I know it's not my best chapter, but I needed to bring Blue Beetle back in, and after Tula died I kind of hit a writers block. I'll try to do better for the future chapters. Hope it's not too bad, please review.
Mallory came too a few minutes later, her hands and feet zip tied and a familiar heaviness around her neck. She glanced around and saw that the other girls were conscious, but powerless. They were zip tied the same as her, and Rocket's belt was gone and Zatanna was gagged. They were in a corner of the room full of crates and guns. At least twenty people were now in the room, three closer to them, and the others circled around a short, muscular bald man near the doorway.
"Inferno, you ok?" Rocket asked.
"Uh, yeah, I guess. What happened?" she asked.
"They had heat sensors. They knew we were here the second we opened the door," Zatanna explained.
"Ugh, how could we not think about that?" Mallory asked, irritated with herself for being so careless.
"Well, beating yourselves up now isn't going to help you get out of there," Megan said.
"Well, neither is trying to get out. They put an inhibitor collar on me. Why did they even have an inhibitor collar down here?" Mallory complained.
"Z? Rocket?" Conner asked.
"Yeah, they took our powers too," Rocket said.
"How did they even know who you are? You're in civies, aren't you?" Nightwing asked.
"Well, we were," Rocket said, and Zatanna added, "We had them on over our suits, so they must have taken them off and seen the suits. How close are you guys? These ties are starting to cut into my wrists."
"We're still over the border. We couldn't find the leader," Gar said.
"Yeah, I think he's here," Rocket said.
"Where?" Mallory asked.
"The bald guy over there. If I'm right, that's Rey de las Armas. He's wanted for everything from car jacking to smuggling to murder, in three countries, but they've never found him. There's only one picture of him, but I could swear that's the same brand on his neck."
"How do you know all this?" Nightwing asked.
"The government wanted my dad to help prosecute him a few years ago when they were planning a sting to catch him, but it never panned out," she explained.
"Are you sure there's no way for you to get out of there? The border police are already on their way, and I don't want you to be caught in the crossfire," Nightwing said.
"Well, unless Inferno finds a sudden burst of strength…" Zatanna said, looking at Mallory pointedly.
Mallory bit back a sigh. "I wish you would just let that go already," she said.
"How can I? We all know that if you would just try to develop it you could use it to your advantage."
"Yeah, and you know that I don't want super strength, so I'm not going to try to develop it."
"And how is that decision working out for us?" Zatanna asked.
"Guys, stop. We're on our way, we'll just have to hope we get there before the border police," Nightwing said.
The girls looked at each other grimly. There was only a slim chance that the team would make it in time, and the last thing they needed was to be questioned by the police. Suddenly, they heard gunshots in the distance, and the men in the room jumped to attention, looking towards the passageway that led out.
"Well go, you idiots!" the leader yelled, pointing. Half of the men ran out, the other half stayed and prepared to run interference for the boss. They heard the men yelling and grunting as they were apparently beaten, and as the sounds got closer, the men got more nervous. The leader turned and started to run towards another passageway near the girls, and Mallory stuck her legs out at the last second. His foot caught on her leg and he fell face first onto the concrete floor. He glared at her, blood running from his nose and teeth, and she shrugged.
"Oops," she said.
"You'll pay for that, girl," the man said. He snapped to some of his men. "Take her along."
Mallory's heart pounded in her chest, and she maneuvered against the wall. The first man that tried to grab her arm, she kicked squarely in the chest and he tumbled backwards. Zatanna and Rocket tried to help her, but they were too far away to do anything as three goons came at Inferno to get her to her feet. She struggled, but without her hands or feet, she was basically powerless as the men started to drag her down the passageway.
The sounds of fighting stopped in the passageway, and everyone paused to see who had won. An unconscious man was thrown into the two guards at the doorway, and Mallory again felt herself being brought down the hallway, away from the exit. Then, the men holding her up grunted and fell to the floor, and Mallory was dragged down on top of them. She looked up, half afraid to look, and saw a blue blur dart behind some crates as the gang members shot at it. Some kind of pulse came from behind the crates, and the last members of the gang dropped.
Mallory squinted at the crates, waiting to see who it was. A familiar blue cowl was the first thing she saw, and she exchanged a glance with her friends before looking back and recognizing the beetle on the chest of the costume.
"Blue Beetle?" Rocket said in disbelief.
The man ran over and took the gag off Zatanna. "Ugh, finally," the magician said, then she muttered, "su dloh tath sdinb eht nesool." The zip ties loosened themselves, and the girls slipped out of them and stood up. Rocket found her belt on a table, and she tossed Mallory the key to the inhibitor collar. The pyrokinetic took the collar off and grinned as the familiar surge of energy flowed through her body.
"What are you doing here?" Blue Beetle asked.
Rocket shook her head. "We'll explain later, right now we need to get out of here. The cops are on their way."
"Wait, Armas went this way. We can't let him get away," Mallory said, already starting down the passageway. The others followed her as she ran top speed into the spark hallway. They ran until they got to another room, this one bigger than the last, and even more stocked with weapons.
"I'd stand down if I were you," someone said from above them.
The heroes looked up and saw Rey de las Armas standing above them with a huge gun in his hands. The girls looked at each other and they went into action. Mallory flew up, charging towards the gang leader. The gun went off, launching a grenade at the heroes on the ground. Rocket put them in a force field. The grenade went off, and Mallory made it to Armas and pulled him off the platform he was on. As soon as he was on the ground, Rocket put the bubble around him, trapping him. The girls smiled at each other, and Blue Beetle tilted his head.
"Not bad," he said.
"Thanks," Mallory said.
The group started back the way they came, planning to drop Armas off with his men in the smaller room. When they got to the room, Zatanna put a spell on the leader that filled the bubble with sleeping gas, and Rocket took it off.
"We really need to get out of here now," Zatanna said.
They nodded and started towards the door. That was when they heard a click and a gun go off behind them. The girls jumped and whirled around to see Blue Beetle slump to the ground, blood covering his shoulder. He'd jumped in front of Zatanna, taking the bullet for her.
"Guys, we just got here, but the cops are almost on top of the place. Are you still tied up?" Nightwing asked.
"No, but we're gonna need the bioship close. We're coming up, and we've got Beetle with us. He's shot," Rocket said.
They managed to drag him to the door, and Megan had the door to the bioship open right outside the mound. Conner took Beetle from the girls and the team ran into the ship and Megan took off just as the border police reached the trap door. They watched the scene disappear in the window as Megan flew the ship to the cave.
"What was he doing there in there?" Nightwing asked as he started working on the wound, applying pressure to it to help with the bleeding.
"I don't know, there wasn't a lot of time for chit chat," Rocket said.
"All I know is that he got us out of there, and he saved my life," Zatanna said, her face pale as she stared at the older hero.
"He took the bullet for you?" Gar asked. Zatanna nodded, hugging herself.
"Z, I'm so sorry. We shouldn't have split up. We're already stretched thin. This is my fault," Nightwing said.
Zatanna shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "This isn't anyone's fault. You can't blame yourself for everything bad that happens on a mission. Kaldur did that, and now he's dropped off the grid trying to come to terms with Tula's death when it wasn't his fault."
Nightwing's eyes widened slightly at her tone, but then he nodded and went back to focusing on the wound. Megan landed the ship in the hangar of the cave and the team ran out, bringing Blue Beetle to the medbay.
"Conner, I'm gonna need help stabilizing him. The rest of you try to get someone from the League down here," Nightwing said.
Mallory grabbed her phone off the counter and dialed Clark, silently praying that he would pick up. It went to voicemail, and she tried Flash next. Barry picked up on the first ring.
"Hey, Mallory, what's up?" he asked.
"We have Blue Beetle at the cave in medbay, he's got a bullet wound. We need someone to get down here now," she said.
"Ok, ok, I'm on my way. I'll call Batman and let him know what's going on."
"Thanks," she said, trembling in her voice.
"Yeah, no problem. And Mallory? Take a breath, everything's gonna be fine," he said, then he hung up. Mallory set her phone down with a shaky hand and took a deep breath, trying to calm the adrenaline pumping through her body.
"Did you get someone?" Zatanna asked.
"Yeah, Flash is on his way, and he said he'd get Batman to come too," she said. Zatanna nodded. "I'm still going to try to get in touch with Superman. Maybe we should get Gar something to do, though?"
Zatanna nodded. "I'll do that," she offered.
Mallory nodded her thanks and stepped to the side, putting a hand to her comm. "Superman here," Clark said after she called for him.
"Can you come to the cave? We have a situation," she said.
"I'll be there in two minutes," he replied, and signed off.
The zeta tube whirred to life, and Flash and Batman appeared. Flash immediately ran to medbay, but Batman stayed behind to get the full story. By the time the girls had explained what happened, Superman was there and he looked them over quickly.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"We're fine. Blue Beetle stepped in front of the bullet," Mallory said.
Batman and Superman went to the room and watched as Flash removed the bullet and stitched up the wound. Nightwing and Superboy came out and nearly ran into Batman and Superman.
"How is he?" Superman asked.
"He'll be fine. The bullet tore through some muscle, but it didn't hit any bones and it missed the lungs by an inch," Nightwing reported.
"How did it happen?" Batman asked.
"We split up. The girls went to find out how they were getting the guns into the country, and the rest of us went over the border to find the leader. We were just spread too thin, we're not used to working with so few people."
Mallory expected Batman to launch into a lecture on the spot, but he just nodded and let the boys walk away. When Flash finished dressing the wound, Batman and Superman went in and started talking to Blue Beetle. Superman nodded to the door, Blue Beetle smiled a little and shrugged. The men shook hands and the Leaguers came out a moment later.
"He's stable now. You can go talk to him if you want," Batman told them.
The team, minus Gar, went in and stood around the bed silently.
"Well, is this a social call, or do you want to ask me something?" Beetle asked with a smile.
Nightwing shrugged. "A little of both, I guess," he said with a grin. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I got shot in the shoulder, but I'll live," the man replied.
"Why were you there? How did you know about the passageway?" Mallory asked.
"Well, they've been selling their guns in El Paso, and I followed one of their distributors back there. I didn't know you were going to be there. I guess it was a lucky thing I decided on the direct approach instead of a stakeout," he said.
"Well, lucky for me, anyway. Not so much for you," Zatanna said quietly. "Thank you for what you did."
Beetle shrugged with his good shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'll be all right in a few weeks, I'm just glad the bullet didn't hit anything too important."
"I guess we kind of got off on the wrong foot the last time we met," Megan said.
"Maybe so. You kids really know what you're doing. I'm sorry I ever thought different," the man said.
Mallory smiled. "So, what did Batman say?" she asked.
Beetle smiled. "Well, they just thanked me for getting you out safely. Seems like they think real highly of you," he said.
"They must think pretty highly of you if they let you know it," Rocket mentioned.
Beetle shrugged, and he swung his legs off the bed and pulled off the monitors. "Well, if you'll just show me how to get out of here, I won't wear out my welcome," he said.
"Are you sure? You can stay here as long as you need," Megan offered.
"Thanks, but no. I've got to go to work in the morning."
"Work? You were just shot within an inch of your life!" Zatanna said.
Beetle chuckled. "Yeah, well, CEOs don't get days off."
"CEO?" Nightwing asked with a smile, and Mallory sensed that her friend already knew who was under the mask, and he was just dying for the secret to be out.
Beetle looked at the team and seemed to think about it for a moment, then he smiled. "Well, as good as you guys are, you'd probably figure it out anyway, and Batman already knew. You can call me Ted. Ted Kord." With that, he turned and went with Nightwing to the zeta tube, leaving the rest of the team staring after him, impressed.