Mallory meets some new people in this chapter, I kind of liked the way it came out. Anyway, I really want some reviews, so please review.
Two days later Mallory was all moved into her parents house. She had a full week before she had to enroll in her new school, and she intended to spend as much time as possible with the team.
She zetaed to the cave in her civies, hoping to find the team and catch up on everything she'd missed in the last few weeks. She did not expect to find a dark-haired girl maybe a year younger than her curled up on the floor with Wolf and no one else around.
Wolf got up and walked over to her and she rubbed his side fondly. The girl walked over.
"Hi, I'm Zatanna. You must be Inferno. I've heard a lot about you."
Mallory gave the girl a friendly smile and didn't mention that she had not heard anything about her.
"Where's the team?" she asked, walking around the room.
"They're on a mission. My dad wouldn't let me go on this one, so I got to stay with Wolf and Sphere while they went to deal with some weirdo in Star."
Mallory nodded. "And who is your dad?" she asked.
"Zatara," she replied.
"Right. That makes sense."
Mallory walked to the kitchen and opened Wally's cupboard. The best snacks were always in there.
"Isn't that Kid Flash's?" Zatanna asked.
Mallory looked at the girl over her shoulder. "Yep."
Zatanna smiled. "Can I have some?" she asked.
Mallory grinned and tossed her a box of cookies while she chose a bag of chex mix for herself. "So,are you on the team?" Mallory asked as they settled on the couch together, Wolf at their feet and Sphere rolling around behind them, beeping for attention.
"I don't know. My dad doesn't want me to, but I'd love to."
"But your dad is a hero," Mallory said, not understanding.
"Yeah, and he's super overprotective. It takes forever just to convince him to let me visit."
Mallory huffed. "Wow, I always wished my parents were supers so they wouldn't worry about me so much when I go on missions."
"If your parents aren't supers, then then how did you get into the business?"
Mallory sighed. "That's a long story," she said.
"Well, we've got time," Zatanna said, then grinned and held up her box of cookies, adding, "and snacks."
Mallory laughed. She was going to pay for stealing Wally's food.
The girls settled in and told each other about their powers, how they got into hero work, how they felt about the people and the team and the league and what cities they were from. After that, they moved on to talk about other things, like movies, music, future plans, and interest over a bowl of popcorn that Mallory definitely didn't remember taking from Wally's stash. By the time the team got back, the girls were fast friends.
"Inferno!" Megan squealed when she saw her friend.
"Well, I see you've met Zatanna," Robin said.
"Yeah, I can't believe you never mentioned her before," Mallory replied. Robin was about to answer her when Wally started walking towards the kitchen. Mallory grabbed Zatanna's arm and whispered, "Run." But Mallory hadn't made it three steps when Wally caught her by the arm.
"You ate my snacks," he said, and she almost couldn't tell that he was kidding. She looked up at him and smiled innocently. "I missed you," she said, trying to change the subject. Wally gave her a look that said he wasn't falling for it, but he let go of her arm.
"You owe me food," he said, and stalked back to the kitchen, but Mallory noticed he was fighting a smile as he turned away from her.
She sighed contentedly. It was good to be home.
Mallory and Elaine were in the kitchen talking and fixing lunch when the door bell sounded. "I'll get it," she told her mom. She opened the door crack to see who it was and her jaw dropped in surprise.
Wally and Robin were on the other side of the door in civis with a taller, older-looking red head.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, ignoring the stranger for the moment.
"Robin and Red came to help me with something that's going down in Central. Figured since you live here you'd want in," Wally explained.
"How did you know where I live?" she asked. She'd told Wally that she was visiting relatives in Central.
"Oh, that. Well, Robin hacked into the database at the school you went to," Wally said, and Robin grinned and added, "It was nothing. That place has worse security than Arkham."
Mallory tilted her head slightly, not understanding the joke, and Robin shook his head.
"Mallory, who is it?" Elaine called from the kitchen. Mallory sighed and swung the door open, inviting the boys in. She led the way to the kitchen.
"Mom, I'd like you to meet Robin and Kid Flash, and I'm going to assume that Red is Red Arrow," she said when her mom turned away from chopping vegetables.
Elaine stared at the boys in disbelief for a second, then Wally stepped forward and said, "Actually Mrs. J, you can call me Wally when I'm not in costume."
After that, Elaine and Wally struck up a good conversation while Elaine finished fixing lunch, and Mallory managed to pull Robin out of the kitchen, with Red Arrow following closely.
"I can't believe you hacked my school," Mallory said.
Robin grinned. "Don't worry, I erased your information," he assured her.
"What? They're going to notice. I went there for ten years!" Mallory exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid. The people with the proper credentials can still access it. But now no one can hack in and pull out your information like I did," he explained. Mallory sighed in relief.
"So, are you in on the robbery?" Robin asked.
"Rob, this is a waste of time," Red Arrow said behind them. He was standing between them and the hallway, ready to leave.
"Nice to meet you, too, Red," Mallory said, annoyed at his attitude.
"Hey, come on. If you don't want to come, you don't have to. We just thought we'd give you the chance to come," Robin remarked.
Mallory thought about it for a second, then shrugged. "All right, I'll come."
They went back to the kitchen, where Wally was snacking on the extra walnuts from the salad and deep in conversation with Elaine. Mallory leaned in to Robin and whispered, "Is it weird that he's already this good of friends with my mom?"
"Yeah, a little," Robin muttered. Red Arrow stepped over and put a hand on the speedster's shoulder. "She's coming, so we should go now," he said, not looking at Elaine.
"She's going where?" Elaine asked, looking at Mallory.
"We have a mission. It's nothing," Mallory answered.
Wally didn't budge from the stool he'd pulled up to the counter. "We can't do anything until tonight, and Mallory owes me some food," he said.
"Dude, that's so rude," Robin hissed, looking apologetically at Mallory's mom.
"Oh, no, I invited him to stay for lunch. Well, I invited all of you, but he was the only one here," Elaine replied. Mallory cringed inwardly and sneaked a glance at Red Arrow. Somehow she didn't think he would be an ideal person to share a meal with.
Red didn't look too happy with it, but Wally was stubbornly staying put, and Robin shrugged and said, "Sure, Mrs. Johnson. We'd love to stay."
"Great! We have a cranberry feta salad and baked chicken." Elaine set three extra places at the table and Wally moved the food from the counter to the middle of the table. Mallory watched the ease that Wally had in her house the first time he was there. He asked Elaine if he could do anything else, Elaine told him to get drinks out of the refrigerator, which he did.
Robin and Red Arrow had sat down, and Mallory awkwardly joined them, not knowing if she should help her mom or leave it to Wally. She turned to Robin, hoping to get to talking so she wouldn't feel so out of place.
"So, what exactly is the mission?" she asked. Robin seemed relieved to have something to do, and he eagerly turned to the conversation.
"Police got wind of a robbery that was going to be going on sometime this month. Flash was supposed to get a tip of when it was happening, only Wally was the one they gave the message to. They told him to give it to Flash, but he 'forgot'. He got me and Red to come in on it with him."
Wally and Elaine came to the table and started making their plates, so the three of them did as well. Mallory couldn't help but feel like she was butting in on the boys' thing, but she shook the feeling off and ate her lunch.
When it was time to go, Red Arrow thanked Elaine and was out of the door in a heartbeat. Mallory had already put her suit on and put street clothes over it, so she waited for Robin to go outside with Red before telling her mom bye and that she would be late. When Wally said goodbye, Elaine said, "Don't make yourself a stranger around here. Come over any time you like." She looked at Mallory and added, "It's nice to have some of Mallory's friends over again." Wally assured her that he'd be back and he and Mallory walked out together.
"Great, so now that we've wasted all that time, do you think we could maybe get to the mission?" Red Arrow asked irritably.
"Yeah, we need to get down to the museum," Robin replied.
They went to the car parked in front of the house and piled in. Wally ran around to the driver's seat, but Red Arrow pulled him out and took his seat. He waited for Wally to climb into the back seat with Mallory before he started to drive towards the north end of town. It was almost three in the afternoon, so they had four hours before it would start to get dark.
Red pulled into an alley a few blocks from the Museum of Natural History, and the kids got out of the car. Red put on some sunglasses of his own, and they started walking towards the building. Red bought them tickets and they went in casually.
"Remember, just act normal," Robin murmured in her ear.
Mallory smirked and said, "Yeah, cause there's nothing more normal than two guys wearing dark sunglasses indoors in October three hours from sunset." Robin and Red glared at her and she grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, got it, normal."
They walked through the exhibits, milling around tourists and guests. She realized that three out of the four of them were redheads, and they looked alike enough to be able to pass off as siblings if anyone asked.
Wally grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a hallway that went into the Egyptian exhibit. They stood in front of a display that had jewels scattered around one big sapphire. Mallory let out a breath in awe. She'd never seen a jewel so big.
"Wow. So who's going to be crazy enough to try to steal this? The security on it has to be insane," Wally asked. Robin pulled up a small wrist computer from his watch and scanned the display.
"It is. I've never seen this code on anything below military weapons," he said.
"Star Sapphire," Red muttered.
"Are you sure? Just because her name has sapphire in it doesn't automatically mean it's going to be her," Mallory mentioned.
"Don't you think I know that?" Red snapped. Mallory shrugged.
"I really don't know. It just seems pretty cliche for you to look at something and immediately know who is going to try to steal it," she said.
She could almost hear the older boy grinding his teeth. "Let's just get in position," he growled.
They exited the museum and made their way back to the car. It was starting to get dark, so they pulled off their street clothes and threw them in the car and waited in the back of the alley for full darkness.
Mallory eyed Red Arrow's costume thoughtfully. It looked something like hers, and she hoped she hadn't been subconsciously thinking of his when she'd designed her own.
"So, you used to be Speedy, right?" she asked. Robin and Wally were at the front of the alley looking around.
"Yeah, why?" he asked, leaning against the brick wall of the building.
"No reason. So, you had a falling out with Green Arrow?" she asked. He looked at her suspiciously.
"Yes," he said haltingly. She nodded and looked back at the car, then back at him.
"You couldn't work with him anymore?" she asked. Red glared.
"What's with all the questions?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Boredom," she replied.
He rolled his eyes. "The League was keeping too many secrets, treated us like we were less than them. Rob, Kalder, and Wally thought the answer was your little clubhouse. I became my own hero, left Green Arrow behind me." Mallory nodded.
"Yeah, but guess you didn't leave him too far behind," she said.
"What?" Red asked. Mallory shrugged.
"You still work in his city, you still use his MO, and you copied his name."
Red glared at her, and she pushed off the wall and joined Robin and Kid Flash at the front of the alley, feeling a little safer with them around.
"I think we can go get in position now," Robin whispered. It was fully dark now and the museum had closed half an hour before. Mallory nodded and followed her friend's lead as he made his way to the side of the building in the alley and shot his grappling hook. Red shot an arrow up, and Robin grabbed Mallory and Red grabbed Wally and the four of them made it to the roof quietly. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop until they got to the museum, then Robin and Red shot their lines to its roof and gave her and Wally a lift. Wally and Mallory switched to their stealth suits and Robin disappeared.
Mallory looked at Kid Flash and Red Arrow, and Red pointed to a vent a few feet away and Wally ran over. Mallory noticed a skylight and walked over to it quietly. It was directly above the Egyptian exhibit. She hid behind a ridge on the roof where she had a good view of the skylight. Red Arrow knelt beside her and scanned the roof.
"What, couldn't find a place of your own to hide?" Mallory whispered, missing Megan's mindlink as her voice seemed to carry across the roof.
"No, I just want to make sure you don't mess up," he told her. Mallory rolled her eyes. She wanted to argue her point, but without the mindlink, it was a little hard to do that without making any noise. She slumped to the ground and got comfortable for the long wait.
Red Arrow looked at her disapprovingly. "You need to be ready," he hissed.
Mallory blinked and her eyes glowed in the dark. "I'm ready," she hissed back.
Red narrowed his eyes at her, but he didn't say anything else about it.
They sat on the roof for hours. A few minutes after one, Red pressed his comm.
"Kid, you sure you got the tip right?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah. Rob, you covering the other entrances?" Wally replied.
"Yep, no one's around," Robin answered.
Mallory scanned the skies for any disturbances, but there was nothing there.
"Rob, are there any disturbances anywhere else in the city?" Mallory asked, thinking that Wally could have gotten the museum wrong.
"No, it's really quiet tonight. Oh, wait. I'm getting a weird reading inside. Some sort of energy reading, but it's off the charts."
"Sapphire," Red muttered.
Mallory sat up and got into a crouch, ready to move.
"All right, let's investigate," Red decided. Mallory watched Wally come out from behind the vent and Robin jumped out of another vent a few feet away. They went to the skylight and Robin opened it and dropped a line down. They took turns sliding down, and Red looked around the exhibit while Robin moved his wrist computer around the room.
"It's coming from down the hall," he whispered after a moment. They followed him as he made his way around, following the readings.
When they got to the display next to the Egyptian one, they found two guards tied up. Robin swept them with a scan.
"They have some sort of energy residue on them," he told the red heads.
Wally walked around a little, Red Arrow slipped the gags off the guards mouths.
"Who did this to you?" he asked.
"A lady in a costume. She had this mask with a gym on the forehead. Used it to tie us up," one of the guards said.
"Where did she go?" Mallory asked while Red moved on to cutting the ropes around their arms and legs.
"Why, I'm right here," a female voice with an English accent said from above them.
The teens looked up and Star Sapphire descended, holding Kid Flash in an energy ball. The teens went to attack, but the woman laughed and said, "Uh uh, you don't want to hurt me. If you do that, I might be forced to do something drastic, like hurt your little friend here. No, you're going to let me take my jewel and leave."
"Fat chance of that," Kid Flash yelled at her.
Inferno eyed the woman, looking for a way to get her to release Wally. She stayed in the air, holding Kid Flash tauntingly above the teens' heads. Mallory looked at the boys for a sign, but she couldn't read them. She really missed the mind link.
Star Sapphire started flying towards the door, and Red and Robin went into action, shooting batarangs and arrows at her. She put up a shield and grabbed Red in an energy beam, squeezing him. He grunted as the pressure tightened around him.
Robin threw some explosive batarangs, and Mallory shot fire at her, but it only succeeded in getting the villain angry. She caught Inferno in a bubble and made a grab for Robin, but he flipped away.
Mallory put her hands on the bubble. She didn't feel any heat at aimed her hands and tried to burn through the bubble. Star Sapphire laughed and Wally and Red started yelling at her.
"Inferno, stop! You're burning all your oxygen!" Wally yelled from his own bubble. Mallory realized he was right and stopped, but she had used up at least half of the breathable air, as well as filling the bubble with smoke.
She gasped for breath, lightheaded and on the verge of passing out. She couldn't make sense of what she was hearing, but she thought it was Red Arrow threatening Star Sapphire and Wally yelling at her, telling her to answer him.
Then there was a blur of movement that made her shake herself as much awake as she could. Robin was still out there. She just had to hang on until he got them out of this. She laid back in the bubble, taking shallow breaths, keeping below the smoke.
She tried to focus on what was going on outside the pink bubble, but all she could think about was that she'd told her mom not to worry.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside her bubble, and the energy surrounding her disappeared. She fell to the ground limply, barely conscious. Red Arrow stooped over her and checked the pulse on her neck.
"It's strong," he said over his shoulder. Mallory blinked the blur out of her vision and sat up, but leaned back dizzily, taking deep breaths and coughing out the smoke she'd inhaled.
"You all right?" Red asked gently. Mallory grabbed his arm and pulled herself up.
"Where is she?" she asked. Red nodded to the hallway, and Mallory started in that direction, Red Arrow following close in case she collapsed.
Kid Flash and Robin were fighting Star Sapphire. Mallory raised her hands and shot fire out towards the villain. She wrapped the fire around her, not leaving an inch unburned.
The villain shrieked and put a bubble around herself for protection, and Red shot an arrow that sent foam sloshing around the bubble, completely coating it. Robin and Kid Flash walked over to them.
"Great, now how are we gonna arrest her?" Kid Flash asked. Red shrugged and said, "I don't know. Just call the cops. They'll probably call the League to clean things up."
Sirens sounded outside the window and the teens shared a smile. "I guess the guards weren't completely useless after all," Red Arrow muttered.
"That's pretty harsh, Red. They told you who it was and where she was," Mallory pointed out.
They walked out the door and started running for the car.
When they got in and started driving, Red Arrow said, "It's Roy."
Robin and Wally shared a look, and Mallory leaned forward and held on to the back of Roy's headrest.
"Roy, huh?"
"Roy Harper," he added. Mallory nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. Why aren't you on the team?"
Wally scoffed and Robin said, "He thinks the League let us form the team to keep an eye on us and keep us in our place."
Mallory looked at Roy through the rearview mirror. "Really?" Roy shrugged. Mallory leaned back in her seat tiredly.
"Hey, let's go to six flags," Wally suggested.
"No," Roy said firmly, gripping the steering wheel tighter.
"Oh, come on, Roy. It's been ages since we went out together," Robin begged from the passenger seat.
Mallory watched the exchange with some amusement. So, Red Arrow was like the big brother of the OG sidekicks. Who knew? She looked out the window and blocked out the argument of why they should and should not go to the amusement park.
She'd started around the same time as Robin. She wondered what would have happened if Superman had taken her in as his sidekick. She might have grown up with these guys, she might have been there for the weird experiences Roy was currently reminding them of to try to discourage them from going. She sighed and pushed it out of her mind as they pulled into the six flags parking lot and put their civics on over their costumes.
She chuckled. Try to win an argument against Robin or Wally, that was hard, but try to win an argument against the both of them? It wasn't going to happen.
Roy paid their way in, and Wally ran straight for the food trucks.
"So, this is a normal night for you?" Mallory asked Robin as they caught up to the speedster.
"It used to be. We used to team up all the time, before we made the actual team. When me and Wally were younger, Roy would always be in charge of us while the Leaguers went on missions that they didn't think we could handle. So, we would team up in one of our cities, and after we caught someone Roy would bring us somewhere to celebrate."
"Then why didn't he want to come?" Mallor asked as she and Robin joined Wally in line for a funnel cake.
The boys laughed and Wally said, "Let's just say that we could be a handful."
"Still can," Roy said. He came up behind them and knocked Robin and Wally's heads together playfully. Mallory laughed.
For the first time in her life, she felt like a part of a family, and she couldn't believe she'd almost thrown it all away.
Ok, now review with thoughts on the story. Not just this chapter, thoughts about any chapter, anything. I really want some reviews.