Chapter Twenty-eight — Usual Suspects
"I love you and I love you and I love you, on battlefields, in shadows, in fading ink, on cold ice splashed with blood of seals; you slid back through my life, and I have known you since before I knew you."
Sitting at the rounded kitchen table in the Jordan-Gluck family apartment in nothing more than her long, thick flannel pajama bottoms and the Superman sweatshirt she'd stolen from Conner when the Rhode Island winter had first rolled in, Arley Gluck paid more attention to the book on Talyans— an alien species responsible for the creation of omegadrone technology —she'd gotten from library on Oa the day before, then the plate of French toast Guy Gardner had made her or the radio broadcaster Guy had turned into to listen to.
The pet vulpimancer Kilowog had given her for Christmas— Bodie—sat obediently under Arley's chair; his bowl that laid across the kitchen licked clean.
"You know Nightlight, your food's going to get cold if you don't eat it," Guy said from over the rim of his Lions-themed coffee mug.
Arley's eyes flitted up from her page, her right index finger was pressed against the last word she had read and the sixteen year old Lantern, with her other hand grabbed her fork and speared five pieces of French toast before shoving them all into her mouth.
"Classy," Guy snorted as Hal and John both walked into the kitchen as the radio host began to talk about how in T-minus three hours― two in Eastern standard time ―the Justice League would be welcoming several new members.
"Morning," Hal said as he dropped a kiss to the top of Arley's head as the girl reached for her glass of milk; John tried to mess up Guy's hair only for his hand to be swatted away by the red headed Lantern. When the dark skinned Lantern turned to Arley— whose cheeks were puffed up with French toast —his brows shot up as a slight smile overtook his lips. Hal moved over to the coffee machine and the already made pot of coffee.
"Chew your food before you choke," John told Arley as she swallowed her mouthful of milk and French toast; the girl breathed loudly afterwards , milk staining the upper part of her lip. She could hear Bodie's tail thwapping against the kitchen tile under her chair.
"Where's the fun in that?" Arley asked with a grin, John took the plate Guy had offered him and sat down at the table. Hal said something to Guy and the third sector Lantern's fist flew into Hal's shoulder; the pair of them laughed.
"Gee kid," John said dryly, "How about another sixty years?"
Arley bit back her automatic response to laugh at the thought of living another sixty— it was a privilege to grow old in the Corps and while Arley wouldn't ever just roll over and die, slinging a ring at seventy-six seemed more like a fantasy than reality —and instead held her fork up to concede before she speared another single piece of French toast, and in John's direction, over exaggeratedly chewed.
With an eye roll, John let out a breathy laugh in her direction.
...
Arley had been to the Hall of Justice a handful of times over the years; the first of course, had been when she and Dick had been introduced to the public after the League had been outed to the world by the Joker and his merry band of costumed villains. She hadn't been inside the Hall and instead she stuck close to Hals side as they stood behind Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman, all of whom promised the reporters and their cameras that the League was there to do good; to protect the people of the world and not just the cities in which the heroes came from.
More recently— not counting the time Arley and the team had holed up in the Hall during what they thought was an alien invasion —Arley had stood atop the hill that overlooked the Hall of Justice just six months prior; six months ago she and the other sidekicks were supposed to have taken their first steps to becoming fully fledged League members, instead Roy had walked out on Oliver and their partnership, Arley, Wally, Kaldur and Dick had found Conner locked away in a pod, fifty-two floors below Cadmus Labs and the team had been formed.
This time around though, Arley, Hal and John— Guy had opted to stay home as he wasn't the one of the heroes joining the Justice League ranks —all stood on the snowy hill with Batman and Dick not so that the League could welcome Arley and the other young heroes into their ranks but rather so that they could be there to watch the League welcome Roy and five other heroes; Plastic-man included.
Arley had a thick woolly cap over her head and her hands — though not cold themselves due to her uniform —were tucked under her armpits simply out of habit.
"Think the Flash's will be late again?" Dick joked as he and Arley leaned against a tree.
Batman, Hal and John spoke; John stood between the two men with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I texted Kid when I got here, Flash is at his eating breakfast now and they're going to be leaving ten to," Arley said, "So of course they're going to be late." She added.
"You would think with super speed they'd manage to be on time to something," Dick snickered.
"Flash was almost late to his own wedding—"
"—I bet you right now that Kid will be late to yours," Dick said with a calico smirk; the sector's only female Lantern face turned a bright red and Arley's right hand slipped from her her arm and moved to hit the cackling boy wonder's arm.
"I hate you, you know that?" Arley muttered.
She spotted, from the corner of her eye, a familiar flying motorcycle and the sight of a dark cape over head, Dick's boisterous laughter calmed down and turned into a breathy chuckle and as Conner and Manhunter landed atop the hill— Arley could see the top of Zatanna's hat from the middle seat on the supercycle —the people huddled outside of the Hall of Justice, waiting for the Leagues arrival seemed to turn.
Manhunter nodded at Arley and Dick as he moved over to Hal, John and Batman and Dick bound over the parked supercycle and to Zatanna. M'gann beamed as Conner— who had on the fingerless gloves Guy had given him for Christmas —needlessly helped her out of her seat .
Conner and M'gann, as Zatanna and Dick hugged— the boy wonder turned a bright shade of pink —turned to Arley;
"Hey!" The Lantern greeted with her arms wide open and her own brilliant smile on her face.
"Hi." Conner stepped forward first and swept the dark haired girl into a tight on; Arley's feet were lifted off the snowy ground and her knees bent for a fraction of a second before the half-Kryptonian deposited her back down.
The minute her arms were free of Conner, Arley turned to M'gann and the Martian girl, who was nearly two heads taller then Arley, bent as he wrapped her willowy green arms around the Lanterns neck; the two girls rocked side to side for a moment before letting go and as Arley turned to Zatanna she caught sight of Dick and Conner fist bumping.
"How are you doing?" Arley asked into the younger teens hair, even though Arley had seen Zatanna on Christmas a few days ago she clung to the girl for another moment.
"Good, fine," Zatanna answered, obviously lying; behind Arley Dick and M'gann started to perform the seven step friendship handshake the two of them— and Wally —had put together one lazy afternoon. "Meg and Conner have been keeping an eye on me and Artemis' been visiting a lot the past few days too so I'm good."
Arley's hand cradled the elbow of the magical teens' lilac jacket as she nodded; "Alright," Arley wasn't going to call the girl out for putting up a brave front, "Just remember I'm here for you too."
Zatanna's pearly white teeth flashed as she smiled at Arley,
"Of course," the girl nodded, her eyes lit up and she threw a hand up, "Artemis!"
Arley and the others turned to see that at the base of the hill they were standing on— laughing like old friends —Roy and Artemis, along with Green Arrow had arrived.
Artemis' head snapped up and away from Roy, whose shoulder she had pushed and to Zatanna; Yeah okay, Arley mused sarcastically as the female archer waved enthusiastically at the magical girl, There's nothing going on there.
Now I suppose you know how everyone else felt before you and your boy got together, Aniell voiced and Arley's lips twitched at her ring.
I never denied having feelings for Wally though, Arley thought back as the three archers got closer, Artemis is the one saying she and Tanna are just friends.
Perhaps not, if Aniell had shoulders Arley knew her ring would have shrugged, she could see it. But was it not you who denied the prospect of Wally seeing you in the same light as you saw him?
Arley's cheeks burned, Okay, she grumbled inwardly, That's enough from you.
Aniell's laughter floated through Arley's mind. Arley followed a step behind Zatanna as the blue eyed girl launched herself at Artemis; as she stumbled back, Artemis didn't hesitate to wrap her own arms around the magical girl, and Roy—like Arley —as he looked on snickered at the sight.
Green Arrow greeted Dick and Arley with the roguish grin he was known for and as he passed by Roy he firmly clasped the red headed archer on the shoulder.
"So Red," Dick said as Zatanna moved to Artemis' side, "How's it feel to be part of the League ?"
Roy smirked at the younger boy,
"I'm not part of the League until they give me my card," Roy said, "I mean, if I was part of the League why have I been going on missions with you guys the past month?"
"Because you're a nerf-herding worrywart," Arley said with a smirk; Roy shot her a dry look,
"You know what Greenie—"
"—I have told you to stop calling me that you kriffing prick," Arley said with a pointed finger.
Ever since she had come back to Earth after boot camp Arley got things like Jade Lantern and Girl Lantern and Greenie; and sure, perhaps it was confusing for there to be four active Green Lanterns, all of whom went by Green Lantern, but her and the other's jobs weren't to help make things easier for the tabloid news that reported on them, it was to keep them and the rest of Earth and sector two-eight-one-four safe.
"I'm hurt Greenie," Roy taunted with a smirk as he placed a hand against his chest; Arley wanted to wrap her hands around the archers neck and throttle him, "I thought you loved me."
"Please the only person she loves," Dick said, daring out the word love, "Is Kid."
Ever since Arley and Kid had made up from their fight and started telling the other that they loved them Dick hadn't stopped teasing the pair about being disgusting; none of the team had. Artemis called Arley and Wally an old married couple, while Kaldur— with a sly smile —had called them a couple of Sea Otters; "They mate for life you know," the Atlantean had said when the room had seemingly turned to him with matching looks of confusion.
Petulantly, Arley crossed her arms over her chest as her cheeks burned pink.
"I hate you both," Arley pouted, the Lantern swung towards M'gann, "Megs," Arley's pout changed to a smile as she whined childishly; M'gann hid her smile behind her hand. "Rob and Red are being mean to me."
"Right," the Martian girl snickered as their friends laughed, "Robin, Red Arrow left Arley alone, can't you see she's a poor defenseless little girl without Kid around."
Arley's smile dropped,
"Okay I hate you too," Arley said as her friends exploded into laughter; Arley's own lip twitched up.
"No," M'gann cried softly as she continued to giggle; the Martian girl pulled away from Conner and threw her arms around Arley's neck, the Lantern girl pretended to pull away and M'gann followed, "Come on, I was joking-I love you."
"Oh okay," Arley said over dramatically as she patted M'gann arm, "I mean, if you love me I guess I can't hate you, Rob and Arrow sure—'
"—Hey!" Two voices called out; Arley poked her tongue out at them to which Dick responded the same and Roy simply flipped her off; Arley was quick to do the same to him.
"Thank you," M'gann said as she unwound her arms from around the Lantern girl.
"So," Artemis said before the group of teen heroes could fully come to a quiet, she looked at Dick as she spoke, "Green Arrow said something about a new girl?"
Dick nodded, "Rocket, her mentor's Icon-he's being inducted today. They're both from Dakota City."
"And she'll be joining the team full time?" Zatanna wondered,
"That's what Batman said," Dick nodded.
"Awesome, another girl!" Arley cheered as she raised to high-five Artemis; the blonde archer returned the gesture almost immediately.
...
Warm, inside the Hall of Justices' Library, watching the ceremony on the large, floor to ceiling computer monitor Arley sat on the arm of Wally's chair as Superman spoke to the reporters and civilians who had gathered to watch.
Wally's fingers were intertwined with Arley's and their hands were settled in the Lantern girl's lap.
"The Justice League was formed for two reasons," Superman said, "First, as an acknowledgement that no single individual, no matter how powerful, can solve all the world's problems alone. And second, to uphold the values of truth, justice and liberty." Superman smiled at the reports, "That last one's even in the name."
The pad of Wally's gloved thumb absentmindedly traced small circles over the side of Arley's hand.
The reporters laughed and a dozen flashes echoed through the screen.
"These five heroes—" The camera cut to the five new inductees; Doctor Fate who had to be given a new card due to the fact he wasn't just Zatara Zatara anymore was one of them. Zatanna looked away from the computer monitor and Artemis rested a hand between the girls shoulder blades, comfortingly. "—Have sworn to uphold those values."
The camera switched to Cat Grant; "You are watching live coverage of the Justice League's third induction," Cat Grant said as the camera view switched to a shot of the already inducted League members. "It looks like the entire League-everyone from Batman to Captain Marvel, has shown up to welcome the new blood."
"I'm glad they didn't kick Billy out," Wally said, "And I love the fact that there's a ten year old in the League."
Arley's head snapped to her boyfriend,
"There is?" Rocket asked and Arley— quickly detangling her hand from Wally's —threw the speedsters hand forcefully into his own chest.
"Babe!" Wally cried.
"Way to keep a secret genius," Dick hissed from his spot next to Kaldur.
"Hey," Wally said, "She's on the team now, right?" Wally turned to Arley and threaded his fingers back threw her own; the speedster brought the Lanterns gloved knuckles up to his lips and with a small smirk the red headed speedster pressed them against his lips. "Love you," Wally murmured and Arley felt herself melt.
"Love you too."
Rocket let out a soft coo; Dick on the other hand let out a snorted breath.
"You two are gross," Dick said and Arley, with a soft, gooey smile, turned back to the monitor, ignoring the caped boy.
Wally however stuck his tongue out in the masked boys direction.
"Superman is now handing out official League membership cards," Cat Grant narrated; Doctor Fate was the first to get one and Artemis put a hand on Zatanna's shoulder as the magical teen turned away from the television. "The Atom." The Atom, a tiny man that stood atop Plastic-mans shoulder and who was dressed in blue struggled to hold his membership card as it was bigger than him.
"Plastic-man." The Camera panned out to show the smiling hero and Arley smirked at the monitor; when Arley had greeted the hero atop the Hall of Justice's steps his voice had gotten high and the color from his face had drained.
'And Icon." Rocket, who stood a few feet away from Arley and Wally shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
"You know I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place, I should be outside celebrating with him, not hidden away in here," the girl said with a wave of her hand.
"Welcome to our world," Kaldur said from his spot next to Dick. A small smile stretched across Rocket's face and Arley tugged at Wally's hand and nodded in the dark skinned girl's direction; the speedster turned.
"Well I suppose there's an upside too," Rocket added.
Wally bit his lip.
"Finally, Green Arrow welcomes his former protégé, Speedy, now known as Red Arrow to this roster of heroes." Arley cupped one side of her mouth,
"Way to go Roy!" Wally shouted.
"Go Red!" She cheered;
"At last he has his wish," Kaldur voice and Dick turned to the three other former sidekicks;
"The first of us to make it, no one will call him a sidekick anymore."
"Wait?" Rocket blinked, the room turned to her, "Since when is being a sidekick a bad thing? You sidekicks were my inspiration."
Arley smiled at the girl, Dick on the other grimaced.
"Well," the boy wonder started, "See six months ago it—" Dick cut himself off when his watch began to beep, the boy turned the outer part of the watch and a small holographic screen popped up.
"What is it?" Artemis asked,
"Alert on Cheshire," Dick said with a glance in Artemis' direction; the archer stepped away from Zatanna and straightened up, her shoulders were pushed back and her chin was held high. Wally sat up in his chair and Conner, who was sitting in the chair next to Wally and Arley leaned forward.
"You're sure it's her?" Artemis asked in a tight voice; Dick nodded.
"Where?" Kaldur demanded to know, his voice held all the authority a leader should possess.
"Ashfield, she was seen getting onto a plane."
Arley got to her feet, a smile on her face; Wally's hand and hers were still together as she looked at the Dark Knights partner.
"So we're going after her right?" Arley asked, already knowing the answer.
Dick smirked; "B said stay here."
Arley was stuck with wave of deja vu; she'd been there before, standing in the hall talking around Batman's orders and debating semantics. Her heart pumped as loudly in her chest as it had the first time.
"He never specified where though," Wally grinned; one by one Arley's team mates began to smirk, "Stay here could easily mean just don't go off world."
Arley nodded; Hal had taught her to always follow the rules and regulations― first and foremost, before she was anything Arley knew she was a solider; a good, abit bloody soldier ―but he had also taught her that sometimes it was better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
"He's right."
"Well then, I guess we wouldn't be disobeying an order as long as we stayed on Earth."
...
The nine of them were in the bio-ship, flying over the snow covered Smokey Mountains; Arley's ring was freshly charged and the girl sat in front of Kid Flash as Miss Martian drove the alien spaceship forward.
"You're positive it's her?" Artemis asked for the third time. Arley turned to the archer— Artemis' voice had been nothing but distressed since Robin's alert had come in and though no one had mentioned it, Arley knew the rest of the team, herself included, had noticed it —and pressed her lips together. "I mean are you positive? Absolutely positive?"
"See for yourself," Robin said as he punched in something to the holographic keyboard that hovered over his gauntlet, images appeared on the bio-ships windshield, the biggest being a woman with dark hair and an attaché case boarding a plane. "This is security footage from the Ashfield Regional Airport. Facial reconstruction confirms that's Jade Nguyen; but you've seen her without her mask," Robin turned to Artemis, "What do you think, is that her?"
Artemis seemed to sink in her seat, "Yeah," the archer nodded, "That's Jade."
"Agreed," Aqualad said from his seat behind Robin, "But focus on what she carries. Is that the case you saw in New Orleans? The one that got away?"
"Yes."
"Okay," Rocket said, "I'm guessing from the mugshot that this Cheshire is the bad guy, but what's so important about that case?" The video from the Ashfield Regional Airport changed and a picture of the Injustice League appeared.
"Remember some months back, when the Injustice League popped up?" Arley wondered; she thought back to how she had gone green, how that night had been the first time she had heard Aniell's voice. Aniell seemed to hum in the back of Arley's mind as the memory popped up.
"And their giant evil plants?" Rocket wondered rhetorically, "Yeah."
"The team and the League put them in prison, but their allies still scheme and whatever is in that containment case seems important to their plans."
"We had a chance to grab it in New Orleans but someone— Kid said as he threw a pointed look at Artemis, "—Screwed that up."
Artemis glared at the speedster and Arley turned in her seat, and just as Kid had pointed and looked at Artemis, Arley looked at Kid Flash.
"Don't be a nerf-herding jerk," Arley said lightly, Artemis' lip twitched up, "We all make mistakes."
Kid looked at Arley and though he half rolled his eyes the speedster put his hands up defensively,
"Yes dear," he said almost sarcastically and Arley glared dryly at the speedster.
"Good thing you're pretty Handsome, cause Nortz knows you're not funny."
Kid winked at her cheekily. Arley rolled her eyes; though before she turned back around in her seat she threw a kiss in the speedsters direction.
"Gross," Robin muttered.
Arley didn't bother to look in his direction as she flipped him off; something she found herself doing the longer she spent around Roy.
"Approaching Cheshire's jet," Miss Martian said before gasping; Artemis turned away, her eyes squeezed together tightly as the bio-ship approached the wreckage of what had once been Jade Nguyen's plane. The bio ship came to a stall in the air and Arley focused on Artemis' clenched fists and gritted teeth.
The Lantern ignored her guts tugging; Oliver Queen wasn't her uncle and her father wasn't around and every third word that came out of her mouth about her civilian life was a lie but Arley— no matter what theories of explanation ran through her mind —wouldn't jump to a conclusion. She'd wait for Artemis to tell her because they were family.
"It looks like there were any survivors," Miss Martian said.
"We don't know that," Arley said immediately, "Hal's a test pilot, just cause a wreck looks bad doesn't mean it was."
Artemis turned and looked at Arley with tightly pressed together lips and wide eyes,
"The plane's in pieces." Arley shrugged,
"Hal says any landing you can walk away from is a good one; and right now we don't know if anyone did or didn't walk away. For all we know Cheshire could be somewhere in the snow waiting for a partner to pick her up."
"You think so?" Artemis asked, a faint smile gracing her lips.
"Arty, have you met Cheshire? Cause from what I've gotten from the past six months is that no plane crash is going to due her in." No one commented on Artemis' widening smile.
...
The plane was burnt from the inside out; there there scotch marks along the one pristine white sides of the plane and each of the windows in the cockpit were broken, glass was scattered across the valley, as were bits and pieces of the plane that had come off in the landing but as Arley and the team continued to look around, what the team couldn't find were bodies; there was no body that belonged to the pilot or co-pilot or Jade Nguyen anywhere in the planes vicinity, nor was there the case Cheshire had brought aboard with her.
"How come Homeland Security and the NTSB aren't all over this?" Kid asked as he walked out of the split apart plane.
"Cheshire's ID was a League alert, authorities didn't pick it up and her jet didn't follow it's flight plan; it flew under the radar. Literally. But the Watchtower auto-tracked the jet and recorded the crash."
"Then why isn't the League here?" Rocket wondered; Zatanna smirked impishly at the new girl.
"Because our Boy Wonder has some mighty hacking skills and arranged to get the alert first."
"And," Aqualad added, "Because Cheshire and that case represent our unfinished business."
"Where are the bodies?" The half-Kryptonian wondered as he tossed aside a fallen piece of plane.
"Here's one!" A familiar voice called out; Arley and the others looked up to see Cheshire and the case she and Sportsmaster had gotten away with in New Orleans. "And it is stunning."
"Called it," Arley muttered to Artemis; the archer's lips twitched upwards.
"I am flora not fauna," a new voice called out; Arley turned and both her brows raised in supersize, not at the sight of the red headed woman and the monster that she and the team had encountered on Isla Santa Prisca and not even dozens of henchmen with Apocalyptic weapons they carried but rather at the sight of the Riddler, "I am foliage, not trees, what am I?"
Aside from his time spent in Bel Reve, Arley hadn't thought the man had ever been out of New Jersey before. The Gotham villain snapped and pylons, like the ones that had been used in India sprouted up from the ground, encasing the heroes and villains in a dome.
A glowing green chain scythe formed in Arley's hands and the girl felt her mind splinter as Miss Martian established the mind-link.
"Come on you can get this. I am shrubbery not grass, what am I?"
"Ambush," Robin said lamely.
The Riddler propped up a knee up on a rock, "Didn't you think we'd be tipped you were on Cheshire's trail? We're tired of your interference, kiddies; this is the endgame. Ordered from above and executed by their master strategist, moi."
"Miss Martian is everyone linked?" Aqualad asked.
"Yes."
"Go." The team charged; Artemis darted towards Cheshire and Arley flew out at a man in white who carried a red tipped staff. Zatanna raised her hands and wind swirled above her,
"Ekahs siht ebolgwons!" A blizzard formed within the dome. The man Arley had charged at swung the pointed, red tipped staff at her the same way one would swing a sword; Arley jumped high over the man's swing and threw the glowing green blade of her weapon at him only for the man to lean back and avoid the blade, though the chain of her weapon wrapped around the shaft of the criminals staff.
Arley pulled and the man stumbled forward only for the mans gloved thumb to hit a button that was on the side of the weapon. Red shot out at Arley and the Lanterns construct— as she jumped to the side —disappeared.
"Superboy, Lantern, the pylons!" Arley rolled as she dodged another blast.
"Working on it!" Superboy responded.
"Give me a minute," Arley responded as she threw up a shield, only for it to crumble and for her to be blasted back seconds after it'd been struck. Arley let out a groan as she got back to her feet . Arley constructed a staff of her own in her hands, much like the one the man had in his hands and engaged once more.
Arley felt a rush of anger that didn't belong to her flow through her and the Lantern sucked in a deep breath.
Arley and the man's staff locked and Arley spun her wrist as she tried to get the upper hand; the man did the same and for a second their staff let out a loud sound as they went around and around. Arley drew her staff up and the man slid forward, stabbing the pointed red tip in Arley's direction only for the girl to side step the tip and for the shaft of the staff to be placed harmlessly against her chest.
Arley brought her own staff against her chest so that it was layered over the mans, and when she had locked the man's weapon against herself Arley rushed forward and body slammed the man hard enough for him to release his weapon as he stumbled back.
Arley heard Rocket scream and she felt her teammates pain rock through her.
Arley dropped his weapon to the floor and brought the blunt shaft of her staff hard enough against the man's head that he crumpled to the snowy ground, unconscious. Arley's construct disappeared and the Lantern turned to the weapon that laid idly on the ground; the girl pointed her ring at it and fired, destroying it before she took to the sky.
Arley blasted one pylon and the next; she caught sight of Superboy fighting the monster from Isla Santa Prisca, "Superboy—"
"—I'm fine!" He snapped, Arley blinked at the boys hostile tone, "Focus on the pylons!"
Arley hesitated for a moment before she blew up a third pylon. A beam of red shot out from below and nearly hit Arley; the Lantern was sure that if it weren't for the snowy winds whatever henchmen that had been aiming for her would have hit her. Arley fired back and the man was thrown back, several feet onto his back. A blur of yellow shot by the man and the weapon the henchman had strapped to his chest was shambles next to him. Arley couldn't help but smile.
"SB you-you're flying!"
Arley felt her heart stop. She turned to Superboy— who was indeed flying —and paled. She had told him not to use the shields Luther had given him; she had told him Luther couldn't be trusted.
Superboy threw the monster from Isla Santa Prisca at the very top of the dome and the monster bounced off and into the side of the valley ; Superboy chased the monster from Isla Santa Prisca with laser beams shooting from his eyes as he fell, before grabbing the monster and, with a speed she had only ever seen Superman or the speedsters use before, beating him carelessly into the side of the valley. Rocks tumbled free and down from where Superboy was attacking the monster; Arley moved.
"Conner!" She shouted; Arley tackled the clone mid-air out of the way of the falling rocks; the pair spun through the air momentarily. The Monster fell and from below Arley saw Cheshire push Artemis— who she hadn't even seen —out of the way.
"Let me go!" Conner snarled, his pupils were dilated to the size of pinpricks and the clone boy looked down at the rubble to where the monster laid; "I'm going to—"
"—Knock it off!" Arley shouted, the two of them were still flying and Arley grabbed the clone boy's wrist; only one of his sleeves were rolled up.
"What are you doing!" Conner snapped; a construct formed and kept his arm out straight so that Arley could pull his sleeve up, "Arley!" Arley ignored the clone and with one hand ripped off the red patch that had been stuck to his skin.
Immediately, Conner dropped; the hand Arley didn't have the shield in immediately grabbed Conner's wrist, her construct disappeared. The snow and wind around them began to slow and Conner's pupils began to grow wide once more. Arley looked at the clone with her lips pressed together; he had almost killed Artemis— he may have very well killed the monster from Isla Santa Prisca —and Arley knew she should have been angry at the boy in her hands but she couldn't be, she wasn't.
She was hurt; hurt he hadn't listened to her about the shields on Thanksgiving, hurt he hadn't told her he still had them.
The pair landed.
"Arley," Conner said, her hand was still locked around his wrist. Arley shook her head,
"Mind-link is still up," Arley said softly, she looked up at Conner with all the hurt she was feeling shining rawly in her eyes, "But don't think we won't talk about this when we get home." Conner nodded and when Arley let go of his wrist the clone grabbed her hand, he looked almost distraught.
"You're mad at me," Conner said.
"Home Conner," just because she was hurt, that didn't mean she would let the team find out about Conner or Luther or the crumpled patch she still had in her hands. She'd promised she wouldn't tell anyone and she wouldn't.
...
Back at the Mount Justice Cave with Bodie in her arms and Wolf at her side— the genetically modified wolf had quickly taken to the vulpimancer and unanimously decided that he would be Bodies new brother —Arley sat next to Wally as Batman and the other mentors looked down at them from across the Meeting Chamber table.
"Tell me if this sounds familiar," Batman said in his usual growled tone, "You hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol, and endangered your lived, and your initiative—" Arley perked up and looked at the caped crusader with a single brow raised, "—Resulted in capture of three escaped felons, proving that Warden Strange runs Bele Reve as a cover for criminal activity."
Batman smiled; Arley had seen Bruce Wayne smile— she'd heard the man laugh —but she'd never seen Batman smile behind the mask. Hal turned to the Dark Knight with his own brows raised as she gaped at the sight.
"Well done."
Batman stopped smiling as he looked down at the open briefcase, the one Sportsmaster and Cheshire had gotten off with in New Orleans. The case had contained dozens of fingernail sized pieces of biotechnology.
"And then there's this. Biotechnology integrated with some form of nano-circuitry."
Icon picked one of the fingernail sized pieces of biotechnology up and held it between his fingers; "I am unfamiliar with this species, the bio component is clearly not of Earth."
Arley looked to her partners and Hal blinked, his ring finger twitched and Arley knew Hal had scanned the biotechnology; maybe the League wasn't sharing the results— or perhaps maybe it was the Corps that weren't sharing —but Arley knew the moment she got both John and Hal alone she'd get her answer.
Batman closed the case; "We'll take it to the Watchtower for further study." Batman began to lead the mentors out of the room— Hal looked over his shoulder at Arley and she nodded; they'd talk later —and Rocket stopped Icon from leaving by flying in front of him. Wolf moved away from Arley towards the door.
"Congratulations on the League thing, sorry I skipped out." Icon smiled.
"Yes, well, we have both seem to have found teams that suit us." Dinah paused and put a hand on Icons shoulder,
"We should go too," Canary said, "We don't want to miss the Leagues induction party."
"Right," Icon said, he nodded at his protégé and both he and the blonde League member left. When the door was shut behind them Dick waited three beats before standing, Bodie squirmed in Arley's arms and Rocket eyed the alien almost uneasily as it nuzzled the underside of Arley's chin.
"You all realize we were set up, right?" Kaldur nodded, Arley pressed a kiss to her dog's head as she set him down; Bodie paused for a second at Arley's feet before bounding over to Wolf.
"Cheshire and Riddler were tipped and ready for us." Artemis pressed her hand to her forehead,
"Not the mole thing again."
"Mole thing?" Rocket asked. "Again?"
The team looked around to one another and Wally leaned forward.
"We had Intel that there was a traitor in the team."
"Mainly Artemis, me or M'gann," Conner said hotly, Arley looked at the clone. He was mad again, Arley didn't need a mink-link to tell her that his hands were balled at his side.
"Conner calm down," Arley said softly; they hadn't spoke about the shields yet— they hadn't gotten the time or the privacy to yet —but Arley could remember the rush of anger she had felt back in the mountains; she could remember the burning intensity of Conner's anger. Arley knew Canary had been helping Conner with his anger issues during their weekly sessions and if the rockslide he had cause in the valley by anything to go by then the heated glare that settled in his eyes wasn't even an angry one, it was one of annoyance.
"It's more complicated than that my friend—" Conner scoffed and stood, Arley followed suit, she could feel Wally's eyes on her as she moved from her seat and towards the clone. Anger was the most unpredictable emotion there was, "—But it is your recent behavior that concerns me, you attack on Mammoth almost got yourself and Artemis nearly killed."
Conner didn't respond, instead he clasped his hands on the side of his head, over his ears, and bent at the waist.
"Conner?" M'gann got up from her seat and stepped forward; Arley threw a hand out to her, she stood in front of Wally. Conner and Arley hadn't known what the shields could do in the long run; for all they knew they could be mind control. This could have been the moment Lex Luther assumed control over the clone boys body and used him to slaughter them all.
"Conner," Arley said softly, the air in the room seemed to have stilled and Arley forced a smile; the team would be suspicious and they would want to know what had happened and they wouldn't stop until they discovered the truth. "You're not having a stroke are you?"
Conner straightens; "Superboy?" Kaldur asked.
Conner met Arley's eyes and rolled his shoulders;
"There's something I need to do—" Conner swallowed the bobbing lump in his throat and his shoulders fell, "—Something I need to tell you," Conner said, Arley felt her lips twitch up, "Last month on Thanksgiving I went back to Cadmus and found a few things out. When I was cloned; only half of Superman's DNA was used, the other half was human, that's why I don't have-why I'll never have," Conner corrected, "Full Kryptonian powers."
"You sure?" Dick wondered, "You sure seemed to have them today." Conner produced an empty metal case and placed it on the Meeting Chamber table, Arley's eyes closed because she had counted them back on Thanksgiving, there'd been six.
"I've been using these things called shields, they suppress my human DNA, I get the flight, the heat vision, but I think I also get angry." Conner blinked, "Well, angrier. I'm sorry."
"Where did you get those?" Kaldur asked,
Conner breathed, "From my human father Lex Luther."
The teams mouths fell open and M'gann's eye's widened; the only one who didn't react was Arley.
"Lex Luther is your father?" Dick repeated,
"He summoned me to Santa Prisca," Conner nodded and Arley's head snapped up;
"That motherfucking son of a bitch!" Arley snarled before she could stop herself. Anger was the most unpredictable emotion. The team turned to her and reeled back; Arley rarely used swears she picked up from Earth and even when she did she so rarely swore in English. Arley looked at Conner who's brows had shot up, "I'm going to kill him-I told him what would happen if he tried to take advantage of you, if he tried to hurt you! I told him!"
"You knew?" Wally asked, Conner stepped closer to Arley,
"Don't be mad at her," Conner said defensively, "I made her promise not to tell you or anyone else." Conner looked down. "She didn't even tell Hal."
"Why'd you tell her though?" Rocket wondered, "Why not your girlfriend?"
Conner folded his arms, and Arley put her hand on the clone shoulders,
"Because Arley's family and she says family's supposed to love you-accept you no matter what." Rocket couldn't help but smile at the clone boy's sentiment and Artemis, with closed eyes and a heavy expression, raised her hand, as she stood.
"Okay listen Superboy's not the only one suffering from bad DNA." Artemis moved from her seat to the computers keyboard; six pictures showed up; two were of Cheshire and Sportsmaster and their civilian identities and the other was of Artemis's mother, behind her, with the word Retired stamped over it, was a younger picture of Artemis' mother that was labeled Huntress.
"My mother is Huntress, an ex-con, the rest of my family aren't even ex. My dad's Sportsmaster and he's sending my sister Cheshire to fly me to Santa Prisca too."
"That's why—"
"—Yeah" Artemis nodded, cutting Wally off, "I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out."
"I knew," Dick said. He smiled at Artemis; "I'm a detective, but it never mattered. You aren't your family. You're one of us."
Artemis smiled back; she turned to Arley who beamed at the archer, she had said she would always be in Artemis' corner and this— Cheshire and Sportsmaster —changed nothing, just as Conner's ties to Lex Luther hadn't changed anything in Arley's eyes.
Artemis was her sister in all but blood; Conner was her brother, they were family and just because they came from less than desirable circumstances, it didn't mean anything in Arley's book.
"Knew you'd tell me when you were ready."
Artemis couldn't help but beam as she walked around the table and into the Lanterns arms; Arley hugged the blonde girl as tight as she could, and when untangled her arms from around the archer Arley looked at Artemis determinedly, her hands on Artemis' shoulders as she looked at the blonde with a proud smile.
"Rob's right on the count that you're more than your family, but you're not just one of us Artey, you're our family." Artemis let out a watery chuckle as she pulled Arley back into a second hug and squeezed Arley tightly.
Wally stood up from his seat with a smile of his own; "So who's next?"
"I am," M'gann said in a quiet voice and Arley's head whipped around to the speedster as she stepped back away from Artemis. His emerald eyes had grown wide, and his hands were in the air.
"I swear I was kidding." M'gann, still in her seat, looked at her hands.
"Queen Bee's been blackmailing me, she wants me on Santa Prisca too."
"Blackmailing?" Kaldur blinked, "How?"
"She knows my true Martian form."
"So?" Arley blinked as Dick shrugged, Arley knew what Martians really looked like— she knew they didn't naturally look like Manhunter —and she didn't see the big deal. Different species evolved differently; there wasn't anything to be ashamed of.
"Bald M'gann Who cares—"
"—No," M'gann cut the younger teen off, she pushed her chair out and stood up, away from the table. With a sigh her back hunched and the green faded; her clothing and hair were absorbed back into her body and no longer was the M'gann the team knew standing there, but rather a seven foot tall white Martian.
Arley nodded as the others gasped; suddenly it made sense.
M'gann's hands wrapped around herself; "I realized you would never accept me, if you saw what I really am."
"Did we truly seem so shallow?" Kaldur asked,
"I couldn't take a chance," M'gann responded almost weepily. She looked to Arley, "You get it, you know what it's like being a White Martian among the Green on Mars, you've seen it." Arley nodded understandingly because on the four trips she had taken to Mars during her seven years as a Lantern, Arley had seen how White Martians were treated in comparison to their Green counterparts. M'gann looked back to Kaldur, "I endured constant rejection I couldn't face that from—"
"—From me?" Conner interrupted. The clone boy walked away from Arley and Artemis and to M'gann, he grabbed her white, two finger hand in his own. "I've known since we mind melded in Bialya," Conner confessed.
"But that was before we even became a couple," M'gann gaped.
"It didn't matter," Conner told her, "It never did. Not to me."
Arley felt her heart warm as M'gann shifted back to her humanoid form; though her skin was a ghostly white and she was bald. M'gann threw her arms around Conner's neck and pressed a firm, chaste kiss to the clone boy's lips.
"Gross!" Dick called out teasingly; Zatanna and Kaldur were both quick to elbow him. Rocket crossed her arms over her chest, and stood.
"So?" She wondered, pulling the attention back to her, "If all these baddies want you guys at the same place that probably means they're working together, right?" Arley and the others nodded, "So what's the plan-I mean," Rocket placed her hands on her hips, "We are going to stop them right?"
Artemis grinned; "Oh she's gonna fit in great."
...
Arley and the others, sans Artemis, were in the Bio-ship. Arley had her hand braced against the sides of her seat as she glared down at Lex Luther and his robot Mercy.
"I should have thrown him off his building the minute Conner told me about him," Arley grumbled hotly as Superboy landed the supercycle several yards away from his DNA donor, Queen Bee, Blockbuster, Sportsmaster and the robotic bodyguard.
Rocket snorted and Aqualad smirked wryly out the window closest to him.
Kid Flash, who had taken the seat next to Arley looked at his girlfriend with a doubtful expression.
"You'd feel terrible about it afterwards." Probably; Arley, after all, still had panic attacks over the warlord from Genonsis but nonetheless she shrugged. Even if she'd never get the sight of whatever she'd do to Lex Luther out of her mind and even if she were plagued by guilt over it until the day she died at least Conner would be safe from him.
"Maybe, but then again it is Lex Luther." Bane and his men, all carrying Apokolptic weapons, emerged from the jungle. Miss Martian, Zatanna and and Kid straightened in their seats; Aqualad and Robin leaned forward, Rocket raised both of her brows in interest at the sight and Arley frowned, deeply at the weapons.
A thought struck the Lantern.
"Hey funny question," Arley said as she continued to look down at the glowing red weapons below. "Since when do Wotan and the Joker actually work with others?"
Robin and Zatanna crossed their arms over their chests,
"Why?" Robin asked; Arley shrugged.
"The Blockbuster formula was invented at Cadmus, somewhere Luther has been secretly funding. Banes island was taken over by the Cult of Cobra so that Cobra-venom could be made and sold to Sportsmaster; Bane has alien weapons that were first found in Biayla, which happens to be ruled by Queen Bee. The Cobra-venom was used in India with the Brain but so were the pylons that were used the valley today; let's not also forget Mammoth and Shimmer, two of the cultists that took over Santa Prisca to make the Cobra-venom were with Cheshire, the Riddler and the case today-a case Artemis said that Klarion and the previously thought to be dead Ivo were both seen working on."
"You think the Injustice League was a distraction?"
"Everything leads back to Cadmus and Biayla, doesn't it? And you know what they say, money and power make the world go 'round."
A helicopter— one the team knew to be carrying Artemis —flew by and Miss Martian stood from the pilots seat as it landed. Artemis was the first to step out of the aircraft and she walked over to her father; Sportsmaster put a hand on her shoulder and Arley wondered how drastically team dynamics would change if she killed both Artemis and Superboy's fathers.
They were both evil monsters; and perhaps Arley would never get over killing them and perhaps it would make breathing harder to do— the lives she'd taken, no matter whose they were sat atop her chest like lead weights —but Artemis and Conner would be free of Luther and Sportsmaster. They'd be safe, and Arley would give her still-beating heart up if it meant the people she cared about were safe.
"Miss M, your go." Robin said and Miss Martian nodded; Arley moved to the pilots seat as a hole in the floor appeared and M'gann, with her hood drawn up over her head, dropped through the hole, towards Earth.
The team that remained in the bio-ship stood; Robin brandished several birdarangs and Rocket glowed violet, Aqualad took his water barers from his back and Arley's hand hovered over the bio-ship's hatch button as she waited for Miss Martians signal.
A few minutes later, after Arley heard an explosion from down below, Arley felt her mind split. She pressed the hatch button and the back of the bio-ship opened.
"Queen Bee is down," Miss Martian said through the mind link, "Superboy you're safe from her control."
"Guys reinforcement time," Artemis thought. Rocket shot out of the bio-ship, as did Zatanna who had summoned a circle to fly on; Arley waited for her boyfriend and their two long time friends to step onto the platform she had constructed before she too shot out of the bio-ship, just in time to see Rocket despot one of Banes men somewhere among the trees.
Kid, with a wink and a kiss in Arley's direction over his shoulder, took a running start off of the platform; Robin and Aqualad followed suit. Kid body slammed two of Banes' men and dodged gunfire from the third as Arley landed in front of Lex Luther. Luther had Queen Been in his arms and his back to the fighting took two steps back at the sight of her.
Batman would kick her off the team; Robin would probably give her hell and perhaps Kid wouldn't be able to look at her the same after seeing her commit such an atrocious act, but to be fair, she had warned the man and he had tried to her use brother.
"Hey Lex," Arley said; the hilt of a sword formed in Arley's hand and Lex Luther's eyes focused on the glowing green weapon.
"You wouldn't dare, your team would know it's you." Arley spun the sword and Mercy's arm transformed into a gun. The Lantern girl smiled almost ferally at the bald man in front of her.
"And? You'd still be dead."
Mercy fired.
Arley blocked the blast with the flat of her blade; her construct splintered but didn't break. Arley swung the blade as the construct hardened and the splintered faded; and Mercy stepped back. Arley threw her sword from the right hand to the left as she dodged a second shot from the android, one that sailed a hair's breadth away from the left side of head.
Arley threw the handle of her sword back into her right hand and Arley, with one hand— the other dangerously reached out to grab the underside of the muzzle of the gun that was now Mercy's hand —and brought her blade up with the other and swiped it through the androids arms leaving the muzzle of the weapon in Arley's hand.
Mercy pointed her second arm out at Arley as that too transformed into a weapon and Arley sighed; "Right, of course."
Arley threw the androids own arm at her and Mercy shit at it as Arley charged forward, recently swinging her blade; missing every time time to Mercy danced just out of her weapons reach, though never giving the android a chance to properly raise her arm and allow her to shoot.
"Lantern Superboy needs assistance!" Aqualad said, "Blockbuster has him on the edge of a cliff!"
"I'm fine!" Superboy denied through the mind link only for Arley to get swept up in a free falling kind of feeling she'd grown accustomed to over the years; Mercy took that split second Arley registered Superboy falling through the mind-link as her chance to shoot at Arley. Arley was blasted backwards into the base of a tree.
Being shot in the suit— even at point blank range —was nothing new for Arley, though that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Arley looked up with a glare only to see the robot had disappeared, and then down at her abdomen which ached.
Maybe if it weren't for the fact her suit was indestructible Arley would have called Lex Luthor a cheapskate for simply giving his billion dollar android regular copper bullets.
Arley got to her feet and shot off to where she knew Superboy was hanging onto; still with an aching abdomen she smiled at him and formed a platform with her ring to drop down onto; "Someone call for a taxi?"
Superboy snorted as he dropped onto the platform; Arley saw— as she and Superboy flew up the side of the mountain —Rocket fly off after Lex Luther and the bald billion heirs one armed his robotic bodyguard as they flew off the same helicopter Artemis and Cheshire had come in on.
Missiles shot at Rocket who threw up a shield and Arley pushed herself and her construct that held Superboy up the side of the mountain faster; "I can still—"
"—No," Aqualad ordered, "You are needed here."
Arley saw the distancing helicopter over her shoulder as she dropped Superboy back onto the ledge he had been thrown from. Superboy charged at Blockbuster and the monster that had once been Doctor Desmond batted the clone away; Arley shot a blast of energy from her ring at the monster.
Arley took three steps back, away from the monster's hand that'd swung out at her and Miss Martian landed besides her; the Martian girl threw five large stones up in the air and began to pelt the monster with it.
"Lantern, Miss Martian, Superboy, move!" Superboy dove one way and Arley dove the other; several flying disks from the alien weaponry Queen Bee had brought to Earth flew around Blockbuster, electrocuting him. Rocket fired three more as Aqualad slammed his hand against the ground and the weapon he had armed himself with turned the ground to mud.
Aqualad— Blockbuster sunk into the mud —moved on to where he knew Artemis was. Superboy, who stood above the scientist who had brought him into the world fisted one hand into his palm; "You should really learn to channel that anger."
Blockbuster growled and turned to Superboy as Aqualad said something to Artemis through the link; and Superboy brought his foot up and then down onto the monster's head.
...
Arley and the others had crowded around Blockbuster so when Wally and Artemis, the last to emerge from the jungle brush, appeared Arley swooped over to her boyfriend and threw her arms around him. She'd known they were both okay due to the mind-link— she'd spoken to Wally once the fighting had stopped and he and Artemis began to trek through the jungle —but the gut churning worry that'd plagued her wouldn't go away until she saw the both of them; until she saw Wally.
Wally was quick to wrap his own arms around Arley's waist and the speedster buried his face into the crook of the girls neck; Sportsmaster mask, his souvenir pressed against her back. When he pulled back he looked at Arley,
"You're okay? I felt that hit before—"
"—I'm fine," Arley said, cutting him off, "What about you?" She'd felt each of the hits he'd taken during the battle just as he had felt each hit she'd taken. Wally pressed a kiss to her lips; it was short and sweet but still made the Lantern girls toes curl. He rested his forehead against hers,
"Fine." Arley grinned; she could feel her teammates looking at her and she turned to Artemis first. The archer smirked at Arley, her hands on her waist.
"I'm fine too, does that mean I get a kiss?"
"Sure," Arley teased; she sprung from Wally's arms and wrapped hers around Artemis' neck; she peppered over dramatic and soberly, sisterly kisses to Artemis' cheeks to which the archer denied, the blonde let out a cry as she tried to push the giggling archer off of her.
Several feet away Kaldur looked at the giggling girls and then at Dick; "Today has been a good day."
