Ok, so Hotspot is a real character in the DC comics. I thought I should say that before anyone who actually knows who he is reads this. Also, I know he's a thermal kinetic, not a pyrokinetic, so I'm sorry for that, but I wanted him to have the same powers as Mallory, and controlling heat is close enough to starting fires. Anyway, hope you like the chapter. Enjoy, and please review.
Wally sighed loudly for the tenth time in five minutes. "I hate steakouts," he complained, leaning back in his seat on the bioship. Mallory hid her smile at Robin's glare. If she didn't know him so well, that glare might almost have compared to Batman's. Almost.
"Why are we even here?" Mallory asked suddenly.
Aqualad turned in his seat. "You know the mission. We are here to trail Luthor and protect him from threats, and gather any intel we can at the same time."
"I know why we're here, but why are we here? Luthor is one of the League and team's worst enemies, he surely has plenty of things to protect himself with, he just tried to discredit me in the public's eye after kidnapping me, and he isn't even in that building."
"Wait, what?" Artemis asked. Robin sighed.
"Well, sure. I thought everyone knew that that was the end building. Right now he's across town in his main office, probably getting ready for the big unveiling of his new suit." Why Luther was still allowed to make suits after all of the major problems that had happened with them in the past, Mallory would never know.
"I know this isn't where he is, but this is the most likely place that a person would set up to get at him, so this is where we stay," Robin said. Lately, the title of leader was becoming more blurry between Robin and Aqualad.
"But what about gathering intel?" Miss Martian asked from her place in the pilot seat.
"We wouldn't pick anything up going from point A to point B. Even Batman must have known that," Artemis put in, and Kalder nodded.
A loud thud hit the bioship, and everyone jumped and turned in the direction of the sound. It was almost comical. A flaming figure had just flown right into the camouflaged bioship hovering in the air over the testing ground. The figure shook their head and continued on their way, straight for Luthor's office.
"Miss Martian, follow that person," Kalder ordered. Megan obeyed, and the team found themselves flying after the flaming suspect.
"Anyone you know?" Superboy asked, turning to Inferno. Mallory shook her head slowly, but her stomach knotted up. The flight style was Volcana's.
At Luthor's office, the limo was already on the way to take Lex to the testing ground.
"Inferno, Superboy, pursue the suspect. The rest of us will continue with the mission," Aqualad decided.
Miss Martian opened a hole in the floor of the bioship and Mallory flew down to a rooftop and got out of Conner's way as he jumped down beside her. They scanned the skies, and Superboy pointed over to the street. There was no question now, the person was following the limo. They wanted Lex for something. Mallory made herself a horse out of fire and straddled it.
"Can't you fly without the animals?" Conner asked.
Mallory grinned and replied, "Now where's the drama in that?"
She urged her fire horse on, Superboy jumping along slightly behind her. Mallory gazed at the figure she was chasing. "Oh, Volcana," she murmured. She was not looking forward to fighting the woman who had come to be like an aunt to her.
The limo pulled up to the testing ground and the figure landed on a nearby roof. Mallory landed on a rooftop a few buildings away to keep an eye on the figure. Superboy landed loudly next to her a moment later.
"Way to be subtle," she hissed at him.
"Yeah, cuz a girl riding through the sky on a horse made of fire is so subtle," he shot back. Mallory rolled her eyes.
They watched the person watch Luthor get out of the limo and make his way to the podium. Lex started his speech, the new suit was brought out, and the pilot was about to get in the suit when the person made their move.
Mallory saw the fireball forming in their hand and made her own move. She flew in front of the person and redirected the fireball. The person took a step back on the rooftop, right into Superboy.
"All right, Volcana, just give up," Inferno started, but the flames around the person's body stopped and Mallory let out a small huff of relief. It wasn't Volcana. It was a boy about their age with dark hair and skin and red eyes.
"Names Hotspot," he said with a cocky grin.
"Really? Hotspot?" Superboy asked, one hand gripping the back of the boy's black and red costume.
"Like that sore dogs get in the summer?" Mallory asked, a small smile on her face. "Sounds scary."
The boy's face reddened a little, and Mallory almost laughed as he obviously rethought his name. But a second later, the self-assured grin was back on his face.
"Didn't catch your name, babe," he said. Mallory landed on the roof in front of him.
"Oh, how rude of me. I'm Inferno, that's Superboy. Now that the pleasantries are over, why were you trying to get Luthor?" she asked, her tone dropping by 20 degrees, her eyes narrowing. Robin had been teaching her interrogation methods recently.
Hotspot didn't seem fazed. "Why would I tell you anything?" he asked. "If you hadn't noticed, we have the same powers. You can't hurt me."
The next instant Inferno's fist collided with his jaw with surprising force. If Superboy hadn't been holding on to him, he would have been on the ground. Mallory leaned close to his face.
"I don't need my powers to hurt you," she told him quietly. "And if my tactics fail, then Superboy gets a turn." Hotspot looked at the boy, silent as a rock and glaring hard. The red S on his shirt seemed to give him an idea.
"You know Superman, right?" he asked.
"Superman? You just tried to murder someone in his city. You really think he's going to go any easier on you? Besides, he's on another mission. And we don't need him to handle you."
Hotspot grinned. "I'd love to test that theory, babe, but my clock's ticking. I wasn't trying to kill Luthor. I was trying to destroy the suit."
Inferno exchange to glance with Superboy. "Ship?" she asked, too quietly for Hotspot to hear. Superboy nodded. Mallory pressed her comm. Megan hadn't set up the link before she and Conner had to go.
"Come in," she said. "What is it, Inferno?" Kalder asked. Inferno turned to see their prisoner.
"You might want to hear what this guy has to say," she said.
"Acknowledged. Bring him to the ship," Kalder ordered, but Megan jumped in.
"If he has heat powers, I don't think he should come to the ship. He could kill her and all of us on her," the Martian pointed out. Mallory waited while the team on the ship discussed what to do. After a moment, her comm crackled back to life and Aqualad's voice came through.
"Where are you? We will come to you."
"We're on the rooftop opposite the testing ground," she told him.
The bioship landed on the roof a moment later and the team filed out.
"First thing's first," Robin said, and he slapped an inhibitor collar on Hotspot's neck.
"Wow, you programmed that on the way?" Mallory asked, impressed as always at Robin's preparedness.
"Not exactly," Robin said, and dropped the subject so fast that she heard the thud when it hit.
"That was for me, wasn't it?" she asked, whispering the question in his ear.
"We'll talk about it later," Robin said, not looking at her. He walked a few steps away and Mallory glared after him. She did her best to clear her head and joined the circle around the prisoners. Robin cuffed him and led him into the bioship. They sat him in a chair and stood across from him.
"Well?" Mallory asked.
"I was trying to destroy the suit, no big. I already told you." he replied.
"Why did you want to destroy the suit?" Artemis asked.
"To deal a blow to Luthor, to keep it from falling in the wrong hands or destroying another innocent life. His suits don't really have the best track record, you know."
"Yeah, that sounds like you. You want to deal a blow to someone, so you destroy a suit that insurance will fully cover, if not overcover, and Lex still has the blueprints for the suit so he can just make another. And, he looks like an innocent victim, which gets him free publicity and makes people believe that they need these police suits on the streets, so it promotes his cause. Good job, I'm sure it will cut him to the core."
Hotspot stared at Inferno, his cocky cover gone as he realized that she was right. His arrogance turned to anger and defensiveness and he said, "Yeah? And how do you know me, exactly?"
Mallory grinned. "You could have picked any name, but you call yourself Hotspot."
Wally snickered behind her and Artemis punched him in the arm. Hotspot raised an eyebrow.
"Touche," he said, his previous personality returning. "I guess I didn't think this through very well. Well, no harm done. Thanks for stopping me before I helped Luthor, now let's call it a day. If you'll just get this neck thing off of me, bird boy, I'll be on my way."
Robin narrowed his eyes. The guy was only 13 years old, but he could be seriously scary sometimes.
"Miss Martian," Aqualad said, and she nodded and linked the team.
"What do we do with him?" Artemis asked.
"We could take him to the cave and let the League decide," Miss Martian suggested.
"No," Robin and Mallory said at the same time. They looked at each other and Mallory narrowed her eyes.
"This is our mission, and we need to handle it," Robin said, explaining his no.
"He was asking about Superman earlier, and we caught him too easy, and his whole plan to deal a blow to Luthor is too flawed. The whole thing could be a ploy so we would take him prisoner and bring him back to our headquarters so he can get information or find a way to take away our powers. And speaking of taking away powers, you want to tell me why you have an inhibitor collar all pre-programmed and ready to slap on the neck of a pyrokinetic when we had no idea that we would run into one? Huh, Rob?"
And his eyes narrowed even more, if that was even possible.
"You what?" Wally asked, staring at his friend in shock.
Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I had it in case you ever lost control again," he said.
Mallory crossed her arms. "I have a hold on my powers now, you know that. So why do you have an inhibitor collar, what, in your utility belt?" she asked bitterly.
"Actually, it's been on the bioship," Megan broke in. Mallory's eyes widened.
"You knew about this?" she asked.
Megan lowered her eyes. "Yes, I know everything that happens on the ship."
"So what, you don't trust her?" Wally asked angrily.
"Open your eyes, KF. If she ever lost control or got mind controlled, she could kill the whole team without breaking a sweat."
"Please, any of us could. But I don't see you packing collars for me or Superboy."
"That's different and you know it," Robin argued.
"How, Rob? How is it different?"
"I've known you longer."
"So, what, you trust us and not her? Conner's from Cadmus, and you trusted him from the second he let us out of those pods. What's different about Inferno?"
The boys were glaring at each other, and Mallory was waiting for Robin to answer the question.
"Enough," Kalder said, stepping between them. "The fact is that Robin's precaution saved us some trouble today."
"That's not the point and you know it," Mallory spat, her hands clenched into fists. She turned back to Robin. "When I first lost control, you were the one that convinced the others to come after me. You were the one who made me feel like I belonged on the team. Or did you forget that?"
Robin's face softened. "I haven't forgotten anything. I didn't mean this to be personal, Mal. You're a part of the team."
"So when were you going to tell me that you don't trust me?"
"I do trust you, Mallory," he said. His voice had a desperate ring to it now.
"No, you don't. The fact that you didn't tell me about it proves that."
"Hey."
The spoken word made the whole team jump, and they simultaneously turned towards their prisoner.
"Hate to break up your little psychic conversation, but have you decided what to do with me yet? I'd like to be home in time for dinner."
Aqualad turned to Mallory and Robin. "Listen, both of you. You can figure this out later, but right now we are in the middle of a mission and I need you both here 100%." His tone left no room for argument, so Mallory turned her back to Robin and crossed her arms to cover her fists, which were clenched so tight her knuckles were white.
"Well?" Hotspot asked.
"You will need to answer some questions," Aqualad said, stepping forward.
The boys shrugged. "Shoot," he said. Artemis' fist tightened around her bow like she was seriously considering it.
"Why did you allow yourself to be captured so easily?" Robin asked, giving voice to the thing that was on the forefront of all of their minds.
"I don't want to hurt you, I want to hurt Luthor. His enterprise, I mean. Not physically."
"Why do you want to hurt him so bad?" Miss Martian asked. Mallory refrained from rolling her eyes. Most of Metropolis worked for Luthor. You wouldn't have to look very far in the city to find people that he had mistreated or taken advantage of.
"He fired my dad and sent my family into poverty."
"Megan, is he telling the truth?" Mallory asked over the link.
"Yes. I sense a deep hurt within him, and an anger that drives him."
Mallory felt for him. She understood that anger so well.
"How long have you had your powers?" Inferno asked Hotspot.
"About a month," he replied.
Mallory felt alarm bells go off in her head. She grabbed the arms of the nearest two teammates, which happened to be Wally and Kalder, and pulled them off to the side. The rest of the team followed them, confused.
"We need to take him in," Mallory said over the link.
"We just had a whole discussion about why we shouldn't take him to our headquarters," Robin said.
"This isn't an option anymore," Mallory insisted.
"Mal, what's going on?" Wally asked.
"He just got his powers a month ago. If they are anything like mine, they are going to start growing uncontrollably. You saw when I lost control at the cave. That was with ten years of training behind me. He needs help, or that could happen while he's on a train, or at home with his family."
"Point taken, but we can't take him to our base of operations when there are still so many unanswered questions," Robin pointed out. Mallory hated to agree with him when she was still mad at him, but she knew he was right. She thought for a moment.
"Let's take him to the Hall," she said after a moment. "The public already knows about it, and we can call one of the nicer Leaguers to help us decide what to do."
"Batman will kill me if we don't keep him informed," Robin said.
Mallory looked away and thought, "Good, saves me the trouble."
"We heard that," Artemis said.
Mallory locked eyes with Robin. "Oops," she said unapologetically.
"Enough," Aqualad broke in. "Inferno's plan makes logical sense. We will bring him to the Hall of Justice."
The team took their seats and Megan started towards Washington D.C.
"Hey, where are you taking me?" Hotspot asked nervously. "League HQ," Conner told him. No one spoke after that. Mallory spent the whole ride glaring out the window. She could feel Robin looking at her every now and then, but she didn't look back.
"Well?" Conner asked. Flash looked through the observation window in the Hall's interrogation room.
"Well, we could get J'onn to probe his mind, see if he's telling the truth. But if he doesn't want us to, then we can't trust him, which will make helping him a little difficult."
Mallory looked at the Leaguer. "We can't just send him packing. He's dangerous."
Flash nodded. "I know. I'm gonna call J'onn." He gave the team a smile and added, "Be back in a flash." He zipped away before the collective groan escaped the team.
"Does he always have to say that?" Artemis asked irritably. Wally shrugged.
"You should try living with him. Got to feel bad for Aunt Iris."
Mallory shrugged. "Can't be any worse than having you around all the time," she said, but she wasn't really in the mood for banter. She gravitated towards the observation window. The prisoner would only see their reflection, while people on the outside could see in. Hotspot was looking right at her, and even though she knew it was impossible that he could see her, she felt like he knew she was there.
She felt a connection to him. She didn't know if it was because he was a pyrokinetic, or maybe because he was so much like Wally, but she liked him. She wanted to help him, the way Superman and Volcana had helped her.
"Inferno?"
Mallory jumped and turned around. "Yeah?" she asked.
"You ok?" Megan asked.
"Yeah, fine. Just remembering how I felt when I first got my powers."
"Recognized, Martian Manhunter, 07, Flash, 04," the computer announced. Mallory turned to the zeta tube and watched the two Leaguers appear.
"Flash has told me about your predicament," Martian Manhunter said. "I will determine if the young man is to be trusted, if he is willing to open his mind to me."
Kalder nodded and J'onn went into the room. The team and Flash watched from the observation window as Manhunter sat down opposite Hotspot and started talking to him. Hotspot nodded and said something, and J'onn looked at the window. He linked the team and Mallory couldn't help but notice that his touch in her head felt different than Megan's.
"He says that he will allow it only if Inferno comes into the room," he said.
The team looked at her and Mallory crossed her arms. "Why me?" she asked.
"I do not know, but it will not hurt you to come in," J'onn pointed out. Mallory sighed and pushed open the door.
"All right, I'm here. You can get started," she said, leaning against the wall.
"No, I want you to go in my head with the martian," Hotspot said. Mallory raised her eyebrows.
"What? Why?" she asked.
"Because I trust you, and I want you to make sure that he doesn't mess me up or look into anything other than what you need."
Mallory thought about it for a moment. "All right," she said, then she turned to J'onn and asked, "How does this work?"
Martian Manhunter pulled a chair up next to Hotspot with telekinesis. "Sit," he ordered. Mallory sat. "Now, you will need to have physical contact to be brought in with me."
Hotspot opened his hand to Mallory, who placed her own in his hesitantly. Manhunter's eyes glowed white for a moment, then Mallory blinked and she found herself in an apartment that she'd never seen before.
She walked over to a darkwood desk and picked up a picture. It was of a family, a lady with long weaves holding a little boy that was probably about five grinning from ear to ear, and a man with an intelligent look on his dark face smiling at the camera. A hand came on her shoulder and she jumped and whirled around. Hotspot grinned.
"Find anything interesting?" he asked. Mallory put the picture back on the desk.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"It's the apartment I grew up in," he replied. "Not sure why we're here now, though."
"This is your safe place," J'onn said. He was in the middle of the room, not touching anything or even letting his eyes linger on anything.
"So, how does this work?" Mallory asked. She was suddenly worried that they would be able to see her mind, too.
"We ask him questions. There are answers in this room, which I will pull out when he answers the questions. He will not be able to tell any kind of lie without us finding out," Manhunter explained.
"All right, well, what should we ask first?" Mallory asked.
"We should start with something basic," J'onn suggested. "What is your name?"
Hotspot looked at Inferno, unsure.
"If you're telling the truth, you don't have anything to worry about," she assured him, and added, "and if you're worried about your secret identity, don't. We know how to keep a secret."
He nodded and took a shallow breath. "Isiah Crockett," he answered, looking at the martian.
J'onn put a hand to his head and objects in the room started glowing. Mallory walked over to a piece of paper that was glowing on the desk. It was some sort of homework assignment with the name on the top. A yearbook a few steps away opened to reveal a picture of Hotspot with the name Isiah Crockett below it.
"He's telling the truth," she confirmed to J'onn. Manhunter nodded.
"Why did you make an attempt on Lex Luthor's life?"
"I didn't," Isaiah said forcefully.
A notebook by the bed glowed. Mallory walked over and opened it to the middle, where there was a mention about his plans to destroy the suit. Mallory nodded to J'onn.
"Why didn't you fight the team when they caught you?" he asked.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," he said. The apartment itself started to glow around them.
"What's going on?" Mallory asked.
"He is telling the truth," J'onn said.
Isaiah looked at her, a small smile on his lips. "Trust me yet?" he asked.
Mallory looked at J'onn. "How much longer?" she asked.
"I believe we have gotten the important questions answered," he replied.
"Wait, don't bring us out yet," she said, having a thought. She turned to face Hotspot. "Why did you ask about Superman?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I've seen that you work with him. I wanted to meet him, and to be honest, you and your friend were kind of scary. I figured Supes wouldn't let you completely pummel me."
Mallory couldn't help but smile. It was very gratifying to hear that she could come off as intimidating.
She nodded to J'onn. He put his hands on his head, and Mallory took one last look around the room, her eyes last landing on the picture on the desk. She blinked, and she was back in the interrogation room at the Hall.
J'onn stood immediately and left the room. It took Mallory a moment to reorient herself with reality, and when she did she realized that her hand was still in Hotspot's, and worse that she found herself not wanting to take it out. She pulled her hand away and looked at him.
"So, Crockett, huh?" she said with a smile. He laughed.
"Yeah. You know, it's not fair."
"What?" she asked, standing up.
"That you know so much about me and I don't know anything about you."
Mallory scoffed. "That's how the hero gig works," she said.
She opened the door and walked out. The team was waiting for her.
"Manhunter told us he's telling the truth," Artemis informed her. Mallory nodded.
"So what did you decide to do?" she asked.
"I still don't feel good about bringing him to the cave," Flash admitted.
"Are we gonna let him go?" Mallory asked.
"Yeah, we can't legally hold him, especially when we know he's not lying."
"I could ask my old instructor from the school to help him, or to at least let us use my old training room," Mallory suggested. She wasn't sure if the school would agree, but at least it was a start.
"That is a good idea. In the meantime, Robin can do some digging on our new friend, see what, if anything, he is hiding," Kalder said.
"Yep, leave it to the guy with the most secrets to dig out everyone else's," Mallory muttered. She didn't give Robin a chance to answer, she just headed to the zeta tube. Wally zoomed up to her when she was typing in her coordinates.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I need to go to the school and see if they'll take Isia- ugh, Hotspot," she replied. She stood a step away for the computer to scan her. Wally moved next to her.
"What are you doing?" she asked as the computer announced that she was recognized and moved on to Wally.
"I'm coming with you," he replied. The light sucked them away before she could object. They appeared in the cave, and Mallory went to her room to change into civies. When she came back to the zeta tube, Wally was waiting, his yellow and red costume replaced by jeans, tennis shoes, and a yellow T-shirt.
"You don't have to come," she told him, walking past him. He ran backwards until he was in front of her, making her stop just before she got to the zeta tube. He seemed to forget what he was going to say, and Mallory crossed her arms impatiently.
"You want to talk?" he asked lamely.
"No," she said definitively. She walked around him and punched in the closest coordinates to the school. "If you're coming, do you mind giving me a lift? The nearest zeta is three miles away."
"Sure," Wally said.
They appeared in an alley near the edge of Metropolis. They walked to the street and looked around. It was busy, but no one was paying attention to them. They ducked back into the alley and Mallory got onto Wally's back and made sure that she was holding on tight before he started running. She shut her eyes and buried her face in his shoulder to block the wind. Wally skidded to a halt in front of the school a moment later.
"All right, they are really strict here, so I don't know if they'll let you in. Actually, I don't know if they are gonna let me in since I'm not enrolled anymore."
Wally nodded and followed her in. Mallory stepped up to the secretary's desk and smiled.
"Hi, we're here to see Don Nelson."
"Is he expecting you?" the secretary asked.
"No, but I'm sure he'll vouch for me. My name is Mallory Johnson."
"I know who you are, Ms. Johnson. It hasn't been that long," the secretary said.
"Please, I need to talk to Don. I can wait if he's in a session. Just, please tell him that I'm here," Mallory practically begged.
"And the young man?" the secretary asked, eyeing Wally.
"He's with me. Please, just let Don knw that we're here." She grabbed Wally's wrist and pulled him to the chairs in the lobby. They sat down and began their wait.
"Do you think she's gonna call this guy?" Wally asked quietly.
"Well, if she doesn't, you're gonna run us up to the training floor and we'll start looking for him," Mallory said grimly.
A few minutes later, Wally started shaking his leg. At a look from Mallory, he stopped, but a second later he was tapping his nails on the magazine table. "Wally," Mallory hissed. "Sorry, waiting isn't my strong suite," he apologized.
Suddenly he went completely still and turned to her. "Well, since we're stuck here, you want to talk?" he asked.
"Talk about what?" she asked, shooting him a warning look that he promptly ignored.
"About Rob, the collar, any of that?"
Mallory sighed. "What do you want me to say, Wally? That I'm hurt that he didn't trust me? That I'm mad because I know he was probably right in having it? That I don't even know how to feel about Magan knowing about it? What do you want me to say?"
Wally's face softened and Mallory glared at him. "Why are you so easy to talk to?" she asked accusingly, irritated with herself for telling him so much when Robin was his best friend.
"You know, Robin may not have been right, but he was raised by you-know-who. Sometimes he can't help being a little paranoid or overprepared."
Mallory looked away. She didn't want him to see that she was weakening.
"You have to talk to him eventually. You can't keep being mad at him. We need to be able to depend on each other. If you two drag this fight out it's gonna throw the whole team off."
Mallory sighed, feeling her anger seeping away, leaving her feeling cold and empty. She slumped in her chair. "I'll talk to him," she murmured. Wally smiled.
The elevator dinged and Mallory turned to watch the doors slide open, revealing Don. She stood up nervously and he walked over to her.
"Hello, Mallory. What brings you back here?" he asked.
"Good to see you too, Don," Mallory said.
Don raised an eyebrow. "You didn't come all the way back here for small talk. What do you want?"
Mallory sighed and got down to business. "I have a friend who recently started showing pyrokinetic abilities. I thought that maybe we could use my old training room to help him learn to control it. I thought you might coach him a little, too."
Don's eyes shifted to Wally for the first time. "Is this him?" he asked.
"No," Wally answered. Mallory could tell that the speedster didn't like him.
"Well, if he enrolled in the school, then‒"
"What if he didn't enroll?" Mallory interrupted. "Could he just use the training room for an hour or two a day?"
"I doubt the director would agree to that, but I'll talk to him. If that's all, then I have a session to get to."
He turned and pressed the button on the elevator. When the doors were about to close behind him, he stopped them with his hand. "It was good to see you, Mallory," he said, giving her a small smile. Mallory returned it. "Good to see you, too, Don." The doors closed and Mallory watched the numbers light up as it carried him up the floors.
"Can we go now?" Wally asked impatiently.
"Not yet. I need to see one more person," she replied, pulling out her phone. Two minutes later Jen was running at her.
"Mal!" she squealed, hugging Mallory tightly.
"Hey, Jen, guess you didn't expect to see me so soon," Mallory replied, returning the hug.
"Soon? It's been like two weeks," Jen said, and Mallory laughed. Wally shifted uncomfortably beside her.
"Oh, Jen, this is Wally. He's a friend from my new school," she said. "Wally, this is Jen. She got me through the last few years at the school." They said awkward hello, then Wally mumbled something about waiting outside and walked out of the building.
Mallory spent a half an hour with her friend, catching up and planning their next visit. She looked out the glass doors and saw Wally pacing impatiently out front and told Jen that she had to go.
Wally sighed in relief when Mallory joined him in front of the building.
"Took you long enough," he complained lightheartedly. Mallory shrugged. "Sorry."
"You ready to go back to the Hall?" he asked. She nodded and hopped onto his back. She was only expecting him to go back to the zeta tube, but when he kept running, she asked, "what are you doing?"
"I'm going to the cave so we can change," he said.
"We could have zetaed there," she pointed out.
"Yeah, well, I need to get rid of some energy."
She didn't say anything else, and they went back to the cave a few minutes later. They changed back into their costumes quickly, then zetaed to the Hall from there.
"Well?" Kalder asked when they appeared in the library.
"I didn't get a definite answer, but I think Don wants to help," she said.
"That wasn't the impression I got," Wally put in.
"He can be hard to read, but trust me, I spent 10 years with the guy. I know him. He'll help us if he can."
"I believe our friend should hear the arrangements from you," Kalder said. Mallory nodded.
"Is he still in the interrogation room?" she asked. Robin nodded and stood aside so she could walk by him, his face blank. Mallory moved past him, thinking back to what Wally had said. She pushed the thoughts aside, though, when she got to the room.
She pushed open the door. Hotspot looked up and grinned when he saw it was her. "Well?" he asked.
"You can go," she said. He held up his cuffed hands out to her for her to take off. She did, and his inhibitor collar, too. He made a small fireball in his hand, but it quickly died out.
"You said that you only had your powers for about a month, right?" Mallory asked. He nodded.
"Well, I want to help you learn to control it." Isaiah gave her a look, and she shook her head.
"You don't understand. I've had my powers for a really long time, and they're still growing. If I hadn't learned how to control them, then I would have hurt someone, or been starting fires everywhere I went. I want to prevent that from happening to you. Just, here." She handed him a comm that was only connected to hers. "I'll contact you when we've made arrangements for your training."
Isaiah pocketed the calm. "Whatever you say, babe," he said. Mallory rolled her eyes and held the door open for him.
"Where do you need to get to?" she asked. "Metropolis," he replied, then added, "why, are you going to give me a ride?"
"Sort of. Is the business district all right?" she asked.
"Sure, it's close enough," he said, looking intrigued. Mallory led the way to the library and typed in the coordinates, then authorized Isaiah's access to the zeta tube. The computer scanned the teen. "Hotspot, C05," it announced. "Enjoy the ride," Mallory told him with a smile. She watched as the light sucked the nervous teen away.
"We need to talk."
Mallory sighed at Robin's voice, long past being startled by his silent entrances. She turned to face him. He was standing by the door, his arms by his side and his face emotionless, businesslike.
"All right, talk," she said, feeling empty.
"It was for the good of the team. Your powers are dangerous if you're not in control. I couldn't take the chance that something would happen and we wouldn't be able to stop you."
Mallory shook her head in disbelief. "You don't get it, do you? I would've been fine if you'd just told me all of that before. Why didn't you tell me?"
Robin sighed. "I guess I thought you wouldn't like the idea, that you'd take it personally. Believe me when I say that I do trust you, and you are a part of the team in every way."
"Do you carry around a collar for Superboy or Miss martian? They are just as powerful as I am, and Superboy has more anger issues than I do. So do you carry around something that can stop them if something happens?" Robin narrowed his eyes a little, not answering, which answered her question.
"All right, then." She started to walk away, then got to the zeta tube and turned around. He hadn't changed positions.
"When we're on missions, I have your back, and I'll listen to whatever you say. But when we're off duty, I need some space from you. I need to feel like you trust me, and if I'm being honest, I don't know if I trust you anymore." The tube whirred to life, and she was gone in a flash of light.
Robin stared after her, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of him. The fact that she hadn't been angry when she said any of those things this time was what it hurt the most. It meant that she meant them. She didn't trust him, and she was really hurt about the collar.
He clenched his fists. That stupid collar. He hadn't meant for her to even find out about it. It was just a precaution. She hadn't seemed too stable when she'd first joined the team. He had just been trying to protect his friends. And what was worse, he knew exactly how she felt. He had felt the same way when he found out that Aqualad had known that there might be a mole on the team.
A wind blew his hair out of his face. "Did you patch things up?" Wally asked.
"Yeah, we're fine," he lied. He unclenched his fists and rested his hands on his belt.
Wally gave him a look. "What happened?" the speedster asked.
"We talked. We're fine. This won't affect the team," Robin assured his friend, getting impatient.
"Like heck it won't. You know better than that, Rob," Wally replied.
Robin sighed. "Just stay out of it, KF. This won't affect missions. She just needs some time to-" he didn't finish the sentence. He'd been about to say understand, but he knew that wasn't right.
Wally crossed his arms. "Why didn't you tell me that you had it?" He asked.
"Because I knew you wouldn't agree with me. Besides, you're not the best with secrets."
Wally shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's why I'm the only one on the team who knows your secret identity," he said pointedly.
Robin didn't answer. They had practically grown up together, so yeah, Wally knew who he was, and Robin trusted him to keep that secret. But still, there was a reason he was nicknamed Kid Mouth.
Wally raked a hand through his hair distractedly. "You want to go to the BC?" he asked. Robin knew he wanted to talk without having to think about someone overhearing. They headed to the batcave, and they both took off their masks, becoming their normal selves.
"Dick, you know I would've kept it a secret if you'd wanted me to. So why didn't you tell me?"
Dick pulled his cape off, not intending to go back to the cave. "Because you're too attached to her. I knew you would fight me on it,"
"Really, dude? That's your argument? Cuz from what I've seen you don't exactly hate her."
Robin sighed impatiently. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, I screwed up. We need to move on, though." Dick changed into sweats and hung his costume and it's glass case, feeling more removed from the problem with every piece of his suit that he took off. "I don't know why you're talking to me about this, anyway. The whole thing is in her hands now."
Wally raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"She said she needed space, that she had my back on missions, but she didn't want to see me when we're off duty." Wally was about to say something when the computer started beeping. The boys walked over to it and Robin typed the password on the keyboard. Several reports about a breakout of Arkham flashed onto the screen. Practically every major name in the asylum was now roaming the city, plus a few nameless crazies.
"Well, that sort of takes care of things, then," Robin said. He clicked the button that reached Batman's comm. "Batman, did you get the report about the breakout?" he asked.
"Already on it. Meet me at Penguin's old hideout in 15 minutes. Batman out," Bruce said, and Robin shut the computer down.
"Duty calls," he told his friend, and rushed to get back into his costume. Wally waited for the boy wonder to straddle his R cycle before asking, "Hey, you need help out there?"
Robin pulled on his helmet and revved the motor to life. "Nope. Hey, tell Alfred that we won't be home till late."
"Ok, Don't forget to call the team if you need help," Wally told his friend, knowing all too well that he would more than likely be drawing his last breath before he would call the team for help. Robin didn't answer, just nodded and rode out of the batcave into the Gotham night.