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It was two days before Mallory could arrange to have a night off from school, social obligations, League work, and patrolling, but the night finally came that Peter was going to go on a patrol of Central City alone. It had taken some discussion to finally pick a city, one that involved more people than it really needed to, considering everything, but Nightwing had pointed out that Central would be a good city for him to start in because it didn't have a hero that worked at night, and the bad guys were typically less violent than they were in other cities like Gotham, Metropolis, or Coast, but there was still enough crime to make it worth his time, unlike Happy Harbor (which Mallory had half jokingly suggested) or Opal City. It also made sense as far as location, considering that he already lived in the city, a fact that Lois and Barry had put in separately.
Now, Mallory was pacing the living room of the cave nervously, her eyes staring at the floor in front of her. Zatanna, Conner, Megan, and Gar were on the couches, trying to ignore her quick steps. Finally, Zatanna couldn't take it anymore.
"Relax, Mal. He hasn't even finished getting ready yet," she said, throwing her book down, annoyed.
Mallory stopped in her tracks. "Sorry," she muttered. She stepped over the back of the sofa and slid into her spot, hugging her knees to her chest. The others tried to go on with what they were doing, but the pyrokinetic's nerves were contagious.
"Mallory, calm down, he's going to be fine," Megan all but snapped.
Mallory took a breath and nodded, and she did try to calm her nerves, realizing that Megan especially would be affected by them. Her efforts were in vain.
It felt like an eternity for all of them, but Peter eventually came out of Mallory's room, his simple black combat suit and mask on, Robin's old utility belt snapped around his waist, filled to the brim with anything he might need during the night. Mallory was on her feet as soon as she saw him, her eyes darting over the suit, looking for anything out of place, loose, or off balance. Peter noticed her attention and rolled his eyes, looking behind her to the small group still sitting on the sofas.
"Is she still stressing out about this?" he asked.
"No," Mallory said quickly, but her answer was drowned out by the others' chorus of yeses and annoyed mumbling from Conner. Malory glared at her friends, earning a smile from Zatanna.
Gar slung an arm around Peter's shoulder, a huge grin on his face. "Dude, I can't believe you're finally doing this!" he said, his excitement bubbling to the surface, his tail flicking behind him.
Peter grinned, his eyes darting to his friend before settling back on Mallory. "I know, right?" Mallory rolled her eyes, forcing her nerves down and smiling a little. Peter took a breath, then he said, "well, I guess I should get going."
"Good luck," Zatanna said.
"Watch your back," Conner added.
"But have fun," Megan put in.
Peter nodded and went to the zeta tube. Mallory followed him to it to authorize his passage and put in the right coordinates, and when she had it set, she took a step back and watched the zeta tube come to life.
"I'll be fine," Peter said as the light started up.
"Be safe," Mallory murmured, so he was the only one to hear it. He nodded, and the light sucked him away. She turned away from the tube as it powered back down, returning to her spot on the couch. She was staring into space, her mind filled with all the things that could happen while he was out there. Why had she ever agreed to let him go out there without any backup? She'd planned on having Dick and Clark tailing him for the night, but the old team had convinced her to let him go alone. Now, though, she was regretting the decision.
She looked around the room at her friends, who were tilting their heads slightly, and Zatanna was shaking her head. She sighed. "What are you saying?" she asked, recognizing the fact that they were having a psychic conversation.
Megan tilted her head at Zatanna, and the magician shook her head firmly. After a second, Conner rolled his eyes and said, "just tell her."
"Tell me what?" Mallory asked, looking between the girls. Megan looked at Zatanna again, and this time she shrugged in defeat.
"We weren't going to tell you unless we had to, but-" Megan started slowly. Mallory kept her dark eyes trained on the Martian, waiting for her friend to finish the confession. "Well, we asked Donna to keep an eye on Peter tonight. Nightwing reactivated the tracker in the belt, and she's going to keep tabs on him in civies. Not that we think he needs it," she added quickly, "but we knew how nervous you were about it. We didn't tell you because you need to stop being so overprotective of him, and you're not going to do that unless you just let him go. Besides, this is important for him, too. He needs to know that he can do it by himself, without having you or the team backing him up. He wants to prove that he can do it, to himself and to you."
Mallory nodded as her friend finished talking, a calmness settling in her. She smiled a little. "Thanks," she said. Megan nodded.
"We shouldn't have told you," Zatanna said, shooting Megan and Conner a look.
Gar shrugged. "She would have found out eventually. It doesn't make much difference if she knows or not."
Zatanna sighed in defeat and pulled her book back on her lap, burying her face in the pages. Mallory leaned back into the cushions and turned to Megan and Conner. "How's Donna doing? I haven't seen her since the day after the League induction."
"She's fine. She has a seat at the UN, and she's already helped put some policies into motion. She said the the former sidekick turned ambassador thing is starting to catch on."
"What do you mean?" Mallory asked.
"Aquaman is stepping down as Atlantis's ambassador, and he asked Garth to take it," Conner explained.
"Oh, that's great. I guess he's still working pretty close with Arthur and Mera, then," she said. It had been a long time since they'd heard from their former teammate. After Tula died, he just seemed to need a lot of space from the team, and understandably so. "I wonder why Kalder didn't take it. He would've been a good ambassador," Mallory mentioned.
Conner and Megan exchanged a glance, and Mallory noticed Zatanna retreat deeper into her book. There was more that they weren't telling her.
"What?" she asked, her tone insistent.
Megan bit her lip, and Zatanna closed her book and put it on the coffee table. "Mal, Donna said that Kalder hasn't been in Atlantis in almost a year. Even Aquaman doesn't know where he is," she said.
Mallory leaned forward, concern for the former leader brimming within her. "What happened?" she asked.
Megan shrugged and shook her head. "We don't know. Donna talked to Garth, and he said that Kalder did come back to Atlantis with him, but only for about a month." Mallory waited, her eyes darting between her friends. Megan seemed to want to keep the last bit of information hidden, like she didn't want to repeat it and make it real. Conner sighed heavily and opened his mouth, taking the burden off Megan's shoulders. "Garth said that he left just a little while after finding out that Black Manta is his father."
"What?!" Mallory exclaimed, the news making her head feel jumbled and overworked.
Conner nodded. "He found out when he tried to attack the palace. Manta told him that he was his father."
"You can't take his word for it, though. He was probably just trying to shake his game. Sportmaster tried to do the same thing with the mole thing," Mallory said, trying to make the scenario make sense in her mind.
"You're forgetting that there was a mole involved with the team," Zatanna put in gently.
Mallory shook her head. "Sportsmaster didn't have to say anything. He said it because he knew Roy would be above suspicion, and he wanted to drive a wedge between us, make us doubt each other."
Megan shrugged. "Whatever his reason for telling Kaldur, Aquaman confirmed it after they took care of the threat. He knew all along," she said.
"How have we not heard about it until now?" Mallory asked.
"'Cause Arthur didn't want to broadcast it to the League. According to Dick, even Batman didn't know about it from him."
"'From him'? So he knew about it?" she asked.
"Apparently he knew somehow."
"When did all this go down? And why wasn't I there?" Mallory asked.
"We found out when we went to Donna's place to ask her to follow Peter. We couldn't tell you because you would have wanted to know why we went without you," Zatanna supplied.
Mallory nodded. "I hope Kaldur's ok," she said after a moment. The fact that he hadn't come to the cave when he left Atlantis, or even checked in with any of them before going off the grid, was concerning. It wasn't like him to need this much space.
"He'll be fine. He probably just needed to get away for a while. I mean, at that point, he'd just lost Tula and quit the team, and then this. I'd probably want some time away from everything too," Zatanna said, and Megan nodded in silent agreement.
They slipped into a comfortable silence after that before Gar stood and stretched. "I'm gonna go watch a movie in my room. Night," he said. The older heroes told him goodnight, and he started off to his room.
"I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning," Megan said when he was out of sight. Conner stood up right after her and silently followed her to the rooms. Not long after, Zatanna grabbed her book and stood up stiffly. "I'm gonna go to bed, too. You should get some sleep. He's gonna be fine."
It took Mallory a moment to remember that she was talking about Peter. The talk about the former members of the team had completely taken her mind off her little brother's big night. "Yeah, I guess I will. Thanks, Z. I feel a lot better now."
Zatanna smiled and waited for her to stand up so they could walk to their rooms together. "Of course. I know we were giving you a hard time about it, but believe me, we were all nervous about tonight. That's why we got Donna to tail him. We just didn't want him to think you didn't have faith in him. He wants you to be proud of him."
Mallory smiled a little and paused at her door, hesitating to press the button. "Not just me. All of us. You've all been in his life just as much as I have. He's wanted to be one of us since the day he found out what we do."
Zatanna smiled, and Mallory hit the button and went in her room, letting the doors slide shut behind her.
Contrary to what she'd told Zatanna, Mallory didn't get any sleep that night. She stayed awake, sitting on her bed with her laptop and her door both open, until five in the morning when she heard the zeta tube come on faintly from the living room, announcing Peter's entrance. She waited until she saw him in the hallway, then she said, "Hey, so how'd it go?"
Peter stopped in his tracks and stood in the doorway for a moment. "Great. What are you still doing up?"
She shrugged. "Oh, nothing, I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd get some school stuff done," she said passively, simultaneously shutting her computer so he couldn't see the empty document on it. She patted the foot of her bed and said, "Tell me about it."
He came in and sat down, taking his belt off and setting it on the bed beside him. "So, did you like it?" Mallory probed.
A smile spread across Peter's face. "It was great. I stopped a mugging and a robbery, so that was fun, but even just the sitting and waiting was great. When you're up there on top of a building, or running across the rooftops to get to the next section, it's the most free I think you could be. It clears your mind, lets you put things into perspective. And seeing your actions actually make a direct difference in someone else's life is so satisfying."
Mallory murmured in agreement, thinking about how it made her feel when she was on a mission or stopping a crime on patrol. Sure, at this point it was basically just a job that she did, but it was a job that she loved, a job she wanted to go into day after day. And flying, it was the most free she'd ever felt.
Peter tilted his head, looking at her with a serious face. "Mallory, I know you think I just want to do this because you do it, but believe me, I'm not just trying to copy you. I love being a hero. I want to do this, for me and for the people I can help. I know what the risks are, but I'm willing to take them."
She nodded slowly, accepting the reality that this wasn't something he was going to grow out of. "I know. I'm sorry I made it so hard for you to get your foot in the door. I promise I won't treat you any different from any of the other new recruits once you join the team," she said.
He smiled. "Thanks. And thanks for letting me do this on my own. I know it wasn't easy for you to call off your backup squad."
Mallory chuckled. "You're welcome," she said.
They were quiet for a moment, then Peter said, "So, do you want to be with me when I tell Mom and Dad?"
She snorted. "'Want' is a little strong, I think, but sure, I'll go with you to tell them."
He nodded. "Thanks. That's the one thing about all of this that I was dreading." He stood and went to the door, his belt slung over one shoulder, his mask still secured on his face. It hit her how much he'd grown since the first time she'd met him, that shy little five year old talking about superheroes as an icebreaker. Now, five years later, he was confident, skilled, and about to become a hero in his own rite. He turned to face her again, a mischievous grin coming on his face, and it struck Mallory again how much he looked like the thirteen year old Dick that she'd known when she first joined the team.
"Oh," he said, "I almost forgot. Donna says hello."
With that, he ducked out of her room, going down the hall to Gar's room where his friend was no doubt waiting up to hear all about his first solo patrol. Mallory couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her as her door slid closed behind him. That kid. It was a simple little sentence, but it calmed any worries she'd still had about him going into the field. If he noticed Donna, an Amazon trained in all forms of combat and strategy, tailing him and managed to trap her into a situation where she would have to be alone with him and talk to him, then he would notice anyone. She settled back against the headboard, a smile on her face. 'Yeah,' she thought, 'he's going to be fine.'
About an hour after her conversation with Peter, Mallory heard Nightwing being announced by the zeta tube, so she got up and went to his training room where she found him practicing on the trapeze bars. When he saw her at the door, he flipped to the platform and grabbed the grappling gun he'd fixed to the bar, lowering himself to the ground. "Hey, I came by to see how it went," he said.
"He just got in a little while ago. He said it went great, he loved it," she said.
Dick nodded. "Yeah, I didn't doubt it. When I took him on patrols with me he did really good." Mallory nodded, and Dick asked, "so, does this mean that you're finally going to let him join the team?"
Mallory sighed, then nodded. "Yeah, it does," she said. As soon as Dick's face broke into a grin, though, she stuck a finger in his face, a smile betraying her threatening body language. "But if you let anything happen to my little brother, I'll punch you into the Legion's time and you'll be able to give Kara a message for me," she said.
Dick put his hands up in mock defeat, taking a half a step back, his grin never wavering. "Yes, ma'am," he said. Mallory chuckled and lowered her hand to her side. "So, what did he say he likes the most?" Dick asked.
Mallory shrugged. "He said he likes it all," she said, then his response came back to her clearer and she added, "but he did say that he liked the waiting, being on top the buildings, that swinging from one to the other made him feel free."
Dick let out a huff and muttered, "I told you."
Mallory tilted her head. "Told me what?" she asked.
Dick smiled and glanced up at the trapeze bars, then back at her, clearly remembering something. "That kid's a born flyer," he said.
Mallory slowly smiled, remembering the first time she'd brought Peter to the cave and Robin had let him swing on the trapeze bar with a rope tied around his waist. "Yeah, I guess you did," she replied, and it occurred to her that she should have known what was going to happen then, when she saw how happy he'd been with nothing below his feet but air.