Chapter Nine
"I was a child who only wanted to heal things - now, I want to be an abomination."
Arley was on point; Superboy and Dubbilex followed behind her as she crept through the grass that led up to the seven foot tall barbed wire gate. They had eight minutes before another truck came around with armored guards but only thirty before the camera's on the posts turned to catch them.
The fence was electrified; one hundred-thousand volts coursing through every millimeter of metal gating.
Dubbilex's horns glowed; Arley felt her feet being lifted off the ground. Superboy and Dubbilex floated over the gate and barbed wire along with her and only the sounds of crickets could be heard throughout the night.
Arley felt her heart beating in her throat; sure there were cameras and guards but that and the electric fence didn't seem like enough. Not for the Light; not when this lab kept something so important. It was all so obviously a trap and yet Arley— and Dubbilex and Superboy —all continued to creep forward until they were at a solid metal door.
Superboy stepped up as Arley knelt down; she fished the lock picking kit out from her back pocket and began to get to work on the doors lock.
They had less than five minutes until the guards came around again and less than half a minute until the cameras were on them.
And yet those facts didn't make Arley's hands shake as she picked at the door until it opened with ease. No, what made Arley's stomach knot itself up inside of herself was the fact her hair stood up on the back of her neck the same way it had three years ago when she'd dropped down fifty-two sublevels worth of Cadmus Labs.
Arley stepped into the doorway first; then Dubbilex and Superboy who shut the door quietly behind himself.
There were boxes everywhere; wooden crates covered in dust. Several of them read fragile while others read dangerous and explosive material in various languages. Several lamps that hung from the ceiling were so rusted there would never be any hope of getting them to work.
It was clear this level was never used.
"Dubbilex," Arley breathed, "Find us an entrance."
The genomorph grunted and his horns glowed a bright, alarming red.
"To the right," Dubbilex said when the light of his horns had died down, "There's an elevator. It's a high speed one."
"Do you know where we're going?" Arley asked, she pulled her Glock from the small of her back and palmed the grip of the gun. The weight if it didn't give her the kind of security her ring always had but Arley doubted she'd ever feel that invincible again.
Even if she did get her ring to power on she doubted even the Guardians greatest weapon could make her feel safe. Until Vandal Savage's head was in a basket and Sportsmaster's heart was right next to it— along with the lives of the other Light members —Arley doubted she'd ever be able to sleep without one eye open.
Dubbilex nodded; "Level thirty. It's the deepest level and the one where both genetic donors are."
"Which means it'll be the one with the most security," Superboy said.
"Don't tell me you're scared," Arley threw over her shoulder as she took her first step forward. Superboy blew a breath of air past his lips and Arley— if not for the dire and dangerous circumstances they were in —would have laughed at the affronted expression she caught on the clone's face. Instead though, she swallowed her laughter and nodded in the direction Dubbilex had told them.
"Right, come on and stay alert."
"That's right cher, stay alert or you might miss me." Arley, Dubbilex and Superboy spun to see a tall— nearly eight foot and then some —tall blonde man with muscles upon muscles. Arley raised her weapon. "Come on now cher, don't tell me you think that'll work now. Savage said you were smarter than you looked."
"Yeah?" Arley asked, the blonde nodded, "So if I'm smarter than I look, does that mean you're as inbred as you sound?"
The blondes nostrils flared. Arley watched as his shirt strained against his muscles. It was clear that like her he'd had some of the finished Blockbuster product; though with how the seams of his clothes seemed to protest the blonde's flexing there was more than just that at play.
The blonde had been a lab rat longer than he had been able to read.
"Arley—"
"—Dubbilex," Arley said, ignoring Superboy as a half baked plan came together, "You and Supey need to get downstairs and free whatever Savage is using as a base to create genomorphs."
"You can't think you're gonna take him by yourself," Superboy hissed.
"Superkid's right cher, I'mma break you in half before the fun even gets going."
"You'd think that wouldn't you, Rufus?" Arley flicked the safety of her Glock off. "Now get going you two-before gumby here raises any alarms."
"And what makes you think I haven't already?"
"Cause you look way too stupid to remember Savage's phone number." And then she fired; the bullet ricocheted off the blonde's chest and Dubbilex and Superboy went right as Arley continued to fire off round after round until the blonde's right foot came up.
Arley crossed her arms over her chest and was pushed back. She rolled and got to her feet only to have to throw her arms up again as the blonde's other foot came up to kick her sternum. Arley's back hit one of the wooden crates.
She ducked when the blonde's right fist swung at her; it ripped through the crate and powder— white, fishy but sweat tasting, Arley noticed as she inhaled —coated both her and the blonde.
Powdered magnesium.
Arley smirked as she rolled to the side. When Arley had seen the warnings on the crates she had thought they were filled with bullets and gunpowder; not powdered magnesium.
This made everything so much easier.
She'd fired off twelve of her sixteen rounds. With one hand— one finger on the trigger —another full of the powdered magnesium and nothing more than a prayer, Arley waited until she could see the red of her opponent's eyes.
And then she tossed the powder into the hulking man's face, pressed her gun up against his cheek and fired.
The explosion wasn't large; but it was enough. Fire danced across the blonde's face.
Arley, Shimmer, him they were only invincible to an extent. Arley less so than either of them as she had been used as a punching bag the past three years, not a lab rat but nonetheless, for as impervious as her enemy seemed to be, Arley knew at the end of the day, he was still a fleshy, meaty, human.
He let out an anguished scream as he crumbled; his massive hands went to swat at the fire that danced across the right side of his face. His knees buckled as he clawed at his eye.
Arley watched in mild horror.
She'd never seen someone burn so up close. As a Lantern— as a child —Arley had been sent into battle. She'd been given missions that involved destroying entire armadas and rescuing princesses from intergalactic pirates; they'd all involved destroying ships and ergo, people had died in the explosions but Arley had always been aways away.
She'd never seen someone's eyeball melt out of their socket like she did with the man in front of her.
She's never been close enough to hear the ring scream of anguish either. Arley leveled her gun with the hulking blondes eye socket; the fire was hot and though Arley wanted to pull her hand away immediately she waited until she fired her thirteenth round before doing so.
The blonde dropped with a thud; the fire Arley had started, danced around his body and Arley looked anywhere— the red of her hand —instead of the hole in the back of the blonde's head.
Arley grabbed the blonde man's shirt and tore. She threw it to the ground so that she could stomp out the fire and once the flames had been smothered by the bottom of her boot, Arley grabbed the tattered blue fabric and spun.
Arley ran to the elevator which had so obviously been clawed open by Superboy and, with her good hand wrapped in the fabric she'd taken from the blonde's body Arley grabbed the thick cables used to hold the high speed elevator, and dropped.
Her feet crossed so that as she slipped down the cable she wouldn't plummet and instead be able to control how fast— and slow —she went.
She hit the bottom relatively fast; with the elevators door clawed open and the base on high alert no one would be taking the elevator which had just left Arley with the option of quietly slipping all the way down until she hit bedrock.
Arley didn't freeze when she got to the bottom— to freeze would be the same as throwing her hands up in the air and surrendering —but her heart did leap into the confines of her throat.
Sub-level thirty's door had been kicked open and several feet away from the elevators opening, with their backs to her— and without a shadow of a doubt, their fingers on the trigger —were a single row of armed men.
Each was dressed in body armor and camo; they were all so obviously guns for hire.
Arley let go of the cable she'd slid down on and reached deep into the bottom pocket of her cargo pants. Arley didn't dare breath as she pulled out a grenade, nor did she breathe as she pulled the pin and rolled the explosive forward.
One. Two.
She took cover behind the wall and listened as she changed out her ammo.
"What?"
Three.
"Fu—"
Four.
The walls shook as the grenade exploded in the hall; the men screamed and a series of smaller explosions— the men's guns and ammo —followed the grenades'.
Arley sucked in a deep breath and with her gun raised and finger ready to pull the trigger, pushed off the wall she'd taken cover behind only to be met with blood, smoke and only two of the seven men in one whole piece.
Arley didn't blink as she double tapped in quick succession as she passed them; it was better safe than sorry.
Arley felt the ground shaking as she moved deeper into the Lights base. Doors had been left open leaving Arley to see the shattered remnants of test tubes and tanks; the underdeveloped genomorphs the Light had been attempting to force grow all laid on the laboratories tile flooring. All unmoving and though Arley felt bad for the genomorphs her heart twisted for Dubbilex.
He and Superboy had done this because they'd had to; because the Light was going to weaponize the creatures and dispose of them the moment they no longer served their purpose and Arley knew— Dubbilex and Superboy had known —putting them out of their misery now was far kinder than allowing them to live under the Lights thumb.
No matter how much it must have hurt the G-Goblin to do so.
Arley passed another room and found not more underdeveloped genomorphs on the floor but a hole in the wall. The hole was several feet high and just as many feet across; it looked like someone had taken a wrecking ball to the wall but with being thirty sub-levels underground Arley knew the whole in the wall was only an indication of one thing.
Superboy had gotten into it with another one of the Lights lab rats. Worry coursed through Arley. Superboy was in a fight with someone who was probably like everyone else they'd faced; big and bad and another step closer to Lex Luther's very own Superman.
It also meant Dubbilex was alone.
Dubbilex couldn't fight. Arley had tried to teach him some hand to hand since their escape but he had sucked at it; he was a long range fighter, relying heavily on his powers and while he'd be matched for Psimon— Arley felt the icy cold tendrils of fear latch onto her —he was a sitting duck for anyone who could get the jump on him.
Arley back tracked three rooms and unloaded her gun. She took a bullet out of the cartridge before reloading her weapon and placing that on the desk next to her so that she could grab it if she needed to.
Arley then brought the knife from her left boot out and used it to open up the brass shell of her bullet. Gunpowder dropped into her open palm and without stopping— with no hesitation and only Superboy and Dubbilex's safety on the forefront of her mind —Arley tore back into the depths of Cadmus Labs.
She raced through the hole and then a second; Arley jumped over a series of debris and only stopped when she saw the sickly green skin of the monster fighting Superboy.
He looked more like what Desmond had turned into the night of their escaped than the blonde corpse that laid upstairs.
Blood leaked out from the monster wounds; wounds Arley was sure Superboy hadn't given him but rather, the monster had caused itself.
The monster swung wildly. There was no preseason in it's movements; it was most likely why Superboy was watching the monster and he hadn't even dared to turn away for even half a second so that he could look at Arley.
It was also what gave Arley the upper hand. With Superboy keeping the monster distracted Arley took her chance and leapt upon the hulking monster's back and as she landed Arley couldn't help but think of Black Canary.
Dinah had been the one to show her, Roy and Dick how to use their momentum so that their legs could wrap around their opponents necks; and while Arleys legs did wind around the monsters neck she didn't bother to even try to choke him out like Dinah had once shown her and boys but instead— as Superboy lunged so restrain the monsters arms so that he couldn't whack Arley off of him —did what she had done before, back on the bases' ground level.
Arley threw the gunpowder at the monster's face; it snarled and roared and wriggled underneath Superboys hold.
"Arley!"
I know! She wanted to say back behind gritted teeth. Instead she raised her weapon and fired; just like the massive man upstairs the monster's face came alight in the worst way possible.
Arley tumbled off it's back somewhat gracefully as Superboy jumped away; the monster's hands flew to his face. It clawed and screamed as it's knees buckled and while Superboy turned away, cheeks tinted green Arley watched.
Her finger on the trigger and just like she had done upstairs, she shot the monster again. And just like hulking blonde thirty levels above them, the Light's green lab rat fell to the lab's tiled flooring with a thud.
Superboy turned back, pale as a sheet and he looked at Arley with sad eyes. Arley focused on the mole Superboy had on the clef of his chin.
"We need to find Dubbilex," she said.
"Yeah." The smell of burnt flesh would be one neither of them ever forgot.
Arley felt her fingers tighten and curl until her fists were balled at her sides. She did what she had to. She wasn't upset about it; she wasn't regretful or angry.
The Light had killed the boys. They'd killed Wally; this was war. The man she'd fought before and the monster, they had chosen their sides. Arley was outgunned and outmanned; she had to do what was necessary.
And yet, she still felt hollow. She was so angry she constantly wanted nothing more than the screech and swear at the universe but whenever the fire inside of her died down Arley felt nothing more than apathetic.
Empty.
And somehow it was that— the fact she didn't regret setting two men on fire, both alive —that made her stomach twist.
Arley wanted to scream. She wanted to yell how it wasn't fair how she hurt and ached and demand an answer, why her?
"Come on," and with leaden legs Arley pushed forward only to pause when her shoulders brushed Superboys, "Keep an ear out."
"Already was," Superboy replied and though neither of them smiled, Arley felt a fraction of the tension in her shoulders release. "I hear three heartbeats two corridors down."
"Lead the way than Supey." He turned and Arley followed; with her gun out in front of her, ready to fire should something happen and try to take them by surprise. Arley and Superboy sprinted down the laboratory corridors in a way that made Arley reminiscent.
Superboy never moved to the left or to the right without making sure Arleys front was fully covered. He did it so effortlessly; like they had practiced this a hundred times when in reality they never had. He acted as her shield and Arley, ready to jump into action, was the sword.
If they had the time Arley could imagine they were on a far off alien planet not yet known to mankind; that she was back with Hal and the others.
They slid into a room where Arleys heart leapt into her throat for several reasons.
The first being Psimon. He stood in the middle of the room with a thunderous gaze that reminded Arley all too well of her time in her cell.
The second being Dubbilex; the genomorphs horns glowed a dark red. A painful expression was worn across his face; Arleys gaze flickered between Dubbilex and Psimon only once before she realized what was happening.
A psychic battle. This was the third reason Arley's heart leapt into her throat. She couldn't just interfere and help Dubbilex the way she had helped Superboy without the worry that by breaking the connection— by shooting Psimon right between the eyes —Dubbilex would be caught in the crossfire and hurt as well.
And lastly; strapped to a lab table, bloody, panting and groaning was a large white Martian.
Suddenly it made sense; the genetic source material the Light was using for the genomorphs was Martian. It was why they were all telepathic and why most of them were also telekinetic; why if you squint your eyes and already had foreknowledge on what Martians actually looked like the similarities weren't so hard to find.
"What's wrong with Dubbilex?" Superboy whispered.
"Nothing hopefully," Arley replied just as softly. "Let's hope he's kicking Psimons ass." And then she moved, shouldering past Superboy Arley moved to the Martian on the table. She pressed one hand against the side of the Martian's face and the alien's eyes opened.
The alien whimpered.
"Hey, hey, no-it's okay," Arley swore. "I'm a Green Lantern. I'm going to get you out."
"Y-you are?" The Martian trembled. Arley nodded and motioned to Superboy to come over. The Martian's eyes slid to the clone boy and Arley watched as the corner of its lips twisted up. "Conner?"
Superboy froze at the name.
"Who?" The Martian's face seemed to fall at that.
"Oh. Not Conner."
"No, I'm sorry," Arley said, "That's Superboy. Like Superman—" the Martian echoed the name Superman, "—Supes, break the restraints."
"My uncle," the Martian said softly. "My uncle knows him." Arley's brows creased together.
"What?"
"Superman. My uncle. J'onn." Manhunter.
"You're one of J'onn's nieces and nephews?" The Martian nodded as Superboy began to pry the restaurant holding the Martian to the table, off of them. "How-dose Manhunter know you're here?"
Was Manhunter a double agent?
The Martian groaned as it shook its head no; "I stowed away. Crashed. And-and they took me." Tears welled up in the corners of the Martians eyes. "I wanted to help people. I wanted to be a hero."
"And you will be okay?" Arley promised, "Superboy is going to get you out and to the truck and my friend Dubbilex and I will be right behind you two—"
"—Arley—"
"—Our first priority right now is them Superboy. I'll get Dubbilex, alright." It was clearly a rhetorical question; Arley didn't really care if it was alright with the Superboy or not, all she cared about at the moment was getting the Martian free and away from the Light.
Superboy let out a huff as he tore the collar around its neck in two. The Martian let out a shudder as Superboy collected the Martian in his arms. He went to talk around the table with the alien pressed against his chest only for it to grab Arleys arm.
"Thank you." The thanks was weepy and hopeful and soft; like the Martian didn't really believe it was happening.
Arley felt her heart twist.
Arley grabbed the Martian's arm and squeezed reassuringly. The words were heavy on her tongue; how could Arley express that there was nothing to be thankful for? That she was only doing what she had spent years dreaming of?
That it would be okay now?
"Your welcome," Arley then looked at Superboy, "You know the drill."
If she and Dubbilex didn't make it out and back to him within twenty then Superboy and Wolf— and now the Martian —were to drive to Smallville and lay low in the Kent family barn until Superman made contact with a Lantern and got them off world and somewhere safe, away from Vandal Savages clutches.
"I hate the drill," Superboy huffed before moving out the door and when he was out of her field of vision, Arley hesitated; slowly she made her way to Dubbilex.
All the times Psimon had tried to break through her mental defenses— all the times Sportsmaster had beat her in hopes that the evil raisin-looking creep could slither into her mind while she was occupied with pain —flashed through the forefront of her mind.
Every time it felt like her skull was being split in two. Sometimes Arley had wanted nothing more than to claw her own eyes out; it always seemed to hurt more than whatever Sportsmaster or Savage did to her.
Arley raised her gun so that it was pointed at Psimon before she tentatively touched Dubbilex's wrist.
The battle field resembled a sunset; pink and blues were smeared across the backdrop and Arley found herself on a cloud, watching as Dubbilex did everything he could to dodge Psimon's psychic attacks.
Her hand was empty, there was no weapon but that didn't matter because Arley hadn't needed a weapon since she'd been eight and Kilowog showed her how to end a grown man's life with nothing more than her bare hands.
Arley didn't bother to scope out the situation before diving off the cloud she was on; Psimon turned. Arley's foot missed the psychic by an inch; her hands came up in front of herself.
"Arley?" Dubbilex breathed as Psimon started to chuckle.
"It's good to see you Lantern. It's been what? A few months now, hasn't it?"
"Get fucked raisin-man," Arley spit back. Psimon's eyes narrowed, his jaw rolled from side to side, clicking as he did so.
"Oh how I did not miss your lack of eloquence."
"You know?" Arley smirked, "I really don't care." She then brought her first forward only to be blown back by a blast of black psychonic power.
Arley rolled through the air until she was next to Dubbilex, floating in the expansion of the sky that was the genomorphs mindscape.
"Are you alright?" Dubbilex fretted.
"I'm fine," Arley nodded. She rolled her shoulders back, "Can you drop us out without putting yourself out in the open?"
"Not while he's like this," Dubbilex huffed. Sweat beaded across his forehead, "He's too strong. I don't have the mental capabilities to fend him off."
Arley reached over and grabbed the genomorphs hand; it was warm against her own. Grounding; like a the ather chaining her to the Earth.
"Some Lantern one-oh-one, Dubbilex? Think of a wall."
"What?" Arley barrel rolled her and Dubbilex through the pink and blue so that they could dodge another one of Psimon's attacks.
"Focus on my hand. Think of a wall."
"I—" Dubbilex stopped himself, "Okay." His eyes closed and Arley watched the scene before them change.
Arley felt her feet touch down; grass sprouted up out of the ground and bricks— heavy red and brown —began to fall from the sky with loud clunks.
Psimon jumped back; "What!"
"Good! Now Dubbilex I want you to think of cement between the bricks, think air tight. Think barbed wire and one safe inside or another like those Russian nesting dolls. Think of Fort Knox!"
And he did.
Arley watched with a smile as a thick dark ceiling encased them. As Dubbilex pictures one safe inside of another; she could hear the faint sound of Psimon screaming.
Arley turned to Dubbilex, beaming. He wasn't. His eyes were open and a deep frown marred his face.
"We're trapped."
"No," Arley shook her head, "We're safe. Psimon can't get us."
"But I'm not-he's—"
"—Dubbilex!" Arley took him by the shoulders, "This is your mind, it's only as strong as you are! Are you strong?"
"I—" the genomorph paused. His tongue poked out from behind his lips. "Yes." He said a moment later. "I'm strong."
But he didn't sound it.
"Say it again," Arley commanded.
"I'm strong."
"Again."
"I'm strong!"
"Who broke out of Cadmus Labs?"
"Me!"
"Who's been kicking the Lights ass left and right since then?" Arley asked rhetorically, loud and bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"We have!"
"You want revenge for your brothers?" Dubbilex nodded. "You're not going to get it by doubting yourself. Now say it again!"
"I am strong!" And just as the word yes poured out from Arley the world around them faded. The last thing Arley heard was Dubbilex repeating the phrase out loud, over and over to himself; I am strong!
The first thing Arley heard when she— and Dubbilex came to —was the sound of a gunshot. Arley hadn't even realized it was her arm jumping at the recoil; nor did she realize it was Psimon crumpled on the ground. His brain mattered splattered across the far wall and his blood quickly pooling underneath his body.
She blinked. And pulled the trigger several more times until the clip was empty and the Lights psychic looked more like a second graders eraser than he ever did a person.
"Arley?" Dubbilex asked softly. She blinked again and turned to the genomorph.
"Superboy and the Martian are waiting for us. I hope; I don't know how long we've been." They could easily be on their way to Smallville at that very moment.
Dubbilex's eyes closed and his horns glowed a bright red. Half a moment later— in no time really at all —the light died down and the genomorph's eyes opened.
"Superboy and M'gann are waiting for us. The truck is ready to get moving." Arley and Dubbilex started moving towards the exit.
"Their name is M'gann?" Arley asked. Dubbilex nodded. His long slender fingers wound around Arleys wrist and pulled her to a halt in the hall.
"Arley, she's my genetic doner," Dubbilex breathed. Arley's brows knitted together.
"I know that?" This wasn't new information; the three of them had hit this particular laboratory because it was where the genetic base for genomorphs was being sourced from.
"No, Arley. Superboy-he, well M'gann—" Arley in the three years she had known Dubbilex had only seen him just as worked up as he was in front of her, the night they'd all broken out of Cadmus Labs. When the genomorphs had all been put to death.
Arley, once more places her hands on his shoulders and pressed down.
"Dubbilex!" She ordered, "Breath!"
He did, harshly through his nose.
"Now," Arley said, "What did Supey do?"
"She's our mother. He pointed out M'gann is my genetic donor, what me and the other genomorphs we're based upon. She's what binds his Kryptonian and human DNA. Arley I have a mother."
Notes: Hey guys so sorry for not updating last week; I was so sick it wasn't even funny. But I'm back! And so is Arley AND SO IS M'GANN! So honestly, I always wondered where the Genomorph base DNA came from and this has been bumping around my head for quite some time; also since I've never super liked M'gann/Conner post-s2, I figured this was a great way to avoid it!
Anyway, let me know all your thoughts about this chapter in the comments down below!