Chapter Seventeen — Humanity
"I still love you, even when I don't know how to say it; even when I shouldn't."
Nine days after her and her teams battle against the Injustice League and eight day after her sixteenth birthday Arley Gluck once more— for what felt like the hundredth time since turning into what Wally West had decried as a glowing green Super Saiyan —found herself on Oa, in a tiny room with her three other sector partners and Ganthet.
The room was tiny and extremely brightly lit, and Arley sat on top of what reminded her of an examination table one might find in a doctors office, the locket Wally had given her for her birthday hung around her neck, tucked under the cream colored tank-top she was in.
Ganthet looked at his file of notes, his eyes bright and excited as they flickered between Arley and his stack of papers. It had been nine days since Arley had heard the voice while glowing green and six since she and the other Lanterns of sector two-eight-one-four had informed the Guardians; though Arley had kept the fact that she had heard a voice a secret from everyone including her sector partners for no other reason then something inside of her wouldn't let the words escape her mouth whenever she went over what had happened in the Louisiana swamp.
Hearing disembodied voices was never a good sign in any circumstance, and it especially wasn't a good sign in situations that should have been impossible because that's what had happened to the female Lantern in the swamp; something seemingly impossible, or at least that's what the Guardians all claimed.
Hal, as he leaned on the wall next to the door, kept crossing and uncrossing his arms and Guy, who sat on top of one of the counters to Arley's left, played on a game boy he had formed from his ring while John, who sat in the chair next to Arley, quietly read the paper she and Hal had brought for the man.
Arley knew that Katma and Kilowog would have found a way to sit themselves in the tiny doctor's office like room if they knew what had happened but the two alien Lanterns weren't permitted to know what had happened; no Lanterns outside of the four in that room were allowed to know about Arley and her ring, at least, no Lanterns outside of the four human Lanterns in that room were permitted to know until the Guardians found out just why what had happened to Arley and her ring, had indeed happened.
"So sir," Arley looked at the little blue man— Guy tended to call them Space Smurfs, no matter how many times John reprimanded him to drop it. Arley personally thought it was a fitting description even if she had to make sure that she never slipped and called them that to their faces. —and folded her hands into her lap, "Any closer to finding out what happened to me?"
Appa Ali Apsa, when Arley, John, Hal and Guy had recounted what had happened in that Louisiana swamp, had been horrified; the Guardian had claimed, that super charged ring or not the only way Arley should have been able to harness the true power that came from the ring was if she had done what Hal had done almost a decade ago and fractured the stone that powered the central Lantern Battery.
But she hadn't; she hadn't even damaged her own battery, the only thing out of the ordinary was that Arley had charged her ring up to it's full two hundred and thirty percent power capacity level, and yet somehow she had achieved what should have been the unachievable.
"I am always closer to figuring out what happened with you and your ring Green Lantern Arley," Ganthet said, a curious smile on his face curled upwards. He looked excited, happy. Arley supposed that there was little the Guardians didn't know and so this would— until the tiny, powerful, blue space smurf found an answer —be the aliens pet project for the foreseeable future. "But as of this moment no, I don't have an answer for you or the rest of the counsel."
"But she's not going to explode, right?" Guy wondered as he looked up from his game, the game boy faded away in the red heads hands and disappeared back into his ring.
"Why would she explode, I didn't explode," Hal said and John's eyes flickered up from the sports section of the paper,
"Maybe not but we know how you turned green." John looked to the Guardian, worry clouded his eyes— the bald Lantern always looked worried nowadays —as he shifted his shoulders, squaring them. "She is okay though?"
Arley had been checked out on the Watchtower after she had gone green— the burns on her back were gone and whatever injury that had plagued her wrist had been healed —and she had also been checked out by Ganthet every time she had gone to Oa after that and yet John always asked the same question.
Ganthet always gave the same answer, "Fine, Green Lantern Arley is fine, she will not explode—" Ganthet shot a dry look at Guy who's brows shot up as he looked at the Guardian impishly, "—Nor do I suspect will anything else afoul happen." The Guardian shut his file and tucked it under his arm, "But if this happens again—"
"—We're to come straight to the Council," the four Earthlings chorused together. Ganthet always said that too; the four sector Lanterns had waited three days to tell the Counsel of Guardians what had happened so it wasn't as if Arley could blame the small, ancient being for constantly telling her and the three adult men around her that should she turn into a glowing green Super Saiyan again they were to go straight to the Counsel.
Arley slid off the examination table and she imagined her uniform to materialize over her clothing; though it didn't show, Arley could feel her locket pressed against her chest. Ganthets lips pressed together and he hummed in the back of his throat; the alien lifted off the ground and hovered off the floor. Guy got off the counter and John got to his feet, his hands behind his back and the paper he had been reading wedged between his ribs and arm.
"Sir," John nodded, Arley, with a two finger salute did the same.
"Have a wonderful day Lanterns," Ganthet nodded back and Guy breathed loudly as his shoulders dropped; Arley smiled at the man as she and the other three Lanterns filed out of the room. Ganthet closed the door behind them.
"You know you don't have to come every time," Arley told Guy and Guy looked at the sixteen year old Lantern as if she'd grown a second head.
"Of course I do," Guy told her, Arley, hovering a few inches off the floor, moved out of the way before the red headed man's hand could come down on the top of her head and mess her hair up, laughter bubbled up in her own throat.
Bad Lantern or not, killer or not, Arley— as Hal reached out and tucked her under his arm while talking to John about the Lions verses Forty-niners game that had taken place the night before —felt loved.
...
Hours later, after leaving Oa, Arley found herself in the Mount Justice gymnasium sparring amongst her teammates, though more specifically, she found herself sparring against Conner. Both Wally, who's arm— though was fine —was still in cast due to his neighbor seeing it and Black Canary watched from the sidelines.
Arley ducked as Conner swung and the clone boy, as Arley's foot swept out from under her jumped. Captain Marvel, who despite still not being their Den mother for the week, hung around the cave handed Wally a glass of pineapple juice.
Artemis, though the younger boy lifted both his arms to block, kicked Dick so hard that the caped Boy Wonder flew back and hit the sparring rings floor with a groan. Kaldur blocked every hit M'gann sent his way and Arley, using her advanced ring-given reflexes to her advantage, sprung backwards as Conner swung at her once more.
"Good work everyone," Canary said, the six teens in the ring slowly came to a stop; Arley let Conner's wrist fall from her grip and the clone let the front of her uniform go. "In fact it's been a very productive week."
"Yeah for everyone except Kid Malingerer," Artemis said as she turned to Wally who sipped his almost comically large glass of pineapple juice. Arley smiled at the sight of the speedster, her heart hammering in her chest.
"Hey!" Wally said defensively as he waved his arm, "Arm broken in combat against the Injustice League!" Canary chuckled, Arley put her hand on her hip,
"I'm sorry did you fight them again last night cause the last time I checked you had super healing Genius Boy." Wally leaned forward from the weightlifting machine he was sitting in and grinned roguishly at her.
"If I did, how cool would you think I was?" The female Lantern moved forward, out of the ring and smiled; she had never once thought Wally West was cool, that had never been a reason she had fallen in love with him. No, Arley had started to like Wally because he was kind and sweet and she had fallen in love with him while dancing at his aunt and uncle wedding because when she thought of home, after the other Lanterns, she thought of his face.
Of his smile.
Arley didn't think too much of it— at this point it was instinct —but her hand settled on Wally's shoulder as she stood besides him, his good arm wrapped around her thighs, pulling her to him and Arley ignored her burning ears as Wally smiled up at her.
She loved him but he didn't love her, she was just his friend. She smirked at him as her hand moved from his shoulder and tangled itself in his hair.
"Too cool for you to have actually done it," she teased. Wally's mouth dropped open, scandalized, and Artemis' loud gawf of laughter echoed through the room. Wally opened his mouth but Canary cleared her throat, it was obvious that the blonde League member was trying not to grin.
"Okay, okay. I've really enjoyed being your-uh-den mother this week but Zatara's taking back over, he actually wanted you all to meet him by the zeta-tubes after training."
"Are we going on a field trip?" Conner wondered with faux-enthusiasm and Canary shot the clone a half amused look; Arley looked at the clone proudly. The more the Kryptonian boy hung around Arley and her Coast City apartment with M'gann— and the more he came over for Sunday dinners when M'gann was with her uncle —the more personality he seemed to be developing. Even if it was a sarcastic personality it was still something.
Canary pointed at the gymnasium doors, "Walk."
Conner nodded and dipped his head, and led the team towards the zeta-tubes; though not before he smiled and winked at M'gann, Arley caught sight of the Martian girls pink blush and smiled at the two of them.
She ignored her own jealousy— Wally would never look at her that way, he would never wink and smile the way Conner had winked and smiled at M'gann —and with her hand in Wally's, and his pineapple juice in her other, followed the rest of the team.
The zeta-tube had only just begun to whirl to life when Arley and the team got there, "Recognized. Zatara, one-one."
The magical member of the Justice League stepped out of the zeta-tube in his usual top hat and three piece suit; he turned to the control panel next to the zeta-tube and began to type. A moment later the same robotic voice that had announced his arrival spoke once more.
"Access granted, Zatanna Zatara, A-zero-three. Authorization, Zatara, one-one."
After that a second zeta-tube came to life and out stepped a pretty young girl, she was no older then Arley and no younger than Dick, she was wearing a school uniform and the left side of her dark hair was pushed back behind one ear. Zatara stepped up and gestured to the team with his cane.
"Zatanna," the team's new den mother introduced, "This is the team, team, this is my daughter, Zatanna."
Arley had only taken a step forward, away from Wally, and M'gann had only just landed in front of the girl when Dick stepped in front of the Martian, the tips of his ears burning.
"Robin!" The boy said eagerly, Arley raised a brow at the boy's back. He hated her— he had every right to hate her, she was a killer —but that didn't mean Arley hated him, she still cared about the boy and as she leaned against Wally's side she looked on in amusement.
Dick had thought girls were pretty before but he had never shouted his name at them; he had never smiled eagerly at them the way he was at Zatanna. The boy cleared his throat.
"I mean, I'm Robin," he said in a softer tone, "And she's M'gann," Dick pointed at the Martian girl behind him, "And that's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Conner and Green Lantern." Arley's smile dimmed; Dick hadn't even looked at her as he waved his hand in her direction.
Wally stuffed but Arley leaned against the speedster; Dick had every right to hate her, she was a monster. Arley shut her eyes and breathed as she forced her smile to brighten back up; I'm not a bad Lantern, it wasn't my fault, I'm not a bad person, I'm not a bad Lantern.
"Welcome to the cave," Kaldur said.
"Thanks," Zatanna said.
I'm not a bad person, I'm not a bad Lantern, I'm not a bad person.
"So, uh, you-you joining the team?" Dick wondered, tripping over his words. Arley opened her eyes and continued to smile.
"Lets not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara stepped in, he stepped closer between Zatara and Dick, his hat was off and in his hands, pressed against his chest. "This is strictly a visit, though I am sorry we missed the training, it's something from which Zatanna could benefit from."
Arley felt a sharp spike splinter through her mind.
"Do the rest of you get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?" M'gann asked through the mind link, her brows furrowed.
"Not just Zatara," Conner said, "I mean why is Marvel still hanging around?"Conner gestured to the entrance of the zeta-tube room.
"Because we like having him around," Wally voiced through the mind-link and Arley looked up at the boy.
"You complained that he was eating your Flash bars yesterday," the Lantern pointed out. Wally looked down and grinned, his teeth peeked out from behind his lips.
"Fine we like having him around when he doesn't eat mine-er, our snacks."
"You like having him around when he's not eating your snacks cause he waits on you," Artemis said. Wally looked at the archer with a shake of the head,
"Your point is?"
"It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenure as our supervisor," Kaldur said. Arley's face twitched in agreement. Robin snorted, he looked at Zatanna.
"At least he trusted us."
"If you ignore the fact we shouldn't have trusted him, he was a traitor!" Conner's arms flew up and he turned to Kaldur and Arley, "That machine nearly got M-all of us killed!"Zatanna stepped forward and around Dick.
"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Zatanna wondered, the team turned to the new girl, as did Zatara and Canary, "Cause I can't decide if that's really cool or really rude." Conner peaked behind him and caught Canary's eye, the clone's shoulders dropped.
"Alright fine," he said; Conner turned to the two Justice League members "We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack and the League hasn't told us anything."
"The League is searching for Tornado as well as the other androids that invaded the cave, and their creator T.O. Morrow, Batman's made tracking them down out highest priority," Canary said.
"But you've found none of the above," Dick said.
"Not yet but Tornado is a member of the Justice League, the team is not to pursue this," Canary ordered sternly, looking each of the young heroes in the eye with a commanding glare .
Zatara moved, not out of the spot he was standing in but just so that the team of young heroes would look at him.
"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a tour-uh-of the cave?" Zatara stumbled as he looked to see his daughter no where around; Dick crouched down and Arley hovered in the air, her head turned in every direction as she tried to find the girl only to see her on the floor next to Wolf.
The girl's face brightened, and Wolf moved out and away from her as Captain Marvel walked into the room with a plate of Nachos. "You're giving a tour? Cool!"
"Actually," Conner said in an almost uncharacteristically kind tone, "I was hoping you'd take wolf outside, he needs the exercise, we'll join you in a few." Arley didn't believe a word coming out of the clones mouth but she schooled her features as not to give it away.
"Sure, sure, I can do that!" Captain Marvel said with an eager nod, "Come on Wolf!" The hero and genetically enhanced canine shot out of the zeta-tube room, Wally wilted next to Arley and the girl smiled at her best friend.
"What about my nachos?" Arley dropped the speedsters hand and rubbed his back comfortingly,
"We'll get you more later," Arley said with a laugh, as she started to lead him towards the Mount Justice caves kitchen, Zatanna, in capris and a lilac colored tank top, something she hadn't been wearing when she entered the cave walked by Arley and Wally.
Arley's brows shot up as she turned to Wally as gestured to Zatanna, "How's that for magic?"
"I can do that, so can Flash and Superman and probably Batman and Marvel too," Wally argued.
"You, Flash, Marvel and Superman all have super speed, she doesn't," Arley backed up. One day she would wow the speedster in front of her, whether it be because she pointed out a magical occurrence or because she was able to pull off a cool card trick he couldn't quite get but no matter what it was, Arley would stump the genius teen next to her.
"Batman doesn't."
"He's Batman that doesn't count."
"We're not really taking a tour, are we?" Zatanna wondered. Conner and Kaldur, both of whom were leading what was supposed to be Zatanna's tour, turned .
"No," the clone boy said, "We're hunting down that robot." Kaldur nodded,
"Yes," the Atlantean said, "We are."
"Oh wow, out loud and everything," Zatanna said and Arley smothered a giggle behind her hand. Zatanna would certainly fit in with the rest of the team.
"What about new girl?" Artemis wondered with a half-smile of her own, Dick grinned like a love sick puppy and shrugged.
"I'm sure she won't tell." Zatanna turned to the caped boy and she grinned impishly at him.
"I can't tell," she said, "Not if you kidnap me." Arley didn't bother to hide her laugh and Artemis placed both hands on her hips as she too grinned.
"She's going to fit in great."
...
Zatanna sat sandwiched in the front of the bio-ship between Artemis and Arley; the dark haired magician looked mesmerized as she stared out of the ships front window, Arley turned around and caught sight of Dick looking at the girl fondly, she also caught sight of Wally looking at her.
The skin under Wally's mask heated up, as did the sides of Arley's face as her eyes met him; but she continued to smile at the speedster. With heated cheeks she looked away from Wally and pointedly at Dick, she then nudged her head back in Zatanna's direction and Wally, with a thousand watt kind of grin nodded.
Dick may have hated her but Arley still loved the boy like a brother; he was her brother.
The team was somewhere over the Catskill Mountain range, just over two hundred miles away from Rhode Island when Black Canary's voice echoed through the bio-ship.
"M'gann the bio-ship wasn't authorized for departure." M'gann looked at the team startled and Arley looked up at the ship. M'gann was a terrible liar; she could be an amazing one— on missions she could lie through her teeth —but when put on the spot and to someone she respected the Martian girl always seemed to get tongue tied. Arley supposed it came from being part of a race that constantly shared it's mind with one another; there was never a reason to lie when thirty other Martians shared your thoughts and knew exactly what was going on.
"We're kidnapping Zatanna," Arley said, "Team bonding and all."
"She's not on the team," Canary shot back.
"But she will be," Artemis spoke up, her own eyes wide, "Probably, right? We're just going to show her around Happy Harbor, be back soon!"
"Roger that," Canary said, "Have fun." And when the bio-ship made the sound of being disconnected the three girls let out a sighs of relief. Arley peeked at Artemis.
"Canary is going to kick our asses when she finds out we lied."
"Oh yeah," Artemis nodded; the archer grinned, "So let's not come back empty handed right? She can't be too mad if we bring in Tornado and his siblings."
"If we can find them," Dick said, "Batman is the world's greatest detective and he's searched for Tornado and Marrow in every logical location."
"So where does that leave us?" Kaldur wondered. Dick bit his lip as he thought, he swallowed.
"Illogical, if Batman's searched in every local place and if we're going to do better then we need an illogical solution, a truly dumb idea." Dick turned in his seat and the team turned to Wally; Arley and Zatanna were the last to do.
The speedster looked around the bio-ships cockpit and blinked, Arley, when their eyes met, shrugged. Wally West had an IQ of over one hundred a seventy five meaning that he was smarter than Albert Einstein, but he also tended to act before thinking and more often than not found himself in particular situations that probably could have been avoided if he had looked before he had leapt.
Wally smiled, his bandaged hand placed itself against his chest, "In a matter of fact I do have an idea."
...
Belle Reve prison reminded Arley of the science cells she and the other Lanterns had back on Oa; in a tiny interrogation room with Ivo and the rest of the team Arley glared at the captured criminal. M'gann had her hand braced her weight against the table Ivo sat behind— the scientist had his arms crossed over his chest as he grinned smugly at the team of heroes —and Conner snarled at the man.
"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break and he's given us five minutes with you."
"Spill Ivo, how do we find T.O Morrow and his Red?" Conner demanded. Good cop-bad cop was a tactic Arley was familiar with and yet as she looked at M'gann and Conner she couldn't tell which one of them was the bad cop and which one was the good cop.
"Now why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?" Ivo wondered innocently, Arley's eyes narrowed as her glared intensified.
"Because, and here's a a truly dumb idea," Wally said stepping forward, "You're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game so who better to keep track of what's he up to and where?" Ivo nodded,
"I see your point. So let me rephrase that, why in the world would I tell you how to find Morrow?" Ivo wondered with a smirk, Kaldur stepped forward and placed his hand on M'gann's shoulder.
"He knows, do what you must," Kaldur ordered, though he sounded regretful to do so. Kaldur was good; Arley supposed that was where she and he differed. Ivo giggled as M'gann closed her eyes.
I'm not a bad person, I'm not a bad Lantern, I'm not a bad person.
"Oh please, as if I've never faced a telepath before." Kaldur turned and Arley stepped up, her shoulders rolling as she did so. Over the years bad cop was a roll that she had gotten used to playing when the clock was ticking. Kaldur nodded in Arley's direction and the Lantern stepped up, towards the prisoner.
Zatanna appeared next to Ivo before Arley could throw the table across the room in an act of intimidation.
"Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol!" The girl spat and Ivo's pupils shrunk; his back straightened.
"Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park, one hundred meters south of Old Faithful." Arley's jaw dropped open in shock. Ivo's hands clapped over his mouth. "Wait! What-what just happened!"
Arley turned to Wally with her mouth still open, her own eyes wide as Zatanna looked down her nose proudly at the criminal. Wally didn't say anything, he just held a finger up to Arley's face and shook it once; Arley knew the speedster well enough to know that meant Not now.
Later though, later she would pester him about magic.
...
It was dark by the time the bio-ship made it to the Wyoming border, there were clouds hiding the ship as it flew over them and Arley focused on the stars in front of her. This would be her and the teams first fight since the Injustice League; she hadn't even gone out on patrol since she had gone green and though nothing had happened to her or the others the first time around Arley's stomach was knotted up inside of her.
What if something happened and it triggered her to go green again and this time she hurt her teammates? What if she killed them? Arley swallowed the bile in her throat; heroes didn't wallow. She closed her eyes as she relaxed in her seat and she breathed.
She would be fine, the team would be fine, everything would be fine.
"Black out all external communications," Aqualad ordered, "Soon Canary and Zatara, Batman too, I imagine, will know of our visit with Professor Ivo, we haven't much time."
"Right," Miss Martian nodded. Robin chuckled.
"I'm trying to be all nonchalant here—"
"—Why?" Zatanna wondered, she turned in her heat to look at the boy wonder, "Be as chalant as you like."
"I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers," Artemis said, "Could you teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or-or force his bots to surrender?"
"Or create peace on Earth for all time?" Zatanna wondered rhetorically with a scoff, "Zatara couldn't even do all that and I'm nowhere near my dad's level. I need to know a spell cold or at least have time to prep it, plus all magic requires energy which usually has to come from within. I can't just make the impossible happen at will."
"What's our ETA to Yellowstone?" Superboy asked loudly just as Zatanna had stopped speaking. "I'm way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."
"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Aqualad wondered. Superboy turned in his seat, a look of disbelief on his face.
"Aren't you?"
Aqualad shook his head; "I am not convinced, and even so that makes him but the victim of his creators programming, certainly he deserves a chance to prove the weapon others designed him to be." Superboy's head dropped, his eyes closed and Arley watched the clone move quietly back to the way he had been before he had turned to their leader.
...
"Stealth mode," Aqualad ordered the team as his uniform bled black. The bio-ship had only just landed a hundred meters from Old Faithful. Arley and the others got out of their seats and Kid tapped the lighting bolt on his uniform so that the yellow would turn grey and red would fade black. Artemis' own uniform, after she pressed the arrowhead on her chest, turned black.
Aqualad looked at Zatanna, "I recommend you stay behind."
"Is that an order?" The new girl wondered with a raised brow and Arley already knew where she was going, Artemis had been right back at the cave, the girl would certainly fit in with them.
"No," Aqualad shook his head, "You must do as you see fit." Zatanna smiled.
"Good. Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool," Zatanna cast and with a wave of her hands air circled around the girl changing her outfit into something that looked similar to her fathers.
"Nice," Arley nodded and Zatanna beamed,
"Thanks!" Aqualad bobbed his head as Kid came up from behind Arley, his hand on the small of her back and though she said nothing Zatanna's brows lifted at the sight. Conner and Miss Martian, and Artemis and Robin were behind him. Aqualad turned to the team.
"Move out, Robin, you will take point." Robin grinned as he nodded and began to lead the team out of the bioship; Superboy and Aqualad were after him, with Kid on their tail. Miss Martian and Arley flew behind Zatanna and Artemis.
The eight teens stopped in a clear field; Robin crouched behind a log and a holographic map appeared above his gauntlet. "Ivo was right, Something's down there."
The team had only just stepped into the field when hurricane level winds began to blow past them; Arley's arms braced in front of her and she and the others were blown back onto the dirty ground. Arley and Miss Martian landed together; above them Red Tornado hovered.
Several large Tornadoes manifested around the team and Arley looked up at the android, Miss Martian moved her hair out of her face.
"Why!" She demanded to know loudly over the sounds of the swirling tornadoes. "Why are you doing this!" Red Tornado didn't answer; more tornadoes manifested around the teens and something was written into the rocky ground.
Arley's mind was split and she could feel her team's own surprise and relief at the revelation written in the dirt wash over her as hers washed over them.
"Message received?" Miss Martian wondered and Superboy nodded.
"Who cares why!" The clone spat as he looked at the flying robot, "Nail him!"
Superboy rushed forward, as did Aqualad.
"Superboy maneuver seven!" Superboy stopped running and turned into a crouch, his fingers locked together and Aqualad jumped; Superboy used his strength to send the Atlantean flying only for Aqualad to far too easily be hit. Aqualad landed on Superboy.
"Miss M!" Arley shouted, "Maneuver eleven!"
The Martian girl nodded and both flying girls took to the sky, Arley had her hand in Miss Martians as they shot up spinning. Below them Artemis and Robin were both blown back as Tornado deflected the girls explosive arrows.
Miss Martian let go of Arley, and the same way children on a playground hobble around after playing ring-around-the-rosie, Arley spun off in the air towards Red Tornado only for the android to blow her back into Miss Martian similarity to how he had thrown Aqualad back. Both girls crashed into Kid Flash who had turned himself into a tornado; Kid's arms wrapped around Arley as they hit the ground and though neither teen hero was out they both— with their eyes closed —stayed down.
Zatanna stood next to Arley; the Lantern could hear the girl's voice.
"Etaerc a-a-dleihs dnuora ym—" Zatanna was cut off by something before she was thrown back into the scattered pile of teen heroes.
"Quite a performance brother," A robotic voice said as rocks moved; Arley breathed and she could feel Kid straining himself as not to twitch. Staying still had never been something Wally West had been good at, even before his powers. "But we both know that's all it was. I have all your memories Tornado, plus a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do."
The ground rumbled. Arley who had lived on the West coast for several years thought earthquake as she sat up, only to see that the second robot with Tornado was not the one who had been in the cave the night the team had been attacked.
The robot tisked dismissively, "Blowing a message into the sand?"
Tornadoes Play Dead message hovered behind the robot before it broke off into a dozen pieces. Arley, with a hammer she had formed from her ring with Aqualad with twin swords made from his water barers, and Superboy, jumped into the air; the three of them destroyed the biggest rocks that were hurtling towards their teammates.
The hammer crumbled in Arley's hand, so she formed a new one.
"Zatanna?" Robin asked through the mind link.
"I'm good," the girl said, "Red Tornado's getting away."
"Is he abandoning us!" Artemis hissed.
"I don't believe that," Miss Martian said. Kid ran up the large rock that the new robot was standing on only for the android to hit him away; Arley caught the boy in her arms bridal style before he hit the ground.
"Thanks," he breathed, "Mom would've been pissed if I got hurt again."
Arley laughed.
"I can't have you getting grounded, I'd miss you too much," Arley joked through the link and Kid smiled brightly at her, Arley ignored her hammering heart and she ignored any thoughts she had about his smile.
"You stand no chance against me humans," The robot said as Arley lowered herself and Kid to the ground; his arm was around her neck and it stayed there as his feet touched the ground, the two young heroes looked up and glared at the android.
"We're not human!" Superboy and Miss Martian cried.
"Apologies, I suppose the more inclusive term is meatbags," the robot said and two large stone hands emerged from the ground and caught both non-human members of the young team between them. Arley jerked forward— Superboy and Miss Martian hadn't even screamed when the rocks had closed around them, a million scenarios flashed through Arley's mind because even though she knew they were okay through the mind link worry flooded her veins —only for Kid to hold her closer to him.
"Kid—"
"—You can't just rush in there!" The ground beneath Artemis and Aqualad opened and began to close like an automated door; the two heroes managed to get out from between the rocks before both sides crashed against each other, crushing them.
They were up against one android and yet the team was both outgunned and outmatched, and they had no idea what its plan was.
"And we can't just sit here!" Arley replied as Robin rushed up the jagged rocks that had collided together to form a jagged hill. The young boy threw a birdarang at the android only for it to explode in its hand. The android remained standing, unharmed as the explosion around it cleared.
The android glowed red; "Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allows me to anticipate your every move."
"Emoke emoceb a blofdnilb!" Zatanna chanted and the smoke that lingered around the android bent and curled itself around the robots eyes; the android clawed at the smoke around it's eye sockets. "Tornado never knew my moves."
Arley saw her opportunity; she moved out from under Kid— she ignored Kid's hiss of her name —and like a rocket she shot off towards the robot, ready to knock it off it's rocky perch. Her arms were out in front of her and her usual green glow that protected her when flying surrounded her as she closed in on the robot.
The robot, still blindfolded by the magically spelled smoke, reached out and grabbed Arley by the wrist just inches before she had hit it. The robot turned and threw Arley— who had let out a startled yelp as the robot turned her —down the pillar it was standing on and towards the ground.
But before she had hit the ground Arley found herself in Kid Flash's arms. The speedster was flushed and panting and he held her close to his chest but Arley didn't have time to marvel up at the boy; the robot above them shot lasers out of it's eyes and the volcano behind them erupted, Arley looked at the volcano and paled as molten hot lava began to poor down the sides of the volcano.
Kid had once gone off on a rant about the Yellowstone Super Volcano; it'd been at two in the morning and Arley had just gotten back from space— she hadn't slept in fifty-two hours before that point —but Arley remembered enough from what Kid had told her.
She knew that the androids' plan wasn't just to wipe Wyoming off the map but rather that the robot planned to take Earth from the planetary alignment and turn it into an ashy waste land.
"Esehigi," Arley breathed. Kid set her down and the two moved to regroup, only for jagged rocks to shoot up in the air and separate them from the team. Arley looked up at the android and then to Kid; they needed to distract him so their team could get to them.
"Hey rust bucket!" Arley called out, her hands cupped over her mouth, "You're seriously going to end the world while standing in Wyoming? How fucking lame is that!"
"Yeah!" Kid called out, he inched back as the android peered down at them, "Wyoming sucks you aluminum puppet!"
Arley and Kid dodged several flaming rocks that the android had thrown at them; Arley caught Kid as he flipped down a moving ledge by his wrist and set him down on the ground below them. More and more lava seemed to drip down the side of the volcano and pool around where the young heroes were fighting.
"He's activating a stage two eruption, if it gets to stage three kiss the hemisphere goodbye," Kid thought grimly, Arley used her ring to fire at the ground to her left and created a long trench where the lava began to pool.
"Hit him from all sides," Aqualad ordered as he lunged, with a wave of his hand a rock from the androids pillar shot out and knocked Aqualad away. The android, as Superboy— who was covered in dirt and whose hair was only slightly mused but over all okay —who had jumped through the air, caught the clone boy's fist much like he had caught Arley's and turned and slammed the clone into the ground.
The robot's back arched and Arley, through the smoke, heard the Martian girl let out an agonizing scream.
"M'gann!"
"Kid!" Robin called out, as Superboy and Arley yelled out to the injured Martian girl. Arley moved towards where she knew the Martian girl was and Kid moved back towards where Robin and the magician were; though not before the two teens shared a glance, one that told the other they better survive.
The android jumped between the alien members of the team, it grabbed the back of Miss Martians cloak with one hand and it hit Superboy away with the other and into Arley who had only just managed to get through the smoke; the android lifted a limp M'gann up high.
Superboy rolled off of Arley and the pair got back to their feet, Arley looked down at her ring and wished— not for the first time since her fight against the Injustice League —she knew exactly how she had went green.
Arley turned— Superboy did too, they both knew Robin and Zatanna's plan —and watched three dozen Kid Flash's appear around the volcanoes base, all with their goggles drawn over their eyes and their teeth gritted. Arley and Superboy moved to where the rest of the team was; Arley mind was half focused on where the actual Kid Flash was.
The android shot a flurry of rocks out at the Kid Flash's, all of which disappeared into clouds of smoke as soon as they were hit; Arley's heart squeezed in her chest each time one disappeared because what if the real Kid was hit, only for the real Kid Flash to lunged from behind the android and grab Miss Martian. Wally cradled the alien girl in his arms as she came to a stop.
Water shot out from behind the team and knocked the android back and into the lava, Arley turned to her team leader impressed.
"Nice hit!" Robin cheered.
"The hit was not mine, look!" Aqualad pointed behind him and the team turned to see that one of the Reds that had attacked the cave all those weeks ago was also attacking its brother. The Red rose with the water it was controlling. The android who had started the volcano began to climb out of the lava only for the Red to attack it again.
The android who had started the volcano had started to rise from the lava on a rock only for Tornado so propel himself through it and send the evil android back down into the lava. Arley and the team watch on in shock as the other android who had attacked the team, the female one, attacked it's brother as well.
"Sister, brothers stop!" The evil android pleaded as the female robot dropped into the lava as well and began to wrestle with him. The android who could control water pulled the evil android into the lava and the female robot dipped under the pool of lava as well, into the trench Arley had made. Red Tornado, who had been hovering over the fight dropped as well, and he stood there half submerged in the lava, on top of the evil android.
Red Tornado began to sink and Arley looked to Superboy who already knew what she was going to say; "Conner—"
"—Right." Superboy moved, he pulled Red Tornado out of the lava and back to the team. The androids legs had melted off during the fight and the ground around the team began to shake, rocks moved on their own and more lava began to pool around them.
"Lantern we need trenches," Kid said and Arley nodded, she flew up into the air as Kid turned to Red Tornado. Using nothing but pure blasts of energy from her ring Arley— who stopped every so often to dodge a flaming rock falling from the sky as it had been ejected from the volcano —began to carve out several trenches along the volcano base as she kept the lava from speeding from nearby trees and other wildlife.
The last thing they needed was a forest fire.
Artemis fired three arrows into the side of the volcano and Arley turned to her teammates, she knew what their plan was— what Wally's plan was —and she knew that the science was sound but still, firing at the side of an active volcano made the Lantern grimace.
The words, Well it can't get any worse played in Arley's mind as she watched thick black smoke file into the air and Red Tornado disappear somewhere inside of it. Slowly as the smoke disappeared into space and the lava quickly began to cool, Arley floated down to the ground; she turned to Kid who turned to her grinning.
"Yes!" Kid fist pumped the air before grabbing Arley and tugging her into a tight hug. Arley's arms wrapped around the speeders chest as he lifted her off the ground gleefully;
"Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!" Arley shrieked with a laugh, and Kid Flash did when he heard the familiar twirling sound of Red Tornado.
The team, when the robotic Justice League member dropped, ran to him.
...
Down in what was a robotic T.O Morrow's underground laboratory Wally and Dick both worked on Red Tornado who was outstretched along the workbench that had the League members name on it the same a child's headboard would have theirs.
"There we go," Dick breathed; Red Tornado's face closed as Dick and Wally stepped away; the robot's legs were still melted off at the thigh.
"Yes," Red Tornado said, "I can speak again."
"Awesome," Arley said as she leaned against Wally, "Then do you mind telling us what all that was?" Arley motioned to the laboratory's ceiling; to the planet's surface where a mass extension had almost taken place.
Kaldur moved closer to the team's old den mother "You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet."
"The planet would have survived," Red Tornado said, "It was humanity that was saved, though not by me. My sister and brother were the true heroes this day."
Kaldur rested his hand on the androids shoulder. Wally moved across the room with Dick and Arley moved over to M'gann whose arms were wrapped securely around herself.
Arley had heard about what happened to Martians when they got too close to fire; the Lantern touched the Martian girl's shoulder and smiled comfortingly at her. M'gann smiled at Arley with a tight closed lip smile and though the mind link was no no longer established Arley, with a look, tried to convey to the Martian girl that she would be there for her if she needed to talk.
M'gann was as much as family as Conner was and Conner was as much her family as Guy or John. The team was Arley's family; Arley looked at Zatanna from the corner of her eye and smiled, families were meant to grow.
"My point is this, you were never the mole, never a traitor." Wally and Dick began to dig
"No," Red Tornado said with a shake of his head, "I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator Morrow."
"Cool souvenir!" Wally cried holding up a robotic hand; Dick held up a leg.
"Reddy!" Dick said using a nickname he never had before, "We can rebuild you better than you were before!"
"I do not believe I should be repaired," Red Tornado said grimly and Conner, who had stalked off to the corner of the room spun on his heel.
"Why'd you volunteer to become our den mother in the first place?"
"I was the pragmatic choice," Red Tornado answered. "I do not require sleep, I have no secrete identity or second life to live."
"But you do have advanced AI programming designed to learn, adapt and evolve," Kid said fiddling with one of the fingers on the robotic hand he had picked up. M'gann smiled, her hand thumped against her head.
"Hello Megan! You wanted to become more human!"
"And you couldn't do that around the League, they're a bunch of stiffs," Artemis said and Arley thought of Hal and Barry and Oliver and the two years between when she had first come back to Earth and when Dick arrived and some of the antics the three League members got up to in that two year time period; antics Arley had been paid off and sworn to never mention again.
"You're sure not going to learn emotion from Batman, trust me," Dick said, still holding the leg.
"Then the cave was not a proving ground only for us," Kaldur spoke, "But for you as well."
"I do not know if these statements are accurate but perhaps, they are true," Tornado said, "And if I understand the term correctly I believe I have come to care about you all."
"See?" Conner grinned, "Practically a meat bag already."
