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The old team, except for Wally and Artemis, were at the site in three minutes. Half of the League was already assembled outside the building. The top floor where Ted's office and lab were was still burning, the windows shattered and flames leaping out.

"What happened?" Nightwing asked when they got to Wonder Woman.

"We do not know. Red Tornado noticed the fire on monitor duty, he's the one that called us. Authorities have not been able to get into the building, and we thought it would be best to stay back to avoid suspicion."

"Beetle was going there when he left the meeting," Raquel told her quietly. Wonder Woman's face froze and she looked back at the building.

"Is it ok if I go in and help put the fire out? That wouldn't be suspicious," Mallory said, a pit forming in her stomach. Diana nodded, and the pyrokinetic flamed up and flew to the broken windows.

When she got into the building, she cleared a path to look around, leaving the flames in the hallway for the firemen to buy herself some time to investigate. There was nothing in Ted's office, so she moved on to his adjoining lab. She didn't see anything at first, but when she walked around the lab table, her breath caught in her throat and she dropped to her knees beside Blue Beetle's motionless body, a pool of blood underneath him. Most of his clothes were unrecognizable, and there were burns on his body, but his cowl and belt were unmistakable. Mallory lifted a shaky hand to his neck to check for a pulse, but there was nothing. She could hear the firemen now, they would be there soon. She choked back a sob and unclipped the belt and pulled off the cowl. His weapon was a few feet away, and she grabbed that, too, and threw everything into the open safe on the wall. She looked through it briefly, but nothing stood out to her. Whatever the killer was after, he either got it, or Ted managed to move it first. Either way, he gave his life to keep it out of the wrong hands, and she intended to make that mean something.

She put out the flames in the adjoining rooms and watched as the firemen came running in. "There's a man in the lab. It looks like he was killed before the explosion," Mallory told them, pointing to where he was.

One of the men ran in, and Mallory turned away from them, shutting her eyes as the man said, "It's Mr. Kord!" She jumped out the window and rejoined the Leaguers, all of whom were there by now. "He's gone," she said quietly.

There was a moment of stunned silence, but there was too much to do to grieve him now. "Could you tell what caused the explosion?" Superman asked.

Mallory shook her head. "I was a little busy hiding his costume. I do know it wasn't the explosion that killed him, that was probably just to cover the killer's tracks. But whatever it was he didn't want the stalker to get, I don't think it's in there."

"So you protected his identity?" Batman asked.

Mallory nodded. "The world will never know that Ted Kord was the Blue Beetle," she assured him.

He nodded. "Good. I think we should continue this in the Watchtower." He looked at Conner, Megan, and Dick and added, "you're welcome to join us if you want."

They nodded, and the League started going off a few at a time to find zeta tubes close by.

When the entire League made it to the watchtower, the discussion began. Who was behind it, what were they after, and what to do about it now.

"Are we sure that whoever did this wasn't after Ted Kord?" Aquaman asked.

"Yeah, he knew someone was following him. He told us after the meeting," Raquel replied.

"I just don't get it. Who wanted the Blue Beetle dead that bad? What could he possibly have had that was worth all of this?" Canary asked, shaking her head.

"I know," Batman said calmly.

Everyone looked up at him, either impressed or angry or both.

"You know?" Superman asked.

"Well, I know enough. Blue Beetle knew about his stalker for weeks. He knew what they were after, but he didn't know who was behind it, so he came to me to help him follow the trail. It went cold just outside of Nanda Parbat."

Mallory looked at the rest of the old team, anger and hatred boiling inside of her. The Flash voiced the obvious, only fueling their anger. "So, Ra's al Gual."

"The Light," Dick corrected, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.

They were quiet for a minute, then Diana leaned closer to Batman. "Do you know what they were after?" she asked.

Batman shook his head. "He never told me, and it wasn't important to the issue. All I know is that it was some sort of power device. He thought it was too dangerous to use himself, so he didn't want it to get into the Light's hands."

"Great," Conner muttered.

"I can find out who the immediate killer is in a few days, it's just a matter of getting ahold of the security cameras in Ted's office. However, we all know that won't fix the situation. We need to put the Light out of commission permanently before anyone else gets hurt," Batman said.

"And how are you planning to do that?" Mallory asked. "We've all tried for years, and they're still out there calling all the shots."

Dick put a hand on her shoulder. "We will get them, Mal. Eventually."

She glared at him over her shoulder. "And how many more people are we going to lose before we eventually stop them?" she asked bitterly. He sighed and didn't answer.

Another moment of grim silence was broken by Megan. "What are we going to do about a funeral?" she asked quietly.

Batman looked around. "We can't announce the death of Blue Beetle right after the very public killing of Ted Kord under mysterious circumstances. It would cause too much suspicion."

"Well, we have to do something," Wonder Woman insisted.

"We can put him in the grotto," Conner offered, looking around. "At least there he'll have a marker."

The Leaguers all nodded, and they went to the zeta tube to go to the cave. When they got there, Batman and Superman followed the residents to the lab where there were some more holographic platforms, Batman uploaded a picture of Blue Beetle, and Superman carried it down to the grotto where the others were waiting. They placed it on the other side of Tula, and Batman switched it on. The hologram came on and the League had a silent memorial for their fallen comrade.

Mallory kept thinking about the last time she talked to him, up in the watchtower. She should have gone with him. She could have stopped this, or at least caught the guy in the act. Raquel and Zatanna came over to her, and Zatanna put a hand on the pyrokinetic's shoulder. "Mallory, this isn't your fault. You couldn't have known what was going to happen, and he said he didn't need help. You can't blame yourself for this."

"I don't," Mallory said, looking at her friends. "I blame the Light."

They looked at each other, then Raquel nodded and said, "good, because we will take them down."

Mallory nodded and looked back up at the hologram, the last memory she had of her friend playing in her head. His smiling and giving them a salute as the zeta tube took him away, none of them knowing that it would be for good. She nodded and thought, 'goodbye, Ted. I promise, it won't be for nothing.'