We're almost done with season one! I can't believe I actually made it this far with the story. I'm almost finished writing the first year of the gap in seasons, which not gonna lie that was hard because according to the timeline nothing much happens with the team in that time so I had to write completely from scratch for a year of my character's time. I'm hoping once I get to the second year, things will be easier because I have more of a plan for Mallory in that second year, and the third, fourth, and fifth years have a lot of things going on in the team. Still, I feel like I'm getting a second wind with the story. I'd lost interest for a little while, but I'm ready to go back to writing. I really hope I make it to the end of season two, which is where I think the story will end because I WILL NOT write season three. Anyway, hope you like the chapter, and I would really love some reviews. I might not update for a while, have some stuff going on, but I will update next week at the latest.
December 30:
Mallory was up and ready at 7:00 that morning. Today was the day Roy was admitted into the League, and she wanted to see him before the ceremony. She got breakfast ready for her, Zatanna, Megan, and Conner, and when it was done she went around and woke everyone up.
Zatanna tried to cast some spell on her, but she ducked out of the room before 'retaw htiw reh knud' could be enacted, whatever that meant.
One by one, they came out of their rooms dressed and groggily sat down at the table. She put the waffles in front of them. "Hurry up, the ceremony starts at 9:00," she reminded them. They did hurry, and as soon as they finished they zetaed to the Hall of Justice.
They went to the library where the whole League and team were, as well as the new recruits. Mallory weaved her way through the crowd until she got to the team.
"Hey," she said. Robin looked at his watch.
"Why are you so late?" he asked.
Mallory shot a look at her cavemates. "They didn't want to wake up," she said.
"Well, you have about five minutes before they go out front," Wally told her.
Mallory nodded and scanned the room, looking for Red Arrow. Black Canary walked over with Icon and his sidekick Rocket.
"Team, this is your new member, Rocket. She'll watch the ceremony with you in here," their trainer said. Kalder nodded and everyone said hello, then Mallory slipped away and went through the crowd.
She finally found him talking to Superman. She sidled up to them.
"Hey, Torch. I was wondering where you were," Clark said.
Mallory shrugged. "Had some trouble getting everyone up this morning. But I couldn't miss this." Superman walked away, leaving Roy and Mallory to talk.
"I was starting to think you were gonna skip my big day," Roy said.
Mallory laughed. "Never. Hey, congrats. I'm so glad you made it." She gave Roy a quick hug, and he ruffled her hair.
"Thanks, Mal. Now, you should probably go back with the team. We're about to go outside."
Mallory rejoined the team and they watched first the League, then the recruits file out the room, going to the front of the Hall. Roy was the last one in line, and he gave Mallory, Robin, and Wally a smile before following Icon outside. The team turned their attention to the TV. Superman stepped up to the podium and said a speech that was nice, but just a little bit too long. The TV panned over the League, Captain Marvel at the end of the line.
"I'm glad they didn't kick Billy out," Wally said, his mouth full of apple. "And I love the fact that there's a ten year old on the League." Mallory shot Wally a look.
"There is?" Rocket asked. Robin elbowed Wally in the ribs and said, "Way to keep a secret, genius."
"Hey, she's on the team now, right?" Wally said.
They turned their attention back to the TV, where Superman was handing out the League induction cards. He gave one to Doctor Fate, and Mallory looked at Zatanna to see how she was doing. She looked away from the TV, and Robin stepped over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. It was in that moment that Mallory realized that Robin and Zatanna would be a perfect couple, but that wasn't the time to dwell on it.
Superman moved on to Plastic Man, The Atom, and Icon. Rocket glared at the TV and said, "I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place. I should be outside celebrating with him. Not hidden away in here."
Kalder smiled at her. "Welcome to our world," he said. Rocket returned the smile. "Well, I suppose there's an upside, too."
Green Arrow stepped forward and gave Roy his card. Mallory grinned. He made it.
"Way to go, Roy!" Wally said.
"At last he has his wish," Kalder said.
Robin looked at them and said, "He's the first of us to make it. No one will call him a sidekick anymore."
Rocket looked at him. "Wait, since when is being a sidekick a bad thing? You sidekicks were my inspiration."
Robin sighed. "Well, see, six months ago-" his wrist computer beeped and he pulled it up.
"We've got to go," he said. The team looked at him, and he said, "Cheshire."
They immediately moved. They went to the cave and changed into their costumes, then piled onto the bioship. They zetaed close to the Smoky Mountains and started to fly to the place Cheshire was supposed to be.
"Are you sure it's her? I mean, are you absolutely positive," Artemis said nervously.
"See for yourself," Robin said, pulling up security footage and Chesire's mugshot. "This is the security footage from the Astral Regional Airport. Facial recognition confirms that's Jade Nguyen, but you've seen her without her mask. What do you think?"
Artemis looked away from the holographic screen. "It's Jade. Cheshire."
"Agreed. But focus on what she carries," Aqualad said. "Is that the case you saw in New Orleans? The one that got away."
"Yes," Artemis said.
"Ok, I'm guessing from the mugshot that this Cheshire is the bad guy. But what's so important about that case?" Artemis glanced over at Wally.
"You remember the Injustice League?" Robin asked.
"And their giant evil plants? Ugh, yeah."
"The team and the League put them in prison, but their allies still scheme," Kalder explained. "Whatever is in that containment case seems important to their plans."
"We had a chance to grab it in New Orleans, but Someone screwed up," Wally said, glaring at Artemis.
"Approaching Cheshire's jet," Megan announced. When they went over the mountain and saw the wreckage, Megan gasped. Mallory stared down at the wreckage, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Looks like there were no survivors," Megan said unnecessarily.
The team filed out of the bioship and started to look through the twisted metal of the plane, looking for the case. Mallory went to the engine of the plane and put her hand on it. It was cool to the touch. The crash had happened a few hours ago, at least.
Wally walked around one of the wings. "How come homeland security and the NTSB aren't all over this?" he asked quietly. The whole thing had an eerie feeling to it. Maybe it was the silence of the canyon, or the fact that Chesire was gone, she couldn't tell.
"Chesire's ID was a League alert. Authorities didn't pick it up, and her jet didn't follow its flight plan. It flew under the radar, literally. The watchtower picked up the location just before the crash."
"Then why isn't the League here?" Rocket asked.
Zatanna smiled. "Because our Boy Wonder here has some mighty hacking skills, and he arranged for us to get the alert first."
"And because Chesire and that case represents our unfinished business," Kalder added.
Conner picked up a piece of the wreckage and threw it to the side. "Where are the bodies?" he asked, and Mallory finally realized what had been nagging at her since they started looking through the wreckage. There were no bodies.
"Here's one," Cheshire's voice said, echoing slightly in the canyon, "And it is stunning."
The team turned to where the voice was coming from and saw Chesire standing on a shelf of rocks a few feet above their heads, case in hand.
"I am flora, not fauna," a voice said behind them. Mallory jumped and whirled around. There were a bunch of goons holding Apokoliptic technology all around the walls of the canyon, and at the very top of the canyon, the Riddler and Mammoth stood staring down at the teens. "I am foliage, not trees. What am I?" he snapped his fingers and metal poles came shooting out of the snow on the top of the canyon. They shot some sort of energy, creating a bubble around the canyon. Mallory's face hardened as she realized they were trapped. "Hey, come on, you can get this," the Riddler said. "I am shrubbery, not grass. What am I? I…"
"Am bush," Robin finished gravely.
The Riddler smiled with satisfaction, and stepped forward. "Didn't you think we'd be tipped you were on Cheshire's trail? We're tired of your interference, kiddies. This is the endgame, ordered from above and executed by their master strategist, mua."
Mallory looked at her teammates, ready and waiting for the cue to attack. Kalder turned to Megan.
"Is everyone linked?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"Go," he said.
They all moved at the same time. Zatanna created a storm inside the bubble, giving the team some cover. They all started attacking the goons.
"Superboy, Inferno, the pylons," Aqualad said.
Mallory looked to him, and he pointed to the sticks keeping them trapped. She immediately flew up and started burning one of the sticks. It took a while, but the top finally melted and she moved on to the next one.
Some of the goons started shooting at her, and Rocket and Kid Flash took them out. Mallory nodded her thanks and locked eyes with Wally for a second. He nodded, and they went back to their tasks. Rocket got shot in the back, and Mallory debated going down to help, but Robin took the shooter out before she could move and Kalder broke the disk generating the energy.
She went back to slowly taking out the sticks. The ground shook beneath her feet, and she looked up to see Conner melt a stick with laser vision. "Superboy," she said, not remembering to use the link.
Mammoth landed behind him, and they ended up on the bottom of the canyon. Conner jumped and caught venom midair, then flew up to the top of the bubble. Malory hovered there, staring at her friend in shock.
"SB, you're, you're flying," Robin said in disbelief.
They didn't get an answer. Conner rammed the villain against the energy bubble, electrocuting him, and then followed him as he fell, shooting him with laser vision. Mallory stared at him. He had Mammoth pinned against the wall and was punching him. The top of the rock broke off and started tumbling to the floor. Mallory saw Artemis directly underneath.
"Artemis!" she yelled, flying down. Her fear turned to panic halfway down the mountain as she realized she wouldn't make it in time. Then, Cheshire saved her. Mallory paused. Artemis was safe, and she could handle Cheshire. She allowed herself a brief moment to let the relief sink in and get her hands to stop shaking, then went back to burning the sticks.
She burned the last one, and Zatanna ended the storm. They'd won.
Back at the cave, They stood in a line with Batman pacing in front of them. Rocket was looking stressed, but the rest of the team was relaxed as the Leaguer listed all of the rules they had broken. When he finished with the long list, he stopped pacing and said, "Well done."
Rocket looked up, startled, and Robin smiled. The Leaguers took the case, which Artemis had managed to get during the fight with Cheshire, to the watchtower. As soon as they were gone, Robin turned to the team.
"You realize, we were set up."
"Yes," Kalder said. "Cheshire and Ridler were tipped, ready for us."
Artemis pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not the mole thing again," she said.
Rocket looked between the members. "Mole thing? Again?" she asked.
Wally sighed. "We had intel that there was a traitor on the team," he said.
Conner stepped forward. "Mainly Artemis, Megan, or me."
Aqualad put a hand on Conner's shoulder. "It is more complicated than that," he said. Conner brushed off his arm and started to walk away. Kalder took a step towards him. "But your recent behavior does concern me. Your attack on Mammoth nearly got Artemis killed."
Conner suddenly clutched his head and grunted. Mallory exchanged looks with her friends. Conner stood and faced them. "There's something I need to do," he said, his face softening, "Something I need to tell you. Last month on Thanksgiving, I went back to Cadmus, found a few things out. When I was cloned, only half of my DNA was Superman's. The other half was human. That's why I don't have, will never have, full Kryptonian powers."
Mallory tilted her head, and Robin voiced her thoughts. "You sure? Cause you sure seemed to have them today."
Conner sighed and pulled up his sleeve, revealing something in the shape of Superman's crest. "I've been using these. Shields. They suppress my human DNA. I get the flight, the heat vision, but I think I also get angry. Well, angrier. I'm sorry."
Kalder's face hardened. "Where did you get those?" he asked.
"From my human father, Lex Luthor."
Mallory's face went slack from shock. Lex Luthor? That couldn't be right.
"Lex Luthor is your dad?" Robin asked. Conner nodded. "He summoned me to Santa Prisca."
Mallory stared at her friend. His face was dead serious.
In the silence of the shocked room, Artemis's sigh seemed to make everyone jump a little.
"Uh, listen, Superboy isn't the only one suffering from bad DNA." She pulled up holographic screens and pictures of Sportsmaster, Huntress, and Cheshire. "My mother is Huntress, ex con. The rest of my family isn't even ex. My dad's Sportsmaster, and he's sending my sister, Cheshire, to fly me to Santa Prisca too."
"That's why-" Wally started, and Artemis said, "Yeah. I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out."
"I knew," Robin said. Artemis stared at him. "Hey, I'm a detective. But it never mattered. You aren't your family. You're one of us." Artemis smiled.
Wally leaned on Artemis's shoulder and laughed. "So, uh, who's next?" he asked with a grin.
Megan sighed and hugged herself. "I am," she said, staring at the floor.
Mallory stared at her friend, and Wally threw up his hands. "I swear I was kidding," he said.
Megan sighed. "Queen Bee's been- blackmailing me. She wants me in Santa Prisca, too."
Kalder tilted his head. "Blackmailing? How?"
Megan looked up at the team, a hollow look in her eyes. "She knows my- true Martian form."
Robin smiled. "Bald Megan? Who cares if-"
"No," Megan interrupted. She sighed and went to the center of the room. She morphed into some white creature with long arms and legs and a face that almost looked like a skull. Mallory stared at her. In her head she knew it was still Megan, but it was so different from the image she'd grown so accustomed to, for a moment she couldn't make herself believe that it was really her. She took a half a step back, trying to deal with this new shock on top of the others.
"I realized you would never accept me if you knew what I truly am," Megan said.
Kalder stepped closer to her. "Megan, did we truly seem so shallow to you?" he asked.
"I couldn't take the chance. Being a white Martian among the green on Mars, I faced constant rejection. I couldn't face that from-"
"From me?" Conner asked, walking up to her. He took her hand, and they were clearly having a psychic conversation. Malllory finally got over the new look and glanced around the team, wondering who else would come forward.
Megan went back to her human form, and said, "I do this for me. This is who I am, inside. I'm sorry I never told you."
There was silence for a moment. Coroner looked at Megan. "Could you go through my mind, keep me from going back under Cadmus's control?" he asked. Megan nodded.
Kalder looked around at the team. "This is an opportunity to end it once and for all. The three of you will go to Santa Prisca. The rest of us will be there when you need us."
Megan cleared Conner's mind of any remnants of Cadmus, then they set out. Conner took the Supercycle, Artemis left to get picked up by her family, and the rest of the team went to the bioship. Megan let them off about a half a mile from the clearing, then continued on.
The team waited there for the trio's signal to come out. After a while, they started hearing gunshots, and Mallory jumped to her feet. Kalder shook his head. Not yet.
"Guys, reinforcement time," Artemis said a few minutes later.
Mallory grinned and flamed up. She and Rocket flew in, taking out the gunfire. Wally took out the goons they missed. Bane started pumping his venom into his body, and Malory watched as he doubled in size right before her eyes.
"Uh, guys," she said.
"I'm on it," Robin said.
Mallory nodded and went to help Rocket and Aqualad. Luthor was in his helicopter by now.
"I got this," Rocket said. She and Mallory flew towards it. Rocket had to stop and cover herself with a force field because Luthor launched missiles at her, but Mallory merely flew over them and got to the copter.
She looked in the window, and Luthor shouted, "You should have taken my offer." Then he clicked a button and the plane shot her with some sort of cold blast.
She was paralized for a moment, and started falling out of the sky. She tried frantically to start a fire, but she couldn't.
"Inferno!" Megan yelled, and Conner jumped and caught her at the tree line.
By the time she got her movement back, the battle was over. The team gathered around Dr. Desment, sunk halfway in the ground by the alien tech.
"It is always like this," Rocket said.
"Told you," Zatanna said.
Robin smiled. "Hey, disaster averted. Feeling the aster." Mallory grinned at his word.
"Agreed. This has been a good day," Kalder said.
Mallory leaned against Wally. "And to think Roy would rather be with the League than with us," she said with a grin.
Wally scoffed. "I know, right? We have way more fun."
"Oh, hey, please tell me that someone got a picture of Luthor with these criminals," Mallory said, looking at Robin.
He shook his head. "Sorry. I was a little busy trying to take Bane out after you left."
"You said you were on it," Mallory said in playful defensiveness.
Zatanna laughed. "Yeah, by 'on it', he meant we were getting pummeled."
Robin glared at her playfully. "Z, you don't say that. We handled it. That's all they need to know."
The team laughed, and after Robin made the arrangements for the criminals to get picked up, they boarded the bioship and headed for home.
Review, please. I really love reading reviews.