Hope you like it, please review!
A few days later, Wally knocked on Mallory's door a few hours after training. Mallory looked around her room, not seeing a path to the door, and called, "Come in." The doors slid open and the speedster looked around in shock.
"Woah, what happened in here?" he asked.
Mallory sighed. She had everything she owned pulled out of the drawers, closet, and shelves and strewn around the room, covering the floor, bed, and chairs. "I'm going through my stuff, seeing if I want to get rid of anything," she replied from where she was sitting in the only bare spot of floor in the room. Wally stood, surveying the room for a path to come in. "Just kick it out of the way," she said, "everything that can break is in the bathroom."
He nodded and made his way slowly to the bed, nudging clothes, books, office supplies, and brick a brack out of his way. Mallory stood and shoved a pile of stuff off the bed, making room for them to sit. "You know, you could have just done this one drawer at a time," he pointed out with a grin.
Mallory shrugged. "I needed a project. I've already perfected all my new training algorithms, and I didn't feel like coming up with a new one."
He nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. This waiting is driving everyone crazy."
They were quiet for a moment, and Wally glanced around the room. "Hey, what are these?" he asked, picking up a stack of envelopes.
Mallory winced. "Oh, nothing," she said, making a grab for them, but her friend held them out of her reach, reading the return addresses.
"These are from colleges," he said, looking at her.
She shrugged. "Yeah, I know," she said.
Wally gave her a look and started opening the letters. "Mal, this is great! You got into Gotham Academy, Metropolis U, and Midwestern? Aren't those your top picks?"
Mallory shrugged. "Yeah, I guess they were," she said.
Wally opened the last envelope and grinned. "And you got a full ride to any of them with the Wayne Foundation Scholarship, plus whatever the schools would give you. Mallory, you're going to get paid to go to some of the best schools in the country. Why are you not stoked about this?"
Mallory shrugged. "I am," she said.
Wally shook his head in disbelief. "No, you're not. If you were, you would've tracked me down the second you read these. How long have you even known?"
"I got the letters a few days ago, my parents gave them to me one day when I visited," she replied.
Wally immediately seemed to understand. "Mallory, you can't let what happened to Tula keep you from celebrating your victories. We're going to get her back, and she's going to be just as happy for you as I am."
Mallory smiled, leaning over to take the letters from him, staring at the top one absently. "Yeah, I know. I just feel a little guilty, going on with my life when we don't even know where she is," she said. She shook the depressing air off and grinned. "So, did you get into Stanford yet?"
Wally grinned. "Yep, and Artemis did too," he reported.
Mallory grinned and gave him a hug. "That's great. I bet she's excited about it, huh? Getting out of Gotham, I mean."
Wally shrugged. "I don't know about that, but we're both excited about it. We went to tour the campus over the weekend, and we found an apartment just two streets away from campus that's perfect for what we need."
"Wally, that's great! Why didn't you tell me before?"
He shrugged. "We wanted to tell everyone together," he said.
She laughed. "Yeah, right. You'll tell everyone individually by the end of the week. That's great, though. If the apartment isn't on campus, it'll be easier to come and go without people getting suspicious. I haven't even thought about how I'm going to hide Inferno in a dorm yet."
He laughed. "Yeah, that will be a little difficult. I'm surprised no one figured it out at the boarding school. I mean, back then you even had red hair as both, and everyone knew about your powers."
Mallory shrugged. "I guess they weren't expecting it. Oh, speaking of hair, I'm almost out of the shampoo. I'm gonna need another bottle this week."
"Sure, I'll have some made by the end of the week," he replied, and Mallory sighed. "Can't you just tell me how to make it by now?" she asked.
Wally grinned and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I like you having to come to me for it. It gives me some power."
Mallory snorted. "Sure, if you think so," she said.
The intercom came on, and they fell silent to listen. "Team, report to the mission room," Batman said. Mallory looked at him hopefully. "You think that…" she said, letting her voice drift off, not wanting to jinx it.
Wally sped away to get into his suit, and Mallory scrambled to find hers and put it on, running to the training room, her hair still black and in a sloppy bun on the top of her head. She found a place to stand next to Zatanna, who nodded to Mallory and patted the top of her own head. Mallory's hand went to the bun and she hastily pulled it out, lighting her hair on fire briefly to burn off the shampoo. Raquel was the last one to join the lineup, and Batman started his speech as soon as she came in.
"We have intel that Aquagirl was spotted along the coast several hours ago, heading to the Devil's Den Cavern in southern Florida. From what we understand, this is very likely a trap to flush out the rest of the team, so stay on your guard. If you need to call in the League, do not hesitate. Aquaman will be guarding the waterline to be sure that they do not try to make an underwater getaway, Dr. Fate will be on hand in case Klarion is there. Your mission is to get Aquagirl and leave. If the suspects escape, do not pursue, you can get them another time. Any questions?"
The team stared at him, waiting to be dismissed, and he nodded. "All right, then," he said, and he uploaded coordinates to the team. They hurried to the bioship and took off the moment everyone was in their seats.
It wasn't until they were halfway there that Zatanna said, "So, is there an actual plan here, or are we just going to go in there with our guns blazing?"
Robin and Kaldur looked at each other. "Perhaps we should divide into groups," the leader suggested.
"Are you kidding? That's how we got in this mess in the first place," Garth said.
Kaldur shook his head. "Tula was abducted because we left her alone. We will not make that mistake again. Tempest and I should join Aquaman below the surface, should the Light use Black Manta to take her away, he will need assistance. Miss Martian, Beast Boy, and Superboy will remain on the bioship until they are needed. It will be difficult for the team to sneak in, and the less people trying to hide the better. As for the ground team, you will go in and observe what is going on, report it back to the team, and try to get Tula out quietly. If a fight should occur, Aquaman will call in reinforcements and the team will detain whoever is involved until the Justice League can get here."
The team nodded in agreement with the plan, and Megan put the bioship in camouflage mode and hovered over the water a mile away from the shore.
"Drop zone A," she announced, and Kaldur and Garth stood.
"Good luck," Garth said, and he and Aqualad stepped out of the hole in the floor and Mallory watched the splash as they went under before Megan closed the hole and flew to the beach.
"Drop zone B," she said, and the ground team stood and switched to their stealth gear. "We'll be hovering over the cavern if you need us," Megan told them.
They nodded and ran to the mouth of the cave. The floor was under water, and it was pitch black inside. Robin motioned for Inferno to go first, and she did, lighting her eyes so that she could see into the darkness. Her teammates followed her lead. It was slow going. There were rocks all over the place, even hanging from the ceiling, and Mallory had to warn the others of them. A few hundred feet into the passageway, there was a bump, and Wally said, "Ouch!"
"Shh!" Artemis said.
"Stupid stalagmite," he muttered.
"Technically, it's a stalactite. It's coming from the ceiling," Robin said, looking back at his friend with a small smile.
"Oh, whatever. How much further do we have to go? You know I could be there already if you guys would just let me run."
"Oh, please. You would impale yourself if you ran in here," Rocket said.
"Stay focused," Kaldur told them.
"We're almost there. I can see the passageway widening," Mallory told them.
They got to the end and ducked behind some rocks. Robin put a camera on a rock and pulled up a holographic screen. It was a large, open room with a pillar where a stalactite and stalagmite met near the middle. Most of it was dry land, but there was a pool at the edge, and stalactites hanging from the ceiling gave the room a spooky feel to it.
"Well, that's not creepy at all," Zatanna said.
"Do you see anyone?" Conner asked.
"No, not yet," Robin said.
Zatanna put a hand to her head and winced. "Guys, he's here, somewhere. I can feel it."
They looked at each other, trying to decide what to do, and saw movement on the screen. They turned their attention to it and saw Klarion come into view, then Sportsmaster, and Black Manta. Some of Manta's men brought Tula in, bound and gagged.
"What are we doing here?" Sportsmaster asked.
Klarion rubbed his hands together. "This is where we'll do it. This was the Temple of Tiamat. This is where she has to be released." He said a spell, and the team watched as the cavern transformed into a temple, the pool at the edge adorned with beautiful tiles and pillars, and the water turning crystal clear. "All right, let's get started," Klarion said. Teekle meowed, and he scratched her head and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, yeah. Where are the tablets?"
Some of Manta's men brought three old stone tablets forward, and Klarion told them where to put them, then he had Tula put in the center of them and started chanting. The team turned to Zatanna.
"What's he doing?" Robin asked.
Zatanna paled. "He's calling to the goddess Tiamat, trying to awaken her. This ritual, it's forbidden. If we don't stop him before he finishes, the ritual could kill Tula, but that's not even the worst part. If Tiamat is brought into this realm, she will wreak havoc on the Earth. We have to stop them."
"All right, move out," Robin decided. "Megan, Kaldur, your teams stay put. If we need backup, we'll call."
The ground team inched out of the rocks and moved quietly around the room. Tula was screaming in pain, and a blue light was being pulled from her body. Mallory winced even as her eyes blazed with anger. She eyed the room, deciding who would be her first target, and her eyes settled on Black Manta.
"Now," Robin said, and the team rushed in.
Manta's men got in between her and her target, so she took them out instead, slowly making her way to the bigger villain. She looked over to Klarion, hoping he'd stopped the ritual, but he'd simply put a bubble around him and his cat and continued to chant. Zatanna was by the bubble, trying to break it, but it didn't work. She moved to Tula, trying to cast a spell that would bring the girl out, but the spell backfired, shocking her with the same blue energy being drained from Tula. She looked around and yelled, "Rocket! Inferno! Get over here!" Mallory finished with the minion she was fighting and flew over all of the fighting, landing beside her friends.
"We have to get Tula out of there," Zatanna said.
Rocket looked at the setup and said, "I could try to put her in a force field," she suggested.
Zatanna nodded. "Try it," she said.
Rocket nodded and moved closer to the Atlantean. She tried to put the bubble around their friend, but the energy spiked and shot out at her, hitting her square in the stomach and sending her flying backwards.
"Rocket!" Zatanna yelled, and she and Mallory ran over to her. She was out cold, but she was breathing. They drug her away from the fighting and turned back to the problem at hand.
"I don't know what to do," Zatanna said.
Mallory stared at the bubble and flamed up. "Stay clear," she told her friend, and she started shooting flames at the bubble, hoping to distract the Lord of Chaos from his ritual. All that happened was that her flames dispersed on the bubble, and a red fire that she remembered all too vividly from her run-in with it the day Zatara had become Dr. Fate shot out at her. She dodged it, not wanting to get burned, and kept shooting her own fire out. She looked down at the tablets and tried shooting them, but the blue energy came back at her and she barely managed to dodge it. She landed back next to Zatanna, on the verge of panicking.
"What else can we do?" she asked.
Zatanna looked at the scene and shook her head. "Call the League," she said.
"They're already on their way, Z," she replied. The magician nodded. Some of Manta's minions came at them, and Mallory turned to fight them.
"Megan, Con, I think it's time for backup," Zatanna said.
"On our way. We'll alert Kaldur and meet you inside," Megan replied.
"What do you mean? Why aren't they on the link?" Robin asked.
"They went to investigate Manta's ship, and now they're out of range. Don't worry, though, I'll find them. I'm sending Superboy and Beast Boy ahead, and I'll join as soon as I can," she said.
Klarion stopped chanting, and the blue energy went into the pool, sending a ripple through the water. Everyone stilled and stared at the pool, and Tula collapsed to the ground. Mallory and Zatanna rushed to her side, but they were staring at the pool as the water started to ripple more and more.
"I think we're too late," Zatanna said fearfully, exchanging a glance with Mallory and letting her gaze land on Tula's limp form.