When Mallory woke up, the first thing her mind registered was a constant, steady beeping. The pain was gone, a cool relief replacing it. She cracked an eye open, then bolted upright. She was in a hospital. The emotionless white walls called back childhood memories of doctors studying her, at first trying to figure out what was wrong with her, and then just observing her unusual medical problems like she was some sort of test subject or guinea pig. She blinked the memories aside and looked herself over. She was fine. She had a few scratches from the fall, but they would heal soon enough.

"How are you?" A familiar voice asked, and she turned to see Superman in the doorway.

"Fine. The pain wore off," she told him. She saw her costume folded on a chair by the door and realized that she was in a hospital gown, her arm hooked up to a machine monitoring her vitals.

"The team told us what happened. Why did you push yourself so hard?" Clark asked, walking over to stand by the bed.

"They needed a distraction. It took more out of me than I'd figured, that's all. Hey, what time is it? " she asked.

"About 9:00, I guess," he told her, giving her a once-over to make sure she was all right.

"In the morning?!" she asked, bolting up and pulling the cuff off her arm. "I have to get home. Can you show me how to work that transporter thing?"

"Sure. It's called a zeta tube, by the way."

He left so she could change, and she wasted no time putting on her suit and her civies on top of it and hurried out the medbay. Superman was waiting for her in the hallway, and she followed him back to the big room where the team was training. It took a moment to get used to seeing them in regular clothes instead of their suits.

"Hey, Inferno!" Kid Flash called. Mallory walked over to join him on the side of the light ring on the floor, watching Aqualad and Robin fighting skillfully in the arena.

"Hey, you feeling alright?" he asked, his attention split between her and the fight.

"Yeah, I'm used to it. It just needed a few hours to wear off," she assured him.

"Are you coming back to train?" he asked.

She turned slightly to watch the fight, barely even able to see the advanced moves as they expertly fought each other. She bit the inside of her cheek, suddenly embarrassed. She'd taught herself a few things on the punching bag, but she'd always relied on her powers, never coming too close to the people she caught and never really learning how to fight. "I have to go," she said, as if that was an explanation.

Kid flash shrugged. "Well, you should come back later."

"Maybe," she said without conviction.

"Well, when you come back, I'll spar with you. And Black Canary will be here around noon for training."

She nodded and hurried around the group to Superman.

"Are you coming back for training?" he asked as he showed her how to punch in her coordinates.

"You know, eavesdropping isn't exactly something a role model should do," she said with a small smile. "But I don't know. You know I can't fight like that."

He gave her an understanding look. "You don't have to be ashamed of it. Besides Robin and Artemis, none of them excelled in hand-to-hand combat when the team first started. Black Canary is a good teacher. You'll learn."

She sighed and stood in front of the zeta tube. "Recognized, Torch, b08."

"That's Inferno b08, update," Superman said, and she smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be here," she said, just before the light sucked her away.


"Mom? Dad?" Mallory called as she opened the door to her house.

Her parents met her at the door, concern creasing their faces. "Where have you been?" Elaine asked.

"At the cave. I passed out last night and they kept me for observation," she said, hoping her honesty would earn her some points.

"What happened?" Darrin asked.

"I pushed myself too far, that's all. I'm fine now, Dad."

They were trying to hide their worry, but Mallory could see it in the creases of their faces. "Well, tell us about the team," her mom said after a moment, her voice strained with false cheerfulness. They went into the living room and she sat cross-legged on the couch.

"Well, there are six people on it besides me. Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis."

"Superboy?" her dad repeated, surprised.

Mallory sighed. "I don't know what the story is with him. Superman doesn't act like he's connected to him, but Superboy acts like he should be. Anyway, the mission went well, and I'm supposed to be back at the cave by noon for combat training." Her parents exchange a glance. "What?" she asked.

"Well, it just seems like this team is going to take up more of your time than you thought. What about school?" Elaine asked.

She shrugged. "Summer's coming up soon, I'll figure it out. They all have." She checked the time on her phone. "I have to go grab a shower before I go back." She dashed upstairs and started the water. While she waited for the water to warm up, her phone chimed. She looked and saw a text from Jen. She opened it.

Hey, how was the flight?-Jen

Fine. I slept the whole way-Mal

How was ur parents anniversary?-Jen

It's tomorrow. How r u?-Mal

Ok, wish you were here. I can't wait for your vacation to end-Jen

Mallory bit her lip. She hadn't told her friend that her move might be permanent. As far as the empath knew, she was just visiting her parents for 2 weeks. She set the phone on her bedside table and went to take her shower. The water was steaming hot, and she let it rinse the soot off her skin and hair, pushing Jen out of her mind. She needed to focus on training. She would go back to school for a week or two at the end of her visit, and she could work things out with her friend then. She dried off and got dressed quickly, then hurried downstairs.

"I've got to go," she told her Mom, then dashed out the door and straight to the zeta tube/telephone booth. The light scanned her, and the voice announced, "Recognized, Inferno, B08." She felt herself being sucked in, then a moment later she appeared in the cave. The light circle was on the floor, and Black Canary stood in the center of it, ringed by the team.

"Inferno, glad you can make it," Canary said, her voice surprisingly soothing. Mallory nodded awkwardly and joined the circle of teens.

"Let's start with Robin and W-" Black Canary's eyes darted to Inferno and she quickly corrected herself, "Kid Flash. Now, I want you to try maneuver 3."

The boys walked to the center of the ring with confidence. They struck fighting positions, and Kid threw the first punch. Robin easily dodged it and kicked, hitting his friend in the shoulder as the redhead tried to dodge. They were grinning as they circled each other. Mallory watched in awe as they expertly fought, every now and then landing a punch or a kick, but mostly dodging each other.

Suddenly Robin crouched and swung his leg in a half circle, knocking Kid Flash off his feet. The redhead fell onto his back hard and a pop up on the holographic training floor announced in red type "Kid Flash status: fail."

Robin helped his friend up with a triumphant grin and Black Canary joined them on the floor. "Very good. Now, tell me what you did wrong."

Kid Flash sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish smile on his face. "I forgot to jump," he said. "Good," Black Canary replied, and the boys walked off the floor. "Now, who's next?" the trainer asked. She surveyed the line of teens carefully. "Inferno, how about you?"

Mallory's heart leapt to her throat. There was no way she could follow that fight.

Her hesitance must have been apparent because Black Canary said, "I know you haven't had training in hand-to-hand combat. That's what this is for, for everyone to get better. Your team needs to know your skills so they can depend on you in battle."

Mallory felt her face heat up, but she walked to the center of the arena and the Leaguer looked at the team. "Who wants to spar with her? " she asked. Artemis took a step, but Superboy stopped her by saying, "I will."

The team collectively looked up, shocked, and Black Canary's confident air faltered a little. "Maybe - " she started, but he had already walked onto the arena.

"Recognized, Superman, 01," the computer announced. The hero appeared and Black Canary looked nervously between the teens on the arena floor and the man of steel. "Did you need something?" she asked.

"It can wait until your session is over," he replied.

She nodded, her face hardening a little. "Superboy, go slow at first, remember, she's just learning."

The apparent Boy of Steel just narrowed his eyes and held up his fists, balancing himself without a second thought. Mallory twisted her lips in concentration, copying his form as best she could. She was still shifting on her feet to find her center of balance when her opponent threw the first punch. Her eyes widened and she barely managed to dodge, more falling than ducking out of the way. She wasn't balanced right when she popped back up, and she'd spread her arms to catch herself. Superboy quickly took advantage of this by sweeping her legs out from under her, and she landed hard on her back, the red text glaring at her out of the corner of her eye.

Adrenaline rushed through her as she got to her feet, her anger starting to boil just under the surface. She held up her hands again, determined not to quit and give him the satisfaction. He threw a punch, but she saw his shoulder stoop a little just before, giving her the time she needed to plan how to block it. She jerked her arms up over her face, blocking the hit but surely getting a bruise for the effort. She threw a punch of her own, immediately following it with a kick to his side. The kick caught him off guard and she managed to get him in the stomach. He growled, his anger rising though she couldn't imagine the kick hurting him that much. She tightened her fists, her teeth clenched as she multitasked fighting Superboy and keeping her fire from coming to the surface.

He threw two consecutive punches, catching her cheek with the second and sending her stumbling back. Pain exploded across her cheek, but she was used to managing pain. She narrowed her eyes to near slits, blocking out everything except her opponent. She took the offensive role this time, clumsily landing a few blows and dodging some of his. He grunted when she caught his jaw with a lucky punch, and he dropped any pretense of holding back. He almost doubled his attack speed, throwing punches too fast for her to block or dodge. He got her stomach, her shoulder, and her jaw before he finally kicked her legs out from under her. She shut her eyes, grunting at the force of being thrown to the floor. Her body was telling her to stay down, and she heard someone on the sidelines, she thought it was Kid Flash, telling Superboy to calm down. She heard Superboy's footsteps as he started to leave the arena, and that was when she snapped her eyes open, burning red as her powers started to win their fight with her.

She pushed herself to her feet with some difficulty and held her fists up once again, her fury the only thing keeping her going. Everyone looked shocked, and more than one of the team stepped forward to stop their teammate from returning to the ring, but Black Canary just stared at Superman, so no one stopped the fight from starting. Superboy lunged at her, and she managed to jump to the side just in time to avoid being plowed into. They glared at each other from opposite ends of the arena, hatred in both of their eyes. The fight had turned into a grudge match. Mallory didn't fully understand what his reasons were, but she didn't need a reason to fight at the moment.

He faked left and punched her hard to the right, causing her feet to leave the ground as she was literally thrown backwards with the force of the hit. She caught herself midair, a burst of fire like she'd never known coming out of her, flying in every direction and forcing Superboy into the wall. She landed lightly back on the arena floor, her dark eyes blinking slightly in confusion. She had never felt so at peace.

The good feeling was gone, however, the second she looked around. Aqualad had put up a water shield to protect the team and Leaguers, but there were shocked looks on everyone behind the wall of water. She turned to Superboy, fear filling every crevice of her being as she started to realize what she'd done. His clothes were in tatters, the shoulder of his shirt was still burning, and the wall he'd been thrown into had a large dent in it, but his skin was untouched, and though his face showed several emotions, shock, anger, concern, confusion, it did not seem to hold pain. She took a breath, allowing that fact to give her some relief, but her heart was still drumming against her ribs and she couldn't stop shaking, thinking about what could have happened, and how her powers had come out. She took a step back, trembling from head to toe. Aqualad lowered the shield, but no one moved at first.

"Inferno…" but Black Canary couldn't finish. The underlying fear in the faces of the heroes and sidekicks alike felt like a punch to the gut, and she was left to try to regain her breath. It was like her classmates' faces when they saw her raw, uncontrollable power, like the criminals' faces when she caught them, like her parents' faces that day ten years ago, when she'd started her first fire. She took another step back. "I…" she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Artemis took a step towards her, but she stopped when she saw the terror in Inferno's eyes. Mallory took a shaky breath, chancing a glance at Superman. His face held concern for her, and disappointment, and that hurt worse than anything. She turned on her heel and ran for the zeta tube.


Clark took a step, intending to follow Inferno, but Black Canary stopped him with a hand to his arm.

"Give her some time," she said. Her eyes darted to the team. They needed to explain.

"What was that?'' Artemis yelled angrily. Superman turned with a heavy sigh, ready to answer anything they wanted to know, but he was surprised to see that she was glaring at Superboy.

"What are you talking about?" Conner yelled back. "I'm not the one who tried to roast everyone."

"No, you're just the one who turned on the oven," Wally said, furious.

"Wait, we must calm down," Kaldur said.

"You were supposed to take it easy with her, not try to take her out," Artemis shouted, ignoring the Atlantean.

Connor clenched his fists. "She's the one who lost control," he growled, his words coming out slow, like he was trying hard not to lose control himself.

"Yeah, cuz you don't know anything about losing control," Wally muttered sarcastically. Connor glared at him. If he had heat vision, Wally would have had two holes going through his head.

"What?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.

"What, you don't remember how we found you?" Wally asked. Connor's knuckles were white now, and Wally's stance turned deadly, his eyes narrowing, his lean, muscular body ready for a fight he knew he would lose.

"Enough," a voice behind them said, and everyone turned. "What happened here?" Batman asked, his voice commanding.

"Oh, nothing much," Artemis replied sarcastically. "Superboy tried to kill Inferno and she reacted by nearly killing all of us, that's all." Batman's eyes narrowed, and the blonde seemed to remember who she was talking to, shutting her mouth and avoiding eye contact with him.

"Training's over, hit the showers," Batman commanded. The team obeyed, Superboy decidedly slower, and as soon as they left the room Batman turned to Clark. "We need to talk," he said, his tone leaving no room for contradiction. The man of steel and Black Canary followed Batman to the zeta tube and they zetaed to the watchtower.

"All right, Bruce. I know it looks bad," Clark said. Batman and Black Canary glared at him.

"She could have killed someone. Just think what would have happened if anyone other than Conner had been fighting her. Or if Kaldur hadn't been able to make the shield in time," Canary said, a slight tremor in her voice the only sign that she was shaken.

"If the fight had been with anyone but Conner she wouldn't have lost control," Batman pointed out, looking at Clark pointedly.

"What do you want me to do?" Superman asked tiredly.

"Clark, she needs help," Canary told him. "She has a lot of raw power that she doesn't fully understand. She needs someone who knows exactly how she feels and can help her learn to control it."

Clark nodded. He knew that, but the only pyrokinetic that he knew was a criminal.

Bruce saw Clark's confliction. "Go talk to her, see if she'd be willing to help Inferno," he said.

Clark sighed, then nodded. He turned Black Canary. "You saw how inexperienced she is with fighting. Can you help her get caught up?"

Dinah sighed. "I suppose I can. I'd rather she learned from her teammates, but since Connor is the only one who would be safe with her and he's clearly not interested in helping her, I'll do it."

Both Batman and Black Canary seem to have something else to say, and Clark had an idea what it was. "I need to go," he said, not wanting to have the conversation, but Dinah put a hand on his arm.

"Kal, wait," she said, using his Kryptonian name. Not a good sign.

"Dinah, I know what you're going to say, and the answer is no."

Canary's face hardened. "You can't keep pushing him away. He needs you. He wants you to want him. Can't you imagine how he must have felt to find out that you had a partner? That anger nearly got the whole team killed today."

Batman moved to the watchtower computer and punched some keys in, pulling up the security footage from the cave. He wanted to see what had happened for himself. Black Canary and Superman joined him in front of the holographic screen.

They watched Superboy's calculated moves, Inferno's desperate dodges and sloppy punches. They could see the girl's internal struggle as she continued to dodge Superboy's attacks. They saw recognition in Kaldur's face as he quietly pulled out his water bearers just as Superboy threw the last punch, putting u[ the shield seconds before Inferno flamed up and bent backwards a little in the air, a huge pulse of energy flying from her body, throwing Conner across the room. The fire hit the water shield and flew up, dispersing above the heros' heads.

Inferno landed on the ground calmly, not even realizing what she had done, and they watched her realization, her fear obvious even over the cameras.

Batman cut off the feed once she disappeared in the zeta tube, his gaze shifting to the man beside him. Clark looked defeated, his eyes glued to the screen even once it went blank. "I'll talk to her," he said, and Batman knew he wasn't talking about Inferno.


"Robin, are you sure about this?" Megan asked through the mind link. The team was in the bioship and Robin had a GPS pulled up on his wrist computer.

"Yeah, she's a member of the team, so she's our responsibility," he replied, his tone businesslike.

"But she could have killed us," Megan thought. She felt bad for the girl, but fire was her greatest weakness, and the thought of seeking it out seemed stupid to her.

"I do not believe that she was in full control of her actions when she was fighting Conner," Kaldur said. Megan nodded. She didn't think so either, but it didn't change the fact that Inferno had so much raw power, and her not being able to control it only made her more dangerous.

Flashbacks of the training exercise Megan had accidentally taken over passed through the mind link.

"We have to do this," Wally said aloud quietly, breaking the silence of the painful memories. He felt sort of protective of the girl, strange considering he barely knew her, but she'd looked so scared, he couldn't help it.

"How close are we?" Kaldur asked.

"Well, we should be right above her," Robin answered, confused. They were currently over a large lake.

Megan landed the bioship on the shore and they got out and looked around. All around the lake was woods.

"Look, up there," Wally said suddenly, pointing over the lake. The team collectively looked up over the lake and there she was. She was sitting on what looked like a fiery horse, just staring out over the trees.

"Inferno!" Artemis called, realizing that she didn't know the girl's real name. Inferno looked down in surprise. She straddled the horse and rode it down to the surface of the lake. The team watched in awe as the fire horse galloped across the surface of the lake, the legs never actually touching the water, and when she got to shore the horse disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I'm so, so sorry," Inferno started, but Artemis shook her head.

"We know you didn't mean to." She shot a pointed look at Superboy, who looked away, traces of guilt written on his stony face.

"Why did you come?" Inferno asked.

"Because you are on the team now. We look out for our own," Kaldur told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. The new addition smiled slightly, looking around and the team.

"Ugh, hello Megan!" the Martian said, face palming, and Inferno looked at her, startled. "We haven't done proper introductions!" Megan explained.

"Right, we haven't. I'm Artemis, that's Megan, Superboy is Conner."

"I'm Wally," Kid Flash said.

"My name is Kaldur'ahm, but my friends call me Kalder," Aqualad said.

Robin didn't say anything, and Inferno didn't question it. Somehow she'd known that he wouldn't tell his secret identity, and she was completely fine with that. "I'm Mallory," she said.

"We can help you with your fighting," Wally offered with a friendly smile. Mallory smiled a little.

"Thanks, but I can't promise I won't barbecue you," she said, only half kidding.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fast, I can outrun a little fire," he assured her.

Robin suddenly put a hand to his ear. "Batman wants us back in the cave," he announced. The team started back to the bioship, but Mallory hesitated.

"You coming?" Wally asked.

She took a breath. Just because the team understood didn't mean the League would. They were going to kick her off just when she was starting to make connections. "Yeah, I'm coming," she said, but her gut twisted at the thought of facing Batman.

She followed Wally up the ramp and took her seat. Megan put her hands on the orbs that controlled the ship and her eyes glowed white as she steered the plane, telling it to bring them to what Mallory was thinking of as her court marshal.


Mallory filed out the bioship behind Robin. Batman, Black Canary, and Superman were waiting for them in the hangar.

"Inferno, we need to talk," Superman said. The team stayed behind her for moral support. Superman cleared his throat. He had hoped to talk to her alone, but it didn't really matter if the team was here.

"I know someone who might be able to help you figure out your powers."

She fully expected them to say that they made a mistake asking her to join the team, and send her back to the school. Instead they were helping her.

"When can I meet them?" she asked eagerly. She'd never met another pyrokinetic.

"Tomorrow. I'll bring you to her," Clark said.


Mallory stood in front of her parents, trying to explain the situation to them.

"I lost control in training, almost killed the team and Black Canary," she said, "so Superman is going to bring me to another pyrokinetic to see if she can help me learn to fully control my powers."

"Who is this lady?" Darrin asked.

"I don't know. He didn't give me a name. He should be here early tomorrow to pick me up."

Elaine sighed. Mallory realized that this was the end of the third day of her 2 week vacation, and she'd barely seen her parents, and she was making plans to fill up the rest of the two weeks.

"I'm sorry I haven't been home much," she said quietly. Elaine mustered a smile.

"We understand, dear. We know it's important for you to control your powers."

Mallory smiled. "Thanks," she said.

"Well, dinner should be ready," Elaine announced. The family went to the kitchen and made their plates.

"Mallory, I don't know how I feel about you spending so much time with these superheroes." Darrin told her when they sat down.

"What do you mean?" she asked, fearful for a moment that her father would say that he wanted her to give it up.

"Well, they just don't seem like a good influence."

Mallory sifted through her memories, trying to remember what she could have told her dad that would have given him that impression. She couldn't think of anything.

"They're good people, Dad. They look out for each other. We look out for each other."

He didn't seem to like her putting herself in with the team. "Mallory, they've been doing this for so long. Take Robin for instance. Gotham is a bad city. He's certainly seen things, even experienced things, that you can't even imagine. And take the heroes that work with these kids. What kind of responsible adult takes a child and sets them to fighting crime?"

Mallory sighed. He had a point, but if he could meet the people he was talking about he wouldn't doubt them. "Dad, it's hard to explain, but it's not that big a deal," she said. Darrin didn't look convinced.

"Eat your food before it gets too cold," Elaine put in. The meal was eaten in tense silence after that, and Mallory went straight to bed afterwards.


"Darrin, we need to find a place in her life right now, not try to control everything," Elaine told her husband as they cleaned the kitchen.

Darrin sighed heavily. "It's hard to watch her walk out that door now, knowing that she's willingly going to put herself in danger," he said. He leaned against the sink like it was the only thing keeping him up.

Elaine stepped over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I know, dear. But she made this decision, and I think at this point even if we were totally against it there would be nothing we could do about it. We need to be glad that she's telling us what is happening. If we keep criticizing and overreacting when she tells us what happens, she'll just stop telling us. We've been apart so long, it's going to take some time to grow as a family. I don't want to ruin our relationship with her over something we don't have any control over."

Darrin sighed again. He knew his wife was right, but that didn't mean he liked it any better than before.