Chapter Twenty-Four — Image

"I am reminded that too much tenderness can kill those who have forgotten it, but I welcome that kind of death; I welcome you."


None of the three criminals that had escaped the Prison Planet had been found; Despero, Sinestro and Atrocitius were all still at large in the cosmos and though Hal said he trusted the elite team the Guardians had hand picked to track the three level five criminals down he had hardly slept since both he and Guy had returned to Earth.

The bags under Hal Jordans eyes were unlike anything Arley could ever remember seeing; she and the exhausted sector leader, and Guy Gardner sat around the Jordan-Gluck living room as they re-watched the Eagles verses Giants football game they had all missed the night before.

"Hey Hal?" Arley asked as her adoptive father fluffed up the pillow he had propped up against Arley's leg. Hal hummed, acknowledging that she had said his name; Guy focused on the television as one of the Eagles players who had received the ball tried to drive it downfield.

"Can I invite the team for Thanksgiving?"

They were already inviting the Wests, Allen's and Garrick's over as it was their year to host; Katma and John would be there as well, Guy was in charge of cooking and Arley knew at some point that day he and John would start to bicker about how something should be made because that wasn't how John's ma would've made it.

"The whole team?" Hal wondered.

"Sorta, I mean I know Dick and Bruce are doing something so they'll say no, but yeah the whole team. Conner was already coming cause it's Conner but it's Megs first Thanksgiving on Earth-Kaldurs too now that he's hanging around the surface world, and Tanna just lost her dad, and well I'm not just going to not offer Artemis and her mom a spot at the table," Arley explained.

Hal nodded against the couch pillow.

"It'll be a tight fit," Hal said and Arley's shoulders slumped, "But sure," the sector leader said after a minute.

"Awesome," Arley beamed.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" Guy yelled out at the television; both Arley and Hal had jumped at the mans loud tone, "How do you drop that ball!"

"Gardner if you break my coffee table again I'll kill you," Hal said and Guy, with a toothy smirk looked over at the pilot. Arley remembered the time Guy Gardner— still early in his tenure as a Lantern —had joined her and Hal one night so they could all watch a hockey game, only to accidentally form a construct around his fist as he hit the wood of their old coffee table, collapsing the old piece of furniture.

"Come on Hal," Guy said, "I paid you back for the table."

"Doesn't matter if you break another coffee table I'll make the suicide runs Kilowog used to make you do in boot camp look like a leisurely stroll," Hal threatened and Arley sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as Guy flipped Hal off.

Hal flipped Guy off right back and the red headed Lantern nodded.

"Thanks it's just like my old man always gave me." Arley let out a barking laugh as Hal winced at Guys dark joke. Arley leaned over to the recliner Guy had stretched out in and high-fived her fellow Lantern. Arley settled back in her seat and Guy turned back to the television, the game was in it's third quarter.

On the next drive after the penalty the Eagles had revived on the Giants forty-two line, Eli Manning found the Eagles player Mario Manningham in possession of the ball only for the the ball to come loose when the Giants player tackled the Eagles' wide receiver. Quickly though, the Eagles defensive tackle Mike Patterson recovered the ball on the Giants 25-yard line.

Guy cheered and Arley peeked over at the man.

"Guy why are you so into this you don't even like either team." Guy Gardeners favorite football team was the Detroit Lions, though John tended to say Guy liked the Lions in vain as the team hadn't even ever made it to a single Superbowl, nor would they ever.

"So?" Guy shrugged, "It's football, besides as long as the Giants loose I don't care if the Eagles win."

"Fair enough," Arley said as they both turned back to the game. A commercial for Wendy's came on and Guy reached for the remote.

"Hey Hal?" Hal let out another hum. "Can we invite Captain Marvel and his uncle too? To Thanksgiving I mean."

Technically Arley and Hal had been expressly forbidden by Batman from telling anyone in the League that Captain Marvel was actually an eleven old boy until further notice, but Guy Gardener wasn't technically an official Justice League member so they hadn't broken any rule when they had told him once the world had been saved; nor had they broken any rules when Guy told John.

"Why are we inviting Marvel and his uncle?"

"Because Billy's a sweet kid and I still feel bad for all the times the team and I ditched him when he was acting as our Den-mother," Arley answered.

"Alright, but you have to help everyone get here and home, John and I already have to get the West's and Joan," Hal told her, Arley nodded with a smile on her face.

"That's cool-and thank you."

"'T's Thanksgiving kid, I'm happy to set another plate or two out." It was eight extra plates but Arley didn't specify, instead she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the crown of her adoptive fathers forehead.

...

Arley, Wally, Conner and Dick were seated around the Mount Justice Cave kitchen with a pizza the speedster had picked up from the nearby Rhode Island town between them; Kaldur wasn't at the cave, and M'gann had said she needed to catch up on homework, and both Zatanna and Artemis were, as they had put it, defiantly not on a date, so the four young heroes split the large pie evenly between themselves.

"Okay my turn," Arley leaned forward as she looked at the three boys around her; Wally had his arm thrown over the back of her chair and Dick sat on the countertop behind Conner with a slice of half eaten pizza in his hands, "Would you all rather be stuck at dinner with Count Vertigo or be trapped in an eight foot cell for the same amount of time that dinner would take with Plastic-man?"

"Vertigo," Dick called out immediately; Wally looked at his friend with a mordant expression. "What?"

"You'd rather make nice with someone who tried to kill his own niece then be locked in a small room—okay never mind now I hear it, yeah I'll go with Vertigo too babe."

"I have no clue who that second person is," Conner said and Arley looked at the clone.

"Plastic-man is a hero, he's sort of part of the League, like he's not an official member or anything but he gets called in enough; he's nice," Arley said with a grimace, "For the first five minutes you know him." Conner looked at Arley blankly. "He doesn't shut up," Arley continued, "Like Bats fights Joker on a regular and I'm pretty sure Plastic-man is the only person to ever make him rethink that whole non-lethal force policy he has going on."

"Oh," Conner said, "Vertigo then I guess, at least then I'll get dinner." Wally looked at Arley,

"And what about you? Who would you pick, Vertigo or Plastic-man?"

"Plastic-man," Arley said easily. Wally's mouth fell open,

"What!" Dick exclaimed as he rocked where he sat, "Why!"

"Yeah!" Conner nodded, "You just said he never shuts up."

"He doesn't but also Plastic-man doesn't like me so he goes out of his to avoid talking to me so at least then I don't have to deal with either of them," Arley answered. Conner frowned at Arley,

"Why doesn't Plastic-man like you?"

"I may have asked an insensitive question when I was a kid and now he thinks I'm a sociopath with an all powerful magical space ring," Arley answered, Wally's eyes narrowed.

"What was the question?" Arley felt the apples of cheeks heat up,

"Okay so I was nine and I just got out of boot camp, okay so I totally had no filter on me when talking to non-superiors—"

"—You still don't—" Dick mused; Arley rolled her eyes at the boy wonder.

"—Anyway, I also hadn't been in a single therapy session yet either, so no one is allowed to hold this against me-Hal and Barry still think this is hilarious by the way," Arley said to the three boys, "Uh-so basically this was like the second or third time Hal had brought me here to the cave 'cause he had to do some League business, not that he brought me here a lot but still-anyway, he ended up leaving Plastic-man in charge of me for a few minutes while he went to do this thing—"

"—This cannot end well—" Wally muttered with a grin,

"—And Plastic-man is trying to be my best friend or whatever because apparently that's what he thought cool adults did with kids but I just got out of boot camp like not even the month before and I don't even know Wally yet. So at this point, I'm all work and no play, if Hal would have let me drop out in the fourth grade I probably would have spent my days paroling the sector. So I tried to talk shop to Plastic-man like I would Hal or any other Lantern—"

"—Okay—" Dick snickered.

"―And basically I ended up asking Plastic-man if he was ever worried one day he'll stretch to far and rip in half like old play-dough and when he just looked at me I pretended to stretch out old play-dough between my hands and made a ripping sound as I did so, just cause I didn't think he understood."

Conner had his head buried in his arms and Dick let out a loud wheezing sound; Wally, as he laughed loudly, wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes,

"Babe!" Wally laughed, "Why would you ask him that!"

"I don't know! I don't remember what was going through my head at the time!" Arley cried, "You remember me before I opened up and everything, you know I wasn't the most put together kid." She still wasn't, but nine year old Arley had a chip on her shoulder that she had thought she had needed to prove to everyone and their mothers.

At the time nine year old Arley had thought if she wasn't the most perfect solider in the Corps― wasn't exactly what the Guardian wanted ―she'd be thrown out and head first back into the system; it was still something that worried Arley, even if she knew it was a stupid and baseless fear.

"Robin, Green Lantern, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Superboy, report for mission briefing," Batman's voice said over the intercom, Dick— before he rushed off towards the caves Meeting Chamber —hopped off the counter and tossed the half eaten slice of pizza he's been finishing onto the paper plate Arley had originally handed him.

Conner ran after him, but before Arley could fly off and beat both boys to the Meeting Chamber Wally stopped her.

"Uh Babe?" Wally said, "I think you're forgetting something."

Arley's brows knitted together for a second before her eyes widened and she snapped her fingers.

"Right!"

Arley reached around to her backpack that'd been hanging off the chair and took out a small orange pill bottle that had her name on it.

After Arley had helped the team and the League bring down the Ice Fortresses— and after what Canary called a dissociative episode that had been brought on by her post traumatic stress disorder —Canary had prescribed Arley to start taking two pills of Venlafaxine— an antidepressant and panic drug —once a day after she ate, so that she could avoid getting sick.

Arley took out two tiny white pills place them on the curve of her tongue; Wally passed Arley the glass of ice tea she had been drinking and the Lantern took a large, finishing sip of the drink as she washed her meds down.

When she put the cup down Arley smiled at her boyfriend; "Thanks."

"It's no problem," Wally said, interlacing their fingers as they turned to start towards the Meeting Chamber, "You've always made sure I eat when I get sucked into a project."

"Still," Arley shrugged, "Thank you." With a grin Wally pressed a sloppy kiss to the giggling Lanterns cheek, warmth flooded through Arley's body.

She loved him; Arley Gluck loved Wally West and maybe at sixteen she couldn't exactly say what love was but at sixteen Arley Gluck knew that love was less a feeling, and more a matter of seeing; she knew love was seeing Wally and his smile and the kindness in his eyes and the little acts of love he preformed every day.

Maybe sixteen was too young to say what love was but Arley Gluck had never been good at following the rules down to the letter.

...

Batman stood in the Mount Justice Meeting Chamber, in front of the large computer monitor that showed not only a map that highlighted both Bialya and Qurac, the countries neighboring nation, but also a picture of the president of Qurac.

When all five teens were seating in the Meeting Chamber Batman cleared his throat; "Rumann Harjavti is the democratically-elected leader President of Qurac." A video opened on the screen to show Rumann Harjavti shaking hands with the Dark Knights alter-ego Bruce Wyane, Arley's lips twitched into a smile. "Harjavti has been praised as a fair, wise leader. A Humanitarian."

"Sure," Wally said sarcastically as he nudged the masked boy who sat next to him, "Any friend of Bruce Wayne's."

"But five days ago Harjavti allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation Bialya, Queen Bee," Batman said, as if Wally had never interrupted. Conner scoffed from his seat, his arms were crossed over his chest.

"Not a fan."

"Few are," Batman said,

"And the few who are, aren't in their own minds," Arley muttered darkly as she glared at the picture of the woman on the screen. As a hero Arley didn't like any villain who thought that they could trample over innocent people, but as a Lantern, Arley especially hated villains who bent and manipulated the wills of other people.

"Exactly," Batman said, "Harjavti is suddenly backing Queen Bees faceless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times and has announced that the two nations will unify in two days, in a ceremony in Qurac." A second video, one of President Harjavti— standing in front of a Queen Bee mural —overtook the screen.

"After the ceremony, I will step down as President so that our rightful monarch Queen Bee may rule." The video changed so that a clip of Queen Been could play; "I laud President Harjavti for unifying our peoples and I will gladly come to Qurac in order to be crowned sole leader of our nation."

"And the Quracis are okay with is?" Wally asked rhetorically; everyone in the room already knew the answer to the speedsters question.

"Hardly," Batman answered, the video on the monitor changed from Queen Bees image to Quracis protesting in the streets. A young boy on the screen held his pregnant mothers hand with his left and a lit candle in his other. "They're well aware of the brutality of Queen Bees regime, but Harjavti has censored the press, silenced all legitimate protests and invited the Bialyan military into his country to enforce martial law."

"So Queen Bee's controlling Harjavti," Dick said, "She has to be; she has the power to enthrall most men."

"And some women," Batman nodded, "But not long distance and we have confirmation that she hasn't left Bialya, something else is at work here. Find out what. Robin, you're team leader." Dick rocked in his seat, Wally grinned and held his hand up for the boy wonder to high five.

"Promotion, sweet."

"What-what about Aqualad?" Dick asked as he got to his feet and leaned across the table, his hands braced his weight.

"Busy helping Aquaman."

"And Arley?" Dick looked the Lantern, "I mean—" Dick stiffened and straightened out, "—She has the most experience." Arley tilted her chin up in Dick's direction.

"With what happened in Bialya back in September Canary has barley just given Lantern here the go-ahead to be allowed on this mission, you're the next logical choice."

"Great," Dick said as he sat back down; Arley and the others frowned at the boy wonder in concern— though Batman, under his cowl, didn't seem to even twitch —and Wally slowly set his hand back down onto the arm of his char.

...

It was night when the five teens reached Qurac; there were wildebeests below them and dozens of glittering stars above them.

"We're right above the Quraci-Bialyan border," Robin observed.

"A border the Bialyans are in the process of ignoring," Kid Flash said as he and Arley looked over the edge of the bio-ship and observed two tanks and several four wheelers all tearing threw the tiny, barbed-wire fence that had been standing between the two nations. The speedster flipped his goggles over his eyes and twisted the rims to activate night-vision.

"No opposition," Superboy said, "Guess Harjavti really is in bed with Bialya." Robin shook his head,

"I wouldn't expect opposition here, it's an animal sanctuary."

"The Logan Animal Sanctuary?" Miss Martian asked sharply; Arley raised a brow at the Martian girls tone, it was one the green skinned girl so rarely used.

"You've heard of it?"

"Guys," Kid Flash said as he sat up straighter in his seat, "The tanks caused a stampede, with civilians in harms way." Superboy leaned forward with his eyes narrowed into a squint;

"I see them," the clone said, "Woman and a small boy."

"We have to help them!" Miss Martian said.

"We're way off mission here," Robin tried to explain but Arley looked at the younger hero; she knew the importance of following orders and completing the mission at hand— she did —but still she frowned at the boy wonder.

"So what?" She asked, not harshly but rather sarcastically, "We're supposed to watch a kid and his mom get trampled to death in the name of Queen Bee?"

Robin bit his lip; he breathed, his lips curled together and he looked at Arley and then Miss Martian.

"Deploy, but stealth mode, if the Bialyans know we hit them this becomes an international incident."

"Right," Miss Martian hummed as Arley and the other stood from their seats; Arley felt her mind splinter as the mind-link was established and three cable lines formed from the bio-ships ceiling, and once Robin, Kid and Superboy had all securely gripped each one, Miss Martian opened the floor of the bio-ship beneath their feets', sending each boy hurdling down towards the Earth below.

Arley flew out of the same hole that Kid Flash has dropped through.

"Miss M, you and Superboy handle the animals and civilians, KF, Lantern and I will take out the soldiers," Robin ordered through the mind link.

"Got it." Arley fired a blast of energy at the side of one tank and the smoking armored vehicle careened to it's left, crashing into the tank besides it, flipping the second tank onto it's side. Soldiers who had been following the tanks on foot and on four wheeler positioned their guns to the sky and others squatted down as they took aim at the wilderness around them; the soldiers that had been inside the two tanks climbed out and pressed their backs to the smoking tanks as they too took aim at their surroundings.

Robin, who was perched in a tree, threw a birdarang that hit the ground between four soldiers; smoke began to shoot out of the birdarang and Kid Flash knocked each soldier to the ground as he took their guns.

Arley, from high up in the air, continued to shoot at the feet of the Bialyan soldiers, shepherding them back over the trampled barbwire fence that separated the two Middle Eastern countries as Robin and Kid Flash worked in tandem to chase the remaining foot soldiers back into their country.

Arley grinned at the two boys from her spot in the air; Kid, with a wide grin waved up at her before the three of them turned. Arley saw Superboy land in front of the two civilians and grab a rushing wildebeest by its horns before he slammed it into the ground, the confusion of wildebeests split to avoid the wildebeest Superboy had grabbed.

"Oryx!" The boy called out to the leaping gemsbok that'd been huddled against him and his mother, Arley saw M'gann's hands moving as the animal began to float up into the air, Arley and the two boys below her took that— and the disappearing stampede —their queue to move.

"Whoa," the boy gasped.

The boy and mother marveled at the floating animal as Arley landed behind the pair. Robin and Kid stopped next to her, Kid dropped the armful of guns he had confiscated from the Bialyan soldiers. Kid Flash bent one arm as he placed one hand against his hips, he draped his other arm over the Lanterns shoulders.

"Are you both alright?" Robin wondered and the red headed, mother-son duo turned. The young boys excited eyes grew wide; the boys mother however just looked at he three young heroes in front of her with an open mouth and astonished eyes.

"Mom? Mom! Mom! We were just saved by Robin, Kid Flash and Green Lantern!"

"Well Superboy and Miss Martian helped too," Kid said with a grin as the gemsbok landed gently in front of him, Arley, Robin and Superboy. The boy rushed forward and wrapped his arms around the animals neck.

Arley felt M'gann behind her; though when she turned to look at the Martian girl, Arley's hazel eyes weren't met by anything except for the large grassy expansion that was the rest of the Logan Animal Sanctuary. The female Lanterns brows furrowed together.

"We diverted the Bialyans around the sanctuary, you should be safe now," Robin said softly.

"Yeah coast's clear Megs," Arley said as she turned back to the pair of civilians she and the team had just saved; and though she didn't do it immediately, when M'gann did decamouflage her slender green fingers ran through her hair, nervously pulling at the ends.

"H-hi," M'gann muttered with a smile. The mother of the boy sighed and shook her head.

"You may have just made things worse," she said with the undertone of a hiss, "Bialyan border crossing's are a way of life here. Usually they wreck a few fences and move on, engaging them might have made us a target."

The boy besides her looked up at her and shifted his weight.

"Mom?" The boy groaned, "Uncool!"

The gemsbok let out a whine and the boys mother's expressed dropped as her crossed arms fell to her side.

"I'm sorry," the woman said, "I should thank you. This is my son Garfield, I'm—"

"—Marie Logan!" M'gann said stepping forward, between Arley and Superboy. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person! I've-I've uh, admired your stance on animal rights for years."

Arley raised a brow at the Martian girl; M'gann had the makings of a terrific liar— she could look someone in the eyes and not blink as she told them a bald faced lie —but she wasn't one at heart so when lies she had only just made up on the spot came out of her mouth the Martian girl usually fell flat on her face.

"You've only been on Earth six months," Superboy said; M'gann's face turned a bright pink and the wildebeest Superboy had slammed onto it's side in order to split the stampede limped over the team and two Logans'.

Marie Logan put her hand on the wildebeest's back and frowned,

"The Oryx is sick and I think you injured this wildebeest," she told Superboy in a condescending tone.

"Uh, sorry?" Superboy blinked; Arley blew a snort our from her nose at the clones sarcastic tone.

"I suppose it was unavoidable, but both need to go to our clinic," Marie Logan said with pinched lips.

"Lantern and the boys can do that," M'gann said suddenly, "You and I can uh, fix your fences."

Robin looked at the alien girl, "That's not exactly our—"

"—Robin?" M'gann begged with a pleading smile and pious hands; the boy Garfield grabbed his mothers hands,

"Please mom?" The boy begged, "Please!"

Simultaneously both Marie Logan and Robin let out a sigh; "Fine."

...

"So-so," the boy, Garfield said as he skipped between the four heroes, he looked at caped teen, "What's it like punching bad guys in the face!"

Dick's lips twitched up.

"Pretty cool," Dick answered, Garfield's head swiveled to Wally.

"How dose your face not fly off when you run because when my mom and I are in the jeep and she goes super fast my face feels like this—" Garfield pressed his hands to the sides of his face and stretched, demonstrating how he felt.

"Well actually..." Wally said as he began to give the boy a simplified version of how what Barry called the Speed Force, protected him and the Flash, Arley watched the speedster grin as he spoke to the eight year old boy; the rising sun made the red headed teens eyes sparkle. She loved when Wally's lopsided grin stretched out across his face and his pupils blew out wide because he was excited; she loved it when Wally was happy.

Arley's heart thudded in her chest and when she caught the clone boys rolling eyes the Green Lantern stuck her tongue out at the Kryptonian.

...

The Logan household was a long, single floored house that stood next to a tall metal water tower the small family of two used to get through everyday life. Garfield lead the four teen heroes along the beaten down trail that lead from the barn they had put the two injured animals in, to his house.

A capuchin monkey screeched as the team walked under the shade of a tree; the long tailed primate dropped onto Conner's shoulders, it then jumped from the clone to Arley's back— the Lantern threw herself forward, away from Wally as a glowing hand shot from her ring to where she could feel the monkey on her back —over to Wally's. The monkey then, as Wally tried to shake it off, scurried around onto the speedsters shoulders.

The hand disappeared back into Arley's ring as she turned to watch her boyfriend try to shake the animal off.

"Hey!" Wally cried, "Get it off!"

The monkey as it leapt from Wally's extended arm, to Garfield's waist, grabbed the speedsters Flashbar from his hands. The eight year old boy giggled as the monkey climbed up the length of his torso before settling on his shoulder. The monkey, with a glare at the four teen heroes, took an almost violent bite from Wally's Flashbar.

"This is monkey," Garfield introduced.

"Good name," Conner bit out as he looked suspiciously up at the tree they were all still under, "But I hate monkeys."

The monkey took another violent bite from the genetically modified snack bar before throwing it at the clone boy.

Conner bared his teeth at the animal and Arley stepped between the primate and clone; Dick laughed. The monkey screeched at the clone.

"Look's like monkey hates Superboys."

Wally looked at the clone as Arley settled once more at the speedsters side; "Dude just be glad he only threw a protein bar."

Conner scoffed and brushed past the three giggling heroes as Garfield turned to walk into his house; Arley elbowed the speedster in the side as his nose scrunched up at the ancient looking television.

"So," Garfield said, "Pretty weird about Miss Martian and my mom, huh?"

Dick took the seat closet to the television and Wally took the seat nearest to the door; the speedster pulled the Lantern into his lap, his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin settled on her shoulder as Conner leaned against the arm of the couch, his arms crossed over his chest.

"What do you mean?" The clone wondered.

"I mean she looks exactly like my mom did when she was younger, you know, except greener," Garfield explained. Arley raised a brow,

"She dose?"

"Well duh, especially back when mom was a television star on Hello, Megan." The four team members sat up straighter in their seats; the monkey on Garfield's shoulder began to nibble on the over shirt he was wearing.

"Wait," Wally said as he held a hand up, "Hello Megan is a television show?"

"I just thought it was something she said all the time," Dick said with a shrug.

"Yeah on the show," Garfield said, "This was way before any of us were born though, and there's only one season. You can't even find this online." Garfield turned to the bulky looking television behind him and looked down at the mess of VHS tapes that littered the television stand.

"So since you guys still have VHS," Wally said as Garfield flittered through the VHS tapes, clunkily moving them around the television stand, "Where's your eight-track?"

Arley gently elbowed the speedster in the ribs.

"What?" Wally whined as Garfield held up a VHS tape victoriously; Conner turned suddenly.

"Wait," he said, "Aircraft, headed this way."

Arley jumped up from Wally's lap as the speedster and boy wonder followed suit, Robin though paused as Arley followed Conner out of the house, the boy wonder turned to the eight year old.

"Gar, stay put," Arley heard Robin say as she paused on the houses' front porch steps; Miss Martian and Marie Logan slowly walked up to the house as Conner stopped just short of the tree the monkey had fallen onto him from before.

Arley looked up at the still colorful morning sky; pink blended with purple and purple faded to blue but Arley couldn't yet see any aircraft, though she could hear the whirling of the oncoming engines.

"What is?" Miss Martian asked, when three military jets— the kind Arley knew Hal flew in the desert just outside of their home city —came into view. The plane on the left opened fire and M'gann tackled Marie Logan to the ground and covered the woman body with her own.

They were going to get hit; Arley's ring glowed but before she could form a construct Superboy jumped from his spot and covered the Martian girl and the ex-television star with his body; the bullets the plane had shot at the three bounced off of the clone boys back.

When the jets had passed by— Arley watched as they arched in the air, turning —Marie Logan grabbed Superboy by his shoulders, "Where's my son?"

"I ordered him to stay inside," Robin told her, and the woman with wide, panicked eyed turned to the caped crusaders partner,

"He's eight! He doesn't do orders!" Behind her and Superboy the barns door opened and Garfield waved at them.

"Mom!" He called out, the oryx and wildebeest rushed out of the red building, "It's okay I got the animals out!" Another ship let out a hailstorm of gunfire ring out in the barns direction, and almost in slow motion Arley watched a bullet hit the generator on the side of the barn.

Garfield was blown back as the world around him exploded; Arley's mouth dropped open as his mother fell to her knees her arm outstretched; "Garfield!"

M'gann flew forward and caught the boy before he landed, Marie Logan ran to the Martian girl and her son, Arley turned to Robin; the jets certainly had some kind of video feed and if they were caught in Qurac there would without a doubt be an international incident but there was also a bloody eight year old in his mothers arms several feet away from them.

Robin nodded; Arley shot into the sky. She didn't think about how there could be soldiers in the jet as she flew at the first jet; Arley swung her arm out in front of her and a long whip she had constructed from her ring cut through the jet. Exploding it.

Arley didn't hesitate to do the same to either two jets; she didn't think about how she could be killing someone else, she didn't think about the weight on her shoulders and how hard it was to breath sometimes, all she thought about was the innocent little boy that her teammates were carrying back inside and how he could die.

Children weren't supposed to die; they weren't supposed to be hurt or find themselves in tiny freshly dug graves, they were supposed to be safe.

Arley floated down to the ground and turned to see a trail of blood that lead to the Logan household, her stomach turned queasily.

It will be okay, Aniell said comfortingly in the back of Arley's mind, He is not dead yet. There is still hope.

...

Wally and Arley loitered by the door of Garfield's room as his mother and Dick hovered around the young boys pale and limp body. There was a thick layer of bandages wrapped around his head and an IV drip connected to is right arm.

"He's in shock," Marie Logan said as she pressed her stethoscope to her sons chest, "He needs a blood transfusion now. Are any of you O negative?"

"No," Arley shook her head; like most people of Hispanic decent she was O-positive. Wally and Dick shook their heads as well,

"No."

"Sorry." Marie Logan sucked in a deep and shaky breath.

"Neither am I, it's the hardest to match," Marie said, she frowned at her son, "I kept a supply in the clinic," she muttered.

Wally stepped further into the room.

"I can run him to the nearest hospital," the speedster suggested but Dick shook his head head.

"The nearest hospital with a guaranteed blood supply is over a half hour away at your top speed, and longer by bio-ship," Dick said.

"He doesn't have that much time."

"What if I just flew to the hospital and got the blood? I'm faster then Kid in the air," Arley said, peaking over the speedsters shoulders.

"And if it got out that one of Earths Green Lanterns was in Qurac? Could you say International incident any quicker?"

Arley didn't care though, she didn't care about the politics behind being a hero or the laws that told her where she could save people and where she couldn't because before she was a junior member of the Justice League she was a member of the Green Lantern Corps and there was a dying eight year old boy in front of her.

Marie Logan looked at Dick, "What about Superboy's blood type?"

"He's Kryptonian and Miss Martian—"

"—Might be able to help," M'gann said from behind Arley. Arley and Wally moved so that the green skinned alien girl could step into the room. "My shape-shifting occurs at the cellular level. I think I can morph my blood to match his."

"Please," Marie Logan begged, "Try."

M'gann nodded.

"I'll need to concentrate, no distractions."

Marie Logan turned to the team; "Out, all of you out."

Dick hadn't even fully been out of Garfields room when Marie Logan shut the door behind him. Arley and the others looked at the wood of the young boys door before slowly they moved away and settled back into the living room.

Wally picked up the three thick, bricks that were the remotes the Logan's used for their television and VHS player and began to fiddle.

Dick had his head in his hands as he sat back down in the seat he had claimed before.

"And on top of all this Hatjavti steps down tomorrow, subjecting all of Qurac to this danger." Dick pressed the balls of his palms to his eyes; when he moved his lands so that they were locked behind his head the young team member turned to Arley and Wally. "Kid-KF, can you find a news station?"

"Sure but which remote is it?" Kid wondered as he began to press buttons; the television turned on and revealed not a Quraci or Bialyan new station but the intro to Marie Logan's old television show, Hello Megan!

"Hello Megan!" The television showed the scene of a younger Marie Logan in a cheer-leading uniform standing on the steps of her characters high school, surrounded by friends. "School and boys and parents too, hold that chuckle for miss-you-know-who." Marie Logans character fell from the steps and into the arms of a dark haired boy who had been walking below. Around them the papers she had been carrying fluttered to the ground.

The name of someone in the show popped up on screen, "Hello Megan. Hello Megan." More names like Jonathan Lord and Sandra Stanyon, began to pop up. "This cheerleader knows the score, center of attention and so much more. Hello Megan, Hello Megan! A little bit distractible but never to retractable she's really quite attractable-okay a lot distractable, eventually she'll get a clue!"

A young Marie Logans hand thumped against her forehead the same M'gann always did, "Hello Megan!"

Marie Logans character and the boy that had caught her earlier in the intro sequence got closer on the screen, Arley couldn't help but look at Conner with a twitching smile, "The girl for me, the girl for you, Hello Megan! Hello Megan! The Girl for me, the girl for you, Hello Megan!"

"Maybe it's a coincidence," Conner said to Arley and the other two boys as the intro song finished up.

"Or maybe Manhunter turned Megs into a total couch potato before we all met her; the man certainly loves his television."

It had apparently been Hals fault; back before Arley had gotten her ring, when Manhunter and Hal had first met the Lantern had introduced Manhunter to the wonder that was television and the green skinned Leaguer had taken to the Earthly form of entertainment like any latchkey kid from Earth would've.

The first episode started, a blonde woman in blue dusted the back of a couch and Marie Logan characters, Megan, rushed down the stairs, "Mom, I'm going to the library to study!"

The blonde didn't stop dusting the couch as she turned to Megan, "But didn't you invite a certain someone to study here?"

A doorbell rang and a younger Marie Logan hit her head with her hand, "Hello Megan!"

The studio audience laughed and Megan opened the door to reveal the boy from the intro sequence, the dark haired one who had caught her.

"Conner!" Arley slapped a hand to her mouth as she let out an ugly wheezing laugh, "I thought you'd never get here!"

"Oh yeah," Wally snickered, "Pure coincidence."

"It's done," M'gann said from behind the four teens; and almost like they had been caught doing something they shouldn't have been the four turned. Wally threw the remote he had in the air; "All we can do now is wait."

The television changed to the news, an imagine of Harjavti appeared. "My fellow Quracis—"

"—Is that Harjavti?" M'gann wondered as she stepped forward.

"—Queen Bee's rule is a gift to Qurac." Arley and the team turned; the Lantern's brows shot up as she focused on the hooded man behind the president of Qurac.

"You're kriffing kidding me," Arley breathed as Conner pointed at the screen,

"That guy in back, I-we know him."

"It's Psimon, Superboy and I fought him the last time we were in Bialya," M'gann said Arley crossed her arms over her chest.

"Makes sense," Arley nodded, "He's a psychic, he was working for Queen Been back then and he's working for her now, it's no wonder she doesn't have to leave Bialya's capital to control Harjavti, she has one of her lapdogs doing it for her."

Wally pointed at the television, his lips were pressed firmly together, "He's one of the guys from the tent?"

Arley had known Wally West long enough to know how to hear what the speedster was really saying; He's one of the guys that tortured you?

Arley jerked her chin up in a nod and Wally let out a growled breath as he wrapped an arm over Arley's shoulders.

"We have to get Harjavti away from him," Dick said and as he and the team turned Marie Logan emerged from the hallway that head to Garfield's room.

"I think it worked, Garfield's stable."

"Good, because we have our mission," Dick said.

...

The presidents home, just outside of the capital city Dhabar was beautiful; it was also littered with armed Bialyan soldiers. Arley and the team found President Harjavti sitting alone in his darkened office as he looked out of the large floor to ceiling windows that stood behind his desk.

"Harjavti's alone," Robin said through the mental-link before he dropped down into the presidents office. Arley and the others followed his lead.

The man looked tired; broken, almost as he simply lolled his head to the side in order to look at Robin and Arley.

"Where's my daughter?" Harjavti asked, "Where's Psimon?"

"Forget him," Robin said, "Let's get you out of here." The door burst open and Bialyan soldiers with alien technology burst into the room; a long staff broad sword— something the Green Lantern Laira had long ago taught the girl how to use —formed in Arley's hands as the soldiers surrounded her and the team.

A general walked into the room, his arms behind his back.

"Well, well," the man said, "American heroes here to assassinate the president. Such a shame we arrived too late to stop them."

Arley knew Miss Martian— who had camouflaged herself —crept between the soldiers, up to the General only because of the mind-link.

"Those are Apocalyptan weapons," Superboy thought as he eyed the weapons the soldiers carried. Arley just tightened her grip on her construct.

"Which they'll use to kill Harjavti. We'll take the blame and Queen Bee gets to rule Qurac. Form up around the president," Robin ordered.

"I found Psimon!" Miss Martian said before rushing out of the room,

"I'll get her," Superboy said as he went to move but Robin threw his hand out as he, Arley and Kid moved to surround the Quraci President, she looked at the arm solider to her left and narrowed her eyes at the man; under his mask Arley could see his cheeks move as he smirked.

"No! The mission is Harjavti."

Faces in Arley's line of work were important and Arley knew the face in front of her, even if it was half covered. Arley felt her heart speed up and her throat tighten. Arley felt the boys― as her thoughts flooded them and they realized who she was looking at ―stiffen.

I am here, Aniell whispered, You are safe.

The soldier on Arley's left fired and the Lantern jerked out of the way just in time to avoid the blast of red alien energy; Robin threw Harjavti out of his seat and to the floor in order to avoid the blast. Arley, as she moved back into position swung her weapon at the solider and the man stumbled back, just out of the way of her weapon.

"I told you last time," Arley said; she knew her ring translated what she said into Arabic so that the man would understand her, "You hit like a fucking poozer, it's good to know you shoot like one too."

The soldier fired again, and once more Arley dodged.

...

The four heroes looked down at the the defeated soldiers and Arley kicked the last one standing through the wooden door he has come in threw; the man groaned and Harjavti's daughter who had rushed into her fathers office when she had heard the commotion turned away from her father and to the team of teenage heroes.

"Thank you for saving my father," the older woman said. "We will take care of him now."

Robin nodded and Superboy was the first out of the room; they all knew where M'gann was through the mind-link. It was almost as if they were in the large conference room with her.

"M'gann, we're coming," Superboy said only to stop short when he and the rest of the team entered the room M'gann and Psimon were in; Kid Flash, Robin and Superboy all clutched at their heads and Arley fell to her knees as she felt something akin to a bottle being cracked over her head.

Fight, Aniell hissed, Go back to your training. Remember your training.

Kid Flash, Robin and Superboy all dropped; Arley imagined guard dogs and thick impenetrable walls and she willed them into her mind— she willed glowing green barbed-wire and thick iron locks into her mind —but as the pain that splintered through her mind increased and the world around her began to spin, Arley, before the world around her went black, could have sworn she saw something white.

...

Arley woke up with a groan; her head pounded and ached; next to her Wally slowly pushed himself up using his elbows.

"And there's the headache," the speedster muttered. Robin, who had fallen onto his face got to his knees as Miss Martian helped Superboy sit up. Robin grabbed his head; Arley pressed the pads of her fingers to her temples.

"Psimon?" Robin wondered. Miss Martian looked down at the ground;

"I stopped him," the Martian said, as she looked over her shoulder.

Arley followed the Green girls eye line and saw Psimon laying in a pile of broken chairs and glass, drooling as his eyes focused on nothing.

"Chayara's soul," Arley blinked, Miss Martian looked away and Arley leaned from where she was sitting up to press her hand against the Martian girls shoulder blade. Arley's head still felt like it was being split open but the girl smiled at her teammate anyway,

"You did good Megs."

Miss Martian looked down, at her hands, as if she didn't believe Arley's words.

...

M'gann, disguised to look like Queen Bee stood in front of the presidential house, just outside of the capital city Dhabar. There were Quraci soldiers with guns that lined the front of the building and reporters from other nations that filmed behind the checkpoint that'd been set up for them.

"What do you mean the President won't see me!" M'gann cried indignantly, she put her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up, "He invited me!"

"Not of my free will!" President Harjavti yelled out from the window of his office. Next to him his daughter stood tall. "But now that I am free of your minions thrall the Quraci people will never suffer your tyrannical rule!"

M'gann lifted her arm up and pointed at the president, "Mark me, Harjavti, you will suffer for this!" Two Quraci soldiers grabbed the disguised Martian girl. She pushed them off of her and pointed once more at the President, "Qurac will be mine!"

M'gann was then quickly escorted back into the armored Bialyan humvee that the team had kept from the soldiers they had defeated the night before. Arley who watched on as M'gann pretended to struggle, turned to Robin with a small smile on her face,

"If she wasn't so committed to be a cheerleader I'd turn her into a theater kid."

Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask and smiled,

"Yeah cause that's what we need, someone else to sing show tunes in the bio-ship." Next to Arley, with his hand pressed against the small of her back, Wally snickered.

...

The team was once again back at the Logan household, Bruce Wayne and President Harjavti were on the television, and Arley, with her medicine in one hand and a glass of water in the other watched as the billionaire spoke to the Quraci people.

"And I assure you the Wayne foundation is here to do whatever it can to help you and your people rebuild Qurac," Bruce Wayne promised.

Arley swallowed her pills with a gulp of water as Wally, who shared the love seat with her looked slyly over at Dick.

"Gee, Bruce Wayne sure got here fast, almost like he kn—" Arley spilled her glass of water all over Waslly's lap, causing the speedster to jump to his feet,

"Sorry," Arley said, not sorry at all.

Wally threw his girlfriend a withering glare to which she simply smiled at.

"—Don't you have a souvenir to collect or something?" Dick wondered, Wally thumped the side of his head.

"Hello Megan!" The speedster grabbed the discontinued television shows VHS tape off of the television stand; Wally bent at the waist and waved the VHS tape in M'ganns face. "Something you'd like to tell us?"

M'gann looked at the team and Marie Logan and sighed.

"Growing up on Mars was not happy time for me but I started watching the broadcasts my uncle sent from Earth to teach us about our sister planet and when I saw Hello Megan—" M'gann looked at Marie Logan, "—Something just clicked. Maybe it was the similarities in our names or maybe it was the way all of Megan's problems could be solved in twenty-two minutes, all I know for sure is that Megan helped me smile through a lonely childhood, so when I came to Earth and had to adopt a human form, I chose you-or well," M'gann amended, "I chose Megan."

"Which begs the question," Dick said slowly, "What do you really look like?" M'gann stood up and slowly her hair receded back into her head and her brow ridge became more Neanderthal like.

Arley smiled at the Martian girl.

"Bald M'gann," Wally nodded, he looked at Arley with a calico smirk; Arley nodded, and Wally looked at Conner with a thumbs up, "Still hot."

The clone boy rolled his eyes and M'gann let out a laugh as the Conner turned to her and stood from his seat; he moved to where the Martian girl was. Conner grabbed M'ganns hands in his.

"You know you don't have to put on a mask for me," he told the girl.

M'gann moved back and in one fluid motion the Martian girls hair was back and her arms were wrapped around herself.

"I do it for me," M'gann said, "This is who I am inside." She looked to Marie Logan, "Please don't be mad."

"Mad?" Marie Logan repeated with a kind smile on her face, "I'm honored." Marie walked over to M'gann and rested a hand on her shoulder, "M'gann you saved my son, he says he's your blood brother now and I agree, you're family."

M'gann hugged the woman tightly; and Marie Logan, just as Katma always did when Arley hugged her, hugged M'gann back even tighter.

"Thank you," M'gann said, "You can't know what that means to me."

But Arley did; and the Lantern smiled as she watched her friend blink away happy tears.