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The next day, Green Lantern came to the cave just as Black Canary was leaving. "Well, Mallory, you ready for some training?" he asked cheerfully, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Mallory stared at him, still trying to catch her breath from her last sparring session with Nightwing. "Gee, that's just what i need right now," she said sarcastically.
"Great! Now, do you know what you did to tap into that strength before?"
Mallory shrugged. "I think so," she said.
"Ok," he said, and he built a shield with his ring, "show me."
Mallory nodded and backed up a few steps. She called her fire to just below the surface and gave it a moment to grow. When she couldn't take it any more, she ran towards the shield and slammed her fist down on it. "OW!" she yelled, holding her hand.
Hal walked over and scanned it. "No broken bones. Go again?"
She waved her hand in the air, trying to shake the pain out, and nodded. She tried again to call the strength up, but this time she just ended up shooting flames at the shield. Hal tilted his head. "Is this where I'm supposed to give you an inspirational speech or something?" he asked.
Mallory chuckled. "Nope, that's Superman's thing. Just stand there and be quiet. I'll get it eventually."
He nodded and put the shield back up, and Mallory spent the better part of two hours hitting it every way she knew how. Finally, she when she couldn't find the strength to lift her arm anymore, she stopped, panting slightly. Hal let the shield down and tilted his head. "So…what aren't you doing?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "I don't know. I'm doing it the same way I did it yesterday, but it's not working."
He shrugged. "Maybe it's more of an instinct thing, you have to be provoked for it to come out," he suggested.
"Provoked," Mallory repeated to herself.
"What?" Hal asked.
"I have an idea. Put the shield back up," she said. He did, and she shut her eyes and thought about everything in her life that she was scared of, everything that made her feel out of control, everything that wasn't fair. She thought about her fire, and her looming death, and the way she'd lost Brek, and how she would probably never know what it was like to have a normal life or a family of her own. Soon, the familiar anger was burning in her chest, her fire begging to be let out. She opened her eyes, and focused on the shield. The muscles in her arm twitched, wanting to hit something, wanting to burn something. She ran towards the shield and grunted as her fist slammed into the green light. Hal grunted and slid back a few feet, a pulse coming from where she'd hit the shield. When she straightened, she smiled in satisfaction. The shield had spiderweb cracks coming from the dent where she'd hit it, though Hal was already fixing it. When he realized that she wasn't going to hit it again, he let it down and grinned.
"Good job, Torch!" he said.
Mallory narrowed her eyes. "Don't call me Torch," she said.
Hal shrugged. "Noted. So, know what you did this time?"
"Yeah, I provoked myself," she said.
Hal smiled. "Ok, I'm going to pretend like I know what you're talking about."
Mallory smiled. "Yeah, you do that. Want to try again?"
Hal shook his head. "No, you've been going strong for a while, you should probably take a break. I'll be back tomorrow, though."
"Wait, I need to try again. I need to know if that's what cause it," she said, her voice desperate.
Hal gave her a concerned look. "Inferno, you can't learn everything in one session. These things take time and effort, and patience."
Mallory sighed. "I know, I'm just- scared. I don't want to hurt someone by accident. I need to know how to control this."
Hal put a hand on her shoulder and steered her towards the doorway. "Mallory, you can barely do it on purpose, and the only times you've ever done it on accident were when you were severely provoked and your firepower was inhibited. I think you'll be fine."
She nodded, thinking that over. "Hey, thanks for doing this. Superman would be too worried about me to let me concentrate," she said.
Hal nodded, walking with her to the living room. "No problem. Honestly, I felt a little responsible for you finding out right now, so I figured it was the least I could do."
Mallory chuckled. "Well, I don't know how you figure that, but thanks."
He went to the zeta tube and paused befre punching it his coordinates. "You know, I know a little something about being afraid of your purpose. You just have to take a breath, remember why you're doing this, and go ahead with it."
Mallory raised an eyebrow. "You? Afraid? Yeah right. You're famous for being fearless," she said.
Hal cocked his head to the side and grinned. "I'll let you in on a secret. I'm not fearless. I just know how to control my fears and make sure they don't control me."
He hit the button and the zeta tube took him away, leaving Mallory to think about what he'd said.
That afternoon, the old team was gathered at the cave talking about training exercises they could do with Lagaan when the computer announced Wonder Woman. She came through the zeta tube and walked over to the group in the living room.
"Hey, how was the UN?" Dick asked.
"It was complicated, but I believe a compromise will be worked out soon," she replied. "How have you been these past few days?"
They shrugged. "Fine, same old," Raquel said.
Wonder Woman tilted her head. "Really? I heard that Inferno has had an interesting revelation since I left."
Mallory shrugged. "I'm working it out, it'll be fine."
The older woman nodded and sat down in an empty chair. "Good, because I have something to discuss with you," she said. The team exchanged a glance. "I have decided to take on a protege," she said.
"Sorry, but I think we're all spoken for," Dick said with a smile.
Diana shook her head. "I have already found her, but she is not educated in how to do things in your society. I was hoping that you would take her in and show her what it is like to be part of a more diverse team, and to instill your values in her. Amazons are trained to go for the lethal blow, and I know from experience that it can be hard to rewrite your instincts. I am hoping she will take it better from you than from someone in the League, even me."
Dick looked at the others, all of whom shrugged. "Sure, you can bring her here whenever. We were planning on doing a training exercise anyway," he said.
Diana smiled and stood. "Thank you," she said.
"So who is she?" Mallory asked.
Wonder Woman turned back to them, one hand on the computer. "Her name is Donna Troy."