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The League, and mostly the team, stayed quiet for the days after saving the world, but then the day came that the UN officially ordered the Reach to leave the Earth, and the Justice League, led by the three Green Lanterns, escorted the Reach ships off world. Mallory stopped as high as she could go and watched as her and Rocket's ship finished the ascent into space. Superman and Captain Marvel brought the main ship up to fireworks and cheers. The League stayed together in the sky and watched as John Stewart, Hal Jordan, and Guy Gardner led the ships into space, bringing them to the Guardians of the Universe on Oa to stand trial for their tampering with Earth.
They didn't wait around, though. As soon as they got the call from Captain Atom that the Reach ships were cleared from Earth's space, they split up and zetaed to the Watchtower, where the team and non-flying Leaguers were waiting, along with some guests like Jay Garrick, Roy, and a young girl about the boys' age. Megan had an arm around Artemis, dressed in her green costume, though she'd left her bow at home. The League had offered to have a funeral for Kid Flash at the Watchtower since the cave was no longer an option, but they had postponed it until today without giving a reason. Now, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman led the group to a part of the Watchtower that Mallory had never been to before. When Clark opened the door, Mallory and the others looked around in surprise at the grass and thick trees filling the room.
"How…?" Cassie started to ask, but she fell silent when Tim put a hand on her arm, then laced his fingers with hers. Mallory's eyebrows rose slightly. She didn't know they were together.
The three Leaguers continued to lead the way through the trees, and Mallory stopped short when she saw where they were going. Near the window, The Earth in the background, were all of the holograms that had been in the grotto. They were spaced out more, but they were there. Tula, Jason, Ted, and– Wally. Her eyes stung at the sight of him, in his Kid Flash costume, standing straight and tall, a serious expression on his face. From the look of him, the picture had been pulled from when he was younger, before he quit the team. She bit her lip, picturing in her head his cocky smile, the twinkle in his eye that he almost always had. She looked at Artemis, who was standing tall. All of the heroes were, but the pain was palpable as they all said their final goodbyes to one of the best of them. Zatanna came over and gave Mallory a side hug, looking at her face to see her reaction, but Mallory stayed stoic, never betraying the tears that were forming behind her mask.
They stayed like that for what felt like hours. The others started to leave one by one, and eventually, Mallory, Dick, and Artemis were the last ones in the room. None of them said anything at first, wrapped up in their own thoughts, then Artemis smiled sadly and looked at them. "He would be complaining right now, you know that, don't you?"
Dick laughed involuntarily, nodding. "Yeah," he said quietly, "he'd say they got the picture all wrong, or it's not big enough." Mallory felt a smile come to her lips. She could hear him now, complaining goodnaturedly about one thing or another, a snack in one hand.
Artemis stepped closer to them. "I want you to know, Barry and I are going to give Bart his name. It's what Wally wanted."
A stab went through Mallory's heart, thinking about someone else using the name, but she pushed it to the side and nodded along with Dick. This wasn't their decision to make. Besides, once the rawness wore off, it would be good to know that his legacy was being carried on.
"What are you going to do now?" Dick asked.
Artemis winced, looking down at her costume. "I don't really know. I'm not going back to school, I can't right now, but, I don't think he would want me to go back to being a hero. We worked too hard to get out of that life."
Mallory sighed, shutting her eyes. "Artemis," she said slowly, "he would want you to do what makes you happy. If being a Star City vigilante is what feels right, then do it. Join the team, or the League, or don't. Just, trust me, you can't limit your life based on the past. You lose too much time doing that."
The archer looked down, thinking about it. She ran a hand across her emblem, her fingers tracing the arrow. "I don't want to be Artemis. Not without him," she said, her voice breaking.
Dick put a hand on her shoulder. "Then don't be. No one said you have to stay the same forever." He smiled, gesturing to his costume.
She nodded, then looked back up at them. "We should go find the others."
They walked out of the memorial room, and they found the others gathered in the lounge area. Gar and Peter were talking to the girl, and Mallory leaned towards Dick, nodding to her. "Who's that?" she asked.
Dick raised an eyebrow at her. "That's Queen Perdita of Vlativa."
Mallory's eyes widened slightly, watching the same two boys who had dyed Superman's hair as a prank talk to royalty. "What's she doing here?" she asked.
"Wally saved her life. He transported a heart for her, and he kept Count Vertigo from killing her. She reached out to Flash and asked to be here."
"So, the public knows about him?" she asked. He nodded, and she let out a small huff of relief. For every other fallen hero, it had been a carefully guarded secret. She was glad that she didn't have to keep Wally's sacrifice hidden. Dick smiled knowingly, and they went to find their friends. Megan, Conner, Zatanna, Raquel, Darrius, Kaldur, Roy, Garth, and Donna were standing together, talking quietly. They fell silent when the last three of them showed up. Roy put a hand on Dick's shoulder, and he nodded.
"It is hard to believe," Kaldur said quietly. The others nodded in agreement. Mallory felt her guilt coming back, her head spinning as she looked around the room full of heroes.
Donna tilted her head. "Mallory?"
Mallory looked at her. "What?"
"Is something wrong?"
She felt the eyes of the people she counted as family on her, and she sighed. "I've been thinking these last few days, and…I'm going to resign from the League."
Zatanna and Raquel's eyes widened. "Mal, you can't let this scare you," the magician started, but Mallory shook her head.
"It's not," she said firmly. "And this isn't just about Wally. I went months being benched because of the League having to follow the rules. Maybe if we hadn't been so concerned about what people thought of us, we could have stopped this sooner. Maybe not. All I know is, it just isn't my style."
"You can always come back to the team," Megan said hopefully.
Mallory smiled a little at her friend's hopeful face, but she shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I need some time away from missions and crises. I'll still be around if you need me, but I think I'll just run solo for a while."
Roy smiled a little, looking between Dick and Mallory. "We could start a team of our own," he said, half joking.
Mallory scoffed. "Yeah, right."
He shrugged. "Why not? The League did it, the team did it, your ex boyfriend did it. Why not the three ex sidekicks that quit on the League?"
Mallory looked at Dick. "You quit?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Not exactly, I'm just taking a leave of absence. I could use a break from leading for a while."
"So…who's going to lead the team?" the pyrokinetic asked.
Kaldur sighed, looking at her. "I am," he said.
Mallory's face froze for a long moment, and the Atlantean seemed to hold his breath, waiting for her to react to the news. Finally, she smiled and said, "good. A few months of managing the new team and you might just make up for everything." He returned her smile, looking relieved. Mallory looked at them, then sighed. "I guess I should go tell Clark," she said, and she started to look for her former mentor. She found him in the main room with Batman, Black Canary, and Captain Atom. They were watching the news, G. Grodon Godfry was talking about how he was right all along. Mallory rolled her eyes, scoffing, and the older heroes turned to her.
"Mallory, what do you need?" Canary asked.
Mallory looked at each of them before saying, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm resigning from the League, effective immediately."
Clark looked at her with surprise. "Mallory, are you sure?" he asked.
She nodded firmly. "Yes. I've thought about it a lot, and I need to take a step back."
They didn't say anything for a moment, then Canary nodded, stepping forward to put a hand on Mallory's shoulder. "We understand, and I hope you find what you're looking for." She smiled a little and added, "just do your old trainer a favor and don't be a stranger around here. You know you'll always have a place among us if you want it."
Mallory smiled and nodded, tucking the words away for a time when she could appreciate them.
"You're welcome," Godfrey said on the tv, pulling their attention to it. "Now, Tseng's replacement has not yet been chosen, but I think we all know only one man qualifies." The heroes tilted their heads, waiting for this candidate to be announced. "The man responsible for saving all our lives from the Reach's MFDs, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…Lex Luthor."
"You have got to be kidding me," Clark said, his face full of disgust.
Mallory chuckled, patting his shoulder. "Have fun with that," she said. "If you need me, I'll be taking out petty crooks in Metropolis." She chuckled to herself as she walked towards the zeta tubes.
Dick met her at the doorway, holding up a hand. "Wait, I think you'll want to stick around for this," he said. Mallory tilted her head, then an all-call sounded throughout the Watchtower, telling all guests to leave and the team and League to report to the main room. Roy met up with them on his way out, but he paused when they didn't follow, waiting in the next room as they watched from the doorway as the team gathered in the middle of the main room in front of the League.
Batman stepped to the front of the Leaguers present to talk to the team. "Having stopped the Reach invasion and broken the Light in half, the team will now operate out of the Watchtower, side by side with the League." Mallory felt her chest swell with pride, even standing there as an outsider. She could practically feel Dick smiling beside her as Batman continued, "Not because Mount Justice was destroyed, but because you earned it."
The Dark Knight ended the statement with a smile, and that little twitch of his lips put a grin on her face as she remembered the only other time she'd ever seen him smile, and it was when he didn't know anyone was around.
"And so," Canary said, "we'll leave you to it." She led the Leaguers to the zeta tube, leaving the team to discuss its next move.
Kaldur turned to the others. "This team has had successes, but much remains to be done."
Mallory looked at Dick, chuckling quietly. "He's worse than Batman sometimes," she said.
He grinned, pushing off the wall. "Business as usual."
They walked side by side into the next room and met Roy by the zeta tube. "So, what do you say? You ready to join Quitters United?" he asked as they walked up to the machine.
Mallory chuckled, shaking her head. "We are not calling it that," she said firmly.
He shrugged. "Sure, we can change it just as soon as you come up with a better name," he said.
"Really?" Dick asked.
"No," he replied.
Mallory smiled as the computer scanned them, and the light pulled her away from the Watchtower, and away from the life that she'd been so afraid of losing.