Chapter Four —

"Everyone I know is in some kind of pain."

Though the Hawks, Captain Marvel and several other heroes who had been on Watchtower duty at the time Cadmus Labs had come down were searching the DC sewers for them, it seemed that Arley Gluck, the clone of Superman and the genomorph-Goblin Dubbilex were in the wind.

Hours after Cadmus Labs had come down and the monster they had found buried in the rubble had been taken to Belle Reve for evaluation, a handful of Justice League members— Superman, Batman, Green Arrow and Canary, Aquaman and the Flash —all stood around the War Rooms table as the holographic image of the three Cadmus escapees were displayed in front of them.

Though the League hadn't yet cleared anything more than the first sub-level of Cadmus Labs yet, Batman had managed to hack and download years worth's of information from Cadmus, and so, pulled up on the smaller screen that rested in front of him, Batman had the Cadmus Lobby surveillance footage from July 31, 2010.

"Someone has to tell Rayner. Hal and the others are going to want to know yesterday that Arley's alive and on Earth," Oliver Queen said in Batman's direction.

"You saw the video," Superman— Clark —responded in Oliver's direction, his head only half turned away from the image of his clone. "It's not Bruce's' fault-whoever that was—"

"—Klarion," Batman said, his voice gruff, "The Witch Boy. He's a Lord of Chaos."

"A Lord of Chaos?" Aquaman— Arthur —blinked. Arthur wasn't only king of Atlantis but also husband to Queen Mera, a powerful sorceress, and so his knowledge didn't just stop at fighting, diplomatic relations, and marine biology; "What would any magical entity want with a clone of Superman, or a Lantern for that matter?"

"Better question, what the hell happened to Arley?" Barry said stiffly; angrily, "You see her face-that scar," Barry covered his mouth, the pads of his gloved fingertips pressed roughly against his lips, rage and guilt bubbled up in his gut. "Hal told you she wouldn't just leave, that she wasn't stupid enough to get caught off world with a dead ring, but no, Batman's never wrong."

"Barry—"

Dinah looked away from the image of Arley and at the table. She'd been Arley's therapist for years before she had disappeared, and though she had never truly believed that Arley had left Earth she trusted Batman; so much so she had never objected to Batman's conclusion about Arley being off world, as throughout her time in foster care, Arley had run away from more than half of her foster homes.

She should have, she should have spoken out, argued. But she trusted Batman and it wasn't like this was some insidious, shadowy plan that went against her morals, there hadn't been a reason to not trust him; to think that the 'Greatest Detective in the World' was wrong; that was, until Arley had remerged in the world alive and seemingly never having left.

"—No!" Barry shouted in Superman's direction.

Barry Allen had been in the Jordan-Gluck apartment the day Hal had brought Arley home. Hal had asked him to make sure the apartment looked child ready as he'd been the only League member in a child's life at the time, and he'd still been inside of it when Hal had lead a tiny, eight— nearly nine —year old Arley inside. She'd been so guarded and suspicious that Barry was just there to hurt her until he had put on his uniform showing her that he was one of the good guys.

But how good could he be if he had let her rot for nearly three years?

Barry turned his chin down and eyed the table.

"Damnit Clark, someone cut her! For some reason, someone cut her, and we could have stopped that if for once, Bruce got over himself and his ego and let us help him! But no, none of us-we're not on his level."

"Barry, sit down," Arthur said, he breathed and his voice softened, "We can't change the past but we can stop this Lord of Chaos and anyone else he may be working with from finding the Superman clone and Arley."

"How?" Dinah asked somewhat shrilly, "We have no idea where they are or what that genomorph's powers can do-for all we know it teleported Arley and the clone halfway across the world the minute they made it to the sewers."

Under the table Oliver's hand settled on Dinah's knee.

"We have to hope," Superman replied, "We all hoped that Arley was alive these past few years and she has been, now we have to hope we'll find her quickly." They would find her though; the Kryptonians tone made that quite clear.

Batman got to his feet, his chair scraped against the War Rooms flooring and the League members in the room turned to look at the caped and cowled man.

"I need to do more investigating," Batman said, "Decode more of the information I downloaded."

Batman turned away from the table and took two steps away before he stopped in his tracks and softly— much more softly than most of the Leaguers in the room had ever heard him talk before —spoke again.

"I need to tell Dick."

…

Covered in sweat and dirt, Nightwing— Dick Grayson —and the other Jump City Teen Titans entered the Titan Towers laughing; Beast Boy's hands moved quickly through the air as he reenacted part of the fight that'd just taken place between themselves and Cinder Block.

"Please!" Cyborg grinned tiredly as his heavy metallic palm fell openly onto the top of Beast Boy's head; Cyborg's grin only grew as he pressed down on the green boy's head and messed up his hair, "You wouldn't have gotten that shot if it weren't for me!"

Dick, with his hand in Starfire's— Kori's —looked on at his friends amusedly; behind them Raven, who had only just started growing her hair out past her jaw, rolled her dark eyes. Ever since the Junior Titans—Melvin, Tommy and Teether —had joined several or so months ago and the team had gotten back from Tokyo, the half-demon had seemingly started to perk up.

Sure she wasn't singing show tunes and making breakfast every morning but she had certainly grown from the withdrawn, fifteen year old girl Dick had met nearly two years ago in a Jump City alleyway.

"Not true!" Beast Boy squawked as he tried to beat Cyborg's hand away, the green teens sharp smile glittered under the tower's lights. Dick watched as Beast Boys ducked out from under Cyborg's hand and took two long steps forward before spinning around, "I had it handled."

"Uh-huh, Ro-Wing," Cyborg floundered; Dick had only just started going by Nightwing, "Tell this elf—"

"—Elf!" Raven snorted from behind her fist and Starfire's lips quivered allowing her teeth to peek out, "I'm not an elf!"

Cyborg opened his mouth to retort only for a familiar cough to cut him off; Dick stopped mid step— his eyes zeroed in on the shadowy figure that stood before them —and Beast Boy spun around on the balls of his feet. Cyborg's eyes widened.

"No way," Beast Boy whispered. His eyes flickered over to Dick as the dark haired human dropped Starfire's hand. "Dude!"

Dick took two steps forward, his lips set together in a firm line as his arms crossed over his chest; the last time he had seen Bruce— spoken to him —had been right after he and the team had gotten back from Tokyo, right after Jason's funeral.

"What are you doing here?" Dick asked.

"I need to talk to you." Dicks blood began to boil; Bruce could have spoken to him when his newest Robin had decided to run off, he could have spoken to him when Barbra had been crippled and put in a wheelchair shortly after and Bruce certainly could have spoken to Dick at the funeral Bruce hadn't even told him about.

"Look whatever you have to say—"

"—It's about Arley." Whatever fire had been ignited inside Dick was quickly extinguished; the seventeen year old's blood turned icy because despite the fact he still hoped his friend— one of his first real friends —was still alive, and despite the fact he still followed every lead that popped up Dick Grayson knew the statistics and the odds against Arley's favor and he knew what his adoptive father had come to tell him.

The Titans— Cyborg who had helped Dick run down lead after lead over the years and Starfire who, since the teams foundation, on more than one occasion had to force Dick to go to sleep and stop looking at the same clues he'd been staring at four hours on end, and Raven and Beast Boy who had listened to Dick talk about the missing Lantern over the years —all turned to look at Dick, but Dick only looked at Batman; at Bruce.

"She's dead?" Dick asked stiffly. Starfire pressed her hand against the small of his back and Beast Boy stepped closer to Cyborg as Raven looked away from the caped man and to Dick, her lips ever so slightly parted, as if she was ready to cast some sort of spell.

Arley had been ten when they'd met, her hair had been in pigtails and she had stuck her hand out towards him, beaming; and Dick who's been nine at the time and new at the sidekick thing— the grass on his parents graves hadn't even yet grown over —had taken her hand with a small smile of his own.

"You and me Birdboy," she had grinned as she had shaken his hands, "We're gonna be great friends, I know it!"

"No," Bruce said, he produced a small, phone sized screen and took several steps closer to the team of teen heroes. Batman tapped against the screen and for a moment all Dick saw was rubble.

"That's Cadmus," Dick breathed. Dick was wearing a domino mask and Bruce was wearing a cowl and though neither could see the others' eyes from behind their face covering they both knew the other well enough; "You searched Cadmus-cleared it," Dick had all but said.

"Just watch," Bruce instructed, and Dick did; as did the other Titans.

For a moment nothing happened, the dust settled around Cadmus Labs and then, with a baited breath, Dick watched as a figure dressed in white moved a large rock off of themselves and slowly the video feed zoomed in, so that as the other two figured who had been laying underneath the first began to stand Dick could see that one of them— dressed in dirty hospital scrubs —was none other than his friend.

Arley, Dick thought breathlessly. With shaking hands Dick took the small device from Bruce and held it in his own hands.

The video stopped and an enlarged imagine of Arley's face popped up on screen; there was a thick jagged scar that ran from the left corner of her lips all the way up to her cheekbone, her nose was bent and looked as if it hadn't healed right half a dozen times and there was blood covering the bottom half of her face, clearly from a bloody nose.

"When was this taken?" Dick asked, his eyes flickered from the device to Batman's cowl.

"Around midnight." It was nearing five in the morning. "The League-Captain Marvel, the Hawks, others," Batman added vaguely, "They're scouring the sewers for her and the two she escaped Cadmus with."

"Who were-if you don't mind me asking, Batman sir," Beast Boy wondered nervously, "The other two?" For a second Batman's eyes narrowed; Beast Boy twitched.

"The blue one is a genomorph goblin, a living weapon Cadmus created."

"And the other one?" Raven asked dryly. Bruce looked at Dick for a moment; Dick could all but see his adoptive fathers brow raised behind the cowl wordlessly asking if Raven— and the rest of the team —could truly be trusted. The muscles in Dicks jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth because of course she could be; of course they all could be.

"Superman's clone," Batman answered bluntly, "On top of genetically engineering an army Cadmus, and whatever show group is controlling Cadmus cloned Superman's DNA over three years ago."

"And when you say Superman, you mean the Superman?" Cyborg muttered, his eyes once more glued to the frozen video footage. The dark skinned teen grimaced. "He's not like an evil clone or something, right?"

"He's helping Arley escape," Dick answered before Bruce could; Dick knew Bruce well enough to know that the billion heir would without a doubt say that the clone couldn't be trusted; "Of course he's not-Kid Flash and the others, do they know yet?"

Dick wasn't even sure how'd he'd start that call. He had never imagined finding out Arley was alive second hand, over the years whenever he had allowed himself to get caught up in the daydream of finding her somewhere— of her coming back to Earth —Wally and Roy and everyone else was already there, by his side or they all just somehow already knew; in his daydreams he never had to tell anyone that she was alive.

He never had to tell someone— yeah she was alive but —he had no idea where she was.

"Flash is letting Kid know, Green Arrow and Aquaman are also informing their former protegees." Dick was sure Roy and Kaldur would love that; Wally was the only one of them who was still on good terms with his former partner.

"And Kyle?" Dick asked; he'd met the Lantern twice since the Guardians had assigned him to the sector just over two years ago. Wally had hit him the first time; the speedster had apologized afterwards but still, he had cold cocked the Los Angeles based Lantern in front of half a dozen different news cameras.

"Black Canary has offered to let him know that Arley is alive." Dick sucked in a deep breath of air; Alive , Arley was alive and free from where she'd been held captive the past three years. Anxiety settled in his gut, Arley was hurt and on the run, more than likely she was terrified; Hal and John and Guy were no longer on Earth and unless Arley ran to Carol there was only one person she'd go to.

"She's going to go to Kid, you know that right?" Cyborg shifted his weight from foot to foot and Raven let out a loud breath of air; their minds had gone where he had. A knot formed in his stomach.

"It's been three years—"

"—You never found Arley's tongue halfway down Kid's throat as much as I did," Dick said mirthlessly; "She's going to go to him, and even if she doesn't—" though Dick doubted she wouldn't go running to the Titans North tower, "—Then she's going to come here or go to Titans East, she's going to come home."

Arley had always said home wasn't in Coast City or on Oa, that while sure she had a home there because she had a bed, her home— her real home —was with the people she loved; that it was with her family. It was wherever Hal or John or Guy were, it was wherever he and Wally and both Roy and Kaldur were; she had always said that her home was with them.

"She wouldn't just run," Dick said sharply.

…

With the sun just barely over the horizon and the weight of his fathers sins seemingly hanging off his shoulder like a well fitting cloak, Kaldur'ahm walked with his head down as he made his way through the Miami streets and back to the tiny apartment he had started living in several months ago.

It wasn't the biggest apartment and it wasn't even all that nice— and in all actually it wasn't even his, Roy owned it; the hero had bought it as a safe house after his eighteenth birthday —but since he had put away his uniform and given up the game it was the only place Kaldur could call home.

Atlantis wasn't an option anymore.

Kaldur could feel people looking at him as he passed them on the boardwalk; and while he knew that no random couple stumbling home from a club or an old homeless beach bum that stunk of piss and brandy would know who his father was just by looking at him the half-humans gut churned.

Kaldur, who wore a long sleeved turtleneck sweatshirt in order to hide his gills and tattoos— despite the almost thick, suffocating, early morning humidity that stifled the air —stuffed his hands into his pockets.

A police car with flashing lights sped by him and just like every other time Kaldur froze; a year ago he would have chased after the car and helped them apprehend the criminal but now— with who his father was —how could he?

How could he be worthy of being a hero?

Kaldur turned off the boardwalk and stepped onto the street he lived on, the large yellow apartment building he lived in had graffiti littering the base; some of it was just tags that read 'PSYCHO WAS HERE' and others were crudely drawn images of the symbols that littered Justice League members chests, a Superman 'S' here and two interlocking 'W's in another place.

With his keys between his fingertips Kaldur's hand slipped from his pocket.

Kaldur's shoulder knocked into someone else's and with his eyes still locked on the ground Kaldur only half turned his head to apologize only for this person's hand to wrap around his wrist; Kaldur turned on his heel ready to fend off this attacker— mugger probably, pickpockets and thieves weren't uncommon on the boardwalk —only to freeze, because it wasn't a criminal who had their hands wrapped around his wrist, it had been his King.

Kaldur's eyes narrowed ever so slightly; first Aquaman had kept the Watchtower from him— then he had easily replaced him with Garth, an old friend —and then it had come out that the man had also kept Kaldur's paternity from him.

"King Arthur," though Kaldur greeted the man respectfully, there was an edge in the young man's voice.

"Kaldur'ahm," Aquaman responded; he let Kaldur's wrist go and the younger half-Atlantean stuffed it back into his pocket, Aquaman looked around at the empty street as one by one the street lights turned themselves off, "Perhaps we should go somewhere else, we need to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you, sire," Kaldur replied tersely. Aquaman sighed as Kaldur took a step back, ready to walk away.

"Please, Kaldur'ahm, it's about Green Lantern-your Green Lantern." Kaldur's blonde brows rose, his shoulders pushed themselves back and Kaldur, without meaning too, took a step closer to his former mentor.

"Arley?" Kaldur asked; his heart clenched in his chest and his throat tightened at the mention of his dead friend. Kaldur had been raised a soldier, he was a realist and after a year and a half of nothing but dead ends and false leads Kaldur knew he couldn't lie to himself anymore, Arley was dead.

Though no matter what terms he had come too or what peace he had made with the fact his friend was dead Kaldur'ahm still dreamed of finding her some nights; he dreamed of wearing his old uniform and everything going back to the way it had once been before that Independence Day at the Hall and his biological fathers identity being brought to light.

"You and the League have found her body then?"

"No," the Atlantean King shook his head, there was a meaningful look in his golden eyes and for a second the King's eyes reminded Kaldur'ahm of the slowly rising sun. "We found her."

No , Kaldur thought, this was just another one of his dreams; next the King— his King and mentor and partner —would ask for him to return to Atlantis, and tell him that he'd been mistaken, Black Manta wasn't in fact his father.

"Alive?" Kaldur asked with a quiver of hope in his voice.

"Yes, she's alive." Kaldur took a step forward, his hands fell out of his pockets. Alive, she's alive.

Arley was never his best friend, Dick had always been closer to her and he had always been closer to Roy but she had lived just off the beach and over the years she had shown more of the surface world than the other boys ever had and she had done it in such a way that never allowed him to feel like a fish out of water.

She may not have been his best friend but she had been a good one and she was alive.

"Where-where is she? Do the others know yet? Are they with her!" In Kaldur's mind Arley was unconscious, in some hospital bed— perhaps on the Watchtower —and he couldn't bear the thought of her waking up without himself and the others by her side, without the other Lanterns and heroes who cared about her in the room.

"Batman and the others, the Flash, have all gone to tell the others, but no they aren't with her," Aquaman replied, "The League doesn't yet know where she is—"

"—But you said you found her!" Over the years ever since he had become Aqualad, Kaldur had raised his voice to King Arthur four times; this was the fifth. Kaldur's heart hammered in his chest.

"It's complicated," the King said sternly but not unkindly, "But like I said before that, perhaps we should go somewhere more private."

And for a moment— a split second —Kaldur went to get his keys from his pocket, but he wasn't Aqualad anymore, he wasn't a soldier in the Atlantean army either or a citizen anymore, he didn't need to blindly listen to the man in front of him.

"Why is it complicated?" Kaldur asked, his jaw clenched.

"Because she seen to be fleeing from Cadmus Laboratories earlier tonight." Kaldur's brows knitted together; Initially, after Arley had gone missing Batman had personally searched Cadmus from top to bottom more than once. Batman had said that the other Lanterns and the Flash wouldn't be objective enough to look around, they could miss clues he wouldn't and after he had spent a month snooping around he had assured the League— Kaldur and Dick and Wally all personally —that Arely wasn't at Cadmus labs.

Kaldur took a step back from the King, "My apartment is this way, explain to me as we walk, I feel as if this is a long story."

The tips of Aquaman's lips turned up, "Lead the way Kaldur'ahm."

…

Kyle Rayner had been half asleep and bent over his desk when the knocking startled him awake; pencil shavings were stuck to the left side of his face and when he had shot upright in his desk chair the expensive markers his mother had given him the Christmas before clattered to the ground.

Kyle's dark eyes darted to the cable box that sat under the television and blinked when he saw that it was only a quarter past six, with a groan Kyle sat back in his seat.

"Who is it!" He called out.

Hopefully it was his neighbor Mrs. Cheng— the elderly woman more often than not found herself locked out of her own apartment —and not the Super looking for the rent.

"It's Dinah," a feminine voice called out, Kyle's shoulders pushed themselves forward and the Lantern found himself looking at his front door with raised brows. The sector Lantern only knew two women who went by that name— though he was pretty sure the woman in his building's hallways was 'Dinah' as in Black Canary and not 'Diana' as in Wonder Woman —and that they could both kick his ass six ways to Sunday.

"Uh—" Kicking my ass, Kyle thought, Would be the only reason either one of them would be at my door. "—No habla Inglés, come back later!" Kyle called out.

"Kyle open the fucking door, it's an emergency!" Dinah snapped and Kyle jumped to his feet. Maybe if they weren't heroes and their types of emergencies didn't consist of world ending threats he heart wouldn't have leapt into his throat the way it had.

Throwing open his front door Kyle was met with Dinah, as in Black Canary. Dinah had Oliver Queen's old buckskin jacket wrapped around her and over her uniform, her bottom lip was chewed up and the bottom of her front teeth had lipstick on them.

No one was bleeding to death in his apartment building hallway though, which Kyle supposed was good; though if no one was bleeding to death at the moment and his League issued communicator hadn't gone off then that begged the question, "What's the emergency?"

"Arley's alive-we have video of her," Dinah rushed out as she pushed her way past Kyle and into the apartment. Closing the door as he spun— and leaning against it once it was closed —Kyle blinked at Dinah.

"Arley?" Kyle repeated, "Like Hal's Arley?"

The Lantern who had come before him. He'd heard all about her from Hal and Guy and John and every other Lantern on Oa; she'd been the kid they'd all seen grow up, the one they had all helped raise, the one who had just up and vanished one day.

"Yeah," Dinah said, her blue eyes were wet but her face wasn't red or patchy so she hadn't cried yet. "She's—" Dinah's voice cracked, "—You need to let Hal know, John and Guy too." Kyle nodded.

"Right-where'd you guys find her?" Dinah's lips curled into a snarl and she violently thrusted her fists into the buckskins pockets.

"Cadmus," Dinah spat, "She's been at Cadmus this whole time!"

Kyles dark eyebrows knitted together; when he had been given his ring and the three other Lanterns who were supposed to be his sector partners had split in search of Arley it had been because they had been damn sure Arley hadn't been on Earth.

"But I thought—"

"—I know!" Dinah snapped, "So did I but-look it's complicated, just call Hal okay?" Dinah said much more softly, "I'll explain everything to him, and you too."

"Alright," Kyle nodded, he led Dinah over to the tiny couch he'd bought off an old friend from high school and he held his ring up between himself and the blonde hero once they were situated; "Ring call Hal Jordan."

…

Wally West hadn't slept the night before. In fact the speedster hadn't slept in, he couldn't remember how long, instead, with dark circles under his eyes, Wally had spent the night looking between old photographs and half baked leads on Arley that the League had blatantly dismissed.

Batman had said they weren't viable leads, that they had held no merit but Wally knew one of them had to because he knew— the speedster could feel it in his bones —that Arley was still on Earth. She wouldn't just run off and leave everyone she loved behind and she wasn't stupid enough to get caught off guard with a dying ring.

Wally's finger traced the edge of the photograph, it was an old picture of himself and Arley and Dick— and Roy and Kaldur too —that had been taken nearly five years ago at the Gotham Halloween carnival. He, Arley and Kaldur had all been fourteen at the time, and Dick had been thirteen whilst Roy had been fifteen and the oldest of the bunch, anyone looking at the picture wouldn't know that. No, they would think that Roy, pre-growth spurt— and with baby fat still clinging to his cheeks and the facepaint Arley and Dick had peer pressured the archer into getting —was perhaps twelve or thirteen

He wondered if she remembered him, if this wasn't some Overboard type situation; Arley had always abhorred that specific eighties movie. Goldie Hawns character Joanna was a snobbish and wealthy socialite who was living a life of leisure with her husband before she had fallen off her and her husbands yacht; due to the fall Joanna— Goldie Hawns character —suffered from amnesia and her husband, takes the opportunity to rid himself of the demanding Joanna, only for Kurt Russell's character— Dean — a widowed carpenter with four kids who had once worked for Joanna to claim that she was in fact his wife.

"This is like, seven different fucking crimes!" Arley had cried out when they had first watched that movie. They'd been fifteen and their date had got rained out so instead they had opted to stay at hers and Hals and watch a movie, "Chayara's soul Handsome, how are you smiling-this kriffing movie is fucking disturbing!"

He's never told her that the reason he was smiling was because her eyes had lit up indignantly and her cheeks had puffed out; she was always pretty but for some reason— because she wasn't wearing makeup and her hair wasn't done nicely, she was wearing an old shirt he'd let her steal and a bun that hung lopsided on the top of her head —in that moment he had thought she was beautiful.

Wally jumped when a knock came from his bedroom door.

"Wally?" Jinx called out tiredly— Wally, as if he was a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, froze; even though he was sure there was nothing to be guilty of —before she knocked again. "Wally are you awake?"

"Yeah!" Wally called out with his palm flat against the picture, "What's up?"

"Flash is here," Wally heard Jinx yawn from her side of the door. Wally frowned at the mention of his uncle, not because he was upset to see his uncle— he loved his uncle —but because there were only a handful of reasons his uncle would be at the Titans Chicago based tower.

"Gimme a second Lucky," Wally called out, getting up from the seat he'd taken on the floor Wally sped around his room, putting the large stack of files he had on Arley's case back into his closest and the photo album he had back under his bed, and the one framed photo he had of himself and Arley— it was of the Christmas party they'd become friends —back on his bedside table.

Once everything was back in place and Wally had his uniform on and mask pulled over his eyes, Wally opened his bedroom door and beamed at his girlfriend and his uncle.

"Morning Lucky," Wally greeted, he pressed a kiss to the patch of skin between her pink brows. "Morning uncle B, what brings you to Titans North?" He asked with a hammering heart.

Maybe it wasn't bad news, maybe his aunt Iris was pregnant again or maybe Bats was stepping down and his uncle would now be leading the League, or maybe someone was dead.

"Can I come in?" His uncle nodded towards the inside of his room. His uncle wasn't smiling.

"Course," Wally said, sidestepping his uncle, the younger speedster looked at his Jinx; his girlfriend, their relationship was new, only six months old and Wally often had to remind himself to call Jinx his girlfriend to both himself, the media and other people. "See you later?"

"It's Argents turn to cook breakfast," Jinx said, Wally frowned over exaggeratedly not because Argent was bad at cooking but because despite being from New Zealand she, like Australians, put vegemite on toast and other breakfast foods. "Yeah, I'm probably going to head out to get something-want anything?"

"If you pass by Cassavatanos can you pick me up a half dozen bagels with strawberry cream cheese?" Jinx smirked at him— she had small light hearted smirks that resembled smiles, but she rarely ever smiled —and nodded.

"Sure thing." There was no nickname, no wrinkle of the nose and Wally knew why, nicknames weren't Jinx's thing— she didn't mind him calling her Lucky but she was never going to call him 'Genius Boy' or 'Handsome' —and she certainly didn't wrinkle her nose affectionately.

Those were Arley's things and Jinx, she wasn't Arley.

Rocking forward onto the toes of her platforms, Jinx pressed a kiss to the corner of Wally's mouth and Wally, feeling the weight of his uncle's eyes on his back, found it hard to breathe. He wasn't doing anything wrong by allowing Jinx to kiss him— she could have grabbed him by both sides of his face and shoved her tongue down his throat and they still wouldn't have been doing anything wrong as she was his girlfriend —and yet he felt guilty.

Because she wasn't Arley.

"See you," Wally said before stepping back into his bedroom and facing his uncle, behind him, as Jinx turned to walk down the hall, his door slid shut. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing I just-I mean," Barry tried, the man's tongue darted out and swiped along his bottom lip, "Maybe you shout sit down for this?" Worry surged through Wally.

"Barry, come on what's wrong, is it my parents? Aunt Iris?"

"It's Arley Kid," Barry said, "We found her last night."

"She's alive right?" Wally stepped forward, his eyes bright with hope, "She remembers everyone? I mean-dose she still have her memory?"

"Wally please just sit," Barry asked of his nephew but Wally shook his head,

"No! Just tell me, is she okay!" Wally could run as fast as sound traveled, his mind could work faster than most computers; a million and one worrying thoughts flew through his brain as his uncle tried to prolong answering his questions.

"We don't know," Barry replied loudly, his hands fisted at his sides, "The League found her last night but we don't have her." Under his mask Wally's bright red brows came together.

"What the hell do you mean you don't have her?" Wally asked roughly, his eyes narrowed.

"I mean as of a little after midnight Arley, a genomorph and Superman's clone—" Wally's head tilted at the words 'genomorph' and 'Superman's clone' but his eyes never widened, "—Broke out of Cadmus. The three of them are currently in the wind."

Cadmus?

"As in Cadmus Labs?" Wally asked; Barry tensioned at the question. Slowly Wally's fingers curled at his sides.

Batman had cleared Cadmus nearly three years ago; over the years the League chased him and the others away whenever they had personally gone to snoop around for clues citing things like harassment and Arley had been there the whole time?

Wally wasn't an angry person, Roy and Dick were the hotheads, Arley had always been ready for a fight and Kaldur's fury was cool and quiet yet still always there ready to be set free; but him, he could count the times he'd been mad enough to spit on one hand.

And the anger flowing through him, the rage at knowing that it was Cadmus who'd had Arley— his Glowstick —it was hot and had consumed the young speedster so fast his clenched fists shook at his sides.

"Yeah, apparently whoever was holding Arley-who created the clone and genomorph she escaped with has mind control on their side, Bats never even got to look."

Never even got to look—Who cares? Wally though furiously.

"We-Hal-Fuck!" Wally shouted. Barry didn't jump obviously ready for Wally's reaction. Wally's mind was racing and the speedster couldn't manage to hold down a single thought long enough to stop his mind from spiraling.

"She's-fucking Cadmus-I need to go!" Wally said loudly to his uncle but as he turned back towards the door of his room his uncle was already there. "Get out of my way Barry-please!" Wally remembered. Barry held his hands up in front of him,

"You need to calm down for a moment and breathe—"

"—I need to find Arley!" Wally snapped, Barry put his hands on Wally's shoulders.

"Wally, Kid," Barry breathed, bracing more of his weight against his stubborn and struggling nephews shoulders, "You can't just go running off half cocked and without a plan, the League is looking for Arley—"

"—Is Batman heading that search party too!" Wally snapped angrily. Barry sucked a sharp breath in.

"Wally, look we're going to find her okay, with the condition she's in—" Barry cut himself off and Wally stilled under the older speedsters hands. Barry looked as if he wanted to stuff the words he'd just spoken back into his mouth.

"What condition is she in?" Wally asked slowly. Barry didn't answer, "Flash what kind of condition is she in?" Wally asked again more sharply.

"You really-you don't need that on your mind right now."

"Goddamnit Barry!" Wally snapped, "Is Arley okay!"

Barry closed his eyes for a second— for a speedster like Barry and Wally, that second felt like an eternity —and then slowly Barry moved his hands from Wally's shoulder so that he could grab his League-issued communicator from his waist.

"You don't need to see this," Barry said as his hand and his communicator hesitated at his side, "We're going to find her soon, you can see her then."

"Show me," Wally West said sharply with flintly green eyes; Barry nodded and flipped the communicator so that Wally could see Arley's enlarged face from the security footage, and Wally, cupping the communicator as if it was made of glass brought it up closer to his face.

The pad of Wally's left index finger ghosted over the communicators screen, Arley's nose had never been the straightest nose as it'd been broken more then once from her time in foster care but in the picture it was bent and crooked and there was blood on her face and soaking through the back of her shirt; before replaying the video and going back to the imagine of Arleys enlarged face Wally watched as the dark haired girl limped away.

Limped, her leg was hurt. She was hurt.

Swallowing the thick ball of emotion that had swelled in his throat Wally focused on Arley's face.

There was a scar on her face and her eyes were dark and fearful; Wally had fallen in love with Arley's hazel eyes because they weren't quite green like his or brown like anyone else's, they were beautiful like her and there had always been a light in them. No matter what horrors she faced or had gone through there was a spark in her, one bright enough to light a galaxy.

And then, with tears in his own eyes, Wally collapsed into his uncle's ready arms, still looking at the image of Arley Gluck.

Alive , Wally thought, his Glowstick was alive; I'm coming.

…

Batman was stubborn, Wonder Woman was determined and Superman was hardheaded, every Green Lantern Oliver Queen had met over the years was willful— though the archer was sure that was just another word for bullheaded —and yet somehow his former ward and protegee Roy Harper was probably the most mulish out of the bunch.

Situated on the Titans East couch, waiting for Roy to return Oliver Queen tapped his foot anxiously as he awaited his former protegees return; Bumblebee and Aqualad— the partner Aquaman had taken on several months after the incident at the Hall of Justice —had both said that Roy had gone out early that morning, not long before Oliver had arrived and would be back shortly but that had been several hours ago and as the minutes continued to tick by Oliver was half convinced his former ward was just avoiding him.

Oliver looked at the large television clock once more, he felt a breeze blow by him as the two tiny speedsters Mas and Menos rushed by him once more. He wondered— only for a second before brushing the thought away because he wasn't a monster —what the two pint sized speedsters would do if he stuck his legs out in front of himself.

He'd once managed to trip Barry but that was only because Iris had walked into the room and the Justice League member was more focused on the love of his life than he was the pathway in front of him.

"What do you mean Arrows here?" He heard Roy ask one of his teammates from outside of the tower's living room.

"I mean your dad—" Bumblebee started to reply,

"—Not my dad!" Oliver crossed his arms over his chest and sank into his seat at Roys declaration.

"—Whatever, anyway he's been waiting for you to show up, which by the way, where the hell have you been? You haven't been answering your communicator! What if the city was in trouble!"

"Then I would have heard about it mom," Roy shot back sarcastically, "Ow!" He yelped, "Shit okay, sorry-look I just needed some time okay, if something happened I'm sure I would have realized."

"Answer your communicator when someone on this team calls you next time!" Bumblebee instructed; Oliver couldn't help but not how much the younger girl reminded him of Dinah. Before Roy and the other boys had stormed out Oliver had lost track of just how many times Dinah had read Roy the riot act on answering his phone.

"I will, okay, I will, now if you don't mind, I need to find out why Arrow's here."

Oliver didn't hear a dismissal but there had to have been one because a moment later Roy, in his Red Arrow uniform, was walking through the living room doors.

Oliver stood and turned, he watched as Roy stopped a few feet away from the back from the couch, the younger archer's shoulders were pushed back and his chin was held up high.

"It's not my birthday and it's not yours or Dinah's so why are you here Ollie?"

Roy had once idolized Oliver, they'd once been as thick as thieves. Roy truly had been Oliver's son. He still was.

"Arley's alive," Oliver said and Roy's head jerked back, his fingers curled around his bow.

"You're fucking with me right?" Oliver shook his head,

"No, we have footage of her escaping the place she was being held—"

"—But not her?"

"No," Oliver answered, "Hal and the rest of the Lanterns know though, as do the other boys, so I'm sure we'll find her soon enough."

Roy put his bow behind himself, tucking it between himself and his quiver and he looked at Oliver uncertainly.

"Everyone's looking for her?" There was something in Roy's voice, like he almost didn't believe that the League would put locating Arley as their top priority and— after what had happened the first time around —it wasn't like he didn't have cause to.

"It's all hands on deck, we're bringing her home this time." Though when he had talked to the Dark Knight, Bats had said his boy— Dick —was certain she'd come to them and maybe she would. Oliver knew if he somehow found himself on Lain Yu once more he'd find Dinah or Roy first once he got off the island, before ever going to Star City or the Hall.

"Right," Roy said with his chin tipped up, "Where do we start looking for her then?"

…

Nearly a day later, under the cover of night, somewhere in Queens, New York in the clothes she, Dubbilex and Superboy had all stolen from an empty house early that day, Arley, the blue horned genomorph and Superboy all broke into an internet café.

From her seat at one of the computers Arley watched Superboy as she waited for the computer to boot up. Superboy manned the front door, peering out of the blinds that had been drawn in front of the glass door marked Cyber 88. Until they could break into an outlet store or a mall the clone was left wearing baggy jeans and a Superman t-shirt was a size too small and a leather jacket that stopped right before wrists.

Logging onto the computer and quickly clicking the Firefox shortcut on the computer's main screen Arley held herself back from elbowing Dubbilex away from her; the genomorph was peering over her shoulder so that he could look at the screen. His boney blue fingers curled around the top of her chair and his knuckles knocked against Arley's shoulders as she typed in 'Green Lantern' only to pause when several fill-in results popped up underneath her search.

'Green Lantern LA' was the first and so Arley clicked on that one; she was greeted with the picture of a young dark haired man, he was wearing a personal variation of the Corps uniform and there was a blocky mask over his eyes and top half of his face.

The Wikipedia article that accompanied the picture on the side of the screen read, While his identity is unknown, the Fifth Green Lantern (but only Lantern on Earth at the moment) made his debut as a hero in early 2011.

"Do you know who he might be?" Dubbilex asked.

"No idea, " Arley replied, and though her mouse moved back up to the search bar her eyes stayed glued to the picture of the Lantern on her screen.

Vandal Savage had once tried to say that the Guardians had replaced her, that she was easily forgotten about but Arley knew the truth; if Hal and the others were off-world looking for her then someone needed to stay in the sector and defend it and that the young man on her screen was that someone.

She didn't blame him or the Guardians. Lanterns had a job to do. Though he didn't look like much, his black hair was long and knotted and he wasn't built like Superman but with the ring, a little imagination and a world of willpower— Arley supposed —even a child could be formidable.

"Green Lantern," Dubbilex said, "We shouldn't doddle, if you do not know the identity of this hero perhaps you should search about a you do know, one you can trust?"

"Sorry," Arley muttered, she clicked the search bar, and typed in 'Kid Flash' only for an array of confusing fill-ins to pop up, 'Which Titans Team is Kid Flash apart of' and 'Kid Flash and Jinx' were only two of them. Arley right clicked on the Jinx fill in and then she left clicked on the Titans one, quickly she was taken to a google page filled with links about various Teen Titans.

"What is a Teen Titan?" Dubbilex wondered, Arley went to shrug, only to hiss in pain when her bandage moved against her still fresh wounds.

"No clue but, looks like Wally's a part of it," Arley observed, for every article Arley scrolled past on the first Google page it was always Kid Flash and Jinx, who apparently was a hero. Arley's stomach churned; ignoring her gut Arley clicked on a Chicago based news outlet and their interview of the Titans North.

The articles banner was a picture of the team; Wally was sitting on a large couch with with arm stretched across the back, a pink haired girl sat almost uncomfortably close to him and a grey skinned goth girl say on that girls other side, while what looked like a living match stood behind the couch smirking.

'Now it seems as if Chicago has gotten their very own Teen Titans—' Arley right clicked on the link that was attached to the name Teen Titans and when she clicked on that window was greeted with a Wikipedia page that featured one of her best friends' faces.

'The Teen Titans are a group of teenage heroes who keep the world safe from the clutches of evil. The main group of the Titans is composed of the founding members, although there are three other teams located on the northern, eastern and western sides of America. They are in charge of protecting their respective areas. They are a Justice League affiliated group.'

"So that's why you never came," Arley whispered at Dick's scowling face.

His hair was longer and his uniform was different and though the Wikipedia page even said he no longer went by Robin— but rather as Nightwing nowadays —there was no doubt in Arley's mind, the teen in the photo was Dick Grayson.

Dick had been too busy saving the world to save her; with a clenched heart Arley scowled at the computer screen as she quickly scrolled down the page only to stop when she saw two more familiar names under what the page's moderators had labeled 'Titans East'.

Directly under Titans East was Titans North; and Arley nodded to herself as the information began to sink in. The boys had all gone off to start their own teenage Justice League and she had what, just been forgotten about?

No, no, Arley thought, Savage and Sportsmaster weren't right . The League could write her off because of the Light's influence but her boys wouldn't. The boys care about me, we're family. And yet it seemed as if they had. Wally wouldn't just give up on me, he wouldn't just leave me-Cadmus was a fluke, he was busy, probably saving a baby from a fire or something.

Determined to prove it to herself the mouse's arrow flew up and Arley clicked the 'Kid Flash and Jinx' tab only to immediately be greeted by Wally West's beaming smile and his pink haired teammate standing shoulder to shoulder.

The first news article was from five months ago and it read 'Is Chicago's new IT couple actually in fact a couple?' The second one, was from two weeks ago and it was titled, 'Everything we know about Kid Flash's and Jinx's relationship' and the third from three months ago read 'Modern day Romeo and Juliet'.

He wasn't busy, Arley thought. And perhaps if a breaking heart actually did make a sound Superboy could tell her what kind of sound it made; because the longer Arley stared at the article on the computer screen the louder the sound of her heart shattering against her ribcage echoed throughout her ears.

Bile rushed up Arley's throat— Dubbilex threw his arm out as his horns glowed red —and the waist basket that had been sitting near the door flew at her. Arley reached for it and buried her head into the tint trashcan; Dubbilex was quick to grab her hair and hold it up against the back of her skull.

Arley heard Superboy move away from the door and pause next to her. She'd told him and Dubbilex all about the boys when they'd been driving up to New York in their stolen pick up; she'd told Superboy all her and Wally's first date and how it had been to Paris because to two twelve year old's with superpowers, there was nowhere more romantic than the City of Lights.

He moved on.

With a dribble of vomit hanging from her bottom lip Arley looked up at the computer screen— at Wally's smiling face and at Jinx; she was pretty Arley observed —and then when tears started to cloud her eyes she looked up and away from the screen, at Dubbilex and at Superboy.

"I—" she croaked, "—Sorry."

"For what?" Dubbilex asked rhetorically, "Humans display all types of response to negative stimulants." Arley whipped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Still," Arley said softly, "Sorry."

She was sorry she had almost blown their escape. Sorry for having put their lives at risk.

Her chest ached. For nearly three years she had imagined Wally— and the others —running down lead after lead before finding their way into the sub-levels of Cadmus labs and rescuing her; turns out Vandal Savage and Sportsmaster had been right, no one had been coming for her, no one wanted to.

Wally— and the others —had taken the first opportunity to rid themselves of her.

As a foster kid Arley had always known she was replaceable, when she was moved another kid would take her place, and when she had gotten her ring she knew one day her ring would fly off her corpses still warm finger to find another wielder but Wally had always sworn to never leave her behind, to never leave her.

But he had; he probably never even thought of her. Sportsmaster was right, there was no one on Earth who cared for her. Arley vomited again at the thought of Hal, John and Guy having left in order to avoid searching for her like Sportsmaster so often told her they had done.

They wouldn't leave her; the Corps wouldn't leave a man— leave her —behind and missing in action.

"Perhaps we need a new plan," Dubbilex said as Arley once more uncurled herself out of the trash bin.

"Yeah?" Arley mused darkly, "How so?"

Their original plan had been to find which of the boys were the closest and drive to them because Arley was sure that no matter how far Cadmus had a hold on the League her boys were free of it, that they could be trusted.

"Maybe the three of us-you, myself and the Superboy, should take down Cadmus."

"Alone?" Superboy scoffed. "She can barely walk on her own; the minute she's faced with a flight of stairs Cadmus will have me repoded and you two killed."

Arley glared at the clone, he was right, but he hadn't needed to say it like that.

"Perhaps," Dubbilex said to Superboy, he looked down at Arley and Arley spun the chair she was in so that she could look at both the genomorph and clone without having to look up, "Back at the laboratory I told you Blockbuster had moved onto different stages, you remember?"

Arley nodded, "The stage the serum is at now, it would turn you into a super soldier of sorts, a living weapon."

"Sounds too good to be true," Arley remarked. The corners of Dubbilex lips tipped upwards,

"Should you survive the injection it would turn you into a living weapon." Arley tipped her head back and looked at Superboy, he wasn't looking at her expectantly; he wasn't going to ask her to risk her life by taking this serum. It was clear, that to Superboy, running to the boys— to the Titans —was still a viable option.

But it wasn't though. The boys had all moved on in their lives, who was Arley to show back up and drag them into the hell that was the Light?

Besides, Arley would rather spend another three years at Sportsmasters mercy then spend a second around people who had left her for dead; then Wally and his new girlfriend.

"Where's the serum being held?"

Notes: So like I said; this is a Teen Titans crossover. This takes place after both the series finale and Titans in Tokyo. While it's not plot reveling I still didn't want to give it away in chapter one's notes so I hope this is a pleasant surprise.

Anyway if you liked the chapter please leave me a comment down below!