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The team and the League rode back to the cave together on the bioship. Megan was crying so much that J'onn had to take the controls, and she went to Conner and let him hold her. Wally and Artemis were together at the back, her head on his shoulder. Kaldur and Garth were together, Raquel, Zatanna, and Mallory stayed together. Gar was with his sister, and Robin sat alone at the front of the ship.
"Should someone go talk to him?" Zatanna asked.
Mallory shook her head. "Give him some space, let him deal with it on his own," she said.
The magician nodded. "Yeah, I guess, but…"
"Z, that's not really your job anymore," Raquel said gently.
"What?" Mallory asked.
Zatanna sighed. "Robin and I talked yesterday, and we agreed that we needed to take some time apart so he could figure out whatever's been eating at him. But just because we aren't dating doesn't mean I can't try to help him with this."
"You're right, Z, but I just think you need to give him the trip home to come to grips with it," Mallory said.
Zatanna nodded, and her eyes filled with tears again. "I can't believe she's gone," she said, her voice breaking.
The girls fell silent, not wanting to talk about it, but their minds wouldn't shut off. They saw Tula in every memory they had of her until Manhunter opened the door to the ship and they filed off.
"We'll debrief in the training room in five minutes," Batman said calmly, and he strode out of the hangar. Robin glared after him, but the team trudged to the training room with heavy steps.
Aquaman and Superman brought Tula's body out of the back, and Mallory stopped, putting a hand on Zatanna's arm for her to stop as well.
"What are you doing with her?" she asked, looking up at her mentor, tears pooling in her eyes.
"Aquaman is going to bring her body to Atlantis," Superman replied.
"But what about her funeral?" Mallory pressed. "She deserves a funeral."
"It will be held privately in Atlantis. Her family will decide what to do with her body," Aquaman said gently.
"What do you mean, privately? She saved us all, she deserves more than that," Mallory insisted, her throat closing up. Aquaman gave her a sad look. "The world can never know of this. If people knew what our enemies are capable of, there would be mass chaos, more than we even faced when the worlds split. Tula will be given a private hero's burial in Atlantis, and her family will know of her actions, but they are the only ones who will that are not in this cave right now." The men started walking again, and all Mallory could do was stare after them in disbelief. She felt Zatanna pull her away, but her eyes were shut tight for it, and the next time she opened them, they were in the training room, standing in line in front of Batman.
"Let me be clear about something," he said. The team stared straight ahead. "I am not happy with the outcome of this mission. Your priority was to rescue an abductee, and you were told to call the League if there were complications. Instead you went into a firefight and suffered a casualty because of your rash decisions."
"That casualty had a name," Robin said, his voice low.
Batman turned to him and narrowed his eyes, and Mallory got the sense that he was trying to decide if he should address it or let it go. Unfortunately, he chose the former. "Yes, she did. But thinking emotionally is exactly how you get people killed in the field. This mission, this life, it's a constant war, and‒"
"Oh, shut up," Robin said, stepping right up to his mentor. "I'm sick and tired of your war. Do you even care that a nineteen year old died three hours ago? Do you even care that she was family to us? I mean, you can't, right? Not if you think it's ok to bring us here as soon as we get back and tell us that we did a bad job on our mission."
"Robin, that's enough. You're being irrational. We'll talk about this later," Batman said, his voice calm and, Mallory thought, a little regretful.
"Don't order me around like I'm a kid. I'm not a clumsy eight year old looking for your approval. Not anymore," Robin snapped. He spun on his heel, intending to go to the living room, and Batman put a hand on his shoulder. "Robin..." he said. Robin turned around and punched him in the jaw. The swing caught Batman off guard, and he staggered backward a few steps. Everyone, team and League alike, froze, staring at the two.
"Robin, go to Gotham and cool off," Batman said. Mallory could tell he was putting a lot of effort into keeping his tone calm.
Robin took his cape and belt off and threw them at his mentor. "I don't take orders from you anymore. I quit." He stalked out of the room, going to the living room. Mallory's heart pounded in her chest as she stared at Batman. He took a step to follow, but Superman put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "Not here," he said quietly. Batman nodded, and he and the rest of the League went to the zeta tubes.
The team hurried to the living room and found Robin sitting in a chair, his elbows resting on his knees, his hair hanging loosely as he stared at the floor. They looked at each other, not knowing what to do, and then Kaldur went and sat down with the younger member, no longer a boy. The rest of the team followed suit, taking their formations and leaving Tula's usual spot empty. They sat in silence for hours, the only sound was the soft whimpering as Megan cried openly, hiding her face in Conner's shoulder.
"It's not fair," Zatanna said quietly. The team looked up, and she looked around, pain on her face, her eyes pleading for something. "It's not right. She gave her life to save us, to save the world, and no one's ever going to know about it."
"We do," Robin said, looking at her. "We know. And we're never going to forget it."
Artemis studied her hand, tracing a line with her finger. "She deserves more," she said quietly, and the team looked down in silent agreement. Mallory looked at Tula's empty seat on the sofa, a memory of her sitting there, smiling and laughing popped into her head. She did deserve more. She deserved a hero's memorial. She deserved a ceremony, a statue, something for people to visit and leave flowers on National Heroes Day. But she would never get any of it, simply because of the circumstances. She shut her eyes tight, thinking about all that was done for Supergirl on National Heroes Day, and she wasn't even dead. A thought popped into her head, and she looked up.
"I know what we can do," she said. The others looked at her, and she turned to Robin almost urgently. "Do you know where a hologram base would be?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Sure, there should be one in the lab," he replied.
Mallory nodded and went to the lab. She found the base without much difficulty and pulled up a screen to program it. She found a picture of Tula and downloaded it to the base. The team showed up in the doorway, and she turned to Conner. "Can you carry this?" she asked. It was bigger than she'd thought, being as tall as her thigh and big enough in diameter to almost be able to fit lying down. Conner shrugged and lifted the tech, and Mallory started walking to the back of the cave.
"Mal, where are we going?" Wally asked.
She found the door she was looking for and opened it. "Down here," she said. She led the way, lighting a fire in her palm, and the team went down the stone steps into the grotto. They looked around, and Megan said, "I didn't know this was here."
"Yeah, I didn't either, until Kara told me about it," Mallory replied. She showed Conner where to put the base, and pushed the button. The picture of Tula stood in front of them, standing almost twelve feet high. Mallory looked at Garth, trying to read his thoughts past the pained expression on his face as he looked at the holographic image of Tula. "I know it isn't everything that she deserved, but at least as long as it's here, she'll have a marker, something to show what she did," she said.
Garth nodded. "Thank you," he said quietly.
Mallory nodded and the team looked up at the image, giving their friend a silent memorial and a promise to never forget.
