Merry Christmas! I'm giving y'all an extra chapter this week as a Christmas present. I'd love for your to return the favor with some reviews:) Italics in this chapter mean a flashback. Hope you like the chapter, please review.
Mallory stared out over the ocean absently as Clark sailed over it, carrying her bridal style. "You sure you want to do this now, Torch?" Clark asked after a long moment of silence. It had only been four days since the Legion had gone back to their time. He could still remember the call he'd gotten from Batman to come to the cave, Inferno had been in an accident.
Mallory had been on the floor, the team around her. Zatanna was sitting beside her, trying to prop her up a little. She'd had cuts, scrapes, and gashes on her face and arms, and she'd obviously been drunk. It had been the middle of the night, and he'd pulled Batman to the side and demanded an explanation after scanning her for broken bones.
"I don't know exactly what happened," Bruce had said, but Clark had gotten the impression that he knew every last detail and was just uncomfortable with sharing it.
"Tell me what you do know," Clark had said.
Bruce sighed and explained that Mallory had, at some point after the Legion left, come out of Polar Boy's old room and gone to the garage. She'd taken her motorcycle out, luckily still in her suit, and had zetaed to Gotham at night. She'd gotten ahold of alcohol, the way Bruce said the word told Clark that it had been a lot, and gotten drunk, then tried to fight a slasher gang that had started up near the Narrows.
Had she been sober, Batman explained, she probably would have been fine, as she would have taken out a few of the thugs and been able to fly away if things got out of hand. But for some reason, her fire hadn't worked. She'd been forced to rely on her hand to hand combat, which again, Bruce had stressed, she would have been fine if she'd been in control of her faculties, but she was quickly overpowered, explaining the gashes on her arms and cheek. The rest of the cuts and scrapes, Bruce told him, were from her falling off her bike, which was why she'd been in that particular alley in the first place.
"How did she get away from them?" Clark had asked, his mind immediately going where he didn't want it to.
"She's fine," Bruce had assured him, knowing what he was thinking. "Robin was in the area looking for an old ally of ours in the Narrows. He heard the commotion and got her out of there before any irreversible damage could be done." Clark had taken a breath, and he let it out shakily in relief. "You know, of course, that this behavior cannot be tolerated," Bruce had said quietly.
Clark shook his head. "I just don't understand why she would do this. She's never gotten into any trouble before, not really."
Bruce looked away, and Clark sighed and looked back to the group. Zatanna had propped Mallory up, and the team was gathered protectively around her. Raquel was cleaning her cuts there on the training room floor, and Artemis was bandaging a particularly deep gash on her upper arm. When the girls were done dressing her wounds, Wally, Conner, and Kalder had a very short discussion on who would bring her to her room. It was decided that Wally would bring her, and Conner said that he would listen for her during the night if she needed anything.
Artemis helped Wally get her off the floor, and the speedster carried her off towards the rooms. The rest of the team had had a quiet discussion about what had happened, and Clark learned, through Zatanna, about Brek leaving and why he had left. The team all went to their rooms at the cave without anyone suggesting that they all stay the night, and Clark and Bruce went to the zeta tube, not wanting to interfere with what had clearly become team business.
"Yeah, I might as well," Mallory replied, distracted. Her powers hadn't worked since the night the Legion left, and the only thing she could think of that might help was Volcana, so that was where they were going. She shut her eyes tight, trying not to think of that night.
She'd convinced her team that she didn't remember anything, that the last thing she remembered was deciding to go for a ride to clear her head, but she'd lied. She remembered most of it, actually.
She remembered going to Gotham, the easiest place for a minor in a costume to get drunk without getting any unwanted attention. She remembered ordering her first drink, feeling the burn as the liquid slid down her throat. She'd lost count of how many drinks she'd had, but at some point she remembered staggering out into the street and getting on her bike. She'd managed to stay on for a while, but then she'd hit a rut in the road and fell off, sliding across the pavement painfully.
That was when the gang had come out of the shadows of the alley. She hadn't understood everything they were saying, but their intent had been clear, even in her drunken state, and she'd tried to burn them. It was probably a good thing her fire had deserted her, she thought. She might have actually killed them if it had worked. When they realized that she didn't have the powers she'd claimed to have, they'd surrounded her, slowly making her back into the alley. She'd tried to fight them, but the world had been spinning too much and she'd ended up falling on her face.
She remembered being rolled over, someone's hand pressing down on her shoulder hard, and she remembered struggling, then the weight on her shoulder lifted all at once and she heard the familiar sounds of a fight. After a few minutes, someone put a hand on her shoulder and asked if she was all right. She'd looked up and saw Robin, the concern, anger, and fear in his eyes as he knelt beside her, and immediately broke down, sobbing. He'd stared at her in surprise for a moment, then he pulled her into a protective hug, rubbing her back as she cried. "Rough night, huh?" he'd said, his voice soothing. She nodded, and he smiled a little. "Let's get you home, ok?"
He helped her to her feet and let her lean on him, largely dragging her towards the nearest zeta tube. He called Batman to let him know that there was a situation, and the next thing she'd known they were in the cave. Apparently the zeta tube wasn't meant to be used when drunk, because it had disoriented her even more. Robin had asked if she could stand on her own, she'd assured him she could, and had immediately fallen down on the ground. "The floor hit me," she remembered murmuring. Robin had smiled and said, "I'll hit it back." He'd knelt beside her, and then, one by one, the rest of the team had come. Zatanna had talked to her while Raquel and Artemis fixed her up, then Wally carried her to her room.
When he put her in her bed, she'd turned to him and slurred, "I love you guys." Wally took her mask off and put it on her bedside table, then he turned back to her and brushed some hair out of her face. "We love you, too, Mal. Get some sleep now, ok?" She'd muttered something in agreement and obediently pressed her face into her pillow. Wally turned out her light, and the last thing she remembered was his silhouette in the doorway before he went back to the training room.
The next morning had been embarrassing. The entire team had stayed the night, and they were all fussing over her and asking her if she remembered the night before. She'd convinced them that she didn't, and they had eventually left her alone to nurse her hangover in peace.
"Ok, here we are," Clark said, bringing her back to the present. He landed on the beach and Volcana came out of her hut in a crop top and jean shorts.
"What kept you?" she asked.
"Don't tell me you were expecting us," Superman said, setting Mallory on the ground.
"No, it's just been a while. You're the only company I get. There aren't too many passersby way out here," she replied, crossing her arms.
"Well, I'll leave you to it. I'll be back in a few hours or so." He flew off, and Volcana turned to face Mallory.
"Well, kid, what's going on with you?" she asked, putting an arm around Mallory's shoulder as they walked back to the hut.
"Oh, nothing much. Lost my boyfriend, saved my ex, met his new girlfriend, got drunk, got cut up, lost my motorcycle, and I might be suspended from active duty, I haven't heard anything on that yet," Mallory replied, listing the things on her fingers.
Volcana let out a low whistle. "Wow, it's been a rough couple of months for you," she said.
Mallory shrugged. "Oh, and I almost forgot, I might have lost my powers, too. I can't get them to work."
Volcana handed Mallory a drink and gave her a sympathetic look, but a second later it was gone and she tossed her long red hair over her shoulder. "Well, that's something we can do something about, at least. Come on, let's see what's going on."
Mallory left her untouched pineapple juice on the table and followed the woman out to their training ground.
"Try to make something. But start small," Volcana commanded.
Mallory took a breath and held her hands up. She tried to tap into her fire, but nothing happened. She dug deeper, trying to find any sign of the energy that normally coursed through her veins, but she just felt empty.
"Oh, come on, kid! It's not that hard!" Volcana called, her voice taunting.
Mallory gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, trying to find any emotion to tap into. It was a confusing void of mixed feelings she couldn't even begin to sort out, and none of them were helping her find her fire. She gave up after a moment, looking at Volcana with a helpless expression on her face. "It's not working," she said.
Volcana sighed. "Ok, well, if you can't make fire, can you control it from the outside?" she asked.
Mallory shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't tried."
Volcana nodded. "Ok, well, let's see." She made a fire between them and motioned for Mallory to try to move it.
Mallory did, but the fire barely flickered. "It's like I can't feel it anymore," Mallory murmured.
Volcana didn't bother asking her to repeat it, she just put the fire out and looked around the island. Her eyes landed on the volcano and she tilted her head thoughtfully. "Maybe you just need something bigger to get a hold on it," she mused. She suddenly flamed up and flew a few feet in the air. Mallory watched from the ground, her arms crossed. "Come on, kid," Volcana said impatiently.
"No fire, remember?" Mallory called.
Volcana sighed and descended. "All right, hold on," she said, turning her back so Mallory could put her arms around her neck. Mallory did, and Volcana flew them towards the volcano. "Just don't get used to it," the older pyrokinetic said as they landed on a shelf of rock a few dozen feet below the top of the volcano.
Volcana stood back a little and watched as Mallory stood there, eyes closed, trying to sense the energy that should be flowing around her. She could feel it faintly, so she reached out to it, pulling the energy to her. She tried to turn the energy to a flame, but when she opened her eyes to see her work, the flame gave a flicker and died out on her palm.
"Come on, kid, try harder. You've got a volcano full of lava to work with. This is just pathetic," Volcana called.
"I can't do it. I just can't," Mallory said.
Volcana glared at her and flamed up. "Can't do what? This?" she said, forming a fireball in her fist. "Or this?" she continued, and she threw the fire at Mallory. She continued to pelt the girl with fire, and Mallory threw her arms up to protect her face from the force of the flames.
"It's basic instinct," Volcana said above her, spraying her with flames like they were water in a hose. "And you can't even protect yourself from your own nature. Do you not have survival instincts, either?"
Mallory shut her eyes tight, feeling the explosion of emotions all too vividly. Finally, one emotion came surging to the front of the others, and that was pure rage. She let out a primal yell, her eyes literally blazing, and simultaneously slammed one foot to the ground and raised her hands above her head.
The volcano erupted above them, and Volcana shrieked in surprise and flew away from the lava surging towards them and raining down from the initial explosion. Mallory's yell turned into a scream as her powers burned her from the inside, the raw emotion creating a level of power she'd never faced before, and she collapsed on the ground crying.
Before Volcana could go to her, a stream of lava came to the shelf of rock they'd been on and swept her away in the fiery river. Fear gripped Volcana as she scanned the side of the mountain looking for the girl.
"Kid! Inferno!" she yelled, flying down, looking. Halfway down the mountain, she spotted Inferno's glove poking out of the lava, and she hurried over. She parted the lava and landed next to her, panic clawing its way up her throat.
Inferno was barely conscious, her body twitching in pain. She had fresh cuts and scrapes from being dragged across the rocks, and she was whimpering pitifully, tears streaming down her face. "Oh, kid," Volcana murmured, kneeling beside her. She brushed the hair out of her face and winced at a large gash on the side of her head. She gently scooped the girl up, trying not to jostle her too much in case there were more extensive injuries, and she flamed up.
"It's all right, kid. I'm gonna get you help, you just hold on," the older pyrokinetic said as she flew them towards Metropolis.
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