I know it seems like Mallory's being dramatic, but if you look at the dates that everything happens in season two, it is so fast. Like Artemis dying and the cave blowing up is only a few days apart, and the whole season is only going over a few months. Just keep that in mind when you're reading this, or watching the show.
Dick and Peter woke up an hour after they were brought to the Hall for medical attention and observation. Mallory had already called her parents and brought them to the Hall, and when her brother woke up they went in to see him. He looked around with a confused expression.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"You're at the Hall. They wanted to check you out for a concussion, internal injuries, routine stuff," Mallory told him, rubbing his head just to assure herself that he was there.
"The Hall? Why are we–" his memories seemed to come back to him, and he sat up abruptly. "Kaldur! He was at the cave, I think he took Gar! What happened after I blacked out?"
Mallory sighed, not sure that he should hear it so soon. "Well…"
He gave her a hard look. "Mallory, what happened?" he asked.
She sighed. "Peter, the cave's…it's gone."
"What do you mean, gone?" he asked, his eyes widening.
"He blew it up, and he took Gar and Bart and Jaime prisoner. The League is trying to locate them now. I'm waiting to hear something from them."
Peter leaned back in his bed, his eyes wide. Her comm beeped in her ear, and she touched it and said, "I'm on my way." She looked at her parents. "I need to go to the Watchtower, they called a meeting to talk about…everything. You can stay here as long as you want, they're going to want Peter to stay overnight for observation."
They nodded, and Darrin looked between Mallory and Peter and started blinking hard.
"Dad, it's ok," Mallory said quietly, putting a hand on his arm.
He shook his head. "No, it's really not. We know there's a risk with what you've both decided to do, and while we don't like it, we've accepted it. It's bad enough that people are dying, but now the place you live and spend so much time was blown up. What if you'd been there? What if they hadn't given them time to get out? We could have lost you both tonight. There couldn't be anything further from ok."
Mallory looked at the floor, not knowing what to say. Her dad stood and pulled her into a hug, and she saw Elaine hug Peter out of the corner of her eye. "I know," she said quietly. "But we're going to fix this. I promise."
She left the room and started walking down the hall to the library to use the zeta tube. There was a mug of coffee and a blanket sitting there, which was strange, but she ignored it and punched in her coordinates, coming out in the Watchtower. Before her eyes had even cleared, she heard Zatanna's frantic voice say, "Mallory!" and someone practically slammed into her. She blinked and saw Zatanna hugging her.
"How's Peter?" the magician asked when she pulled away.
"He's ok, but I didn't see Dick, have you heard from him?"
She stepped to the side to reveal Dick standing with Megan and Conner. Megan looked furious and scared, hugging herself. Conner seemed like he wanted to go to her, but he stayed firmly planted a few feet away.
Mallory walked straight over to Dick. "What are you doing here? You should be taking it easy, you were just caught up in an explosion," she said, her voice coming out angry.
He shook his head, his face hard. "I'm fine, we have four members of my team to get back."
"Speaking of which, let's get this meeting started," Nate said.
They moved to the table quickly and settled in without a word to each other. Nate explained what had happened and looked around. "The team is going to stage a rescue tonight to get their members back and possibly find out more about this partner. We have located where they are going to be next, thanks to Nightwing, so they will allow some of their members to get taken along with the other victims to help the rest of the team sneak in and rescue everyone."
"I want in," Mallory said, looking between Dick and Nate. Dick looked at Captain Atom for the answer.
He narrowed his eyes. "No," he said firmly. "This is not League business. The team will retrieve their members. The League has another job to do."
Mallory narrowed her eyes right back at him. She was in no mood to be shot down. "This isn't about League or team business. This is personal."
Nate crossed his arms, squaring his shoulders. "All the more reason that you shouldn't go. The League's already walking on eggshells with the public, we don't need to draw any negative attention to ourselves, and you're in no condition to trust your judgement. Besides, you aren't exactly subtle."
Mallory crossed her arms to hide her clenched fists, glaring to the side. Nate continued the meeting. "We are going to need to address the explosion to the public, I can work with Catherine on that, but all of you are going to need to be prepared for questions about it. We really need to watch what we do from here on out. The media is going to try to pin this on us, the fact that the cave was a League site at one time isn't the best kept secret, no telling what kind of spin they could try to put on it."
"All right, we're going to round up the team. Is it ok if we operate out of the Hall for a while?" Dick asked briskly.
"Of course," Black Canary replied.
He nodded and he, Megan, and Conner started walking towards the zeta tube. Mallory sighed and looked at Nate. "Is that everything? I need to get back to the Hall, too."
He nodded. "Just be on call, we may need you to help with the cleanup at the cave."
She nodded and went to the zeta tube, muttering about her putting the fire out not being enough.
When she got back to Peter's room, he knew immediately that something was up.
"What happened?" he asked, sitting up in bed.
Mallory looked at her family and finally shrugged. "The team's going to stage a rescue op right now, they need to get into Manta's ship so they're going to let some of the team get captured so they can trace them."
Peter was pulling back the covers immediately, looking around for his suit.
"Peter! Sit down, you're in no shape to be going on any kind of mission, much less one this dangerous," Elaine said firmly.
He ignored her for a moment as he found his Vigilante suit and started checking the contents of his belt. "I'm going, I have to help. They have Gar, and Blue Beetle, and Lagaan. Besides, I feel fine."
He went to the adjoining bathroom to change, and Elaine and Darrin looked at Mallory. "You have to stop him," her mom said.
Mallory sighed, looking at the closed door. "I can try," she said, but she didn't feel very confident that she would succeed. When Peter came out in everything but his mask, she walked over to him. "Peter, you know the rest of the team can handle this, right? They're going to get Gar back, Megan's not going to let him get left behind."
Peter shook his head, his eyes narrowed with determination. "They're too short-handed with four members already gone. They need me, and you know it."
Mallory sighed. She did know it, and if it was her in her brother's position, she wouldn't be sitting around in a hospital bed while her team went into a mission this big.
When she didn't say anything, Peter tilted his head. "Where are they?" he asked.
She sighed. "In the library," she said quietly.
He nodded, and Darrin called him right before he opened the door. Peter looked back and nodded. "I'll be careful," he assured them, and he went on down the hall.
Darrin looked at Mallory, and she thought he was going to be mad at her, but there was pride in his eyes as he said, "I guess I've never really seen you two in the middle of an emergency. You're not just kids trying to have fun, you're really heroes."
She shrugged. "We try. Do you want to go home or hang out here until they get back?"
"We'll stay, if it's all right," Elaine said.
Mallory nodded. "Sure. I have to get back to the watchtower, but you can stay as long as you want."
She started towards the library, but halfway there her comm beeped. She groaned and pressed in. "Inferno here," she said.
"Hey, just thought you'd want to see this," Plastic Man said. A video was sent to her mask and she watched a building crumble. As the video continued, a figure came out of the rubble.
"Metallo?" she asked.
"Looks like it," Plastic Man replied. "The authorities can't get near him."
"Where is he?" she asked.
"Metropolis," he replied.
"I'm on my way," she told him, jogging the rest of the way to the zeta tube. The team was already gone, and she punched in her coordinates and let the light suck her back to her city.
It wasn't hard to find the villain when she got to the city. The police had the whole block corded off, and there were billows of smoke and screams coming from the destruction. She flew to the police line where Turpin and Sawyer were yelling orders.
"What's the situation?" she asked.
"Where you been, you just wake up or something?" Turpin asked. He looked around. "Where's the boyscout?"
"He can't come. What's going on in there?" she asked again.
"You think you're going to do something with it? This guy has taken down Superman twice, you don't stand a chance," the detective snapped.
"All due respect, detective, but I stand more of a chance than you do, now what's going on in there?" Mallory asked, her patience wearing thin.
"We don't know, Metallo showed up and just started going on a rampage."
"I thought he was long gone," Mallory mentioned, more to herself.
"We all did," Sawyer replied.
Mallory nodded. "I'm going in. You keep your men back, I don't want anyone else to get hurt."
She flew over the cord and found Metallo within a minute. He noticed her and jumped out of a window, making a new dent in the street.
"You aren't the one I wanted. Run along, little girl, and tell your boss I'm waiting."
Mallory shook her head. "I'm the only one coming, so either deal with me, or I'll deal with you my way," she said. She was in no mood for the banter or extended fighting. She was tired, upset, worried, and this was just an aggravation on top of everything else that had happened that night.
"Well, well, well, the little girl has guts. Let's see them spread out on the street, shall we?"
He lunged, and she braced, then rolled away at the last second. He regained his balance quickly and ran towards her again. She was up against a building now, so she jumped, flying up. Corben jumped, and he managed to grab her ankle with an iron grip. She heated her body as much as she could, trying to get him to let go, but he only laughed.
"That doesn't work on me, sweetheart," he said, and he threw her back down to the street. The wind was knocked out of her, and Corben landed over her, grinning down at her. "Well, that was easier than even I expected. Let's finish this little exercise, though." His chest plate slid open, revealing the chunk of kryptonite that fueled his body. Mallory groaned, shielding her face from the green light. Corben laughed and looked towards the police. "I told you, I want someone who can match–"
Before he finished the sentence, Mallory shot up, grabbing the rock and ripping it out. He squawked in surprise and made a grab for it, but she hopped out of the way easily.
"That doesn't work on me, sweetheart," she repeated, enjoying the fear on his face as he watched the rock in her hand. She threw it as far as she could towards the police and turned back to Corben. "Looks like you just lost your edge," she said, holding her arms up, ready to end the fight and get back to the Hall for an update on the team.
Metallo smiled. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" he said, his body relaxing out of a fighting stance.
Mallory whirled around a second too late and she was smacked across the face so hard she went flying three feet to the side. She scrambled up, but the new fighter was already on top of her, one hand wrapping around her wrist. She could feel her powers draining painfully as she looked at the purple man in front of her. She wrenched her wrist out of his grip and backed up, trying to catch her breath.
"Parasite," she muttered.
He was standing there with a grin on his face. "Oh, that is a wonderful flavor, a little hot, but I can take it," he said.
Mallory glared at him and held out a hand to make a fireball. It appeared much smaller than it should have, and she winced at how painful it was to create. She looked at the two men in front of her. Corben was just standing to the side, and Parasite had a fireball in his hand.
"Yes, you see, we had the perfect ambush planned," Corben said, watching her try to get her powers to work the way she was used to them working. "I would draw out Superman, Parasite here would drain him, and I would finish him off. I guess he sensed something, for him to send his sidekick in instead of being man enough to face me himself. That's going to cost him dearly. You, too." He looked at Parasite. "Finish her with her own fire. I believe in poetic endings."
The purple man nodded and started walking towards her. Mallory scrambled out of the way just in time to avoid the fire, still trying desperately to make a decent fireball of her own. It took her several minutes of dodging for it to work, but when she threw it, he just caught it and threw it back.
"It ain't exactly the rich Kryptonian flavor I was hoping for, but I do like this power. I might keep this one for a while, just to feed on her." He threw another fireball, and this time he flamed his entire body up.
"That's it, just keep it coming," Mallory murmured to herself, all but crawling out of the way.
"Stop playing with her and finish her off," Metallo snapped.
Parasite nodded and started walking towards her, a raging fire in his hands. Suddenly, he tensed, and Mallory smiled a little.
"What is it?" Corben asked impatiently.
"I don't–ahh!" Parasite collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain, his body still burning, and Mallory stood and pulled the flames from his body to her, holding them in her hand.
"Kryptonite may not be my weakness, but that doesn't mean I don't have one," she said, stepping over Parasite to get to Corben, "and when he took my powers, he took my weaknesses with them."
"Weaknesses? What weaknesses? He didn't even do anything!" Corben yelled, furious with Parasite and backing away from Inferno.
"That's something you can try to figure out back in whatever hole you managed to crawl out of," She said harshly. She was close enough to him now, and he was backed up against a building. She raised the fire and aimed. "Thanks for the exercise, sweetheart," she said, and she started throwing the flames into his chestplate. He screamed in pain, but she didn't stop until the door had melted and he was unconscious on the ground. Well, at least she was pretty sure he was unconscious.
The SCU came in and put an inhibitor collar on Parasite, much to her disappointment. She would have liked for him to feel that burning pain in every nerve of his body for just a little longer. Sawyer ran over to her, a strange look on her face as she looked between the two men. "You-you did it," she said with surprise.
Mallory raised an eyebrow at her. "You really didn't think I could?" she asked.
"Well, I-"
"Hey, Inferno, what is this?" Turpin yelled, gesturing to Metallo. "You nearly killed him!"
"What are you complaining about? I handled the situation." She flamed up and started flying away, done with the questions and blaming. She was going to find a zeta tube, but that was when she saw Livewire flying across the sky. "Really?" she muttered, but she took up pursuit, following the villain.
She didn't pay attention to where they were until the woman flew into a building that didn't have a window, and she realized where she was. Still, she landed inside, assuming that the building would be deserted.
"Let's get this over with," Mallory said, getting ready to fight.
"My sentiments exactly," a familiar voice said behind her.
Livewire disappeared in a flash of light, and Mallory realized that she'd never been there in the first place. She stiffened and turned around to face the man behind her. "What do you want, Luthor?" she asked.
He smiled at her almost fondly. "Well, well, well, that was quite a fight out there," he said.
Mallory narrowed her eyes. "You were involved in that somehow, weren't you?" she asked.
"Oh, no, that's not my style. I prefer a more…hands off kind of approach. However, I did watch it with quite a bit of interest."
"Oh, yeah? Why?" she asked, crossing her arms. She looked around the room, the scorch marks and non existent walls telling her about the attempt on his life. "I would have thought you had enough of fire and explosions to last you a lifetime."
He sighed. "Yes, the young Mr. Harper did do quite a number on my office, but I haven't lost interest in you or your cohorts. You see, ever since your friend Aqualad switched sides, I've been wondering who would be next, so I've been keeping a close eye on you."
Mallory's hands clenched into fists. "What do you want, Luthor?" she repeated, refusing to lose her temper in front of him.
He smiled and sat on the corner of his desk. "Well, you see, I know that Superman isn't here."
Mallory tilted her head. "Well, I would love to know how you came to that conclusion," she said.
"Well, as you know, I like to keep an eye on my enemies, particularly the Man of Steel. And in all of the years that I've been watching him, he's never left the city when there is a major threat looming, until now. And then there's your fight outside, which I must admit you handled beautifully. He would never have left you to battle two such powerful individuals alone if he was anywhere in the area. Admit it, Inferno. He's not here."
Mallory narrowed her eyes. "Well, if you know that Superman's gone, then you know that he's not around to keep me in check, so if I were you, Luthor, I'd think very carefully before I crossed the line."
Luthor chuckled. "You're attempt at intimidation is, well, adorable, but we both know you're not going to do anything. Your precious Justice League's reputation couldn't take the hit. It would destroy them."
Mallory just smiled. "You assume that someone would find out about it. There are ways to get rid of someone without ever having the crime solved. I'm sure you remember Ted Kord."
Lex laughed again. "That's why I like you, Inferno. After all these years, I still don't know what side you're going to end up on."
A stab of alarm went through her at his words, but she kept a calm face on as she walked back to the open wall. "Well, for your own sake, you'd better pray I never cross the line. You would be the first one I came for."
"Well, that would be interesting, wouldn't it? Coming after me before the person who betrayed your trust, killed your friend, and destroyed your headquarters?" he said, the calm, smug look still on his face.
Mallory clenched her jaw to keep from saying anything else and jumped out the window, flying towards the zeta tube. It had been a few hours, and she needed to check on the team's progress.
The team was just getting back from their mission when Mallory arrived at the Hall. Most of the League was there to welcome them, and as soon as Mallory saw Peter and Gar, she pushed her way through the people to get to them, pulling Gar into a hug.
"Are you ok?" she asked, looking him over.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, pushing her off playfully.
She laughed softly, holding on for a few seconds longer than she would have just to annoy him. Megan was standing off to the side, and Mallory smiled at her. "What do you say, Megan? Lock them in the Watchtower till they're twenty?"
The Martian didn't answer, didn't even look like she'd heard. Mallory looked at the boys. "Is she ok?" she asked, concern eating at the edge of her mind.
Gar looked at his sister and hesitated, then said, "Yeah, she's fine. She totally beat Kaldur in a fight back on the ship, she's just basking in the victory."
The news didn't make Mallory feel as good as she thought it would. "I see you made some friends," she said, looking around at all of the new faces. She noticed Dick and Conner and a few Leaguers leaving the room. "I'll be right back, ok? I want to hear what happened."
She made her way through the crowd and slipped into the room right before the doors closed. Zatanna and Conner nodded greetings as she slid into a seat at a conference table. They pulled up a communication to the Watchtower, where Nate was on monitor duty.
"The mission was successful," Dick told him, "we rescued every team member and the recent kidnapped teens, as well as a handful of teens that were there before we got there. They'll have moved their ship by now, plus there's still the beetle connection to figure out, but you can tell the world they're here. Their secret invasion is no secret anymore."
"That would be an understatement," Aquaman said from behind Captain Atom. The others watched as the Atlantean pulled up a news feed from the UN headquarters. The Reach ship was hovering over the building, and Cat Grant was saying, "Repeating Today's Top Story, a small group of extraterrestrials, The Reach, have arrived at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. For more on this, we go live to GBS' own G. Gordon Godfry at the UN."
The screen switched, and the anger flowed through the room in waves as the news man showed one of the Reach talking to Secretary General Tsing on the stage behind him. "Thanks, Cat, and yes, folks, it seems Earth's finally met some aliens who know how to get it right." The camera focused on the stage, and they heard the conversation being held there.
"The Reach comes to your world as friends. We come with open arms, extending our hands, out reach, if you will, to help." He shook hands with the other man, and the camera panned back to Godfry.
"Well, thumbs up to the Reach," he said. Zatanna let out a huff of disbelief. "Oh, I know what you're thinking," he said, "old G. Gordon's gone soft on the spacemen. But don't you see? This is exactly how aliens should come to Earth. Knocking on our front door, not sneaking around the back. Like some Leaguers we know."
Aquaman cut the feed and the heroes looked at each other gravely. "So before we warn the public, they go public," Dick said.
"It could be worse," Aquaman pointed out. "At least we know exactly where they are."
"It could be better, too," Canary said. "How are we supposed to warn the world about them, or even fight them in secret, if the media is supporting them? They got the public to turn against us over less. What can we do now?"
Nate sighed. "I guess it's out of our hands. For now. But like Aquaman said, we know where we are."
"That's right," Dick said, "and we know what we're up against."
Mallory shook her head, her hands clenching into fists. She needed to get out. She pushed herself to her feet and slammed the door open, instinctively going to the zeta tube to go–where? The pile of rubble that used to be her home? She stopped in the middle of the hallway and just hugged herself, her mind whirling. She could barely see what was in front of her, and her arms felt numb.
"Inferno, it's ok, take a breath," Dick said softly behind her.
She shook her head. "No, it's not, ok? I'm so sick of that word, of saying it, of hearing it. Nothing is ok right now! This week has been a living hell, I don't think I have any emotions I haven't drained dry. I've been on my feet for two days straight and I'm dead tired. I'd go home except that Kaldur blew it up, and now aliens are invading Earth, so I guess I can start looking forward to my–" she stopped herself, remembering who she was talking to, and went quiet.
Dick walked in front of her, putting a hand on her shaking arm. "Your what?" he asked gently.
She shook her head, looking away. "Nothing, it doesn't matter."
Dick sighed. "Mallory, I know there's a lot going wrong right now, but you can't just focus on that. You need to see the good things that are happening too. We got everyone back safely, we saved a lot of kids, and we're closer to finding out the Light's plan than we ever have been."
"And what was the cost of all of that? We have lost so much over this stupid fight with the Light, every step forward we take, they knock us back three." Luthor's words popped into her mind, and she looked at Dick with sadness and fear, her voice breaking as she said, "I don't know how much more of this I can take before I break."