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A few days later, Mallory was training with Wally while Robin coached them from the sidelines. The rest of the team was out, either in their own cities or in Happy Harbor, so she took the opportunity to broach a subject that had been on her mind since her conversation with Peter.
"What do you think about Peter starting to do a little patrolling?" she asked, dodging a kick and returning it quickly.
Wally dodged, too, and Robin told them to focus more on their form. "I think that's completely up to you," Wally replied. "Why are you bringing it up now, though?"
Mallory threw a few punches at him, one of them catching him on the jaw, and hopped out of his reach before he could retaliate. "I talked to him the other day, and he asked me to trust him and stop treating him like a kid. It just reminded me that it wasn't that long ago that I asked Superman for the same thing when I first started. I guess I just realized that he's going to find a way no matter what, so I'll feel better if I'm the one that's watching him."
Wally nodded thoughtfully, slowing his moves, so Mallory matched his pace. As soon as she let her guard down, he dropkicked, swiping her legs out from under her, and she landed on the ground hard. She glared up at him, swatting his offered hand away and pushing herself to her feet. "Cheater," she muttered.
Wally tilted his head and looked at Robin. "What do you say, Ref? Was that cheating?" he asked.
Robin laughed and joined them in the arena. "Nope, that was taking advantage of the situation," he replied.
Mallory rolled her eyes, fighting a smile. "It's not fair when the ref is a friend of the opponent," she pointed out. The boys laughed, then Mallory turned to Robin, her face growing more serious. "You've been saying that Peter's good. Do you think he's ready for some patrolling? Nothing too heavy, just enough to see what he's capable of?"
Robin took a minute to think about it, which Mallory appreciated, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think he is," he said.
Mallory nodded, her heart quickening as she realized how soon she was putting Peter out in the field. "Can you two come patrol with us tomorrow? We'll probably end up in Central, maybe Keystone, just something small to start with, but I'd feel better if there were more people watching him." They both nodded, and Mallory let out a breath, feeling a little better. "Thanks. I'm gonna go make him a bullet proof suit. Robin, could you put together a few things? I don't know, maybe a staff and a couple of smoke pellets?"
"Sure, I'll put together a belt for him and go over the pockets before tomorrow night."
"Night? I was thinking he could patrol during the day for his first time," Mallory said hesitantly.
"If he patrols Keystone during the day, the worst crime he's going to come across is a jaywalker, and you know that. That's not a test. He needs a robbery or something, something that will give him a little action without putting him in a really dangerous situation," Robin told her.
Mallory nodded. She knew that, and that was why she wanted him to patrol during the day. But, Robin was right, as usual. "All right, thanks. Oh, and Wally?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you help me come up with a way to tell my parents? I don't want Peter hiding this from them."
Wally winced playfully. "Why'd you give me the hard thing?" he asked.
Mallory smiled. "Because my mom loves you, and she won't be able to kill me if you're there," she explained sweetly.
"Wait, I have to tell them?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Well, you are practically part of the family," she said.
Wally opened his mouth, then shut it, smiling in defeat. Finally, he said, "Ok, fine, I'll talk to your parents with you."
Mallory grinned. "Great! Come on, we can figure out what we're going to say while the fabricator makes the suit."
"Mom?" Mallory called, pushing the front door open to let her and Wally into the house.
"Mallory? What are you doing here in the middle of the day?" Elaine asked, stepping out of the living room. "Oh, Wally, good to see you. Where've you been?"
Wally gave Elaine a hug and they went into the kitchen. "I've just been busy, you know, getting ready for college and all," he replied.
Elaine nodded and gave Mallory a sideways hug. "Well, there's some ice cream in the freezer and some leftovers in the fridge, help yourself," she told Wally.
He grinned and gave her another quick one armed hug. "You're the best, Mrs. J," he said, opening the refrigerator and pulling out some bowls.
Mallory glared at her friend's back and sighed, turning to her mom. "We actually came here to talk to you about something," she said, looking to Wally for support.
"Speak for yourself," Wally said, putting one of the bowls in the microwave. "I came for the lazanya."
Mallory sighed. "Fine, I came to talk to you about something, Wally came to betray me," she said, glaring at him openly this time. He smiled and pulled his meal out of the microwave. Elaine laughed at the interaction and sat at the kitchen table.
"Ok, well, what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.
"Well, I really wanted Dad here, too," Mallory said hesitantly.
"He's outside, I'll go get him," she said, and she left the room briefly to call him in.
"Thanks for the help," Mallory hissed as Wally slid into the chair next to her.
"Hey, I'm not ditching you, I just want to eat this before your parents kick me out of the house for suggesting Peter become a superhero," he said, forking a bite into his mouth.
Mallory let out a frustrated huff. "That's not helping," she told him.
He laughed and shook his head. "Sorry. Stop stressing, though. What's the worst that can happen? That they say no? Isn't that what you've wanted all along?"
Mallory sighed and leaned against the back of the chair. He had a point. She didn't even know how she really wanted this to go.
Her parents walked in, interrupting her thoughts, and after a quick hello to Wally, Darrin sat down and said, "All right, what do you need to talk to us about?"
Mallory took a calming breath. "Well, you remember that we let Gar onto the team for his birthday, right?" Mallory asked. They nodded, and she could tell that they knew what was coming. "Well, Peter's been asking me to join the team for a while now," she continued. Darrin was already shaking his head, and Mallory rushed ahead. "I know what you're thinking, believe me. I thought the same thing for a long time. But, well, I just think it's safer if I take him to patrol and see if he really wants to do it than if he sneaks out and patrols on his own. I was thinking about Wally, Robin and me taking him out tomorrow ni-uh evening, just to see how he does and give him a taste of it, but I need to know you're ok with it before I do it."
Elaine and Darrin looked at each other, and Darrin said, "Well, uh, let us go talk about it and we'll let you know. But I have to say, right off the top of my head, I don't like it. It's hard enough to watch you walk out that door knowing what you're going to do. Peter's so young, and he doesn't even have powers."
Mallory nodded. "I know, but he's been trained by Robin, Artemis, and Black Canary. If there's any eight year old who can handle it, it's him," she said.
Her parents went upstairs to talk, and Wally put his dishes in the sink and pulled out the half gallon of ice cream. "You want some?" he asked. Mallory sighed and nodded, and he made them each a bowl. They ate in silence, waiting for her parents to make their decision.
"You ready?" Wally asked, poking his head in Mallory's room to see her in her suit waiting for Peter to come out of her bathroom.
"Yeah, I guess so. Where's Robin?" she asked.
Wally came in and sat in her desk chair, his mask hanging from the back of his suit. "He'll be here in a few minutes. He has something he needed to take care of," he replied.
Mallory nodded and glanced back at the bathroom door. "He's been in there for half an hour," she told him. She smiled and added, "he can't stop looking at his reflection. He's so excited about this."
Wally smiled, then his face grew serious as he studied her face. "He'll be fine, Mal. We'll keep him safe."
Mallory nodded, her stomach in knots. Then she gave him a half smile and said, "you'd better. If anything happens to him, you'll have a burn scar to explain to Artemis when you get your place."
Wally chuckled. "She told you about that?" he asked.
Mallory smiled. "Yeah. I'm happy for you. But why didn't you tell me?"
He shrugged. "I guess I'm just a little scared. Moving in is a big step, and we're not even in college yet."
Mallory shook her head. "Wally, you'll be fine. You two are one of the best paired couples I've ever met. Everything will work out."
Wally raised an eyebrow playfully. "One of?" he asked.
Mallory laughed. "Oh, come on. You're competing with Miss M and Conner, Z and Rob, and Raquel and Darius, Clark and Lois, Arrow and Canary, Barry and Iris. You can't always be the best."
He shrugged. "Hey, I'm not the competitive one," he said.
"Sure, that's why you almost punched me last time we were playing video games," Mallory replied lightly.
Peter opened the door before Wally could come up with a retort, and they both stood up to look him over. He was just wearing an all black suit with one of Robin's old yellow utility belts, and a simple domino mask that Robin said had been his first, but it looked like a super suit, and Mallory had to remind herself that this wasn't definite yet, this was just a test.
"You ready to go?" Wally asked.
"Uh, yeah, duh," Peter replied, beating them to the door and running to the training room.
"He doesn't want to show Gar?" Wally asked.
"He already did, and Megan took Gar to the zoo earlier," she explained.
Robin was in the training room waiting for them when they got there. "Everyone ready?" he asked, one hand on Peter's shoulder.
"Wait, I need a code name. You know, so you don't say my name in the field," Peter said.
Mallory bit her lip, and Wally said, "don't worry about it. Nobody has a name the first time they go out."
Mallory smiled at her friend gratefully and they went to the zeta tube.
They came out in an alley in Central City. It was night, but the street lamps and building lights made it bright enough that the streets still felt safe. Robin showed Peter how to shoot the grappling hook, and the four of them went to the top of a building to watch. Mallory, Robin, and Kid settled in for a long wait, but Peter was perched near the edge, staring intently at the street, watching every person like a hawk.
"Calm down, Bud. We might not even see any action tonight," Kid Flash cautioned.
"Sure we will," Peter replied confidently.
Mallory exchanged a glance with the boys, and they shrugged and left him alone. After a few hours, Peter started getting tired of doing nothing. He sat down and stared at the streets blindly, disappointed.
Mallory put an arm around him. "Sorry, Bud. But you know, this is a big part of being a hero, waiting for something to happen. It's not all exciting."
Peter sighed heavily. "I thought I'd get something to do, even if it's just something small," he said quietly.
An alarm sounded below them, and the four of them jumped to their feet. A man in a black hoodie ran out of a store down the street.
"Well, looks like you'll get some action after all," Robin said, ruffling Peter's hair. He and Peter shot their lines to the street, and Mallory and Kid stayed on the roof to monitor everything.
"Relax, Inferno. Robin's with him," Wally murmured.
Mallory nodded, but she kept her eyes glued to her little brother as he landed on the pavement and started running towards the robber. He threw down a smoke pellet, making the scene disappear from their view, and Mallory clenched her hands into fists, having to physically keep herself from diving off the roof and taking care of everything.
After a moment, the smoke cleared and they saw Peter standing next to the robber, who was tied up. He grinned up at them, and Mallory let out a relieved laugh before she and Wally went down to the street.
"Not bad, kid," Wally said. He ran the robber to a police station and was back in a few seconds.
"Well, I think that's a good start for your first time out," Mallory said, steering Peter to the zeta tube.
He didn't argue, and they zetaed back to the cave so he could change before going home. While he was in her room changing, Mallory and the boys settled in in the living room.
"So, Robin, how much of the fight were you in on? I mean, I couldn't see anything," Mallory said.
"Mallory, he took that guy down all by himself. All I did was take away his gun," Robin told her. Mallory's eyes widened a little, and Robin nodded and said, "I told you, he's good."
She was going to say something else, but Batman strode in from the lab. "Let's go," he said gruffly, not even slowing down.
A look of annoyance crossed Robin's face. "What's up?" he asked.
Batman stopped at the zeta tube and started typing something in the computer. "The bat signals on in Gotham," he said.
"No one's out of Arkham. Can you go alone? I have something to do," Robin said.
Mallory winced, knowing Batman wasn't going to just accept him not going along. Sure enough, he stopped typing and turned around, his eyes narrowed a little. "What do you have to do that's more important than keeping a city safe?" he asked.
Mallory expected Robin to hang his head and follow Batman to the zeta tube like he usually did, but instead he narrowed his eyes almost challengingly and said, "Nothing that concerns you."
Mallory froze in her spot. She was sure that even her heart stopped as she sat there, waiting for an explosion, something. Batman glanced behind them, and Mallory did too. Peter had just walked in, unaware of what he was interrupting.
Batman sighed heavily. "We will talk about this later," he said, then stood in front of the zeta tube and let the light suck him away.
Mallory exchanged a glance with Wally, then she got up and walked to the zeta tube with Peter. The interaction between the Dynamic Duo stayed on her mind the rest of the night, though. She'd never seen Robin and Batman seem so irritated at each other. She hoped her friend wasn't dealing with something alone.