Chapter Twenty-nine — Auld Acquaintance

"If I was born as a blackthorn tree, I'd wanna be felled by you; held by you. "


It was seven in the morning and the team hadn't yet slept in just over twenty-four hours as they had only just arrived back to the snow covered Mount Justice cave when Dick's gauntlet had gone off; Batman wanted to see them, the caped crusader had said it was important.

"Think he's going to chew us out over this?" Wally asked as the team of nine young heroes exited the bio-ship, his arm was slung over Arley who'd powered down. The Lantern was in a pair of ripped jeans and a knitted sweater that kept her safe from the California winter, though it did nothing for the Rhode Island winter.

"I don't know," Arley said as she wrapped her arms tightly over herself, "He did smile at us before."

"Belated Christmas miracle?" Artemis jokes, her lips only half up.

"Batman's Jewish," Dick said over his shoulder. Rocket perked up at the personal tid-bit about the Dark Knight; the same way most people did when something personal about the Gotham Bat came up in conversation. "The only reason he celebrates Christmas is 'cause I celebrate it."

"Well," Kaldur said with a smile of his own, "No matter if Batman does or does not chastise us for our unauthorized excursion, we have reason to feel proud of yesterday's victories." Kaldur's smile fell, and his voice became grave, "But one thing still has not changed—"

"—Somehow the bad guys are still getting inside Intel about us," Dick said with an edge to his own voice.

"Yeah," Wally nodded, he smiled and Arley leaned against him as they continued to walk forward, "But at least we know none of us are the mole."

"That is correct," Batman said, as he and Red Tornado stood in front of the zeta-tubes. "The mole was Red Arrow." Wally's arm fell from Arley's shoulder and Arley felt her heart drop into her stomach.

"What-bullshit!" Arley cried.

Roy Harper was a prick and Arley often found herself wanting to strangle him to death but he was her friend— her family —he wasn't the mole; he wouldn't betray her. Batman may have been the world's greatest detective but he was wrong in this instance; Roy wasn't the mole.

"Roy?" Dick scoffed.

"No way!" Wally cried.

"Batman, that cannot be," Kaldur said, "He was Green Arrow's protégé, we have all known him for years."

"Unfortunately," Red Tornado said, the team turned to look at the android; "The Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Project Cadmus clone."

Arley's head started to spin.

"We've learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced immediately after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick," Batman told the heroes; Arley's hand found Wally's and her fingers threaded through his. He squeezed her fingers and she squeezed back as they continued to listen to Batman; "The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League, which is why he was so angry over any delays to his admission and why he refused to join the team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone or a traitor and his subconscious programming drove him to become League worthy so he struck out on his own as Red Arrow, but when he was finally admitted his secondary programming kicked in and he attempted to betray the League to Vandal Savage."

Arley jolted forward at the mention to the wanted immortal; Vandal Savage was wanted by the Corps in not only relation to the murders of dozens of other Lanterns over the millenniums but a long list of various other crimes.

"Fortunately, I had already deduced Red was a clone, we were prepared."

Zatanna pressed her white gloved fingers to her temple as she began to rub her head; her eyes were shut tight as she did so.

"Savage was subdued but Red Arrow escaped," Red Tornado said. Arley's lips twitched into a frown because Hal and John would have called if Savage had been caught; something like that would have warranted all four them all on Oa, "He is now a fugitive, armed and dangerous."

Conner looked at the floor, his fingers scratched the back of his neck; "If you guys hadn't rescued me from Cadmus—" Conner cut himself off.

"What happened to the real Roy?" Dick asked.

"We don't know," Batman answered, "He isn't at Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead." Arley's lips curled inward as she looked down.

"The clone Roy," Kaldur declared, "The team will find him."

"Negative," Batman said, "Red Arrow's a member of the Justice League now, leave him to us." Batman looked down and pressed his hand to his ear where a com-link laid— Arley felt her mind splinter as the mind-link was reestablished and the Lantern nearly smiled in M'gann's direction —Batman looked back up, "I'm needed on the Watchtower—" Arley frowned, her eyes flickered over to Rocket whose own dark brows knitted together at the mention of the giant secrete satellite; no one answered the new girls mental question of just what Watchtower was, "—Tornado stay with the kids."

Batman walked into the zeta-tube; "Recognized, Batman, zero-two."

Kaldur turned to Arley and the rest of the team. Red Tornado began to move,

"Clone or no clone, Red Arrow was one of us, we will go after him."

Red Tornado stopped a step behind Kaldur, his body rocked before his head hung forward limply.

"Tornado!" M'gann cried,

"What happened to him?" Conner asked as the steam swarmed their robotic den-mother. A holographic image hovered over Dick's gauntlet as the young boy ran a diagnostic over the metal League member.

"He's totally powered down," Wally said. Zatanna's eyes closed once more; her hands were pressed against her head.

"All functions are offline," Dick read.

"Guy's I'm sensing a low-level mystic force at play. I don't know if that caused his shutdown but now that I think about it I was getting the same buzz off Batman."

"Batman," Dick looked up, away from his hologram's screen, "He called us kids, he never does that."

"He mentioned Watchtower too," Arley threw out with a look in Dick's direction; the boy wonder's lips pressed together and Arley could see the poorly hidden worry that was ballooning in him.

"Look," Wally said, he moved to grab something from Red Tornadoes hand and held it up so that the team could see; "One of those biotech chips we confiscated from Cheshire."

"Something is not right," Kaldur said; he looked up at the team. "Robin, Kid, Zatanna, Rocket, see if you can get Tornado back online. The rest of us are with me to find Ro-to find Red Arrow."

Arley turned to Wally and pressed a chaste kiss to the corner of the speedsters mouth.

"Be safe?" Wally asked of her; Arley wanted to smile and promise him she would but their friend was a clone and something was up with Batman and Red Tornado and who knew how many other members of the League— Hal, and John and Barry's faces flashed in her mind —and Vandal Savage was at the middle of it.

"Only if you are," Arley replied.

Wally didn't reply, instead he pressed a quick kiss to the space between her brows as the rest of the team Arley was supposed to go off with began to turn.

"I love you," he said.

Arley looked over her shoulder as her uniform reformed over her clothing and her feet lifted off the ground.

"Love you too Genius Boy."

"The problem's hardware not software," Dick said as Arley and the others raced out of the zeta-tube room, "But where do we start?"

...

The bio-ship took off towards D.C. with an unrelenting speed Arley hadn't ever seen M'gann push; the Lantern sat next to Kaldur at the front of the ship.

Roy Harper had been fifteen when she'd met him; he had tracked down Oliver— not Green Arrow, Roy had wanted to show he was an asset so at fifteen the red headed orphan had managed to discover Oliver Queen's biggest secret —after his parents deaths. Roy had wanted to be a hero after his parents had died and Oliver, who despite knowing Arley and Dick had been hesitant— because Roy was still only just fifteen —to let him take up a bow, so Hal had brought Arley over one night and at twelve year old Arley had ended up flipping the boy over her shoulder just like Kilowog had shown her in boot camp.

Arley couldn't remember what Roy had said to her, just that it had been rude. She could however remember how he smiled up at her after that; as Oliver and Hal had come rushing into the room at the sound of Oliver's breaking coffee table.

That had been the start of their friendship; and now the boy who's back she'd littered with bruises that first night was most likely dead, buried somewhere in a shallow grave or incinerated in some seedy basement.

But that also didn't mean she didn't care about the Roy— the clone —she and the others were going to find because if the Roy they were looking for had been the Roy they'd known for the past three years then this Roy wasn't an impostor; he was still her family.

He was still the boy who took her for ice cream when Wally went on his first date last year and he was still the boy who, before they were supposed to have begun being inducted into the League, had snuck her into a party that was being thrown by an old friend he'd gone to high school with and he was still the same boy who held her hair back as she puked into his and Oliver's toilet after getting too drunk and he was still the same boy who once picked her up from school in a limo when she'd let it slip that Ned Parker had taken to calling her a street rat and according to him no one but him was allowed to make her life hell.

"Computer logs indicate Red Arrow's zeta-tubed to The Hall of Justice from the Watchtower but he could be anywhere by now," Artemis said.

Arley shook her head; Kaldur looked at the team's archer.

"After Red Arrow went solo he installed equipment caches in several major cities, one is here." The camouflaged bio-ship came to a stop over an inconspicuous, run down looking building. Kaldur and Arley stood up;

"Arley and I will get Red Arrow; the rest of you, stay here."

"What if he tried to attack you?" M'gann asked,

"Then we handle it," Arley answered, "Roy-this is something Kaldur and I have to do, okay?"

Artemis and Conner looked like they wanted to argue but neither teen did. M'gann waved a hand and a whole opened up in the floor of the bio-ship; Arley constructed a platform with her ring and Kaldur stepped onto it.

When they reached the building's roof, Arley turned to Kaldur, her heart hammered in her chest.

"What do you think we'll find?" Roy could have been held up with a dozen villains; he could have the real Roy Harper's body in the apartment with him or it could all be a trap and he could be long gone and have jimmy-rigged the building to explode the minute they came through the door looking for him.

"Roy," Kaldur answered, "Hopefully."

Arley nodded as they entered the building and quietly crept down a flight of stairs to the top floor of the building. The two heroes walked silently down the hall; Arley couldn't hear any noise coming from any apartment on the floor and when she and Kaldur stopped in front of the apartment Roy rented as a safe house she couldn't hear anything coming from the other side of the door.

Kaldur blew a hot breath of air out of his nose as he turned the locked door knob only to kick in the door before Arley could form a lock picking kit with her ring.

Roy— Red Arrow; the clone —was there, pressed up against the wall with an arrow notched in his bow.

"We have not come to harm or apprehend you," Kaldur said, "But the team requires answers."

Arley and Kaldur walked farther into the apartment, over the broken down door that'd fallen to the floor once Kaldur had kicked it in.

Roy raised his bow and arrow; "Me first," he said, "Tell me something the two of you haven't told anyone else. Tell me who broke your heart—" Roy looked from Kaldur to Arley, "—And tell me why you ran away from foster care."

"Tula," Kaldur said, "The girl I loved chose my best friend Garth over me, while my best friend on the surface world aims an arrow at my chest." Roy nodded; he looked to Arley, his arrow moved to aim at her.

"Why'd you run away from foster care?" Arley's stomach twisted.

"Roy—" She was sure there were other things she could tell him; something else she'd only ever told him.

"—Tell me! I need to know it's you."

"Just tell him," Kaldur said softly.

Arley's hands clenched at her side; it'd been after the party Roy had snuck her into when she let it slip, she'd been drunk and Roy had her propped up against the tub in his bathroom with her hair sloppily tied out of her face.

It was something Arley had made Roy swear to never tell; Dinah knew because she was Arley's therapist but Wally and Hal and the others, as far as they knew she just got tired of the beatings.

"My last foster family had a son and sometimes when I'd shower he'd wiggle the knob on the door to see if I locked it. The last straw was when my foster brother caught him in our closet one night before bed." At eight years old Arley had heard enough horror stories from past foster siblings to know that there were somethings far worse than what she had already gone through; at eight Arley knew she was better off on the streets of Gotham then she was in the Rowel household.

Roy lowered his boy and arrow; "Right, okay."

...

The bio-ship was on it's way back to Rhode Island, Kaldur was sat between Arley and Roy. Thick grey clouds surrounded the bio-ship, keeping them covered.

"We were told that you were the mole," Kaldur said to Roy, "But we have reason to doubt."

"Forget doubt," Roy said, "I was the mole."

From her peripheral vision Arley could see her teammates' faces drop at Roy's declaration; she felt her own drop as well.

"Batman and Tornado said you're a Cadmus clone, like me," Conner said. Roy nodded;

"That explains it," the red headed archer said, he sighed. "I was a sleeper agent, pre-programmed to infiltrate the League. I think Sportsmaster was my handler. He had a key-phrase—" Roy paused, his lips moved silently for a minute, "—Broken Arrow. Yeah," Roy nodded, "It could shut me down and put me in a hypnotic state to steal secrets for his superiors or incorporate further programming. I'd then carry out all orders subconsciously. Completely unaware of what drove me."

Roy turned to Artemis, M'gann and Conner; "I think one of those orders was to focus suspicion onto the three of you. I'm sorry."

"How did Batman discover this and prevent you from betraying the League?" Kaldur wondered; his tone draped in astonishment.

"He didn't," Roy said darkly; Arley's brows shot up and her heart froze mid-beat. "The entire League is under Vandal Savage's mind control."

"No," Arley shook her head in denial, "Hal-John; Lanterns-we all go through training to ward off psicon attacks including mind-control, Savage can't have control over them."

"Well he does ," Roy snapped; his face pale. The archer looked at his own hands and glared at them from behind his domino mask; "And it's my fault. I was the one who infected the League with what Savage called Starotech."

"What's Starotech?" M'gann asked; Roy shrugged,

"All I know is that it shuts down a person's autonomy turning them into a living puppet. It lets Savage reprogram someone to suit his needs."

"I need to call the Guardians-I need to call Guy—"

"—He's been infected too," Roy said; Arley froze as she moved to stand, she hovered half-hunched over the seat of her chair. Arley could hear the archers regretfulness. "Batman called him-I infected him, I'm sorry."

"How is it that you're no longer enslaved?" M'gann asked.

"No Starotech for starters," Roy answered, "Just my Cadmus programming," he sneered. "Once I'd satisfied its last parameters my mind began to clear. I'm sure Savage planned to Starotech me but he paused to—" Roy paused, his lips pressed together, "—To bask. I escaped."

"I promise I can clean any residual programming from your mind," M'gann swore. Arley blinked as her mind splintered; "Here, Robin. Linking both squads and decamoflaging."

"Great, cause we really need to compare notes," Dick's voice said.

...

Arley hadn't yet called Oa as she and the rest of the team and the top half of Red Tornadoes new body, John Smith stood around the bio-ships cockpit. Black Canary was tied up in the supercycle under the careful watch of both Wolf and Bodie.

"Okay," Dick said, "The first thing we should be worried about is finding a way to reverse Savage's Starotech. Who cares about stopping Savage if we can't free the League from his mind-control."

Arley was against the speedsters chest; his chin rested on the top of her head and his arms were wrapped around her waist, her hands covered his own.

"But it's like you said," Rocket spoke, "This stuff worked on four different types of alien, meta-humans, an Atlantean, Doctor Fate and androids. No way we can come up with a way to reverse that-I'm struggling to pass chemistry."

"We might not be able to but someone else might," Wally said; "I mean as much as I dislike her after the last time, Doctor Roquette is an expert in nano-robotics, right? And she owes us for saving her from the Shadows."

"Queen Mera will also wish to free our King from Savage's mind control."

"What about Doctor Spence?" Conner asked as he straightened up; "If Savage has been working with Cadmus—" the half-Krypontian looked over at Roy who ducked his head, "—All this time, then she'll have to have an idea on how to reverse it."

Kaldur nodded.

"Tomar and Kilowog can help too," Arley spoke up, "Xudarians and Bolovaxians are-were," Arley said thinking of Kilowog, "Highly advanced races, besides Kilowog was a biochemist before his planet was destroyed so even if Tomar can't, he still should be able to help."

"Alright; Artemis, Superboy, you two will go to Cadmus and collect Doctor Spence. Kid, you, Red Arrow and Rocket will go get Doctor Roquette. Miss Martian and I will go to Atlantis and bring back Queen Mera. Lantern call who you need to." Arley nodded, "Red-John Smith?"

"Red Tornado is just fine Aqualad," the top half of the humanoid android said.

"Right, Red Tornado, you, Robin and Zatanna stay here and try to find out what you can about this Starotech and how we can reverse it," Kaldur said to the team.

...

With the League under Vandal Savage's mind control and the Mount Justice Cave compromised the team and the others who they'd brought with them— Kilowag and Tomar-Tu, Doctors Spence and Roquette and Queen Mera and Aquaman's advisor Vulko —found themselves in one of Roy's safe houses; this one in Los Angeles. The warehouse Roy had bought under a Queen Industries shell company that Oliver regularly used to hide hero related transactions was large and from the outside looked like every other run down, graffiti covered, warehouse in the City of Angels.

From the inside though it looked like another highly advanced room any of the young heroes would find in the Mount Justice Cave or on the Watchtower.

Kilowog had Canary tied up with a construct he had formed from his ring and Red Tornado's usual body was tied up next to her with a construct formed from Tomar's ring.

The ten young heroes crowded together on the other side of the warehouse; they watched as Queen Mera and Vulko said something to Roquette and Spence, both of whom nodded thoughtfully . Bodie sat in Wally's lap as the speedster absentmindedly scratched the very top of his head; his tongue lolled out to the side.

Dick turned to Arley;

"So What's the deal with Savage and the Corps?" Dick wondered, the team turned to look at the two heroes, "When you called Oa you made it seem like Savage is the number one most wanted."

"He's not number one but Savage is up there," Arley chuckled; Sinestro, Despiero and the other alien who had escaped the Prison Planet were all at the top of the Corps most wanted list. Arley shifted her weight so that she could lean against Wally's shoulder; "There's a reason Hal's the first human Lantern in over two-hundred years."

"And that's Savage?" Artemis blinked, Arley nodded.

"Sort of, Wotan's killed plenty of Corpsmen since rings started coming to Earth but Wotan's never hunted a Lantern down the way Savage has. Savage, he wants the power the ring wields, always has, it's why the Guardians stopped sending rings to Earth; there was never a point in having a human in the Corps if Savage was just going to kill them a year or two later."

"A year or two?" M'gann repeated horrified, Arley nodded. The life of a Lantern wasn't glamorous— it wasn't what aliens across the galaxy thought; it wasn't war trumpets and endless statues erected in their honor —it was dark and bloody and it more often than not it was short.

"Hal, me and Guy-John too next year, we're the only human Lanterns in Corps history that've had their rings for more than five years; the last guy Alan Scott, he only had his for three before Savage killed him."

That was why Arley wanted to vomit every time she thought about her partners being up on the Watchtower with Vandal Savage, because how long would Savage be content with simply having control over the power rings-how long before he killed Hal and Guy and John like he had killed all the other Lanterns who had crossed his path?

...

Kilowog and Tomar-Tu were on Earth waiting to be called for backup ; there wasn't any reason to give Savage six chances to grab a ring, Arley and the others on the other hand— as Tornado, Canary and Red Arrow posed as a distraction so that Tornado could wirelessly bypass security —were in the lower part of the Watchtower, having snuck onto the League's secrete satellite base.

The team was crowded around Robin as he displayed a holographic image of the Watchtowers schematics.

"RT did it," Robin said through the mind-link, "He wirelessly bypassed security for us the moment he arrived. Savage shouldn't know we're here."

"At least not until it's to late," Arley smirked; the other teen heroes mirrored the Lantern and Aqualad nodded,

"Move out."

...

The team had split up; Rocket and Aqualad had gone in one direction while Robin and Superboy in another; Miss Martian and Zatanna had gone in a third and Arley, Kid and Artemis had gone in a forth.

Arley, Artemis and Kid found Plastic-Man silently unloading crates of something out of the zeta-tube the League used to move supplies to the Watchtower. Artemis pressed herself up against the wall overlooking Plastic-man, her bow drawn back; in his hand on the other side of the room, pressed up against a parallel wall, Kid had a cure-tech patch that Kilowog, Tumar, Queen Mera, her and Aquamans aid Vulko and the scientists Spencer and Roquette had all managed to create.

Arley moved so that she was flying overhead; she watched the rubbery man move back into the zeta-tube, unaware he was surrounded. Arley, as Plastic-man started to move out of the zeta-tube with a crate in his arms, looked to Artemis and nodded.

The archer let a smoke-arrow fly into the crate the rubbery man had in his hands; the arrow exploded as soon as it landed on the crates side, a large dark cloud of smoke surrounded the mind-controlled hero. Plastic-man let out loud, hacking coughs as his head stretched up, over the cloud of smoke. The mind-controlled hero's eyes widened at the sight of Arley and as his mouth opened to say something— shout something —Arley let her closed fit fly.

Plastic-man's head jerked back and Wally ran to the man's head and placed the cure-tech on the back of his neck; like Dinah and Red Tornado had done when Vulko had pressed the cure-tech to their skin, Plastic-man dropped, unconscious.

...

Arley, Kid and Artemis were creeping around the Watchtower halls when Arley caught sight of Guy Gardner; the Lantern was still in uniform but he wasn't flying through the halls like he had done when he'd first awoken from his coma, he was walking.

With no willpower of his own Guy Gardner and her other sector partners were no different then the average human being. Arley looked at Kid and held her hand out; the speedster put a cure-tech patch in the palm of her hand and she pressed a kiss to his cheek, her lips hovered over his skin,

"I'll catch up," she told him. Arley didn't wait around for Kid or Artemis to tell her that they were a team or that they would wait there for her, and instead rounded the corner with the patch in her hand.

Arley— flying as Artemis and Kid both ran down the hall behind her to where Aquaman, the Flash and Green Arrow were —rushed at Guy only for the red headed Lantern to turn before she could place the patch on the back of his neck; Guy's first flew up and into Arley's gut, Arley's breath was knocked from her body as Guy slammed her down onto the ground at his feet.

Guy brought his foot up to crush Arley's face but the teenage Lantern rolled out of the way as he brought the heel of his foot down onto the space where her head had been. Arley thought of a glowing green rope strong enough to lasso even Superman and a glowing construct, a rope, formed from her ring and around the ankle Guy was standing on and she pulled just

Guy Gardner fell and Arley lunged from her spot on the floor onto her sector partner and slapped the cure-patch she had in her hand against his pale forehead; with a gasp Guy's eyes fluttered shut and when Arley pulled her hand away the skin of where she had put the cure-tech was red.

...

Arley didn't catch up with Artemis and Kid and it wasn't because she didn't want to fight alongside her friend and the boy she loved as they faced off against their mentors but she couldn't; not when Hal and John didn't have their powers or their wits about them and not when Vandal Savage, a Lantern killer, was pulling their strings.

It was why, after having run into Robin and Superboy and with two new cure-patches on her persons, Arley found herself fighting a puppeted Hal Jordan in some corridor of the Watchtower. She hadn't yet run into John; a leaden weight settled in her stomach as the worst possible scenario flashed through her mind only for the Lantern to wrest it away. She couldn't think like that— of John dead at Vandal Savage's feet —not when she was fighting for her own life.

Hal, with a bloody nose and a cut above his mask, still rushed at Arley as she tried to evade each hit her adoptive father swung her way.

"Hal, will you cut it out," Arley hissed as she blocked Hal's punch with her hand; she pushed her sector leader's hand to the side and hit him across the face with the back of her own closed fist. Hal threw his arms up to block the next series of hit's Arley tried to throw at him only to leave his stomach open.

Arley punched Hal in the stomach and the man's arms dropped as he gasped for air; Arley's fist ruefully flew across her adoptive father's face only for Hal to catch the forearm of the next hit Arley threw forward. Arley's head snapped to the side as Hal hit her and her body curled inwards as Hal hit her stomach; Arley stumbled back only for Hal to hit her again. Arley danced out of his reach as she breathed heavily.

If she could get him on his back like she had done with Guy then she could administer a cure-tech patch to him but every time she tried to wrap a construct around his feet or his ankle he constantly managed to get the better of her.

The first time he had thrown Arley into a wall so hard the concert had splintered; the second time he had tugged on the rope harder then Arley had and sent her flying into his closed fist causing her to momentarily see stars, and if there was a third time Arley let Hal get the better of her was sure Savage would make Hal kill her with his own bare hands.

Hal jumped at her and Arley moved to the left, out of his reach; Hal brought his elbow up and swung it at her and Arley blocked the same way she'd been shown how to as a child, with her forearms in front of her face. Hal moved to throw another punch in her direction and Arley darted forward and hit her adoptive father in the mouth; one of Hal's hands moved up to cover his mouth as the other moved out behind him so that he wouldn't fall and Arley's legs swung up so that the top of her foot could kick Hal clear across the face.

Spit flew over Arley's head.

Hal hit the wall; he bounced off the Watchtower wall and teetered as he stood and his knees shook and he raised his fists in front of his face as he panted.

"Hal," Arley begged in a hissed voice, training was one thing but truly fighting her adoptive father— her dad —was another and it pained her to do so, "Just stand down, please."

Hal stumbled forward and Arley batted his fists away and used the open ball of her palm to strike the underside of Hals chin; Hal's head jerked up and Arley brought up her leg once more and kicked Hal Jordan in the gut hard enough to send him back into the wall he had bounced off of.

Hal slide down onto the Watchtower floor and his eyes were cracked ever so slightly open; Arley pressed the cure-patch she had kept in the wrist wrist compartment Robin had given her to carry to Hal's cheek and when Hal's head hung forward limply Arley crouched down and pressed a kiss to the Lanterns foreheads.

"Sorry dad," Arley said before she took off to the Watchtowers main deck, where she knew not only the rest of her team was converging onto but also where Vandal Savage and whoever else was helping him control the League were waiting.

...

Arley was the first to burst onto the main deck.

She saw Vandal and Klarion and the Witch Boys familiar, Teekle. While Arley had fought Klarion twice, and while she had seen pictures of Vandal Savage in the Green Lantern Corps archives she had never actually seen the man in person before that very moment. He was short; she noticed that first, the evil glint in his eyes that sparkled under the red that swirled above himself and Klarion was what she noticed second.

The portal was what she noticed thirdly; not that she'd ever admit that it was the portal she noticed lastly.

Arley had been so swept up in the anger that had shot through her at the sight of the Neanderthal man's smirk she hadn't focused on her surroundings as she'd been taught to in bootcamp, just on Savage and how he had smirked at her and the way the bear claw scars that stretched across his face stretched as his lip quirked up into a snarl and his teeth poked out at her.

Arley, with outstretched hands, flew at the warlord and Kid who'd run in from another door rushed at Klarion but both villains were gone by the time Arley and Kid got to where they stood.

"Are you kriffing kidding me!" Arley fumed as the hands she'd had outstretched fisted and curled to her chest; Aqualad walked up past her and kid to Tornado who laid on the ground of the Watchtower deck without any arms or legs.

John laid passed out some odd feet from Canary, as did Hawkgirl. At least John was safe from Savage's control.

Arley took a deep breath in as she turned to Kid; the edges of her vision were still tinted red, she'd be read the riot act for allowing Savage to escape, perhaps not by Guardians Scar or Ganthet but definitely by the other council members who didn't like Earthlings.

"Congratulations team," Tornado said as the rest of the team rushed in, "You have won the day."

"You're okay?" Arley asked Wally, the speedster's hands rested on her waist and Arley placed hers on either side of the boy's jaws.

"Fine, you?"

Angry enough to spit, she thought but Arley looked into Wally Wests emerald green eyes and smiled nonetheless. She was alive, he was safe and so was the rest of the team; the League— her fathers —were free of Vandal Savage's control.

"Yeah, okay, I'm okay."

Wally pressed his forehead against Arley's. The Lantern's eyes fluttered shut as she breathed; she could feel Wally's warm breath fan against her face and her heart pitter-pattered in her chest.

A voice rang throughout the Watchtower halls, "Happy New Year Justice League." The instrumental to Auld Lang Syne began to play and Wally clutched Arley tighter as he dragged her as close as physically possible.

"Happy New Years Glowstick; I love you," Wally said before he pressed his lips against Arley's; it was a sweet kiss, one that didn't make the Lantern doubt whether or not Wally was lying because everything about the kiss stole the girls breath away and lit each cell in her body on fire, it was the kind of kiss that had Wally leaning Arley back and the girl clinging to the speedster.

It was the kind that had every ounce of love each young hero had for the other poured into it; the kind stories were made to be written about.

When they pulled away a moment later and Arley's eyes fluttered back open, and she smiled more content then she had felt in a long time.

"I love you too Genius Boy."