This is the revised version, added a few things after a few weeks. Hope you like it, please review.
Mallory still had Brion's arm when they finally noticed the commotion happening closer to the palace, the boulder hurtling towards Tara and Delamb, Gar inches away, still thinking he could save them. There was nothing any of them could do, though, it happened too fast, no one was expecting it. Gar was too close, Mallory could see that, and this was when she started to run, she was just calling her fire to her feet, starting to shoot herself towards the younger boy, knowing she wouldn't get there in time, when Peter came out of nowhere, lunging at Gar and pushing him to the side just before the rock hit.
Everyone froze when the boulder landed, their mouths hanging open in horrified shock, utter disbelief going through each and every one of them. Megan's squad had arrived at some point, just in time to see what happened. Suddenly, fear gripped her heart, and she was the first to start running towards the pile. Peter and Gar, they were too close when it hit, they could be—
"No," she murmured, seeing their limp bodies right at the edge of the boulder. She fell to her knees, her eyes wide as she stared at her little brother. "Peter?" she asked quietly. She touched his forehead, brushing some hair off his face, and his eyes scrunched together. She nearly fell over in relief. "Thank God," she breathed. She looked at Gar and saw that he, too, was starting to recover.
The next place she looked, though, had her sucking in a breath. The brother's leg was caught under the rock, the skin around the edge gushing blood. Dick, Conner, and Megan were at her side the next instant. Peter was slowly waking up, and the senior members exchanged a look, knowing they had to get the rock off of Peter, and keep him from reacting when he started to feel the pain. Dick's face went blank as he took in the scene, and he knelt down beside the boy, pulling a knife out of his belt and looked down at his costume, trying to find something that wasn't kevlar to make a tourniquet with. Conner pulled off his shirt and the first Boy Wonder nodded and cut a length of cloth off of it, tying it tight right above the boy's knee. When it tightened, Peter groaned and his eyes opened, looking cloudy and confused, but he clearly wasn't feeling all of the pain yet.
"Hey, Bud, listen," Dick said, brushing Peter's hair out of his face and lifting his head up slightly. "That was really brave, you saved BB's life."
"He's ok?" Peter asked groggily, trying to look around.
"Yeah, he's fine, he's right there. Miss M's actually gonna take him back to the Bioship now, though. Listen, I need you to do something for me." He pulled some pills out of his utility belt and handed them to the boy. "Here, can you take them dry?"
"Sure, but why?" Peter asked. Mallory bit the inside of her cheek, not knowing if it was good or bad that the brain hadn't realized that the leg was crushed yet.
"Don't worry about it, ok? Just take it, we'll be right here with you."
"It's all right, nothing's going to happen. We're right here, we're not going anywhere," Mallory told her brother.
The boy took the pain pills, gulping them down, then he looked around. "Tara, is she ok? She was too close to the rock."
Conner winced, glancing back at the ton of rock beside them, and no one answered. The clone lifted just the edge of the rock, allowing Nightwing and Inferno to drag Vigilante out. The pain caught up to him finally, even through the medication, and he was left clawing up the grass, tears squeezing out from behind his mask, a strangled gurgle tearing its way out his throat. A pitiful squeak came out of Mallory's throat, and she quickly put her hands over her mouth to muffle it, her eyes glued to the gruesome mess that was now her little brother's leg. It was completely flat, the skin ripped and showing chips of bone all over the smushed grass. The whole thing was barely hanging on by a thread, and even with the tourniquet, blood dripped out of the good part in pulses. Her chest tightened, her heart tearing painfully, her throat burning at the suppressed tears, cries, and bile. She felt so helpless, forced to sit there and watch him writhing in agony. Dick grabbed her arm, digging his nails into it until she winced and finally looked at him. She knew as soon as she saw the grim look on his face, the focus covering the anger and hurt in his eyes, the reflection of the camera flashes on the mask covering the bottom of his face, that she had to get it together. She nodded, pushing all her emotions into a box in her mind like she'd learned to do so long ago, detaching herself from the situation so she could get through the rest of the night without breaking down.
"I'll take him back to the ship," Conner offered.
"I'll go with you," Mallory said quickly, getting to her feet.
"No," Dick said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Vigilante's going to be fine, we'll get him to sleep and rush him to the Watchtower. Right now, Brion needs you."
She took a breath and nodded, looking back at her protege. He hadn't moved, he was still just standing there, staring at the rock that had buried his little sister. She walked over to him and stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say.
"How could she have done this?" he murmured. The reality still hadn't sunk in, but he was starting to come out of the shock.
She shook her head. "I don't know. I am so sorry, Brion."
He finally looked at her. "You knew," he said, the numbness turning to anger in a flash. "Tigress said that you knew, and you still allowed her to come here tonight. How could you do this?"
She shook her head, thinking back to earlier that evening, when Dick told the team, except for Gar and Brion, that he suspected that Tara was a mole. "We haven't known long," she told him. "Just this mission, and if we had shut her down at the Watchtower, we would have tipped the Light that we were coming and they would have made sure to trap us into looking bad."
Brion glared at the cameras still trained on them. "Apparently we did not need their help to do that," he muttered.
"No, I guess not," she said quietly. "Vigilante and Beast Boy need to get to a hospital, and we need to get out of here and start doing some damage control."
"You want me to leave my sister behind?" he asked, tears finally starting to pool in his eyes. She didn't answer, she couldn't. If it was reversed, there was no way she'd be leaving her brother behind under a thousand pounds of rock.
"Brion!" Gregor came running across the courtyard.
"Gregor, Tara…"
"I know." The king glanced at Mallory and Tigress, who was standing a few feet away, then looked back at his twin. "The others are about to leave. You are not going with them, are you?"
"I am still in exile," Brion pointed out.
"No, I can lift that. Please, do not go. I need you here, I need–" his voice broke off as his eyes trailed to the rock. "She died for us."
"No," Brion muttered angrily. "She died for nothing." He looked at Mallory. "You should have let me kill him, then she would still be alive." He sighed and started walking.
"Brion, where are you going?" Gregor asked.
"Home," the younger prince replied, and he kept walking, heading right for the Bioship.
Artemis stepped up to the king and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just give him time, you both will need help to get through this."
Gregor took a shaky breath, then looked at the girls. "Take care of my brother."
Mallory nodded, just as she had months before, when they had taken Brion home for the first time. "Of course. That, I can promise." The king started back towards the palace, and they followed Brion to their ship.
"Why didn't you tell them that she didn't die for nothing?" Artemis asked quietly as they walked. "You know that's what they needed to hear."
Mallory shook her head. "I've said that to so many people, I just couldn't lie anymore, to them or me."
Artemis sighed. "Mal, you can't give up. We will get them."
Mallory shook her head. "No, we won't." They stepped into the Bioship and she locked onto Dick. "But there is one promise I can make good on." She crossed the crowded space to her friend. "Put me through."
He narrowed his eyes. "No, we can't let them know that—"
"Oh, give it a rest, they already know. Put. Me. Through."
He studied her for a moment, then sighed and started typing. A moment later, a screen appeared in front of her, showing Luthor and Deathstroke standing at a table full of holographic blueprints of the Markovian palace. When they looked at her, there was no sign of regret. They didn't care that they had pushed a young girl to suicide with their manipulation and control. Her hands balled into fists at her sides.
"I warned you," she said, staring straight at Lex.
He smiled. "Yes, and it sounded very sincere. However, it will be difficult to prove anything, considering the poor princess was never in any kind of contact with me, or any of my organizations. All things considered, Inferno, I am not worried."
Flames leapt from her eyes as her fury intensified. "Oh, but you should be. I'm coming for you, Luthor. Not the Light, not your partner, you. Have fun while you ignore that." She ended the transmission abruptly and shut her eyes, taking a few breaths to calm herself down.
"Is that all you are going to do? Make empty threats?" Brion asked. "My sister is dead! We should be out there, tearing down their doors and dragging them into the streets!"
"No," Dick said calmly. "Tomorrow, we track them down, but tonight, there's something else we need to do."
Three hours later, Mallory went into the Watchtower's medbay for the hundredth time, poking her head into the only currently occupied room where Peter and Gar had their beds side-by-side, their casts in place and pain killers on board. "Hey, how you feeling?" she asked, her tone gentle and her eyes fixed on the boys' faces, ignoring the empty place on the bed where her brother's leg should have been. The surgery had only taken forty minutes, just one cut to the last slivers of skin and bone still attached, and his life was changed forever. He was still kind of out of it, but the anesthesia had worn off enough for Canary to come in and explain some of what happened. He seemed ok, considering. Gar was another story. He'd barely said a word since the mission, even through getting his arm set and splinted, he just stared straight ahead, a dull look in his eyes that Mallory had never seen there before, not even after his mom's accident. That was why they'd moved them into the same room, hoping they would help each other cope with everything that happened.
Gar rolled his eyes, but there was no levity in the expression, just empty annoyance. "The same as the last fifty times you guys asked."
She shrugged, trying out a smile, hoping to start to get their minds off Tara. "You'd better get used to it, that's about all you're going to be hearing from me until you get cleared to go back out in the field. You know, when you're fifty."
The boys shook their heads, not even answering the empty threat. "Is everyone here?" Peter asked quietly.
She sighed, her smile fading. "Yeah, just came to see if you want anything before we start." They shook their heads, and Mallory nodded, her eyes trailing to the robotic leg sitting in its case across the room. The League managed to make it with the blueprints of Arsenal's arm, completely functional, extra storage compartments, it even had a boost mechanism, but no matter how good it was, it still made her sick to her stomach to look at. She turned away quickly, slipping out the door. Barry was right outside, ready to take his shift sitting with the patients. As soon as the door closed behind her, she crumpled against it, her hand going to her forehead as the tears finally came. The speedster immediately and unquestioningly pulled her into a hug, giving her the support she needed to let herself crack without breaking. She clung to him for a moment, letting some of the emotions out of the box, trying to figure out how to tell her parents, how her brother's life would be changed, how she would be able to live with her part in this, then an internal timer went off and she shut it abruptly, her spine stiffening as she rebuilt her walls. Barry let go of her and she nodded a thanks and moved past him, appreciating the wordless exchange more than she would ever tell him. She paused outside the memorial room, taking a moment to erase the signs of her tears, then she went in and found her friends gathered near the front, sliding into the group without a word.
"I still can't believe it," Megan murmured. They nodded in silent agreement, but there was nothing else to say. "So, you didn't say what happened when you found V'lana," the Martian said, changing the subject.
"There wasn't much to say," Conner replied. "We got to the house, and there she was."
"She was practically gift wrapped. I don't know what their game was, maybe they just wanted to spread us thin," Dick added.
"And Dr. Jace?"
Mallory shrugged. "She wasn't there when we got there. V'lana said the last time she saw her was when they tied her up, her and Humanite left the room together and didn't come back." They looked over to the Atlantean, who was standing with Brion, holding him in a side hug as he stood there stiffly, clearly not wanting to break down in front of everyone.
"Let's get this over with," Conner suggested. They nodded and started walking over to the newest platform. Artemis walked up to it and turned to face everyone, who were starting to come over now.
"Terra was a hero. She may not have always known it, but she proved it tonight. She fought the demons she's been dealing with for years and won. We all know that struggle, and how hard it is to overcome. She also sacrificed herself to save her family, that is the definition of a hero." She caught Mallory's eye and added, "and we will not let that sacrifice be in vain."
Mallory ducked her gaze as the hologram came on, showing the girl in her costume, standing among all the other fallen friends. She really hoped her friend was right, that they could still put an end to this after so many years.
Gradually, everyone left, from the League to the new members, even Brion eventually left, but the original team stayed long after the last of the heroes left, moving from Tara's memorial to the center of them, feeling the spirits of the friends that they had lost along the way fill the room.
The doors slid open, and Mallory tilted her head at the change in the room. When she turned to see who the newcomer was, though, she too tensed, understanding immediately why everyone had shifted from mourning to fighting. Red Hood was standing in the doorway, his helmet in his hands, his hands raised to show that he wasn't there to fight. They stared at each other for a few tense moments, then he glanced behind him.
"You fixed the door," he mentioned.
"Well, we had to have something to throw you through in case you came back," Mallory shot back, still not sure where this was going.
"I didn't come to fight," he said.
"Then why are you here?" Dick asked. "To rub it in? Deliver a message for your masters?"
Jason shook his head. "No, uh, I'm not…I deflected from the Light, I'm not with them anymore. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't know they were using the girl, I wouldn't have let it happen. I didn't even see, or I guess I didn't care that they were using me, because they seemed like they were still helping me."
They were quiet again, the original team trying to decide if they should believe him or not. Finally, Artemis sighed. "Are you coming back?"
He snorted, but when he saw that they were serious, he turned serious. "Uh, no. No offense, but I don't think I'm what you want hanging around, pretending like I still believe in all your little rules and codes. But, uh, if you need me, just give me a call."
He pulled a comm out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to Dick. The original Boy Wonder stared at the disk in his hand for a moment, then looked back at his little brother. "What are you going to do?"
At that, Jason smiled a little and shrugged. "I don't know, probably some outlaw stuff. Maybe pick up an arsenal along the way, I hear there's one that needs a few prayers answered right about now."
He turned and walked out without another word, leaving the others staring after him, half wondering if he had even been there to begin with. After a few minutes, Megan and Conner left to check on the boys, and Raquel had to go home to take care of Amistad, and Kaldur stepped out to check on V'lana, leaving Roy, Artemis, Zatanna, Dick, and Mallory in the memorial, still talking about that night, but leaving out the worst parts. They could think about that tomorrow, but it was too close now.
"They shouldn't have blocked us from going in," Zatanna said angrily, shaking her head. "Things didn't need to escalate that much."
"You don't even know the half of it," Dick said, cracking a small smile and jutting his chin at Mallory. "She called Lex up and threatened to tie it to him."
Mallory shook her head, dead serious. "That wasn't a threat, that was a promise," she said. "And I already know how to do it."