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"Hey, Johnson, you have the last batch of case files ready?" Mia, one of her asked from the doorway of Mallory's office.
Mallory looked up from the computer screen where she'd been looking at the clock. "Uh, yeah, almost done," she assured her. She glanced at the time on her computer screen again and tapped the end of her pen on the stack of folders. She had ten minutes to quitting time, and she wanted to be in the Watchtower when Kaldur and Megan made the announcement to the rest of the team. Mia tilted her head and leaned on the doorframe. "You late for something?" she asked.
Mallory sighed. "No, not exactly. I've just got a–"
"Family thing," her coworker finished with a smile. "Yeah, when don't you."
Mallory smiled a little and shrugged. "I have a big family."
"Yeah, must be nice." She pushed off the door and nodded to the folders. "The boss wants those files ready tonight."
Mallory nodded. "They'll be done," she muttered as the door swung shut. She looked at the clock again and groaned. She just needed to finish this one file, but her mind wouldn't let her concentrate on it. The time moved to five o'clock. She looked at the case file she was working on and tapped her pen on the sheet. It wasn't like anything was going to be done until next week anyway. She could bring the last file to Dr. Veritas on Monday and tell her that it got lost in the shuffle.
She nodded and shut the folder, sliding it into her desk without a second glance. She shut her computer down, shouldered her bag, and gathered the stack of files in her arms. She went to her boss's office and nudged the door open with her foot.
"Oh, Mallory, good," Marie, the secretary, said.
"Yeah, hey, can you make sure she gets these on Monday?" she asked, dropping her burden onto the corner of Marie's desk.
The woman glanced at the top file and nodded. "Yes, I was about to leave, but I'll put them on her desk before I go."
"Oh, you don't have to do that. I brought them this far, I can go a few extra steps," Mallory offered, glancing at the purse and coat on the desk, ready to go.
Marie smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Dr. Veritas took a half day today, and I need to pick up my son from baseball. Just lock the door on your way out, would you?"
"Of course," Mallory replied, tossing her rucksack onto a chair in the waiting room and picking the folders back up. Marie was already around the desk, heading out the door.
"Have a good night," the secretary called as she hurried out the door.
Mallory glanced at the clock on the wall and winced. "Yeah, you too," she muttered. She went into the office and put the files front and center on the desk, so Dr. Veritas would be sure to see them when she came in the next morning. She was about to head out when she noticed a spreadsheet sticking out of the drawer with part of the title hanging out. "...Disappearances."
All thoughts of the Watchtower left her mind and she glanced at the door, her senses suddenly heightened. She checked the office for cameras and did a mental check of who was still on the floor. I was just her and a few stragglers taking their time getting to the elevators. She was alone. She pinched the paper with her nails and slowly dragged it out, just enough so she could see the rest of it. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the full title of the chart. "Runaways, Deaths, and Disappearances."
She raked her eyes over every inch of the graph, comparing the loss of kids in the agency's system from the last ten years. For most of it, the numbers were reasonably low, but the number of absences during the Reach invasion spiked. That wasn't what made her breaths come short, though. The highest spike didn't come until six weeks after the Reach left Earth.
She shook her head, studying the numbers again and again, though they didn't change. It didn't make sense. The Reach were the ones who were taking the runaways. The trafficking should have gone down after they left, but instead it nearly doubled in just a few months. She looked around the desk, hoping there would be more information, but there wasn't. If there was anything, it would be in the drawers, but they were locked and she didn't know how to get in other than breaking or burning the drawer. Either way, her boss would know someone had been there and she would be the prime suspect since Marie knew she'd come in after hours.
She shook her head again, wracking her brains for a solution. After a few long seconds, she pulled her phone out and took a picture of the paper, then carefully edged it back into the drawer, leaving only the last word of the title visible. She sighed and hurried out of the office, locking both doors on her way out, and hurried to the elevator. Kaldur would be giving his announcement soon, and she needed to be there. This was getting serious, and there was only one person she trusted to help her do something about it.
Ten minutes later, Mallory was in the Watchtower in her suit, scanning the group of people that were gathered on the bridge. Kaldur, Megan, and Barbara were together, clearly having a psychic conversation. Mallory assumed they were filling her in, and asking her to train under Megan to take over the team. The younger members of the team were in a group trying to figure out what the announcement was going to be. Zatanna and Raquel were standing with Aquaman, Batman, Black Canary, and Red Tornado, the only Leaguers who came for the announcement. She was starting to think he hadn't come when she noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye and headed down the hall. There were a dozen doors down this corridor, but there was only one that he would have gone to. She slipped into the memorial room without a sound and immediately saw him standing in the middle of the room, not looking at any of the holograms, but at the open space out the window.
"You'll miss it if you stay in here the whole time," Mallory mentioned, walking over.
Dick shrugged. "I'll go out in a minute. I didn't want to draw any attention."
She snorted. "Well, that's a first."
He chuckled and looked at her. "So, why are you stalking me?" he asked with a grin.
She glanced behind them to make sure no one else was in the room, and he tilted his head questioningly, waiting for her to explain her secrecy. "Ok, look, I need you to look into something for me." He raised his eyebrows, and she pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and pulled up the picture. She watched his face as he looked over it, wishing he didn't have his mask on so she could see what he was thinking.
He finally narrowed his eyes and looked up at her. "So…it's not over."
She shook her head. "The Reach were never the endgame, they were just an excuse to get the metagenes activated, and to make kids disappearing normal."
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"Look into the disappearances, see if there's any common links. I can get you into the system at the agency, so you'll have full access to every kid that has disappeared since they started. I can do whatever physical investigating needs to be done, but I'm not as good at the computer stuff as you. Besides, I have a lead to follow."
"What is it?" Dick asked, sending himself the picture from her phone.
She shook her head. "I don't want to say yet, it's probably nothing. I just have a feeling about it, that's all." He handed her the phone back and she shoved it in her pocket.
"We should get out there, or we'll miss the big reveal," he mentioned. They walked back down the hall, and when they got to the doorway, Mallory grabbed his arm and held him back.
"Dick, one more thing," she said quietly. He tilted his head, waiting, and she continued, "keep this close for now, ok? Need to know basis."
He nodded. "I'll call you if I find anything," he assured her. She nodded her thanks and walked out to meet the team.
"Inferno, hey! We were starting to think you weren't coming," Arrowette called, waving her over.
Mallory smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, right. Like I'd miss this."
"So you know what's going on?" Jaime asked. She shrugged, and Bart narrowed his eyes, leaning closer to her.
"She totally does!" he announced.
"Yeah, no kidding?" Jaime asked sarcastically.
"So, what's the news? It's good, right? Like, we get a meeting room? Or, no, we get our own lounge, right? Oh, that would be so crash! It's so unfair that we have to share a place with the League. The last time we were talking about one of them, Batman walked in and he totally heard us, and–"
Mallory chuckled and held up a hand, stopping the waterfall of words. "Ok, Bart, seriously, no offense, but my brain can't translate Flash anymore. Just be a little patient, you'll find out in a minute."
Conner and Artemis walked over to her, forming the end of a line, and the younger members followed their lead. Kaldur and Megan stayed in front of the group, but Barbara joined the line at the opposite end. The Leaguers who were there gathered off to the side, close enough to join in, but not close enough to really blend with the team. Kaldur looked over the line, skipping over the senior members and focusing on the younger ones who didn't know why they were there.
"I understand that there is some speculation as to why I asked the team to be here, so let me assure you that it is nothing important, I just have an announcement that I wanted you all to be here for. I have decided to resign from the team, effective immediately, and accept the League's invitation to join them."
Peter and Gar exchanged a look. "Wait, what?"
"Today was my last day as leader of the team. As of right now, I am a member of the Justice League," the leader repeated patiently.
"Yeah, we heard you," Peter said. "But why?"
"Because I asked him to," Aquaman said, stepping forward to stand beside Kaldur. "I am retiring from the League, but I cannot in good conscience leave my spot in the League empty. Kalduram is not just accepting an invitation to the League, he will be taking over my legacy as Aquaman."
"So, you're gonna be Aquaman?" Gar asked. Kaldur nodded, and the green boy broke out into a grin. "So crash! What's your first League mission gonna be? World peace?"
"I think that's more Garth's thing," Peter said.
"Oh, right. So, when's the ceremony?"
"There will not be a ceremony. He has been officially voted in, and Catherine is handling the public side of things so that people will know about the change. Other than that, Kaldur has asked that this not become a spectacle."
At the questioning looks, Kaldur explained, "I do not wish to draw too much attention to this. There are too many things that could be brought up. There is already some discontent with heroes passing the torch, I do not wish for that to be brought up, or for my time with Black Manta to be discovered and brought to the public. They are still rebuilding their trust in the League after the Reach, and I do not wish to make things worse."
The team was quiet for a moment, then Cassie tilted her head. "So, if you're leaving, who's going to be the leader?"
Mallory felt her lips twitch into a smile, and she fought to keep it under control as Kaldur turned to Megan.
"Miss Martian will be taking over for me," he told them. Conner didn't try to hide the smile, and finally Mallory decided she shouldn't either.
Megan stepped up, all business. "Thank you, Kaldur. Now, not to push you off, but we actually do have a mission, so…"
"Of course," the former leader replied with a smile. He and the other Leaguers walked to the zeta tubes. Zatanna glanced back and caught Mallory's eye, and they shared a smile before the pyrokinetic turned to the task at hand.
"All right, we have two missions, you'll split into squads and I will run comms. The first mission is on the coast. Lagoon Boy gave us a heads up that King Shark is on his way to the Gulf, he'll probably head for Florida. Alpha's job is to locate the threat and either call for backup or call ARGUS. Beta squad is going undercover at a restaurant in Star that is a front for an illegal gambling site. Get in, eat, see if you can figure out how people are getting in. Alpha's Superboy, Wonder Girl, Inferno, Beast Boy, and Blue Beetle, Beta's Tigress, Vigilante, Arrowette, Kid Flash, Static, and Robin."
"Oh, uh, Robin's taking a few weeks," Barbara said.
Megan looked down the line and realized that Tim wasn't there. "Oh. Well, that should be enough. Batgirl, you'll stay here with me and help coordinate comms. All right, move out."
The team started to walk, and Mallory heard Barbara tell Megan, "yeah, the new girl's not ready for this. Besides, Bats wasn't happy about her taking the costume for a spin." She put the comment in the back of her head, telling herself to remember to ask Dick about it when she saw him next, and followed Conner to the Bioship to complete their mission.
Four hours later, alpha squad walked back into the Watchtower, Cassie and Conner dripping water onto the floor.
"I hate that guy," Wonder Girl complained, flipping some dripping hair over her shoulder.
Mallory nodded, though she'd burned the water off of herself before getting back on the Bioship. "Yeah, he's the worst."
"Whatever," the girl said, shaking her head, "not all of us can dry off at the snap of a finger."
"It wasn't that bad," Gar said, shrugging. He was dry, too, due to his shapeshifting abilities.
"Ugh," Cassie grunted, shaking her head with a grin. "You're all impossible. I'm going home, I'll see you tomorrow." She stalked to the zeta tube, leaving wet footprints all the way.
Conner chuckled and skimmed some of the water off his arms. "I should get going, too. I have a bike to finish before tomorrow." Mallory and Gar nodded, and Jaime took his armor off, showing that he'd managed to stay dry, too.
"So, you guys up for a movie?" Gar asked.
Jaime sighed. "Only if it's an actual movie, not some cartoon. I've seen the Lion King more times since I've known you than I did in my entire childhood."
Mallory chuckled and put an arm around the green boy's shoulders. "I like the Lion King," she said, smiling at him. "But Jaime has a point," she added, letting him go. "You watch it every other week. You need to branch out a little."
"Whatever," he muttered, rolling his eyes.
They went into the lounge and saw that some of Beta squad were already there. Peter was stretched out on one of the sofas, and Gar pushed his feet to the ground and sat next to him, ignoring the other empty seating. Mallory went to the sofa next to theirs, where Megan was sitting cross-legged, flipping through a magazine. There were a few other people in the room, but they were the only senior team members there.
"So, how did we do, leader?" Mallory asked.
Megan chuckled and rolled her eyes. "You took him on without calling for backup, which was the whole mission, and you hit an underwater mine. Kaldur would be so disappointed."
Mallory laughed. "Well, he wouldn't exactly be surprised."
The Martian tilted her head in agreement. "Yeah, well, I wasn't either. You did good."
They fell quiet as they listened to the boys bicker about what movie to watch. Virgil won with Jurassic Park, and they stopped arguing and Jaime got up to grab some snacks. Mallory looked at the new team, Peter and Gar were sprawled out, taking up most of the sofa. Jaime was sitting on the arm, Virgil was laying across the chair, and Bart was sitting on the back of the sofa, his feet on the seat part. Mallory focused on the TV, trying not to think about what they reminded her of.
About halfway through the movie, Gar's phone buzzed in his pocket. He looked at the caller Id and his face went from happy to confused in a second. He glanced around, then got to his feet and started walking out the room. Mallory exchanged a look with Megan before turning her attention back to the empty doorway.
"You know what that was about?" she asked. Megan shook her head, her eyes showing concern as she waited for her brother. He came back about ten minutes later and plopped back down, narrowly missing landing on top of Peter.
"Who was that?" Megan asked when he didn't volunteer the information.
"Oh, uh, just my mom's old agent," he replied casually, tapping his thumb on his arm as he looked at the TV. That might have been the end of it, but Megan, Peter, and Mallory all knew the habit too well to let this go.
"So, what'd he want?" Peter asked. Gar bit the inside of his cheek, twisting his thumb around for a moment, then he shrugged and said, "he wanted to know if I was interested in a part in a movie."
Virgil paused the movie and stared at him. "Dude, that's cool. But, uh, does he know about…?" he gestured to Gar's arm, and the boy rubbed the green skin and nodded.
"Yeah, he saw me a few weeks after my mom died, by then I was already changing. It's actually why he thought of me. It's a movie about aliens, so he thought I looked the part."
Mallory nodded, not wanting to say anything until she heard more. She was surprised that her brother wasn't jumping all over it, but his face was guarded behind his dark glasses.
"Well, that's great, Gar. Hopefully something will come of it," Megan said, moving to sit beside him.
He shrugged and inched away from her. "Yeah, hopefully," he replied, forcing a smile on his face. They left him alone after that, but they wished they knew what was bothering him.