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"Well, you sure took your time getting here," Hal complained good naturedly when Mallory and Zatanna showed up at the Watchtower the next day, each with a bag on their shoulder.
"Sorry, Roy asked us to stop at the house before we left," Zatanna explained.
"Don't apologize," Mallory ordered, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at the Lantern. "He's just getting petty in his old age."
Guy snorted and looked at the other Lanterns. "Well, we ready to get this party goin'?" he asked.
John glanced at the provisions gathered around and nodded. "I suppose so." He picked them up with the help of his ring and led the small group to the airlock, where Batman, Superman, and Miss Martian were waiting. Mallory and Zatanna exchanged a glance when they saw their friend.
"Megan, what are you doing here?" Zatanna asked on the link.
"Well, I am the leader of the team, and one of my people is going on the mission," she replied.
"Aww, you came to see me off. Thanks mom," Mallory teased. The Martian smiled a little, refraining from rolling her eyes.
"Keep us posted with your progress," Batman said, his attention focused on John and Hal. They nodded and Guy pushed between the better-liked heroes and grinned at Batman.
"Will do, One Punch. Don't miss me too much white I'm gone."
Batman narrowed his eyes to slits and Mallory smirked, half hoping he'd relive the event that earned him the nickname from Guy. Unfortunately, he just turned on his heel and stalked off, leaving Megan and Superman to see the group off.
"We'll stay in contact as much as possible," Superman assured them, and then he turned to Mallory and Zatanna and said, "be careful, listen to the Lanterns. They know what they're doing up there." Mallory raised an eyebrow at him and he smiled sheepishly. "Uh, sorry, I mean, good luck with your mission, and I'll see you when you get back."
"Better, but not great," Mallory teased.
Zatanna propped her elbow on Mallory's shoulder, leaning on her friend. "And here I thought joining the Justice League would let me graduate from the lectures and kid talks."
"It's just because you're with me," Mallory replied, glancing at the magician before settling her gaze back on Superman. "When I went back to the team they seem to have forgotten that I'm not a kid anymore."
Clark sighed, the sheepish look still on his face. "I already apologized, let's leave it at that," he pleaded.
Mallory shrugged. "Sure. For now." She smiled and looked at Megan. "Sorry to leave you short handed, but…"
"No, we'll be fine. I hope you find something we can use up there," she replied. Mallory nodded.
Guy yawned loudly, earning an annoyed eye roll from everyone else. "Yada yada yada. Are we going or not? I could still rustle up a couple of chicks for tonight if we're staying."
"We're leaving right now," John said, barely curbing the dislike from his tone. Hal pointed his ring in front of him and created a construct of a plane, and as soon as Superman and Miss Martian left the airlock, they started out. The speed took the girls' breath away for a moment, but they got used to the pressure soon and settled into their seats for the long flight.
"So, where are we going again?" Zatanna asked.
"It's a planet called Valtor. It's half a galaxy away," John responded from the front passenger seat of the construct.
"How long is that going to take us to get there?" Mallory asked, amazed that they were able to travel that kind of distance.
"Two days, so I suggest you get comfortable," Hal replied. "The same rules from the peace treaty mission apply here. The first one to ask if we're there yet gets the worst job."
The girls exchanged a glance, and the Magician muttered a spell that changed their clothes from their uniforms to sweats. "We're good. Just wake me up when we get there."
Metropolis's sky was always beautiful after the rain. Mallory was soaring over the damp city, enjoying the peace and the wind on her face. Conner came flying over to her and she smiled a greeting, but he looked annoyed.
"What?" she asked.
"You gonna wake up or what?" he asked.
She tilted her head in confusion. "What?"
He started coming closer to her, but suddenly Zatanna was beside him, flying along with them. "I've got this," she said, and she floated over to her. Mallory thought she was going to hug her, but at the last second she gave her a hard shove, sending her towards the ground.
She bolted upright after hitting the ground much sooner than she'd expected and looked up to see Zatanna and Guy standing over her. It took her a second to remember that she was on the Green Lantern's construct and was on her way to the mission, and Zatanna had just pushed her out of bed.
"Oh, it's just you," she grumbled.
Zatanna chuckled. "Who were you expecting?" She glanced at Guy and bit back the last of her sentence.
Mallory rested an arm on her knee, not ready to get up yet. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Hal walked in just as she was finishing the question, a bundle in his hands. He tossed it down at her and she unfolded her suit. "Get dressed," he ordered, his face serious. "We're here."
Mallory scrambled to her feet and went to a window to look at the planet they were there to save. They were just entering the atmosphere, but even from their distance it was a devastating scene. There were volcanoes erupting everywhere, and entire cities on fire. Dots of green, blue, purple, and even yellow light marked other lanterns from almost every corps helping the evacuation effort and trying to control the fires.
All levity left the small group and Mallory nodded. "What do you want us to do?"
Ten minutes later, the ship reached the last layer of atmosphere and the small group from Earth gathered in the front of the ship for their orders. John found some translators for the girls and they put them in their ears.
"All right, we'll join the other Lanterns in this area, Inferno, you see what you can do about keeping the fire contained until we finish evacuating the area. Zatanna, you stay with Inferno as much as possible, help her out if you can. There's safety in numbers, especially on a dying planet. The comms will translate any known language to English, and it will give you a direct line to our comms too. If you need help, just call and we'll send someone to find you. Ok?"
The girls nodded and the lanterns checked their rings. "All right, let's go," John announced.
They opened a hole in the floor and Zatanna created a disk under her feet and Mallory flamed up and the group started to descend. They were met halfway to the group by Kilowog, Saint Walker, and a Green Lantern that looked like the final evolution of a chicken.
Hal grinned when he saw his friend and extended his hand, but the first person Kilowog greeted was Guy. "Guy Gardner! Where have you been keeping yourself lately? We've missed you in the mess hall back on Oa. Oh, hi Hal, how you doing?"
Mallory and Zatanna exchanged an amused glance. Guy wasn't the most liked hero on Earth, at least not with the League or team, but apparently he was very popular with the Green Lanterns. That would make sense, then, why Hal and John were so against him joining the Justice League.
Kilowog shifted his attention from greeting his Earthling friends to the girls. "Well, Magic and Fire, it's good to see you, too. Where's your Rocket friend?"
Zatanna shrugged. "At home struggling to get off the couch so she can go pee," she replied. When the aliens gave her confused looks, she explained, "she's pregnant."
Kilowog grinned. "Well, that is good news. I look forward to meeting the little Rocket someday."
"Not to interrupt the greetings," the chicken man interrupted, "but are they going to be helping with the evacuation or just watch? We don't have much time to get these life forms out before the fire consumes the village."
Mallory nodded. "Yeah, that's why I'm here. Where are there still people?"
A blue clad figure came flying up before the Lantern could answer him, and Mallory, Zatanna, and Hal grinned when the recognized Razor. "Kilowog, what is taking–" he stopped short when he saw the group and smiled a little. "Hal Jordan, it's good to have more help. Zatanna, Inferno, thank you for coming."
Kilowog scratched his head. "Zatanna? Inferno? Is that what your names are?" When they nodded, he shook his head. "They're weirder than I thought."
The chicken cleared his throat. "You were saying?" he said, looking at Mallory.
She nodded. "Yeah, we're going to try to keep the fire back while you finish clearing the area, so just tell me how much you've evacuated and I'll get to work."
"We've done the outskirts, but we're still working on the more populated middle."
Mallory nodded. "All right." She and Zatanna started to fly down when Hal's voice made them pause.
"Be careful," he warned. "You don't know this planet. Don't touch anything you don't have to, and stay together. If anything happens, anything, call right away."
They nodded and Razor tilted his head. "Perhaps I should go with them," he offered. "It would make you feel better about leaving them, and it can't hurt to have a little help with the fires."
Hal and John nodded. "All right. Let's get going." They split up, with the Green Lanterns going to the heart of the Metropolis-sized "village" and Razor and the girls heading to the outskirts of the city where the fire and lava were creeping in steadily.
"Well, can you stop it?" Zatanna asked.
Malllory didn't answer for a moment, reaching out to feel the energy in the air. She pulled a handful of the fire to her and let it sit on her hand for a moment, then added in a little of her own to make sure they were compatible. "Yeah, I think so," she replied.
"What do you need us to do?" Razor asked.
She looked around the area. "Stay up here and let me know how it's working," she requested. Zatanna wouldn't be able to take the heat on the ground, and Razor couldn't talk to her through her comm anyway.
She descended right at the outskirts of the fire and touched the inferno in front of her, then she planted her feet and stretched her arms out, building a fire wall of her own as high as the natural one was. Once it was built, she steeled herself and spread them in a quick motion, and her fire stretched out as far as she could see on either side. The force of the sudden fire pushed her back a few feet, but she dug her heels into the ground and pushed as hard as she could. Gradually, she managed to push her fire wall back step by step, and the natural fire went with it, leaving the barron, burned ground behind her as she pressed forward.
After a few minutes, she pressed her comm on with her shoulder. "Is it working?" she asked.
"Yeah, it looks like it. You managed to make to your wall far enough to save the town. Are you all right?"
"Yeah," she panted. "It's just hard. Let me know as soon as they get the area cleared."
"Right," the magician replied, and Mallory narrowed her eyes, getting her breathing even. She had a long way to go.
Hours later, Mallory put up what felt like the hundredth fire wall halfway around the world from where they'd started. From what reports they had gotten, the evacuation was going well, but it wasn't easy to evacuate an entire planet. She felt just about ready to collapse, but she pushed on, part of her enjoying the exertion. She never got a chance to test the limits of her powers back on Earth. Not since they had grown so much.
"Hey, Mal, you still ok?" Zatanna's voice came through her comm.
"Yeah, for now. How much longer is it gonna be? Every time we move the eruptions get worse."
There was a pause, then her friend said, "Razor said it shouldn't be long now, there's only a few more areas to check on our side of the world, and the groups on the other side seem to be almost done."
She nodded even though they couldn't see her. A volcano just to her right erupted then and she winced as lava and fire started to rain down on her. A flow of the liquid fire started to pour down the side of the hill, raising the intensity of the forest fire. The added pressure pushed her backwards and she almost lost her footing, but she grunted and shut her eyes, putting all she had into keeping the flames where she wanted them. Another moment went by of her battling the wall in front of her, then she yelled in frustration and tapped her comm with her shoulder.
"Yeah?" Zatanna answered.
Sweat poured down the side of Mallory's face and her limbs were trembling, but her voice came out calm as she said, "I may be in a little over my head. Send Razor down."
He landed behind her before she finished talking and she glanced over her shoulder. Without a word, he created a construct that acted as a giant fan, helping to ease some of the pressure. It worked enough for her to let some of the tension out of her arms, resting them a bit.
"Thanks," she said.
"Of course. You should have called sooner," he replied.
She shrugged. "Yeah, well, whatever." She glanced at the ground and saw that she'd lost a few feet in the struggle. If it kept coming this fast, it would be in the city in minutes. "Are they about done with the evacuation?" she asked irritably. It didn't make any sense to her why the people hadn't gathered in a few central locations to make it easier to be rescued, and it also didn't make sense that they weren't at the very least gathered together as cities. At this rate, they wouldn't make it to the last few towns.
"I do not know, the Lanterns have not checked in in over an hour," he replied.
She nodded and gave one more push on the wall. That small action started to push her over the edge. She could feel the ends of her nerves starting to tingle, warning of the pain to come. She froze, alarm shooting through her chest.
"Are you all right?" Razor asked, mild concern coming to his face. "If you need a moment to rest, I can–"
"No, I'm fine," she snapped. She sighed. "Sorry, it's just, if I take a moment to rest, I'm not coming back from it."
He nodded with understanding. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked.
"Not unless you can make it rain," she replied. "Even then, I don't think these flames would die. I've never seen anything like this before."
The Lantern tilted his head thoughtfully. "Rain," he repeated.
"Don't tell me you could control the weather this whole time and you're just now mentioning it."
"No, but… perhaps…" he scanned the ground with his ring, the fan ending all at once. Mallory wasn't prepared for the added force and she was shoved backwards. She went down on one knee, determined to hold the line despite the pain starting to creep into every nerve in her body.
"Razor, what the…" His construct turned into some sort of drill, and her words died out in her mouth as she watched him work out of the corner of his eye. A second later, he pulled the drill out and grabbed Mallory in a bubble, lifting her into the air. Her wall mixed with the natural fire and started to descend on the town in a wave with nothing to hold it back. Mallory and Zatanna looked at each other, their eyes wide.
"Razor, we need to do something about that! There are still people down there!" Zatanna exclaimed, on her way to do just that. Before she got near the flames, though, a geyser of water shot out of the ground where Razor had drilled, shooting hundreds of feet into the air and raining down on the flames and lava. They started to slow down and thin out, enough that Mallory allowed herself to lean back against the back of the bubble she was in and watch from the distance. "What did you do?" Zatanna asked, levitating back up to be even with Razor and Mallory.
"I tapped into an underground river," he replied. "I was scanning for pipes from the city, but this works too."
"Sure does," the magician said. She looked at Mallory and winced. "How bad?" she asked.
Mallory raised one shoulder in a half shrug and felt the spikes travel through her body. "I've had worse," she said. "I'll be fine. We need to go to the next site, there's still people in danger."
Zatanna shook her head firmly. "No, you need to take a break. You won't be helping anyone by pushing yourself too hard."
"If you think you can stay upright, you can stay with Zatanna while I go search the area to make sure there aren't any more life forms," Razor offered.
Mallory sighed, but she gave a small nod. "That'll make me feel better, anyway," she muttered.
The Lanter deposited her on Zatanna's magic disk and waited a moment to make sure she was settled on it before he flew down to the city, his ring scanning the area ahead of him. Mallory sat cross legged, leaning against her friend's leg. "I want today to be over," she murmured tiredly.
"I know. You should have said something. I'm good, but I still can't read your mind," her friend scolded. She sighed deeply and the magician dropped it.
"Zatanna, Inferno, come in," John called over the comms.
Zatanna opened the line immediately. "We're here."
"The last of the evacuation is over. We're tracking your location, but it might be faster if Razor started tracking us as well and we meet halfway."
"Right. We'll get started as soon as he gets back," she replied.
"Back from where?" Guy asked.
"He just went down to make sure the city's clear, since you guys didn't tell us anything," the magician told him, her tone a little accusing.
"Is Inferno ok?" Hal asked.
"Yeah, fine," Mallory chimed in. "Just tired."
They saw Razor flying back up to them and Zatanna told the others that they would get started and signed off the comm just as Razor was joining them. He had one arm held tightly against his chest.
"You ok?" Zatanna asked when he got close enough. He shifted his arm to show a baby fox-looking creature with burnt-orange fur and large triangular ears. It looked around sleepily when the light hit it.
"Aww, poor baby," Zatanna cooed, taking it from him.
"What is it?" Mallory asked.
"I am not sure, but I found it in one of the living quarters. It was the only living thing left in the village, I suppose it was a pet of some kind."
"It's cute," the pyrokinetic commented, peering up at it from where she was still sitting at her friend's feet. The magician knelt on the disk and offered the animal to her. It wasn't any bigger than her hand, and its ears were by far the biggest part of its body, with a small, triangle face. She smiled and took the baby from her friend. It blinked at her sleepily and settled down in her lap.
"I think he likes you," Zatanna said with a smile.
Mallory chuckled and smiled down at the little bundle. "I think I like him, too," she replied.
They saw green lights in the distance and Zatanna straightened and smacked her forehead with her hand. "Ugh, hello Megan," she said, earning a confused and surprised look from Razor, "the Greens called while you were down there, they wanted us to meet them halfway."
"Well, we still can," Mallory mentioned, gathering the baby in one arm and reaching for her friend to help her up with the other. The group started traveling towards their companions, meeting them somewhat less than halfway.
"What took you so long?" Guy complained, crossing his arms.
"We got a little…distracted," Mallory explained, and she shifted her position to show them the new companion.
John's face hardened. "What did I tell you about touching things from this planet? Do you have any idea what that thing is?"
The girls exchanged a glance and Zatanna shrugged. "A fox?"
"It's an alien species of canine that has evolved to live on a burning planet. There's no telling what kinds of diseases it could be carrying or what adaptations it could have."
"Wait," Mallory said, amused, "so, this is a… fire fox?"
Hal sighed heavily. "That's what you got out of that?"
She grinned. "Oh, I'm definitely keeping it now."
John opened his mouth to argue the point, but a volcano erupted not far away, making everyone jump and grow serious as they remembered why they were there. "Um, maybe we should continue this once we're on the rescue ship," Hal suggested. John nodded he and Hal enclosed the girls in a bubble to get them into space. The rescue ship was already on its way out of the planet's space, but the group didn't have any trouble catching up with it and boarding. Kilowog met them outside the airlock with a relieved sigh and then a glare.
"What do you mean, staying on a dying planet after the evacuations finished?" he asked angrily. "You Earthlings sure like to invite trouble."
"It's fine. Where are the other rings?"
"They're on the lower level mostly. That's where I came from. Come on, I'll show you where the food is."
"Wait," John said. "Inferno, Zatanna, you need to give that thing to me and go to a decontamination chamber before you do anything else. I'll give him to the people we rescued, maybe one of them will want to take it."
Mallory glanced at the little furball in her hands and then back up at the Leaguers. "Oh, come on. I'm gonna need a souvenir from the trip, and he's a fire fox, he's prefect for me."
"You cannot bring a strange species to Earth," John said firmly. "There's no telling what could happen."
"Yeah, no telling," Zatanna said sarcastically. "We sure wouldn't want people to be able to fly or animals to get smart and learn how to use a machine gun. I mean, can you imagine."
Guy snorted, leaning against the wall. "Your move, Johnny."
"You don't know anything about it. It could be carrying diseases that could devastate the planet, it could be susceptible to our diseases, it could grow into a massive carnivore that goes on a killing spree."
"If I may," Razor interjected. "It is harmless enough. Its teeth are not suited for eating meats, I believe it eats mostly insects and plants, and the decontamination chamber will clear it of any disease it might be carrying, as it will for Inferno and Zatanna."
"Yeah, and we can vaccinate it just like we do for normal pets," Mallory added.
"And it's not like it's our first time bringing a suped-up canine onto the team," Zatanna put in. "Or doesn't Wolf ring any bells?"
John looked between the younger heroes, knowing he was losing his case. He looked at Hal, expecting him to back him up, but Mallory could see he was weakening. "Please, Hal?"
He sighed and shrugged. "Well, I guess it can't hurt that much. We can always bring it back if it gets to be too much to handle."
The girls grinned and Mallory held the little fox-creature up to look into his face. "You're coming home with me," she told him.
"You're not going to name him Fox, are you?" Zatanna asked, rubbing the baby's cheek.
Mallory chuckled. "No, of course not. His name is Mozilla. Moe for short."
Zatanna, Guy, and Hal chuckled, and even John cracked a smile. Razor and Kilowog exchanged a confused look. "I do not think my ring was able to translate that correctly," Razor mentioned. "I do not find anything amusing about that name."
"It's an Earth thing," Guy said, starting to explain. He shook his head and waved a hand before he started, though. "Eh, nevermind. It's not important."
"All right, now that that's settled," John said wearily, "you two go get decontaminated, and we'll see you when you're out."
They nodded and followed Kilowog down the hall. Mallory slipped Mozilla into her jacket's inner pocket and smiled when her new pet poked his head out to watch things pass by, his giant ears bent forward in curiosity.