Chapter Six

"I felt like there was no point telling anyone what was happening inside of me."

The three of them— Arley, Superboy and Dubbilex —were in sticks of West Virginia, hidden out in a pay by the hour motel long-haul truckers used, under a fake name and with a stolen credit card they'd picked up in Philadelphia.

Carr had given them money— everything he could spare from his savings —but Arley knew enough about the streets to know that had to save it. Motels they could ditch. Food they could steal; the cash was for gas, something they couldn't just get anywhere.

Arley stood in the motel's bathroom in only a shirt and her underwear. Her hair dripped water onto the yellow linoleum tiles. Her shirt was pulled up and her head was half turned so she could marvel at her back.

Dubbilex had injected her with the finished Blockbuster serum four days before. She'd gotten out of the Lights clutches less than two weeks prior and yet the burns that had riddled her back fourteen days before weren't just healed over, but scared.

They looked like they had happened years ago. Like they were relics from her foster care days.

Her fingers has straightened out; it hurt when they had— felt like they were being broken all over again; everything had after Dubbilex had injected her with the finished version of the Blockbuster formula —but they no longer looked like Sportsmaster had taken a hammer to them. She didn't look like the same girl who had crawled out of the rubble that had once been Cadmus labs.

If someone looked at her in the street all they would see was a girl, with scars on her face, but someone who walked, not limped, who didn't flinch every time the back of her shirt brushed against the space between her shoulder blades.

"Arley?" Superboy knocked. The girl dropped her shirt and opened the door; the clone was in his pants. His Superman shirt hung off a chair in the corner of the room, drying from the hand washing Arley had given it before her shower.

It wasn't the same shirt they had stolen from the first house they'd all broken into; after breaking into the Boston laboratory, Superboys shirt had been riddled with bullet holes and unsalvageable.

They had stolen this one somewhere on the outskirts of Maryland.

"Sorry," she apologized. Arley went to move so that he could get into the bathroom.

"No, it's not that," Superboy said. He jerked his head towards Dubbilex who sat on the motel bed, papers that they had stolen from Cadmus surrounded him.

"I've finished the list," Dubbilex proclaimed. The Light had hundreds of warehouses but only half a dozen labs in the United States. One in Bialya and another in India that had belonged to the Brain before it's capture and incarceration. From the looks of the paperwork it had been shutdown ever since.

"Alright so where do we go from here?"

"Georgia is probably the closest. It's not a lab exactly, but the Light has been pushing a blockbuster-lite you could say. It's where a large part of the money is coming in from."

"You're telling me Luther and Bee aren't putting their money where their mouths are?" Dubbilex's lips tipped upwards at Arleys jab.

"They're leaders. Abet a CEO and a dictator but leaders nonetheless. Their finances are open to speculation." Meaning if the IRS saw a LexCorps expense report tying them to Cadmus the government would want to know everything about them, and when you're running an evil shadow syndicate you can't have Big Brother or Boy Blue snooping around.

"And the Light can't be speculated," Superboy said with a nod. Dubbilex nodded at his kin.

"Which is why they seem to have entered the drug trade. From these documents it seems to be very lucrative."

"Alright so we cut them off at the knees. Where in Georgia?"

"Athens. Superboy already calculated the time from the map book Snapper gave us," Dubbilex said as he began to collect the papers he had scattered across the bed. Arley turned to the dark haired clone, a single brow raised.

"Nine hours give or take. Give a lot more if we ditch the car every time we go through a new city."

"Which we will," Arley said sharply. "Fight smart not hard—"

"—Not stupid. I know. You've said it how many times already?" Arleys eyes narrowed. There was no real annoyance that coursed through her but all the same she pressed her lips together and shot Superboy the driest of looks.

"Don't be a prick, it's not a good look on you." Superboy simply flipped her off in return. Arley flipped him off right back while Dubbilex simply snorted at the two.

"Children," he chastised, even though Arley was older than him. Unlike Superboy who was half Kryptonian and half human g-goblins didn't have a biological age that contradicted their chronological one. "Come on," the g-Goblin said, "We should get going."

"My shirt is still wet," Superboy said.

"Hang it out a window Supey, we have heads to roll," Arley chimed, grabbing her pants and slipping them on over her legs. Like Superboy new shirt these too had been stolen; she'd gotten taller from the injection. Not by a substantial amount— she wasn't a hulking six foot six —but no longer was she below five foot five.

The first time she had seen herself in a mirror she'd thought a simple 'Wally won't have to bend down anymore' only to freeze because of course he won't. He'd forgotten about her. Thrown her to the wolves and moved on.

Replaced her; like nearly every other person in her life.

Arley buttoned her pants with a deep frown. Hal wouldn't have forgotten about her, neither would have Guy or Katma or John or Kilowog.

Her powerless ring felt heavy on her finger.

Hell, if the new Lantern was worth the ring he wore on his finger, he'd find her. As much as Arley wanted to scream— and scream and scream; as much as she wanted to throw and smash things and burn the world around her —at the fact she had been so easily replaced by not just by the boy she'd been in love with for years, but by her friends— by her family —Arley trusted this new Lantern.

Sure it wasn't a variable plan— betting on a man she didn't even know —but Arley trusted in the Corps. Even if she had no faith— no hope —in those around her, there was always a shining green light burning in the back of her mind urging to her to keep going.

To never stop fighting.

And she wouldn't. Not until the Light was gone and Savage was dead.

…

Thirteen dead, one man in a coma after the genomorph had nearly destroyed his mind, the entire of the Cadmus Labs hard drive wiped and an experimental drug not just stolen, but from what Wally could see on the surveillance camera footage, haphazardly injected into Arley.

She'd collapsed after the g-goblin had given her the drug; screamed as she spasmed while the drug worked through her system only to stop. Wally had watched the footage dozens and dozens of times— looking for anything that could tell him where she was, where they had all headed next —and every time his heart stopped.

Because even Superman's clone looked alarmed; Arley looked dead until she took a deep breath and Superman's clone scooped her off the floor.

Wally wasn't sure what he would do if he lost her before finding her again.

If he ever lost her again, but especially if something happened to her before he was able to find her.

"Wally?" The speedster turned to see his uncle standing in the doorway of what would be his room until Arley was found. Dick had given him— and Kaldur and Roy —a room at Titans Main; none of them would be leaving until Arley was home safe.

Their teams sort of understood; Jinx got it. She'd seen him on the anniversary of Arleys disappearance. She'd told him if there was anything she could do for him to just call.

"Hey Uncle B."

Wally pressed play again. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing and then a car crashed through the glass walls of Cadmus Labs lobby. Airbags had been disabled; Batman and Dick— and even the Question, a League affiliate they'd brought in for this —had gone over the car with a fine tooth comb when they had found it after the fact.

There was nothing that gave any inkling on where they would be going after all of this.

Arley threw her door open and fired the gun she had.

"Wally," Barry said, this time somewhat sternly. Wally paused the video just as the second guard went down.

"What uncle B?" Wally asked somewhat tersely. It'd been five days with no new leads; there had to be something that told Wally where Arley would be.

"Have you eaten recently? Dick says—"

"—Dick can keep his damn mouth shut," Wally snapped. Dick was his best friend, he'd been the rock Wally had needed when Arley had first gone missing— when she had first been taken —but he also called Arley a liability.

Maybe not exactly— maybe he hasn't used the word liability —but he thought the video was horrific. That what Arley was doing— waging war on the Light —made her dangerous. Like he hadn't actually killed the Joker— stopped the clown's heart and all —after he'd found out about Jason. Sure Bats had brought the clown back but it wasn't like Arley was doing anything Dick hadn't.

It wasn't like she wasn't justified. Deathstroke had a recording of Arley screaming. Wally had heard her voice go raw and her whimper as she was cut into. He'd heard Savage laugh at her pain.

"Guy and Hal are here." Wally felt his spine straighten. He hadn't seen any of them since Guy had woken up and they'd gone looking for Arley; Batman had been so sure she wasn't on Earth that for as stubborn as they were, they had listened.

"John?" Barry shook his head.

"John, Kilowog and Katma are on Oa. Kyle's here though." Wally rolled his eyes. He didn't ask why even if he had wanted to; why was Arleys replacement here when Arley was almost nearly back? The Guardians should be taking his ring back as they speak. "Kyle's on the roof-he said he doesn't want to cause any fights with you but he's gonna stay here for Hal and Guy."

"Right." Wally set down the tablet and got up; he ignored the room spinning only for Barry to appear in front of him and with one hand pushing him back onto the mattress and the other holding up a brown paper bag.

"Your aunt made you some food. Eat this first." Wally didn't argue, even if he wanted to; and he did. He wanted to tell Barry he had to talk to Hal and Guy now; get the brought up to speed so they could watch the footage and help him figure out where Arley was going. But his knees shook.

Wally took the bag and opened it; there were several things in it, spanning from cookies to a sandwich to spaghetti.

"You have to take care of yourself Wally," Barry said as Wally opened the containers of cookies first.

"I know uncle B."

"Do you? Wally—"

"—Barry, I have to find her! I-if this was aunt Iris? If she was gone for years and everyone thought she was dead and one day she's not-if one day she's back but not really, wouldn't you do everything you could to find her?" Wally asked. "I have to find her, Barry. You don't get it."

Wally had to find Arley because he had only been living half a life ever since she was taken. He had tried living— tried moving on for the sake of everyone else; lived a life so his aunt and uncle and friends wouldn't worry but the poets were right.

Poets would write about two people being the other half's soul and they were right, Arley was half of his soul. Half of his heart. She was the other lung in his chest; since that day at the Hall of Justice Wally hadn't been able to take a deep breath with it hurting because he hadn't been with her.

He had to find her because she'd be safe when he did; even if she never wanted to see him again for failing her Wally would make sure she was safe and happy. He'd make sure not another goddamn thing in the universe could hurt her.

He had to make sure she knew he was sorry. How he never stopped thinking of her. How no matter how many people told him to bury her in his heart— to forget her and move on —all he did was hide her because how could he move on when he knew— and he always knew —she was out there?

"Dick told us about Wilson, Wally. About the recording." Wally visibly flinched at the mention of it. Wilson had never needed to go back to his hideout to get the recording of Arley begging Sportsmaster and Savage to stop torturing her because he'd forgotten he'd just so happened to have it on him.

"Then you get it. Uncle B, they told her to scream for us. That, maybe Superman would hear her and she'd be rescued. Barry," Wally said thickly, tears leaking down his face, "She called for me and I left her there." Barry grabbed Wally into a tight hug as the younger speedster let his food drop into his lap, no longer hungry.

"No, Wally," Barry swore as he pressed the boy much more firmly against himself, "You didn't."

And though he said it so reverently, so surely Wally didn't— couldn't —believe his uncle. He had failed Arley and she had paid for his failure.

…

Arley and Superboy were in a grocery store. Dubbilex was in the car hiding while they got food. Everyone that passed them in the aisles must have assumed one thing or another. They must have assumed that they were siblings or that they were dating or cousins or just really good friends because Superboy kept his arm pressed against Arleys shoulder; not even a fully half step behind her, ready to shield her if she needed it.

"People really do this every week?" Superboy asked. Arley shrugged.

"Some people do it every two or every month. Others do it every day. It's really a to each their own situation."

"Oh."

"Who are you going to be?"

"What?" Superboy stopped in the cracker aisle. Arley turned to him, brow raised.

"When this is all over. After we bring them down, you'll be free-free. You won't have to run, you realize that, right?" Apparently he hadn't because clarity washed over his face. "You haven't thought about what comes after, have you?"

Superboy shrugged. It was clear he hadn't, "All I've known is the pod and now this-a world without Cadmus or the Light?" He said it like he couldn't even fathom it.

"It'll be a better one."

"I didn't say it wouldn't be, just a weird one." And he was right; when this was all over— when Arley could go back to Coast City —it'd be a hell of an adjustment.

Or maybe she wouldn't. Hal had left years ago, back then they rented. There was probably no more apartment to go back to. No bedroom or living room or anyone. Maybe when this was all over Arley would recharge her ring and live on Oa. Become an Honor Guard and live out her days like that.

Or maybe she'd just die.

She had a mission— kill Savage and bring the roof down upon the Lights head —but once she completed it, would the Corps still want her? There was no point living on a planet with people who only saw her as replaceable and while Arley trusted the Guardians, would they still think she was fit for duty?

She was scared and broken and angry. She wasn't the same girl the ring had found all those years ago. She wasn't even the same girl that had been captured three prior. She was so angry; ever since the Internet café— ever since she had found out Savage had been right; that she was in fact completely replaceable —there had been an anger brewing inside Arley.

Simmering, waiting until it could explode.

What if she completed the mission and the anger went away? What if it died with Savage and she was left with nothing inside of herself? What if something had happened inside of herself, between then and whenever she'd finished the mission and her ring no longer worked for her?

Arley swallowed the lump in her throat. She placed her hand on Superboy's biceps; "I think, when this is all over, no matter how weird it ends up, you'll be fine."

"Yeah?"

"Of course, now come on, we should get pop tarts and stuff. Stuff that won't go bad if we leave it in our bags."

"Can we get s'more?"

"What do you know about s'mores?" Superboy shrugged.

"I can eat them while you're driving. You can tell me more stories to keep yourself awake while driving." Arley blinked at him. She couldn't help but smile; Superboy liked her stories; it was stupid but part of Arley was happy over it. She'd told him stories from the Book of Oa and of her travels and adventures, she'd told him about Supermans' past missions and just fairy tales she'd picked up from other kids in foster care.

"God, you really are two." Superboy flipped her off. Arley, who was usually quick to return the gesture, shot the clone an affronted look.

"Hey now, hasn't anyone ever told you to respect your elders?"

"I hate you." This time, Arley was quick to throw up her middle finger.

…

Guy Gardner had changed since he had woken up from his nearly year long coma three years ago. Hal had too of course; they both looked older. Hal had streaks of white in his hair and Guy had more wrinkles. They both looked tired.

Older. They both looked old; no longer as carefree as Wally could remember them as. Wally could remember when Guy woke up, how he had thrown things in his Watchtower hospital room when the news about Arley being MIA had been broken.

"Hey uncle Hal," Wally said as he and Barry stepped into the Teen Titans meeting room. Both Lanterns had their arms crossed over heir chests; Guy looked murderous and Dick and Kaldur and Roy, who all stood opposite to him and Hal looked guilty.

"Wally," Hal nodded. He paused and breathed; Guy simply turned away from him. He looked at anything but Wally. "How're you holding up kid?"

Good was the answer everyone expected when asking that kind of question. Horrible was the truth. Wally shrugged. Hal nodded.

"Bats just told us you've been watching the new Cadmus Labs footage since it happened?" Once more Wally nodded. "Anything new?"

"No." No one said anything at all; no one gave anything away either.

"So we're back at square one?" Guy bit out. "Great-you know," Guy looked at Batman, "The new kid could have told us all this over the ring. Why are we here when we could be out looking for Arley?"

"Because we don't know where she is—"

"—So let's fix that! Let Hal and me get on tv, we can talk to Arley. She'll come to us!"

"Unless she thinks it's all a trap of some kind and comes in guns blazing," Batman resorted. If not for the softness in his voice Wally would have shot a leveled look at the Leaguer; there was a saying about Fate kicking a man when he was already down.

Jason was dead; it hadn't even been a year yet. Bats was still reeling from that and now the news about not only Arley being alive— about him feeding her to the wolves as intentional as it had been —kicked him in the ass, but the fact that the Light was able to be not just one up him but be several steps ahead had seemingly caused Batman to lose the bite in his voice.

"Go to hell!" Guy snapped.

"Guy!" Hal sounded before anyone else could.

"What!" Gardner snapped, "He's calling our kid a loose cannon and you're going to let him?"

"Of course not-I just. What if she does? What if she thinks it's a trap and goes so deep under we can't find her?" Guy looked like he was having trouble swallowing what Hal was laying out in front of him. His fists curled at his sides.

"And what if it brings her home Jordan?" Wally watched as Hal's teeth raked over his bottom lip, he then watched as Hal turned to his uncle.

"Barry?"

"Honestly Hal?" Hal nodded, "I don't know. Yeah maybe Arley comes to us if we show her you guys are back. Maybe she doesn't."

"But why the hell wouldn't she?" Guy asked, "Spooky over here already told us 'cause of the mind control, Lanterns are the only people these Light people can't control-Arley will know that."

"We don't know what she'll know," Barry resorted, "Arley, the clone, the goblin-thing they're with, they're all ten steps ahead of us in knowledge. We don't know a lot about the Light-hell, the boys got a list of bases and that the same day Arley hit a lab that wasn't on it. She knew exactly what she needed from the lab and who to get information from. Unless we have her exact location we shouldn't make any moves without being up to speed on what the Light wants, how they can get it, and how we can stop it."

"And how do we do that?" Hal asked.

"Ocean Master," Batman said, "With the Brain and Mala out of total commission the only member of the Light we can actually get to is him. Arthur's already told us we can go to Atlantis with Manhunter and Zatanna to interrogate."

"He hasn't?" Hal's voice got sharp; Barry sidestepped Wally and rested a hand on the eldest Lanterns shoulder.

"Orem is still his brother Hal."

"And Arley's my girl Barry. If Sinestro had Kaldur or AJ, Arthur knows there's nothing that would stop us from getting their location."

"And nothing will," Batman said, "Both J'onn and Zatanna know what and who are at stake if we don't get results. We'll get what we need but before that-Nightwing." Dick nodded and the room seemed to pause as they all watched Dick go to the door. Wally and Barry had just come through and waved to somebody in the hall.

A moment later Cyborg and a man with auburn hair and a beard stepped through the door. Wally had never seen him before in his life; he had a wooden peace necklace that hung halfway down his chest and a cool look on his face. One that didn't reach his eyes; he was terrified but playing it down as to appear calm and collected.

"Snapper?" Barry blinked.

"Who?" Roy got out first.

"Snapper. Otherwise known as Lucas Carr, he used to be a hero," Dick said. "He's also the guy that got Arley the guns she used in the video."

"You've seen her?" Hal and Guy stepped forward. Wally stayed rooted to his spot. He— this man, Lucas Carr —had seen Arley less than a week ago. He'd spoken to her.

Carr looked at Hal and Guy and then at Batman and Barry, he then looked at Cyborg and huffed. He planted his feet on the ground like he was ready for a fight.

"Lanterns-Hal. You need to get out of here, the League's been breached, Batman is under Savage's control!"

"We know Carr."

Carr blinked. He took a step back as Hal approached him; Wally watched as the shaggy haired man suddenly began to look white.

"What?"

"We know about the Light, about the mind control. Bats is fine now-now you've seen Arley?" Hal took Carr's shoulders in his hands, "Is she okay?"

Carrs own hands wrapped around Hal's wrists. "What else do you know about?"

Wally felt his face scrunch in confusion; "What?" Hal asked.

"You know about the mind control but what else do you know about because the kids, they told me everything and if you knew the power Savage had over the League you wouldn't be in this room. Not if you were who you said you were."

And then Carr hit Hal. Carr brought his head forward and crashed it against Hals; Wally and Barry both were quick to separate the two. Barry wrapped his arms around Carr while Wally put a hand against Hal's chest so as to stop the older man from hitting the ex-hero.

Blood dripped down Hal's face as his nose began to bleed.

"You can tell Savage to suck my dick cause I don't know shit. Torture me if you want but Arley, Superboy, Dubbilex? They're going to rip him a new asshole! You get that?"

"Lucas, what the hell are you talking about?" Barry snapped.

Snapper pushed Barry off of him and shot the speedster a disgusted look; "Of course you don't know, you're probably one of them."

"One of what?" Roy snapped.

"The sleeper agents," Carr snapped right back. Wally felt the air leave his lungs. Sleeper agents? "Arley told me who to look out for-so unless you want to put on a little light show for me and show me, you're who you say you are, you can take me to a cell."

Guy was quicker than Hal who stood there in his stupor, looking at Carr. Guy created a hand that shot out from his ring and dragged the man forward; "What the hell do you mean by sleeper agents?"

Carr was lifted somewhat off of his feet. He gripped at the glowing green hand.

"Arley told me that the only people I should trust were you guys-Lanterns cause Savage and the Light, they not only could mind control people but because they had sleeper agents in the League. Clones like Superboy. That's why she was taken. You can't fake will-power the way you can copy and paste speed or laser eyes."

Wally felt his knees start to shake. Carr's chest swelled with bravo.

"Yeah that's right she told me everything assholes!"

Batman took several long strides over to where Guy had Carr suspended in the air; "Start from the beginning Carr. What exactly did Arley tell you?"

And thought Carr swallowed the thick ball of nerves stuck in his throat he didn't so much as blink in Batman's direction as his lips curled inwards.

…

They were just past the South Carolina border. The three of them had set up camp in the woods, miles away from the most recent stolen car they'd ditched. They'd look for another in the morning. Dubbilex had skipped out on eating the cold Chef Boyardee ravioli's Superboy and Arley had stolen and instead opted for food for thought.

He wanted a story. So hungry for information on the world that now surrounded him.

"Have I told you two about the First Lantern?"

"Yeah," Superboy nodded, "Avra, right?"

"That's the one, what about Lantern Rassalin and the Three Keys?"

"What are the Three Keys?"

"Awesome!" Arley said, she leaned forward. There was no fire to warm them; the three of them were all too worried— scared —that it would attract someone but nonetheless, Arley leaned forward as if there were one.

"Long ago, back when the Corps was still new and they hadn't yet firmly established themselves in the universe, and chaos still ravaged the cosmos and war was rampant between planets, two planets, Thal and Skaro, found themselves locked in what at the time had seemed like an endless battle. Thal and Skaro, were both in Rassalin's sector which meant that it was her duty to not only make sure the war didn't spread to neighboring planets, but to make sure that it ended by any means necessary. Too many people had died already and with war threatening to spill over into other sectors, entire galaxies could have been lost if she didn't do her duty. So after a while, Rassalin finally managed to get the Emperor of Skaro and the Thalian Queen to sit down. The Thalian Queen was adamant that one of Skaro's Chief Scientist had been working on a doomsday device, one that could wipe out all life in the universe."

"Were they?" Dubbilex wondered. Arley nodded.

"It's why Rasslin's story is in the Book of Oa. The Thalian Queen had been right, see Skaro's Chief Chemist hadn't just built one doomsday device he had built three-hence the name, the Three Keys. The Scientist named each weapon after a perceived Thalian crime. Pride, power, and knowledge; he believed Thalian's were too prideful for their own good, he thought they had too much power in the universe-the Lantern before Rassalin was from the Thalian Royal family, and even after his passing that carried some weight, and he believed that Thal was harboring knowledge."

"What kind of knowledge?" Arley shrugged,

"Whatever he thought Thal was hiding wasn't recorded in the Book of Oa, just that it was important enough to destroy half the universe over. Anyway Rassalin fights him in an epic battle and gets the keys but by the time the fight's over it was nearly too late, for both her and the universe," Arley spoke.

"Rassalin had not only been mortally wounded in the fight against the Scientist but before he had been defeated the Scientist set off the devices he'd built, and Rassalin knew that she didn't have time to figure out how to stop them, they were going to go off. So she did what any Lantern would do-she didn't flinch in the face of fear. Rassalin gathered the devices into her arms and she flew off to the wastelands of Skaro. Rassalin knew that it was risky but she also knew she didn't have any other choice, the weapons were going to self-destruct soon and take more than half the known universe with them, so with her indomitable will, she formed a construct and waited and waited, until they went off. The Book of Oa says her construct shook and it trembled but it never splintered. Even after she died instantly in the blast her ring had been filled with the kind of will that not even death could conquer."

She was the kind of Lantern every White Circle aspired to be by their end.

Superboy observed Arley through the dark. She saw the clone boy's chin tilt upwards.

"She died."

"Yeah?" Arley said, "I said that."

"No I mean-I remember." Arley blinked, her head cocked to the side.

"What?"

"The day the Light got you. I remember fighting you," Superboy said. "It's fuzzy but I remember it."

"Why are you bringing this up?" Arley asked, drawing her knees up to her chest. She could no longer remember what it felt like to have his hands wrapped around her throat or his boot on her chest anymore; not after everything else she'd gone through since then. But she could remember the angry look in his eyes as he'd fought her.

"Because you're like Rassalin."

"Oh?"

"He's right," Dubbilex said, "You were determined to free the Superboy. Even at the cost of your own life."

"It's what Lanterns do," Arley said flippantly. She looked at the empty can she'd tossed to her side. "I'm going to kill Savage," she said a moment later.

"He's immortal," Superboy replied. Arley shrugged.

"I got you out, and that seemed impossible. And I'm out too, and I can walk on my own-I always knew I'd get out but I thought all that damage would be permanent but it's not. We're all out," Arley said firmly. Her hands shook against her calves, "We're out and I'm going to gut Savage like a fish."

"How though? Arley you can't just rush in somewhere and die on us," Superboy said. Arley sucked in a deep breath.

"I don't know but-but I'll figure it out before it gets to that point, okay? And look, even if I die—"

"—But I don't want you too," Superboy cut in. His lip curled back into a snarl, "How-you said I could go grocery shopping when all this is over. I don't know how to do that, neither does Dubbilex." Superboys Adams apple bobbed; his voice grew soft. "You can't die, okay?"

Arley wanted to argue, to tell the clone boy she'd do whatever she had to in order to see Savage's head severed from his shoulders but she— who had been replaced and forgotten about, and left behind by those she loved —choked. We need you wasn't what was said but it was clear in Superboys words.

So she buckled.

"Fine," she relented. "Fight smart, not hard, right? Remember?" Superboy nodded. Dubbilex didn't bother to hide the small smile ghosting his lips. "I'm not going anywhere, alright Supes?"

"Whatever." None of them commented on the fact Superboy's teeth poked out from behind the soft smile he was wearing. Nor did they comment about Arley's.

…

Nearly eighty-thousand feet below sea level, in the throne room of Atlantis, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, Manhunter and Zatanna Zatara floated as they waited for Aquaman— Arthur, the kind of the seven seas —to greet so that they could interrogate Ocean Master. The king's half brother and full fledged Light member.

Only when Arthur Curry swam into the throne room and Hal's heart dropped at the look on Aquaman's face, the Lantern knew anything but interrogating Ocean Master would be happening.

"My brother is dead," Arthur announced in lieu of pleasantries.

"What?" Guy hissed. "What do you mean he's dead?"

"I-he was in a room I secured myself. I don't-his throat?" Arthur blinked. His lips twitched downwards; Arthur had always been a kind man. A good king; and yet, the longer Hal looked at the Atlantean the more he could only see the grief that became a man after loosing their brother.

"He was killed?" Manhunter asked. Aquaman nodded.

"There was no weapon in the room and the ruins on his shackles to stop him from performing magic hadn't been tampered with."

"Aquaman, the only reason someone would kill him now would be—"

"—If they were protecting the Light's interest," Arthur cut Hal off. "It appears as if my castle staff has been infiltrated." Hal felt himself falling backwards; he landed on the steps that lead up to Arthur and Mera's thrones.

First the League was filled with splinter agents, just waiting on specialized catch phrases in order to activate, and now Arthur's castle had a mole in it as well.

Hal used to be called the most fearless man in the universe. He always knew it wasn't true; he was terrified of a lot but now, with Arley— his partner, his daughter —just out of reach, so close yet so far, he was terrified.

For years he'd been scared she was dead; scared she'd died wondering where he was. Why hadn't he come for her. Now, at the bottom of the sea, Hal Jordan was terrified he'd come close to finding her only to watch her die.

When she had been given the ring he'd promised her she'd be okay. That he'd have her back and protect her because no one was doing that for her— years of abuse, and months on the street and then a life long promise to fight and serve —and kids, they were meant to be protected. They weren't meant to be thrown to the coliseum lions for the universe's entertainment.

Hal felt his heart clench as the probability of him failing her once again because only a hair's breadth away.

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