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That night, Mallory came home from a lengthy fight with Livewire to find boxes covering the living room. Zatanna was in the kitchen warming up some leftovers, but she looked over when Mallory zetaed in.
"Mal's moving in. The rest of his stuff is already in his room," she explained.
Mallory eyed the boxes and groaned. "I'm starting to understand why Karen doesn't want him to move in with her," she muttered.
Zatanna smiled. "Oh, it won't be so bad. When Conner and Megan get back from their date, he can help move everything over, and his room's at the end of the hall. You won't even notice him."
Mallory shrugged and joined the magician in the kitchen. She opened the fridge and tilted her head. "We don't have any food?" she asked, annoyed and surprised. The only thing in the refrigerator was condiments and some cheese.
Zatanna shrugged. "We've all been too busy to go to the store."
Mallory sighed and went to the pantry, pulling out a can of tomato soup. "You want a grilled cheese?" she asked as she got a pot and pan out. Zatanna held up her takeout box, and Mallory nodded.
"You know, it might be a good thing, Mal moving in. He doesn't have a second life, so he has time to do this kind of stuff."
Mallory shrugged. "Is it fair to make him do all the chores?" she asked.
Zatana smiled. "Probably not. Too bad."
Gar came in from his room, sitting at the counter and looking at what Mallory was cooking. Mallory smiled. "Do you want a grilled cheese?" she asked.
"Yeah! I'm starving," he replied.
"Me too, little man. What's on the stove?"
The three live-ins turned to see Mal come in from the rooms. Mallory did a quick assessment of what she had to work with and winced. "Well, two of us are having grilled cheese, one of us is just having the rest of the soup," she said.
Mal wrinkled his nose. "You know, I would've thought that superheroes eat better than college kids."
Mallory chuckled. "We usually do, but no one went to the store, and Megan's not here to cook," she explained.
"Mallory, can you go to the store?" Gar asked, putting on a pitiful face.
Mallory sighed. She was still in her suit from the fight, she was sore from the force of the lightning hitting her, and she was already exhausted from her classes that day. "I'm sorry, Gar, I really can't. I'll go tomorrow, ok?"
Gar sighed, but he didn't say anything about it, which made Mallory feel worse.
"Well, hey, I can go get us a pizza," Mal offered.
Gar perked up immediately. "Really? Thanks!" the green boy exclaimed.
"You sure?" Mallory asked.
"Yeah, sure, it's nothing. What do you want on it?"
"A veggie pizza with extra mushrooms," Gar replied readily.
"Really? No pepperoni?" Mal asked.
"He's a vegetarian," Zatanna explained.
Mal nodded. "Ok, I'll be back soon."
"Wait, here," Mallory said, sliding some money over to him.
"Oh, that's fine, I got it," he said.
Mallory shook his head. "No, the team gets a food allowance for the month. We used to have deliveries of food when we were kids, but they thought that since we grew up we could handle keeping house for ourselves. We still get money for it though."
"Huh," Mal muttered, taking the money. "Ok, well, I won't be long."
He went to the zeta tube, and Mallory put away the stuff she'd pulled out. "Ok, so maybe I can live with the stuff everywhere for a few days," she said, grinning.
Zatanna laughed. "Yeah, I thought you might."
When Conner and Megan got back from their date, they found the live-ins sitting around the living room with Wolf and Sphere, a movie playing and an empty pizza box on the coffee table. All of the boxes had been moved to Mal's room, giving them their space back.
"Well, I'm glad you figured out dinner," Megan said, like she'd doubted that they would.
Mallory rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well, duh, mom. We're not completely helpless." Megan chuckled and she and Conner sat down with the others on the sofas.
"Is this normal for y'all?" Mal asked, looking around.
They looked at each other and shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much," Zatanna said, one arm around Gar, his head resting sleepily on her shoulder. Megan had kicked off her shoes and was leaning against Conner, and Mallory was laying down, her head resting on the armrest.
Mal smiled and slid down a little, leaning his head on the back of the couch. "I could get used to this."
Mallory woke up the next day to sounds of fighting in the distance. She looked around groggily and realized that she'd spent the night on the couch. Wolf was lying on the floor next to her, guarding her. She smiled and rubbed his side affectionately. "Good boy," she murmured, pushing herself to her feet. She made her way to the kitchen and started making a cup of coffee. Peter jogged in while it was brewing, grabbing a water out of the fridge.
"Hey, so you are alive," he said, giving her a hug from behind.
Mallory chuckled and pushed him away playfully. "Thanks a lot. Is it really training time already?"
Peter nodded and watched as she poured creamer in her drink. "You ok?" he asked.
Mallory nodded. "Yeah, I just need a little help getting started this morning," she said. She went to return the creamer to the fridge and accidentally knocked one of the sore spots from the fight the previous day against the refrigerator door. She hissed in pain and put a hand on the spot.
Peter raised an eyebrow, his eyes showing concern. "You sure you're ok?" he asked. Mallory lifted her shirt a bit to look at the spot on her side and they both winced at the large, black and purple bruise covering half of her stomach and going up her ribcage. "What's that from?" he asked.
"A lightning bolt. Don't worry about me, this'll only last a few days. Come on, let's get you back to training so you can get some bruises of your own."
He grinned and handed her her mug and grabbed his water bottle, and they headed back to the training room. Dick was on the sideline, tutoring Karen on her form, and Canary was working with Mal while the others sparred on their own.
"Hey, I was about to come push you off myself," Dick called when he saw her.
Mallory smiled and shook her head, watching from the sidelines as the team fought each other. Robin was sparring with Lagaan, and it quickly became clear that they were evenly matched. Batgirl was fighting Conner while Megan worked with a kid Mallory hadn't seen before. Gar was trying to spar with Wonder Girl, but he was clearly outmatched, even with the girl's split attention as she tried to watch all the other fights as well as maintain her own.
"Hey, who's he?" Mallory asked, nodding to the kid with Megan.
"That's Blue Beetle," Peter replied. "He just took the armor off."
Mallory nodded, watching. He was reacting correctly, if sloppily, to Megan's slowed-down attacks, but there was something... off about his moves. It was almost like he had a delayed processing speed, he could see the punch coming on time, but it took him a few seconds to block it correctly, and his offense was the same way. By the time he made his move, the opportunity would be gone in the real world.
"It's only his second day, he'll get better," Dick said. Mallory nodded, and Dick pushed Peter towards the arena. "Go spar with Karen, I just showed her manuver one, so give her a chance to practice it," he said. Peter tossed him the water bottle and made his way through the fighting to the far side where Karen was waiting.
"So, what do you know about him?" Mallory asked after they stood in silence for a moment, watching the fighting.
"Well, his name's Jaime Reyes, he lives in El Paso, he's sixteen, he found a scarab outside Kord Industries right after the explosion, and it attached itself to his spine, and that's what gives him the powers."
"So that's why Ted didn't want the Light to get it. It's not a power source, it literally creates a super soldier."
Dick nodded. "Hey, I'm gonna pick Wally up when I leave her and we're gonna go do a stakeout for Flash at a baseball game. You want to come?"
Mallory smiled. "Yeah, that sounds fun. How much time do I have?"
"I'm going to have the junior members run a simulation after this, then we can head out."
Mallory nodded. "Ok, I'm gonna go grab a shower, I'll be ready by the time they're done."
He nodded, and Mallory gulped down the last of her drink and put the mug in the kitchen sink before heading to her room to start getting ready.
A half an hour later she was walking in the observation booth, ready to go, just as Dick was starting the simulation for the newer members. He, Megan, and Conner were at the window, watching as the walls, ceiling, and floors of the room changed to a forest. The team started out in formation, and Dick sent in the first enemy.
"Is this from the mission we got Wolf from?" Conner asked, recognizing the tiger that appeared at the edge of the room while two giant elephants crashed through the trees in front of the team.
Dick nodded. "Yeah, I want to see if they'll figure out about the collars," he explained.
They watched as the elephants started to attack the team. Wonder girl flew straight towards one, grabbing the trunk and pushing it back. Peter jumped on Gar's back and the green boy changed into an elephant himself, and Peter pulled out his dart guns, shooting the enemy as Gar got him closer and protected him from the attacks of the second. Robin and Batgirl went for high ground as well, getting up to the tree tops and throwing batarangs and trying to taze the one that Cassie had pinned down, and Bumblebee was shooting it in the eyes, trying to distract it. Blue Beetle shot his energy pulse at the one that Gar and Peter were working on, with Lagaan hitting its legs, trying to get it to the ground. Every few seconds, Blue Beetle would stop fighting and look over his shoulder, talking, but they couldn't hear what he was saying from the booth.
Dick groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This isn't going the way I'd hoped," he said.
"Well, we didn't figure it out right away either," Megan pointed out.
"Yeah, but we were preoccupied with the mole thing. Besides, we all handled our animals in pairs, and they have an entire team in there. They shouldn't need that much force."
"They don't have a plan," Conner pointed out, nodding to the team. With the exception of Peter, Gar, and Lagaan, they were just reacting to the attack and trying to take down the enemy.
Dick shook his head. "It's not just that," he said. "They aren't working as a team, they're working as individuals. They aren't communicating with each other."
"Well, most of them are still really new. I'm sure they'll work things out," Megan said optimistically.
"But look at them. The only ones that are working together are Peter and Gar, and Batgirl and Robin. Even Lagaan's on his own."
Before they could respond, Wonder Girl slammed her elephant down, and the people working on that one went to work on the last one standing. It only took them a few minutes to put that one down as well, and they stood in the middle, looking around for more threats. The tiger jumped out at them, and Wonder Girl punched it across the room. It didn't get up again, and she grinned at the others.
"Well, who wants to be the Batman?" Dick asked, looking around at the others.
Megan turned away, and Conner held up his hands defensively. "You're the leader," he said.
Dick sighed, then he turned to Mallory. "You know, I'm sure it would be much more effective coming from someone on the League," he said.
Mallory shook her head. "Oh, no you don't. I'm out, go yell at your own team. I don't want to be the common enemy."
He rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot," he said.
Mallory smiled sweetly as he got up and opened the door. "Go get 'em, Bat Grump," she said.
He glared at her, but she saw the smile fighting its way to the surface and grinned in response. As soon as the door closed, she took his seat at the controls and turned on the volume so they could hear. He was in the simulation room the next second. Cassie grinned at him proudly.
"Well, how was that for a second day?" she asked.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "That was pretty bad," he said calmly. She flinched like she'd been punched, and Dick sighed and tried a lighter tone. "It wasn't just you, it was all of you. Brute strength isn't something you should be relying on. It's not the answer to every situation, which was why I gave you this particular simulation. I wanted you to figure out what was behind the attack and figure out a plan to fix it together, and instead you reacted on impulse and struck out on your own, blindly attacking. Thinking like that in the field isn't acceptable. It can get you, your teammates, and bystanders hurt, or worse." He paused to let his words sink in, then continued, "The reason the animals were attacking was the collars around their necks," he gestured to the elephants that were still in the room.
"We noticed them while we were fighting. That's what Robin and I were aiming at," Batgirl said.
Nightwing looked at her. "Well, that would have been useful information for you to pass along to your teammates so that they didn't continue to fight blind and risk getting themselves hurt," he said.
"How do we communicate in the field?" Karen asked.
"We usually have Megan's link, but we didn't here," Lagaan said.
Dick sighed. "You have to be able to communicate with each other without the link. It could be taken out of play at any time. If there's another psychic in the area, or Miss M is knocked out or distracted. You can't depend on it always being there."
"Well, how did you and the others communicate on your missions?" Lagaan asked, his tone a little condescending.
Dick paused, and Mallory could tell that he wasn't prepared for the question. "Um, well, we just, did," he said. Mallory exchanged a glance with Megan and Conner while the team gave the leader annoyed and skeptical looks. "Uh, look, training's over for the day, hit the showers and head home."
The team trailed out of the simulation room, and Dick met the senior members outside once the rest of the team were gone.
"Well, that went well," Conner said sarcastically.
"Well, what was I supposed to say?" Dick asked. They didn't answer, and Dick looked at them. "How did we communicate in the field without the link?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged. "I don't know, we just knew how to read each other. We didn't need the link to know what everyone was thinking. Zatanna and I think it's a side effect of the link."
Megan shook her head. "That's not how it works, it doesn't leave traces behind."
Mallory tilted her head. "Huh. Well, come on, you have all night to think about it, but the game starts in forty minutes, and we still need to meet Wally." She grabbed Dick's arm, waved to Megan and Conner, and dragged her friend to the nearest zeta tube.
Dick was preoccupied with the team problem through the third inning. Finally, Wally punched his shoulder, harder than his friend was expecting.
"Hey! What was that for?" the former Boy Wonder asked.
"Stop being so– broody. Our team's winning, lighten up."
Dick sighed. "Sorry, I can't help it. I just don't know how to get the team to start acting like a team. They run two simulations a day, they train together, they do missions together, but they still want to work alone on everything. And they asked me how we used to communicate in the field without the link, and I couldn't answer them."
"Yeah, I know. You told me like ten minutes ago," the speedster said, then he turned to Mallory and offered her some popcorn. "Who do you think's gonna win?"
"Come on, Wally, the game's on a break, can you just help me figure this out for two seconds?"
Wally sighed and looked at Mallory. "You guys really don't know?" he asked.
Mallory shrugged, and Dick narrowed his eyes. "Know what?" he asked.
"Training and fighting together wasn't what made us a good team, it was the down time, the decisions we made together, the fun stuff we did. That's what made it so easy to work together. Think about it. Every time we fought, or two of us were mad at each other, or there was any kind of rift between any of us, those were the missions that went sideways in a bad way, and we didn't get it back on track until we put whatever it was aside and focused on the mission."
Dick tilted his head. "Huh," Mallory muttered thoughtfully, thinking back on all the memories she had with the team. "You're right."
"So, you think the team needs to spend some down time together?" Dick asked.
Wally shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt." He made a show of checking his phone. "And that was your two seconds of Wally wisdom. Now stop brooding and watch the game."
Dick smiled. "Hey, shouldn't we be watching for your guy?" he asked.
"What guy?"
Dick and Mallory exchanged a glance. "The guy you said Barry wanted us to stake out here to watch for," Dick said.
Wally chuckled. "Oh, that. There isn't a guy."
"What are you talking about?" Mallory asked.
"You guys know I'm retired. I just knew you wouldn't come if you thought it was just for fun."
Mallory stared at Wally, then looked at Dick and they both broke into grins. Leave it to Wally to trick you into taking a break and solving your problems while he's at it. They watched the players come back on the field, settling in to watch the fourth inning.