Hope you like it, please review!
It was two days before the swelling on Mallory's face went down enough to cover her injuries. When she walked into campus on the third day wearing more makeup than skin, all anyone was talking about was the big news about the Justice League being criminals and keeping secrets from the public. She heard it on the streets, in her classes, on the media, even from her friends. When she finally got back to her dorm that night, she felt physically sick from it all. Jen came in a few minutes after her, and she didn't even put her bag down before she started.
"Mallory, where have you been? I've been trying to talk to you for days! What's going on? The League comes out with all this stuff, and you just disappeared, I thought you and the others just left."
Mallory sighed, leaning on the sink as she took off all of the layers of concealers and stage makeup she had lathered on that morning. "Jen…" she said, turning around.
Jen gasped when she saw her friend's bare face, all of her words falling away. A long moment passed, then she sighed. "I know you've been through a lot," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "but I need some answers, ok? I'm just really scared right now, and I don't know what to believe anymore, and you're the only person I know that really knows what's going on."
Mallory shut her eyes, her hands going flat on the counter to hold herself up. "Jen, I can't talk about it. All I can say is, we are not criminals, and the Reach are not who they say they are."
"Why can't you tell me? Mallory, I know something's not right with you, and with everything that's coming out, it makes me think it's all true, and there's more coming."
"Jen, you just have to trust me, ok? You still do, don't you?"
Jen didn't answer for a long moment, and Mallory opened her eyes and looked at her, tilting her head questioningly, her heart aching in the silence.
"I still trust my friend, Mallory, the girl that was my best friend since my first week at boarding school. It's the other person I'm not sure about." Mallory nodded slowly, looking away, and Jen rushed to explain. "Well, look at it from my point of view, Mallory. Ever since you joined that team, ever since you became Inferno, you started lying to me, spending less and less time with anyone who knew you before. I used to be so proud of you, but it's like you aren't you anymore. Even now, you're holding something in. I can feel the pain and guilt and fear rolling off of you, you've been carrying it for months. What am I supposed to think?" She took a shaky breath, looking into Mallory's eyes and added, "I just want my friend back."
Mallory sighed and turned back to the mirror, studying her reflection. She shook her head. "I don't know what to tell you, Jen. I don't think that girl is here anymore."
Her friend stared at her for a long time, then she just walked past her and started unpacking her bag. The rest of the evening was spent in a tense silence. By the time it started to get dark, Mallory started to get ready for a patrol just for an excuse to get out of the room.
She flew through the city for a while, and she found herself gravitating towards the business district, specifically the one building in the city at the time with the top floor under construction.
Jen's words were still fresh in her head as she stared at the floor, and suddenly everything seemed to fall into place. She wasn't the person she used to be, and whether that was a good thing or bad was irrelevant right now. With their circumstances changing, they needed to take another approach. Staying out in the open, playing by the rules, trying to get people to remember how good they were, it wasn't working. They needed to try something new.
She flew into the floor, pushing a board away, and lit her eyes so she could see in the dark room. She found what she was looking for on Luthor's desk and crossed the room silently. She stared at the password entry on the computer and winced, wishing she had learned more about hacking over the years. She muffled a grunt of frustration and pressed her comm, shaking her head as she anticipated the conversation she was about to have.
"Nightwing here," Dick said.
"I'm in Luthor's office right now and I need some help hacking into his computer," she said quickly and quietly.
"What? Inferno, you need to get out of there now, before someone finds you."
"I'm not leaving until I find something we can use. I know Luthor's tied up in this Reach thing somehow, I just need to find one thing to go on."
"Mallory, this isn't you. Go back to your dorm and forget about it," he said firmly.
"No, I'm not. I'm not going to lose anyone else to this stupid war. I can't. So if I need to change to prevent anyone else getting hurt, then that's what I'm going to do. Now are you going to help me or not?"
He sighed heavily on the line. "Fine, give me a minute to tap into your mask's feed," he said.
She waited, and after a moment he announced that he was in. From there, he talked her through hacking the computer, then he was called away from the computer for something. While he was fighting some thugs, Mallory scrolled through the endless files. She had a flash drive already attached, and she was opening some files and automatically dragging others into her drive. She found a file marked 'Reach into the Future' and clicked on it. The map of Smallville was the first thing that caught her eye, and at that point she couldn't stop reading it. She learned about the construction already underway, the plan for a farm for increased plant food production and the ingredients for a drink that was set to come onto the market soon.
"Nightwing, are you there?" she asked excitedly, dragging the file onto her flash drive.
"What's wrong, did you get caught?"
"No, I think I know what they're planning."
"What?"
"I'm not positive, let me look through this a little closer before I say anything."
"Mal, wait–" he said, but Mallory cut the feed and took her flash drive, flying back out into the city. She started to fly back to campus, but she stopped herself at the last minute. With the tension in the dorm, she wouldn't be able to focus on anything. She sighed and set her course for the next best place, her fire burning a little brighter than it had before as she thought about what she'd found in the file.
A half an hour later, Mallory had set up shop on Lois's couch, the reporter's laptop in front of her along with a soda and a donut. Lois had been in and out, letting her do her own digging and stepping in to offer a seasoned eye on what she'd come up with.
The reporter was working on her own article in the next room when there was a banging on the door. Both of the women got to their feet, and Lois ushered Mallory behind her as she went to the door and looked through the peephole. She looked back at Mallory. "I think it's for you," she said, stepping back. Mallory looked through the hole and saw Dick standing on the other side in civies, practically bouncing with impatience. She sighed and opened the door.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "And how did you even know I was here?"
The detective walked in as she was asking the questions, and she let the door swing shut. "I tracked your suit," he said passively. "Why did you break into Luthor's office? You know that's not the way to solve anything."
Mallory crossed her arms. "Why are you so worried about it? You do it all the time."
"Because if the city found out that Inferno broke the law, that would be it, there wouldn't be any coming back from that. Not now."
"Why is it such a big deal? You and Batman break the law all the time, Gotham and Bludhaven don't seem to mind."
He shook his head angrily. "You can't compare Metropolis to Gotham or 'Haven, and you can't compare me and Batman to you and Superman. You two represent something, and you can't lose that in the public's eyes."
Mallory refrained from rolling her eyes. "We're all heroes, we all represent the same thing," she said dismissively.
"No, we don't," Dick said firmly, his tone making her turn back around to face him. "Batman and I represent justice, but you and Superman represent hope. People can't lose sight of that right now with everything else going on." He took a breath, letting his shoulders relax, and continued in a quieter voice, "Look, I know it seems like we're fighting a losing battle, but compromising who you are to win isn't going to accomplish anything. All that's going to do is make the line a little blurrier, until you end up doing something you'll regret. I don't want you to have to go there."
Mallory sighed and looked away guiltily. "You're right. I shouldn't have broke into his computer." She looked at the laptop, then back at her friend. "But since I already did, do you want to look at what I found?"
He just stared at her for a moment, then he smiled. "That's the main reason I'm here," he admitted. They sat down and Mallory showed him what she had managed to piece together so far. "Why would the Light want to start a farm in Smallville? That doesn't make any sense," he muttered as he scrolled through the file, opening all of the attachments to try to find a clue.
"I wasn't sure at first either, but then I found this." She clicked on the attachment that detailed the line of drinks.
"So, they needed an excuse for a base to make this?" he asked, grabbing her soda off the table and taking a swig absentmindedly.
Mallory snatched her drink away and set it back on the table out of his reach, ignoring his amused look. "And I'm willing to bet there's going to be more in those bottles than just the fruit," she said, ignoring the whole interaction and continuing the talk without missing a beat.
"We should bring this to the League, let them look into it, send someone to investigate when it picks up operation."
Mallory nodded and pointed out the date for the public unveiling. "We don't have long to wait," she pointed out.
"There's a meeting tomorrow to talk about response to the secrets, isn't there?"
She nodded. "Yeah. You want to come with Megan and Conner? They should hear about this too."
He nodded. "Yeah, I'll let them know." He looked around at her space. "Are you spending the night here?"
Mallory shrugged. "Me and my roommate are having some problems, so I just thought it would be good to get out of the room for a while."
He nodded. "You want to spend a few days with me?"
Mallory smiled. "What, now you're offering your place? What about the warehouse?"
He smiled and rolled his eyes. "I swear, it was the best I could come up with at the time, and I would say you could go there, but now it's Conner, Gar, Mal, and Lagaan, and somehow I don't see that being a good combination."
Mallory smiled. "Why does everyone assume I'm out to get Lagaan?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know, personal experience, I guess?"
She rolled her eyes and chuckled. It felt good to laugh. She hadn't found much funny in the last few days, or weeks. Still, the sting on her lip at the movement reminded her why, and she sobered quickly.
"Dick, we have to stop this," she said, looking at him.
His eyes softened a little, and he nodded. "We will," he said confidently.
Mallory sighed and nodded. She hoped he was right.
Please review!