantly, waving the sock in the air. "Yes! Found it!"

"You're so weird." The elder blonde sighed, before throwing herself off of the couch and onto the floor. She stumbled into her room and pulled out a t-shirt and jeans, before moving into the bathroom with Tess to brush her short hair. "Wait, is Roy gonna pick us up?" she asked after a moment, turning to stare at Tess while she very nearly poked herself in the eye with an eyeliner pencil.

"Probably," she answered. "He has a habit of doing that."

Thunderous footfalls began to descend the staircase, making them both jump slightly and rush to put away their things. Jace, Mallory's seven year old brother, slid onto the carpet outside the bathroom with a big grin. "Roy's here!" he announced, grabbing her hand and tugging her up the stairs. "C'mon Tess!" he called back.

Roy was crouched on his knees by the door, talking about planes with Tony while he waited for the girls to come up. The boys were completely enraptured with the archer, taking in everything he ever said to them and storing it away in the depths of their minds. Without much of a primary father figure due to Mal's parents being divorced, most conversations at the dinner table started with "Roy said..." and was usually followed by something Mal and her mother had most likely heard a billion times before. Anna, Mallory's mother, was okay with it, mostly because he set a good example for her sons and kept them occupied.

"Ready?" Roy asked, accepting Tess's hug without a second thought, while Mallory stood by with a knowing smirk on her face. He stuck his tongue out at her over the top of Tess's head, and she mimicked him in response.

"Yup!" Tessa answered cheerfully, not noticing the exchange as she pulled away with a bright smile on her face. They teens, after promising the boys they wouldn't have too much fun without them, made their way out to the convertible. "Shotgun!"

"Dammit!" she cursed, before sliding into the backseat. "You know, you're really lucky that your dad offered to pay for this, Roy."

He glanced at her in the mirror, but said nothing as he started the car and pulled away from the curb. Tess turned around and gave her a warning look; Ollie was definitely a touchy subject for him, and the last thing they wanted was to deal with a pissy Roy for the rest of the day.

"No, I'm not going on the roller coaster," Tess repeated for the hundredth time, glaring at Roy and Mal from her bench. She had been refusing to move from her spot on the bench, despite her friends pleas. "It's dirty, and rickety, and rusty, and the scary man operating it looks very shifty to me."

"C'mon, Tessa!" Roy pleaded.

She pouted, crossing her arms and turning her head away from him. "I am disinclined to acquiescence your request."

"What?"

"She says no," Mallory snorted. "But she was trying to sound smart about it because she's whining like a five year old."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

A loud explosion made them both stop, and they all jumped up to see the aforementioned roller coaster collapse in a puff of smoke. Civilians everywhere began to run around in panic, racing towards the exits and shoving each other out of the way without a second thought. "I would say I told you so, but..." Tess trailed off, eyebrows furrowing as she dodged a particularly large woman. "I don't think it was the poor craftsmanship and lack of repairs that made it collapse."

"Let's go check it out," Roy replied, and the three of them ran to the scene, fighting against the current of people to where the ride used to stand. No one was on the ride at the time, thankfully, but there seemed to be a figure emerging from the smoke. "Who is that?"

"I, am the great and powerful Hydros!" he shouted, his large form finally becoming visible from on top of the mound of what was now scrap metal. "Bow down to me and accept me as your ruler!"

"This guy's a little full of himself, don't you think?" Mallory muttered as they slowly backed around a corner and away from his sight. "I mean, he can't be that –" a bright green laser beam shot out past them. "Okay, never mind."

"Do you have your bow?" Tess asked, turning to Roy. He nodded, already unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his costume underneath. She quickly followed suit, pulling her own over her head and grabbing her jacket from her bag. "Mal, I need you to make sure everyone is evacuating the area carefully. I can't imagine everything is running smoothly."

"Aw," she whined. "I wanna watch you guys kick ass!"

"Go!" the blonde growled, stuffing the last of her things back into her bag, including her glasses as she pulled her hair out from it's ponytail. "Now!"

"Fine!"

Tess turned to Roy, who was already strapping on his quiver. "Do you think we should call the League? Or the Team?" His deadpan look made her falter, and she bit her lip. "What about your uncle?"

"Guardian's busy with Cadmus, and I'm not calling the League," he replied as he placed his mask over his eyes. "We can do this on our own."

She sighed, looking nervous and unsure as she avoided his eyes. "...If you're sure."

"I'm sure." He strode forward and grasped her forearms, kissing her forehead. "Trust me," he said, before grabbing his bow off the ground and peering around the corner of the ticket booth they were hiding behind. A blast of green energy made him tumble backwards. "Shit."

When he turned around to give directions to Tess, she was already climbing to the roof of the ticket building, prepared to strike. He rolled his eyes as she wailed loudly, vaulting Hydros through the air as she caught him by surprise. The bulky man flew into a go-cart arena and crashed into one of the cars, but stood up from the crushed vehicle unscathed, with an evil look in his eye. "Oh, look," he grinned. "It's Baby Canary. Or should I say, Athene?"

"Alright," she groaned, flipping off the roof as he stepped out of the ring and stalked across the lot. "Why do people keep calling me that?"

"You don't remember?" Hydros asked, looking surprised. The look was immediately replaced by a devious smirk as his body suddenly split, creating two of himself. The bodies kept duplicating until she was surrounded. "Allow me to remind you."

All twelve of him launched themselves at her, making her panic. She wasn't use to being attacked on all sides like this. Roy shot arrows as best as he could at the clones, which were piling on top of her, and when they landed, their targets simply vanished in a cloud of smoke. With only one of him left, Tess was able to free a hand and punched him, before kicking him in the stomach with her feet. He flipped off of her, and she scrambled away, rushing toward Roy, who stepped protectively in front of her.

"And look, it's Speedy!" Hydros laughed, coughing a little from the blow to his stomach before straightening out and resuming a commanding pose.

"Red Arrow," Roy hissed, shooting an arrow at him. Their opponent split in two to avoid the arrow and sent them a cheeky grin.

"He's like a freaking Clayface part two!" Tess hissed. "The only way to defeat him without electricity is if we..."

"Cut his head off?" Roy guessed dryly, turning to look at her over his shoulder. They both ducked to avoid another beam of energy.

"No," she replied, plucking an arrow out of his quiver. She handed it to him, and he noticed it was one of the freezing arrows. "We freeze his ass."

"And how is that going to work?"

"I get him to split and you shoot the clones."

"How are you going to do that?" He blinked, only to see her running in the opposite direction.

"Run, Red!" she shouted, sprinting through abandoned booths. "Hey fugly! Can't catch me!"

Hydros growled, his face darkening with rage as he split into eight more of himself, two going after Roy, while the others went after Tess.

Tess grinned when she saw six of him running after her, and looped around the buildings a few times, dodging the blasts from the original Hydros as Roy played target practice with the clones. He had already frozen the two that came after him, and was simply picking off the others one by one. When the last one was no longer chasing her, Tess whirled around and let out the biggest scream she could muster, shattering all of the frozen 'statues.' Hydros' eyes widened, and he grasped his chest as he sunk to his knees. Roy grinned and smashed the two near to him, finding great satisfaction in the way it seemed to be easily weakening their opponent.

"Damn," Mallory whistled, walking onto the scene with a smirk. "You really gave it to him, didn't you?"

"Well," Tess began as she flipped her hair exaggeratedly. "You know me."

"Mind if I do the honors?"

"Be my guest."

Mal's face broke out into a devious grin as she sauntered over to the fallen villain and reared back, nailing him in the crotch. He howled in pain and fell backwards as Roy winced. "Don't mess with my day, bitch," she growled, waving her finger at him threateningly before stomping away, barely paying any heed to the shocked looks of her friends. "He's all yours. Get him out of my sight."