I'm sorry that I skipped so many months, but I was having a lot of trouble trying to fill the first year. I promise I have an actual storyline coming up. I'm getting really excited about the fourth and fifth years, a lot is going to happen. And I can't wait to start writing the second season. Anyway, hope you like the chapter and please review.
Eight Months Later:
"Mallory, would you mind watching Peter for the weekend? Your dad and I have been talking about going to the lake for a few months now, but we don't feel comfortable leaving your brother with a stranger for that long."
Mallory looked at Peter playing quietly on the living room rug. "I don't know, Mom. I've never watched him for more than a few hours. What if something comes up?"
"Oh, Mallory, don't be so pessimistic. You have good instincts, and I'm sure your transporter thing will have a stop close enough to the cabin we'll be in."
"Zeta tube, Mom. It's called a zeta tube," Mallory corrected.
"Oh, well, whatever. How about it?" Elaine asked hopefully.
Mallory sighed. "All right. When are you leaving?"
Elaine looked at the clock. "In about three hours."
Mallory stared at her. "Why am I just hearing about this now?"
"Well, dear, we felt confident that you would say yes, and it just slipped our minds."
Mallory sighed. "Great. Well, I'll have to go to the cave and pack some stuff. I'll be back by the time you leave."
"Peter, don't touch the stove!" Mallory yelled.
She'd decided not to use her powers alone with him, but her brother seemed determined to get himself burned anyway. He kept reaching for the burner, and Mallory grabbed his hand roughly and pulled him away from the stove.
"You need to start listening to me. The stove is going to hurt you."
Peter started whimpering, and Mallory let go of his arm and leaned against the counter, taking a steadying breath and trying to get rid of her frustration. When she felt calmer, she turned back to her brother.
"You go play, I'm gonna make lunch."
He stayed put, his eyes still on the burner. Her phone rang, and she hurried to answer it. When she turned her back, Peter dashed to the stove. Mallory dove between them and scooped Peter up in one arm while trying to answer the phone with the other.
"What?" she practically yelled into the phone.
"Just calling to see how you're doing," Wally said, sounding amused. "But you don't have to answer that."
"Thanks a lot. It's been crazy. I don't know how my parents do it, he's never like this when they're around. Peter, STOP!"
The boy stopped struggling and stood still, looking up at her in confusion. She groaned.
"What am I missing at the cave?"
"Well, nothing much. We heard some chatter on the bugs Rob left at the Kobra base."
"What?" Mallory asked, keeping an eye on Peter and getting a box of Macaroni from the pantry.
"Well, turned out it was just some kids who dared each other to go inside. They sure got the scare of their lives with all the booby traps Robin left."
Mallory laughed. "You know, Bats is going to find out about that, right?"
"Well, I think Robin can handle Batman. Anyway, he's been trying to track Kobra since they moved their base, but no luck so far."
Mallory turned away from the stove to check on her brother and saw him by the silverware drawer with a knife in his hand.
"Peter, put that back!" she yelled.
"Hey, a little warning next time," Wally complained.
"Sorry. He's driving me crazy! I can't believe my parents left me with him for the whole weekend."
"Mal, you could come to the cave. We don't have anything going on, and everyone's here, so you'll have more eyes on him."
Mallory sighed. "I shouldn't. I don't really want him to get involved with that side of my life. It'd be too easy for him to get hurt." Something crashed behind her and she whirled around to see Peter with a broken glass at his feet. She stifled a scream and said, "We'll be at the cave in ten minutes."
"Recognized, Inferno, B08, Peter Johnson, A06," the computer announced.
"Mallory, why are you Inferno, but I'm just Peter?" her brother asked.
"Because I have two names, and you have one," she replied. He knew that she had powers, but she hadn't come right out and told him that she was a superhero. Doubt came to her mind as she started planning how to break the news to him and make sure that he wouldn't tell anyone else about it.
Wally was the first one they came across. "Hey Peter," he said, holding a hand up for a high five. Peter gladly obliged. He'd met Wally when the speedster had shown up at the house the week after he'd been adopted, too impatient to wait for Mallory to decide the time was right, and they'd hit it off right from the start.
"Where's everyone else?" Mallory asked.
Wally knelt down and Peter climbed onto his back, then they started walking down the hall to the living area. "They're spread out. Robin's training, Conner's staring at a static screen, Kalder and Raquel are sparring, Megan and Zatanna are making lunch, and Artemis is doing target practice."
They walked into the living room and Megan and Zatanna came over to them.
"Hey, Mal. Heard you were having some problems at home," Zatanna said.
"Yeah, well, kids aren't my strong suit. What do you have for lunch? He's hungry." Megan looked around the kitchen.
"We're making waffles, will he eat that?"
Mallory turned to her brother. "Peter, do you want waffles?"
Peter shook his head.
"Ok, well what do you want?"
"I want ice cream," he said.
Mallory sighed. "We talked about this, you have to eat real food. I'm not dealing with you on a sugar high." She turned to Megan. "If he doesn't eat them, I'll figure something out."
Megan went back to making lunch, and Mallory flopped on the couch with Conner.
"Why don't you just call a babysitter?" he asked.
Mallory looked up at him. "Why do you think I came to the cave? You're the babysitters." She smiled at his glare. "Don't worry, you don't have to. I think Wally'll be able to keep up with him."
They looked over to where Wally was playing with Peter. "Well, who knew having a three year old in a teenager's body would come in handy," she muttered.
Conner chuckled and they went back to watching the static.
Mallory woke up a few hours later and looked around. Wally was sitting in a chair eating a gallon of ice cream.
"Where's Peter?" she asked.
"Robin has him. He was teaching him acrobatics, last I checked."
"Oh, great. That's all we need around here, a mini Robin."
"Hey, don't worry about it. We've been taking turns with him. Artemis taught him how to use her crossbow, Zatanna put on a magic show for him, and Megan and Kalder took him to the store to get snacks and something he would eat."
"So he did eat some real food, then?" she asked.
Wally shrugged. "If you consider fast food fries and a muffin real food, then yeah. Then we gave him some ice cream and Robin took him to get some energy out, and I was told to finish the ice cream so Peter couldn't get any more."
Mallory sighed. "Where's Robin?" she asked.
"I think he's in his training room."
Mallory walked to the Boy Wonder's training room and looked around. She didn't see anyone, then she looked up at the trapeze bars and blanched. Peter was swinging on one of the bars thirty feet from the ground.
"Robin!" she yelled, flying up to the platform. He was on the platform watching the boy.
"Look at that, he's a born flyer," he said casually. Mallory landed next to him.
"Are you crazy? He's five! How are you going to get him off?"
"Relax, Mal." He held up a line, and Mallory trailed it to see that the other end was tied around Peter's waist. She let out a relieved breath.
"Sorry," she muttered.
Robin shrugged. "You know, he's got great form. You should have seen him when we sparred." Mallory shot him a look, and he held up a hand. "I let him win, don't worry. But he got some good blows in. If he started training, he'd make a good hero someday."
Mallory shook her head. "He doesn't need to be a hero. Besides, he doesn't have any powers." Robin raised an eyebrow at her. "Ok, ok, I know you don't need powers to be a hero, but you get hurt more without them. I just don't want him to give up having a normal life."
Peter jumped for the platform, and Robin pulled him to get him the rest of the way.
"That was so cool! What's next?" Peter asked excitedly.
Robin looked at Mallory, and she nodded. He grinned and turned back to Peter. "You want to learn to throw a boomerang?"
Peter nodded and Robin shot his grappling hook and held Peter as they descended to the floor. Mallory went to her room and called Isaiah.
"Hey, I thought you were babysitting," he said when he picked up.
"Yeah, I was, but I brought him to the cave and the team's keeping him occupied. Whatcha doing?"
"I'm about to go to the skate park with some friends. Why?"
"Oh, nothing, it's just been a while since we had time alone."
"What are you talking about? We had a movie night two days ago," he said.
Mallory rolled her eyes and flopped on her bed. "Yeah, at the cave. I never feel like we're alone here. They're probably watching us on the cameras or from the vents."
"Well that's a pretty creepy thought," he said.
"Yeah. How about tomorrow? Maybe we could go to that lecture guy. You know, the one who talks about how aliens have been coming to Earth since the beginning of time?"
"Why do you want to go to a lecture?" Isaiah asked.
"I don't know, it just struck me as interesting. Besides, my parents will be back tomorrow, and if I tell them that's where we're going they won't be mad that I'm not spending the day with them."
"Why is that any different than a movie or something?" he asked. Mallory could hear the bustle of the train station in the background.
"It's improving my education. How about it?"
Isaiah sighed. "All right. I just hope it's not too boring."
Mallory laughed. "If it is, we can always leave and catch a movie."
"Alright. Hey, I'm at the skatepark, so I'm gonna let you go. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye, love you," Mallory said.
"Love you, too. Bye."
The line clicked off, and Mallory rolled off the bed and walked back to the living room. Peter was riding piggyback on Wally, and Conner was chasing them. Wolf was watching the game with mild interest from the side of the room, and Mallory slid down next to him and stroked his back as they watched.
Eventually, Conner caught Peter and the five-year-old's squeals of delight rang through the cave. The rest of the team came in soon, and they had an early dinner of frozen pizza and chips. They put on How to Train your Dragon and settled around the TV, Peter on the floor with Wolf. By the end, Peter had fallen asleep with Wolf curled protectively around him.
"I guess I'd better get him home," Mallory said. She went to pick him up, but Wolf growled slightly at her and laid his head gently on Peter's back.
Robin laughed. "Looks like Wolf's the best babysitter here," he said.
Mallory chuckled and sat back down. "Looks like we're staying the night."
Please, give me some reviews. I really want some feedback on the story.