Sorry, I totally forgot to post yesterday. The following is just me venting with a little bit of chapter explanation mixed in, so if you don't want to read all this, you can just skip on to the chapter and no hard feelings:)
The writers were just trying to copy Conner and Megan's relationship with Brion and Halo, but Brion isn't the same as Conner. I didn't like him being paired with Halo for a lot of reasons, but one of them that is relevant to the next two chapters is that his aggression is coming from a different place than Conner's, so what he needs from a partner is going to be different. Conner was feeling inferior and ignored, so it makes sense that it took Megan's understanding nature to help him grow out of that place. Brion's anger comes from a feeling of helplessness and feeling out of control, which is one of the reasons he tended to rush into the extreme, (like running to infinity island). What he needs is someone to challenge him, help him see reality and then help him find another way to achieve his goal, and if that fails, to go in with him to make sure he makes it back all right. That's what I'm aiming for with V'lana, though they aren't going to get together just yet, because I've already mentioned that another problem I had with the relationship is that it developed so fast and they had so little in common that it really just felt like they were together because of proximity. Honestly, I didn't like that they put Brion in a relationship at all, it wouldn't have mattered who the partner was, because he's not in a place in his life to form a healthy relationship. His parents were just brutally murdered, his brother is the king because they found out their uncle betrayed their parents and had them killed, he's been turned into a metahuman partially against his will, taken in by a bunch of strangers, is trying to find his sister who has been kidnapped and sold into the meta trafficking and forced to become a murderer, and on top of all that he doesn't have a clear purpose for himself. I just think they should have let him work things out a little in his own mind before they tried to have him step up to be Violet's protector and everything else they had him do. I also think they spent too much of the season's focus on his anger, even if they may have a plan for it. Season one showed that you could have a character driven by anger and have that character be compelling without hitting the audience in the face with it every scene the character is in. Anyway, y'all already know how I feel about season three, I just felt the need to vent. It's just that I rewatched it to write the beginning of Brion's story and get some ideas for what I want to keep, and there were some good elements that I didn't even remember because of how upset the bad elements made me when I watched it the first time, so I just really wish the writers had taken some more time on the story to have the characters come off as compelling as they did in the first two seasons, and not be so focused on their relationships and all the other just fluff and nonsense elements that diluted the actually interesting and driven parts of the season. But, I did like the fourth season, so I guess they did take some notes from fans' reactions. Anyway, that's just my two cents. Hope you like the chapter, please review!
"Again!" Mallory called from the middle of a large ring painted in Conner and Megan's yard. Brion grunted, annoyed at the repetition, but he made another lava ball and launched it at her. The lava glowed in the fading light, and she dove out of the way with plenty of time to spare. "Again," she said.
"This is tedious," the prince complained, spreading his arms to encompass everything. "I have been doing this for a week. I think I can throw a bit of lava by now. This is not going to help me in real life."
Mallory relaxed, glancing over to where Artemis and Megan were working with V'lana. She was very skilled in combat because of her training at the conservatory, but her moves were slow and everything she did took up more room than it needed to. She would be fine, though, once she got used to fighting on land instead of underwater. "Sorry, but combat training is the only thing I know," she told him. "This is how I learned, even before I started using fire to fight."
"I do not care about that," Brion said. "I want to learn something I can actually use, like what you do to melt bullets, or make people drop their guns just by touching them."
She raised an eyebrow. "Ok…not really sure why you think you could use any of that, but again, you need to remember that you're starting at the bottom. Those are very advanced skills, you need to have precision to do them without hurting anyone. For now, let's just stick to this. Go again."
"What is this going to accomplish?" he asked, exasperated. "You want to know if I can throw lava? Here," he threw a bit of lava at her and looked at her expectantly.
She pressed her lips together, keeping her first and second thoughts from coming out of her mouth. "Brion," she said slowly, trying to strike a tone that was informative instead of irritated or 'belittling', "I'm asking you to do the same thing over and over for a reason. Repetition tells me that you really have a handle on this level of your powers, and that you have the stamina to move on. I was just trying to make sure you wouldn't explode, but if you want to learn how to use your powers to fight, then I can relate it to that, too. In every fight, I use the same skill dozens of times with different applications. Again, that kind of repetition and stamina takes skill, and practice. You can't just do something once and move on to the next thing. You won't really learn anything that way."
He sighed loudly. "Fine," he said arrogantly, feigning a bored tone. "But can we at least make it a little more interesting?"
She shrugged. "Sure. Just make sure you're aware of your surroundings, and if your lava gets out of the circle, you lose and we go back to doing it my way."
He rolled his eyes. "Please, I am always aware of my surroundings, and I am in control of what I do."
"Oh, forgive me," Mallory muttered under her breath as she walked away. "How could I forget about that whole week of training. Kid should be passing me up any day now."
"What?" Brion asked, a flash of anger in his tone.
She smiled. "I said you should be passing me up any day now!" she said brightly, her eyes blazing red behind the dark glasses. His face turned smug, and she curled her lip in disgust as soon as he turned his back.
"Easy there, Mal," Megan said on the link. "He might see you."
"Part of me wishes he would," she replied. "If he thinks he knows so much, why am I still coming out here every day to train him? He hasn't shown me any appreciation for moving my schedule around to do this, all he ever does is complain about what I tell him to do."
"It's only been a week," Artemis pointed out. "You can't expect him to be comfortable around us in just a week. He's probably just trying to act tough so he doesn't fall apart. He still hasn't really dealt with everything that went down in Markovia."
Mallory sighed, planting her feet and nodding to the prince, ready to begin. "Yeah, I know. It's not easy to keep bottling up everything."
"Exactly, he's going to have to find a release in something, maybe this training can be it," Megan said.
"I was talking about me!" Mallory said. "I can't talk back to him, I can't take it out on him in training, I can't even tell him to be quiet without feeling bad about it. My lip is raw, I've been biting it so much. It's really starting to bring out the worst in me."
Brion threw the first ball of lava at her, and she flamed up, soaring above it. He looked surprised, but he recovered after a moment and aimed at her. She had to admit that his aim had improved quite a bit. He even accommodated for her movement, leading a little so the lava would hit her when she flew into it. She caught the lava and threw it back at him, keeping her movements slow so he could learn from them. She allowed the fight to go on for ten minutes before she finally dodged a ball of lava, letting it fall just outside the lines of their makeshift arena. "Sorry, looks like we're sticking to my way," she said with a smile, landing in front of him. He grunted with frustration, muttering something under his breath, but he didn't argue with her.
Her phone rang on the porch, and Artemis left the sidelines of Megan's fight with V'lana to grab it for her. Mallory watched as she checked the caller ID and made a face. "How good of a mood are you in right now?" her friend asked.
"Why? Who is it?"
"Jace."
"You have got to be kidding me," she complained. "I thought Dick put the patch in, how is she still getting through to my phone?"
"No clue, but you're going to have to deal with her sooner or later. Might as well be now."
She sighed, but she held up a hand and Artemis threw the phone to her. She snatched it out of the air and held up a hand, signaling to Brion to stop the sessions.
"Inferno?" Jace said as soon as Mallory picked up.
The pyrokinetic sighed. "Look, I told you that I would contact you when the situation changed, and it hasn't," she said.
"Please, couldn't you just arrange a phone call between us? I have to speak to Brion, I know you've told me he is improving, but it is so hard to believe that when I cannot see it for myself."
Mallory glanced at her pupil. "Can you hold on a minute? I'm in the middle of something," she said. She put the doctor on mute and stepped closer to the prince. "Look, I know you said you don't want to meet with Dr. Jace, and I am by no means saying that you have to, but she keeps calling me, so I need you to talk to her. It's just a phone call, you can tell her off and hang up, I just need her to hear it from you. I don't make a very good messenger."
The other three girls walked over, curious about the call, and Megan nodded. "It might be good for you to get your aggression out on the person you are actually angry with," she pointed out.
The prince scoffed. "Is that your diagnosis, doctor?"
The Martian shrugged. "It's the best one I have."
V'lana nodded, tilting her head thoughtfully. "This is none of my concern, but we do have a custom in the Conservatory that has prevented many problems between the students and even the faculty."
"Oh? And what is this magical custom that will solve my problems?" Brion shot back.
V'lana narrowed her eyes, her face firm but not angry. "I did not say that it would solve all of your problems, and it is far from magic. We were just taught to confront our differences head on, and if it took a fight to clear the air, that was encouraged as well, under supervision, of course. It prevented drama and shortened disputes, and allowed us to practice at the same time."
"So…you are saying that I should fight Dr. Jace?" he asked.
V'lana chuckled. "No, I am just saying that you should talk to her, tell her why you are so upset with her, whatever the reason is, and tell her yourself that you do not want to speak to her for a while. It cannot hurt to talk, and it may give you some peace with the situation."
He looked around the circle of women and sighed. "Fine," he said, nodding to Mallory.
She took her phone off mute. "I'm with Brion right now, and he agreed to talk to you," she said.
"Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you so much!" the doctor gushed. Mallory put the phone on speaker and looked at Brion expectantly. "Prince Brion?" the doctor asked.
"Yes," Brion replied through clenched teeth.
She sighed, relief in her voice as she continued, "I have been so worried about you, and Inferno has not told me very much about how you have been, or how your meta abilities are developing, or–"
"I am fine, Dr. Jace," Brion interrupted, surprisingly calmly, though his eyebrows came together, showing his anger towards the woman that was responsible for activating his powers.
"I owe you some answers, I know," the woman said.
"I am only interested in one," Brion said. "Is my sister still alive?"
The doctor paused, then took a breath. "I believe she is, or at least she was. I tried to protect her for as long as I could, but soon after her metagene was activated, your uncle took her from me, and shipped her off to I don't know where," she said, pain clear in her voice. Mallory glanced at Megan and Artemis, but none of them said anything, not wanting to miss anything that was said between the two.
"So…she did have the metagene," Brion said quietly, more to himself than the doctor. He looked at the phone. "What were her powers?"
"I never saw," the doctor admitted, "but based on your family's tendency towards geoforce, I would assume that your sister would have a similar power set."
"That's what we were thinking, too."
Mallory jumped a little at Dick's voice and she and the others turned around to see him and Conner standing right behind them.
"We?" V'lana asked.
"Uh, me," he corrected himself awkwardly. He pulled up a screen on his wrist computer, showing a picture and bio for an overweight, late middle aged man with a record that couldn't fit on the screen. "A man named Jacar Marlow was killed this morning by a metahuman who dropped a massive rock on his head. Black Spider, an assassin who works for the League of Shadows, was spotted in the area around the time of death. But, boulder dropping isn't really his style. So, the possibility does exist that your sister is now working for the League of Shadows."
Brion's eyes widened, dread on his face as he took a wobbly step forward. "No," he breathed. Mallory looked down, her heart pulling in her chest.
"No," Jace said, and they all looked down at the phone in Mallory's hand, no one seeming to have remembered that she was still on the line until now, "Princess Tara would never kill. They must be using a control device upon her."
"It wouldn't be the first time that happened," Artemis pointed out.
"The princess must be rescued from these shadows," Jace said.
"Yes!" Brion said, tensing every muscle in his body as a wave of rage hit him. Steam came off his body as he continued, "we must rescue her now!"
Dick eyed the teenager, holding his hands up. "Brion, I need you to literally chill. We don't know conclusively that this was Tara, or even that it was a geoforce power."
"A telekinetic could have done it," Megan offered, and Conner added, "or someone with super strength could have thrown it."
Brion stepped closer to Dick, getting inches from his face. "Do you know where the Shadows are or not?" he asked angrily.
Dick glanced at the others and sighed. "They're based on Infinity Island, but that doesn't guarantee that Tara's with them."
Brion turned away from Dick, a determined look on his face. "There's one way to find out. Why are you not already on your way?"
"The League of Shadows is run by Ra's al Gual. The Demon's Head, a member of the Light and one of the most dangerous men on the planet, and history. We are not facing the Shadows without more intel and a solid plan."
"So you are just going to sit back while these Shadows are forcing my sister to kill for their own gain, and doing who knows what to her in between killings?" the prince growled.
"We're not going to just sit back, but we're not going to barrel in and put ourselves in a losing battle before we know more," Artemis said firmly, crossing her arms.
"We know what we're doing, Brion," Mallory added, taking a step towards him. "We've been doing this for a long time. Just let us handle it our way."
"Your way," he muttered under his breath.
Dick narrowed his eyes, a little of the Bat in him coming out. "Brion, don't make me sorry I told you about this," he warned.
Brion held his stare for a moment, but Dick could win a staring contest with a gargoyle, and eventually the prince sighed and looked down. "Fine," he said, "we'll…play it your way." He turned on his heel, and V'lana glanced at the others before following him across the yard, the darkness swallowing them once they got out of the light from the porch.
"Prince Brion, please, be careful–"
"Oh, uh, he's gone," Mallory said, remembering the doctor and taking her off speaker.
"Oh… I see. Well, will you let me know how is?"
Mallory glared at Dick. "When there is something to tell, we'll be in touch," she said. As soon as she hung up, she threw the phone at her friend's head as hard as she could without tapping into her strength.
"Woah!" he said, catching it two inches before it hit his eye.
"You said I wouldn't have to deal with her if I trained Brion," she complained. "What happened to the patch you were supposed to put on?"
He raised an eyebrow, looking at the phone as if he could see the program from the outside. "I…did put it on," he said, confused. He shrugged and tossed it back to her. "I guess the software was faulty. I'll take another look at it when I get the chance." He glanced in the direction the teens had gone. "Come on, let's go upstairs. We have some planning to do, and I don't really want him walking in again."
They started walking inside, and Conner started up the steps first. "He took it better than I expected," he mentioned.
Mallory twisted her lips thoughtfully as they filed into the study and sat down. "He…did, didn't he? That's kind of out of character for him."
"Maybe he's starting to trust us a little more now that he's been around us longer," Artemis suggested.
"Yeah, maybe," Dick said, though he didn't sound entirely convinced. "Well, how do you want to do this? Surveillance or questioning?"
"I vote surveillance," Artemis said, looking around. "We don't want to tip anyone off yet."
"I don't know, I kind of think questioning," Mallory said. "We can dig up some assets and send them in, or, I mean, I have some connections as Tana. They aren't the most high teared goons, but they do hear the rumors."
They looked at Dick to see which one he was leaning towards. "I'm gonna go with surveillance," he said. "It'll take longer, but Artemis is right, we don't want to tip anyone off."
Megan walked upstairs and poked her head in the room. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but Sphere's gone, and so are Brion and V'lana. Did you tell them they could take her out?"
Mallory rolled her eyes. "And there it is," she said, jumping to her feet. "I knew he was up to something."
They rushed downstairs, stopping where Sphere had been resting in the driveway. Wolf was lying down by the porch, and Conner glared at his pet. "Thanks for the warning," he said sarcastically. The canine just huffed and put his head down, closing his eyes.
"Where do you think they're going?" Artemis asked. Three sets of eyebrows rose at the question, and she shrugged. "Yeah, well, they could have gone somewhere else."
"How long would it take to get to Infinity Island by Supercycle?" Mallory asked.
Dick typed something on his wrist computer. "A little under two hours."
"And Bioship?"
"Same," he replied.
"All right, let's go," Conner said. They ran to the house to grab their gear, and they were airborne in under a minute, Megan at the controls. They took turns getting into their costumes, then settled in.
"I don't know why we have to be the ones cleaning up all the time," Dick complained.
Mallory and Artemis exchanged a glance. "Yeah, it's so unfair," the archer said sarcastically, "all we did was take in a prince and not tell anyone about him, and then secretly start training him to use his metapowers that he got illegally while we were, also illegally, trying to shut down the ring. This doesn't have anything to do with us, we should totally pass it on to the League."
He groaned. "I hate being the grown up," he muttered.
"Please, like you haven't been the responsible one since you started leading the team," Mallory said.
He sighed. "Whatever. The point is we're going to have to have a sit down with Brion when we get there. You know that right?"
Mallory arched an eyebrow, completely aware that he was only looking at her when he said it. "And by we, you mean me," she said flatly.
He shrugged. "I mean, no, not just you, but, yeah, kinda." She rolled her eyes and he rushed ahead, "You're the one training him, I just think he'd take it better coming from you than me, especially right now."
She sighed. "We'll talk about this when we get there," she said, then, quieter, she added, "assuming we're not too late."
Sorry for the long a/n, but if you have another opinion or you agree with me, let me know in the reviews or pm me. I love hearing from you guys!
