Happy New Years! Hope you like the chapter, please review!
Two days later, Mallory was cleaning the yard when Lois's pink and white convertible pulled into the driveway. She watched as the reporter got out and grabbed an overnight bag out the trunk.
"Hey, Mal!" she called, and Mallory propped the shovel against the chicken coop and walked over to her.
"Hey, Lois," she said, wondering if Clark was coming with her.
Lois seemed to read her mind. "Clark's staying in Metropolis. It's just me." Mallory nodded and walked with her up to the house. Jonathan was on the back porch fixing a broken board, but he stopped what he was doing when he saw them.
"Well, Lois, good to see you. Where's Clark?"
Lois laughed and gave him a hug. "'Fraid it's just me this weekend. There's a crime wave in Metropolis," she said, glancing at Mallory.
Mallory pretended not to notice. "So shouldn't you be out there reporting on it?" she asked.
Lois shrugged. "I figured I should let Clark get some bylines, or Perry might realize how useless he is as a reporter," she said with a loving smile.
"Well, now, he's only slow at getting the stories because he's the one making them," Jonathan replied, chuckling. Lois shrugged and the three of them went into the house. "Martha, guess who dropped in," Jonathan called.
Martha poked her head out of the living room. "Who?" she asked. The man stepped to the side and let Lois say hello to her, then the reporter went upstairs to put her bag down.
"Mallory, would you mind running to the store and getting a few things? I'm not going to have enough for dinner tonight," Martha said. Mallory nodded and went upstairs to get her drivers license, and she found Lois in Clark's old room looking at an old photo album. She leaned on the doorframe, her phone and keys in one hand.
"So, did Clark send you?" she asked. Lois looked up, and Mallory saw that the picture was of Clark when he was a kid.
"No, he didn't. He just said that you could use someone to talk to, and to be honest, I needed a break from everything."
Mallory nodded, satisfied for the time being, and pushed off the doorframe. "I'm going to town. You want anything?" she asked.
Lois shook her head. "No, if I did, I would have brought it and saved you the trip," she replied with a smile.
Mallory shrugged. "The man can move planets, but he won't pave the road from his farm to the store. Go figure."
Lois chuckled and Mallory went out to the truck. The trip took an hour and a half, and by the time she got back to the house, the evening shadows were starting to fall. She brought the bags in the kitchen and started cutting an onion while Martha stirred some beans in a pot. Lois and Jonathan were at the kitchen table talking about Metropolis and the recent crime wave. Mallory tried to block their voices out, not wanting to feel the guilt rising in her chest.
"Well, at least Clark has most of the heavy hitters in jail now. The crime wave should die down a little now," Jonathan said.
Lois shrugged and took a sip of coffee. "I hope so. Lately it seems like things are never going to go back to normal."
Mallory dumped the onions in the pan and turned the rice off. She could feel Lois looking at her, but she didn't turn around.
"Well, don't worry, things'll work out in the end. They always do," Jonathan said.
Lois murmured a non committing "mmhmm", and Martha turned the beans off and turned to the table. "Jonathan's right, dear. Clark always manages to fix things in the end. Now, dinner's ready. Let's eat it before it gets cold."
The four of them set the table and made their plates. The meal was eaten with pleasant small talk, and Mallory finished quickly and asked if she could be excused, the only thing that the elderly couple was strict about. They said she could, and she hurried up to her room and shut the door. She paced the small space, her mind returning to Metropolis. If there was a crime wave, she should be helping Clark with it, and she should be helping her team with their upcoming mission. After all, she'd been out of action for long enough. Still, the other half of her mind refused to agree, saying that Clark could handle things fine, and that the team had two extra members now, she wasn't really needed.
She shook her head and stared at her face in the mirror over the dresser. She didn't know what to do anymore. She wished Brek hadn't left her that letter. Well, she wished that he hadn't left in the first place. And she wished that she didn't still love Isaiah. And she wished that she hadn't gone to Gotham that night all those months ago. Of course, that hadn't really been the problem with her powers, but it had started all of this.
She sighed and sank to her bed, her indecisiveness threatening to tear her apart from the inside. Someone knocked on the door and she quickly curled up on the bed with her face away from the door. They knocked again, then the door opened a crack. A few seconds went by, then the light flipped off and the door closed.
Mallory sighed and stared out the window. The open fields were pitch black, but in her imagination she saw the bright lights of Metropolis in the distance, and the familiar call rose to the surface, pulling her mind to the open sky of the city.
She shut her eyes and turned away, forcing the thoughts to the back of her head and trying to turn her mind off. It was hours before she was finally able to drift off into an uneasy sleep.
The next day, Martha and Jonathan went to church like they did every Sunday. Lois, not a very religious person, begged off, and Mallory told the older couple that she was feeling particularly volatile that morning and that she needed to spend a few hours in the canyon. They hadn't questioned her, and Mallory did run down to the canyon and burn a few rocks, just so she wouldn't be lying. But she hurried back to the house, her real purpose for staying home calling her.
Lois was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and a biscuit in front of her, and Mallory slid into the chair next to her. "Why are you here?" she asked, getting right to the point.
Lois sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, setting her cup back on the table. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you I really just needed a break, would you?" she asked. Mallory shook her head, her dark eyes trained on the reporter's face. Lois sighed again and turned to face the redhead. "Kid, you should consider being a journalist. No one can lie to you."
Mallory smiled politely and waited.
"All right, fine. I came because things are getting bad in Metropolis. The League has been calling Clark out of the city too often, and the criminals, mainly Lex, are seeing the city unprotected and taking advantage of it. It's not just the big crimes that have been going up. If it was, Clark could handle it and everything would be fine. Petty crimes have gone up. Robberies, break ins, muggings, those types of things. That was Inferno's jurisdiction, and with her out of the picture, minor criminals are picking the city clean."
Mallory sighed. "Why can't the cops do their jobs for once? The city got along fine before Inferno showed up, they should be able to get along fine without her."
Lois shrugged. "I know it doesn't seem fair, but Inferno's about more than just stopping the crimes. She's a symbol to people, a warning to potential criminals and a reassurance to the civilians living in the city. If you take that away, it doesn't do anyone any good. The police are swamped, and Superman has his hands full with the major crimes. I know you told him you wanted to be done, and he would never ask you to come back to it if you don't want to, but I am asking for at least an explanation. What happened that made you want to give Inferno up?"
Mallory's eyes went to the table and she shrugged. Lois raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Mallory, you know I can trick you into telling me anything if I need to resort to using those methods," she said, a smiling tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Mallory hugged herself, the letter flashing through her mind. "I- I can't tell you," she said quietly.
Lois's face softened slightly. "Mallory, you can tell me anything," she said.
Mallory sighed and shook her head. "No, I can't. Clark can't find out about it, and neither can anyone else on the League or team."
Lois smiled. "Oh, come on. If there's one thing I can do, it's keep a secret," the reporter said.
Mallory looked up, her own eyebrow raised. "You expose secrets for a living," she pointed out.
Lois waved a hand in the air, dismissing the statement. "That's nothing personal, and I pick and choose what to write about," she said. "But I've kept dozens of stories secret from Clark over the years so he wouldn't steal the byline."
"Lois, he made most of those stories, he let you take the byline."
"Ok, but I didn't know that. And I have kept Batman's secret identity secret for years," she said.
Mallory shrugged. "Clark knows that, too," she pointed out.
Lois blew some hair out of her face, thinking. "Well, I guess you're just gonna have to trust me," she said.
Mallory sighed and looked back at her. "I'm serious, Clark can't know about it," she said.
Lois nodded and wrapped her hands around her cup.
"I'm going to die," Mallory said. She knew the second the words left her mouth that there was probably a better way of breaking the news. Lois jerked her attention to the redhead, knocking her cup to the floor in the process, and she grabbed Mallory's wrist tightly. "What?" she asked, fear, concern, and pain on her face.
"I mean, not right now, I'm not," Mallory said, stumbling on her words.
Lois let go of her wrist and held up a hand. "Mallory, what are you talking about?" she asked, her tone telling the young hero to be very clear about it.
"Brek, Polar Boy, when he went back to the future with the Legion, he left me a letter that explained why he decided to go back. He told me that I sacrifice myself in the future when an invasion comes to earth."
Lois leaned back in her chair, the news hitting her like a semiton truck. "Oh, Mallory," she murmured, suddenly understanding why the girl had stayed at the farm for so long, and why she was so reluctant to go back.
"I know it shouldn't make a difference, I know I should just forget that I ever saw that letter and just put my suit back on, but I can't. Part of me is terrified of going back out in the field and dying."
Lois leaned forward. "Mallory, of course this is going to affect you. You can't just forget that you know how you're going to die. But you know, Kara told me something while she was here. She said that the future isn't set in stone. We can change things if we try hard enough. Maybe all it will take is you knowing what happens to prevent it, and maybe you knowing won't have any effect on it. But, Mallory, I know you. You aren't going to be happy spending the rest of your life as a civilian. You've been Inferno for too long, and you're good at it too."
Mallory nodded and hugged herself tighter, looking away. Lois put a hand on her arm, and she looked back up at her.
"Mallory, what are you really afraid of?" she asked.
"What?" Mallory asked.
"Well, every time you go out in the field, you know there's a chance you might not come back, and that was never a problem with you. Why is it a problem now?"
Mallory looked out the window, trying to put her thoughts into words that Lois would understand. "I'm not scared of dying. I made my peace with that a long time ago. But thinking it's coming and knowing it's coming are two different things. I mean, I just started thinking about what I want to do with my life as Mallory, not as Inferno, and I'm almost there. I'll be eighteen in a few months, and what have I ever really done as Mallory? I hid away in a boarding school, moved back in with my parents, and threw a fit when they wanted to adopt another kid, and I hurt both of my boyfriends. Everything I've ever been proud of myself for I've done as Inferno. And now, I might not even get the chance to fix that. And then there's the people I'll leave behind. I mean, everyone will be fine without me, life goes on, but I promised Wally that I wouldn't take so many risks, and I don't want Peter to lose anyone else. Oh, and what'll happen to Peter when I die? He's itching to be a hero now. What'll happen when I'm not there to say no anymore?"
Lois leaned over and wrapped her in a hug. "Oh, Mallory," she murmured. Mallory just sat there, staring at the wall as tears pricked behind her eyes. "You have accomplished so much, more than most people your age could even dream of," she assured her.
"It's not me, though," Mallory said quietly.
Lois pulled away, looking at Mallory's face sternly. "Mallory, I don't care if the world knows who you are or not, everything Inferno does is you, Mallory Johnson. No one can be a hero without their humanity, and that humanity comes from you."
Mallory rubbed her eye and smiled. "Well, actually I'm 75 percent unknown alien," she said.
Lois chuckled. "Doesn't make you less human," she replied.
They sat in silence for a moment, then Lois stood and grabbed a towel off the counter to clean up the coffee she'd spilled. "Ok, well, go get your laptop and bring it down," she said.
Mallory tilted her head to the side. "Why?" she asked.
"Well, you need to start applying for colleges, and you need to start thinking about career options."
Mallory squinted her eyes slightly. "Lois, I just told you-" she started, but Lois shook her head and smiled. "In the words of the esteemed Samuel L. Jackson, 'until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.' Go on, Mal. This is your time to live, and I don't think hiding away on this farm is how you want to spend what could be your last months. And there's a good chance that this doesn't happen for years, decades even, so you can't quit living and just wait for an end that could be really far away. You miss too much when you focus too hard on a point in the distance." She finished cleaning up the mess and put the cup in the sink.
Mallory smiled and hurried up the stairs, returning a moment later with her laptop and a notebook in hand. She and Lois sat down and started looking up colleges. They started looking at universities in Metropolis, then branched out to the surrounding cities, and they ended in the area around Central City. "After all, with zeta tubes you don't necessarily have to go to school in the city you patrol in," Lois pointed out.
Once they had a list of all the possible schools, Lois had Mallory take a personality quiz to see what types of jobs she would be good in. "ESFP-T, turbulent entertainer," Lois read aloud when she'd finished the quiz. They scanned the page, and Lois clicked on the career options page.
"Counselor, social worker, EMT, nurse, any of these sound good to you?" the reporter asked.
Mallory nodded. "I actually used to think about going into social work, you know, before everything happened."
"What kind?" Lois asked.
"Child and family. I just know what it's like to be alone, so I want to help other kids get out of the system and into homes."
Lois smiled. "Well, that narrows things down considerably. Gotham Academy has a good social work program, so does Metropolis University, and so does Midwestern University in Keystone. So you can apply to all of them, and decide what city you want to go to school in once you see if you get accepted or not."
They applied to the three universities, and Lois scratched it off a list she'd scribbled on a piece of paper. "Ok, that's done. What else is on your bucket list?" she asked.
"Well, I haven't really thought about my prom dress yet," she said.
Lois grinned and stood up. "Ok, go get dressed. We're going to Metropolis," Lois said.
They both went to their rooms to get ready, and Mallory scribbled a quick note to Martha and Jonathan before running outside and jumping in the passenger seat of Lois's convertible. They drove around the corner to where there was a zeta tube, and the car appeared in a wide alley in the heart of Metropolis. The reporter expertly drove out of the alley into traffic, and when she got settled in the center lane she turned to Mallory.
"Do you know who you're going to prom with?"
Mallory shook her head. She'd pre-graduated, all she needed to do was take an assessment test and she would be able to graduate at the end of the year with Wally's grade. The school year that she'd missed because of the seven months had been explained away, Mallory wasn't exactly sure who had convinced the school to ignore it or why the school had bought it, but when she went back it would be just in time for senior prom, but she wouldn't know anyone except Wally in the whole group.
"Well, that's ok. You pick out your dress and shoes and all, you don't need a guy until the last minute," Lois said.
They pulled up to a department store in a big shopping center and got out, and for the next three hours the two of them went through every rack in the store. By the time they came out, Mallory had her prom wear, as well as seven new outfits, two pairs of shoes, and some accessories. After they paid, they went outside and walked down the sidewalk to the next store. They stopped shopping long enough to grab a quick bite to eat, then they went back to the car to drop off their bags.
"I still feel like I shouldn't be going back to the cave," Mallory commented, shutting the back door with a thud.
Lois sighed and put an arm around her. "I know, Mal, but you decided that you were going to go back, and I'm here to make sure you stick to it. Get the most out of life, remember?"
Mallory nodded and her eyes scanned the shops. "Hey, you know what I want?" she said suddenly, her eyes trained on a salon towards the end of the strip.
"What?" Lois asked.
"I want a change. I'm gonna cut my hair."
Lois smiled. "Good, you're learning. All right, let's go."
They went to the salon and Mallory told the hairdresser what she wanted. She took one last look at her curly, hip-length red hair and sat in the chair. She heard the scissors slice through the first length of hair and shut her eyes tight, hoping she wouldn't regret the decision. A half an hour later, she stood in front of the mirror, grinning as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"I love it," she declared, a giddy feeling rising in her as her fingers went through the hair faster than they had expected. Lois smiled and nodded her approval.
"Well, I'm glad you like it. It's not every day I get to chop twelve inches of hair off. That's quite a change," the hairdresser commented.
Mallory couldn't tear her eyes away from the mirror. It really was a big change. Her hair now ended at her waist instead of her hip, and the layers in the hair made it more wavey than curly. Even the color seemed to be just a little brighter and shinier, even though the hairdresser hadn't put any product in it.
"Mal, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I just got a call from Martha asking where we are. We need to get going," Lois said apologetically. Mallory nodded and paid, and the two of them went back to the car and settled in.
"So, are you ready to tell Martha that you're going back to the cave?" Lois asked with a smile, talking loud enough to be heard over the wind rushing over their heads with the top down.
Mallory winced. "I hope she doesn't get her feelings hurt. She just told me the other day to stay," Mallory mentioned.
Lois laughed. "No offense, kiddo, but I think she'll be glad to get the house back."
Mallory chuckled and leaned her head on the head rest. She felt like a new person, and she couldn't wait to get back to the cave.
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