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Two days later, Mallory was in the training room with Green Lantern, trying to get her strength to come. In the three days that she'd been training, she'd only managed to get her "superpunch", as Gar had started calling it, to come out twice, when she was able to make herself mad to the point of not thinking straight. Today, though, it just wouldn't come, no matter what she tried.
They heard the zeta tube come on in the living room, and Hal let down his shield and said, "let's call it a day, huh?"
Mallory nodded and they went to the living room. The rest of the team was there, and Mallory saw Wonder Woman in the middle of the group. Nightwing turned when he heard them come in and waved. "Hey, Inferno, come meet Wonder Girl!" he said.
Mallory walked over and joined the group. The newest addition was facing away from her, talking to Megan. When she turned, Mallory's jaw dropped in surprise. She looked almost exactly like Wonder Woman. The first thing that crossed Mallory's mind was that she could be her clone.
"Inferno, this is my protege, Wonder Girl," Diana said.
Mallory nodded to the girl. "You can call me Mallory," she said.
"I am Donna Troy. I am honored to be included in your troupe," she said.
Mallory smiled. "We're glad to have you. But we call it a team."
Donna nodded slowly and looked around. "How do you fight under these conditions?" she asked.
"What's wrong with it?" Gar asked, looking around.
"It is so cluttered, and comfortable," she replied.
"Oh, this isn't where we fight. This is where we hang out. The training room is through there," Dick explained.
"Hang out?" Donna repeated, and Dick shook his head and said, "We'll get to that later. Do you want a tour of the cave?"
Donna shook her head. "I think I would rather spar with you. It is important for team members to be familiar with each others' fighting maneuvers."
Zatanna grinned. "Ok, let's go." Wonder Woman went with the team, but Hal stayed behind.
"You don't want to see Conner and Donna fight?" Mallory asked.
Hal shook his head. "Nah, I'ma head out. I can't come tomorrow, but I'll be here Wednesday for training," he said.
Mallory nodded. "K. Don't get mad if I replace you, though."
Hal grinned. "You'd better not replace me, after all the time I have invested in this," he warned lightheartedly.
Mallory shrugged. "We'll see," she said, walking to the simulation room. When she got there, the team was getting ready for the fight. She joined Zatanna and Rocket at the edge of the room to provide air coverage, and Megan, Gar, and Lagaan went to the other end of the room. Dick set the training program and jogged to the middle of the room with Conner and Donna. The hologram transformed the room from an empty metal box to a city street.
Nothing happened for a moment, and Donna crossed her arms impatiently. "Where is the fight?" she asked.
Nightwing smiled. "Wait for it," he said. The next second, the ground shook beneath their feet. Mallory flamed up, preparing for the fight, and Donna readied her sword and shield. The ground shook again, harder this time, and Conner turned to the leader.
"Nightwing, what level did you set this thing to?" the clone asked.
Dick grinned. "Fifteen," he said casually.
"What?!" Megan squeaked. The team had been working up on the levels, and so far they'd only made it to level nine.
"Hey, this is the best way for everyone to get to know each others' fighting techniques," he replied.
Before anyone could say anything else, a huge robot appeared over the buildings. Even Dick stared at it in surprise. It was as big as a building, and its eyes were lighting up to shoot them.
"Move!" Mallory yelled, flying for cover behind a building. The others dove for cover right before the lasers shot down to the street. Megan linked the team and they regrouped in an alley.
"What's the plan?" Gar asked.
"Gar, Lagaan, Conner, you get the legs, Mallory, Megan, Rocket, you get the head. The rest of us are on distraction, keep him from noticing the other two groups," Nightwing said.
The team nodded and split up. Mallory flew up, flanked by Miss Martian and Rocket. She shot flames at the robot, getting his attention, and his eyes started heating up. She put up a fire shield, but at the last second flew up. The robot followed her with his eyes, and while his head was tilted up, Megan used telekinesis to try and disconnect the cords in the neck. She managed to get a few wires out before the robot realized what was happening and snapped its head back down, reaching for the Martian. Rocket put her in a bubble before the fist closed, and Mallory backed away, hovering away from the fight to get an objective view of it.
The ground team was attacking. Gar had turned into a rhino and was ramming the feet, Lagaan was blown up and punching on the other foot, and Conner was jumping up, going for the knees. Nightwing was throwing everything he had at it from the top of a smaller building, Zatanna was levitating behind it, enacting a spell that sounded like it was supposed to deprive it of its limbs, though Mallory was still having trouble understanding the backwards words. The one that surprised her was their new recruit. Donna was ferocious, her sword wielded, jumping from buildings to the robot, slashing through the metal. Mallory saw a wire hanging out of the stomach and flew down next to Donna.
"Wanna switch?" she asked with a smile.
Donna nodded and jumped from where she was holding on to the stomach to the robot's chest. Mallory rubbed her hands together and reached for the wire. An electric shock went through her and she let out a yell, but then she clenched her teeth together and glared at her task through the flames leaping from her eyes. She pushed heat through the wire to the rest of the machine until the inside of it started to glow white as the robot overheated.
"Get clear!" Mallory yelled through the link, looking around,making sure she could account for all of her teammates. They regrouped a block away, and they could see that the robot was seconds from blowing up.
"Where's Gar?" Megan asked. The team looked around for their youngest member, but he wasn't with them. They looked back out at the scene of the fight and saw the young hero laying on the ground, unconscious.
"Lagaan, you left him behind?" Conner yelled.
"I thought he was behind me!" Lagaan yelled back.
Conner held up a hand and was about to jump over to collect the boy when the first explosion knocked the team off their feet.
"Gar!" Megan yelled.
Donna ran towards the explosions, and the next thing the team knew she was over Gar. The next explosion was the robot's head, and shrapnel started raining down on them. Donna held her shield up to protect herself and Gar, but then Mallory, Zatanna, and Rocket were there. Mallory and Rocket had their shields up, and Zatanna was holding a spell, a shield of her own filling the chinks in theirs. Donna peeked out from under her shield, and the other girls smiled at her.
"We got you, go!" Raquel said.
Donna nodded and gathered the boy in her arms, taking off for the building the rest of the team was behind. As soon as she was clear, Mallory and Zatanna moved closer to Rocket and let down their shields. Raquel changed her shield to a force bubble around them and flew them back to the team in time for them to put their shields up once more to protect the team from the final explosion as the rest of the robot was destroyed in a final, monstrous explosion. They shut their eyes and turned away from the explosion until the last of the shrapnel hit the shields, either melting or bouncing off. When the shields came down, Nightwing looked at the team, his trademark grin on his face.
"That wasn't so bad," he said through pants.
Megan glared at him, her arms and torso still wrapped around her little brother. They heard a battle cry before they'd even caught their breath, and now everyone was glaring at Nightwing, except Donna, who was looking around the corner to see what the new threat was. "It would seem that we have more troubles now," she said.
Mallory sighed and accepted Conner's offered hand up. "What kind of apocalypse did you put us in?" she asked.
"A robotic one, apparently," Dick replied after joining Donna to see what was coming for them. The rest of the team looked out and saw hundreds of man sized robots coming their way. Gar was coming too, and as soon as he saw what was coming he turned into an elephant and nodded to the others. They readied themselves and charged out from their cover, meeting the robots halfway and taking them out.
Gar ran through the army, trampling the machines as he went. Lagaan and Conner were smashing them at the front. Nightwing threw everything he could at them, but he ran out fast and started just fighting them. Megan and Mallory each took a section towards the back, taking out large amounts at a time. Rocket and Zatanna were in the middle, and Donna was at the front with Conner and Lagaan, her sword and shield out, slashing through the machines violently.
When it came down to just about twenty or so robots, the team landed at the front to do hand to hand combat. They found out that Donna was just as skilled with that as she was with her sword. When that wave ended, Mallory and Zatanna sank to the ground, exhausted.
"We are never doing this again," Zatanna panted.
"No argument here," Raquel replied.
They felt another vibration, and Mallory groaned. "Really?" she muttered. The next wave came into view, robots of all shapes and sizes coming towards them, Toyman in the middle. Mallory and Zatanna got up and wearily got ready for the fight, but the hologram city froze and started to disappear until they were back in the metal simulation room.
Wonder Woman walked in, a smile on her face. "I believe that is enough training for one day," she said. The team nodded enthusiastically and walked out of the room behind the Leaguer. "I trust that Donna is in good hands. I am needed at the watchtower," she said.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll show her around the cave and everything," Megan said. Diana nodded her thanks and went to the zeta tube.
"Well, I guess it's tour time," Zatanna said.
Mallory looked around. "You know, I think Megan has that covered. While she shows Donna around, we can start setting up a movie," she suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm beat," Nightwing said.
"You don't get to complain. You're the one that put us through it in the first place," Zatanna said.
Dick smiled. "Hey, was I complaining?" he asked.
The magician rolled her eyes, and the team, except for Megan and Donna, went to the living room. Zatanna and Mallory went to the kitchen to get the snacks, and the others settled on the couches to pick a movie.
"It has to be a good one, this might be the first movie Donna's ever seen," Gar pointed out.
Mallory came into the living area with a bag of pretzels and a plate of brownies in her hands. She put the plate on the coffee table and tossed the bag to Dick. "Did you guys notice anything strange about Donna?" she asked, broaching the subject carefully.
"Like what?" Lagaan asked.
"She means, she looks just like Wonder Woman," Conner said.
Mallory nodded. "So it's not just me who thinks that's weird," she said.
"I noticed it, but it doesn't necessarily mean she's, you know," Raquel said.
Zatanna brought in two big bowls of popcorn and sat on the sofa, staring at Dick. Mallory realized what she was doing and fixed her gaze on the leader, and within three seconds, everyone in the room was looking at Nightwing. He pretended not to know what was going on and tilted the bag of pretzels to Mallory. "Want some?" he asked.
"Spill it, Wing," Mallory said.
Dick grinned and started to dump the bag on the floor. Mallory grabbed the top before anything came out and snatched the bag out of his hand. "You know what I mean," she said, fighting a smile.
Nightwing sighed. "Fine, she's got a bit of a past," he said.
"Like what?" Conner asked.
"Like, she's Wonder Woman's clone. Magala used some magic mirror thing to clone Wonder Woman. She wanted the clone to take Wonder Woman down, but Diana got through to her, and she took her on as a protege."
"So, you knew about her before Wonder Woman came to us about adding her to the team," Zatanna clarified.
"Well, yeah, didn't you?" he asked. The others shook their heads. "You guys don't watch the news much, do you?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Only Metropolis and Central. If there's something going on somewhere else, Bats'll call us in," she said, and the others nodded in agreement.
Dick smiled. "Good to know. I guess I'm gonna have to get in the habit of doing that."
Megan and Dona came in from the rooms, and the team settled in to watch The Lion King, Gar's choice. While the opening song was on, Donna pulled her legs up and rested her back on the arm of the couch, her head leaning on the back cushions. Mallory grinned and leaned closer to Dick and Zatanna.
"She's gonna fit in great," she said, nodding to the Amazon. They smiled and turned their attention back to the screen.
I really want some reviews, I need something to help me get through finals :). What's your favorite type of chapter? Who is your favorite character and least favorite? Questions or comments on the story, plots? Characters that you think need more time in the forefront? Leave a review and let me know!