Ok, y'all, I'm starting to think about the ending, I'm not sure how far off it is yet, but I do need some feedback. Where do you want Mallory to end her arc? I definetly have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear what you guys think. Anyway, hope you like it, please review!
Mallory woke up the next morning to the sound of the zeta tube coming to life. She looked around sleepily, wondering if she was still dreaming for a moment. When her mind cleared and she remembered that she was in the Watchtower, she looked around to see who was still there. Kaldur was sitting beside her, his head resting on the back of the couch, and her head was on his shoulder. Peter had left at some point during the night, but Gar was still there, as was Conner. Megan must have gone to work. Work! She jumped to her feet so fast she startled Kaldur awake.
"What is it?" he asked, his mind sharp even though his eyes were still bleary.
"Nothing, sorry. I'm late, I have to run," she explained hastily, trying to pull on her shoes as she hopped over to the zeta tube.
Red Tornado walked in and looked around. "I was not expecting anyone to be here at this hour. I have come to relieve Hawk Girl for monitor duty."
Kaldur nodded. "I believe she is on the bridge."
The android looked at Mallory, who tripped on one of the stairs and fell onto her knee, then he walked out without a word. Kaldur rubbed his eyes and went over to help the pyrokinetic up.
"Thanks," she muttered. She'd long since stopped being embarrassed around Kaldur, but she was too stressed to be fully aware of what was happening. The leader sighed and shook his head, smiling a little as he offered her his arm. She chuckled and nodded a thanks as she held on to pull on her other shoe. "Don't forget, I get off at five, and I'll have Jr meet us at by the Planet. And, Kaldur?"
He smiled, typing her coordinates in for her as she stood in front of the tube. "I will keep an open mind," he replied, already knowing what she was going to say.
She smiled. "Thanks."
He nodded, and the light sucked her to Bludhaven. She ran down the block and practically flew up the stairs, bursting into the apartment and slamming the door.
"Hey, where have you been?" Dick asked. He was in his uniform, about to walk out the door.
"Watchtower. I have five minutes to change and get to work, so just–"
"I put some clothes in the bathroom, your files are in your bag by the door, and there's a breakfast sandwich on the counter," he replied.
She gave him a quick, relieved hug. "Thanks, you're the best," she said and hurried to the bathroom to get ready. She had plenty of experience changing quickly, so she was out again in under a minute, her makeup bag in hand. She would have to do that at work. Luckily she hadn't burned off the shampoo since yesterday, so she didn't need to take a shower. Dick had already left, so she grabbed the sandwich off the counter and her bag from the hook by the door and ran back down to the zeta tube. The nearest tube to her job was three blocks away, so she jogged down the street, ignoring the looks she was getting. She made it to the lobby with a minute to spare and let some of the tension out of her shoulders as she rode the elevator up to the twenty-third floor. The doors slid open right as her phone turned to 8:00. She smiled with satisfaction as she weaved her way to her desk.
As soon as she logged into her computer, though, Dr. Veritas walked onto the floor and looked around. When she saw Mallory, she tilted her head. "Ms. Johnson, could I have a word, please?" It had been two days since her coworker had threatened to get her fired because of challenging her with the changes she'd suggested, and she'd thought that it was an empty threat when she'd come to work the day after and nothing had happened. Now, she sighed and looked over her desk to make sure that she could pack quickly, thinking that she knew what was coming.
When she went to Dr. Veritas' office, Anna was there talking to their boss. She looked smug as she greeted Mallory, pretending to be surprised to see her. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting your appointment, Mallory?"
"No," Dr. Veritas replied, "I asked her to come. If this is all you needed…?"
"Oh, yes, this was very helpful, thank you," Anna replied, gathering some papers off the desk. As she was passing Mallory, who was still standing by the door, she smiled sweetly and said, "have a nice day, Ms. Johnson." The door closed behind her and Mallory tilted her head, waiting for her boss to say something.
"Come have a seat, Mallory," she said after a moment. Mallory did as she was told, and the older woman came around the desk and leaned on the edge, a clipboard in hand. "Do you know why I asked to see you?"
"I have an idea," Mallory replied, keeping her face blank and maintaining eye contact.
"Your coworker has brought to my attention that you want to change an entire roster. She mentioned that you became a little…" she glanced at the clipboard, "hostile when she mentioned that she didn't think the changes were necessary." Mallory fought a scoff. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
She shook her head. "No."
Dr. Veritas seemed surprised. "You don't want to defend yourself against the accusation?"
Mallory shook her head firmly. "No. My actions don't need to be defended. I wanted to give the kids the best possible home, and Anna was put out because she didn't want the extra work. If I'm going to get in trouble for that, then–"
"Ms. Johnson," Dr. Veritas interrupted gently, "why do you think you are here?"
Mallory paused, her rant leaving her head. "Well, I assumed you brought me in here to reprimand me for whatever you heard I did."
The woman chuckled. "I asked you in here to thank you," she said simply. Mallory tilted her head, and her employer pushed off the desk and went to sit in her chair. "Whenever someone brings any kind of problem to my attention, the first thing I do is look at the cameras to see what happened for myself. But do you know what I saw when I pulled up your disagreement?" Mallory stayed quiet, sensing that it was a rhetorical question. "I saw you defending the kids, not caring that you had to stick your own neck out to do it. It's admirable, really, the way you held your ground. It's exactly what I hoped I would see from you when I hired you."
Mallory tilted her head, confused. "Sorry, but I don't think I'm following. So, you called me in here to…congratulate me for having problems with my coworker?"
Dr. Veritas chuckled. "Well, I guess when you put it like that, yes. But, I'm also going to offer you a position as roster manager, if you are interested."
"What would I do?"
"You would oversee all placements in your department. It would also be your responsibility to go check on the placements every now and then to ensure that things are going well. You would have your own office and it comes with a bit of a pay raise. What do you say?"
When Mallory got to the Daily Planet after work, Dick, Roy, Zatanna, and Conner were already there. She couldn't keep the huge grin off her face as she joined the group and greeted them.
"What happened to you?" Zatanna asked, returning the smile.
Mallory turned to Dick. "Well, for starters, I'm finally gonna be able to pick up half the rent."
The former Boy Wonder tilted his head. "What, you finally got a paycheck after two months?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, I got a promotion! You're looking at the newest roster manager of Angel's Placement! I get an office, and a fifteen percent raise! I get an office! With a door and everything!"
They laughed. "That's great, Mal," Zatanna said, and Conner nodded. "Yeah. How did you get it?"
She laughed. "As far as I know, they gave it to me for almost punching my coworker." She looked at Roy. "Looks like you can get ahead with violence. Someone should let Arsenal know."
Roy shook his head. "Nope. Does the office have a window?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Probably. I think all the offices are on the outside walls."
"Great. So you can sneak out and run missions without anyone noticing."
She shook her head. "Probably not. I'd rather keep my job, thanks."
"Why would you not be able to keep your job?" Raquel asked, coming up behind Mallory with Karen and Mal. Artemis was crossing the street, and Mallory filled them in quickly. They congratulated her, and when the small talk died down, she looked around. "Is Peter coming?" she asked, looking at Conner and Artemis.
They shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't say anything to me," Conner replied. "Yeah, me either," Artemis said.
"Is your boyfriend coming?" Karen asked, "'Cause he's late."
Mallory shrugged, fighting the impulse to tell her that he wasn't her boyfriend. Funny. Now that they had talked about it and she'd told the team, he kind of was. "I told him the time. He'll be here." She tilted her head and looked around at her friends, all in civies on the sidewalk in front of the Daily Planet main entrance. "You guys aren't going to change before he gets here?" she asked.
Conner shrugged. "Yeah, cause it would make so much of a difference to put a red S on instead of a solid black shirt."
She chuckled. "Ok, maybe not you, but Dick, since when do you let anyone see the blues of your eyes?"
He chuckled and Zatanna raised her hand. "I'll put everyone in their suits when we get in the bioship. Until, I have an enchantment over us. Jr won't see any of us. Only you."
"Huh. That's useful," Mallory said.
The magician nodded, smiling. "Yep. Something I picked up from John."
"There he is," Conner said, nodding down the street.
Mallory squinted and barely made out Jr's form down the street. "Where's Megan?" she asked. Before the words were all the way out her mouth, the bioship, transformed into a van, pulled up beside the group.
"Sorry I'm late," the Martian said apologetically after opening the door, Kaldur in the passenger seat. "I had to make a quick stop." Peter poked his head out, his jeans and t-shirt seeming out of place in the interior of the bioship. He smiled at his sister while the others loaded up.
"Come on in, Mal. We can meet him halfway," Megan said.
Mallory climbed in and the door shut behind her. Zatanna muttered a spell, putting the heroes in their costumes. The bioship pulled to the side of the road a few feet from Jr and Mallory opened the door. "Cameron!"
He smiled when he heard her voice, but the smile turned to a nervous chuckle when the faces of her teammates started to pop up behind her. "Oh, uh, hey, Inferno," he stammered. She smiled brightly and reached her hand out to him, glancing around the street to make sure no one would see her in costume. When he took her hand, she pulled him in and the door closed behind him, leaving him in a small space full of heroes piled on top of each other.
"Uh, hey, guys," he said. He was on the floor pressed between Mallory and Artemis, Conner in front of him in the seat. "It's a little cramped in here, don't you think?"
The team looked at each other as if they hadn't noticed and Raquel shrugged. "Oh, I don't know about that," she said, even though Zatanna was practically in her lap.
Megan chuckled from the driver's seat. "Just a second. Bioship's in camouflage mode, and we're taking off." They felt the ship rising into the air, and it slowly morphed into the size that they were all familiar with. When they were at a good altitude, Megan left her seat and joined the group on the floor, all standing in front of Mallory and Cameron.
"So," Roy started, and Mallory rolled her eyes, recognizing the older brother look on his face. She settled into her old chair and crossed her arms, part of her enjoying how uncomfortable Jr looked already. He had no idea what he was in for. "Inferno tells us that you've been dating for a month. Why?"
Jr tilted his head. "Uh, I don't know–"
"Are you going to turn her over to your father?"
Conner came and sat next to Mallory, leaning back in his chair. They shared an amused look and turned back to watch the show.
"No! No, I wouldn't do that. Look, I'm not going to hurt her or anything, so–"
"No, you're not," Artemis said firmly. "You don't want to know what'll happen to you if you do."
He crossed his arms. "You mean besides being burned alive?"
"Please, whatever Inferno would do to you is nothing next to what would happen once we got ahold of you. I can assure you, it wouldn't be pretty," Peter said, holding one of his dart guns loosely in his hand, examining the barrel.
"Right, I believe you," Jr replied, taking a step back. "What do you want from me? You already know that I'm in a different line of work, so what?"
They exchanged a look and Kaldur stepped forward. "I believe that your word is what we are after. We want your word that you will keep her out of your work, and that you will not keep her from hers."
Jr tilted his head, studying Kaldur and Artemis. "What's it like being back on the right side of the law?" he asked. "Did they take you back with open arms? Must be nice to have that kind of loyalty after spending a year destroying everything they loved."
"Hey, you were part of that, or did you already forget that you helped blow up the cave?" Dick asked. He actually seemed mad, and Mallory winced, remembering going to the cave right after it exploded and finding Conner, Dick, and Peter unconscious on Sphere. She looked away, not wanting to see Jr's face while that memory was playing in her head.
"Look, I'm sorry, ok? It was a job."
"Seemed pretty personal from where I was standing," Peter said, his face going from amused to angry quicker than Mallory thought possible. She exchanged a glance with Coner and stood up, standing between Jr and her friends.
"Ok, let's calm down a little," she said, one hand on Jr's chest and the other extended towards the others. "I thought you wanted to meet him, not beat him up."
After that, things calmed down and the team started talking to Jr about lighter things like hobbies and future plans. Mallory retreated to her seat, but she kept an eye on them, ready to step back in if things escalated again.
"Does it really not bother you that he was one of the ones who blew up the cave?" Peter asked a little while later.
Mallory sighed. "Honestly? Yeah, it does a little. But if it bothers me that Jr was involved, then it has to bother me that Kaldur and Artemis were involved, too. It was Kaldur's idea. So I make myself move past it." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading. "You should do the same, Vig. You can't hold that in forever."
He didn't answer, just turned and went to talk to Dick. A little while later, Zatanna walked over, Artemis not far behind.
"So?" Mallory asked.
The girls exchanged a glance and the magician shrugged. "He's nice," she said tentatively.
"But?" Mallory asked.
She sighed, seeming to be trying to find the right words. "Well, I don't know, he just, it just seems like you're moving kind of fast, don't you think?"
Mallory shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't feel like it."
"Look, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't seem like you like him that much," Artemis mentioned.
Mallory forced a chuckle, trying to keep her irritation from showing. "This coming from you? Your love language is fighting."
Zatanna shook her head. "No, she's got a point. It just seems like he irritates you. But, maybe it's just with us around. The boys aren't exactly making things easy on him."
There was more. Mallory could see it written on the magician's face. "What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.
Zatanna sighed heavily. "It just, it seems like you're picking up where you left off, with…Brek."
Jr's head turned towards them at the name. "Brek?" he asked, recognizing the name from the day on the docks.
Artemis looked up. "Yeah, her old boyfriend. It's kind of a long story." The whole team was listening to the conversation now.
"I think I've got time," Jr replied. He was smiling, but something in his eyes had changed. Mallory shot Artemis a glare, warning her to stop, but Mal didn't notice and picked up the story when the archer hesitated.
"He was part of a team that came from the future on a mission a few years ago." Jr seemed to relax a little when he heard how much time had passed, but Mallory was rigid in her chair, willing her friend to shut up. She didn't want to hear the story, she already knew how it ended. And she definitely didn't want Cameron to hear the story. "He was going to stay, but he left at the last minute."
Cameron nodded and looked at Mallory. "Well, you've been through more weird stuff than I thought. Why didn't you tell me you dated someone from the future?"
They stayed in the air for the rest of the afternoon, but after that it felt different. Mallory had to force her muscles to loosen every few minutes, and all of the happiness over her promotion and the team meeting Jr had burned up inside her. Jr was different, too, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. It was something in his eyes when he looked at her, something in the look he would get on his face, like he was thinking about something that was hard to put together. She tried to put everything to the side and talk to her friends, but she was mad at them, though she couldn't logically explain why she was this upset that they had told Jr about Brek. It shouldn't matter if he knew about an old boyfriend. So then why did it?
Don't forget to let me know what you want to see happen before the end! Do you want characters to come back in, or a romantic interest you want to see her end up with? Let me know!