I just finished writing year 5 last night! I'll start writing season 2 soon. I can't believe I made it to the end of the gap years. Anyway, hope you like the chapter, please review.
3 months later:
"Hey, Mal! We're going to the beach, you want to come?" Megan asked, Conner, Peter, Gar, and Dick not far behind her, all in their swim suits and carrying everything they'd need for a day at the beach.
"Sure, I'll meet you out there," she replied. The beaches were pretty empty these days with everyone back to school, so the team, and the live-ins, had been spending more time outside the cave lately. The pyrokinetic went to her room to change, pulling on some old jean shorts and a faded yellow tshirt over her royal blue swimsuit. Wolf was waiting at the front door, so she let him out and they walked to the beach together. She stopped for a moment when the beach came into view, watching her friends and her brother playing in the water, before jogging over, tossing her clothes with the rest of their things and diving into the water.
As soon as she caught up with the group, a splash of water hit her in the face. She recoiled and scanned their faces to see who the offender was, grinning when she clocked Gar still morphed into a dolphin, his tail raised to splash her again. "Hey!" she said, splashing him back.
He changed back into his normal form, grinning as he tried to get out of her range. The next thing she knew, Peter and Dick had taken up the attack.
"What? Why are you on his side?" she complained, laughing.
Dick shrugged. "It's more fun," he replied.
Megan and Conner got involved, defending Mallory, and the battle went on until the younger boys started to get bored. Mallory decided to swim out a bit, rolling onto her back and letting the waves gently rock her, pulling her farther and farther from the shore.
"Mallory! Hey, Mal!"
She opened her eyes and squinted to see what Conner wanted. He was motioning for her to come back to the beach. She sighed, but she started swimming back. "What's up?" she asked when she got to the beach.
"Megan got a call from a friend, we need to go to Happy Harbor."
"Ok, I guess I'm ready to go, too. Who are you going to see?"
"Karen and Mal. Karen found something in her lab back in Ivy Town. Dr. Palmer called Megan to talk to her."
"Dr. Palmer? What did she find?" Mallory asked.
Dick and the boys weren't far behind them now, and Conner looked between them as he said, "she developed her own exosuit. She's been talking about trying to do some good with it. Palmer knows she's a friend, so he just wants us to talk to her, try to convince her to leave it alone."
"Why couldn't he do it himself? He's the Atom, he's got more in common with her than you do," Peter pointed out.
They were on the beach now, and Megan came over to them, her phone still in her hand, her swimsuit replaced by jeans and a tshirt. "They're going to meet us in town," she said.
"So, what's the plan here? Are you going to tell them who you are?" Gar asked, and Dick crossed his arms and tilted his head, waiting for the answer.
Megan shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. I just want her to make an informed decision."
"Megan, she's a scientist, I think she's aware of the dangers. Besides, do you really think showing her who you are is going to stop her from wanting to help people?" Dick said.
"Well, maybe, but I already told Dr. Palmer that we'd try," she replied slowly.
Mallory shrugged. "You'll figure it out. Let us know how it turns out."
Megan nodded, and she and Conner hurried back up to the cave for the clone to change. Wolf glanced at them, then back at the group on the beach to see if he had to go back or not. Dick chuckled and rubbed his side affectionately. "Well, Wolf votes we stay out here a little longer. What do you say?"
Peter and Gar grinned and tackled the leader to the sand without warning. Mallory backed up instinctively, laughing as the boys tried to pin her friend to the ground. He struggled a little longer than he had to for their benefit, but before long he had them both pinned, one under each arm.
"I'm gonna take you one day," Peter promised, grinning as he still struggled halfheartedly.
Dick smiled, rolling off the boys. "I don't doubt that, buddy, just not today." He grinned up at Mallory. "So, what do you think? Stay out here, or head inside?"
Mallory opened her mouth to respond, and Wolf flopped to his side in a trench he dug in the sand, his eyes fixed on her. She laughed and said, "I think Wolf's spoken."
The boys laughed and the four of them went back out to the water, diving in and splashing each other as they raced out to the deeper water.
That afternoon, Mallory, Dick, Zatanna, and Gar were playing video games in the living room. Peter, Barbara, Tim, and Lagaan were training in the other room with Black Canary. Zatanna had just killed Mallory's character when the zeta tube came to life, announcing Megan and Conner's arrival. The girls set aside their controllers and turned to face the tube.
"So, how'd it go?" Zatanna asked.
Megan glanced at Conner, and he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well…" he said and he went back to the zeta tube and typed something into the keypad. The others looked at each other, then back at the tube as it announced, "recognized, Bumblebee, B17, Mal Duncan, A10."
Mallory's eyebrows rose in mild surprise as the two newcomers appeared, both dressed in civies. "Meet our newest member," Conner finished, putting a hand on Karen's shoulder. They got up and walked over to them.
"Hi, I'm Zatanna, this is Inferno, Nightwing, and Beast Boy," Zatanna said, nodding to each person as she introduced them. Karen smiled at everyone, her and Mal's gazes settling on Mallory.
"Mallory? You're Inferno?!" Mal said.
Mallory smiled and shrugged. She'd met the two a few times at parties that Megan and Conner had invited the old team to.
"I can't believe we went to high school with a Martian and a Kryptonian!" she said.
Conner opened his mouth to correct her, but Mallory just chuckled and said, "you'd be surprised how many of us go to school."
"That's pretty cool," Mal said.
Zatanna tilted her head. "So…are you joining the team too?" she asked.
Megan shook her head. "Not exactly. Mal, uh, he kind of comes with Karen." Dick's face froze slightly, only noticeable to the older members, and Megan hurriedly added, "but he can help with missions too, from the cave. Aren't you ready to get back out in the field instead of handling the computer stuff all the time?"
Dick smiled and shrugged. "Well, we'll see. Canary's in the training room with the others, you want to go introduce the new members?"
Megan nodded and they started walking to the hallway.
"You have the same ability as the Atom, right? You shrink?" Zatanna asked.
Karen smiled. "Well, yeah, and I improved the design a bit. My gloves can expel small amounts of energy. It's not enough to do any permanent damage, but the strength can be adjusted depending on the size of the core. If I shrink down, the lasers just feel like a bee sting, but if I'm my normal size, they pack a bit more of a punch."
"That sounds pretty useful. How are you with hand to hand combat?" Gar asked.
Karen raised an eyebrow. "Um, not great, I guess. But I won't need to be. That's the point of the suit, I'll be too small for any physical fighting."
"You're still going to have to learn at least some basic moves," Dick put in. "You never know what's going to happen in the field."
Karen nodded. They were in the training room by now, standing around the ring while the rest of the team sparred. Mallory leaned closer to the newcomers and said quietly, "not all of the team knows my name, or Rocket's, so, you know, could you–"
"Of course, Inferno," Karen said with a smile. Mallory returned it and she and Zatanna moved away a little to let the team have the space to start to get to know each other.
"It's great about Karen," Mallory mentioned.
Zatanna nodded, then looked at the holographic clock Canary had pulled up to time the lesson. "Oh, I have to go, I'm meeting John in half an hour," she said.
Mallory crossed her arms. "How come we haven't seen him much lately?" she asked.
Zatanna shrugged. "I don't know, he's been busy, and I don't really like to bring him to the cave when everyone's here."
Mallory tilted her head. "Is that all? Z, you've been acting weird about him for weeks. Is something wrong?"
Zatanna sighed. "No, not with him, exactly. He just, he takes so many risks, unnecessary risks, like he's just dying to, well, die. It hurts to watch it."
Mallory winced. "You really care about him, don't you?" she said.
Zatanna smiled a little. "I think I love him," she said. "That's why it's so hard. He lets so much darkness in, he makes so many deals with the worst kinds of creatures, he pisses off all the wrong people. It's scary, and I feel so useless watching it all."
Mallory put an arm around her friend. "You'll find a way to make it all work out. Maybe if you help him with his work more you can help him get things right."
Zatanna shrugged. "Yeah, maybe." She looked around the room at the team, and suddenly she tilted her head to the side.
"What?" Mallory asked.
"I was just thinking about you telling Karen not to tell the others your real name," the magician said.
"Yeah? What about it?" Mallory asked.
Zatanna shrugged. "Well, nothing, I just figured out that there's only one person on the team that doesn't know."
Mallory scrunched her eyebrows together for a moment, thinking about it. Of course Megan, Conner, Dick, Gar, and Peter knew, Karen knew through Megan, and Tim and Barbara knew either by figuring it out on their own or by hacking into the batcomputer. Mallory chuckled when she realized who the odd one out was. "Lagaan," she muttered.
Zatanna nodded, smiling. "Don't you think you should tell him? He has been here long enough to trust him."
Mallory shrugged. "He probably does know, two years is a long time to be around. I'm sure he's heard it in passing, or Aquaman could have told him."
"And if he doesn't know?" Zatanna asked.
Mallory shrugged. "Oh, well. He doesn't really need to."
The girls chuckled and Zatanna went to her room to get ready for her date, and Mallory walked over to Canary to see how the new member was getting along.