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"Really, Alex, It'll be fine," Mallory assured her boyfriend, glancing both ways before jogging across the busy Bludhaven street. "It's just a stakeout, and I'll have Roy and Dick as backup." She reached Dick's apartment building and started climbing the steps. "We shouldn't be out late, either, but I'll let you know if it looks like it's going to run long."
"Well, don't be out too late," he replied, his voice a bit distracted on the last word. He was still at the clinic, working on the medical notes that had piled up. He must have been trying to remember something about one of the patients. "We actually have the same day off tomorrow, I'd rather not sleep through it."
She smiled, knocking on her friend's door. "Oh? What did you have in mind?"
"Well, for starters, a morning jog, get breakfast at the little cafe down the block on our way back."
Dick hadn't come to answer, so she pulled out her key and let herself in. "Really? Jogging?"
"You love jogging," he argued.
She rolled her eyes, kicking the door shut behind her and flipping on the light. "Yeah, when I say I'm going jogging, I usually mean flying," she informed him. "Besides, the last time you came running with me, you couldn't keep up and we had to walk back."
"Yeah, well, not all of us have built up superhuman endurance over the years."
"Trust me, I don't have–"
"Just let me have this one, will you?"
She chuckled. "Ok, fine. So, jogging. What about the rest of the day?" She switched their call to speaker so she could text her friend that she was there. He responded almost immediately, saying he was on patrol and she could either wait for him or meet him by the docks. She grinned and slipped out of her sweats, revealing her costume underneath.
"I don't know, maybe walk through the art district? There's always something happening down there."
"Oh, that sounds fun, maybe we can pick up a table for the bedroom at a flea market or something. Can I make a request?"
"Sure?" he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice as he waited for her suggestion, one she knew he expected to be life threatening or strange.
"I know a bar that always has great entertainment, let's go there in the evening."
"What kind of entertainment?" he asked suspiciously, knowing her too well to think she was talking about bands or karaoke.
"Well, I don't want to spoil it," she said, mock exasperation leaking into her tone.
He laughed. "Well…"
"I promise, you'll love it," she added hopefully, though she knew he wouldn't turn her down.
"Alright," he agreed, and she nodded.
"Good. I have to go, don't wait up."
"Right," he said sarcastically, "Do I ever listen to that?"
She bit back a smile, hesitating to put on her mask and bring Inferno into this conversation. "No, not often. I love you."
"Love you, too," he replied. "See you tonight."
They hung up and she tucked her phone into the inside pocket of her jacket, adjusting her mask on her face and turning on the beacon announcing Nightwing's location, and she threw the window open and dove off the fire escape, flying off into the night. She hadn't patrolled in 'Haven since she was crashing with Dick. This would be fun.
When she found him, he was jumping from roof to roof, a second figure running alongside him. From above, she mistook the black ponytail and dark gear for Jett, but when she landed and matched her stride to theirs, she immediately recognized her mistake. This girl was older than Nightwing's younger sibling, her body just a fraction bulkier, her features more angular. Her costume had black boots and pants, but her utility belt, gloves, crop top, and mask were orange, and the symbol on her chest was a spider. She'd never met her, she'd been hearing about her for months. This was Dick's new project, the violent, independent vigilante he had taken under his wings. This was Tarantula.
"Hey," Nightwing greeted, not even winded from the night run.
"Hey," she replied, tilting her head slightly, asking what the apprentice was doing there without saying as much out loud. He shrugged, not breaking eye contact with her as they jumped in unison over a gap about thirty stories up.
"Um, should I leave you two alone?" Tarantula asked, flipping her hair out of her face as she looked between the more seasoned heroes. There was annoyance in her tone, and something else, something that had the hairs on the back of Mallory's neck bristling. Something… threatening, maybe, and possessive. She was about to say yes when Dick shook his head.
"Nah, not yet. We still have a heist to stop."
For the first time, Mallory looked down to the street, seeing now that there was a point to their running. There was an armored car moving along the streets at an alarming rate, swerving around slower moving vehicles and heading towards the bridge that led out of the city. "So…what are you doing up here?" she asked. "I can take care of it." She was about to do just that, calling her fire to the surface to catch herself at the next jump, but Dick stopped her, making her stride falter for a few steps.
"No, she's got this." He gave the girl a nod, and she shifted her course, shooting a line at a building that was under construction, letting herself swing to a lower floor and balance on the metal beam holding the building's skeleton together. The heroes followed, but instead of continuing down the partially built structure like the spider girl was doing, they stayed put, watching her move closer to the ground to meet the truck still barreling through the city.
"So, she's still around," she said, keeping her tone neutral to cover what she really wanted to say. He knew her too well to miss the underlying tone, though, and he cocked a smile.
"What?" he asked.
She twisted her lips to the side. "You really want to know?" He shrugged, and she added, "and no quips about me and Jr?"
That earned a chuckle. "That doesn't sound good."
She shook her head. "It's not bad…exactly," she started. He arched an eyebrow, waiting for her to spit it out, and she sighed. "I don't know, I just…you don't get a bad vibe from her? She seems desperate, calculated. I just, I didn't get the feeling she's on your side so much as her own."
He shrugged. "She's got a rough past, I'm just trying to give her a way to change her future."
She nodded, careful to keep the tone serious. "I know, you're better than most of us. Just…be careful, ok? Don't turn your back on her until you're sure she can be trusted to watch it."
He gave her a look, his smile going crooked as he shook his head. "Obviously," he said. "Honestly, sometimes I think you forget I've been doing this longer than you."
"Excuse you? You may have been younger when you started, but I've done the math, you've only been in the game two months longer than me."
"You're counting your Torch days? You didn't even know how to–" he was cut off by the screeching of metal on concrete faintly drifting up to their perch, making them look down to where Tarantula had somehow made the truck's tires blow out and the armored vehicle was now lying on its side, the driver and passenger both lying on the street, the vigilante on top of them. She bit back the comment building in her throat, but Dick nodded, his face going serious. "I'll watch her," he promised, knowing she was right about the girl. "She'll be fine, she just needs to know that there's a better way." Mallory nodded, but she wasn't sure she agreed with him.
Roy met them in Bludhaven not long after Tarantula reluctantly left them alone, and the Quitters took a zeta tube to Metropolis, heading for the Manheim mansion. They managed to sneak onto the grounds without much difficulty, thanks to Nightwing hacking the alarm system, and ten minutes later they had set up shop on the roof, Dick tapped into the monitor room to give them visuals on every inch of the premises. Roy slumped on the side of the air conditioning unit, one leg outstretched and the other bent to rest his arm on.
Dick smirked. "You tired already?" he teased.
The clone shrugged. "Hey, semi-retired, remember? I do my fighting during the day now."
"Riiigghht," Mallory said, dragging the word out sarcastically. "You traded the bow for a clipboard and flashlight."
"Don't underestimate the power of a clipboard," the dad shot back, a grin settling on his face. "Just ask him."
Dick shook his head, not encouraging the direction of the conversation, which only made Mallory want to know more. "What happened with the clipboard, 'Wing?"
"It worked better than the flashlight," he replied vaguely, and she smirked, filling in the blanks. She settled down between the boys, sitting cross legged and watching the feeds from Dick's wrist computer. "How is the security thing going?" she asked, all teasing aside.
He nodded slowly. "It's been good, business is picking up. I have six employees now, so I don't have to go to every gig."
"Or beg one of us to cover for you," Dick muttered, not bothering to look away from the screen.
"You never asked me," Mallory pointed out, her tone blending mock offense and serious accusation.
Roy shrugged. "I didn't need you. And I was trying to keep anything from exploding."
Her jaw dropped, the offense becoming a little less playful. "Oh, come on! You know I'm not the reason things go wrong! I'm so done taking the blame for that."
"Yeah, well, turns out it might be Nightwing," Red Arrow said, looking at their friend. "I lost my favorite SUV and almost lost one of the shipment trucks."
"Right, and that's on me, not, I don't know, Brick, or Arsenal."
"No," Roy said thoughtfully, "I think it was just you."
Before he could respond, a flash of movement caught their attention on the camera. Ugly and Whisper had just walked into the office, and they were antsy. "Do we have audio?" Red asked. Dick typed something into his computer, isolating the office feed and turning up the volume, catching them mid argument.
"-time," Ugly said, roughly digging through the drawers in the desk.
"It's too risky," Whisper shot back, crossing her arms and refusing to help him find whatever it was he was looking for. "They're using us, maybe even using him. We should get out while we still can, there's nothing left for us with this agreement."
Ugly straightened, glaring at her. "Intergang makes four billion a year with the tech they send. We control it, thanks to him, and I ain't pulling out just because you're going yellow."
"I ain't scared, I'm smart," she argued. "There's too much heat. It's basic business, we should be lying low. Tell him we need a break to finish selling the last shipment. He knows, he used to be here."
"You want out, no one's stopping you from walking out that door. I ain't stopping while I'm ahead."
"Right," Whisper muttered. "Like you wouldn't turn me to ash if I ever tried to leave."
Ugly found what he was looking for, some kind of remote, too small to be a fatherbox. "Glad we understand each other," he said. "Let's go. They want the shipment tonight."
They left the room, and the heroes followed the feeds until they got to the end of the hall. Mallory looked at her partners. "Sounds like Intergang is getting used," she mused. "I wonder who the shipment is to."
Dick grinned. "We could find out." He shut down the feeds and pulled up the blueprints of the building. "Let's go."
They slipped in through the vents, following their personal bat guide. He led them right to the office, poking a straw camera down first to make sure it was empty before dropping down. As soon as Mallory left the vent, an alarm started blaring, and bars covered the vent, door, and window. Adrenaline shot through her, and the heroes looked around wildly, looking for what had tripped the alarm.
"The window!" Red said urgently.
Dick half turned, but the bars were too thick for him to do anything with. "Inferno," he said, and she nodded and hurried over, tapping into her strength.
As soon as her fingers wrapped around the metal, some sort of current shot through her body. She screamed, every nerve of her body feeling frayed, and she was still twitching on the floor even after she'd let go. She could hear her friends saying her name, trying to get her up, but it was muffled as she fought the blackness edging into her vision. She had to stay awake. She had to…
Ugly walked in with a dozen armed leitents, and she flashed fire through her eyes, ignoring the screaming in every inch of her being and forcing herself up. Her head was still foggy, her limbs still heavy, she didn't think she could fight to save her life, but she couldn't let Ugly know that. "Well, we ain't as dumb as you think," he said, sneering.
"That's hard to believe," Dick said, stalling and fishing at the same time. "Even your old man thought you were a waste of space. If he hadn't died so suddenly—"
"Died. Right, well, sometimes accidents have to happen to put the right people in charge."
"You're wasting time with us," Roy told him, following Nightwing's lead. "You'd better get your shipment together. Who's it for? The Light? Better not keep them waiting, not when they're already trying to push you out. I guess they finally realized that Intergang's not really worth the trouble, especially now that Icicle Sr's got muscle to sell now."
Ugly snorted, though anger flashed in his eyes at the mention of his competitor. "You don't know what you're talkin' about. Intergang's more connected to the Light than Sr could ever be. They'd never boot one of their own."
"No? I'd talk to Ocean Master about that," Dick piped in. "And he actually had a seat, not just some barely recognized role in the grand plan. Did they even send a get well card when they let the Light put your guys in a coma?"
Whisper growled behind her boss. "Quit stalling and just kill them already," she snapped. "While Inferno's still down."
Ugly nodded, his mouth twisting into something between a grin and a sneer that lived up to his name, stepping to the side. "You heard her, boys."
The weapons whined as they warmed up, and the boys didn't waste time springing into action. Half the thugs were down without firing a shot, and the others ended up taking each other out with the Apokaliptic tech as the heroes dodged the shots. Roy came back for Mallory while Dick handled Ugly, the last one standing, with a knee to the face.
"Come on," Red Arrow murmured, looping her arm around his neck and supporting her with his other arm around her waist.
"I can help," Inferno slurred, her body still numb from the charge.
"Great, how about you help me take point."
He was patronizing her, she knew it, but she couldn't find it in her to fight him on the subject. As it turned out, it was a good thing he had. She drifted in and out of consciousness, or at least she thought she did, because the next thing she knew they were over the wall and heading back towards the zeta tube, and at some point the other redhead had picked her up. The boys were discussing where to bring her.
"I guess the Watchtower," Dick suggested, two paces ahead of the others.
"Or the clinic," Roy said, looking around. "It's in the city, and we can call Alex and have him meet us there."
"No," Mallory protested groggily. "I told him it was just a stakeout. He'll kill me."
"Yeah," Roy agreed cheerfully, "but he'll fix you up first."
As it turned out, Alex hadn't left the clinic, so he already had everything set up when they got there. After seeing her condition and hearing what happened, all he had to say was a playful, "well, I guess tomorrow's out," as he hooked her up to fluids and injected pain medication into the line.
"That's it?" Roy asked, arching an eyebrow.
Her boyfriend shrugged. "Yeah, for now. I'll check her vitals again in a bit, but electrocution's pretty simple, especially when the patient can't get burned."
Dick nodded, already commandeering the desk and stool to pull up their case notes. "Good to know."
Roy walked over and leaned on the ex Bat's shoulders to see what he was pulling up. Mallory watched from where she was sitting, gripping the seat to bring the feeling back to her fingers. After a few grips, the tingling finally started at the very tips and she squeezed tighter, clenching her teeth as the feeling of needles broke through the pain meds, traveling slowly but surely up her arms and legs. She was standing up before the feeling was all the way back in her legs. She almost fell, caught herself on the chair, and was back on her feet a second later, earning a stern look from Alex. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, what did you expect?" she asked. "I'm not letting them solve this thing without me." That earned her a chuckle along with the disapproving shake of his head, and she grinned. "Kill the drugs, I'm–" He shot her a look, knowing the word was coming, and she hurried to change it to, "...not hurting as bad anymore?"
He nodded. "Alright, but if it starts up again you tell me, ok?" She nodded and he reluctantly unhooked her IV line and allowed her to join the others by the computer.
"Hey, you got any food around here?" Dick asked, glancing over his shoulder. "This could be a very long night."
Five hours later, the group had moved to Alex and Mallory's apartment, her holographic screen and her laptop taking over the coffee table. Alex was sitting on the couch, though he'd fallen asleep an hour before, and the three heroes were exhaustedly staring at the newspaper clippings and reportson Intergang going all the way back to the beginning.
"There has to be a connection between Intergang and the Light. It started somewhere, they didn't decide to work together overnight," Dick muttered, frustrated.
"I don't know, maybe they did," Roy replied, stretching.
They had moved to sit on the floor, closer to the table, and the boys were going stronger than Mallory. She was over tired from the shock, and she'd been dozing on and off since they left the clinic. She leaned her head back, resting it on Alex's shoulder behind her, her eyes weighing down heavily, her mind still whirling though her body ached for sleep, until finally, it slowed, and a single image floated to the front of her mind. The memory of the boom tube opening in the courtyard when they'd staked out the mansion years before. A green sleeve came through, the rest of the figure masked in shadows, unrecognizable. She'd thought of this moment a dozen times, but this time, in her trance-like sleep, she was able to hold the image, clear it, focus on the details as if she'd been transported back and had it frozen in front of her. And in this state, she noticed something, a detail, just a flash of light on metal.
She bolted upright, startling the boys and waking Alex, but she barely noticed. She leaned over the holographic screen, flipping through article after article until she found what she was looking for. She sat back on her heels, shaking her head in disbelief. "It was right in front of us the whole time," she muttered, her eyes fixed on the photograph of Bruno Manheim Sr shaking hands with the then mayor of Metropolis.
"What?" Alex asked, joining her on the floor to see what she was looking at.
She showed the others the picture. "Bruno Manheim's alive," she said, her attention on Roy and Dick as she saw the recognition dawning on their faces. "And he's on Apokolips."
I think they might have already put that together, so if they did just ignore it and sorry, when I get aroudn the rewriting that chapter I'll fix it.