Chapter Eighteen

"The blood on your hands is something you can't lose all you can choose is who's."

Roy— Not-Roy, he was nothing more than an expensive fake —paced the length of the actual, original, Roy Harper's room.

Oliver and Dinah had been keeping him confined to Queens Tower ever Oliver's shouting match with Bats.

Bruce had wanted him— Not-Roy, clone Roy, Fake-Roy —to stay at Titans Tower in hopes that a Light operative would come for him, either because he'd missed some sort of check in or because whatever moles the Light still had in the League had revealed that he'd been captured and deprogrammed.

Bruce had wanted to use him as bait and Roy— Not-Roy , he reminded himself, he wasn't really Roy Harper; Arley's going to rescue the real Roy Harper —had been all for it. After all, he was only a clone, he hadn't been cloned for anything more than Vandal Savages' nefarious purposes and if he died— could he die, could something that hadn't been born or hatched but rather forced grown in a tube even really die; was he even really alive —then it'd be worth it.

Because at least they'd be a step closer to stopping the Light. To saving the real Roy Harper.

To finding Arley.

Arley.

She hadn't killed him. He'd attacked her— he'd probably hurt her —and yeah, sure she had shot him, but she'd done so to beat him off. She could have killed him. Him, who had left her in the clutches of the Light supposedly eight different times. She should have killed him.

But she didn't.

Why hadn't she killed him? He was no different than Shimmer or Wally's new girlfriend's ex-teammate Mammoth. He was— had been, even unwittingly; unwillingly been —an operative of the Light.

Roy— "Not-Roy," he said aloud, "I am not Roy Harper," —sat on the floor, against the bed he'd been using for years.

"She should have killed me up there." Because at least then he would have had a name to use on his tombstone.

…

Arley had spent enough of her life learning how to move inconspicuously; how to have someone look not at you or through you but over you. Like you were some kind of bug not important enough to waste their time on.

Artemis had apparently spent her life doing the same.

Arley, Artemis and M'gann— who had shifted into grimey clothing and gaunt, sunken in skin —all sat in the cold, huddled together, as they watched one, than two, then so forth of Brother Bloods students come and go from a tiny, run down pawn shop.

They'd been doing this for nearly two weeks; sitting, staking out the shop. It wasn't always Arley and Artemis out there with a different looking M'gann— but it was always the Martian —but someone was always posted in the alleyway, watching. Learning the routines and the faces coming and going.

Arley didn't know exactly what they were doing in the shop— it was something for the Light, if Blood was a Head then everything he did was for the Light —but Arley couldn't tell if it was drugs or theft and the shop was just their store house or what.

And it made the space under the former Lanterns skin itch.

Was this where the boys were being kept?

Cadmus' Labs had, had fifty two levels to it unbeknownst to anyone. Could the pawn shop with the flickering 'W' be the same?

Fight smart, not hard.

Arley couldn't just rush into the shop guns blazing, cracking skulls left and right, she would never get anywhere. She knew that.

But Wally's laughter echoed in her ears and more than anything she wanted to actually hear it again; she wanted his arms wrapped around her, his lips pressed against her temple.

She wanted him. Needed him. At this point it was about survival; saving Wally and the others was something that was keeping Arley going. It gave her a purpose to keep surviving.

The pawn shops lights flickered off. Nine-fifty-two, just as usual. The Bioship was two blocks away, hovering above a building.

The old man with the hunched back that ran the pawn shop exited the building as did the last of Brother Blood minions. Gates had been pulled down over the shops windows and just like every night before it wasn't the old man who'd been owning the shop for the past twenty years who locked the door but rather the dark skinned teen who did.

The boy wore baggy clothes and a hoodie that he kept pulled over his head but Arley could see the mask he wore.

One giant green eye rested in the middle of his forehead reminding Arley of the cyclops she had read about in mythology.

He was the one in charge. Arley wasn't sure if he was Blood's right hand man or if he was just the most competent of the miscreants that Blood lorded over and thus was just placed in charge of the others so that no untoward eyes and attention looked too closely at whatever it was that they were doing inside that shop.

He was their ticket into the compound. He would get them through the door and Arley would get her boys back.

There was no if. No perhaps, there just was.

Would.

Just like, at the end of this all, Arley would kill Savage and destroy any remnants of the Light.

Arley, Artemis and M'gann moved with the men. As the cyclops went right the elderly man went left and just like with Cameron Mahkent this was a hunt. They were lioness on the prowl, ready to pounce on the prey they'd locked onto.

They'd only managed to follow the cyclops for two blocks before he stopped dead in his tracks and turned on his heels. His hood fell back and his hand hovered where his ear would be were it not covered by his visor.

"Who the hell are you and why the fuck are you following me?"

"I want you to call Blood," Arley said in reply. The man's mouth twisted.

"Excuse me?"

"I want you to call Blood and tell him you're bringing in the Lights number one most wanted. The Green Lantern, Arley Gluck. And I want you to do it now."

"And why would I do that?" The young man's stance widened. He drew in a deep breath.

He was going to fight.

"Because if you don't, I make the call myself, and I'll gut you before I do. Do you do this though, I won't." Arley could see Superboy's shadow in the corner of her eye. "Don't get me wrong, I'll still kill you and all but I'll be nice about it."

Years ago Arley— the Arley who flew around the universe doing her best —would have tried to talk the cyclops down. She would have tried not to unnecessarily spill any blood.

Now though, after having been caught and trapped, unnecessary just meant innocent, and anyone willing to lay down with the Light wasn't even close to innocent.

The cyclops didn't hesitate to shoot a laser from his eye at Arley. The girls all dove out of the way, Arley drew her glock from her pocket and fired off two badly aimed shots; neither of them hitting the cyclops. Not that she'd wanted them to she just needed people to hear them.

Superboy sprung from his spot behind the villian. His arms wrapped around the other male from behind. One across the cyclops' neck and his hand clasped over his mouth.

M'gann's hand flew out and her eyes began to glow in a familiar way as she scanned the one eyed man's mind. Her hand dropped a moment later and the Lights puppet stopped struggling quick enough after that, neck twisted at an awkward angle and eye bloodshot.

"Okay then, Supes the body. Megs—" the Martian had already transformed to look like a replica of the cyclops. There were tears in M'gann's clothes; like she'd been grazed by bullets. "—Okay." Arley nodded. She then reached out her hand in the Martian's direction and, once M'gann had threaded her fingers through Arleys own, Arley felt her body begin to change.

She felt jer clothing rip and singe. The skin around her eye began to darken into a bruise and though no wound appeared, Arleys hair became matted with blood that wasn't actually hers.

She looked, if not for better words, rough. But that was all part of the plan; Arley needed it to look like she'd been captured if only to get her foot through the door.

This wasn't like Florida or Boston. It was Columbus all over again; Fight smart, not hard.

"Okay, game time." It was time to get her boys back.

"Fight smart not hard and you might get to live to see another day White Circle."

…

Ten Green Lanterns sat together, shoulder to shoulder, around a circular table. They were all in one of the many conference rooms littering Titans-main Tower.

Nine untouched glasses of Amazonian wine and Atlantean mead littered the table. One chair sat empty.

Files and pictures, one more gruesome than the next were split across the tabletop, between the glasses.

"She hasn't given up," the red headed Lantern Laira said, her finger tracing the edge of the picture. It was what was left of the Columbus, Ohio laboratory; of the carnage the League and Titans had come across when they'd entered the Lights hidden lab.

"I don't think our kid knows how to give up," Kilowog murmured almost proudly, despite the file he was looking at. "Never did. Never will."

Years ago— once upon a time ago —Kilowog had lost his wife and his people. Once upon a time Bolvaxians had been a telepathic species; once upon a time he'd had billions of voices in the back of his mind, buzzing around.

Once upon a time he had watched the planet his daughters and wife were on implode. The voices in the back of his mind had quieted in that instant; his daughter's voices had been snuffed out from his mind at that very moment.

Some nights it was the silence that rang out louder in the back of his skull than all those voices ever could.

When Hal and John had said that Arley— the kid who had lived with him throughout her duration of boot camp and the summer-long trainings that followed; his third daughter —had gone missing Kilowog had felt his heart give out.

He'd lost another kid. Another daughter.

Some nights, when Kilowog was hyper aware of the fact it was Summer on Earth, the silence in his apartment rang out louder than the silence in the back of his mind.

Green Lanterns weren't supposed to live long but Kilowog had always hoped Arley would outlast him; out-live him.

She would. Kilowog clenched his fist under the table. Arley would out-live him, she'd have a long happy life like she was always ment to.

Or so help him.

"She's a Green Lantern," Katma Stewart, John's wife and fellow Lantern replied with a soft smile. She held a picture of her and Arley from years before. "I'd be worried if she knew the meaning of giving up."

Katma had been the Lantern to get Sinestro's ring. She'd basically been ousted from her home planet once she'd become a Lantern, no Kourgian wanted anything to do with the Corps after Sinestro's downfall.

The Corps had become her family after that. John had become her family. Arley had been the daughter she'd never have; never be able to have.

Years ago when the doctors had told Katma that she was baren she had never though she'd have to go through the pain of losing a child. She saw that pain all over the universe, mother's in the aftermath of disasters holding their child's limp body. Father's burying son after son after war until they were the only ones left to stand at the graves.

She hadn't been meant to live that life; to live through that pain. And yet she had. Because she loved a Earthling and that Earthling loved her and the girl he cared for like a daughter was so easy to love it was impossible not to.

Katma looked down at the photo in her hands. Arley was thirteen and she and John had taken Katma to a carnival. Arley and Katma had gotten their faces painted; Katma looked like a tiger and Arley a wolf.

That was her daughter. That was Kilowog's girl; his youngest.

It took a village to raise a child, or at least that was the universal saying.

It had taken nine very different Lanterns to raise Arley. It had took all of them to lose her; none of them had been there for her when she'd needed them.

Guy Gardner picked up the photo from the year of his coma, it'd been taken only a few weeks before the car had hit him. It was of him and Arley and Hal and John. A family photo, one he kept on his wall and his desk at work and in his wallet.

Arley didn't know how to give up. She was a Green Lantern, but so were they. Guy Gardner knew it; none of them would ever stop trying to get her home because just like their kid, not a single one of them knew how to give up either.

They would find her. There weren't any two ways about it. There was no other option, they would bring her home.

…

His name was See-More. Technically it had Seymore Thompkins but to the public is was See-More, H.I.V.E graduate and up and coming villain. He was eighteen.

M'gann's voice fluttered through Arley's mind listing facts about the Light's puppet they had killed outside the pawn shop as the former Lantern sat in the trunk of the four door the disguised Martian was driving.

Arley knew she should feel something. The more M'gann rambled about the young man laying, decomposing in some alleyway the more Arley knew she should feel bad or sorry; she knew she should feel something.

She didn't though. She didn't feel any worse for the villain's death than she did for the lieutenant in the warehouse or the hulking monsters she'd put down or any one else she'd killed since she had escaped.

It was her— her team, her people —or them. And yet Arley knew she should feel more. Feel worse.

But she couldn't. Warm anger simmered away in her gut, ready to flare up red hot at a moment's notice. Icy dread— cold, almost numbing fear —gripped at Arley's chest ready to overtake her at a moment's notice.

Guilt though, didn't sit on her shoulders the way it once had. It didn't hang around her neck like an albatross; sure it weighed on her, draping itself over her shoulders like a poorly made weighted blanket but just like a comforter, it was easy to shrug off at the moment.

Sure it would once more slip on over her but it was also easy to push down.

Maybe too easy.

Arley's stomach twisted.

Her wrists were bound together with rope— to make it look like she had truly been captured —the hunting knife Arley had stolen from her escape all those months ago was tucked securely into her boot. Her gun was taped to her lower stomach, hidden between layers of shirt and sweaters and jacket.

Her eyes closed as M'gann's voice floated through her mind. Seymour's favorite color was green .

"Look what you've done," Arley could remember her dream-self saying . "Look what you've made us do."

There was blood on her hands. So much blood.

The car stopped.

And there would be more.

The psychic connection cut off; though it made Arley feel so much more alone— more vulnerable and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up —none of them were sure whether or not Brother Blood would be able to sense it. They couldn't take the chance that he could and raise the alarm before they could get their hands on him.

Arley could hear the sound of muffled voices. The voices raised and there was a shufflings of feet and for a moment Arley tensioned, ready to break free. If M'gann was in trouble she couldn't just lay there in the back seat of a twice stolen car.

The truck flew open and M'gann was in the middle of the crowd that had gathered at back of the four door.

A tall, well built man didn't hesitate in pulling Arley out of the car by the fabric of her shirt. He was at least as tall as Superboy, and though none of his features were too disconcernable due to the yellow pull over mask he had covering most of his face. A bright yellow H the same bright shade of his mask was to be stamped onto the chest of his costume.

"You're the Green Lantern?"

"Well I'm not your mother," Arley snarked, "Not that I'm sure you'd know what she looked like even if I was. I mean I'm sure under that—" Arley motioned to his mask, "—You have a face not even she could love."

Mocking snickers broke out throughout the crowd of Brother Bloods lackeys.

Just like he hadn't hesitated in pulling Arley out of the car, the Lights member didn't hesitate before he hit her, socking Arley in the gut causing her to bend over.

"Oh no you hit me," Arley wheezed, "What ever will I—" Arley flew back as the man landed another punch, one one on the side of her face. She looked up at the sky.

The Bioship had turned invisible and if you didn't know to be looking for it you'd never be able to see it, even with a well trained eye. But Arley did and she didn't smile at the slight curving of clouds, she just focused on Wally and Dick, Kaldur and Roy.

Arley rolled over so that she could push herself up. No one stopped her from getting to her feet.

"Come on, is that anyway to treat a guest?" She asked, before spitting out the small amount of blood that had accumulated in her mouth. She'd accidently hit her lip when she'd gone down. "I mean this is the Light right? Sportsmaster really taught you guys nothing huh?"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Arley and the rest of the crowd of villainous young adults and teens all turned.

Brother Blood. A lanky man with thinning white hair and a pointed chin; dressed in white robes. His hands were folded in front of himself and truthfully he looked more like a harmless minister than a sick and twisted sociopath.

M'gann moved from her spot in the crowd. Her hands grabbed at Arleys shoulder causing Arley to instinctively buck against her.

"Sir!"

"So it's true," Blood said aloud, looking at Arley before he looked at the disguised Martian behind her. "See-More, when Angle had said had radioed that you had captured the Green Lantern I will admit, I'd doubted it." Arley couldn't bite back the snarl she aimed in Blood's direction.

"Sorry sir?" Brother Blood waved M'gann off. He was a condescending prick. Arley could wait to take him down several pegs.

"I just mean the Lights best hasn't managed to get a hold on her and you—" he looked down his nose at M'gann, "—Did."

"I did," M'gann said softly.

"You're not proud?" For appearances sake Arley tried to buck against M'gann only for the Martian to force Arley to her knees. Brother Blood got closer.

And closer.

"How can I be sir, I let the people with her get away. I failed you, I know I did."

"Perhaps but you brought me Arley Gluck, and Savage will reward me greatly when I bring her to him."

Arley snorted, the heat in her gut rising at the mention of Savage's name. Blood raised a brow, he took several steps forward until his fingers were wrapped in Arley hair and she was craning her neck to look at him.

She had him.

"Pray tell Lantern, what is so funny?"

"The fact that you're an idiot." And then she sprung up, the top of her head knocked against Blood's nose, knocking him backwards. Several lackeys went to rush at Arley only for them to be blown backwards by M'gann.

Arley slipped out of the rope as the bottom of the Bioship opened up and Superboy dropped down, right on top of the man who had pulled Arley out of the trunk.

Artemis dropped down right behind him. Dubbilex though, stayed in Bioship.

Blood got to his feet as Arley pulled the knife from her boot. His hands moved so that they were in front of him, despite his age he was ready for a fight.

"You really think you have a chance at killing me, Lantern?" Brother Blood sneered.

"Yeah, why not, I mean no one's coming to save you."

"And pray tell, how do you know that? Perhaps I called Savage when you and your alien were on your way over. Perhaps he's on his way here right now to gut you like the cod you are."

And perhaps if Arley hadn't seen the fear spark to life in Blood's eyes when M'gann had shifted back and he realized how completely and utterly fucked he was, she would have begun to doubt herself and her plan. But she had, so instead she smiled a small, toothy grin.

"Because you're a prick, you didn't think your guy actually got me. You were right to think he's incompetent but still, you wouldn't have risked your position not on just the word of a lackey. You're a self-absorbed idiot, not a careless one."

And then she lunged and she felt more alive then she had in weeks as she fought for her life.

…

Once upon a time her name had been Linda Park, a South Korean immigrant. She'd come to America with her parents, both of whom had thrown her out to the wolves by the time she was nine because she was different.

Cursed .

Her own parents had called her cursed— a plague —as they'd shut the door to their home for the last time, leaving her alone.

Nowadays she went by Jinx— Witch , she was a hex all-around, couldn't get a god-damned thing right no matter how much she tried —and her blood was curling through her veins.

Billy— Jinx hadn't even known he was out and not in prison, it hadn't clicked when he missed Mammoth's funeral —had called her wheezing.

He was back with Brother Blood and he was scared. He was dying.

His voice thick; he'd been shot before he managed to crawl off to some closest to hide in. He'd called her because he didn't know who else to call, Mammoth was dead and Giz was in prison locked up and See-More, who was apparently with Billy— back with Blood —was nowhere to be found. Billy had said he was probably dead.

She was the only person he could turn to.

People— Billy didn't know who —he'd come back from a supply run, had attacked the base Blood had set back up.

His wheezy voice had said everyone was dead. Whoever had attacked hadn't even let the guys Billy had gone on the supply run with, fully out of the car before they'd gunned them down.

Billy had said he had only survived because he had made enough clones of himself to confuse the pricks.

And that's why Jinx was running. She hadn't called Wally, why would she? He didn't care, wouldn't care. No matter how much Jinx wanted him to care, all Wally ever seemed cared about was a not so dead girl. Even before she escaped from the Light Jinx wasn't stupid, nor was she blind.

She knew about the albums of pictures and the stacks of dead-end files Batman would pass on in hope Wally and the other original sidekicks wouldn't make too big of a mess when kicking up their own clues.

But she had ignored it all. Everytime Wally fell asleep looking at the stars or disappeared on certain dates or tried to drink himself under the table Jinx pretended it wasn't happening.

Because she loved him. He believed in her, maybe he wasn't the first— Cyborg had been the first person to believe in her; think that she could do good —but he had made her believe it; he'd made Jinx think she was more than just a hex.

But she wasn't, was she?

Garth— Aqualad —Bumblebee and Cyborg, all ex-students of the H.I.V.E, all people who had bones to pick with Brother Blood, and all the people Jinx had called after Billy had hung up in fear he'd be heard, met Jinx in the zeta-beam hall of Titans Main's tower.

Jinx was nothing more than a curse out upon this world to make people suffer. She knew that, had known it for so long knowing anything else was a foreign concept but Billy and Mammoth and See-More's, for the longest of times they were her family. As dysfunctional as they were, they were all Jinx had known for the longest of times.

And if she were a hex like she knew she was, then she would reign down vengeance on those who took them.

She would get revenge.

…

Arley had Brother Blood strung up in his compound, spread-eagle and bleeding freely from the wounds she'd inflicted during their fight. Her own wounds— a cut on her arm, a bloody nose and split lip along with bruises upon bruises that would heal sooner rather than later —hadn't quite been taken care of but had already begun to scrap over due to the serum pumping through her veins.

M'gann stood behind her, Artemis and Superboy were on the other side of the door guarding it.

The red glow of Brother Blood's eyes died down once more. Arleys brow twitched.

"You know you should stop trying to get into my fucking head, it's not gonna work and it's just gonna tire you out quicker," Arley said circling Blood.

M'gann couldn't get into Bloods head any more than he could get into hers, meaning Arley would have pry the information on where the boys were out of him.

Her insides twisted at the thought; Sportsmaster's laughter echoed in the girl's ears. She didn't care though.

She had to find the boys. She had to find Wally. She had to do this because if she didn't and she waited until she just stumbled upon the base where the Light was keeping them, it could be too late.

They could be dead and Arley could have stopped it.

"I can't wait until Savage guts you," Blood spat as Arley paused on his right side, "I hope he lets me watch."

"Yeah?" Arley didn't hesitate in swiping her blade— the blade that had been used to torture her; the hunting knife —across Bloods face. The man let out a guttural scream as Arley cut across his eye. "How are you gonna do that!" Her voice raised over his screams, "When I take both your eyes!"

"Fuck you!"

Arley turned to M'gann, the Martian had paled and her bottom lip had curled inwards but her shoulders stayed taught, her back straight.

Arley felt her knuckles tighten around the handle of her blade. M'gann wasn't like her, none of the others— except maybe Dubbilex who had lived through it all with her; cleaning her up, keeping her alive —were. To them— Superboy, Artemis, M'gann —this had to be harsh.

This was nothing though.

"My information says you know where the Light keeps its biological data, everything Savage uses to make clone's. If you don't want me to hurt you again, tell me where."

"Go to hell." Arley cut across Blood's leg, deep but away from any arteries. She then stabbed the man right above his knee and twisted, ignoring his howling and the blood that got on her.

Arley's eyes flickered back up.

"Tell me where the Light keeps its biological material and I'll let you keep your dick." Maybe it was blood loss, or maybe it was fear at the completely even tone Arley spoke with but Blood paled considerably at the implied threat.

"Please," Blood spoke through gritted teeth, "You do all this, but at the end of the day you're still a Lantern." He said Lantern like it was synonymous with hero.

It wasn't though and even if it were, it wasn't like she would ever be a Lantern again. Savage and Sportsmaster had seen to that.

"Damn straight I'm still a Lantern," Arley nodded her face, schooled as not to give anything away. "But it seems like you have the wrong idea of Lanterns, Blood. I'm not like Bats or Superman. The first life I took was when I was ten. After that, well, how can I keep track when I don't know how many people are in the ships I was sent to destroy."

"What?" Arley nodded solemnly as she dragged the tip of her knife across Brother Blood's chest, creating shallow cuts.

"See Earth is the only planet with this misconception on what the Corps is. Everyone thinks we're here to protect and serve, like some sort of intergalactic cop, and you know what? Fine they can think that but the truth is Blood, my ring? It's the most powerful weapon in the universe, that's why Savage wants it. Me? I'm a soldier. I've never been a hero, I've never had lines in the sand that I wouldn't overstep to get a job done. So tell me what I want to know before I take you apart piece by motherfucking piece and feed you to our fucking dog!"

There was nothing she wouldn't do for her boys. For Wally.

Her knife twirled between her fingers.

"Why should I? Hurt me, kill me, but whatever you do to me can't be worse than what Savage would do—"

"—You're dead!" Arley snapped, "I don't think you get it, I'm going to kill you after this even if you tell me. Telling me, just means I do it, a lot nicer than I would if I had to pry it out of you." Arley stabbed Brother Blood in the side, above the kidney and a lot closer to the gallbladder. "Savage is never going to get you. What you should be worried about is how much time I'm going to have with you. You can cut it short Blood. It's up to you. All you have to do is tell me where does Savage keep what he needs to make clones?"

"Why?" Blood painted, "Why do you even care, whatever-whomever you're looking for, they won't be the same when you wake them up? You don't go through the cloning process and come out the other side normal."

Anger exploded throughout Arley; the boys had suffered. Were suffering, because of her. Arley dragged her knife through Blood, perforating his stomach and intestines.

It could take day for Blood to die. Hours of he was lucky. The space under Arleys skin itched as she looked at what she had done.

"Oh God," M'gann whimpered.

"Tell me right now where the fuck are they?"

Blood just cried. His chest sputtered with every sharp intake of breath and Arley gripped at the man's chin before she turned her head to the side and looked at M'gann from the corner of her eyes.

The Martian looked horrified. Rightfully so, Arley knew she was being barbaric. Her stomach twisted at the sight of fear in the Martian's eyes.

"Get outs Megs. Go back to the Bioship."

"What? But Arley—" Arley shook her head as she looked up at Blood.

"—It's just going to get worse from here, Megs. Please." M'gann didn't bother to fight her, she just left in such a hurry that made a crushing weight sit up on Arley's shoulders.

Monster. Killer. Monster.

"Look at what you've done. What you've made us do."

The boys. Arley just had to focus. She couldn't lose sight of what she was fighting for; of who she was fighting for.

Her conviction couldn't waver now.

"Tell me where Savage has the original sidekicks. I know they're the Light has them. Tell me where they are and I'll end this now."

"You're just going to kill me."

"I am there's no two ways about that but I can leave you like this. I can get rats and Wolf, our dog, and let them feast on you like this, alive. Or I can slit your throat."

"Why do you even think I know?" Blood wheezed, "Why come after me?"

"Why not?" Arley said coolly, "I mean Queen Bee didn't know, and if you don't I'll just go after Luther when I leave here but I have information telling me you do. You know where the boys are. So Blood," Arley said, brandishing her weapon, "Where are they?"

Blood closed his eyes. His chest sputtered as blood leaked out of him, it was pooling around Arleys feet.

Arley could see the man's resolve crumbling in front of her. It's been a hour and a half. Arley had lasted three; she looked down her nose, up at Blood.

He was weak. Disgustingly so.

"Yellowstone. Savage has Morrow and his creations watching over any biological materials they have under lock and key."

"Where's the lab?" Arley pressed further, her heart beating in her chest fiercely, she was so close. "Yellowstone is massive."

"Near the geyser. West Thumb. It's-oh God please," Blood begged, "Kill me."

"Tell me about the lab and I will."

"I don't know!" Blood began to choke, either on spit or vomit or blood, Arley didn't know and with his abdomen the way it was, there was no use in performing the heimlich to keep him alive.

Frustrated— Arley needed more on the lab, on how deep it was, what she needed to look out for, Morrow was dead meaning he had left his creations in charge —Arley did what she promised.

She slid her knife across Blood's throat, killing him. Bloody, foul smelling bile spilled out of Blood's throat and onto Arleys shoes.

For a moment, as Blood's breathing slowed and his head pulled to the side— as he died —Arley didn't move. Her mind raced a mile a minute with two separate lines of thought.

The first being the West Thumb geyser. Of the boys; she was so close to having them back— having Wally back —her heartbeat fluttered in her chest. For all the Light had taken from her, she would get the boys back.

And the second being Blood. His perforated stomach, his mangled eye and limp hanging knee. Arley felt hollow as she looked at the warm corps in front of her. She had done that to him. Arley knew she was fighting a war— waging it —and that she couldn't be soft and she couldn't afford to draw lines in the sand. She wouldn't win the fight by being morally superior.

Sportsmaster's laughter echoed in the back of Arley's mind. All Arley could see for a moment was the light of Savages eyes, they way they would brighten when she screamed.

Arley spun on her heels, in hopes that the farther she got from Bloods body the farther she got from the memories. Because she knew no matter how far she ran, she would never be able to escape herself.

…

When the four Titans touched down in Northern California, inside the gates of Brother Blood's compound, all they found were bodies.

"What the hell," Garth breathed as he jumped down from the Titans-Main T-ship.

Dozens had arrows sticking out from their chests or bullet wounds littering their bodies. Half of them looked like they had been crushed by something while the other half had their necks twisted around, like someone's sick reenactment of the Exorcist.

Both of Cyborg's eyes narrowed at the litter of bodies before him.

Jinx paused at the sight of Private Hive. They hadn't been close and he'd only been on her team for a short while before joining back up with Brother Blood but he had been as sweet as a villain could get.

She moved on, looking for Billy and See-More.

"Cyborg, can you scn for signs of any life?" Bumblebee asked quietly. Cyborg shot her a side-eyed look.

"Do you really think I'd find anything?" Bumblebee pressed her lips together. "I'm going to call Nightwing, follow Jinx?"

"Don't worry boy blue," Bumblebee smirked, "I got your girls back."

Heat flared up on Cyborg's left cheek. He rolled his eye; it wasn't like that. Jinx had just gotten out of a serious relationship— her first serious relationship —and she was his friend.

"Go. Aqualad?"

"Yeah?" The Atlantean turned to the cybernetic young man. He was crouched next to a girl with green hair and copper toned skin.

"Don't touch the bodies."

"Right," the Atlantian nodded, his hands in the air.

Taking several steps back, watching both Jinx and Bumblebee walk into the compound building Cyborg called Nightwing.

When he'd left he and the other original sidekicks had been running down a lead on the Light; he hadn't bothered to let the shorter man know something was happening at Brother Blood's compound.

"It's Nightwing go."

"It's Cy, I'm at Brother Blood's compound. Everyone is dead."

"What?" Came Nightwing's sharp reply. There was a murmur on the other end of the line, one of the other original sidekicks most likely.

"Yeah, and from the looks of it, bullet wounds, crushed bodies, broken necks, it could be your girl." The arrows were new but they'd been found at Queen Bee's place as well and anyone who wore a mask knew who had done that.

The line was quiet for a moment. "How many?"

"From what I can see, twenty-two but there could be more inside." Nightwing took in a sharp intake of air.

Cyborg knew Dick Grayson well enough to know where his mind was going.

It's Georgia all over again.

"I'm on my way. Call Bats and the Flash, I'll handle the Lanterns."

"And Wally?"

"Yeah, I'll handle him too."

"Alright, I'm out."

"See you soon." And just as Cyborg hung up the call his enhanced hearing picked up on the sound of sobbing. Heart wrenching sobbing.

Jinx. She must have found her boys.

Notes: Sorry for the wait!!! There's just been a whole ton going on in my life and with the story almost over I really want everything to be perfect!

Also has anyone listened to EPIC the musical cause I've been listening to it on repeat and I'm just saying, Arley makes a great Odysseus. (Like the way I've been listening to this album being like 'wow I can't believe it was written for Arley...)

And feel free to drop a comment cause I love hearing what you guys have to say!!! So until next time, peace out.