Y'all, I'm fading fast. Wish me luck with finals! It's a good thing I got ahead with this story, or I wouldn't have been able to keep it up. Anyway, hope you like it, please review!
When Mallory woke up the next morning, most of the team was still asleep. She rolled off the sofa and pushed herself to her feet.
"What are you doing up this early?" Dick asked from the kitchen.
Mallory looked over at him and shrugged. "I have no idea," she said, walking over and sitting on a stool. He handed her a cup of coffee and she took a sip, realizing gratefully that he'd fixed it just the way she liked it. He wasn't wearing his shirt or his mask, and she noticed that his work shirt was on the stool next to hers. "You're not going to work at 4:30 in the morning, are you?" she asked.
Dick shrugged. "No, not exactly. My shift starts at 5:30," he said.
Mallory pressed her lips together, but she didn't say anything, and Dick clearly appreciated it. "Well, Donna clearly doesn't need much training. We'll be ready for our next mission when it comes," she said instead.
He nodded and turned to put away the coffee creamer. Mallory winced at the scars across his back. It wasn't like she didn't know they were there, but every time she saw them it reminded her how much worse Dick had it, and how hard it must be sometimes for him to keep his cheerful personality. She shook the thought out of her head, but the ache in her chest stayed, a protectiveness that she only felt for the boys and Dick taking hold of her. He turned back to face her and she took another sip of coffee so he wouldn't be able to see what she was thinking.
"Yeah, and hopefully we won't have a mission too soon," he replied.
Megan stirred on the sofa, and the two watched as she eased out from under Conner's hand and stretched, then joined them at the counter. "Morning," she said brightly.
"Morning," Dick replied.
The Martian moved around him to start fixing breakfast, and Dick took the hint and went to the other side of the counter, pulling his shirt on and taking another chug of his coffee. "Well, I should get going. I want to stop at my place and pick up a case file I 'borrowed'."
Mallory smiled. "Yeah, you'd better do that, before they notice that it's gone," she said.
Dick shrugged. "Hey, what they don't know won't hurt them, and in this case, it might help them."
Mallory shook her head, and Dick went to the zeta tube. "So, what are we going to do with Donna today?" she asked when the zeta tube shut back down.
Megan shrugged. "I don't know. I'd say we could train, but I'm still recovering from the simulation yesterday."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Mallory said, rubbing a bruise on her arm. "Is she gonna be living at the cave?"
"I don't think so, Wonder Woman would have said something if she were."
"Well, we could go do something fun, give her a taste of civilian life," Mallory suggested.
Megan looked over at the sleeping Amazon. "You know, I don't get the feeling that shopping's her thing," she said.
Mallory chuckled. "Well, we could show her around Happy Harbor, maybe get some lunch or something, and if she wants to come back here and train, you can offer Conner to her while the rest of us go to that spa in Metropolis."
Megan grinned. "Mallory, you are a genius," the Martian declared.
Mallory smiled. "Naturally," she said. They laughed, and Mallory gave her a hand finishing breakfast, waffles, before the others started to wake up.
By the time lunch rolled around, the team had shown Donna everything in the small town, and the Amazon was less than impressed, though she did at least try to be patient with it. When they finished eating, though, she suggested they go back to the cave to train. Megan and Mallory shared an amused look, and the Martian said, "You know, you and Conner could go back to the cave. We're not really going to be much competition for you without super strength."
Conner arched an eyebrow at his girlfriend. "Why am I the only one that should be stuck training all day?" he asked.
"I just told you, you're the only one with super strength," Megan replied.
"Not anymore. Mallory should come, too," Conner said.
Mallory opened her mouth to defend herself, but Zatanna beat her to it. "You know she can't control it," she said.
"Well, if she doesn't practice, she'll never be able to," Conner shot back.
Donna tilted her head and turned to face Mallory. "You have superhuman strength?" she asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Sometimes. It pretty much comes and goes whenever it wants," she said.
Donna nodded thoughtfully. "You know, I may be able to help you learn to control it. The Amazons, as you know, were blessed with such strength, but some blessings can also be a curse. We have a special meditation and exercise that helps us become one with our abilities, allowing us to use them whenever we see the need. I can teach you, if you would like."
Mallory exchanged a glance with the others, and Zatanna shrugged. Why not? "Um, yeah, sure," she said, smiling a little. "Thanks."
Donna nodded and smiled brightly, standing up. "Well, let's go," she said.
Mallory nodded and stood. She looked back at her friends and said, "have fun in Metropolis."
Megan smiled. "We will. We'll be thinking of you."
Mallory gave her a playful glare and followed Donna back towards the cave.
Donna brought Mallory to the pyrokinetic's training room and turned the lights off. She set some candles in a circle and sat inside of it, motioning for Mallory to sit across from her. Mallory eyes everything skeptically, but Donna smiled and said, "trust me, this may seem old fashioned, but it works."
Mallory nodded slowly and sat down cross legged. Donna instructed her to put her hands on her knees and close her eyes, and, after another raised eyebrow, Mallory did.
"Now, feel your presence. Let your mind and body just be in the moment," Donna said, her voice soothing. Mallory took a deep breath, her mind jumping to Hal. He'd be mad if he found out she actually had replaced him in one short day. That made her chuckle, and Donna sighed. "Inferno, you have to actually try for this to work," she said.
"You can call me Mallory, you know," Mallory said.
"Meditate," Donna ordered, her voice less soothing.
Mallory sighed and shut her eyes again. This time, when her mind tried to move on, she kept it blank. After a few minutes, it was easy to just focus on herself in the moment. It was amazing, how much she could feel. She felt everything she was touching, the floor against her legs, her hands on her knees, the clothes on her skin. She smelled the faint smoke from the candles, and she felt the energy coursing through her veins. She felt the outside pull of the small flames surrounding her, and she knew that if she wanted, she could make them into bonfires.
"Do you feel your power?" Donna asked.
"I feel my fire," Mallory replied.
"Is there something that makes your strength come out?" Donna asked.
"Anger, mostly," Mallory said.
Donna sucked in a breath. "That is dangerous. With this meditation technique, you can fix that. For now, do whatever you have to until you can feel the strength, and tell me when you can feel it," she instructed.
Mallory took another breath and dug deeper, trying to find the strength that lay beneath the flames. Images of people she loved and hated flashed in front of her eyes, all of the fears, betrayals, and angers she associated with each coming with them until she could feel the fire in her morph into a solid form, and she felt the tension in her muscles that meant she could throw her 'super punch'.
"I can feel it," she said.
"Good. Now, find your compass, something that brings you calm, something in your life that you trust."
The faces flashed in front of her eyes again. Peter and Dick, there was too much fear and concern there. Roy and Kaldur, too much anger and worry. Her parents, Clark, and the other Leaguers, she felt a strange, faint resentment of that she'd never known she felt before. Conner and Artemis were too unstable, Megan, Zatanna, and Raquel too cheerful. She saw Wally, and she realized that she felt more than a little betrayed by him leaving, no matter how much she understood the decision. Brek, there were too many emotions, regret, betrayal, sadness, longing. She had to push him out of her mind with force. The face that she settled on surprised her, but the more she thought about it, the less surprised she was to be looking at Isaiah's face, his eyes as bright as ever.
"I think I have it," she said quietly.
"All right, now bring that compass to the surface, use it as a trigger for your strength instead of the anger. Your associating their calming presence with the strength will rewrite the signals, and it will allow you more control of this power instead of only being able to use it in a blind rage."
Mallory did as her new friend said, and when she felt the burning in her subside, she opened her eyes. "I think it worked," she said.
Donna smiled. "Well, there is only one way to find out," she said.
They stood, and Mallory put the candles out by closing her fist. Donna flipped the lights on and they went out to the training room.
"Try to hit my shield with your super strength," she said.
Mallory hesitated. "I don't know, are you sure it'll hold?" she asked.
"It is indestructible, do not worry," she assured her.
Mallory nodded and shut her eyes, thinking about her new compass. When she opened them, they were red, and she ran towards Donna, raised a hand, and swung her fist into the shield. The Amazon slid backwards a few feet, her feet skidding across the floor. When she stopped, she lowered the shield and smiled. "Well, Inferno, I believe you are now in control of every part of yourself."
Mallory looked at her fist and turned the strength back to her more familiar fire. She looked back up and returned Donna's grin. "Let's see what I can do," she said, and Donna nodded and got into a fighting stance.
I'm serious, I would love some reviews. It would make my day if I checked my stats later and saw three or four reviews. Just saying. :)