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A few days later, Mallory and Conner were sparring when Dick came into the cave alone. Conner grabbed Mallory's arm, intending to throw her down, but she wrapped her legs around his neck and brought him down with her, popping back to her feet quickly. The clone's status update came up, and Mallory grinned triumphantly and offered her friend a hand up.
"Canary teach you that?" he asked.
Mallory shook her head. "No, I saw Wren use it on one of the robots, and I've been practicing. Hey, where are the new recruits?" she asked, looking at their leader.
Dick shrugged. "Probably in Gotham. They're still training under Bats."
The three teens went to the kitchen and Mallory sat at the counter while the boys looked for something to eat.
"So, what, they're just gonna show up for missions? They don't have to come for training or anything?" she asked.
"It's fine, Mal. Believe me, they're still going to be training. They're still settling in to Gotham. I'm sure they'll get to know you guys eventually."
Mallory narrowed her eyes, but she kept her mouth closed. Dick came out of the refrigerator with a can of soda, popping the top and closing the door of the fridge at the same time. When he saw her face, he gave her a playful exasperated face and sighed. "Oh, come on, Mallory. What now?" he asked. He expected this to earn him a smile, but the pyrokinetic's concerned expression didn't change.
"Dick, they're part of the team. If we don't spend time with each other, we won't be able to trust each other in the field."
"Mallory, you went on your first mission with the team just a few minutes after meeting us for the first time, and everything worked out fine," he pointed out.
Mallory shook her head. "That was different. I was alone the whole time, all I had to do was keep a fire going. But think about the training session right after it. Conner and I had problems with each other, and I almost killed all of you because of it. And the only way we worked through those problems was having to spend time together and rely on each other. Besides, the team was bigger back then, so there were more people to pick up the slack if someone wasn't doing their part."
"The team's bigger now than it was when you first joined," Dick said, looking at Mallory with a confused expression on his face.
"Not by my count. There were seven of us, now there are only six."
"I think you're forgetting Gar and Lagaan in that count," Dick said.
"No, I'm not. Lagaan's just as bad as Wren and Robin, and I know Gar's gotten better, but he still can't be on an assignment alone. They're both still green." Dick opened his mouth to point out the pun, and Mallory made her eyes flash red and said, "don't even think about it." He closed his mouth, but the grin stayed on his face. "Look, I'm sorry I brought it up, I really don't feel like having this conversation today," she said.
Dick came around the counter and sat on the stool beside her. "I'll get them to spend some time around here if it'll make you feel better. But is that really what's bothering you?" he asked.
She could feel Conner looking at her as well, and she rolled her eyes and stood up. "Yeah, sure. I'm gonna go see if Z's in her room."
She went to her friend's room and knocked on the door. Zatanna told her to come in, and she pressed the button on the wall, making the doors slide open.
"Hey, whatcha doing?" Mallory asked, walking in.
Zatanna was sitting on her bed with a holographic laptop. "Nothing, just looking at some jobs," she replied.
Mallory flopped onto the bed on her stomach and rolled to her side. "Anything good?" she asked.
Zatanna shook her head. "No. Honestly, I'd probably do better just doing magic shows for kids' birthday parties. And at the rate my life is going, that's probably what's gonna end up happening." Mallory raised her eyebrows in dull surprise. Her friend was a realist, sure, but she wasn't usually this depressed. But then, neither was she.
Zatanna grunted in frustration and turned the hologram off, putting the platform on the bedside table. "So, why are you in a bad mood?" she asked.
Mallory sighed. "I don't know, I just feel like I'm in a rut. Im sick of being around the cave all the time."
"So go spend a few days with your parents," Zatanna suggested.
Mallory shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. But I'm kind of avoiding Peter right now. I know I have to talk to him, but I don't know what to say."
"Well, you can't put it off forever," her friend said.
Mallory rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I don't want to think about that today."
"Well, it's something to do, anyway," the magician mentioned.
"That's the problem. I don't feel like doing anything. Ugh, I feel so old, and I'm not even old enough to drink yet!"
Zatanna laughed at the dramatic way Mallory threw an arm over her eyes. "Yeah, I've been feeling like that too, lately," she said.
"You know what I think?" Mallory said.
"That we miss Wally and Artemis?" Zatanna asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Well, I was gonna say that we need to go patrol in Gotham, but yeah, that too."
"We could do both. Let's go visit Artemis, and we can drop by Bludhaven when it gets dark, give Dick a hand."
Mallory sighed. "Ok, might as well, I don't have anything better to do," she said. She went to her room and put on her suit and jeans and a t-shirt on top, then met Zatanna in the living room.
"Where are you two going?" Conner asked, his voice uninterested as he flipped through the TV menu.
"We're going to Wally and Artemis's place," Zatanna replied.
"Tell um to come back, Wally's replacement is getting on my nerves," he said.
Mallory chuckled. "Will do," she said, "but he's been here for a month, you'd think you'd be used to him by now." Conner rolled his eyes, and the girls laughed and went to the zeta tube.
When they showed up at their friends' door, they realized that they hadn't even texted them to let them know they were coming.
"Do we text them or just knock?" Zatanna asked.
"Well, we're already here, so…" Mallory said, rapping on the door. They heard a muffled complaint and soft footsteps, then Artemis asked who it was.
"It's us," Zatanna replied, "Now open the door before I magic it open."
The door swung open and Artemis grinned. "Hey, guys! What are you doing here?" she asked, giving them a hug and letting them in.
"We were bored, so we decided to get out of the cave," Zatanna said. "Sorry we didn't text you, we just decided to come like ten minutes ago."
"Oh, don't worry about it. We weren't doing anything, anyway," she said.
Brucely came darting out of the bedroom, yipping happily as he came to inspect the new arrivals. "Hey, Bud, how you doing?" Mallory asked the puppy, bending down to pet him. Wally came out of the bedroom a second later with a laptop in one hand and a notebook in the other. When he saw the girls, his face broke into a smile.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked, opening his arms.
Mallory gave him a quick hug. "Honestly, we came to beg you to come back," she said with a smile.
Wally laughed. "Why? What happened?" he asked.
Mallory sighed dramatically. "Lagaan's so annoying. He acts like you, but with less charm," she said.
Artemis wrinkled her nose in playful disgust. "Ugh, you poor things," she said. Wally glared at her playfully, and she smiled and scooped up the dog.
"He's always flirting with Megan, really I'm surprised Conner hasn't punched him all the way to Smallville and back. And we finally met Batman's new Robin."
Wally nodded. "Yeah, Dick told me," he said. "But he said it's working out fine."
"Well, maybe, but the team isn't fun anymore," Mallory said.
Wally grinned. "Aww, so you do miss me," he said.
Mallory's face got overly serious. "Desperately, as much as I hate to admit it," she said.
Wally laughed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mal, but domestic life agrees with me. I haven't had to get up early once since we quit the team, and we don't have to see Batman all the time," Wally said.
Mallory rolled her eyes. "I know, I know, rub it in our faces, why don't you," she said.
The others laughed, and Artemis tilted her head. "Is it really all that bad?" she asked.
Zatanna nodded. "Mallory may have exaggerated a little," she said, giving her friend a look, "but the whole dynamic of the team has changed. We're lucky we haven't really had a mission yet, I don't think we could work together on it right now."
The four of them settled on the sofa and talked for a few hours, and Mallory couldn't believe how much better she felt by the time the sun went down. She knew she'd missed her friends, but she hadn't realized how much she needed them.
When she and Zatanna were ready to go, Artemis and Wally went to the door with them to say goodbye. Wally wrapped Mallory in a quick hug, and when he let go, he looked at her and Zatanna, his face dead serious. "Be careful," he said.
The girls nodded and they started walking down the street. When they looked back, they smiled at the silhouette of the couple standing in the doorway, Artemis holding their dog and Wally putting one arm around Artemis and petting Brucely with the other. They went to the nearest zeta tube and put in the coordinates for Bludhaven.
Mallory took her civies off to reveal her costume underneath, and Zatanna just magiced herself into her uniform. They flew over the city and found several robberies in progress in their search for Nightwing. When they finally saw his dark form darting across a roof, they flew towards him and landed, running alongside him.
"Hey, Nightwing, who are we chasing?" Zatanna asked.
He looked between them in surprise, but said, "Some guy just robbed the bank, that's his car down there."
Mallory looked at the black SUV on the street and grinned. "Allow me," she said, and she jumped off the roof, flying in front of the car and landing in the road. She lit herself on fire and sent flames across the pavement. When the car got to the heated part of the road, the tires melted and the car swerved to a stop in front of her. She welded the doors shut and waved at her friends on the roof. Their faces changed, and Mallory managed to put a fire shield up before the first gun went off. Zatanna and Nightwing came down to the street, and before Zatanna uttered a sleeping spell, one of the guys in the car had some choice words to say about heroes moving into Bludhaven. When the men in the car were unconscious, Nightwing looked at his friends and crossed his arms.
"Ok, so what are you doing here?" he asked.
"We were bored, and we figured you might appreciate a hand," Zatanna replied.
Dick sighed. "You know I don't need help, right?"
"Yeah, of course, but this is a big city with a lot of criminals, and you share better than Batman," Mallory replied, earning a signature grin from her friend.
"Well, you two can take the east side, I'll stick to downtown," he said. Zatanna saluted and they split up.
"See, I told you this was what we needed," Mallory said as they flew off to their section of the city, a new sense of excitement in them as they anticipated the rest of the night.