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"The kids are gone! We lost them," she said, shutting her eyes as fury flashed through her body.
"We have to get out of here," was Nightwing's only response. "Where's Sphere?"
The Supercycle appeared right on cue, and Mallory and Artemis boarded and flew her towards Nightwing's GPS signal. He had Superboy with him, along with an unconscious and underdressed Price Brion and Dr. Jace.
"Let's go," Conner said as soon as they were all on.
Mallory took the controls, guiding Sphere out through the sewer tunnel. There was an explosion behind them and she looked at Dick. "Is it over?" she asked.
He narrowed his eyes. "We'll see. There's no more tar, that's a start."
They came out by the stream, and Mallory noticed for the first time that the palace was in view from here. Sphere set them down a mile away from the tube, and Artemis dug in the supplies, coming up with spare costumes for Conner and Mallory. "Thanks," Conner said, pulling on the shirt.
Mallory discarded the remains of her own shirt, taking the replacement from her friend. "Yeah, thanks," she said. "I don't know why you liked your first costume. It's horrible to go through bullets feeling exposed." The archer shrugged and they looked at each other, not quite knowing what to do now.
"We have enough evidence to prove that Delamb was behind the metahuman trafficking all along," Dick said, breaking the silence.
"We lost eight kids!" Mallory snapped, more angry with herself than anyone. "We knew they've been boom tubing kids off world for years, and we just let them get away."
"We saved the prince, and countless other kids who would have been victims of Bedlam if we hadn't shut it down," Dick said firmly. "It may not be the victory we wanted, but this was far from a failure."
Brion groaned, and they turned to see the prince waking up. When his eyes focused on Dr. Jace, he jumped and backed away from her, fear and anger on his face. "Get away from me!" he ordered.
"Brion, please–" Jace started, but Brion cut her off, already turning away from her.
"No. No!"
Jace reached out to touch him, but she recoiled in pain, and Mallory saw the smoke coming from her hand. She narrowed her eyes as Brion jumped off of Sphere, but as soon as he went to take a step, the earth below him became red-hot and he started to sink. The four friends looked on in shock for a second as he kept sinking until even his head was underground. Mallory managed to come to her senses and ran forward, Conner not far behind. She reached down into the lava until she felt something she could grip and pulled, until his face and shoulder came out. He was still hot to the touch, so she held on, not wanting him to keep sinking.
"What is happening to me?! Who are you people?!" he asked, fear seeping from his voice.
"We're metas, like you," Mallory said as soothingly as she could while trying to hang on to his wriggling body. "Please, prince, hold still."
Conner knelt in front of him. "You're doing this right now because you're stressed," he said calmly.
"Make it stop! Make it stop!" Brion screamed.
"The more you panic, the worse it'll get. You need to calm down. Focus on your breathing. In, and out. In, and out."
Brion breathed along with Conner's soothing voice, and slowly, the ground around him cooled off and Mallory let him go, falling to a sitting position and taking a deep breath. She didn't get to relax for long though.
"Guys, you need to see this," Dick announced.
Mallory groaned inwardly, but she turned her attention to the holographic screen her friend had pulled up. Delamb was on it, with a video of his own playing in the background. It showed Brion in the pod, and Delamb was accusing him of being involved in metahuman trafficking, experimenting on himself, abducting his little sister, Tara, who had been missing for two years, and murdering his own parents. They all looked back at the teenager, and Mallory felt her heart tugging in her chest at the tears in his eyes.
"Lies!" he screamed.
"Prince, wait!" Mallory said urgently, but he didn't listen. He started running towards the palace, sinking further into the ground with every step. She started to follow, but a thunderclap behind her made her pause and turn around in time to see Vertigo, Plasmus, Esk, and a goon wearing Apocalyptic weaponry coming out of a boomtube.
"Great," Artemis muttered, "they must have used a fatherbox to track Sphere."
Mallory paused, hesitating between helping her friends and going after Brion.
"Go!" Dick told her. "We've got this."
She nodded and flew towards the palace, her contacts scanning the scene well before she was close enough to land. It was calm for a moment, then Brion burst out of the ground covered in rock and lava. She winced and doubled the flames propelling her forward. Her contacts magnified Brion's figure as he sprung forward towards Delamb. "No!" Mallory exclaimed.
Delamb slammed his fist into his nephew's stomach, sending him flying backwards, and though his clothes were burning, he didn't seem to be in pain. Her eyebrows came together in confusion until she realized that he must be meta, too. It was the only way he could have survived that attack. Just as the realization hit her, Delamb ripped away his burning clothes, his skin coming with it, and all that was left was his body made of rock. She landed between them, holding her hands out in both directions, but she was looking at the teenager covered in lava.
"Prince, we need to go. There's a better way to handle this. We can help you, but you need to come with me. Right now."
"And so our worst fears are come true!" Bedlam was saying behind her. "Our prince is in league with metahumans, and has become one himself!"
"But you're a metahuman yourself!" Gregor pointed out.
Delamb shook his head. "I had to become one, to better defend us from the curse that metas have brought upon us!"
"Lies!" Brion yelled. "That's why I did it."
Mallory held her hands out to Brion. "Don't listen to him," she said softly. "He's trying to get you to do something you'll regret. Remember what SB told you? Breath. In, and out. In, and out. It's all right, you just need to calm down."
It was starting to work, the lava was starting to cool down, when Delamb yelled, "get him! He murdered the king and queen!"
Mallory could see the fury in his eyes when they snapped open. "Brion, no!" she yelled, trying to grab him, but he lunged towards his uncle, knocking her away in the process. She was about to try to get Brion out by force, but she saw Perdita behind her bodyguards, right in the path of the fight and made a decision. She flew over the fighting metas and landed behind her brother's friend. "Queen Perdita, you should come with me."
"I will not come with–"
"Vigilante would appreciate it if you'd cooperate," she said quietly.
Recognition showed in the young queen's face and she nodded once, giving Mallory permission to move her to a safer area. Her people rushed after them on foot, not knowing what was going on, and she set her down by the stairs.
"You should get out of here," she suggested.
The queen nodded. "Thank you very much," she said.
Mallory nodded and turned back to the fight. The courtyard was more or less clear now, so she ran towards the fight, where Delamb was pummeling his nephew. She tapped into her strength, deciding against using her very recognizable fire, and slammed into the barron's back, managing to get him away from Brion for the moment. Delamb scowled at her and looked around at the guards.
"Open fire on both of them!" he ordered.
Mallory balanced herself, readying her shield in case she needed to use it.
"Disregard that order," Gregor commanded, "arrest Barron Delamb at once!"
"You dare!" Delamb screamed.
"I dare, as the king of Markovia. You have proven that you are a hypocrite. You have been scapegoating metahumans, while you have been one this entire time. It is clear that you have more experience with your ability than my brother, which would take much time to master. Clearly, you have business with the metahuman traffickers my parents were trying to stop, which makes you my lead suspect in the murder of my parents."
"You have no hard evidence!" the baron said.
"We have enough to mount a lengthy investigation into all of your dealings," the new king said. "I place you under arrest for high treason against Markovia, and the murder of the king and queen, my parents."
Delamb let out a primal yell and started to charge towards the king, and Mallory dove between them, tapping into her strength to throw a punch that would have stunned Superman. The barron went flying backwards and landed hard on his back. He moved to get up, and Brion was there, trying to burn through the rock he had turned his body into. He threw his nephew off, but Mallory was back in front of him, throwing punches at all the pressure points she knew while dodging the blows being dealt to her. Finally, she clasped her hands together and pulled them upwards, slamming them into his jaw, and the man fell to the ground, unconscious. She stood over him, regaining her breath, and she heard the king come to stand beside her.
"Thank you," he said.
She nodded once and looked at Brion, whose grin turned to a look of dismay when all of the guards aimed their guns at him. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Delamb is the criminal, not me!"
Mallory narrowed her eyes, looking at the guards distrustfully and readying for another fight. Gregor seemed like he was about to tell them to lower their weapons, but the Markovian ambassador came over.
"Your Highness, whatever the baron's crimes, the prince also has much to answer for here. And if I may say, we have suffered enough at the hands of metahumans."
"Ambassador," the king started, but the other man put a hand on his shoulder.
"Your Highness, please, listen," he said. "Your country needs a new beginning, a new leader, now more than ever."
Mallory glanced at Brion, saw the fear and dread building on his face, and narrowed her eyes as she waited for the king's word. Gregor sighed and looked at Brion. "Brother," he started.
Brion shook his head, his voice breaking as he said, "no, please, Gregor, don't do this."
The king looked away. "You must leave Markovia immediately."
Prince Brion blinked away the tears, falling to his knees weakly. Mallory knelt beside him, and Gregor looked at her. "Take care of him. Please."
She nodded again and put Brion's arm around her shoulder, flying up into the sky. She waited until they were too high to hear, then touched her comm, looking down at her charge.
"Nightwing, Tigress, SB, what's your status?" she asked, hoping they had come through their fight without getting hurt. She had landed back at the site before they answered, and her eyes widened as she let Brion down easily. Plasmus, the meta kid that had been forced to attack them, was lying on the ground, dead. "What happened?" she asked, her heart straining in her chest. She looked over to where Dick had a farmer by the shirt, glaring daggers at him.
"You just killed a kid!" he yelled. His face went slack and he pushed the man away, shutting his eyes for a moment. "Just get out of here." The farmer didn't move, and Dick's eyes snapped open furiously. "Get out!" he yelled.
The older man ran away as fast as he could, leaving the shotgun behind. Artremis walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, looking around at the dead boy at their feet, Brion on his knees in front of Mallory, and Dr. Jace, kneeling beside Brion despite the burn on her hand.
"What do we do now?" the archer asked.
"I…don't know," Dick admitted. He looked at Brion and Jace, then at his friends.
Mallory nodded slightly and looked at the Markovians beside her. "Why don't you guys get settled in the Supercycle? We need to do something about Plasmus."
They nodded and Dr. Jace helped Brion to his feet and led him to Sphere while Mallory and the others walked several feet away to discuss what they were going to do. They were quiet for a long time, though, not knowing how to fix everything that had gone wrong that night.
"Well, he's going to need somewhere to stay," Dick finally pointed out, looking at Mallory.
She shook her head firmly. "I can't take him," she said. "I have a small apartment in a big city. If he loses control or gets recognized, that's it."
They looked at Artemis and Conner, but the archer shook her head as well. "Sorry, but I'm not comfortable bringing him home with Lian in the house. He's so out of control, I don't want her to get hurt by accident."
They all agreed immediately, and Conner sighed heavily. "I guess that leaves me," he said, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Well, you guys do have the spare room, and a pretty isolated house," Dick reasoned.
"Right. I mean, so's the manor, but yeah, sure, he can come home with me. I'm sure Megan'll be thrilled."
They sighed and looked at the Supercycle. "Dr. Jace can go to one of the League's blacksites, maybe, or I guess she's not all that recognizable, she can just find a hotel or something for now," Artemis suggested.
They were quiet for another time, looking at Plasmus, all knowing that they had to do something about him but not knowing what. "I guess we should bring him to the hospital," Conner said after a while. "Maybe they can see if he had any family, or at least they can give him a decent burial."
They didn't say anything. It still didn't feel right. It didn't feel right that a family had been split apart so cruelly, or that so many kids had been killed for no reason, or that Count Vertigo had gotten away, or that they'd lost the eight kids they thought they could save. Yes, it was a victory, but it felt hollow as the many failures of the night seemed to echo in the darkness around them.
