Sorry for the late update, I just got back from vacation and my sense of time is way off. This chapter is just kind of a filler to show how much time has passed since Tula was kidnapped, and to have a chapter that labels year 4, and it deals with a few things in it. Hope you like it, please review.
Year 4:
Mallory stared at the target set up across the room, watched it come closer. She readied her fire, gathering some in the palm of her hand. She watched it burn as the dummy drew closer, rigged on a conveyor belt to move forward until it got to the end of the track. She saw Tula in her mind's eye as she stared into her fire.
Her friend smiled over her shoulder at her, one hand in Garth's as they walked ahead of her and Kaldur. The memory turned nightmarish as her imagination took over and she saw Tula fall into a hole. She and the boys rushed to the side and looked down, but it was pitch black. She descended, her fire throwing shadows onto the walls, and found herself in a tunnel. She went into it, and halfway through could hear Tula's screams for help. She ran ahead and found her friend tied to a wall, a bloody mess, barely recognizable. She was gagged, but that didn't stop the cries of agony from finding their way to Mallory's ears as the kidnapper threw some sort of energy at her. Mallory shot her fire at the person, and they held a hand up, gathering the flames. "That the best you can do?" a whiny voice asked, and the figure turned to face her, revealing Klarion's wicked grin as he shot Mallory's fire into Tula...
Mallory startled back to attention when the dummy ran into her, and she closed her fist and punched the mannequin with all her strength, her fist opening after contact and sliding down to the dummy's shoulder. It had been more than a week since Tula's disappearance, and every lead they'd followed had been a wild goose chase. She was almost convinced that the only reason the Light kidnapped her was to have fun watching the team run around in circles.
She heard the doors slide open and shut her eyes a moment, trying to clear away the thoughts. She cleared her throat and said, "I'm almost done here, Wally." When she turned around, though, it was Garth standing in the doorway. "Oh, sorry, I thought- well, never mind," she stammered. Since Tula's disappearance, she and the rest of the team barely knew how to talk to him. They felt responsible, especially Kaldur, so it was hard to face him, especially when he wasn't even told about the mission before they left.
"I thought you should know that Robin just finished looking into that Costa Rica lead," he said.
"And?" Mallory prompted, though she could guess what the answer was. Sure enough, Garth shook his head. She took a breath. "Yeah, that one was a long shot to start with," she said quietly.
They were quiet for a moment as Mallory put away the targets and shut down the program. When she went to the door, Garth said, "I know I have not been showing it, but I am grateful to all of you for the way you have handled this, and I have thought about it, and I do not think I blame any of you anymore. I know Tula is hard headed. If she said she was going to do something, none of you would have been able to talk her out of it."
Mallory smiled and gave him a one armed hug. "We'll get her back, Garth. You have to believe that," she told him.
He nodded. "I know, and I do. I have not been this worried about anyone in a long time. I just wish there was something I could be doing."
They got to the training room and started towards the rooms. "I know, it's hard to let others do the work when it's someone you love on the line, but hang in there." She opened her door and stood in the doorway. "I've got to go to my parents' house in a little while. Are you gonna be ok? I know most of the team is out of the cave right now."
Garth nodded. "I will be fine. Robin is in the lab running some algorithms, and Garfeild is around here somewhere." Mallory smiled and started to walk into her room, and Garth said, "Mallory?" she turned back to face him. "Thank you, for this," he said.
She smiled a little and nodded. "Anytime," she said.
He returned her smile and went back down the hall, leaving her to get ready to go to Central City.
"You want some more coffee?" Elaine asked, offering her the pot. Mallory shook her head and cupped her half empty mug in her hands. She'd just finished updating her parents of Tula's case, and she felt cold inside. She forced some heat to the mug, warming her drink.
"That poor girl," her mom murmured, sitting back down. Mallory fought the irritation that inexplicably rose at her mom's words. Elaine had only met Tula once, and it was when the whole team was piled into the living room, so of course she wasn't really attached to her, not like she was with the boys.
"We're still searching, but it's not looking too good," she said, dropping her gaze to the table.
"Don't worry, Sweetheart. You have the Justice League on your side. They aren't going to give up until they find her, and they will find her. They always do," Darrin said reassuringly.
Mallory shook her head. "Not always," she said quietly.
"What do you mean, dear?" Elaine asked.
Mallory sighed. "They gave up their search for the original Speedy," she said.
Elaine looked down. "How did Roy take that?" she asked.
Mallory laughed bitterly. "Well, I would know if he would check in with us once in a while."
"Mal, you have to give him the time he needs to work through this. You know he's had a hard time coming to grips with everything," Darrin said.
"Yeah, well, he's not the only one who's had stuff happen to him in the past three years. The rest of us dealt with it without completely going off the grid and making more problems for everyone else," she said. Her parents stared at her, and she realized what they were thinking. "The farm was different," she insisted. "I couldn't control my fire, I had to leave. And the team knew where I was, and I wasn't trying to push them away."
"True," Elaine said, "but it did catch them a little off guard. Kaldur asked his friends to join the team because you weren't there."
Mallory shook her head. "Don't do that. Not now," she said.
"Do what?" Elaine asked.
"Make it seem like I'm the reason Tula joined the team, making it my fault that she's in danger now," Mallory said.
Her parents sighed. "Mallory, you know that's not what your mom meant," Darrin said, and Elaine added, "I'm just saying, maybe you should be a little more understanding of his situation and his decisions. You know first hand how hard it is to cope with bad news."
Mallory sighed and stared at the coffee in her cup. The door opened and slammed shut before she could say anything, and Peter yelled, "I'm home!" Mallory sat up and put on a cheerful look, turning in her chair to face the doorway. "Hey," she said when he came in.
"Hey, Mal. What are you doing here?" Peter asked, giving her and her parents a hug and going to the pantry to get a snack.
"Oh, nothing. I just had some time, so I thought I'd come visit," she said. She hadn't told him about Tula yet, and she wasn't about to do it now. She didn't want him to volunteer to help find her and give her one more problem to work out.
"Cool," her little brother said, and he brought a swiss cake roll and a bottle of kool aid to the table.
Darrin stood and brought his cup to the counter to refill it. "Well, I've got a conference call in a few minutes," he said, and he went to the study to prepare for it.
"How've things been here?" Mallory asked her mom.
Elaine shrugged. "All right. It's sure nice to have the house finally finished."
"Have you been able to take on more clients like you were planning on doing?" Mallory asked.
Elaine nodded. "Yes, a few. Which reminds me, I should get to work, too. I have a presentation due tomorrow and I'm only about half done with it." She put her mug in the sink and gave Mallory a hug. "It was good to see you, Sweetie. Why don't you and Wally come for lunch next week? I'll have fajitas if you give me some notice."
Mallory smiled. "Sure, I'll see if he can come. Can Robin come too? I think he needs a calming influence right now."
"Sure, just let me know so I'll have enough," her mom replied, and she went upstairs to go to her work room. Mallory sipped her coffee for a moment, staring absently in front of her.
"So, Mal, can I come with you to the cave when you leave?" Peter asked.
"It's a school night," Mallory replied distractedly.
"I know, but I don't have any homework, and I won't stay long, I just want to hang out with Gar for a while. You haven't let me visit since you let me run that patrol."
Mallory shook her head. "You know Mom's rule. You focus on school during the week, and if there isn't a lot going on, you can come during the weekend."
Peter sighed, disappointed. "Fine," he said, then he looked at her cheerfully. "So, this weekend, can I run another patrol?" he asked eagerly.
"No, not this week. There's a lot going on right now, and we might have a mission," she said, trying to brush the question off.
"Well, when can I patrol again?" he asked.
"I don't know, Pete," she said, not looking at him. She felt his change of moods.
"What's going on? I was good, Robin said I was, and so did you and Wally. Why can't I go back out there?"
"You just can't, Peter. At least, not right now," she said.
"Why not? It's not fair to not even give me a reason. Why can't I go back out there? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
"I said no!" Mallory snapped, her eyes flashing red. Peter recoiled, inching away from her, and she realized that she'd never lost control around her brother before. She took a shaky breath and scrambled to her feet, backing out of the room. "Uh, tell Mom I had to go," she said, and she hurried out of the house, feeling horrible, but taking some relief in the fact that Peter wouldn't be asking her again, at least not for a while.
She got to the zeta tube and punched in her coordinates, coming out near the Daily Planet. She knew she'd been hard on Peter, but she couldn't think about him patrolling with Tula missing. She'd work things out with him once they found her, and she would bring him with her more often, but she could only worry about so many people at a time, and at the moment she was tapped out.
She burned her clothes off in the alley and put on her mask. As long as she was there, she may as well run a patrol. She flew through the business district, scanning the streets, and landed on a roof to watch an armored truck leave a bank. She jumped from roof to roof, following it on a hunch. A few blocks down, some sort of gas filled the street, and the truck didn't come out. Mallory sighed and jumped off the roof, flying down to investigate.
There were five men surrounding the armored truck. Two of them forced the drivers out while the others jumped in the back. As soon as the drivers were in the alley, the two that had been at the front jumped into the cab and started driving the truck down the street. Mallory rolled her eyes. Amateurs. She landed in the road ahead of them and made sure she had the space she needed.
The truck kept speeding towards her, but she could see the men in the cab having an argument on what to do. The one in the passenger seat made a grab for the wheel, but the driver blocked him. She flamed up and sent the fire out towards the car, keeping it low and hot. The truck slowed down as the men tried to decide what to do, and while they were discussing it, Mallory watched the rubber of the tires melt into the pavement. She smiled with satisfaction and sent a stream of fire into the sky, giving her location to Superman if he was in the area. One of the men tried to open his door, and Mallory ran to the truck and welded the doors shut. Superman landed next to her as she was finishing with the back door.
"Well, what's this?" he asked.
"Bank robbers. They ambushed the truck a ways back," she replied. They heard the sirens coming and flew up, landing on a roof to watch the police take the men into custody.
"It's good to see you. I don't think you've been in Metropolis since before‒"
"Yeah, it's been a while," Mallory interrupted, not wanting to hear the words.
Superman's face softened and he put a hand on her shoulder. "How's the team holding up?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Ok, considering," she said. Her gaze drifted to the building next to them that was sporting a Lexcorp sign and her face hardened as she glared at the logo. "Bet you he knows where she is," she said quietly.
Clark looked at the logo and sighed. "I'm sure he does," he said.
"Too bad we can't just ask him," she added, looking at her mentor pointedly.
He sighed. "You know that's not a good idea. He wouldn't tell you anything, anyway, and you would run the risk of him moving Tula to an even more remote location."
"Yeah, or maybe we could scare him into moving her, and we could find her while they're transporting her," she said.
Clark shook his head. "Lex isn't the only one involved. If they were going to move her, they would just use Klarion's portals. Nothing good ever comes from trying to bait Luthor. You should know that by now."
Mallory sighed. 'Yeah,' she thought, 'I know.'