Chapter Four — Beneath

"Everything comes with an inherent sacrifice, whatever makes us feel good will also inevitably make us feel bad."


Sitting at a table in Guy Gardner's Manhattan restaurant, Arley, Conner and Artemis watched the civilians around them chattering and laughing. Warriors had been a hit from the start; for the civilians it was a place where— occasionally —they could catch Green Arrow or other League members, eating after a long battle, and for the heroes it was a place where the young teens who saved the world could make some money and older heroes could eat a meal without having to worry about a check if they needed to rush off because when you work a thankless and payless job like they did sometimes the best— and only —thanks was a hot meal.

"So Guy's off world?" Conner asked Arley; Arley nodded.

"There's been some yellow activity in Tomar-Tu's old sector so the Guardians sent him and some others to investigate. Hopefully this will be where Sinestro's hiding out and we can put this whole war behind us," Arley said.

Jordan-Glucks weren't pessimists; Hal hadn't allowed that in their apartment growing up, but as the war between the Green Lanterns and the Sinestro Corps continued to rage it was hard for Arley not to lose herself to the darkness that seemed to be her life.

Artemis raised her glass of ice tea, "Cheers to that."

Arley and Conner raised their own glasses and clinked them against Artemis'. Though Arley needed the war to be over soon— she couldn't see another Lantern she knew and cared about dead at her feet, she couldn't continue to make the impossible soul crushing decisions the Sinestro Corps had pushed her to make over the years —the Lantern knew all she could really do was hope; hope that the war would end sooner rather than later.

"How are you though? Mal said you kidnapped Jaime for some personal time last week?" Arley asked Conner.

"If I have to hear La'gann call M'gann Angelfish one more time I'm going to stab my ears with kryptonite until I'm deaf." Conner rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his booth.

"Jesus Con," Artemis snickered.

"It's true though," Conner defended himself, "You don't have to listen to them Artemis; Oh Angelfish this surface food is divine. Oh Angelfish look at me I can lift a car over my head when I inflate myself like a puffer fish," Conner said in a mocking imitation of La'gaan's own voice.

Both young women collapsed against themselves into a fit of giggles.

"What are we laughing about now?" The three college aged heroes turned to see sixteen year old Billy Batson, dressed in the green polo shirt the waiters and waitresses at Warriors wore, holding a large tray that had their foods.

Instead of having their names on their tags that were pinned to their chests, most of the waiters and waitresses had the name of their favorite League member or sidekick. Billy's name tag read Captain Marvel; when Cassie— Wonder Woman's protégé —worked she usually wore her own mantle's name as well, Jaime, when he picked up a shift, however wore the name Batman as the young teen was too nervous to wear the name Blue Beetle on his nametag.

"Just Conner's impression of Lagoon Boy," Artemis said and Billy looked as if he was trying not to smile.

"He's nice," Billy said as he put Artemis' banana nut pancakes in front of her, "But he's kind of a try hard, you know?" Billy sat Conner's pork patty breakfast sandwich and fries in front of him. Billy looked at Arley, "I men I was hanging out with Gar and Tim the other day and he comes in and says that me, him and Gar should hang out cause Gar is like M'gann's brother and since you call me yours and you also call M'gann your sister we should all bond since that means we're family-dude, like what?" Billy gave Arley her mushroom and swiss burger plate; the onion rings on the side were extra well done.

"And I'm sure that's the hardest thing you've ever had to go through," Arley said with a faux seriousness; Billy shot the older hero a dry look.

"Don't choke on your food cause I won't save you," Billy joked.

Arley's mouth fell open.

"That's so rude-Conner you would save me from choking to death, right?" With a smirk Conner wobbled his hand from side to side; Arley's head swiveled to Artemis, "Arty?"

"You know it," Artemis said, not looking up as she cut her pancaked. Arley slung her arm around the archers shoulders and looked at both dark haired males,

"See this is why I love Artemis the most, she'd save me from choking to death."

"Only cause if I didn't I'd have to deal with Wally's crying." Arley retracted her arm from Artemis' shoulder; snickering, Billy rolled his eyes at the girls banter.

Arley, with the rest of the females who were on the team with her— Miss Martian, Wonder Girl, Batgirl and Bumblebee —sat inside the bio-ship's cockpit as the female Martian piloted the ship over Qurac and towards Bialya. Arley sat next to Batgirl at the front of the ship and peeked a look at young the red headed woman when Dick's face, covered with his domino mask and with his Nightwing symbol sticking up just into the camera's frame, appeared holographically on the bio-ship's front window.

Ever since Barbra had become Batgirl she and Dick had been on and off; currently the two of them were off.

"Investigating the origin of the alien bomb that destroyed the Krolotean invasion force is still a high priority," Dick said, "We suspect the bomb to have been smuggled to Earth via boom tube, Watchtower scans of Bialya have recorded an uptick in their boom tube activity. Alpha squad, your mission is to—"

"—Sneak behind enemy lines, recon known boom tube hotspots and find alien tech matching the bomb," Wonder Girl cut Dick off excitedly. The demi-goddess pressed the symbol on her chest, darkening her uniform; "Oh, and don't get caught or create an internal incident, right?"

Arley looked over her shoulder at the beaming blonde and then at Miss Martian who Arley smiled wider at; Cassie reminded Arley so much of M'gann, back when she had first come to Earth, bright eyed and eager to save lives.

"That about covers it," Dick nodded with a smile of his own. Miss Martian's eyes flickered from Arley to Dick, slightly, the Martian's smile fell.

"And Psimon?" The Martian wondered with a quirked brow and grimace; Arley's own smile faded as she remembered the first time she had met the psychic. She'd been fifteen and tortured to give up Green Lantern Corps secrets so that Vandal Savage could use them against the Corps; she hadn't of course but she still barred the scars.

"We have confirmation that, after his last encounter with you," Dick said almost awkwardly, "Bialya's telepathic enforcer is still catatonic in a Quraci hospital. But Bialya's dictator Queen Bee is another story. Her ability to control the minds of men is why Alpha is an all-female squad for this mission."

Batgirl crossed her arms over her chest and Arley caught the red head smirking up at Dick Grayson; "Oh Really?" Batgirl wondered over dramatically, "And would you have felt the need to justify an all male squad for a given mission."

Arley crossed her own arms over her chest, not in indignation but rather curiosity. There was something almost satisfying about watching a Bat fumble; even if that Bat was one of her closest friends.

Dick cleared his throat, "There-there's no right answer for that is there?" Dick asked. Dick's shoulders fell as he breathed, "So, Nightwing out."

Dick's face faded from the bio-ships window and Batgirl tilted her chin up victoriously, the red headed Gothamite smirked arrogantly; "Queen Bee isn't the only woman who can mess with a man's mind."

Simultaneously the five female heroes burst out into giggles.

Hours later, under the cover of night, Arley found herself mind-linked to the other females as they overlooked one of the lesser common of Bialya's boom tube locations; Arley peered down over the sand dune she and the others had hidden behind to look at the Bialyaian soldiers that littered the compound.

Dick had put Arley in charge of the mission which meant she had to figure out a plan that got everyone out and home safely; ever since the war had started Arley had had to break the news to families throughout the galaxy, she wouldn't be making one on Earth.

"The other boom tube hot spots have all been busts but—"

"—This much security means they must be guarding some big deal alien stuff, right?" Wonder Girl asked through the mind-link, cutting Miss Martian off.

"Maybe, it's our job to find out." Arley turned to Batgirl, "Batgirl, I'll drop you at the north hanger, Miss M, take the south. Bee, you're with me in the middle one, I want you to go on ahead as I drop Batgirl off and scout for a way in. Wonder Girl, hold position and watch our six."

"What?" Wonder Girl blinked, "Wait why can't I go in?"

"Cause you're Wonder Girl, honey," Bumblebee said to the young blonde, "Not stealth-er girl."

"I can do this though," Wonder Girl said; her looked at Arley pleadingly and the Lantern wanted to let the girl come along— she remembered what it was like to want to prove herself —but she had three other teammates lives to think about on top of Wonder Girls' and she wouldn't put them in jeopardy just so the blonde demi-god could prove herself to Wonder Woman.

"No," Arley said; "Stay here."

"But—"

"—Look Cas," Batgirl said, "No one is knocking your enthusiasm and if this were a fire fight there's no one else I'd rather have besides me—"

"—But we're trying to avoid a fight," Miss Martian said just as kindly. "And we need a look out."Wonder Girls shoulders dropped and Arley felt something heavy settle in her stomach as the blonde's baby blues eyed the sand beneath them.

The Lantern rested a hand on Wonder Girls shoulder; the demi-god looked up. "Look, I know you're eager to prove yourself but Bialya? This isn't a place to take any kind of risk. If you really want to prove yourself, once we get back to the cave I'll talk to Nightwing about sending you on another Alpha-squad mission, alright?"

Wonder Girl's lips turned up; "Really?"

"I swear it," Arley nodded; she turned to the rest of the team, "Only communicate through the mind-link, the Bialyans have technology that can intercept our radios. If anything goes wrong we scatter-do not wait around or go looking for the rest of the team, just head to the rendezvous point, clear?"

"Clear," the others nodded. Miss Martian closed her eyes and camouflaged herself to match the desert surroundings around them; Bumblebee shrunk even further— so much so that Arley could barely see the flying female and Batgirl pressed herself closer to Arley so that the Lantern could pick her up.

"Good," Arley wrapped her arms around Batgirl's waist, Arley looked at the heroes who'd never been inside Bialya's borders before, "And seriously, I meant what I said, no risks. Do what we came here to do and then get out."

Arley had been looking at the crates that littered the second hanger when she felt her mind rubberband back to her; the Lantern pressed her palm against the side of one of the crates as she felt her mind piece back together. Miss Martian had shut down the link, something was wrong.

Do you think she had been captured? Aniell wondered; Arley thought for a moment before dismissing the idea.

If Megs got caught then we'd hear an alarm, something else happened. Arley looked up at where she had last seen Bumblebee and waved her hand at the dark skinned girl; a second later Arley heard the hum of her wings.

Bumblebee's eyes knitted together.

"Link's down," Arley breathed, "Let Wonder Girl know and get to the rendezvous point. I need to find Batgirl and Miss M."

"I thought you said not to go looking for the others?" Bumblebee hissed; Arley smirked,

"I told you guys not to, I'm the mission leader it's different, now get going; shit could hit the fan at any moment." Bumblebee didn't look pleased but she nodded all the same, at that moment a loud crash sounded from the outside and the alarm started to blare red; the doors of the hanger shut and Arley breathed.

"I hate our job," she said as the grated window Bumblebee had come through shut too. Arley could hear the soldiers that had littered the hanger begin to load their guns; the red light from their guns started to trace over the hanger walls and the sides of crates.

Arley had been to Bialya enough to know the kinds of marksmen the army churned out; she had also been to Bialya enough to know it didn't matter what they saw moving— fly sized or not —they'd shoot. They'd kill Bumblebee and the rest of the team and it would be Arley's fault for not protecting them.

The Lanterns fingers curled into a fist, her heart beat quickly in her chest. She had to get her team out.

"Okay new plan," Arley held the end of one of her braids, "Bee you're with me, stay in my hair, we don't need two targets moving around."

Bumblebee let out a hum and clutched onto Arley's braided hair.

Slowly the Lantern crept to where she had seen a floor vent; the reds from the soldiers' guns were getting closer and Arley slipped her fingers between the holes in the vents grating and pulled; quietly she and Bumblebee slipped down into the hangers vent systems.

Silently, with Bumblebee leading the way as Arley army-crawled behind her, the pair made their way through the vents, only to come to a stop when they were met with Batgirl's face sticking out ever so slightly from a turn in the vent system.

"Girl you look like a turkey stuffing on Thanksgiving," Bumblebee giggled.

"Thank you," Batgirl breathed, "Very helpful."

Bumblebee put her hands on her hips as her wings fluttered behind her.

"This was your escape route?"

"No," Batgirl said, "I was already here when the alarm sounded and the physic link went down." Batgirl looked to Arley, "What happened up there?"

If she could have shrugged she would have.

"No idea," Arley said, "One minute the link went dark and the next the alarm sounded and the hanger locked down. Bee and I came to get you."

"I thought you said—"

"Apparently it's different because she's the mission leader," Bumblebee answered before Batgirl's question had fully left her mouth. Batgirl looked at Arley humorously,

"Okay-you guys said the hangers were locked down?"

"Yeah," Arley answered. Batgirl moved and grabbed a small compact from her belt. A hologram appeared and lit up the ventilation shaft the three heroes were in.

"I scanned the air shafts, they connected all three hangers but they also lead to a larger chamber twenty meters below."

And that, most likely, was where the alien technology was. Green Lanterns always completed their missions; that was one of the first things Kilowog had drilled into her and the others minds in boot camp. Yet, she couldn't risk her teammates' lives; she wouldn't.

But she was in Bialya and she had promised Wally to come back to him and she knew going alone was a suicide mission.

Compromise, Aniell said; Think smart not hard and not with your emotions.

It was easier said than done but Arley knew she had too.

"Batgirl you go back to the rendezvous point; Bee shrink some more, I want you hidden from the human eye, you're with me-and Batgirl?"

"Yeah?"

"Be safe."

Batgirls lips twitched up, she handed Arley the compact she had used to scan the air shafts and Arley's fingers wrapped around the palm sized metal.

"You too, both of you."

And with that the girls split up; Arley followed Bumblebee down the air shafts to an old stone temple like chamber. There was an image of a scarab ingrained on the wall and an obelisk in the middle of the room; rubble was settled around the room, piled around the broken column and destroyed steps.

Aniell, are you getting this? Arley thought as she continued to look around herself. Lantern rings had environmental playbacks meaning that Arley— and every other Lantern in the corps —could see a holographic environment based on data in its memory banks.

Yes, Aniell answered.

Bailyan soldiers stood in front of three large computer monitors that had been set up in the side of the room; music played through a small speaker a soldier had set up.

"Can you say temple of doom?" Bumblebee said as she floated higher into the air, "This place must be thousands of years old."

Arley moved, out from the open and behind a pile of rocks. Slowly Arley crept by the Bialyan soldiers until she was crouched over a ledge that overlooked an air strip. Arley flew down the ledge and landed on the concrete that was the airstrip; with her back hunched Arley tiptoed around and under the wing of the old cargo plane someone had landed only to stop and turn when red caught her eyes.

Face to face with a brown haired teenage boy; Arley found herself looking at a podded teenager. The boy was no older than Jaime and Billy were, the boys hair was matted and dirty— it looked as if it hadn't been washed in weeks —his face was sunken in and there were old, dark colored stains on the obviously hand-me -own shirt he wore; though his eyes were closed his face was sunken in and everything about him screamed that he was from the streets.

The pod the boy was in almost reminded Arley of the one she and the others had saved Conner from five years ago.

With wide eyes Arley started to walk down the line of podded teenagers; there were two complete rows of twelve and one third row had only just been started; each podded teen looked almost worse than the last, all of them were obviously either runaways or kids who lived far below the poverty line.

Arley felt something hit her over the head; with a cry she felt her knees hit the concrete beneath her and then as she was hit over the head a second time and as darkness overtook her, she felt nothing.

Pain was the first thing Arley felt when she came too; her left boob stung as she jerked awake and her hands went to cover the sensitive area. Arley's eyes flitted around the dark room she was in only to see Bumblebee hovering in front of her.

"Did you just—"

"Sorry girl you wouldn't wake up and we have a cargo plane full of abductees Batgirl needs to fly to safety." Bumblebee pressed a finger to her lips, "Which is ironic since she's the only one on Alpha who can't fly."

"I'll give you a dollar if you say that her," Arley mused;

"And have her bring out the fly swatter again?" Bumblebee joked, "No thank you."

Arley caught sight of Icicle junior, Mammoth and Deviation moving towards a glowing eyed Shimmer who Arley quickly pierced together was M'gann. The planes engines fired up and Arley moved out of the pod she'd been put into.

"I'm going to help Miss M, keep Batgirl covered and this plane moving, we need these kids safe-wait where's Wonder Girl?" Arley questioned.

"She's got the doors," Bumblebee said as the plane's doors began to shut, "Go!"

Arley didn't wait for any more encouragement, the Lantern and Bee themed heroes flew out of plane doors. Bumblebee began to fire at Mammoth and Arley went to trip Devastation with a rope she had formed from her ring, only for the super human to jump, high over the construct and onto the back of the plane.

Arley turned to go after that tattooed criminal; only for Bumblebee's high pitched voice to cut her off.

"Help Miss M, I got them!"

Arley shot the tiny, pinky-sized hero a curt nod and turned back so that she could fly at Psimon. The pair rolled to the ground, away from Icicle and Miss Martian; and Arley landed with one knee under her and the other leg outstretched at her side; her ring raised in Psimons direction.

Psimon pushed himself up, onto his knees as he glared at her.

"Lantern."

Arley could feel him trying to enter her mind; with a snarl she thought of glowing green guard dogs and razor wire and the Batcave safe Batman kept his chunk of Kryptonite in. Miss Martian turned to Icicle junior; her disguise as Shimmer fell as she did so.

"Uh-oh."

"Looking at you, still hurts," Arley snarled. Arley fired a blast from her ring at the physic and the man was thrown back onto the ground with his eyes closed; Arley could see the rise and fall of Psimons chest. With a wave of her hand Miss Martian threw Icicle into the wall, knocking him out; Arley and the Martian turned as they flew off after the cargo plane.

Wonder Girl had just thrown both Mammoth and Devastation off of the top of the plane when Arley and Miss Martian had caught up with the cargo plane. The three females landed on the very top of the plane, near the horizontal stabler.

"We did it!" Wonder Girl cheered; Arley couldn't help but smile at the blonde girl's enthusiasm. Arley could remember what that was like; some days— on the good ones —she still felt it.

"Guess we won't need that second mission, huh Wonder Girl?"

A forklift someone— Mammoth or Devastation —had thrown landed on the plane's right wing; the plane's right engine sputtered and whined before it exploded, knocking all three heroes off.

The plane drifted to the left and the left wing scraped against the rocky wally before that too came off; the node of the plane— as the plane continued to move forward —tipped ward and blue sparks flew behind the plane as it— and the kidnapped kids and Batgirl and Bumblebee —all fell down, off the edge of the runway.

Arley, Wonder Girl and Miss Martian flew after it; Miss Martian's eyes glowed green and Wonder Girl put her back against the planes nose while Arley imagined a construct that looked eerily similar to the claw in the rigged machines you would find in the lobby of a Friendly's.

The glowing green construct wrapped around the planes fuselage and, with sweat beading her brow, Arley pulled upwards, leading the plane away from the explosion that nearly engulfed them once the falling planes wings hit the ground underneath them.

Once they were away from the fire explosion at the bottom of the valley, and away from Psimon and his men, Wonder Girl let out a loud hoot before she started laughing.

"That's right!" The demi-goddess called, "We did it!"

Hours later, back at the Mount Justice Cave, in the Meeting Chamber the founding members of the League had once sat around, Dick Grayson— after he had seen and recorded the environmental replay Arley's ring could produce of the chambers walls —hung his head in apology once Arley and the others had recounted the mission in Bialya.

"Psimon planted mental suggestions in the minds of his doctors and nurses, they've been tending to an empty hospital bed for months, I'm sorry."

"It had to happen eventually," M'gann said. Dick breathed;

"So no alien tech?" The former boy wonder asked, Arley shook her head.

"No but it was strange all the same."

"It was clear in Shimmers mind that Queen Bee was acting as some sort of a middle man, delivering and abducting humans to an unknown partner."

"She had no clue?" Dick asked, "No ideas?"

M'gann shook her head.

"We questioned all the teens, most of them were runaways who were kidnapped after the destruction of Malina Island and the Kroloteans," Barbra said with her hands on her hips. Dick crossed his arms over his chest.

"So if the Bialyaians weren't kidnapping for the Kroloteans then who is this partner?"

"Great," Cassie scoffed, "Another unanswered question."

Dick smiled at the younger girl.

"New questions keep the investigation moving forward. You saved lives and you got each other home safe, that's a successful mission in my book. Good work Alpha," Dick said. Barbra swung an arm over Cassie's shoulders and pulled the girl closer to her; Cassie looked around and her baby blue eyes landed on Arley who was beaming at her.

"You know Cas," M'gann said, "I think we have ice cream in the fridge-you don't need to be home until later right?"

"Yeah," the demi-goddess nodded.

"Come on then, I'm pretty sure we have enough chocolate syrup to make sundaes."

Cassie's eyes brightened and the younger girl reached over to grab the Martian's hand before she took to the air— M'gann flew into the air as well —and shot off, out of the meeting Chamber towards the kitchens.

"Come on girl," Karen grinned at Barbra, "Let's go before Wonder Girl eats all the ice cream." Karen turned to Arley, "You coming too?"

Arley blinked and smiled easily at the pair; "Yeah in a minute, Nightwing and I just need to go over a few more things."

Barbra's eyebrows— under her cowl —knitted together, but the redhead didn't say anything before she turned and followed Karen out of the room. When the door was shut firmly behind the two females Dick looked at Arley.

"Have the Guardians reached a decision yet?"

"No and even if they did Wally doesn't want me to. Missions are different, they're not indefinite," Arley told him, shaking her head.

Dick frowned; his shoulders rolled as he breathed.

"I can always ask Artemis—"

"—Like hell you can," Arley snapped, "She's trying to get out of this life Dickie, if you ask her to do this you know she'll say yes. You'll be dragging her right back. Wally doesn't like the idea but he's on board; anything to get Savage, especially after the last time." Wordlessly Dick nodded; "I just wanted to tell you that the Guardians should have a verdict soon."

Arley had only just started to turn when Dick said something.

"Sorry," he said, "I know I'm asking a lot of you." With a wry and mirthless smile Arley looked at the cowled young man.

"Please," Arley said, "We're heroes, there's always going to be some kind of price to pay when we save the world; right now this is it."

"It's a shitty price," Dick told her; Arley's smile became much more genuine,

"Yeah," she said softly, "It really kriffing is."

When Arley Gluck got home Roy Harper was there, sitting at the bottom of her steps, his hair had been washed and his cheeks looked slightly fuller and though it was dark out, due to the tiny porch light at the top of the stairs Arley couldn't see any new track marks on his arms.

There was also a large bag by his feet.

"Roy?" Arley blinked, Roy's head shot up and the archer got to his feet, "What-does Wally know you're here? Artemis? Holy kriff dude it's freezing out here, why aren't you in a jacket—"

"—Breath Greenie, breath." Arley's lips pressed together, Roy snickered as he looked at Arley hopefully; his bow was slung over his shoulders.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"Too many to count," Roy said; "Um, and to answer your questions no, Wally and Artemis don't know I'm down here, I needed to talk to you."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah-great actually," Roy said; his fingers drummed along the outside of his thighs, "Jade's in a car across the street, she has a solid lead on where the original Roy is."

"That's great," Arley said, "Let me just charge my ring—"

"—No," Roy said, cutting her off, "That's not why I came. Arley Jade left me last year—" Roy squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a deep breath, "—When she left, she was pregnant."

Arley's mouth fell open; never in her life had she ever imagined Roy Harper as a father. Him wanting to get married had been enough of a shock; he had never seemed like the kind of guy to want to settle down.

"You have a kid?" Arley asked, Roy nodded and waved over Arley's shoulder. Arley turned just in time to see Jade Nguyen exit the passenger side of a dark, inconspicuous looking car holding a large, baby-sized bundle in her arms. A diaper bag had been thrown over her shoulder.

"Her name's Lian; we can't-we're not going to bring her on this mission with us." Jade settled on Roy's left and from the light at the top of the stairs Arley could make out the baby girl's features; she had dark eyes and a puff of auburn hair and an incredibly infectious smile that Arley couldn't help but fall instantly in love with. "That's why I'm here, we need you to watch her for us."

"You want me to watch your daughter?" Arley asked as she looked between the former League of Assassins member and Roy; "You do know her aunt is up stairs right?"

"We do," Jade said, she brought Lian closer to her chest, "But with Roy and me out of the country anyone who might know about her-anyone who would want to hurt her to get back at me or Roy, would choose now to attack."

"Artemis wouldn't let anything happen to her," Arley said defensively; she knew the Nguyen-Crock sisters weren't particularly close but that didn't mean she would allow Jade to talk ill of Artemis, not when Arley saw the former sister as her own sister.

"But she wouldn't kill the person coming after her, would she?" Jade asked, "I know my sister and there are lines she's drawn, one's she won't cross. I won't judge her for that but I can't leave my daughter knowing that either. I know you pulled strings for Roy and I got get married, for my record to be expunged—" wasn't that an understatement; Arley had all but had to threaten to arrest Batman and several other alien League members on trumped up intergalactic charges when he had pressed for Jade to be arrested, "—and I know I shouldn't ask anything more—"

"—Give me the baby," Arley said. Jade blinked.

"What?"

"Lian, I'm going to need to hold her if I'm going to bring her upstairs." Jade smiled larger than Arley had ever seen the dark haired woman do before.

"Thank you." Arley shrugged; she looked at Roy as Jade pressed a kiss to her daughter's head and then back at Jade with a small smile on her face.

"Roy's my family, so is Artemis and that means you and that little girl are too, no thank you's are necessary."

"Still," Jade said as she passed Lian to Arley; the Lantern cradled the baby in her arms and smiled down at her. She was so tiny. Arley felt her heart swell. "Thank you."

"Whatever, but before you leave one of you has to explain to Artemis she has a niece because I so am not doing that."