Chapter Two —

"How quietly we endure all that falls upon us."

Even with her eyes closed Arley knew she was stretched out across the brown Jordan-Gluck couch; the faint smell of corn chips filled her nose and the lumpy cushions underneath her made her muscles groan out as she turned from her side to her back. Hal always said they needed to get a new couch but there was something nostalgic about the old, worn-down couch that made it impossible for the two Lanterns living in the apartment to get rid of it.

Arley's feet were on top of something— someone —a thumb rubbed soothing circles on the bone of her ankle. The knocking that— had woken Arley up —was coming from the Jordan-Gluck apartment door was a steady rapping sound.

"It seems like someone is awake," Katma chuckled. Arley threw her arm up over her face— the crook of her elbow covered her eyes —and the Lantern groaned.

"Five more minutes," Arley pouted; she was exhausted, every bone in her body felt tired. It was as if she'd run a marathon.

"Aw babe," Wally chuckled, Arley's arm moved just slightly enough so that her left eye could crack open; Wally beamed down at her from the other end of the couch, her feet were on his lab and his hands cradled her ankles, "You don't want to spend time with me?"

"Course I do Handsome," Arley muttered, her arm slipped from her face and fell back against the couch cushion so that she could use her elbow to prop herself up. Arley was tired and all she wanted to do was sleep but she was a willful sixteen year old and in love, even if she was on Death's Doors she'd find a way to be with Wally West.

Katma sat alone in the recliner next to the couch; in the background— if Arley strained her ears to listen over the television and the steady knocking coming from the door —Arley could hear John and Hal talking to each other in the kitchen, bickering over something. Dinner probably.

Ignoring the knocking— because if everyone was ignoring the knocking it had to be for a reason —Arley's brows creased in Wally's direction.

"Did I fall asleep on you?"

"Doesn't matter," Wally said with a shrug, "How'd you sleep?" He wondered.

The knocking continued and no one even looked in the door's direction.

Arley grimaced, she opened her mouth to reply— she'd felt like she'd slept a hundred years and still needed a hundred more —when Guy Gardner's voice echoed throughout the apartment.

"Jordan you're on your last roll of toilet paper!"

"Then go out and buy some!" Hal called back.

"Guy!" Arley called out as she threw herself upright, her feet were snatched from Wally's lap and tucked underneath her; her heart sputtered in her chest. Guy Gardner, Earth's third Green Lantern and the most irate of the bunch emerged from the apartment's hallway and stepped into the living room with an easy going smile on his face.

Guy paused as he looked at Arley, a thick red brow raised in her direction. Thump-thump-thump; the knocking continued.

"You look like shit Nightlight, you know that," Guy said, Arley just blinked at him. Who cared what she looked like when he was there— was okay —awake.

Why wouldn't he be awake? Arley asked herself; Why wouldn't he be okay? And for the life of her, Arley couldn't seem to answer. It was hard to think about anything with the incessant knocking.

"Hello?" Guy said as he stepped forward, he snapped his fingers in Arley's direction with every step. Arley's eyes flew from the red headed Lanterns Lions jersey—which she had zone out looking at —and to his eyes, his bright— awake —baby blue eyes.

"Sorry," Arley apologized, "I-uh, zoned out."

"No duh kid, everything okay?" No; Arley felt foggy, she felt tired. She could practically feel the knocking coming from the door vibrating inside of her skull. She smiled.

"Yeah, I just, you know, need to wake up more." Guy beamed at Arley and his hand swiped the top of her head, musing her dark hair under his palm. Guy looked at Katma and smiled at her

"You do that-Kat want to tell your lesser half that I'm cooking?"

"I heard that Gardner!" John called out loudly. The knocking continued and Arley turned to look in the direction of the apartment door as Guy's head swiveled in the direction of the kitchen; thump-thump-thump, the knocking continued.

"Good!" Guy shouted, "I'm tired of take out and Jordan's flavorless—"

"—Flavorless!" Hal squawked.

Maybe no one was answering because it wasn't their door that was being knocked upon, perhaps it was Mrs. Parkers across the hall; but the tiredness in Arley's bones— the tug in her gut, the one Kilowog had told her to always trust —told her that wasn't the case.

Arley jumped when a hand was set on her shoulder, she turned to see Wally looking at her with concern; his emerald green eyes sparkled in the television's glow. The living room curtains were drawn and from the slivered gap that formed between the left and right curtain Arley saw nothing, just pitch black darkness.

It was night. It was no wonder why she was so tired.

"Are you okay?" Wally asked her. The knocking continued.

"Yeah I just-the knocking, it sounds like it's coming from our door," Arley said; slowly— because her limbs felt like leaden weights —Arley went to slide off the couch so that she could throw open the door and in such a former Gothamite fashion, demand to know what was the knockers problem, only for Wally to catch her by the wrist.

"Don't," Wally said, "Please."

"What?" Arley asked, Karma and Guy moved to the kitchen, "Why not?"

For a moment, Wally's lips pressed together, and then, a second later his tongue poked out and swept across them. Thump-thump-thump .

"Just trust me?" Wally asked her, "Please?"

"Of course," Arley responded without any hesitation; as if there was no other option but to trust him. Settling back onto the couch Arley melted into Wally's side; the speedster wrapped his arm around Arley's shoulders and pulled her to him, his lips pressed against the side of her head and though the was an itch clawing at the underside of her skin, telling her something was wrong— thump-thump-thump —Arley ignored it.

She was safe in Wally's arms.

Hours later, though it felt like days— but it couldn't be, Arley was just tired —in what had to be the middle of the night, Wally West was still on the Jordan-Gluck couch with Arley in his arms. Which was odd because ever since they'd turned fourteen Arley and Wally hadn't been allowed to have sleepovers with each other anymore.

When they were younger— even after they first started dating —they'd been allowed to sleep over at the others house. Arley and Wally had started dating at twelve, and back then no one thought twice when Arley slept on the pullout bed the Wests had gotten for Arley one year, but then— around fourteen —Arley had started needing to wear training bras and Rudy West had discovered Wally's poorly hidden porn stash and suddenly, unless it was hero related both teens curfews were ten thirty.

So it was odd that Wally wasn't the first one out of the apartment.

Arley couldn't remember when John and Katma and Guy had left or even who had left in what order— her forehead still burned from their farewell kisses but she couldn't remember any of her fellow Corpsmen leaving —just that it had happened sometime after dinner.

And dinner had happened sometimes ago, it had to have been, though an hour only seemed seconds ago and despite every minute stretching out for an eternity.

The knocking had continued throughout dinner; even after John and Guy and Katma had left— must have left —the knocking had continued; and yet every time Arley went to answer it and tell off whoever was knocking Wally stopped her.

An early two-thousands Tommy Lee Jones movie— Space Cowboys —had just ended when Arley turned to Wally; she'd been zoned out for most of the movie, only ever checking back in when something outrageous happened in the movie as her mind had been to preoccupied on trying to think about why she'd thought Guy hadn't been okay and what she'd done earlier that day to make her so tired.

Thump-thump-thump .

"Wally?" Arley asked softly, Hal had work in the morning and he hadn't yet kicked Wally out so it wasn't like she was going to push any limits; her gut, just as it'd been screaming that something was off, told her Wally leaving was the last thing she wanted.

"Yeah babe?" Wally looked as awake as ever, his emerald green eyes were filled with energy and his lips stretched across his face forming a wide smile. She loved his smile. Arley loved everything about Wally West but there was something about his smile that made her lungs fill with just a little more air than before.

"The knocking—"

Thump-thump-THUMP-thump .

"—Ignore it," Wally said, his brows turned down and his smile faded. "Please, it has to stop sooner or later."

"Wally we're heroes, we face people like Poison Ivy during lunch break and win, why won't you let me open the door?"

THUMP-thump-THUMP .

It was getting louder.

"Because I—" Wally stopped himself, his bottom lip rolled between his teeth, his eyes— his glowing green eyes —flickered to the door and his lip came back pinker and fuller when he released it. Wally looked at Arley steadily, "—Nothing good is out there, okay?"

"What does that even mean?" Arley asked. She moved, not away from him but so that she was looking at him, her knee still touched the top of his and his arm still stretched across the back of the couch so that his fingers dusted across her shoulder and her hands balled up the very bottom of his shirt. "Wally I trust you more than anything but what the kriff does, 'nothing good is out there' even mean?"

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP .

Arley jumped in her seat; the door was practically shaking; Wally surged forward and cupped Arley's face, he pressed a searing kiss against her lips.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP .

Wally looked torn, like he was making the hardest decision of his life. Arley's heart leapt into her throat.

"I love you, you know that, right?" Of course she did.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP .

"I love you too." She wasn't sure if she could ever unlove him; loving him was just a part of her by this point, like breathing.

"Good, now trust me and wake up." Arley brows came together.

"What? Wake—"

"—Arley trust me okay," Wally said almost desperately, his eyes seemed to glow in the light of the television; the reminded Arley of the glow her constructs emitted when they were formed, "I wanted to protect you-Nortz ever since I got you all I ever wanted to do was protect you. But I can't anymore-you couldn't just ignore the knocking. I failed. So now you need to wake up!"

He was crazy; she loved a crazy boy. Maybe he'd been hit over the head by some villain.

Arley moved her hands from the hem of his shirt and rested her palms flat against the speedsters chest, his heart was beating so fast that she could barely feel it. Or maybe what she felt was her own heart. Arley felt like her head was swimming— drowning —as the knocking got louder and louder. The apartment seemed to shake with every THUMP .

"What do you mean wake up? I am awake! Wa—"

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP .

"—No you're not!" Wally shouts. He kisses her again, just as searingly as before. It was hot and final; like she won't be able to kiss him again. "Wake up!"

…

With Wally's voice echoing in her ears Arley's eyes flew open and her fist cut through the air without meaning to; Arley didn't see who she hit, just that there was a cloaked man cradling his face on the floor and she was stretched out across a lab table in a white suit that she was sure she'd never worn before.

The door to whatever room she was in— a lab, for some reason, was what first came to mind but the floor was made of concrete and the walls look like they were nothing more than stone —flew open and Arley's eight years worth of training kicked in before the blonde hockey mask wearing man— Sportsmaster; Arley instantly recognized him from the Wanted posters the League had up around the Watchtower —managed to take his first step into the room.

Arley jumped from the table she'd been laid out on and she went to punch the masked assassin only for the blonde man to easily block her by batting her fist away. With his other hand Sportsmaster grabbed Arley's wrist and pulled her forward, Arley threw her weight at him only for Sportsmaster to sidestep her and allow Arley to half pass him, quickly Sportsmaster brought the heel of his foot down onto the back of her leg.

Arley went down on her knee; she envisioned a glowing green fist as she went down only for nothing to appear. Arley, ignoring the pain that shot up her knee, gritted her teeth and willed harder, for a moment she felt eight again; like she was back in bootcamp learning how to create a construct.

When nothing continued to happen and Arley was left to throw her elbow up, harshly clipping the underside of Sportsmasters jaw, causing the villain to toss her to ground, Arley looked at her hand as she rolled away from Sportsmaster, only to find no ring on her finger.

Standing as she spun with her fists in front of her defensively, Arley glared at Sportsmaster; "What the kriff did you do with my ring!"

"That's really not what you should be most concerned about at the moment kiddo," Sportsmaster sneered in her direction; the person Arley had knocked to the ground when she'd awoken shakily stood up from the concrete ground.

The person— the man —had a hand pressed firmly against the side of their eye, a trail of dark red dripped down the side of his face.

His face; Arley reeled back at the slightly bloody man in front of him. His pale skin was shriveled and his seemed to pulse disgustingly under what was either a clear dome or translucent skull. His eyes were dark— nearly black —and his lips were twitched into a sneer showing off his slightly yellowed teeth.

"What the fuck?" Arley breathed; her spine straightened at the sight of the man. What the hell had she gotten herself into? "Nortz what are you?" Arley wondered as her eyes flickered between Sportsmaster and the man she'd hit, because he couldn't be human.

The man sneered at her, "For someone with such strong mental defenses I assumed you'd be far more eloquent."

Arley's jaw clenched; Green Lanterns were trained to ward themselves against psionic attacks. The knocking, it'd been him.

Arley mind was racing; she had no idea where she was, why— or how —her ring had been taken or how she'd fallen into the clutches of Sportsmaster and an evil raisin just that she was practically defenseless and in the hands of a skilled assassin and his telepathic lackey.

"Sorry to disappoint, but uh, go fuck yourself."

The shriveled man practically snarled in Arley's direction; the reply was inelegant and blunt but Wally and Dick were always the ones with the quips.

Wally and Dick.

The Hall of Justice flashed through Arley's mind, the hurt and betrayed look Wally had thrown at her before he had walked out with Dick and Roy and Kaldur quickly followed after that, and as Arley backed herself up against the cavernous wall everything that'd she'd found at Cadmus Labs came to mind. Quick enough once the flood gates were open Arley remembered everything.

Right, Arley thought, Project Kr, Superman's clone.

"Savage," Arley breathed as the last of her memory fell into place, her eyes sharpened into a glare, "Where is the dosher and where the kriff is my ring you fucks!" She bellowed.

"You have no self preservation, do you girly?" Sportmaster sneered, almost amused.

"Lanterns," A new voice said from the hallway, "Never do. More brawn than brain, really." Vandal Savage, as if he'd been waiting for Arley to remember him, entered the room. His arms were crossed behind his back as he stepped into the room. "Took you long enough to remember Lantern," Savage practically gloated in Arley's direction as he stood behind Sportsmaster.

Sportsmaster stood down, his clenched fists lowered to his side and the shriveled telepath smirked; he looked almost victorious, like he'd won something.

"Where the kriff is my ring?" Arley gritted out from behind clenched teeth, Savage unfolded his arms from behind his back and in between his thumb and forefinger presented Arley with her Corps ring; though she'd never allow the men in the room to see it her heart sank.

Vandal Savage had her ring and though no force in the universe could get it on his finger Arley knew she couldn't just leave the ring— the weapon —in his possession. She had to do something.

Somehow.

So, she did; in a very Hal Jordan— or Guy Gardner depending on who you asked —sort of way, Arley flew at the fifty thousand year old Neanderthal, and though Sportsmaster moved to catch Arley midair, the wrinkly, shriveled up man she'd hit when she first woken up threw his hands through the air and to the side sending Arley flying back against the lab table she'd woken up on.

Restraints snapped against Arley's wrists and ankles, a thick metal restaurant snapped around her neck and middle.

Arley let out a loud roar as she struggled against the bonds; Savage smirked at her, his eyes afire with victory. Sportsmaster's eyes didn't show anything, he just simply stared at Arley, blankly.

"You're dead!" Arley snapped, "When I get out of here you're dead!"

"You're not getting out of here," Vandal Savage said as he stepped closer to Arley until he was peering over her.

"Like hell I'm not, when the League and Corps find me—"

"—That!" Savage said loudly, over the sound over Arley's raised voice, "Will never happen. You'll be lucky if I allow them to find a body," he hissed.

"Bantha Crap!" Arley spat, "In case you forgot, the League's been foiling your plans for years and even if they don't find me before my partners do, someone will find me!" Her family would never give up on her; Hal, Kilowog, John and Katma, they would never just stop looking for her just as she would never stop looking for them. "They'll never stop looking," Arley growled out confidently, "They'll find me."

Savage's lips twitched upwards.

"Maybe if your partners were still on Earth they would," Savage sneered. Arley's mind spiraled; dead, Hal and John, they couldn't be dead. They were the best of the best.

"You're lying!" Arley spat. Savage placed Arley's ring onto the metal table, next to her head, and he breathed.

"How long do you think you've been here, Lantern?" Arley looked up at Savage with a glare,

"No clue asshole." Savage brought his fist down onto Arley's stomach and the girl let out a choking sound as her neck jerked up and her throat hit the metal restraint. She sucked in a wheezing breath.

"Don't be smart," Savage sneered, "It's not befitting of you-now how long? Take a guess."

"A week," Arley said thoughtlessly.

"Try three months." Ice flooded Arley's veins. It'd felt like days in her mind; in Wally's arms.

"Bullshit," she breathed. No way she was in Savage's clutched three months; Dick always gloated how Batman was the greatest detective alive and Wally liked to say there wasn't a case his uncle couldn't help solve; and there wasn't anything Hal or John couldn't do so there was no way she'd been held captive for three months. "I don't believe you."

"Children," Savage breathed, "Always so stubborn. It's late September, the Justice League-with a little help—" Savage smirked sarcastically, "—Has ruled that you're either dead or off-world and your fellow Lanterns, believing you to be alive, have left to go search for you. No one is going to rescue you."

He was lying. He had to be. The League wouldn't abandon her, Barry and Dinah and Oliver and her partners— her fathers —wouldn't just forget about her. They loved her.

"I don't believe you," Arley repeated again, refusing to believe that she'd been in Cadmus' clutches for three months— a day or two; a week at most but not three months —and even if she had been then there was no way the League would end a search for her in those three months; they wouldn't just write her off.

"Stubborn," Savage said from behind his teeth, he brought out a remote from his pockets and a large screen came down from the ceiling; the table Arley was on shifted so that she was slightly upright and with a second click from the remote a video— a video from one of the security cameras that watched the Cadmus Labs lobby —started.

The date was timestamped in the corner; July 31st, 2010 and Batman, who'd come into frame with the Guardian at his side, paused in the middle of the lobby.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Green Lantern was here for the fire but then she left after I caught her snooping around. I take my job as Head of Security very seriously-I would know if she had somehow stuck around, if she was still here."

Batman hummed; "Cadmus is the only logical conclusion Guardian-no one's seen Green Lantern since she was spotted saving those two scientists from the fire. Arley isn't on Oa and she's not with the boys either and neither John or Hal can find her by tracking her ring, they say the signal is still gone."

"You'd think after doing this gig for so long she'd remember to charge her weapon," the Guardian said with a condescending scoff.

Arley glared at the screen; Fucker , she thought.

"She does," Batman said, "That's why this is the League's top priority-her battery is still at home, she wouldn't have just left without it."

"Maybe she didn't mean too," TheGuardian said, "Has anyone thought to see if she's with girlfriends off-world? A girl her age needs some female friends."

"Your point?" Batman asked.

"Maybe she went to see one of them and lost track of time and her ring died before she could get back to Earth." Two little red dots glowed ominous in the corner of the frame; just as they had on Gnome that'd been on the Guardians shoulder. Batman and the Guardian both grabbed their heads.

"What—" the Guardian gasped, Batman groaned; Batman reached for his utility belt only to freeze. A young man with a Gnome on his shoulder and an orange tabby cat dancing in and out, between his legs walked into frame; the young man had red swirling around his fingertips; like marionettes on taut strings, the two heroes straightened and turned to look at the man as he took another step closer.

"Green Lantern isn't at Cadmus," the young man spoke with a high-pitched voice, "She isn't on-world."

"She isn't on Earth," Batman repeated dully.

Arley felt dread pool in her gut. No, no, no, come on Bruce! She thought. What happened to being prepared for anything! Constant Vigilance; that's what Batman was always preaching so how could he just let his mind be toyed with!

"Her mentor doesn't trust her to fight besides him and the boy she loves doesn't trust her," Arley felt her breath catch in her throat; she looked away from the screen and to Savage whose eyes were glued to the video. He knew— somehow Savage and— this young man knew what had happened at the Hall of Justice; she didn't look away from the Neadnerthal as the video continued to play.

"Green Lantern left. She's a teenage girl; she's probably marooned all alone on some alien planet. She's probably half dead since you've wasted all this time looking for her on Earth."

How could he have known? The Guardian— Cadmus' patsy —hadn't been at Hall. There was no way he could know about Hal and Batman telling her to stay behind or about what had happened between her and Wally. Did Savage have the hall bugged? The Watchtower?

No. the Guardian was a Justice League affiliate, not an actual member, there was no way he knew about the Watchtower, not if the boys hadn't.

"She could be anywhere in the universe hurt," Batman said and the man grinned predatorilyat the Caped Crusader; his teeth were too pointed— too sharp —to be human.

"Wonderful," the man said, the cat meowed and the man, as if he'd understood the cat sighed. "Right, now you'll stop looking for the missing Lantern at Cadmus Labs-you'll stop looking into Cadmus Labs," the man instructed Batman, "There's nothing weird going on here."

"There's nothing suspicious about Cadmus Labs." The man looked at his cat,

"Is that all?" The Cat meowed. "Great, and now that that's done, come on Teekle," the young man said and with a wave of his hand— the one that didn't have swirling around his fingertips —he and the cat were gone. Batman and the Guardian were left standing there alone in the Cadmus lobby; the two men looked blankly at each other for a moment.

Batman blinked. Then the Guardian blinked and then Batman did once more.

The Guardian stuck his hand out for Batman to take and the Dark Knight, almost robotically, took it.

"Hopefully Hal and John can find the kid before something happens to her." Batman nodded.

Savage pressed another button and the video stopped; when he looked at Arley the Lantern was already glaring at him. "You knew about the Hall."

"Of course I did," Savage said, "The Light reaches everything."

"The Light?" Arley repeated, "That's what you, knock off Jason, this evil raisin and that pale twink from the camera feed are calling yourselves?" She forced herself to snort, "Nortz you're all pathetic."

Almost automatically— as soon as the words were out of her mouth —Savage had hit her again, but this time Arley was ready for it, her stomach muscles had been flexed and she had expected the hit to hurt worse than it had.

She snarled up at Savage.

"For someone whose life is in my hands you sure don't know how to hold your tongue," Savage snipped. Her foster siblings used to call her stupid for a bookworm and her teachers always said she had too much gumption; Kilowog though, he called her Humanwhich all really just meant ballsy.

"Yeah," Arley wheezed, "And why is that?" Why was she still alive went unasked.

Savage looked to Sportsmaster who shrugged— not the same way an underling would look at their boss but in such a way it seemed as if Savage was asking,Should I waste my breath —and then with a half board glint in his eyes, Savage looked back down at Arley, he picked her ring back up off the table.

"I can have you cloned as much as I'd like but unless they can wield this ring and tell me everything you know, they're useless, so for now I need you alive."

"I won't help you," Arley said. "Kill me now because you'll never be able to get into my head, and no matter what you do to me I won't help you."

"That's what everyone says at first," Savage replied easily; like she would one day miraculously change her mind. Arley glared. Hal would say something smart, John and Kilowog would keep their mouths shut but Arley was just as much Guy Gardner's kid as she was any of theirs.

"You know I might find you intimidating if it weren't for the fact that you got your ass handed to you by some prehistoric Winnie the Pooh." Savage gripped her ring tight in his fist and hit her across the face once, then twice and then a third time.

Arley, with tightly shut eyes, felt blood pool in her mouth. She blew a harsh breath out of her nose.

"Tell me the names of the Guardians." It wasn't the League he wanted to know about, it was the Corps. The blood pooled in her mouth and Arley sucked her bloody teeth.

The Corps had been her first family; the first people to welcome her and care for her. The first place she had a bed to call her own.

Arley spit at Savage instead of replying, her watery blood hit his face and for a moment the room froze; the evil raisin and Sportsmaster seemed to stop breathing— it was true, Green Lanterns were all brawn and no brain —and Savage, his eyes clouded over for a moment.

Arley knew the look in his eyes; it was the same one her foster parents would once get before they'd beat her.

Arley gritted her teeth and thought of Wally; because even if he'd been mad at her three months ago he would have never abandoned her. The League could give up on her but he wouldn't.

Wally would save her.

Notes: If you guys are catching any of the Easter Eggs I'm hiding let me know! And even if you're not, if you liked the chapter please leave me a comment down below!

Also I do have a Green Lantern playlist on Spotify; it's where a bunch of the inspiration for the story comes from. It's called 'Feel My Might; Green Lantern Playlist'.