I'm sure that most of you know, but Anarky is a real character in DC, so I thought it would be fun to do a mission with him and give a reason for the word to be misspelled as his name. Hope you like it, please review!
The next day, Mallory was in her training room when Zatanna came in and shut her program down. "What's up?" Mallory asked, landing in front of her friend.
"Green Lantern's in the training room looking for you. He's here for your training session," the magician said.
Mallory winced. "Oh, I forgot to tell him that I have a handle on it," she said.
Zatanna laughed. "Well, have fun with that," she said.
Mallory rolled her eyes. "Thanks, I can really feel your support here," she said sarcastically, fighting a smile.
"I try," Zatanna replied.
Mallory shook her head and walked past the magician, going to the training room. Hal was there, and he smiled when he saw here. "So, you didn't replace me, did you?" he asked playfully.
Mallory held her hands up. "Ok, I swear I was kidding when I said that," she started, and Hal tilted his head to the side. "What?" he asked. Mallory bit her lip. "Well, I kind of, um, I may have figured out how to control the super strength yesterday while you weren't here," she said, chancing a glance at the Leaguer.
"Who helped you?" he asked.
"Wonder Girl," Mallory replied.
Hal smiled. "Well, good, I'm glad you figured it out," he said.
Mallory raised her eyebrows. "Really? That's it? Wow, I thought you'd be mad or something," she said.
Hal shrugged. "Hey, I can't say I'm not cut to the quick, but I'm just glad you don't have to be afraid of yourself," he said with a grin.
He went from his suit to his civies and put his hands in his jacket pockets. "So, you got any food around here?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Yeah, we've always got some snacks around," she said, and they walked to the kitchen together to get a snack.
Later that day, Mallory was training with Donna when Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman zetaed to the cave. Mallory was using her superstrength nearly flawlessly with her hand to hand combat. The Leaguers watched in surprise as the pyrokinetic and the Amazon battled each other, pulses of energy coming off the shields at each hit. Donna eventually got the upper hand, and she slammed Mallory down to the ground. Mallory grunted and laid there a moment, gasping for breath.
Clark was beside her in a blink, one hand on her shoulder as she slowly sat up. "Torch, you ok?" he asked worriedly.
Mallory pushed him away gently, but he could sense that she was irritated at his reaction. "I'm fine, I just got the wind knocked out of me," she said, getting to her feet even though she was still breathing heavier than normal.
"I didn't know you could punch like that," Clark said after a moment.
Mallory shrugged. "Donna helped me figure out how to control it yesterday. Once I got that down, it wasn't much different than using my fire in a fight," she said.
Batman nodded. "Good, and it's just in time for your next mission," he said.
"I'll round up the team," Mallory offered, and she hurried off towards the rooms, where she knew at least Zatanna would be. Ten minutes later, the team stood in front of Batman while he briefed them for their mission.
"There's been recurring incidents with local governments across the country having some sort of political get together and being attacked. I believe that the attacks are connected, and they are coming increasingly closer to Washington, D.C. There is a big political rally there today, it's been announced for months, and I believe that this person or persons have had it as their main objective the whole time. I'm sending you in undercover to keep an eye on the proceedings," Batman said.
Nightwing nodded. "All right, we're on our way," he said. The team went to their rooms to change into civies, and Lagaan waited for them in the training room.
When they got on the bioship, he said, "So, I'm assuming that me and Little Fish are staying on the bioship, right?"
Nightwing sighed. "We'll need a lookout," he said, as if he thought he could convince the green boys that that was the real reason.
"Hey, I'm not staying behind," Gar said, and before Megan could say anything, he changed into a lizard. The Martian smiled and looked at Dick, asking if it was ok.
"Well, ok, Gar. Just don't get stepped on," he said.
Gar grinned, and Lagaan slumped in his seat, crossing his arms. "And once again, I'm discriminated against for being an Atlantean," he muttered.
Megan shook her head. "Lagaan, you know that if it were up to us, you could come. But we're going undercover, and we can't afford any unwanted attention being drawn to us," she said.
"Yeah, and your abilities are a big help in other situations. I mean, if we went on a mission underwater, my powers would be useless," Mallory said.
"Well, they would've before you got super strength," Lagaan shot back.
Mallory raised an eyebrow. "Says the guy who has super strength, super swimming, and can breathe underwater and see in the dark," Mallory said.
"Ok, that's enough. We're in position, ground team, let's go," Nightwing said, standing and zipping up his jacket. The others stood and filed off the ship into a parking lot, and Lagaan flew the ship back up to hover over the rally. "Megan, link us up," Nightwing said.
Megan nodded and linked the team. "Everyone online?" she asked. There was a chorus of yeses from the ground team. "Lagaan?" Nightwing asked. "Yeah, whatever, here," he said.
Dick looked at the others and sighed. "We weren't like that, were we?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Probably," she said with a smile.
"Ok, we're gonna start walking over to the rally. Lagaan, stay close, and if you see anything, let us know and hold your position until we check it out," Dick said.
"Yeah, ok," Lagaan replied.
Dick turned to the ground team. "Ok, Inferno, Zatanna, Rocket, and Wonder Girl, you go in together. SB, Miss M, Beast Boy, and I will follow in a few minutes."
The girls nodded and started walking. There was already a big crowd full of people holding signs and chanting for their candidates.
"We should split up more, cover more ground. We're not going to see anything if we're all grouped together like this," Raquel said.
"Fine, but be careful. We don't know how many people we're dealing with," Dick said.
The girls split up and moved around the crowd. Nothing seemed strange or particularly threatening, though.
"He's probably waiting for more people to show," Zatanna said.
"Yeah, but he should be here. Maybe look closer to the buildings," Dick suggested.
"I'll go," Mallory offered, and she gently pushed through the crowd towards the nearest building. "There's a guy hanging out on the porch that's looking a little suspicious," she said.
"Megan, meet Inferno at her position and check him out," Nightwing said.
Mallory saw her friend coming towards her and met her near a light pole. "The guy on the porch is just being kind of weird," she said. Megan nodded and closed her eyes to hide the glow as she read his mind.
"Well?" Nightwing asked after a moment.
"He's not the terrorist, he's just looking around," she reported.
Mallory sighed impatiently. "What's he waiting for? There has to be close to five hundred people here," she muttered.
"I don't know. Keep your eye out, though. He has to show his hand soon," Megan said, giving her a smile before turning to walk back into the crowd. She hadn't made it two feet, though, before Lagaan came on the link.
"Hey, I have a suspect coming in hot," he said.
"Where?" Conner asked.
"Left side of the crowd, he's moving towards the bandstand. I'll come give you a hand," Lagaan said.
"Negative, Lagoon Boy, hold your position. Miss M and Inferno can check it out," Nightwing said.
"Oh, Neptune's beard! You stick me up here so I can't be seen and give me some joke of a job to do, then won't let me do that job?" Lagaan complained.
They ignored the younger teammate's complaints and Megan and Mallory maneuvered through the crowd, working their way to the bandstand, but they were blocked before long by the crushing weight of the crowd. Megan stopped and ducked behind Mallory, camouflaging herself, then flew up to get a bird's eye view.
"Lagaan's right, this guy is definitely up to something," Megan said.
"Read his mind, find out what he's planning," Nightwing ordered.
They waited for a moment, then Megan came back on. "He's going to bomb the rally. He has grenades and guns on him," she said.
Mallory scanned the crowd, looking for the rest of her teammates, but she didn't see any of them. "Do we move?" she asked, her muscles tensing in preparation of the fight.
"Wait until he makes his move, just make sure no one in the crowd gets hurt," Dick said.
They watched the suspect mount the band stand, and the crowd settled into silence, waiting for him to speak. "You all came here to show your support for your candidate. Six hundred and thirty six men, women, and children turning out in support for this government," the guy started. Mallory raised an eyebrow as the crowd erupted into cheers. Where was he going with this?
"Well, why are you here?" the guy asked, his tone turning violent, and the cheers cut off abruptly, leaving the crowd in an uneasy silence. "They sit back and watch corporations steal from the poor, they make money for sitting up here deciding our lives for us. This is not how we were meant to live! It is not natural to have a government over us, telling us what we can and cannot do!" He opened his coat, revealing enough firepower for a small army strapped to his legs, waist, chest, back, around his neck. The crowd started running away, and Mallory planted her feet, determined not to get swept away with the crowd. "Down with the Government!" the guy, about twenty five, yelled, shooting the guns in the air. He pulled the pin out of a grenade and threw it into the crowd, and it landed on the ground near Mallory. "Anarchy is the only way!" the man continued.
"Yo, Anarchy!" Mallory called. Most of the crowd was a safe distance away now, revealing the young heroes in their costumes, thanks to Zatanna, spread out in front of him. Mallory waved to him, and he looked down at her. "I think you dropped this!" she called, and tossed the grenade back up to him.
"Inferno!" Megan exclaimed, but the grenade didn't go off, and Mallory gave her friend a look.
"I disarmed it, Miss M. Why would you think I would throw a live grenade at someone?"
Megan chuckled and shrugged. "Sorry," she said.
The young man jumped down from the band stand, a gun in each hand. "So what are you, the president's lap dogs' lap dogs?" he jeered, aiming the guns at them.
"We're just here to help," Nightwing tried, holding his hands up and taking a small step forward. "What's your name? Maybe we can still fix this."
The man looked at Mallory and narrowed his eyes. "Call me Anarchy for all I care," he said.
"Anarchy?" Dick repeated.
"Did I stutter? Anarchy, that's what I'm selling, ain't it? A-n-a-r-k-y."
Mallory and Zatanna exchanged a glance, and Gar turned from a lizard to his half monkey body. "Really, dude? I'm eleven, and even I know that's not how you spell that."
Dick glared at Gar as the man pointed his gun aggressively at them.
"What does it matter? We're all going out with a bang," he said, and he pulled the pins off of all the grenades he had on his vest. Dick took a step forward, but Anarky started shooting and the leader was forced to dive for cover under the band stand. Conner and Donna pressed forward until Donna was close enough to grab the guns, and Conner ripped the vest off the man and threw it into the air. He realized too late that it was sailing straight for the hovering bioship, and he jumped into the air, intercepting it and pushing off the ship. The grenades went off in his hand, and he came plummeting back to the ground, his clothes in tatters.
"Superboy!" Megan exclaimed. She flew to his side, but he pushed himself to his feet and nodded to the rest of the team. He was fine. They turned their attention back to their prisoner, his arm held firmly by Donna.
"Well, Anarky, you're about to get a backstage pass to some of our government's dealings," Nightwing said.
Anarky glared at them. "You're all just brainwashed, you're a bunch of idiots!" he yelled.
"Oh, we're the idiots? You just came up in here yelling about how you want anarchy, then misspelled it while you were trying to make a point," Rocket said, and Zatanna winced and said, "how embarrassing for you."
The team heard sirens coming, and Mallory rolled her eyes. "What is it with cops showing up after the situation's handled?" she asked.
Dick shrugged. "I don't know, but it's better than them showing up and getting under foot, believe me," he said.
Mallory nodded. "True. I guess I shouldn't complain too much."
They turned the prisoner over to the authorities, and when they were about to leave, one of the cops said, "Hey, not that I'm complaining or anything, but how come you all happened to be here at the same time?"
Mallory looked at her companions, remembering that the public didn't know about the team. "We were just attending the rally. It was just a right place right time kind of thing," she said.
He nodded and opened his mouth to ask something else, but the team split up, all going in different directions to make the story believable. They found zeta tubes across the city and zetaed back to the cave, another day saved.