Chapter Twenty-Three — Coldhearted
"You can love a monster, it can love you back, but it doesn't change it's nature."
It was still dark out when Arley Gluck arrived in front of the West household the morning of Wally Wests sixteenth birthday; snow had piled up high along the Central City streets and Arley— in the thick red scarf she had recently bought the last time she and the other girls on the team went shopping and her knitted Green Lantern snow-cap and the lilac bubble jacket Hal had bought for her after her last growth spurt —tucked the poorly wrapped present in her hands under her arms as she knocked on the door.
The thick gloves Arley was wearing may have protected her knuckles from the door but they did nothing to protect the girl from the cold; Arley flexed her fingers as she lowered her hand and moved her weight from side to side.
Mary West, wearing her I've got a knife apron, answered the door and beamed at a shiftily dancing Arley. Arley loved Southern California not just because it got her out of Gotham but because it almost always got her away from the snow.
"Arley-hon the door was open, why didn't you just come in?" Mary West asked as she moved to the side so Arley could stumble into the house.
"Probably cause that's breaking and entering Mrs. West and, uh, in case you forgot I am a hero," the Lantern said; Arley shook her head as she tried to shake off the snow that had settled on her hat and in her hair.
"And in case you forgot hon," Mary West said as she took the gift Arley had tucked under her arms away from the young girl, "This is your home too."
Arley took off her jacket as she stamped her feet and with the jacket over her arm she used her free hand to unwind her scarf. Arley smiled at the woman and peaked into the kitchen, she waved at Rudy West.
"Hey Mr. West!"
"Hey Arley!" The banker said as he red the front page of the paper, Arley could tell from the front page of the Central City Times the story Mr. West was reading was about Barry and Wally both stopping Capetian Boomerang who had tried to pull off a heist at the local art museum the day before.
Arley looked at Mrs. West as she stuffed her hat, gloves and scarf into her jacket pockets, "Wally's still asleep?"
"It's before seven, what do you think?" Mary West chuckled as she passed Arley back Wally's present and took Arley's coat only to hang it on the coat rack behind her.
"Right-can I go wake him up?"
"Of course you can, I was just about to send Rudy up there; breakfast is almost ready so I hope you're hungry."
"Starving," Arley said as she toed off her sneakers, "Hal and I kept putting off grocery shopping because the last time we brought Guy he almost got into a fight with the owner's son in the parking lot."
"Oh?" Mary West blinked,
"No, it's okay Guy was completely in the right, the owners son made a pass at Carol-she'd come with us because she needed to go grocery shopping too, but like he was a total jerk when Carol told him she wasn't interested so Guy told him if he was going to act like a punk he could have his ass kicked like a punk too and everything sort of spiraled from there after that." Guy and the owners son hadn't fought in the end if only because Carol had gotten into the middle of them and put on such an entitled upper-class kind of act that not only had Arley almost injured herself from trying not to laugh but the manger who was working at the time had given them their cold cuts for half price.
"Good for Guy," Mary said with a firm nod as she walked by Arley, Arley moved to go up the staircase only for Mary West to pivot on her heel; "Oh Arley?"
Arley paused on the first step, "Yes?"
"Door stays open," Mary West said with a mischievous grin and Arley's face bloomed red.
"Yes ma'am," Arley squeaked before she ran up the stairs and onto the second floor.
The West household was somewhere Arley practically lived when allowed; she could have gotten through the house blindfolded if she needed to, it was why she didn't mind walking down the dark second floor hallway to Wally's room.
Arley slowly opened the speedsters room; the room was dark sans the dim light streaming in from the window over Wally's bed; a de-skinned Furby Wally had taken apart to soft-hack sat on the teenagers desk next to his still scattered tools and pictures of Arley and Wally or of Wally and Dick or of Wally and the other people he cared about littered the boys walls, as did posters of bands and wrestlers and scantily clad women.
Arley grinned as she tip-toed into the room— she left the door open behind her —and she put one of the two presents she'd gotten Wally next to the boys bed as she kneeled on the edge of the speedsters mattress and looked down at him; he was turned on his side facing her.
"Wally," Arley cooed softly, as she ran her fingers through his hair; her nails softly scraped against the boy's scalp and Wally— still asleep —let out a content sounding hum. "Come on Handsome," Arley said, "It's time to wake up."
A hand reached up, out of the covers and grabbed Arley's wrist; Wally turned and pulled Arley— so that with a yelp —the Lantern ended up next to him, wedged between the wall and the speedster.
Wally's emerald eyes fluttered open and the speedster smiled.
"Morning," Wally said softly. The speedster dropped Arley's wrist and placed his hand on her hip, Arley cupped the boys cheek and beamed; Wally beamed just as bright right back at her.
"Happy birthday," Arley hummed, Wally leaned in and pressed his lips to Arley's and the girl, as her eyes fluttered shut, pulled the red head closer as she deepened the kiss, Wally's nails bit into the fabric of Arley's shirt and the Lantern shuttered as she pulled away for a breath of air.
Kissing Wally West hadn't gotten old in the least.
Wally pulled Arley back to him and he moved so that as he hovered over Arley, he could place his recently uncasted arm besides her head, his tongue swept out and along the girl's lower lip. Arley opened her mouth as she wrapped both arms around the speedsters neck; Arley's fingers ran over the hair at the nape of Wally's neck and the speedster kicked off his blanket as he turned to lean over Arley, their legs tangled together.
Arley had spoken to Artemis and M'gann enough about kissing to know more then just what her instincts told her; the girl unwrapped her arms from around her boyfriends neck and instead curled her hands into the fabric of his night shirt as she pulled back from Wally— the speedster let out a whine as she did so —and began to pepper kisses along the red heads face and down his jaw. Wally lifted his chin up as Arley kissed down the column of his throat only to settle at the dip right before his collarbone.
Arley had never given a hickey before and according to M'gann it was impossible to leave one on a Kryptonian but Artemis had once told the Lantern giving someone a hickey was more than just sucking on them like a tic.
So Arley let her teeth scrape over the teens pale skin before she laid her tongue flat against the abused skin. Wally let out a whimpered moan, one that made Arley's blood turn to liquid fire.
"Ki—oh!" Arley pushed Wally off of her and onto the floor; the speedster let out a loud cry as he hit the carpet under his bed and with wide eyes and a tomato red face Arley looked at the pinkened face of Rudy West.
"Hey dad," Wally said bashfully. Rudy West kept his eyes locked to the top of his blue slippers.
"Happy birthday Wally, your mother says breakfast if ready."
"Right," Wally said as he sat up; Arley had taken to looking at the green blanket Wally had kicked to the end of the bed.
"I'll just—"
"—Please," Wally nodded and Rudy West scurried away from the door. Arley rolled over and buried her face into Wally's pillow as she thought about how all four fathers between her and Wally had managed to catch them kissing. Wally rested his chin on his mattress.
"Kill me," Arley said into the pillow, "Please, I beg you, just end it."
"I'm not going to kill you," Wally said, "Besides it's not like my dad saw anything bad, we kiss all the time."
Arley lifted her head and turned so that only half her face was pressed against the speedster pillow.
"Yeah but he saw me, you know-giving you a hickey, so if you could just smother me before we have to go downstairs that'd be great." Wally laughed.
"Babe," Wally said, "I'm not going to smother you on my birthday."
"But any other day?" Arley asked and with a sarcastic nod Wally held a thumbs up,
"Totally, any other day except for my birthday I'd kill you however you want. I mean being a convicted killer might make being a hero hard but for you, Babe, I'd do it." Arley couldn't help but giggle.
"Thanks, you're so sweet."
"You're welcome." Wally stood, "Now my dad said breakfast was ready meaning I have to change, so if you don't want him to really walk in on something—" Arley constructed a pillow from her ring when Wally's eyebrows wiggled and hit Wally in his left shoulder with it.
"—I hate you!" Arley laughed and Wally, laughing loudly, put his hands up in front of him as Arley's construct went to hit him again.
"Come on, it's my birthday-no constructs!"
...
"Happy birthday, Wally," Mary West said as she put a plate full of french toast down on the table in front of the speedster.
"Thanks mom!" Wally said as he eyed the table full of food, Arley rolled her eyes at the speedster as he licked his lips, "It's my favorite!"
"Wally it's every breakfast food imaginable," Arley snorted; because next to the French toast was sausages and next to those were a plate of fried chicken and further down the table there were pancakes and several different types of eggs.
"Heaping piles of everything is my favorite Babe," Wally said as he poked his tongue out in Arley's direction. The Lantern didn't hesitate to return the favor.
"Play nice you're at the table," Mary West said with a chuckle as she looked at the two teens.
"Yes mom," Wally said innocently before he drove his fork forward and snatched several sausages off of the plate they were on and a half dozen pieces of French toast off the plate Mary West had just brought to the table.
Arley grabbed a piece of chicken and two sausages and a single pancake; all of which she piled high onto her own plate.
"You know," Rudy West said with still pink cheeks, "If you ever come up for air I can take you to the DMV after school to get your driver's license. This weather will be a good proving ground."
Wally hummed as she stuck half of a boiled egg in his mouth, when he swallowed he twirled his fork as he spoke; "Not really in a big rush to drive dad, cause you know I'm me."
Rudy West smiled behind his paper as he flipped the page, "You certainly are."
"Plus the teams throwing me a surprise party this afternoon in the Cave," Wally added and Arley hung her head,
"When you get to the cave can you do me a favor and just act surprised? Dick will never let me live it down if he know I let it slip." Technically while the team knew Arley almost never kept stuff from Wally— sans her own feelings —the Lantern knew Dick Grayson would be old and grey and on his deathbed before he let Arley live down the fact Wally had managed to find out whether or not the team was or wasn't throwing him a surprise party simply by giving her a puppy-dog like look.
Aniell was right, when it came to Wally West— Arley Gluck wasn't some strong willed warrior like she'd been taught to be —she was a pushover at best and a sixteen year old girl with the backbone of a chocolate éclair at worst.
"Sure thing babe," Wally said as he poured a waterfall of syrup onto the pancakes he had piled onto his plate.
"Hey Wally, in school today ask your teacher the meaning of the word surprised."
"You want to know the meaning of surprise?" Wally laughed, "Just wait until I tell Conner you can transfer birthday punches-I bet Dick will look surprised when Conner gets him, I mean do you know how hard it is to surprise him?"
Managing to surprise Dick Grayson was probably just one wrung under managing to surprise Batman himself; it was something every member in the Justice League had tried to do and something almost every member in the Justice League had failed to do.
No one who had been there would tell Arley or Dick or any of the other sidekicks anything other then it had been Wonder Woman who surprised Batman; no one outside of the Dark Knight, Superman, Wonder Woman and Manhunter knew the how the Amazonian Princess had done it or the what she had done, just that she had somehow managed to surprise Batman.
Hal still pestered the Amazonian over the details on what had happened.
"Trust me when I say boy wonder was hard to surprise before Bruce's training kicked in, I blame the circus." Wally snorted as he began to butter two pieces of toast and start to build himself an egg and bacon sandwich.
"Speaking of surprises I have a surprise for you-or well, your aunt does," Mary West said as she turned on the living rooms television from her seat at the table.
"—And a special birthday shout-out to my nephew Wally, everyone here at GBSNews is wishing him a very happy sixteenth birthday."
"So cool!" Wally grinned.
"Now on for school closures," Iris said from the television screen the same Arley's ring beeped; a tiny holographic image of Hal appeared. Arley's brows knitted together as she looked at her adoptive father; while it was only a quarter past seven in Central City it wasn't even six back on the West Coast and Arley knew Hal, on his days off, had a habit of sleeping in.
All Lanterns did because despite the early bird habit they picked up from boot camp Green Lanterns were perpetually jet lagged and while it was something Arley and the rest of her fellow Corpsmen dealt with, it was also something they had to manage and sometimes that meant sleeping sixteen hours straight when the universe didn't need them.
"Hey Hal!" Wally called as his mother paused the television.
"Happy birthday Wally!" Hal said but his voice was gruff and the light tone that he had tried to force out fell flat.
"Hal?" Arley wondered.
"There's been a breakout," Hal said.
Wally straightened in his seat and both of his parents, Mary and Rudy leaned forward as they gawked at the tiny holographic Hal that spoke. It wasn't the first time they had seen Hal or Arley or any other Lantern they knew use their rings to communicate but no matter how many times Arley— or Hal or any other Lantern who knew the West family —used her ring in front of Mary and Rudy West both parents eyes always seemed to grow.
"At the science cells?' Hal shook his head,
"Prison planet." Alarms went off in Arley's head,
"Who got out?"
"Despero," Hal said. Arley clenched her jaw; Despero was a large purple alien warlord who had the ability to control people's minds, John and Katma had put away three years ago after they had found Despero acting as a Cult leader on the planet Kalanor.
"You're kriffing kidding me right?" Arley demanded to know; how had the Lantern in charge of the Prison Planet managed to screw up so badly that the three eyed demon warlord had gotten out, Despero was a level five threat that wasn't supposed to have been taken lightly.
"Kid he wasn't the only one," Hal said, "Sinestro and some alien named Atrocitus got out too."
"The Guardians do they need us-I mean," her eyes flickered over to Wally who set his fork down on his plate and reached over to Arley; the speedster squeezed Arley's hand and smiled kindly at her. If she needed to run he wouldn't hold it against her; duty had called after all.
She smiled thankfully at him.
"Most of us actually are going to try to find them."
"Alright," Arley nodded, "Send me your location and I'll be right there," Arley said, Hal shook his head.
"No," Hal said, "No way the Guardians and I, we don't want you anywhere near this."
"Why the hell not?" Arley snapped angrily; she was used to not being picked first for certain missions, she knew as a human she stood out across the galaxy so unlike Katma or most other Lanterns she could never go undercover and she knew that as the youngest of the four sector Lanterns, despite being the second to get her ring, the Guardians often doubted her skill but two of her sector partners greatest mortal enemies had somehow broken out of what was supposed to be the most secure prison in the universe.
It shouldn't matter if she stuck out in space like a sore thumb or if the Guardians thought of her as the least skilled, she should be out on the front lines like she had been taught to do, with her family.
"Arley!" Hal snapped back,
"I'm a Lantern too Hal, just cause everyone thinks I'm still some kid—"
"—You are still a kid Arley," Hal said, "You're mine and Johns kid, and Sinestro and Despero would-Arley," Hal said, his voice strained, "They would torture you before they killed you just to get at me and John."
"If they managed to get their hands on me, Hal, with Aniell we could kick their asses and be back in time for Wally's birthday dinner tonight!"
"Aniell is the reason the Guardians don't want you out there; all three of the prisoners were level five Arley. Besides when I said the Guardians want most of us I meant that, they're calling most of the Honor Guard off Oa. Ganthet and Appa-Ali-Apsa want you to stay on Earth on call encase any of them mange to get past us and get to Oa." Arley slumped down in her seat.
"I should still be with you guys," she said, "You're all going."
They were leaving her behind to fight.
"We are, and we're all coming back okay? The Guardians gave us a week at most before we're all sent back to our sectors and a special team is sent out to locate and capture them but until then-and I mean it Arley," Hal said sternly, "Stay on Earth unless the Guardians call you."
"What about patrol?"
"No, you can patrol the Earth but that's it, I don't need you attacked in space without any back up because you were trying to get to the Hall of Great Service, or because you wanted to make sure those pirates in Arsia's sector didn't cross into ours."
Arley hated it, she hated being left behind and she hated being unable to do the one thing she knew best.
"Fine," Arley said, "But you all call me, every day-or well," Arley amended because there was no real concept of time in the endless void that was space, "I'll call you and you all better pick up, okay or I'm flying out there and I'll make you all answer, okay?"
"Okay," Hal said, "Love you kid."
"I love you too, and seriously Hal, stay safe, I am way too young to be Sector Leader."
"Noted," Hal said, "Jordan out." And with that the Lantern's tiny holographic image faded and Arley brought her fist down onto the table; Wally caught his glass of orange juice before it tipped over the edge of the table.
"Ars?" Wally asked softly, but Arley shook her head and pressed her lips together, his mother pressed play on the remote and Iris West's voice started to list off the schools in the area that were closed.
"Sinestro and Despero, they're cocky and they'll be caught and this third alien, I mean what kind of name is Atrocitus? It's stupid, he'll probably be the first of them to get caught."
"So today's list of schools that have called for a closure are Dubgue Elementary—"
"Babe—"
"—Spiesac Junior High—"
"—Wally I said I was fine," Arley breathed, she forced a toothy grin on her face, one that didn't sit right, "Besides it's your birthday, you're meant to be having a great time, not worrying about intergalactic criminals."
"I'm not," Wally said with a cheesy smile, "I'm worrying about my girlfriend, that's totally different."
A more genuine smile warmed its way onto Arley's face.
"—Both Keystone and Central City high schools—" Wally smiled as his ears perked up at the name of his high school on the closed list.
"Well don't," Arley said kindly. "I'm fine," she lied, "Besides with school closed you should be more worried about me kicking your butt at Super Mario Brothers, Conner and I have been practicing thank you."
Wally paused for a second; Arley could tell he knew she was deflecting and that she wanted to move on, away from the conversation about the Corps and the escaped alien convicts. The speedster grinned as he sat back in his seat,
"You and Supey may have been practicing babe," Wally said with a flirty glint in his eyes, "But there's no way you can beat me."
"We'll see Genius Boy-we'll see."
...
Arley and Wally were curled up on the West family couch; there was three hours left before what was supposed to be Wally's surprise party and the two teens had given up on video games after Arley's sixth loss in a row and instead had popped in the movie UP.
Wally's back was against the couch and Arley's back was to him as they cuddled together Rudy West had left for his job at the bank hours ago and Mary West, a teacher who had also gotten the day off, could be heard in the kitchen talking on the phone.
"I know you don't want to talk about it but if you want to you can," Wally said into Arley's ear; the Lantern shrugged.
"I don't want to bring you down, it's your birthday."
"Then tomorrow?" Wally asked, "When it's not my birthday?"
Probably not, she didn't want to weigh him down with the thoughts in her mind.
"Maybe," Arley muttered and Wally pulled her more securely against his chest. Arley felt the speedster press a kiss to the back of her head and she leaned even further back against him.
...
Due to the icy roads and the worsening snow storm in the sky, Arley and Wally had taken the Central City zeta-tube to the Justice League's first secret sanctum, and because Wally had let the Lantern enter the old phone booth the League used to zeta heroes to and from Central City before him that meant the Lantern arrived at the Mount Justice Cave first.
"Recognized Green Lantern; b-zero-two."
The lights in the hallway just outside the zeta-room were off as Arley stepped out of the zeta-tube, the computer loudly announced her arrival to the hidden member's of the team.
"Recognized Kid Flash; b-zero-four. Zeta tube network now offline due to extreme atmospheric conditions." Wally and Arley looked at the darkened zeta-tubes and then at each other.
"Whoa!" Wally said, "I guess we made it just in time."
"Please I would have gotten us here, even if I had to fly a glowing green snowplow through the sky," Arley said as she slipped off her hat and began to unwind her scarf from around her neck.
"You know that would fulfill my dream of being Santa Claus," Wally joked as he and Arley began to walk down the dark hallway towards the caves living room.
"Since when have you dreamed of being Santa Claus?" Arley laughed,
"Always! I mean the Big-Man's totally got it made, he's got super-speed, because how else could he deliver a present to all the Catholic and Christian households in the world, he's got an endless supply of cookies and a a totally rocking girl-oh wait," Wally flirted as he stopped walking and grabbed Arley's hand; stopping the Lantern from continuing on as well. "You know now that I think of it, I might already be Santa."
Arley bit her tongue for a moment to stop from laughing; just because her boyfriend was a flirt didn't always mean he was the best flirt. Arley wanted to see where this went.
"Oh really now?"
"Yeah I mean I have the speed and with Miss M around always wanting to try new recipes I totally have an endless supply of cookies and well I definitely have a rocking girl." Wally had used smoother lines but nonetheless Arley's heart melted in her chest as she looked at the speedster.
"You are so cheesy sometimes it almost hurts, you know that?" Arley asked.
"Yeah but you love me for it," Wally grinned. She did, Arley loved Wally West for a million and one reasons; one of them was that the speedster was probably the biggest cheeseball on the planet.
"Yeah," Arley said, she sighed, "Part of me wants to take you to the library and make out with you on the love seat in there just so I can show you how much I do love your cheesiness, but another, bigger part of me knows I should get you to the living room or face Rob and M'ganns wrath's."
"Living room probably," Wally said as he pressed a quick kiss to the tip of Arley's nose, 'I mean," the speedster said as they continued to walk, "It would be such a tragedy if I missed my own—"
"—Surprise!" There was a large banner hanging between the kitchen and living room; there were multiple, colorful balloons that littered the floor and the air; some of which had insults on them that ranged from You were an accident to Happy fucking birthday.
Behind the beaming team, next to Red Tornado in his usual Flash uniform, Barry Allen stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
'Wh-at?" Wally pretended to act surprised, Arley met the boy's uncles gaze as she smiled and rolled her eyes at the red heads' terrible theatrics, "Oh you guys, you shouldn't have."
"Right," Dick said with an eye roll of his own as he walked over to the speedster, "It's not like you haven't been hinting for days or anything." The two teen boys embraced in a tight hug and when they pulled away from each other Dick peeked up at Arley from over the bridge of his glasses. "And it's not like Lantern over here didn't spill the beans again."
"I-that was-Flash opened his mouth just as much as I have!" Arley said petulantly as she pointed at the older speedster. Barry's mouth fell open as he looked at the Lantern betrayed, the girls teammates snickered as they each greeted the teen boy with a hug.
"You know GL there's a difference between throwing someone under the bus and dragging them there," Barry told the Lantern dryly.
"I know," Arley said with a faux-sweetness in her voice, "And I didn't throw or drag you under the bus, I pushed you there."
Barry hung his head; Arley could have sworn the older speedster had said something about her being just like Hal but before Arley could truly process the words M'gann had her hand in hers as Dick and Kaldur playfully pushed Wally to the floor in front of the food filled coffee table.
Dick plucked a red zippo lighter out from the utility belt he kept wrapped around his chest and began to light the candles on both the cupcake and the two cakes M'gann had baked.
The team began to sing; Tornado tone was monotone as it always was, and Artemis mumbled the words to Happy birthday as Dick and Barry, both trying to be louder than the other, screamed-sung each word in the song.
"You guys seriously made two cakes?" Arley laughed once the song was over and Wally scooted closer to the table.
"Yeah I know, what will you eat?" Wally joked as he and his uncle high-fived. M'gann smiled at both speedsters,
"We'll share the cupcake," she told Wally, "Now make a wish." Wally peaked over at Arley and then at the candle, the speedster looked up at M'gann.
"Way ahead of you," Wally said as he blew out all sixteen candles. Arley and the rest of the team— along with the two League members who were joining them —cheered and clapped.
Dynamite by Taio Cruz, the song that was constantly on the radio began to play lowly throughout the cave.
"Hey Arley can you settle something between me and Conner?" Artemis wondered as M'gann leaned forward to cut the first slice of cake. The Lantern turned away from her boyfriend and the Martian girl and looked at the archer.
"Yeah?"
"So Wally," M'gann wondered, "What'd you wish for?"
"Would you rather give up all drinks except for water or would you rather give up anything that's cooked in an oven?" Arley blinked; she looked between the clone boy and the archer.
"If I told you," Wally said, "Then it wouldn't come true."
"I'm sorry, what? How-why was this question asked?" Artemis shrugged,
"After we managed to set everything up we got bored waiting for you and Baywatch to detach from each others mouths for more than five minutes," Artemis answered with a twisted grin and the Lantern threw the blonde girl an unimpressed look, the same kind of unimpressed look they had all seen Black Canary wearing at one time or another.
"Conner what did you choose?" Arley wondered as M'gann handed Wally the first slice of cake. The slice was large and slightly less than a quarter of the cake.
"Not-uh," Artemis said before the clone could answer, she wagged her finger in Arley's direction, "No choosing Conners answer just 'cause I made a joke, you pick and then we tell you who you agree with."
Arley sighed loudly; though she grinned as she did so. The song playing in the background changed to Lady Gaga's Alejandero.
"Alright fine, what was the question again?"
"Would you rather give up all drinks except for water or would you rather give up everything that's cooked in an oven?" Conner repeated and Arley narrowed her eyes as she thought about her answer.
"Babe?" Still thinking, Arley turned and Wally held out a slice of cake for her. Arley pecked the space between his thick red brows,
"Thank you," Arley said as she grabbed a fork off the coffee table and took a bite out of the cake M'gann had made; Arley saw stars for a moment after the cake had hit her tongue. Arley looked at Artemis,
"The water thing," Arley answered, "This cake is better than crack."
Conner let out a laugh before he— for a second —began to choke on the bite of cake he had taken a bite of and Artemis beat the clones back until his coughing subsided.
"Thanks for the help," Conner said to Arley, the Lantern pointed her fork at Artemis,
"You had Arty, you were good." Artemis, with a smile, rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest as she pretended to pout in Arleys direction.
"What do you know about crack anyways?" Artemis muttered, "You don't do drugs."
"You don't know what I do when I'm on my own!" Arley declared wildly; Wally chuckled and leaned carefully onto the coffee table as he looked at Arley and Artemis and Conner.
"And please do tell babe, what drugs are those?" Wally wondered, "You don't even like dealing with people's second hand smoke."
"Well nobody likes dealing with second hand smoke, it's rancid," Arley said, "And I dunno, drugs?" Arley said blandly with a grin curled around the ends of her lips, "Like all of them."
"Right of course, sorry I forgot you're the Leagues King-Pin hookup," Wally said sarcastically and Arley nodded.
"Exactly." M'gann wandered over away from Kaldur with a napkin in her hand and pink cheeks, the Martian girl handed the clone boy the napkin.
"You have a little something," M'gann said pointing to the corner of Conners mouth, instead of whipping it off or taking the napkin from her Conner simply leaned forward and almost shyly M'gann raised the napkin in her hand to dab at the smeared icing that dotted the corner of the clone boys mouth.
"You know," Wally said quietly to Artemis and Arley, "Miss M and Supey would make a pretty cute couple."
Arley and Artemis shared a look before both girls burst out into giggles.
"What?" The speedster asked.
"Let me tell him," Artemis begged and Arley waved the archer on; Artemis leaned over the Lantern and whispered into the speedsters ear; "They wouldn't make a cute couple, Baywatch because they are a cute couple."
Wally's head jerked back, "Seriously?"
"Congratulations you're officially the last to know," Artemis smirked. Wally turned to Arley,
"You knew!"
"I was the first to find out actually," Arley said, "Back in Biayla while I nearly bled to death those two had their tongues shoved down the others throat."
M'gann let out an embarrassed squeak as Artemis and Wally both laughed at the two aliens.
"We did not!" Conner said a pink face.
"Attention, team," Batmans voice said over the caves intercom system. Arley and the rest of the team, the Flash and Red Tornado as well, looked up at the ceiling, "Suit up. Polar stealth, mission briefing in five."
...
Green Lantern uniforms could change; the Lantern wearing it could will the uniform to look however they wanted but what did not change— no matter how the uniform looked —was the green and black coloring. So as the rest of the team was suited up in white Arley sat in the Mount Justice caves Meeting Chamber in her usual, standard issue green and black Lantern uniform as they looked at Batmans face on the large computer monitor.
"Where's Flash?" Wally wondered as he looked around the room.
"Flash and Red Tornado already have their assignments," Batman answered, Arley could hear thunder rumble in the background on Batman's end. "A massive ice storm has paralyzed North America from coast to coast. Satellite imagery has detected five flying ice fortresses—" a picture of what Arley could only guess were the flying ice fortresses appeared in the corner of the screen, "—The source unknown which seems to be responsible and must be stopped."
"Well can't the Watchtower blow them out of the sky or something?" Wally wondered.
Arley's eyes shut as Batman sucked in a sharp breath of air over the monitor.
"What's a Watchtower?" Zatanna wondered, Batman didn't answer so Arley raised her hand to;
"It's the Leagues orbiting headquarters."
"And it is not weaponized," Batman said as he looked at Wally, "And with three out of four of the Earth's Green Lanterns off-world I need all hands on deck."
Dick used his forearms to push himself forward as he leaned farther across the table excitedly; "Does that mean what I think it means? The League and the team fighting side by side?"
"Whoa!" Wally gasped, "Really!"
"Superboy use the Supercycle to rendezvous with the Batplane at Ice Fortress one; you'll drop off Robin and Aqualad then continue on with Green Lantern and Wolf to meet up with Black Canary at Ice Fortress two. Miss Martian, Artemis, and Zatanna, take the bio-ship and rendezvous with Green Arrow and Manhunter at Ice Fortress three, other Leaguers will deal with fortresses four and five."
Arley frowned.
She looked to her left and Wally frowned at her. If she and Superboy were going to be taking down the second ice fortress while Robin and Aqualad were going to be dealing with the second, and then Miss Martian, Zatanna and Artemis were all going to be attacking the third then what would Wally be doing?
"Sending all coordinates now," Batman said, Wally raised his hand.
"Uh, Batman?" Wally called out, "I think you skipped—"
"—Kid Flash," Batman said cutting the speedster off, "A young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant and with all conventional traffic grounded by the storm you'll need to pick up the donor heart in Boston and run it three thousand miles across the country."
"Who's the girl?" Wally asked, Batman's cowl shifted as he raised a brow.
"Does it matter?" Wally's shoulders dropped.
"No, of course not," Wally said, "But can't we zeta—"
"—Zeta-tubes are offline," Dick said, "Sorry."
"Right," Wally said with a rueful grin, "Then how can I not." The speedster looked down at his uniform, "I guess I won't be needing stealth." Wally hit the symbol on his chest and the white of his uniform began to bleed yellow and red.
"Speedy delivery boy at your service." Batman nodded.
"Batman out." And after the Dark Knight moved on his end of the line and hit a button the large Meeting Chamber computer monitor faded black. The team began to stand from their seats and Arley placed a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder.
"They'll be other team-ups," Arley said comfortingly.
Wally looked up at her with a half smile,
"I know, I just-how cool would it be to fight side by side with the entire League on my birthday?" Very, it would have been very cool but Arley knew that wasn't something she could just say to the speedster so instead she quickly wracked her brain for something else to say.
"You fight by your uncles side all the time and you've fought side by side with Bats and Hal and John and Aquaman and Arrow before too, so really you're not missing out on much."
"I guess." Arley raised her hand from Wally's shoulder and cupped the speedsters cheek.
"Hey look, in six hours we're going to have saved the world and me, you and Rob are going to be at your place with your parents and your aunt and uncle and we're going to be eating that birthday roast beef your mom makes every year-and you and me? We're going to kick Robs ass at Super Mario Bros and, okay so I doubt after this morning your dad is going to let me crash at yours, but I bet I can be persuaded to sneak back in," Arley said and Wally couldn't help but grin at her.
"Yeah?"
"Of course." Wally stood and he loomed over Arley; he put both of his hands on her shoulders and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.
When he pulled back he looked at Arley, "Be safe?"
"Always."
...
Arley had taken Robin's seat in the very front of the Supercycle after she and Superboy had dropped the Boy Wonder and the Atlantean teen off at the Batplane. The knitted Green Lantern hat she'd been wearing all day was pulled over her ears and the green and black pom-pom at the very top of the hat swished violently in the snowy air.
Conner spoke into the com that was in her ear; "Why are Hal and Guy off world?"
"Prison break, three big bads got out and the Guardians want all hands on deck." Conner was silent for a moment.
"You're still here," the clone boy said hesitantly and Arley pressed her lips together,
"Yeah because apparently I'm backup."
"You don't believe that?"
"I want to but ever since Aniell and I told them about the rings-ever since I told them about Aniell they've been weird."
Or at least, they had been weirder than usual; from what Arley understood Ganthet had been locked up in his workshop for days on end at a time and the rest of the council often met behind closed doors without Salaak, their scribe, their to dictate what they were saying something that— before Arley had come forward about the rings being sentient —had hardly ever happened.
"I'm sure it'll work out, Canary says—"
"—Just because everything happens for a reason doesn't mean you have to let the reason be a bad one. Change and adapt and make peace," Arley quoted along with the clone. Arley twisted in her seat and shot the clone a lopsided smirk.
Dick had always been like a brother to Arley— they related to being adopted by a superhero and entering the hero game at the age of nine and Dick and Arley made fun of each other the way siblings often did —but Arley had grown up seeing siblings interact and never before had she truly felt like an older sister then she did when she spoke with Conner.
"You know," Arley said, "Just cause I'm the only Lantern on world for the next week or so, doesn't mean you don't have to show up for Sunday dinner, we're ordering Chinese food and watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S reruns, so make sure you and Wolf bring appetites."
...
Though Arley had seen a picture of the ice fortresses back at the cave seeing it in person made the Lantern gape; she had seen hundreds of types of different ships but the flying ice fortress was unlike any other ship she had ever seen before.
Tons on top of tons of snow shot out of the multiple ducts that were littered around the sides of the flying fortress and a dozen or so turret guns that shot at Arley, Superboy and Back Canary, were scattered across the very top of the ship
Arley flew out of her seat in the Supercycle as it circled around the Ice Fortress again.
"Okay so what's the game plan?" Arley asked into her com as she threw up a shield around herself; the large arm-sized bullets that the fortresses turrets fired at Arley hit the Lanterns shield before falling to the Earth.
"If Superboy and I take out the turrets can you destroy the fortress?" Canary asked and Arley froze, the Galra ship flashed through her brain. The Lantern's throat tightened. The fleet of ships she had destroyed from sector two-five-nine played in her mind.
Arley, Aniell whispered, Focus.
"I-you-what if there's people?" Arley asked as she thought about the dozens of other ships she had destroyed over the years. She already had oceans of blood on her hands, "I mean what if there's someone in there controlling the ship?"
I'm not a monster, I'm not a monster, I did what I had to.
"Arley Batman already scanned the ships, there's no one in there," Canary said and though the elevated some of the weight on the girls chest the Lantern still floated behind her shield.
"Right," Arley nodded; but what if someone was? What if Batman had missed someone?
No, Arley squeezed her eyes shut, Batman doesn't make mistakes like that.
If Batman said there was no one in the Ice Fortresses then there was no one in them. Besides, even if there were and Batman had made a mistake, she was a hero and heroes didn't wallow, they did what they had to in order to save the world, even if it took a piece of them to do so.
Sometimes the ends justify the means, that's what Ganthet had told her.
There was a lead ball in Arleys throat and a weight on her chest that made breathing impossible to do. Being a hero sometimes meant being a monster too and sometimes there was no way to avoid that.
"Arley—" Conner started to say but Arley shook her head, she looked at the still circling Supercycle.
"—Just get the fortress' fire to focus on you two and I'll take care of the rest," Arley said with a hard edge to her voice. She wasn't a monster.
Arley closed her eyes as she imagined a large, almost skyscraper length sword. I'm not a monster. She breathed as she imagined the sharpness of the blade and how it would cut through the Ice Fortress like butter. I'm not a monster.
"Alright," Canary said ambivalently.
Conner— as Canary sucked in a deep breath of air and started to scream —jumped from the Supercycle and onto the fortress. Wolf followed after him. Three turrets exploded under the blast of Canary's sonic scream as Superboy grabbed onto the turrets that were still firing at the Supercycle and began to pull.
Arley's ring began to glow.
Wolf bit onto the wires that connected the gun to the ship, discontenting it. Canary screamed again; another turret exploded and bright green light began to shoot out of Arley's ring, the light twisted and turned through the sky until it formed a large glowing construct.
"Canary-Superboy, I'm ready," Arley said into her com. She reminded herself that asides from Conner and Wolf who stood on the top of the ice fortress, Batman had said that there were no lifeforms inside the ship.
"Okay just give us a second to get out of the blast zone and you're good," Canary said to Arley. Arley watched the blonde Justice League member fly the Supercycle close enough to the ship, but still just out of range from the bullets the still active turrets were firing.
Superboy and Wolf jumped back into the flying motorcycle and only when Canary, the clone boy and the clones genetically modified pet wolf were miles away did Arley shut her eyes and swing her arm through the air.
The sword cut through the Ice Fortress like a knife would cut through butter and as Arley pushed the blade of her construct though the floating fortress— the ship began to explode from the inside out —she froze with her mouth open and her eyes wide.
Because suddenly she wasn't flying over the Sheldon National Antelope Refuge near the Nevada-Oregon-California border; she was back in space surrounded by a group of rescued aliens and the ship exploding in front of her was the Galra battleship.
Monster, Arley's conscious hissed, Killer. Murderer. She couldn't breath.
"Arley—"
Snap out of this, Aniell hissed urgently.
"—Throw up a shield!" Conner and Canary cried; though Arley didn't react.
MurderMurderMurder. Arley's ring burned as the air around her fulminated and just like what had happened every time before— just as the explosion from the ship began to swallow her up —the world went green.
...
Arley was on the ground— somehow, she couldn't remember landing, just that one minute the explosion that had been the Ice Fortress was swallowing her whole and the next she was safe and unharmed a thousand miles below —there was a thick layer of snow on the ground despite being inside the Nevada-state border, she was still glowing green and as she sat in the snow with her knees curled to her chest her head swam.
MurderKillerMonster. MonsterMonsterKiller. Murderer.
You are not a monster, Aniell said. I have seen monsters, I have fought them since the dawn of time, you are not a monster.
But she was a murderer. Perhaps she was not a monster but the Galra on the ship were dead and the warlord from Geonosis was dead as well as were the aliens she had killed in sector two-five-nine and the guard she had bludgeoned to death.
Maybe she wasn't a monster but she was a killer all the same.
Murdermurdermurder! Arley's conscious screamed
The Supercycle landed near Arley, not that the Lantern acknowledged it though, the glowing green girl was too focused on the white beneath her feet. Conner was out of the Supercycle before Dinah had fully put it into park and Wolf bounded quickly after the clone.
"Conner don't get too close we don't know—" Whatever the rest of Canary's order had been, died in her throat as Conner scooped a still glowing Arley up off the ground and held the girl close to his chest.
Arley didn't react; KillerKillerKillerKillerKiller!
Conner put Arley back down on the ground and he put both hands on the side of her face and forced her glowing white eyes to look at him. Canary hovered behind Conner.
"Arley," he breathed, "Are you alright?"
Answer him, Aniell said and Arley blinked. She blinked again and focused on the fact Conner's face was in front of hers.
"Conner?" When had he gotten there? Arley looked around and up at the sky as she took in the fact she was on the ground, the clouds that had covered the Ice Fortresses' presences were slowly dissipating.
When did I land? Arley looked down at herself and saw green; Oh, she breathed. When did that happen? Slowly the green faded from Arley's body, back up into her ring and Canary stepped forward, she put a hand on the clone boy's arm and one on Arley's shoulder.
"We won?" Arley asked the two and Canary's brows raised. Arley felt odd, like the skin she was wearing wasn't her own, like she was both empty and overflowing with every kind of emotion she'd ever felt before.
"You don't remember?" Arley remembered the heat, she remembered the Galra ship exploding and the light from the ships from sector two-five-nine when they blew up one by one— Arley's breathing became ragged and her heart squeezed in her chest —and as Arley's brows knitted together she could remember swinging her construct.
"I don't—" Arley shrugged with a sputtering heart, "—I remember my construct."
"Nothing else?"
Heat, red and yellow— fire; Arley could remember fire —she could recall the sound of Aniell screaming— she could remember Aniell screaming something, though she couldn't remember the words —at her and she could remember her ring burning, but she couldn't do any of that with clarity. As Arley tried to remember being back up in the air it was almost as if she was trying to remember from someone else's perspective.
Arley shrugged as she shook her head and Canary frowned as she pulled Arley closer to her.
Tired; Arley was tired.
"Come on," Canary said to the two teens. Conner looked at Arley worryingly, "We should get back to the cave."
Arley allowed herself to be tugged forward and when she allowed Conner to lift her up and set her into the Supercycle like a child she allowed herself to melt into Wolfs soft white fur and fall into a dreamless sleep.
