Chapter Eighteen — Failsafe

"I will love you forever; whatever happens."


Arley sat in the Mount Justice Meeting Chamber along the oval table that she and the team usually sat at when getting their missions. Arley knew she had argued with Hal and John and Guy over meeting the aliens that had set off the Leagues celestial defense system— a more than likely hostile alien ship had invaded not just the boundaries of one of the planets in her sector but the space boundary of her very own home planet —but she couldn't remember actually arguing with them; Arley couldn't remember what she had said to them or what they had said to get her to back down and wait at the cave.

She couldn't remember much before Red Tornado lead her and the rest of the team to the Meeting Chamber.

Wally's hand held her own tightly, offering comfort as they watched her three sector partners approach the alien ship; the moon was in the background behind the ship. The ship was unlike anything Arley had seen before, not that that was surprising, just because she was a Green Lantern that didn't mean she knew everything about all alien cultures everywhere— the universe was big after all —but still, something pulled at the back of the girls mind as she looked at the alien ship in front of her sector partners.

"Attention!" John's voice rang out, "You have entered the boundaries of Earth space, disengage all weapons and engines, this is your final warning."

It was quiet for a moment, Arley waited and watched with a bated breath and then, suddenly, the engines of the ship whirled and light blared; John, Hal and Guy all threw up shield as the light only got brighter but with three screams and the shattering sound of their constructs breaking all three Lanterns were disintegrated in front of Arley's very own eyes.

"Oh god," Wally breathed next to Arley, but Arley didn't.

She didn't breath, the air was caught in her throat. Arley rocked forward in her seat as she stared unblinkingly at the screen— the grip she had on Wally's hand had tightened, not that Arley could remember gripping the boys hand harder, but nonetheless the boys fingers were slowly becoming a pale purple —a thousand and one thoughts raced through her mind but the only thing she could hear was this couldn't be real. Hal and John couldn't be dead, Guy couldn't be gone; she couldn't be alone.

Her family couldn't be dead, and yet Arley had just watched them get disintegrated in front of her very own eyes. Arley felt cold and numb and as she continued to watch the screen in front of her with wide, unblinking eyes but as Batman's voice came through the line of communication he had with the cave and the rest of the League, Arley didn't hear a word the Dark Knight had said to her because her family, her fathers, had been murdered in front of her.

Arley continued to watch as Superman and M'gann uncle Manhunter, along with Captain Marvel and Atom all flew towards the hostile alien ship.

The alien ships engines whirled alive once more and light shinned brightly in on the large computers monitor, Superman and Manhunter were caught in the beams rays next; like John and Hal and Guy, Arley and the other team members could see the two aliens bones as they flashed before the light died out and there was no longer any traces left of the Martian Manhunter or Superman.

Arley wanted to vomit; M'gann's mouth fell open and as Atom and Captain Marvel were killed in front of them next, Conner's back straightened. Dick, as the cameras watching the battle caught Batman's ship being destroyed leaned forward as he saw his own adopted fathers escape pod rise through the air of space.

Wally gripped Arley's own hand for dear life as the speedster watched the monitor.

Bruce Wayne was someone both Wally West and Arley Gluck knew; he was a jerk who, perhaps the pair weren't particularly close to or were extremely fond of but he was still someone who's well being they cared about, someone their friend adored, and like the other League members, he was someone they watched get murdered in front of their very own eyes.

Zatara's face appeared on the screen, as the cameras became disabled, "Tornado did you—"

"Yes, Zatara, we saw," Red Tornado said, "Celestial defenses have failed. Initiate all terrestrial measures."

"Affirmative. See you in the filed," Zatara said before his picture faded out. Red Tornado turned to the team, his cape swished as he moved.

"I must join the League, we will protect the planet at all coasts, but should we fail the responsibility falls to you." Kaldur stood, his face dark and grim. He nodded at Tornado,

"We stand ready."

...

Next to Gotham, Central City was one of the most dangerous places to live, it was the second only to Gotham in churning out super villains, and yet the streets were always pretty clean and the sky was usually blue, unlike what you would find in the coastal New Jersey town. It almost always looked like a normal mid-western city.

When Wally put on the National News Network and his aunt appeared on screen, Central City didn't look how did had the last time Arley had been there, the sky was grey and Arley could see smoke coming from more then one building behind Iris West-All as she reported live.

"This is Iris West-Allen reporting live, the extraterrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City." The knock off Gate-way Arch that was in the background of Iris's shot was blown up, people screamed as the ran from the falling debris only to be vaporized before they could get far.

The ship that had disintegrated the civilians turned to Iris West-Allen, and Wally reached for Arley— who let the boy pull her close —and buried his head in the crook of her neck only for the boys uncle to speed by and save Iris before the reporter could get hit by the beam.

"She's okay," Arley said softly and Wally turned back to the television. "Barry got her."

The boy nodded and turned his head ever so slight so that he could watch the caves computer monitor.

Zatara's voice echoed through the Central City streets, "Tropsnart siht namaremac ot ytefas."

Yellow washed over the camera and the cameraman was suddenly no longer on the street in front of two tiny ships, but instead on top of a building in front of Zatara and Flash and Iris.

Arley could see that behind the transparent breaking news banner the station had across the bottom, the Flash had the pads of his fingers pressed against the palm of Iris West-Allen's hand.

"You should both be safe here," Zatara said. "At least," he amended, "For now." Iris nodded,

"Thank you, Flash," Iris said the heroes name carefully, she turned to the homo-magi, "And thank you Zatara."

The Flash placed a hand on Iris' shoulder and squeezed before disappearing from the camera view. Zatara took off after the speedster. Iris turned to her cameraman.

"Denny you okay?" The camera man held up a thumb in front of the camera. Iris lifted her microphone to her lips, "As you can see the Justice League is attempting to hold the line." Denny the cameraman swiveled the camera to see Zatara and the Flash in the middle of rescuing a dozen civilians from a burning building when an alien ship emerged from behind the cloud of smoke, and shot at the buildings roof, not disintegrating it, but blowing it up.

Wally sucked in a ragged breath and Arley watched Iris as she crumbled in front of the nation, her hand out stretched and shaking, like she could go back in time and reach Barry before he appeared on the rooftop.

Cat Grant shrieked from her seat in the station, "Iris! Iris get out of there!"

Cat Grant was on her feet, her hair was unkempt and there were tears in her eyes as Iris turned and the signal was lost. The last thing Arley and the team, and the rest of the nation had seen was one of the alien ships speeding towards Iris and her cameraman Denny.

Wally's face fell as he watched; "No," the speedster said, "I-is she?" Wally turned to Arley as Cat Grant sat back in her seat, "Arley?"

"I don't-Wally," Arley shook her head helplessly. She didn't know if Iris was okay, if she and her cameraman were alive; Arley doubted it, but everything inside of her told her Iris West-Allen couldn't be dead and yet she had watched it happen with her own two eyes, so instead she just hugged the boy next to her as Cat Grant wiped her eyes on the Meeting Chambers monitor.

Wally hugged her back.

The reporter's voice was thick and she stumbled over every other word, "I'm sorry, we're-we are experie-experiencing technical difficulties from-from our Cent-Central Ci-City feed. We take yo-you now to a devastated Taipei." Cat Grant sniffled loudly, her eyes were rimmed red, "We take you to Taipei where another Justice League contingent is having a bit more luck."

The monitor flashed over to the camera that the National News Network had in Taipei. Hawkgirl and Hawkman were both vaporized on screen as soon as the cityscape of Taipei appeared on the Meeting Chamber monitor.

Green Arrow and Black Canary were shown taking down multiple ships from their spot atop a roof, their backs pressed together as they tried to save the world. Oliver had only just turned to face Dinah when a ship appeared.

Arley, unable to watch Dinah die in front of her, looked to Artemis whose face was stoic as she watched her supposed uncle be vaporized; Conner squeezed his eyes shut at the image and M'gann wound her arm around the clone. Dick just seemed to shrink in his seat while Kaldur only seemed to grow.

Kaldur's back straightened and his shoulders flattened out as he watched Cat Grant collect her papers.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Cat Grant said with a shaky voice, "We have lost Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Hawks. Other heroes that are reported dead or missing include Batman, Icon, Adam, and Aquaman."

Kaldurs fingers curled into fists atop the Meeting Chamber table but he did not shrink, the team's leader stood tall.

"Red Tornado to cave," the android's voice rang out, "I fear I am all that remains of the League."

"RT—" Dick had called out only for the sound of an explosion to rock the caves speakers. The team waited a moment but Tornado didn't respond.

He was gone.

The Justice League was gone.

Kaldur stood, the Atlantean teen breathed deeply before he spoke.

"We are the last line of defense," Kaldur said, and in that moment it hit Arley that their family and mentors were dead and that they were the League now, that Kaldur was now the leader of what little remained of the Justice League. That she was the only sector Lantern left.

"So what are we waiting for a theme song?" Conner demanded.

"A strategy," Kaldur replied, "Earth's weapons are ineffective, and it has been made tragically clear that a direct attack will not succeed."

"I'm checking satellite imagery," Dick said as a holographic map of the Earth appeared over the Meeting Chambers table. Red dotted most of the world. "Here's where the aliens are now."

Conner pointed to a red dot in the Arctic, "This one get lost?"

"That's Superman's fortress of Solitude," Dick gasped. Wally slowly uncoiled himself from Arley and Arley unwound her arms from him; Wally straightened in his seat, though the speedster kept a hand on Arleys knee.

"Superman has a fortress of solitude?" Conner asked and Arley, who Wally was still wound around looked at the clone as he stared at the lone dot on the map.

"It's power source must have attracted the aliens attention, at least enough to send a scout ship to investigate," Dick said and Arley frowned at the expiation because the Fortress of solitude didn't run on filtered Quintessence, Hal had once off handedly mentioned how the whole fortress was like an old computer, it ran off memory crystals that were virtually alien flash drives.

Arley had filed the factoid away because she had been ten and at the time living in a computer had sounded cool and it was kind of awesome that Superman had a fortress of solitude and yet as she tried to think about it it was the only reason that made sense, because how else would an alien race know about a secret fortress that not even most of the League knew about? Why else would they send a ship to the Arctic if they couldn't track the fortress's power source?

"Must be some fortress," Conner muttered as he turned away.

"Conner," M'gann rested her hand on the clone's arm, but Conner waved her off, he turned to M'gann and the team with a forced smile on his face.

"No it's okay, I guess there's a lot about Superman that I'll never know." Conner's brows came together, "You know, now," he added.

"We will target this lone ship," Kaldur said.

"Yeah" Wally nodded, "Break it down and build more. We'll hit those ugly aliens with their own—ow!" Wally turned to glare at Artemis, who had reached over from her own seat to hit the speedster in the arm.

"Martian and Kryptonian in the house Kid Mouth," Artemis hissed; Wally's face turned pink. The speedster turned to M'gann and Conner, both of whom looked at the boy with raised brows.

"I didn't-not all-I mean, not all aliens are automatically ugly." Arley sighed, sometimes Wally West's mouth ran faster then either his genius brain or his meta-human feet could catch up.

...

Arley had to stay in the bio-ship; unlike the others whose costumes and uniforms could be changed white Arley's could not, and in a snowy landscape that was the Fortress of Solitude's front yard she would do nothing but give the team away. So she waited in the bio-ship anxiously ready to spring into action at any given moment. When the ship was taken out Arley was to scan it, her ring after all had not only electromagnetic scanning but an intergalactic encyclopedia.

The Lantern knew exactly where each of her team members were; she knew Aqualad was under the ice and she knew exactly which snow drift Artemis had hidden behind but Arley still worried; the attacking aliens had already killed most of her family, Arley couldn't lose the rest. She wouldn't.

Arley watched as Miss Martian, invisible to the naked eye, used her telekinesis to rip the ship's camera from its side.

"Communications disabled." The ship fell to the snowy ground. "Propulsion disabled."

Arley watched, ready to jump into action as Artemis peaked around the snow drift she had been behind and took aim at the ship.

Foam, as the arrow hit the ships door, bubbled around the ship sealing whatever aliens were in it, inside of it. The ship fired in Artemis' direction— Arley's breath caught in her throat —but missed every single time.

"ET's are sealed inside." The ice under the ship cracked and Aqualad emerged from the icy waters and jumped onto the very top of the ship's wing. Arley practically leaned as far out of the captain's seat as she could get as the ship's cannon turned to Aqualad.

Wolf and Superboy appeared, forcefully turning the ship's canon away from Aqualad and Arley knew that was her queue. If she hadn't just lost most of the people she cared about, and if her home planet wasn't under attack, Arley would've been excited to have finally been allowed to pilot the bio-ship. But she wasn't because she had watched all three of her father figures be murdered in front of her.

"Identifying weapons structural stress point and links to the ships," Robin said as Arley landed the bio-ship down next to the hostile aliens ship. "Here, here and here,"Robin pointed as Arley emerged from a hole in the ceiling of the bio-ship as M'gann used her powers to weaken the canons' stress points.

Superboy began to pull the cannon out the enemy ship and Arley pointed her ring at the ship.

"Ring scan and identify," She ordered, and a green light scanned over the ship once; before it could scan again Wolf lunged at Superboy, knocking him away from the canon and saving him from being vaporized.

The smoke that had once been Wolf cleared before any of the team members could blink. Robin looked mournfully at Superboy.

"Superboy I'm sorry, there was no indication that anything was going to happen. I'm sorry." Superboy pressed his lips together as he looked at Robin; the clone glared at the ice beneath his feet.

"Can't do anything for him now,"Superboy said stiffly, almost unemotionally as he walked back to the top of the ship and Arley began to scan the ship once more. "Let's go."

Superboy pulled at the cannon as Arley's ring beeped and though it's scanning had been completed no information on the ship or the race that had built the ship appeared. Arley's brows knitted together with a frown as the canon began to break off from the ship because her ring knew what the Guardians knew and the Guardians knew almost everything there was to know outside of freak once in universe's-lifetime kind of anomalies.

"Arley?" Kid asked, Arley's eyes flickered from her ring, to the ship to the boy she was in love with.

"My ring's scan is coming up incomplete, ships not in the Corps' database." Robin looked to Arley sharply, the cannon broke off from the ship and Superboy and Miss Martian jumped to the roof of the bio-ship as Miss Martian integrated the disintegration cannon onto the bio-ship's roof.

"Re-rooting systems to integrate weapon into bio-ship matrix," Miss Martian said as Robin stepped closer to Arley as they stepped onto the decamouflaged bio-ship.

"So what, you have no clue who these ships are?" Arley shook her head, dread began to pool in her stomach. If the Guardians didn't know what they were dealing with, how old were the alien race they were fighting, and how had they managed to stay off of the Guardians radar since the beginning of time?

"No, no clue."

"I thought you had a galactic encyclopedia on that thing?" Wally wondered with a frown; Wally knew everything she knew about how a Lantern's ring worked, just as she knew everything he knew about how his powers worked and so Arley knew Wally was just as confused as she was on why no result was coming up from her scan. Just as concerned.

"I do, so if the ring doesn't know who the hell do these ships belong too?" Two of the hostile alien ships flew overhead and Arley felt her team's alarm shoot through her. She felt her own fear clench her heart.

"Megs how long until the camouflage is back on?" Arley wondered, her ring glowed.

"A few minutes," M'gann said and Robin swallowed the lump in his throat. The ships continued to fly as if they hadn't seen the bio-ship and the team.

"We may not have a few minutes," Robin said, Arley straightened where she stood and her feet lifted off of the bio-ships roof. She was fast, she could stall; sensing Arley's train of thought Wally reached over past Robin and grabbed Arley's wrist. The two ships turned.

"Miss Martian open fire!"

"I can't!" Miss Martian thought through the link, her voice desperate and scared, though her gaze steely, "Weapon systems are offline to incorporate the new canon and even that's not integrated yet either."

"I got you covered!" Artemis shouted through the link, "Get inside! I'm almost there!" The archer fired three arrows at the two ships and though the both went down one ship skidded out along the ice and Arley leaned forward, Wally pulled her back.

"Artemis behind you!" M'gann shouted; Artemis turned but just as she raised her bow the ship fired and Artemis died. Arley's legs gave out from under her and Wally— as M'gann let out a heartbreaking screech —caught the only sector Lantern left and held the Lantern close to his chest as she sucked in a deep and choked gasp.

Arley looked at the space Artemis had been only a second ago; where she had been murdered. Arley's mind swamp with thoughts, the loudest was that this couldn't be real, Artemis couldn't be dead. Her ring glowed; it burned but Arley didn't turn green as she had done two weeks ago in that Louisianan swamp against the Injustice League.

Arley didn't save her friend— her sister —she had let her die like she had let Hal and John and Guy all die. She had let Artemis be murdered. She had let her family be slaughtered.

"Get inside all of you!" Aqualad ordered as he slid off of the bio-ship, his lips twisted into a snarl as he brought his water barer's out but no one moved as the ice leading to the ship cracked and broke sending the ship into the air before large shard of ice impaled it from all sides, causing the hostile enemy aliens ship to explode.

The world shook as the ship exploded but the team didn't move. Artemis was gone and they were still there. Arley's ring still burned on her finger but the girl didn't so much as glance as it as her eyes fell to the boot prints Artemis had left behind.

Robin was the first to move as the smoke that had been the alien ship began to clear, almost robotically he turned to Kaldur, "We need-Kal-Aqualad we need to move before more enemies come."

Arley and the rest of the team heard what Robin hadn't said; We need to move before we lose anyone else.

Aqualad took a shuddering breath as he blinked. "Robin is right," their leader said softly, "We must move."

And slowly the team did, but Arley, as Wally led her inside the bio-ship, turned and looked at the quickly fading footprints.

They had to move before they lost anyone else; Artemis was dead. Anger, red hot anger washed over Arley. The aliens were dead, Arley didn't care about the blood already on her hands, or about the toll it would take on her and her soul or he mind, the enemies that had taken her family from her were as good as dead, and she would have their heads on pikes if it were the last thing she'd do, and thoughts Arley's thoughts— her promise —was loud among the team Robin didn't turn to give her a dirty look as she past by him.

Slowly the bio-ship took off, lighter than it had been in months and Artemis' empty seat mocked the team.

There were a million different ways to kill someone and Arley knew her fair share; the aliens were as good as dead, it would only be a matter of time before Arley made that a reality. Arley turned to look at Wally, her eyes were wet and her nose was red but she hadn't yet shed a tear. None of the teens were strapped in; M'gann tried to stifle her sniffles.

"Why didn't you let me go?" Arley asked Wally, the boy, whose own shiny wet eyes looked to her frowned.

"What?"

"I could've destroyed those ships or-or I could've at least led them away, Artemis would still be alive if I had," Arley hissed and Wally stood, his watery eyes bright with indignation.

"Are you blaming me for Artemis' death?" Wally asked and Arley shook her head.

"Of course not—" though that was what it had sounded like, "—I just, she's dead, I could've stopped those ships so why didn't you let me go?"

"Are you serious?" Wally hissed, he sounded more angry then he had when he had thought Arley was accusing him of Artemis' death, "Arley you would've died!"

"And!" Arley got to her own feet,

"What do you mean and?" Wally demanded to know loudly as he swept his arms swept in front of him and the team looked at the pair like children looking on as their fighting parents, helpless and sorrowful.

"Artemis would still be alive, besides," Arley spat as she stepped closer, "So what if I died—" Wally with a squawk, parroted Arley's words back, "Also," she added, just as angry, "We don't know if I would've died! I could have destroyed those ships and lived!" Arley stepped closer and she pointed angrily at the symbol on Wally's chest.

"And if you hadn't?" Wally asked her with a shaky voice, the speedster took two steps closer and the pad of Arley's finger was pressed against Wally's suit; Wally's own outstretched finger pointed at Arley's nose. "If you hadn't survived Arley you would be the one that was dead, not Artemis."

"Good," Arley agreed with fierce resignation and though he didn't take a step back from the Lantern, Wally's head jerked back as if Arley had slapped him, his hand fell from her face, "I would rather Artemis be here."

Wally, who stood there too furious to even speak, froze as he fought to control the righteous rage that wanted to erupt from his body as he stared at the Lantern in front of him with disbelieving eyes.

Arley observed Wally as he mouthed out the words How dare you.

He was too furious to even speak at the moment. Arley laughed callously at the speedsters unspoken question.

"How dare I? Wally it's the truth, I would rather be the one that died back there! I should've been! Not Artemis!"

"How dare you-the hell it should've been you! Goddamnit Arley—" Wally exploded, Arley's mouth fell open at the intensity in the speedsters voice, "—I'm falling in love with you, okay! Artemis is-was, my friend but you? You're my-I'm—" Wally swallowed the words in his mouth stepped forward, his voice lowered, "If it had been you who died guess what? I would have followed you because I can't do this without you! Not this hero thing, not anything, you're my best friend! So yeah I'm upset that Artemis is gone and yeah, I want to get even with those sonsofbitches out there but what I'm not upset at is the fact that it wasn't you who died back there, okay!" Wally shouted and Arley looked up at the boy, her mind stuck on the five words she'd been waiting years to hear from him.

"You're in love with me?" Arley asked weakly.

"Yeah," Wally said and though she didn't smile— Arley didn't have the strength to do so —she did do something else.

She kissed him.

Arley placed both hands on the sides of Wally West's face and she pulled him down so that her lips could meet his. Wally sucked in a breath as their lips met and Arley let the breath she'd been holding ever since she discovered her feelings for her best friend out.

It was wet; that was what Arley noticed first. Wally had been crying and as Arley's eyes fluttered shut her own tears fell, but just because it was wet didn't mean that Wally, after a beat, didn't delicately place one of his hands on Arley's hip and the other on the side of her neck as he deepened the kiss.

When they pulled away— Arley wasn't sure if she had moved away for air or if Wally had simply moved back because a strand of her own hair had gotten caught between him —and Arley's eyes fluttered open, Wally was already looking at her.

It was quite; Arley could feel her teammates looking at her and Wally but she continued to look at the speedster and he— as the hand he had placed on the side of her neck threaded itself through her hair —continued to look at her.

"You can't die," Wally said in a whisper, "Not on me."

Arley couldn't promise him that, not when the aliens were attacking the planet and they were tasked with protecting it. Not when growing old in the Corps was a privilege so few got, and yet, as Arley continued to look in Wally's eyes she found herself nodding because alien or no aliens attacking the Earth nothing in high heaven or hell below could drag her away from the boy she loved, not when she finally had him.

They kissed again, Wally kissed her that time, it was short and sweet and he had cradled the side of her face with a tenderness Arley didn't even know existed but was so glad to have found, one that made the Lanterns heart strain against her rib cage.

Robin sneezed; truly, the masked boy let out a loud, genuine sneeze and both Arley and Wally jumped away from one another, both Arley and Wally's faces burned a shameful red and Arley placed both hands against her stomach as Wally wrapped his arms around himself. Arley's ring still burned on her finger. Aqualad, with a sad look in his eyes, got to his feet, he looked at the floor of the bio-ship.

Wally reached over the sectors only Lantern and pulled Arley to his seat; the ship stretched the speedsters chair out and the pair took a seat, their eyes on Aqualad as he stood in the middle of a bio-ships cockpit.

The speedster had an arm wound around Arley and she had her hand placed on his knee; Arley had never been so aware of Wally's touch, not even when she had first gotten back to Earth after her year on Oa.

"There will be time to mourn later and there will be time to celebrate, but until then we have a job to do. we must protect the Earth and ensure Artemis' sacrifice was not in vain."

"Back to the cave?" M'gann wondered.

"No," Aqualad shook his head, "The Hall of Justice, the people of Earth must know that there are heroes still defending them, that there is still hope."

...

Arley and team found the military protecting Capitol Hill as they approached the Hall of Justice. The men scattered as the three alien ships attacking fired at them and Arley was reminded of John Stewart and his smile and how she had his old dog tags in her room in Coast City. John had given them to her the first time the Guardians had sent him on a solo mission because as long as Arley had them John promised he would come back to get them.

Arley stood, her hand was still in Wally's, "We need to help them."

"Arley—" Aqualad said but Arley's hands fisted at her side,

"Aqualad please," she begged, John's laughter rang through her ears and she knew she needed to save those men. She hadn't been able to save John. "Either let me help them or help me, but don't make me let anymore good men die today, please."

"Arley," Wally hissed but Arley turned back to the boy whose hand she was still holding.

"I'm a Lantern Wally," Arley smiled, it was fake and forced, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"I hate when you tell me to trust you," Wally said, and though he squeezed her hand Wally stood up himself, he looked to Aqualad and Aqualad pressed his lips together; the Atlantean teen turned to M'gann.

"Stay in camouflage mode and fly over the alien ships, Lantern and Superboy will take it from there." Wally didn't look pleased but as Superboy stood from his seat and Arley brought Wally's hand up to her lips— she pressed a firm kiss against the blushing speedsters knuckles —he sighed and sat back down, the boy looked up at Arley through his lashed.

"You'll be okay?"

"Trust me," Arley said and Miss Martian, as the bio-ship hovered over one of the alien ships, opened a hole in the flooring of the bio-ship. Superboy was the first to jump out, Arley quickly after him. Superboy landed on the roof of one of the alien ships, bending it's canon and denting it as he landed, while Arley used her ring to fire a blast of concentrated energy at a second ship; she blasted the ships canon off of it and though the ship didn't go down it began to emit a heavy black smoke as it continued to fly.

The bio-ship shot at the third enemy ship and Arley, with a large green sword she had formed from her ring, cut through the second ship as the one Superboy had been a top of started to go down. The ship Superboy was on hit the large DC street that lead to Capitol Hill and slide along the asphalt until it came a stop in front of the soldiers that were defending congressional building.

Arley landed beside Superboy as he jumped from the top of the ship; the bio-ship landed behind them and the team filed out of the Martian aircraft as the men and women around them cheered. Arley looked at the general in front of her.

She knew him, Arley swore she knew the general and thought no name came to mind Arley knew the man in front of her. A young looking private no older than Roy stood behind the general and spoke to the blonde soldier next him.

"See?" The private had said, "It is Superman, I told you he wouldn't leave us out here alone."

Wally moved and so did Arley, the pair didn't hold hands in front of the cheering soldiers but the knuckles of Wally's gloved hand pressed against the knuckles of Arley's.

"I don't know," the second soldier said, "He looks kind of young, where's the cape?" Superboy turned.

"I'm not Superman," he said.

"I don't know who you are son and right now I don't care. You wear the 'S', and you got the job done." Superboy's shoulders hunched and he looked at the rubble beneath his feet. Arley was trying to place where she knew the general from.

"But I'm not Superman," Superboy said once more.

"Tell that to the enemy ." The general turned and saluted Aqualad as he approached, "General Wade Eiling, U.S Air force." And then it clicked, Arley stepped forward, the pads of Wally's fingers hooked and locked themselves against Arley's as their hands hung together behind her.

"Dozer?" She blinked and the general faltered, his brows knitted together.

"I haven't gone by that name in a long time ma'am, nor do I know anyone still alive that would know me by it."

"John did," Arley said and the general nodded, he looked at Arley and tipped his head back in disbelief.

"You're kidding me," The general breathed, "I almost didn't recognize you kid, it's been a while."

Arley, though she knew the general and John were good friends, had met the man only once after the debacle that had lead John to met the man in front of her; when Arley had met the general it'd been over lunch and John had introduced Arley to the general in front of her as his kid.

Dozer had looked at them funnily but hadn't commented on it; instead he had just eagerly shook Arley's hand.

"Almost four years right?" Arley asked rhetorically, she already knew the answer. Aqualad turned to Arley, his brows raised and Arley looked to her leader, with an explanation ready; "A few years ago John and some of the others—" Arley's throat tightened for a moment as she thought of the other fallen Justice League members, of her family, of Artemis, "—They went back in time, John met Dozer and his unit there."

"I wouldn't say met us," Dozer smirked, Arley nodded,

"Right, from what I was told he knocked you on your ass old man." The old man laughed, and though it felt wrong to hear at the moment Arley didn't move to stop the man, no one did. The general's eyes narrowed briefly for a moment and he nodded to nothing and to no one.

"You're Stewart's girl alright," the general said as if he were agreeing to something, "You certainly take after him." Arley felt her heart break in her chest at the mans words— Arley's father had been murdered right after her first birthday but her dad's had been dead not even several hours and the pain in her chest made the Lantern wonder how she could even breath —and though the Lantern stood tall at his praise, her throat tightened. She motioned to Aqualad.

"This is my team's leader, Aqualad." Aqualad stood straight as any soldier would, his arms behind his back, once more the General saluted the Atlantean.

"We're Justice League," Aqualad claimed, "We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' cannons as possible, then we start taking back what is ours."

...

The Hall of Justice was in ruin; it was broken and the water that reflected the golden statue in front of the hall was muddy and no longer crystalline as Arley remembered it being back in July. Humvee and soldiers littered the outside of the Hall while the general and a handful of privates that had followed from Capitol Hill stood inside with Arley and the rest of the team.

The statues of the founding Justice League members had crumbled and Arley looked up to what had once been a statue of Hal, next to her Wally looked mournfully at the statue of what had been his uncle.

Her dad's were dead and Arley couldn't do anything about it; she could move moons and rearrange solar systems if she tried hard enough but nothing she ever did would bring back Hal or John or Guy. Nothing would bring back Artemis or Dinah or Barry or Iris and yet Arley still wanted blood.

She wanted her family back; she wanted to protect the family she still had.

Arley wasn't a monster, she was a killer but not a monster and yet, in that moment Arley didn't care if she did have to do monstrous things; not if it meant stopping― ending ―the aliens who had taken her family from her.

Arley reached, over uncaring about the general or his men and if they saw, and grabbed Wally's hand in her own. She would protect him and Conner and M'gann and Dick and Kaldur. She'd find Roy and protect him too. She wouldn't be alone, not again; she would do what she needed to, go as far as she had to.

"They're really gone," Robin breathed as he looked at the half smashed face of Batman. Miss Martian floated over to the fallen bust of her uncle and she rested a hand against the stone face of the alien when she dropped, sobs racked her body before they stopped and Miss Martian floated away from the statue.

"Megs?" Arley breathed as she looked at the startled girl but the Martian ignored her and lifted the fallen bust of her uncle up into the air.

Martian Manhunter, the real Martian Manhunter was under the statue and he placed a hand in front of his face as the night's light shined onto him.

"Uncle J'onn!" Miss Martian beamed. The Martian girl flew to her uncle as the bust of the uncle was sat down on the ground away from the soldiers and the rest of the team with a wave of her hand but Aqualad stepped in front of her, one arm braced for an oncoming attack while the other motioned for the green girl to stay back.

"M'gann," Aqualad said through the mind-link, "Check his mind. Make sure he is who he appears to be."

M'gann nodded only to open her eyes a moment later, a watery smile on her face.

"It's him, he's real and he's alive!" Arley frowned, she had seen the Martian man die the same way she had seen John and Hal and Guy all die, the same way the rest of the team had watched their mentors and family die.

M'ganns slipped an arm under her uncle's shoulders as she slowly helped the Martian to his feet.

"But we saw you get disintegrated," Superboy said, "You, Superman, Guy, we saw you all get disintegrated."

"Yes I remember, but I cannot remember how I survived," Manhunter said as he cradled his head in his hands, "Or how I arrived here."

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you," M'gann supposed and though there was no other explanation Arley frowned at the Martian girl's feeble theory.

The ring on the Lantern's finger still burned.

Robin pointed at Manhunter and nodded, "Scrambling your brains along the way!"

"My mind is clouded," Manhunter said, but even he didn't seem to believe the explanation M'gann offered. "I feel certain I had something important to tell you."

Wally's eyes widened and his free hand thumped against his forehead.

"Hello Wally!" The speedster said though the mind-link, "Come on!" Robin and Arley turned to Wally, who tipped his head down and pressed his lips against Arley's— the Lantern sucked in a breath at the contact, still not used to the fact Wally wanted to kiss her or of the feeling of his lips against hers —before he let go of Arley's hand and turned. "Come on Rob!"

The masked boy shared a confused look with Arley before he followed the speedster out of the Hall of Justice and to the bio-ship, Arley moved to Superboy as Kaldur and M'gann talked to Manhunter. Conner looked at Arley, his arms were crossed over his chest.

"Are you okay?" Conner wondered kindly. Arley thought of lying but then she looked at who she was talking to— how could she ever expect Conner to come to her when he needed it if all she did was lie to him about her feelings —and shook her head.

"No, but I have to be right now, we have to be, at least until we can stop the aliens attacking us."

"And after we stop them?" Conner asked, Arley pressed her lips together and shrugged, she hadn't thought that far ahead because thinking past the hostile aliens defeat meant thinking of going back to Coast City, to an empty apartment with Hal's eight year old slippers waiting to be tripped over and a hall closet full of Guys clothing.

It meant being the only Green Lantern in sector two-eight-one-four. Arley's brows knitted together as a thought that should have crossed her mind much earlier in the attack hit her over the head with a lead pipe.

A metaphorical light bulb went off over the Lantern's head.

The girl gasped and Conners' hands flew out in front of him, they hovered over Arley's arms as he looked at the girl worryingly.

"Their rings," Arley breathed, Conner looked at Arley confused and she wrapped the clone in a tight hug before she turned and ran out of the Hall of Justices doors to where she saw Robin and Wally standing on top of a Humvee, soldier turned as Arley whipped open the Hall's front door— their guns pointed at her —only to relax when whey say it was the sprinting Lantern.

"Kid! Rob! They're alive!" Arley shouted a loud, Kid and Robin turned and Arley, using her powers, jumped and landed on the top of the Humvee with the two boys.

"Arley what are you talking about?" Robin asked and Arley waved her hands excitedly in front of her.

"When John and Hal and Guy, when they were hit with the aliens disintegration beams their rings didn't shoot off of their fingers and find new wielders and I know of only two things in the universe that can destroy a Green Lantern ring—" perhaps the aliens were unknown to the Guardians and perhaps that was a feat all in it of itself, but that didn't mean that the aliens they were facing had the power to render a Lanterns ring to dust "—And neither of those things is a disintegration beam meaning—" the holograph that hovered over Robins gauntlet beeped but both boys looked at Arley with wide unblinking eyes, "—That the rings are still on their fingers and that they're alive, they're all alive!"

Artemis wasn't dead, Arley knew it, she could feel it in her bones the same way she could feel her ring burning on her finger. Hal and John and Guy weren't dead; Barry and Iris and Dinah, they were alive.

"I knew it!" Wally cheered, he scooped Arley up in a hug with a laugh and spun her on top of the Humvee, he pointed at Robin's gauntlet, "The canon's giving off zanopenes, the same stuff that powers our zeta tubes! It doesn't disintegrate, it teleports!"

"Maybe but—" Robin tried to voice but Wally put Arley down and wrapped a shoulder around the boy wonders shoulders,

"—No maybes, they're all alive." A fleet of alien ships whirled above Arley and the two boys and the three hopped off of the Humvee and took cover behind the vehicle with two other soldiers.

"We're on our way," Aqualad said but Robin shook his head,

"Negative, we can't win this," the masked boy thought back. "Miss Martian camouflage the bio-ship." But as soon as the thought had left the boy's head to the bio-ship had been zapped with one of the teleportation beams the enemy had been using to steal the people and heroes of Earth.

Both M'gann and Manhunter dropped; Arley felt the wind get knocked out of her. Arley had used the Justice Leagues zeta-tubes before and the fraction of pain she had felt through the mind-link was nothing like she had ever experienced when using the Leagues favored method of travel.

"Babe?" Wally breathed worriedly, his arm around Arley.

"Go, we need to go, now," Arley gasped as she regained her breath, she grabbed Robin's cape in one hand and moved it so that the boy was between her and Wally, "Dozer!" Arley shouted at the general who had taken aim at the ships above, "Take point and lead everyone to the library, I got our six!"

The general, with a grunt, ducked and began to lead his men into the Hall, Wally and Robin followed after the men and women, and Arley followed a step behind the two boys as she used her ring to blast at the enemy ships above them. Arley barricaded the Hall doors with her ring when she has stepped through the threshold; not that the barricade would so much, most of the Hall, outside of the Library's doors, was made of glass. The general looked at the thick steel doors that separated what the public and what the League had access to.

"We're trapped," the man said just as the doors hissed opened.

"Maybe not," Aqualad said but before he could step forward into the Leagues base of operations the General put a hand on his shoulder, Dozer motioned to two of his men and the two soldiers took the lead as they ran forward as nothing more than cannon fodder.

M'gann had her uncle's arm around her neck and both the General and Aqualad ran two steps ahead of her; Arley and Wally and Superboy and Robin ran behind those four. Several soldiers ran behind them, protecting them.

"We can all zeta to the cave if you can grant us computer access to the tubes," Aqualad said to Manhunter as M'gann hobbled her uncle over to the Leagues floor to wall computer.

"I can only authorize one at a time," Manhunter said.

"Send the soldiers first," Aqualad told Manhunter but the General shook his head, his gun aimed at the door and whatever might have come through it. Arley could hear the gun fire of the soldiers that had been stationed in the hallways in order to slow the hostile aliens down.

"Belay that! You seven are assets we cannot afford to lose!"

Manhunter moved so that he stood in front of the zeta-tubes door, "Override," the Martian man spoke, "Martian Manhunter, zero-seven."

"Recognized, access granted." M'gann stepped up as her uncle stepped out of the way and the light that had scanned her uncle scanned her. "Miss Martian, B-zero-six." Robin stepped up next as M'gann went through the zeta-tube, like Manhunter and M'gann he too was scanned.

"Robin, B-zero-one." The Boy Wonder disappeared into the zeta-tube with a flash. Wally turned to Arley, a smile on his face,

"Ladies first." Nortz she loved him. Arley stepped up and the light scanned her,

"Green Lantern B-zero-two," and with a look over her shoulder at the boy she loved Arley walked into the zeta-tube and dematerialized only to materialize seconds later four hundred miles away.

...

Kaldur wasn't dead. Artemis wasn't dead. Hal and John and Guy, they weren't dead either; Nobody's dead.

That was what Arley had been repeating in her head since Manhunter had come through the zeta-tubes with a heavy look in his eyes. It was what the female sector Lantern clung to.

The private Superboy had let go before him was sedated in the infirmary with his leg wrapped and elevated; Arley and the others would get the man to a hospital after they had saved the world and the people they cared about most.

Manhunter sat on the Meeting Chamber table as Robin stood before the team, no one sat at the table and instead the four other remaining heroes crowded around their youngest member.

"Our next mission is clear if we believe the aliens to have been teleporting their victims—"

"—And we do," Wally interrupted Robin; the boy wonder turned to the speedster,

"—Then the only reasonable detention facility is here," Robin said and on the monitor an image of a large spaceship, the one that the League had first encountered in space. "Their mothership, atop what used to be Smallville." Robin turned to Manhunter.

"Does that ring any bells?" Manhunter shook his head, as he stood.

"No. I'm sorry."

"Superboy," Robin said with a pause, "You and Lantern will create a distraction."

"No!" M'gann cried, she looked between Arley and Superboy, "He's offering you both as sacrifices!" M'gann glared at Robin, and Wally bit his lip as he looked uncertainly at the younger hero, "Aqualad would never do that!"

"You're right," Robin breathed and with a heavy voice— one that sounded like a sneer —Robin looked at the alien girl, "Aqualad would sacrifice himself. A mistake that just cost us our leader. Superboy and Green Lantern are the two most likely to be perceived as threats, motivating the aliens to deploy."

"Worst case scenario is that Conner and I are teleported inside and we kick more ass in there then you guys do," Arley said but the Martian girl didn't look convinced. Arley grabbed M'gann's hands in her own and held them against the Lantern symbol on her chest. "Megs, I promise you nothing is going to happen to Conner, not on my watch."

Not again.

"It's what Superman would do," Superboy said through the mind-link and M'gann, defeated, closed her eyes.

"Okay," the Martian girl said with a sigh. She opened her eyes and looked to the younger human boy in front of her, "What's the plan?" The corners of Robin's lips tipped up wobbly as he smiled at M'gann.

"Kaldur was right. We have to let the people of the world know there's still hope."

...

Deep in the cave Roy and Zatanna and a young hero only Robin had heard of were preparing for battle while the team— what was left of it —stood in front of the camera in the Mount Justice Meeting Chamber. Robin had patched them into every satellite in the world so that everyone looking at the the news would be able to see them.

M'gann was the first to speak, "And though we know all seems lost, the one thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope."

"Hope survives because the battle is not over," Superboy said from behind the alien girl. "Not as long as even one of us is willing to fight."

"It doesn't matter how many fall," Wally said and his hand gripped Arley's tightly, she nodded. The young red head speedster breathed and Arley licked her lips. Her ring burned, it hadn't stopped since Artemis' capture, it had only seemed to get worse since Kaldurs'.

"For New heroes will always rise to carry on," she continued for Wally, "Bringing all their resources, their skills to defeat the enemy." Robin moved from behind Wally and Arley, he stood next to Arley.

"The people of Earth will survive this," Robin swore, "We will rebuild and we will thrive and we will never forget and never doubt that the Earth will never surrender."

...

The six of them; Arley, Kid Flash, Miss Martian and her Uncle Martian Manhunter and Superboy stood on a hill that had once overlooked the Midwestern town that had once been Smallville. The alien ship that had settled over the town looked eerily similar to a fruit.

Robin had turned to Miss Martian, "Stay close to J'onn," he told the girl as Wally and Arley hung back a few feet away in the brush of forest with Superboy and Manhunter. "He's still..." the boy wonder trailed off with a shake of his hands.

Robin turned to Arley and the others and he hesitated, he looked at Superboy and Arley and then to Manhunter. "First team, deploy."

M'gann and Manhunter took to the sky; the pair of them disappeared from the naked eye. Wally turned to Arley, his hands on her shoulders.

"Be safe?" He asked her and Arley pecked the speedsters mouth with her own. She would never get tired of being able to to that; Hal and John and Guy when she told them would make fun of her for being a sap and that they had totally told her so, but Arley was going to be able to tell them so no matter how much teasing they put her through she would be able to take it.

"Of course," Arley promised, "I have to be if I'm going to watch this doshers back," Arley used her head to motion to Superboy and the clone scoffed. Wally didn't smile and instead he wrapped Arley in a tight bone crushing hug, one she returned eagerly.

"Just come back to me, okay Glowstick?"

"Only if you do the same Genius Boy." And Arley detached herself from Wally; she pressed the palm of her hand against his cheek— the speedster, with his eyes closed, leaned into her touch —before she stepped back.

"Ready," M'gann's voice rang out, "In position."

Next to Arley, Conner smiled at something. Conner and Arley turned to Robin who looked at the two of them, the boy opened his mouth only for no sound to come out, his eyes focused on Arley for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Robin breathed, looking at her. "I've been a jerk to you these past few weeks! You're not a monster Arley, you're one of my best friends and I'm—" Arley grabbed the boy and pulled him into a fierce hug.

His words sounded far too much like a goodbye for Arley to be comfortable with. Arley had known Dick Grayson since she had been eleven years old and she knew from his heavy tone that the boy in front of her didn't expect to live through the night; her stomach twisted. Arley couldn't imagine waking up and not knowing that Dick Grayson was alive somewhere, happy. She wouldn't.

"I'm not mad Rob, I never was, there's nothing to forgive okay?" There were a million and seven things Arley wanted to tell the younger boy— he was her brother and she loved him and he was never, no matter what he did to her, going to make her hate him because family didn't hate each other —but they didn't have time. The masked boy nodded and Arley released him. "Be safe."

Arley pretended to ignore that Robin didn't nod and she grabbed Conner's hand.

"Ready?"

"What's it Guy says? I was born ready?" And though he had been made in a secret underground lab and grown in a test tube making the red headed Lantern's favorite catch phrase a moot point, Arley smiled. John had been right, the clone and Guy Gardner got along almost scarily well.

Arley and Superboy took off; the pair of them landed heavily on the top of the mothership and Superboy broke off a cannon, Arley formed a canon of her own, the construct was just as large as the one Superboy had ripped from the side of the ship.

"Careful!" Robin's voice rang out to Superboy, "Don't disconnect the power source."Superboy breathed and Arley's heart thumped loudly in her ears.

"Alright you glorified trespassers!" Superboy shouted, "You want to see how a real alien fights?"

The canon in the clone boys hand fired. It took out a canon and Arley fired her construct as a second and the pair fired in tandem taking out the ships defenses until the first attack ship flew by.

"Now or never!" Arley thought as her eyes kept to the sky. Arley thought about the Superboy next to her and she thought about how Dick was her brother as much as Conner was and how Dick hadn't sounded like he expected the fight to end the way she and Wally and M'gann all thought it was going to end. He had sounded like they were all going to die.

Wally's face flashed through her mind but Arley kept her eyes on the sky. Arley had been on battlefields before, she had fought and won wars before she had graduated middle school and the battle in front of her, the one she was about to engage in was no different then the ones she'd fought in before, because Arley was going to win.

Arley wouldn't die, not there, not in the ruins of some small no-name Midwestern town; the people she loved wouldn't die either, she wouldn't let them. No Arley and her friends were going to win, they were going to save the people they cared about most in the world, and they were going to take back their planet, there wasn't any other option.

"Hey Conner?"

"Yeah?" The words she wanted to tell him died in her throat; she wanted to tell the clone boy that she cared about him the way she cared about Dick and Kaldur and Roy, that we was her family as much as Hal and Guy and John were. But she didn't, instead she fired her canon up at a ship that had been spiraling over them and she grinned.

"I bet you a pizza from Pronto's that I take down more of these ships then you." Superboy smirked and fired his own canon.

"You're on," and he fired again. Arley fired at more ships and hit more then Superboy did but the clone boy constantly caught up to Arley's rising number of wins before she got too far ahead. They hadn't been fighting long, a few minutes at most, when a ship neither teen had seen flying towards them shot at them, blasting the two of the young heroes back.

The canon in Superboys hand fell off of the mothership and the canon Arley had constructed from her ring shattered as the pair managed to their feet. A different ship, Arley, saw over Connor's shoulder and took aim— Arley's ring grew hot enough that it reminded Arley of a star; it hurt —and as it fired Arley pushed the clone away, out of the line of fire.

The last thing, as she burned from the inside out— the heat from her ring spread up her arm and across her body; had this been what the Galra had felt as they burned —was Conner's horrified face.

The last thing she heard was the clone call out her name.

...

Arley was dead; the beam wasn't a zeta-beam like she and Wally had thought.

Arley had died and yet all she saw was green.

Everything was green.

Why couldn't Arley see?

Her eyes were open but all the girl saw was bright green.

You are not dead, not yet, A voice said.

Arley knew that voice, it was the voice that she had heard during the battle with the Injustice League but it was also more than that, she knew that voice from somewhere else, Arley knew she did. The name of who the voice belonged to was there, somewhere in her mind, but Arley's thoughts were clouded to make out just whose voice she was hearing.

But you will be, The voice said. You have to wake up now Arley, you have to fight! But Arley was up, her eyes were open, and yet all she could see was green. Why was the only thing Arley was green? Fight Arley! Your life is in danger! Your friends' lives are in danger! Do not give up now, wake up!

Arley frowned because if she wasn't up how could she wake up; how could she save her friends? How could she save herself?

If you wake up, they wake up. The voice said but how could Arley wake up when all she saw was green? It was like she was surrounded by a thick opaque construct; there were no doors or windows or vents, just green.

If you will it, it is my command. Green, all Arley saw was green; the Lantern breathed.

She didn't want to see green anymore. She wanted to wake up, she wanted to live. She wanted to save her friends, she wanted them to live. She didn't want to fight, not if she didn't have to but if fighting meant her friends would live to see another day then Arley would. If it was her family's lives on the line then Arley wouldn't just fight, she would win whatever challenges she had to.

She would, she had to. For Conner and Kaldur.

She had to wake up. For M'gann and Artemis.

Arley breathed. For Hal and John and Katma and Guy.

She needed to fight until her body no longer allowed her too. For Dick and Roy and Arisia.

She would fight. For Wally.

Arley closed her eyes and thought she still saw green from behind her eyelids. She knew she would wake up and she knew she would save her friends and she knew she would live and she would kiss Wally West once more. She would. She was going to.

...

Arley sat up with a gasp; the cool air rushing to her lungs burned as she sat up. She was green, the same way she had been the day before her birthday. Wolf rested his head in Conners lap and Artemis and Kaldur, both of whom were alive, sat up breathing just feet from Arley, and Wally looked up from the spot he was still laying down in and let out a loud sound, something between a laugh and sob.

"You're all alive!" M'gann cried as she sat up. Dick, sweating buckets, pushed himself up and Batman who hovered over Manhunter's shoulder looked between Arley and Manhunter.

"What happened in there?" The Dark Knight asked the Martian. Arley looked down at her glowing green knees and her glowing green hands and breathed through her nose.

If you will it, it is my command, the voice said again and like she had two weeks before Arley closed he eyes and imagined her own reflection as she willed herself back to normal the same way she would will a construct from her ring.

The line green nail polish on her fingertips was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. Her ring, cool against her finger, was the second. Wally moved from his table and Arley reached out to him before the speedster had even both of his feet on the floor, the boy, as soon as he had taken a step towards Arley, was already reaching for her hand.

"The exercise, it all went wrong," Manhunter said with a pained growl, his green hand was pressed against his left eye. Arley pulled Wally to her as soon as their hands met and the girl wrapped her arms around the boy's waist; Wally pressed a hard kiss to the top of Arley's head and she heard the speedster suck in a shaky breath as he clutched her tighter to himself. He held her in a way that screamed he was never going to let her go and who was Arley to argue with that?

She never wanted wanted to be let go of either.

"Exercise?" Dick repeated.

"Try to remember," Batman said to his young partner, "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew that going in, what you didn't know was that this was a train for failure exercise, that no matter what the team accomplished the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still you were all, to a degree, aware nothing was real. That included the deaths of the entire Justice League."

Arley shifted her weight so that her head was no longer buried in Wally's bony chest as she listened to the caped man. Arley thought back to the exercise and how when Hal and John and Guy had died she hadn't cried. She thought back to how though M'gann had looked upset at her uncle's death, she hadn't looked horrified, and she thought back to how none of her other teammates' half-baked reactions to their mentors' deaths seemed out of the ordinary.

Manhunter turned to Conner and Wolf, "That is why you hardly grieved even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes, but all that changed when Artemis died." Arley looked over at the archer whose head hung low as she looked idly at her hands. "Though Miss Martian knew it was not real her subconscious mind could not make that distinction and so the lines between reality and imagination were blurred and her subconscious took control making all of you forget too."

M'gann looked around the room, her voice soft. "I-I'm so sorry," the Martian girl apologized.

Arley looked between M'gann and Manhunter, and then down at her own ring which rested against Wally's fast-beating heart.

"This isn't her fault!" Conner shouted protectively as Wally moved so that Arley's back was to his chest, one arm was wrapped around her middle and his other was around her clavicle; both of Arley's hands covered his. "Why didn't you stop the exercise!"

"We tried but M'gann had a death grip on the scenario," Manhunter said, "Even Artemis who should have awakened upon her death was so convinced that she had passed that she—" Manhunter cut himself off, he breathed with a shake of his head, "—I realized I would have to rest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within, but upon entering the reality I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much noise to think clearly, to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy and the Green Lantern helped but it was only when the mothership exploded and Kid Flash and Robin were silenced did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose. To shock M'gann out of the exercise before any damage became permanent."

M'gann turned away from the team.

"My apologies, I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous, so damaging," Manhunter said before he had turned to leave only for Wally to look up at the Martian man, his grip on Arley tightened almost painfully for a split second.

"Artemis what?" Wally demanded to know. "What happened to Artemis after she thought she died? You stopped yourself before you told us."

"She began to truly die, Aqualad too. You all did," Manhunter said grimly, not looking at the team. Artemis looked up, alarmed. M'gann let out a sob as her hand clasped over her mouth and the alien girl crumbled into Captain Marvel was close enough to catch her.

"Then why aren't we dead?" The archer demanded to know, Manhunter looked to Arley but it was Batman who answered; though at first Batman didn't look at Arley, he looked at Dick.

"The moment Artemis died, Green Lantern began to glow the way she had that night in Louisiana," Batman said, he slowly turned to Arley. "You connected yourself to Artemis with a construct and kept her alive in a coma like state, you did the same with Kaldur after he thought he had died. Even after you, yourself had died you continued to connect to the rest of your teammates, keeping them alive." Arley blinked blankly at the Dark Knight, "Do you know how?"

Arley shrugged, her mind reeling. "I just, I didn't want to die, I didn't want my friends to die, and the voice—"

"—What voice?" Batman demanded to know and Arley opened and closed her mouth, a single word balanced itself on the tip of her tongue as an answer as she tried to search her brain for a different answer. "What voice Lantern?"

"I don't—" Arley shook her head but Batman's lips pressed together; the answer Arley had to offer wasn't an answer that made any sense. Wally's grip tightened around her as he pulled her tighter to himself.

"—You heard a voice whose voice was—"

"—My ring!" Arley shouted, cutting the caped crusader off, "The voice I heard belonged to my ring and my ring spoke to me after I thought I died, it said as long as I willed it that it could do it and I wanted to save my friends so the ring saved my friends!"

Once the words were out of her mouth they made sense and yet Arley's own explanation led the girl to more questions. The team looked at Arley and Arley looked down at her ring. The rings were weapons, they weren't supposed to be sentient so why had Arley's ring spoken to her? Why had it saved her life and kept her friends alive after they should have died?

What was on her finger?