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The three watched the bioship take off before walking with Jonathan from the barn to the house. Martha met them at the door to hear what had happened.
"It's fine, he was a friendly," Conner told her, giving her a hug.
She looked at Dick. "My, it's been a long time since I've seen you. I think the last time was back when Mallory was staying with us, and you and Wally came to see her."
Dick smiled. "Yeah, it's been a while," he said.
"Well, are you planning on staying the night?" Martha asked.
Dick shook his head. "No, I wouldn't put you out," he said.
"Oh, not at all. You can bunk with Conner," Jonathan said.
Dick was about to refuse again, but Mallory nudged him and said, "you might as well. You passed on the bioship, and believe me, you do not want to take the bus at night. It's murder."
He sighed and nodded. "All right, thank you."
"Oh, not at all. Now, do you want anything?" Martha asked, starting for the kitchen.
Mallory caught her hand and pulled her away. "If we do, I can get it. You don't have to wait on us hand and foot."
"I know I don't, I just like to do things for you," the woman said.
Mallory smiled and nodded. "I know, and we all love you for it, but we're good."
She sighed. "Well, all right, then, I guess I'll go on to bed. You don't stay up much longer either, it's getting late and you've had a long day."
The heroes smiled and rolled their eyes. "We won't, promise. 'Night, Ma," Conner said.
She and Jonathan went upstairs to their room, and Mallory, Conner, and Dick went to the kitchen and sat around the table to talk.
"So, do we really trust Green?" Mallory asked, getting to the heart of the night.
Dick and Conner shrugged. "I don't know, we don't really have anything to hold against him," Dick pointed out.
"Still, there is something about him that doesn't feel quite right," Conner said.
Mallory and Dick nodded in agreement. "I guess the thing I have against him is that his scarab knew so much," Mallory said thoughtfully. "He kept talking about his scarab telling him things, but if they came from the same place, shouldn't Jaime's be able to tell us the same things?"
"That did seem a little strange," Dick said. "We just need to be cautious. Trust but verify."
They nodded, and Mallory glanced at the refrigerator and stood up to see what was in it. There was almost a whole peach pie sitting right at the front. She pulled it out and went to the cabinet to get a plate.
"You guys want some?" she asked.
"Yeah," Conner said, and Dick nodded. She got them plates and forks and brought the prize back to the table. Conner was about to dish out a slice when the team members froze, listening to their comms. They jumped to their feet, and Mallory followed suit, watching them for cues.
"Acknowledged. We're three minutes from the nearest zeta tube, but we're on our way," Conner said.
They were out the door, and Mallory flamed up, burning through her civies to reveal her costume without the jacket, and her hair went to its normal red. "What's going on?" she asked, grabbing Dick's hands and taking off towards the nearest tube while Conner jumped along.
"Lagaan and Megan are under attack at the Chicago tube," he reported.
Mallory winced, flying as fast as she could. They got to the tube, and Dick punched in the coordinates. They disappeared into the light and came out at the junkyard where the tube was. The fight was over though. There was some fire in a circle on the ground, and Mallory snuffed it out.
"Over here!" Conner yelled, and she and Dick ran over to where the clone had found Lagaan lying unconscious on the ground.
"Let's get him to the hospital," Dick said, his voice tight.
"What about Megan?" Mallory asked, still looking around.
"They got her," he said grimly, looking at the scorched circle of ground where the fire had been. "We'll find out more when Lagaan wakes up."
An hour later, Mallory, Conner, and Dick were in Lagaan's hospital room trying to hold the Atlantean down after his leg had been casted and he came off the drugs.
"Neptune's beard! Let go of me," he yelled, struggling against their combined strength. "I've got to save Megan!"
"Lagaan, calm down. There's nothing you can do for her in your condition," Dick grunted.
Lagaan looked at Conner. "Then what about him? Why isn't he rescuing her? I know you dumped her, but do you really hate her that much?"
Mallory narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to defend her friend, but Conner handled it, saying, "You have no idea what I feel for her." That took the words out of Mallory's mouth. Lagaan just glared at him, though.
"You're right, because I would never abandon her to Kaldur and his flunkie! Because that's who took her, Aqua-traitor's personal ninja pal, Tigress!"
"Enough," Nightwing said, straightening up. The three looked at him, confused at his sudden change. He sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you, to tell anyone, but Aqualad's not a traitor."
All three of them went still with surprise. Mallory was torn. She wanted to believe it, but she couldn't forget what he'd done. She could never forgive what he'd done.
"What are you talking about? He killed Artemis!" Lagaan yelled, voicing Mallory's thoughts.
Dick sighed again, not looking at any of them as he said, "No, he didn't." Mallory took a breath, hope and fear spiking in her chest simultaneously as she desperately wanted it to be true. Dick sank into the chair beside the bed and put his head in his hands. "Aqualad has been on a deep cover mission for months, infiltrating Black Manta's troops, the Light, and the Reach. We faked Artemis's death, she's alive. In fact, Artemis is Tigress."
Mallory choked down a breath, her chest swelling with mixed emotions, mostly relief. She thought about all of the things that had seemed off about Artemis's death, Dick's reaction to it, the way Wally had acted when she went to see him, what he said after the Despero attack. She really was alive.
"I don't believe it! How could–"
"No, it's true, isn't it?" Mallory interrupted the Atlantean calmly, looking at the floor. "It all makes sense now. Wally was in on it, wasn't he? That's why you didn't come to Artemis's memorial, and why you've both been acting so strange about it."
Dick looked at her, his expression showing recognition. "We were trying to change the game," he said pointedly, his voice soft and almost regretful. She pressed her lips together, forcing herself not to blow up right there in front of Lagaan. He looked down and continued, "If she kidnapped Miss Martian, there has to be a good reason."
"Why am I only hearing about this now?" Lagaan growled. "I mourned Artemis. Neptune's beard, I tried to tear Kaldur limb from limb! You should have told me!"
"No," Conner said calmly, and Mallory stood in silent agreement with the clone. "Nightwing is our leader, we put our trust in him. I'm sure he didn't keep it from us, from all of us, without having his reasons."
Dick stood up. "Look, we will figure this out. Together. In the meantime, get some rest."
The three original team members walked out into the hall. As soon as Dick closed the door, he said, "thanks for backing me up in there."
Conner spun around angrily, keeping his voice low. "You don't leave a guy a lot of options," he said, his voice shaking with rage. "You have no idea what your secrets have done to us."
"What does that-" Dick started, and Conner explained.
"Megan believed Kalder had killed Artemis, so when she found him on the Reach ship, she fried his brain." Mallory winced, and Dick's eyes widened. Conner continued without pause, "that's gotta be why Artemis grabbed her, to try and save Kaldur's broken mind, but Megan doesn't know how to do that, so Manta may just kill her, and kill Tigress if she blows her cover trying to save her. And we'll have lost all three of them because you thought it was a bad idea to share."
He stormed off down the hall, leaving Dick speechless, and Mallory fuming in her spot.
"Inferno, I–" Dick started quietly, but Mallory just glared to the side.
"You should have told us," he said, her voice just as low and angry as Conner's had been.
"I–"
"You what? What can you possibly have to say?"
"I just thought it would be better if no one knew, so no one would be able to give it away if they were caught, or by not acting authentically."
"Yeah, I get not telling everyone, but why keep it from us? God, do you even know what this did to us? It nearly killed us, losing her like this, to Kaldur. We could have made it believable without actually breaking. Do you really not trust us?"
"Of course I trust you, but…" he didn't finish the sentence, and his look was almost desperate, pleading with her to understand.
Her face hardened even more. "Do you remember why you quit being Robin?" she asked, still angry, but her voice was calmer now.
Dick tilted his head slightly, not knowing where she was going with this. "Yeah..." he said.
She nodded. "You couldn't work with Batman anymore because he was taking all the emotion out of his decisions, and you couldn't handle it anymore after Tula died. You became Nightwing because you didn't want to turn into him. Now look at you. You tried so hard to break away from that image, and here you are, acting just like him. He would be so proud."
He looked down, his face broken, and Mallory turned to go. "Mallory, wait, let me explain," he pleaded.
Mallory looked over her shoulder. "You already have. I don't want to hear from you for a while. I'll let you know when I feel like I can trust anything that comes out of your mouth."
With that, she walked down the hall, leaving him staring after her