I'm really bad at naming the chapters, but I hope the chapter's good. It was hard to figure out what to do with this chapter because it is really just paving the way for the next important event, but hopefully it's not too bad. Please review!
All right, we all know the mission, let's get going," Captain Atom said to the small team in the watchtower. Mallory looked around at the others, who nodded and went to the zeta tube as a group. They came out in a military building just outside the South Relasia border and flew to the spot where the two countries would be meeting them.
"What's the deal with them lately?" Mallory asked on the way.
"What do you mean?" Hawk Woman asked, stretching her wings as she caught the wind.
Mallory shrugged, keeping her fire as much to herself as she could so her colleague's feathers wouldn't get singed. "A few years ago they signed the peace treaty, so what happened?"
"How do you not know about an entire war?" Icon asked.
Mallory sighed at the condescension in his voice, and she wondered what Darius had thought the first time he'd met him. "Well, I knew about the war, obviously, but I never really understood what started it." The other Leaguers, except for Captain Marvel, gave her a unified look of disappointment, and she shook her head. "Sorry, I've been a little preoccupied lately," she said.
Captain Atom sighed heavily, like Mallory not knowing the political status of every country in the world was just too much for him to bear. "North Relasia violated the treaty when they sent a team to South Relasia under the pretext of scientific observation, and they were caught trying to sabotage the South's underground missile launcher," he explained.
Mallory nodded. It sounded pretty cut and dry, and incredibly stupid, which was probably why the UN had stepped in and ended the war in only a few months, and why they had asked the League to send some members to help with the cleanup. The sooner the two countries signed a new treaty, the safer the other countries would be.
"All right, here we are," Captain Marvel announced.
"Yes, we can see that," Hawk Woman said.
Mallory hid her smirk at Captain Marvel's offended face. She admired Hawk Woman, she was brave and an excellent fighter, a true warrior, but on occasion, Mallory had seen her be extremely compassionate. She didn't put up with the little things, though, something Mallory had found out the hard way when she'd answered her sarcastically during her first week on the League. The group landed just outside the border, where two squads of military were protecting the ambassadors of each country. Neither side looked happy to see them.
"Some welcome wagon," Mallory muttered.
"It wasn't exactly their choice for us to be here," Captain Marvel replied.
"You come to help, yet your team talks about us as if we are not here. We will not stand for this insult," the general in the North Relasian uniform yelled.
"Of course, our apologies, General Chu," Captain Atom said politely.
"I assure you," Hawk Woman said, her eyes sliding into a side glare at Inferno and Captain Marvel, "it won't happen again." Malloy nodded as respectfully as she could, and the general nodded reluctantly.
"You will follow us. The leaders are gathered in the no man's land to meet you," the South Relasian general said. The group followed the small army to a building in the gap between the two countries where they were ushered in and put into a small room. "You'll be seen shortly," General Chu told them before closing the door behind him.
As soon as the door shut, Hawk Woman, Captain Atom, and Icon turned on the two troublemakers. "We shouldn't have to remind you how serious this mission is. This outreach program will determine the future relations of all of the countries in the world," Hawk Woman said, her fingers tightening around the handle of her mace. Captain Marvel visibly gulped.
"You should both know better. Inferno, your role at this point is to observe. And Marvel, if I'd known that having people closer to your age would be a bad influence on you, I wouldn't have voted for the three of them to be put on the League," Captain Atom added.
Mallory winced. That one hurt, and from the look on Billy's face, bringing up the fact that he was closer in age to Beast Boy was a major blow. "Sorry," she said, trying to save some face and keep Captain Marvel from having to answer, "I wasn't trying to imply anything. It's just that I'm still getting used to working with the League. On the team, we were always talking, whether it was about the mission or not. It's hard to adjust to working in silence and having to have a filter in the field."
Before her superiors could answer, the door opened and the five of them turned to face it. "The leaders will see you now," a young woman in traditional dress said. The heroes followed her to another room where the major leaders of each country were seated at two separate tables. There was one camera set up in the corner, and Mallory wasn't sure if it was to record the meeting for legal reasons or if it was from the press.
"We would like to start off by saying that we appreciate the effort it took you to come out here to help us restore order after our latest disagreement," the leader of South Relasia said.
Captain Atom nodded respectfully, taking a small step forward so that he was in front of the others. "It's our pleasure, sir," he said.
"We would also like to remind you that this was not our idea, and we will not hesitate to end any actions that seem to be disrespectful or harmful to either of our countries. You are here to help us restore order by cleaning up battle sites, no more," the man continued. The leaders of North Relasia nodded, and Mallory bit back a smile as she thought, "well, at least they're agreeing on something."
"Of course, sir. We understand," Captain Atom said.
The leaders nodded, and the two generals stepped forward. "We'll bring you to the sites," the South Relasian general said, and they were led out to some army trucks parked outside.
Mallory had seen plenty of explosions, fights, and injuries in her life, heck, she'd been directly involved in most of the situations, but none of them could have prepared her for the scene on the first battlefield that they were brought to. There were still fires raging around from the fighting that had ended days ago, there were temporary hospitals set up where the more severe injuries that couldn't be moved were being treated. Some of the injuries dredged up memories of the dead genomorphs she'd seen at the Cadmus black site when she and the boys had gone there looking for answers for Conner. The truck stopped and they were ushered off.
"You do what you need to. If you have questions, there are men posted around the field," General Chu said.
They nodded and started walking around, assessing what they could do. They passed one of the makeshift hospitals and Mallory couldn't help but look in. Her heart caught in her throat when she saw a young woman not much older than her lying there, one arm amputated, and one of her legs swollen and bloody from a bullet hole in the thigh. She had scars on her face that suggested that she'd been caught too close to an explosion, and her face was twisted in pain. Mallory looked at her companions, her face grim. "What the hell is so bad that two countries can rationalize putting generations of its people through this kind of pain and loss?" she asked. She didn't get an answer, and after a beat she flamed up and hovered a few feet off the ground.
"I'll catch up with you soon. I'm going to see what I can do about those fires," she said. Hawk Woman and Captain Atom nodded their consent, and she flew towards the flames. It didn't take long for her to get them under control, and from there it was a small job to finally snuff them out.
She caught up with the others where they were busy clearing the roads. She activated her strength and helped them push tanks, trucks, and debris to the side of the road, allowing access to the field for the ambulances and military personnel.
"Should we try to move some of the patients?" Captain Marvel asked.
Captain Atom looked at Hawk Woman, and she shrugged and said, "Flying with us will be easier on them than an ambulance or a helicopter."
"All right, I guess we can offer. Inferno…"
Mallory shook her head. "I can help. I promise they won't catch on fire," she said.
The captain nodded and they went to the first of the tents and stepped inside. One of the doctors came running over. He started talking to him in his native language, and the heroes exchanged looks to see if anyone could understand him.
"We should have brought Wonder Woman," Mallory mentioned.
"No, we can handle this. Marvel, go to the field and find someone who knows English and bring them over, we just need an interpreter," Icon said.
The arrangements were quickly made for the heroes to transport the patients to a better facility a few miles from the battlefield. With the roads cleared, more soldiers were coming over to finish with the cleanup, so after all of the patients were moved, the group went to the next site, and then a third. With them only taking care of the bigger problems, they made good time, though the work was exhausting. Mallory was glad when, at the end of the day, Captain Atom announced that they could go back to the watchtower.
They had to fly out of the country and find a zeta tube, but once they were back in familiar surroundings, Mallory ripped off her mask and wiped off the soot and grime that had collected from the extended physical work.
"We should make our report before we go home," Captain Atom said.
"Do we all have to be here for that?" Captain Marvel asked.
Hawk Woman glanced at the others and turned to the division leader. "You know, Nate, he has a point. The reports would all be the same, anyway." She smiled a little and added, "Not everyone's made of energy."
He nodded. "All right, I'll file the report and we can debrief in the morning," he agreed.
Inferno and Captain Marvel didn't need to be told twice, and they immediately turned for the zeta tube. "See you in the morning," Mallory said as she typed her coordinates in. "Ditto," Billy replied before the light pulled her into the cave.
As soon as Mallory appeared in the cave, the smell of popcorn and nachos greeted her. She went to the kitchen and saw that Megan, Raquel, and Zatanna were sitting around the coffee table with a bowl of popcorn and a tray of nachos in front of them. There was also an extra to go coffee cup in front of her spot.
Zatanna looked over and nodded to Mallory's spot at the end of the couch. "We've been waiting for you for half an hour," she complained light-heartedly.
Mallory returned the smile. "Sorry, I guess. Did I miss something? I didn't know we were doing a movie night tonight," she said.
"We're not, really. Raquel came by to put some stuff in her room, so we just decided to catch up. What took you so long? I thought it was a cut and dry diplomacy mission," Zatanna said.
Mallory pulled her jacket off and sat down to take off her boots. "It was, but you know Nate. The guy doesn't know how to take a break, or call it quits for the day." She looked at Raquel and smiled a little, adding, "neither does your dad."
Raquel shrugged, chuckled. "Hey, you don't need to tell me that. How'd the diplomacy part of the mission go?"
Mallory sighed and shrugged. "It could've been better. I'll tell you about it in a minute, let me go change real quick."
Her friends nodded and she gathered the pieces of her suit and went to her room to take a quick shower and put on some shorts and a tank top. She came out of her room twenty minutes later braiding her damp hair to the side. The others were talking about the most recent team mission, something about Gar crawling into the Riddler's shirt as a lizard to distract him while Dick charged him from behind. While Megan was finishing the story, Mallory helped herself to some of the nachos and took a sip of the coffee at her spot, smiling as the distinct flavor of the Mexican spiced mocha slid over her tongue. It had gone cold by then, but it was still the perfect ending to a tiring day. Besides, it tasted just as good reheated.
"Ok, so what happened in the Relasias?" Raquel asked as soon as Megan finished talking.
"They were a little hostile, I didn't get the impression that they liked being forced to accept the help. I'm glad we went though. I couldn't believe the shape some of the soldiers were in. There's no excuse to make people suffer that much for this long. I just hope that this peace treaty will be the last one they'll need."
The others nodded in agreement, letting a moment of silence hang in the air as they thought about what could come of the mission.
"Well, I guess this'll mean more work for all of us, huh?" Raquel said jokingly after a moment.
Mallory chuckled and shrugged. "Guess so, sorry."
Zatanna sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Oh, well, what's a few less hours of sleep when justice is involved?" she asked, her voice teasing.
"Oh, shut up. I hear enough talk like that when I patrol with Clark," Mallory laughed.
Zatanna grinned. "Wow, all these years, and I never knew that all I had to do to annoy you was talk like Superman."
Raquel and Megan laughed, and Mallory rolled her eyes and said, "We all have our kryptonite."
Rauqel laughed and shook her head. "Maybe you do, but if you can name mine I'll hang up my belt for good."
Zatanna smiled. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Us," the magician said, and Mallory added, "Darius."
Raquel rolled her eyes. "I love y'all, but you're not my kryptonite, sorry, Z," she said. Then she looked at Mallory and added, "And y'all know I love Darius, but he isn't even involved in this life, so he'll never be used against me. Nice try though."
Mallory and Zatanna fell silent, sulking a little, and Megan chuckled and decided to change the subject to save the evening. "So Zatanna, how's the job going?" she asked.
Zatanna sighed heavily and glared at the Martian. "Shut up, Megan," she said.
Mallory, Raquel, and Megan laughed, and Raquel said, "Oh, come on, being a magician at kids' birthdays isn't the worst thing you could do. It pays the bills, and you're the best in the field, you can't beat that."
"Yeah, and you have to consider that you don't have any bills, so you're saving all of it for a place of your own," Mallory pointed out.
"Not that we want you to move out or anything," Megan added hastily.
Zatanna sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, thanks, Megan, I'm glad you still like living with me. But you have to admit, it's a little weird that Mallory and I still live here and still don't pay anything."
"Why?" Megan asked. "Conner and I still live here, no one thinks it's weird."
"You and Conner are still on the team," the magician pointed out. "Mallory and I've moved on. I mean, Wally and Artemis don't still have their rooms, neither do Kalder or Garth."
"Technically no, but Garth's room's the only one that's been given away. The others, they're still their rooms," Megan said.
"Yeah. I still have my room, and it's mine to do what I want with. Like, if I want to use it as a storage unit, who's gonna stop me?" Raquel put in.
"Oh, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Megan said, "we don't mind you keeping your room, but if you're going to use it for storage, you might want to remember to lock your door. The other day the boys were using the boxes to build a fort."
Mallory rolled her eyes, chuckling with the others. "Who's been picking him up?" she asked.
"Dick, mostly, Conner and I've gone a few times," Megan replied. Mallory nodded.
"Oh, how'd the patrol go?" Raquel asked.
Mallory shrugged. "It was good. He was really good. I think he'll be ready to join the team soon."
"'Bout time," Zatanna mumbled. Mallory tilted her head, and the magician hurried to explain. "I know why you didn't want him to join before, and you were right, he was really young and a little immature. But his skills have been ready for a year, and he's wanted to join for longer than that. And Gar's been on the team for a long time, that couldn't have been easy for him to deal with."
Mallory shrugged. "Yeah, I know, I should've handled it better, but I'm trying now. I'm gonna help him come up with a suit soon and let him patrol for a night on his own."
"On his own for real, or on his own being watched?" Raquel asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Mostly on his own. I'm gonna have Clark in the area listening, and Wally said he and Artemis might have a date night around where he goes, just in case."
Megan shook her head in disbelief. "Mallory, you have to get over this fear you have that something's going to happen to him. If you don't let him do this by himself, you'll never be comfortable letting him go on missions without you, and he won't gain the confidence he'll need out in the field. If you're really that scared, then it's better for both of you if he just gives up on the idea."
Mallory sighed. "You're right, I guess. It's just, it's hard." She looked at the Martian. "How did you get over Gar joining the team? I mean, at that point he didn't even have that much training, not much to back him up other than shapeshifting."
Megan shrugged. "It wasn't easy at first, after Marie, but it was something that he wanted to do, and I really think he needed the outlet to help him through his grief. Besides, I know that as long as he's on the team, he'll always have people to watch his back."
Mallory nodded, watching the ripples of her coffee as she forced heat into the cup, reheating the liquid for the second time. Megan was right. She shouldn't be so worried about Peter joining the team. He could take care of himself, and if there was ever a situation where he couldn't, Dick, Megan, Conner, Gar, they wouldn't let anything happen to him. He'd come to be part of the family they'd forged over the years, and they always protected their own, right down to their dying breath.