Chapter Nineteen

"When we gather softness we must carry it in fists."

"You're such a son of a bitch!" Jinx shouted; her and Wally stood on opposite sides of one of the Titans Main conference rooms.

Gizmo had broken out hours ago, clearly going after whoever had killed both his and Jinx's ex-teammates— who had killed the closest people they'd had to family —and Wally had made a comment in a low but very much threatening tone of voice about how he'd just love for Giz to just try going after Glow because they all knew it was her who had killed Billy and See-More even if there wasn't any concrete evidence.

Glow . Like she was some kind of star. Like she wasn't a mass murdering psycho.

"The hell I am!" Wally snapped back, "I'm not the one who broke out to go after an—"

"—If you say innocent, I'll fucking scream!" Jinx rolled her shoulders back as her lavender eyes narrowed.

Wally's first girlfriend— the girl Wally was still, very much currently, in love with —wasn't innocent. Maybe she was once, before she had been captured but all she had done since she had climbed out of that pile of rubble in D.C was spill buckets of blood and ruin the life Jinx had been slowly trying to build for herself.

Was it possible to hate someone you didn't know? All this girl— all Arley Gluck ever—seemed to do was ruin Jinx's life.

She'd taken Wally who was slowly— but was; Wally had been holding her hand more, peppering kisses across Jinx's forehead and nose —falling in love with her. She had uprooted Jinx out of her home because all Hot Spot and Kilowat ever seemed to talk about anymore was how cool it would be to have the original child hero— the one who had inspired them to take up the mask —kicking it around the Tower, and that thought made hives breakout along Jinx's arms. She had also picked off Jinx's ex-teammates one by one until only Gizmo was left, and that was only because he'd been left in a cell by Blood.

Wally tipped his chin upwards. "She's just doing what she has to."

"She tied Blood up and ripped him open," Jinx said dryly with her arms crossed over her chest. Brother Blood wasn't someone Jinx was upset about; truthfully his death had been the only good thing that had come about Arley's escape, but that didn't mean Jinx wouldn't throw it in Wally's face. Happy or not, no one could argue what had been done to the man wasn't horrific.

No one, except apparently, Wally West. Because the speedsters lips curled inwards and his forearms flexed as he ran a hand through his hair, almost like he was looking for a way to defend what his ex-girlfriend had done.

Something in Jinx's mouth soured.

Wally had helped her escape the dark hole she'd been in. He'd offered his hand to her and told her she was better.

Jinx loved Wally West. He was the first person she had ever loved. And he didn't love her back.

"You know what, forget this. I hope Gizmo finds her," Jinx snarled.

Wally's eyes flashed.

"Why so he's the next person you can bury?" Fury burned through Jinx.

Jinx loved Wally West. He was the first person she had ever loved but the more time that passed between them, the more she was starting to hate him because it was easier to see he didn't love her. That he never had.

Nor would he ever. Not with her around.

"Go fuck yourself West."

…

M'gann was screaming again; it had only been a few days since the five of them had attacked Brother Bloods compound and while M'gann nightmares from her time of capture had never really gone away— would never go away, Arley knew those memories would stay with the Martian and haunt for the rest of her life, just as Arley's own did to her —there had been nights since her escape where the alien would wake up with just a gasp and sweat lining her brow, or with a sudden jolt and tears. She didn't wake up screaming every night anymore.

Or at least she hadn't; Arley knew the resurgence in M'gann's night terrors were her fault.

Arley stepped out from the Bioship and into the nighttime air as Artemis hovered next to M'gann, trying to calm her down from her second night terror that night.

The five of them— and Wolf —were in Mexico, not too far from the United States border.

Arley but the nail of her thumb as she looked up at the sky. It was her fault, this was her fault.

Fight smart, not hard.

She hadn't fought hard but she hadn't fought smart either. She had allowed herself to be blinded at the prospect of finding the boys and she hadn't sent M'gann away once it was clear she couldn't read Blood's mind.

But she hadn't because Superboy had been worried about Blood being alone with Arley and Arley had relented into letting M'gann stay despite knowing what she was going to do.

M'gann had been strapped to a table and cut open. Bits and pieces of herself harvested for the Lights own gain.

Arley turned towards the Bioship at the sound of a knock..both Superboy and Dubbilex stood at the mouth of the ship a top the ramp.

Quickly Arley used the back of her hand to wipe away any tears that had accumulated on her lashes.

"What-what's up?"

"Superboy and I wanted to check on you," Dubbilex said as he and the clone began to come down the ramp.

"I'm fine," Arley said, "Megs is the one you should making sure she's okay."

"Artemis has that covered," Dubbilex replied. "You're who we're the most worried about at the moment."

"You shouldn't be," Arley said with a clenched jaw, "I'm fine." It was M'gann who wasn't, it was her who woke up multiple times a night, screaming, thinking she was back in Psimon's clutches.

"No you're not," Superboy spoke up, "You're not eating, you haven't slept in two days—"

"—I don't sleep to begin with," Arley said flippantly.

"You should," Superboy responded. Arley just turned away from the clone only for him to move with her, he stayed in front of her, hunched forward as if to make himself smaller so that he could look her in the eyes. "Arley," Superboy said softly, "Talk to us."

Arley shrugged, her eyes down casted, "What's there to talk about, I fucked up."

"What?" Superboys brows raised, bunched up and Dubbilex tilted his head to the side at Arleys declaration.

A weight, heavy and suffocating, wrapped itself around Arleys shoulders and neck.

"Megs—" Arley motioned to the Bioship, "—I interrogated Blood with her right there. I should've known better! She's like this because I was selfish," Arley hissed. "I'm supposed to look out for you guys and she's hurting because of something I did."

Arley watched as Superboy and Dubbilex shared a look between themselves; Superboy nodded and Dubbilex stepped forward, his hand on Arley's shoulder.

"Arley you can't possibly think that's your fault. M'gann, she'd been having nightmares since she escaped the Light."

"But it is, I didn't think. I was so caught up on finding the boys I didn't think about what being in the room would do to Megs," Arley pointed at the Bioship, "This is my fault, I should have had her leave."

"And what if Blood had brain washed you?" Superboy shot back. Arley's lips pressed together as she shook her head.

Lanterns went through so much psychic training in order to fortitude their minds Blood didn't have— hadn't had —a snowball's chance in hell of breaking through Arleys mental walls.

And yet Arley had still let M'gann stay in the room. Because she'd been so blinded.

So selfish.

"It's okay," Dubbilex said.

"What?" Arley blinked, "No, Lex you don't get it, it's my job—"

"—Our job," the genomorph corrected. Superboys hand rested on Dubbilex's shoulder, huddling them all together. "We're a team, since we broke out of the laboratory we've been a team and that means we're all supposed to look out for one another. Arley you're no more responsible for M'gann's safety than Superboy or myself. We watch out for each other."

He didn't get it, she was the oldest, she was the former hero, she was the driver behind every attack, this was her fault.

But she didn't respond as Dubbilex's hand slipped around her, wrapping her in a loose hug to which she quickly returned. Superboy joined them half a second later and though Arley didn't feel safe in their arms, not the way she had once felt safe in Guy or Hal or Kilowog arms, the hug felt nice.

She didn't feel better or anything like that but she felt something and that something was enough for the former Lanterns eyes to flutter shut as she pressed her nose against the shoulder of Dubbilex's jacket.

"Arley!" Artemis called out, a note of panic in her voice. The three of them were already up the ramp by the time Artemis shouted out, "Lex! Superboy, get in here!"

Arley, with her gun in hand, felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up alert. It didn't take long— it took all of five seconds —for Arley to realize just why Artemis had called them all inside the Bioship.

Her face— not her old face, unscared and younger but her face now —was plastered on the Bioships television screen.

Kat Graham sat at her news desk, arms folded in front of herself as she gave a report on how Arley Gluck, troubled youth turned deranged terrorist was being named in the killings of both Queen Bee and of Brother Blood and his commune of young villains, and also several attacks on various Cadmus laboratories which had all left someone dead.

There were other crimes littered throughout the reports; burglary, thieft, kidnapping— Arley's gaze flickered over to Artemis, if the Light knew Arley had taken Cameron Mahkent, and that it was him who had given a handful of previously unknown bases up, he was dead —but for the most part, each reporter stayed focused on the fact Arley had so, so much blood on her hands.

"It's insane," Ron from the Daily Planet said, "That one girl could do this much damage."

"This is on every channel, Arley," Artemis said lowly. "M'gann and I were watching some television to calm down and you're everywhere."

Dubbilex flickered through several channels and low and behold, just as Artemis had said, on every late night news station, was Arleys face. None of them mentioned Superboy or Dubbilex or M'gann; one of them had a blurry image of Artemis but all of them labeled Arley as highly dangerous, or so said the future United Nations Attorney General, Lex Luther.

Arley felt her features harden as Fox played Luther's press conference. The man was in his office, in a thousand dollar suit, waving a hand that littered with million dollar rings as he called her deranged. Telling the world that he would catch her and should he be placed as the United Nations Attorney General, hold her responsible for her crimes.

"Lex, fire up the Bioship we're going to Star City," Arley announced.

"What?" Superboy blinked. "Your friends, they're in Yellowstone."

"Yeah and right now all we have is a couple of magazines between two guns, the Light won't have some low level security watching over the boys. We need fire power."

"But Star City?" Artemis asked, "Isn't that where Green Arrow is?"

Green Arrow who was part of the League, who could very well be under the Lights thumb.

What happened to fight smart, not hard? Wasn't said. Arley could hear it though.

Yeah , Arley wanted to say. Instead though, she said, "It's where the Arrow Cave is."

If they were going to hit a main Light base they were going to need heavy-duty fire power and they weren't going to find that at any old gun store.

"He calls it the Arrow cave?" M'gann's head cocked to the side, "Why not the Quiver?"

Arley felt the corner of her lips tip upwards. Everyone always said that, and Oliver always just huffed, he hadn't thought of the Quiver when he put on the hood. He had just thought of the job that needed to get done and how he was going to be the one to do it.

…

The entrance to the Arrow Cave was a garage. Unlike the Batcaves entrance which was hidden away from everyone and their mother in Gotham City, Oliver Queen wanted his cave to be inconspicuous.

And it was, if you didn't know what laid behind the seven ton lead lined steel door, you would just think that it was a normal garage. That the building it was a part of was just a normal apartment complex and not Green Arrows hideaway.

But Arley did and after typing in a password that Oliver hadn't changed in years— "When this is over I'm so telling Hal," Arley had murmured —she and the others, sans M'gann who was waiting in the Bioship, stepped into a familiar room, covered in various types of weaponry and technology.

Arley typed in a series of other numbers— Dinah's birthday —and locked the garage-looking door from the inside out. It was the middle of the day and while both Dinah and Oliver would be at work, Roy would be at whatever Teen Titans Tower he and the other boys clone's made a home at but that didn't mean Arley wanted to chance anything.

"Arty load up on trick arrows, anything that looks like it packs a punch. Supes, you and Lex try to get into Oli's computer, if the Light's using him too then there should be some kind of trail left behind telling us what they're up to." Arley instructed as she moved away from the zeta-beam tubes control panel.

Locking the panel would send up a red flag to anyone getting through whenever they tried, but it would give the five of them the time they needed to clear Oliver out and stop any unexpected visitors from just dropping by to say hello to the archer.

"If they're not?" Artemis wondered, passing Superboy the thumb drive that had been in her pocket.

"Ollie is a pretty solid detective meaning if the Light isn't using him then he'll still have a solid lead on something they're up to."

"And you?" Superboy asked, he wasn't rude about it, the way he would have been months ago; his tone was soft.

Arley turned away from the panel, "Oliver has all the dangerous toys packed away in the vault downstairs, I'll be getting those."

They were the kind of toys that would make Sportsmaster quake; if not in fear then at least in anticipation at what Arley would be beholding. Nuke arrows and bombs, vials of poison and so on.

"Alone?" Superboy almost sounded worried, scared of the prospect of Arley going off on her own.

Arley's heart twisted, she wasn't sure if the clone's tone was because Superboy cared— if he sounded worried for her —or because he was scared. Not of her, he could take a tank shell to the chest survive, but because his eyes were finally starting to open and he was just worried about what she would do to someone on her own.

He hadn't seen Blood but maybe it was sinking in and Superboy was just worried about what Arley could do to a man when careful eyes weren't on her given what she could do to someone when they were.

"I'll be fine, promise." And then she left, rushing through the archway of the room and to the stairs that laid to the right. Her heart continuously pounding in her ears with every stair she took.

Memories raced through the forefront of her mind.

Roy and her had never been as close as her and Dick. Wally had always been the love of her life, Dick had always been her best friend; the two of them were the first child heroes, orphans taken in by men who hadn't set out to have kids of their own but had come by them by chance. Arley and Dick got each other on the most basic of levels.

Arley and Roy though; they bickered. They never quite saw eye to eye on anything, but that had never meant that they didn't get along. Wally and Dick were friends the same way she and Dick were friends, anytime Arley and Wally argued or something it was Roy— who'd slap her over the back of the head or listen to her complain with an eye roll and an indignant huff —she'd go to because unlike the Boy Wonder he never felt the need to mince words.

He was quick to tell her she was an idiot or that he'd kick Wally's ass for being a jerk. He was annoying and prideful and arrogant but he had always acted like Arleys brother after their initial meeting.

He used to tug on her hair and call her Greenie and make sure Arley always knew that he'd go to hell for her because that's the kind of person he was.

And that's why when she saw him— when Arley was met with the clone she'd fought months ago on the roof top; the one wearing Roy Harper's face —she paused.

Because that was her brother's face staring down the barrel of a weapon she hadn't hesitated in pulling out. The clone stood there weaponless; he looked tired. Dark bags hung under his eyes and the skin of his cheeks was waxy.

He looked sick.

Could clone's even get sick?

"Arley." He spoke softly, his face twisted with regret and his hands out in front of him, palms upwards.

"Hands up."

"Ar—" he took a step forward and Arley fired, the bullet wizard passed him and embedded itself into the wall. He didn't flinch.

Arley heard the rush of footsteps from above as her throat constructed.

This wasn't Roy. This was a stranger to Arley, she knew that but she couldn't pull the trigger. Not the way she could with the villians in Brother Blood's compound or the monsters in Columbus Ohio or anyone else.

Because those were Roy's eyes shining brightly with remorse and pity and sorrow.

"I said hands up." The clone complied. He even, without direction, got to his knees. He looked sad as he stared up at Arley. "Is there anyone else here?"

"Oh hell," Dubbilex breathed, his horns glowing.

"I thought no one was supposed to be here?" Artemis hissed. Arley didn't reply, instead she just kept her eyes trained on the young man in front of her.

"No. Dinah's at work and Ollie stepped out, he got a call about Brick, he's been moving more and more mutagen recently, we think it's under Luther's orders."

So the Light.

"And you didn't go with him?" The clone-Roy shrugged.

"Why should I, I'm no hero. At least not really." Arley blinked, her grip on her Glocks handle tightened.

"You know?" He wasn't attacking. Arley risked a look in Dubbilex who's own hairless brow was quirked upwards.

"Kyle told us-he told the League about us former partners," the clone said.

"I told you we shouldn't have trusted him!" Superboy shouted from the floor above.

"Not now!" Arley snapped back, cheeks hot and fully annoyed. If Kyle had revealed that the Light had put clones in the boy's place then he had to have revealed he'd seen Arley. He had to have told Hal and somehow that made the lead pit already in Arley's stomach grow heavier. "Then why haven't they locked your ass up? I mean choosing to stay behind, sounds like a lot of freedom for someone programmed to slit my throat on sight."

"I'm not programmed anymore," the clone said fiercely. "Manhunter spent hours rooting through my brain, clearing out any Light directives."

"Oh." Arley didn't lower her weapon but she did flip the safety on.

"Arley," Dubbilex hissed warningly. Fight smart not hard, that was something that had not just been drilled into Arleys head but something she had drilled into Lex and Superboys immediately after their escape.

And now she was ignoring that. Arley knew that she was being stupid again, just like she'd been in Brother Blood's compound but she found herself unable to stop.

The boys were— so very clearly —her blind spot and while the one in front of her wasn't one of her boys, he was wearing their face, spoke with the same cadence and if he were self aware— no longer under Savage's control —Arley knew she couldn't put him down like she did with everyone else.

So Arley just shook her head, signaling that they could talk later. She'd listen to him read her the riot act, she'd take any verbal flogging from the genomorph, just not at that moment.

"Lex, just check him. Artemis, tie him up for now." Arley's gaze flickered from her teammates to Roy Harper's clone, "If Lex clears you, you're good to go, I'll untie you."

The genomorph's eyes fluttered shut as his horns glowed brighter.

"Why?" His voice was raw. "Why not just shoot me? I worked with the Light, for years."

Years . That had to mean the boys— the original ones, her boys —had to have been captured immediately after her.

They had never forgotten about her, never left her. Arley looked at the floor, guilty; she had doubted them, for weeks after her escape, she'd doubted their love and loyalty and convictions.

"Cause if you're not under Light control you're just a dude, Roy."

"I'm not Roy, don't-don't call me that," the clone said as Artemis bound his hands together.

"What should I call you then?" Arley moved over to the heavy vault doors. "Are the numbers here the same too?" She didn't need any alarms sounding off, and while she would have just winged it by typing in the old codes she could remember if the clone wasn't there, he was.

"Yeah they're all the same. Don't know why, Ollie's always preached about safety and not being a dumbass where it counts."

"Are we sure he's Ollie?" Arley snarked, "I mean I know you guys are clones but who knows where it ends," Arley said as she types in the birthday of Oliver's deceased sister.

"Manhunter went through all Justice League members' brains, new and old," Roy's clone said. "At first we thought it was just maybe newbees, but no, it's just me!"

Arley paused as the vault door hissed open. Her heart thundered in her chest. Her eyes closed tightly for a moment as she steadied her willpower.

She'd doubted Wally once, she wouldn't do it again.

"You mean it's just you guys?" Arley pushed, "Just you and Dickie and Wally and Kal. Right? It's just you guys who are clones."

It was silent for a moment. Arley could feel the weight of three different eyes boring into the space between her shoulder blades.

"Yeah, that's what I meant. It's just us four."

He's lying.

This clone was not Roy Harper, he was made up of everything Roy was— every cell that made Roy made this clone, every mannerisms and imperfection that went into the original reflected this mirror image —but he was not.

He wasn't Roy, it had been years. He could have developed different tells.

He had to. Because if he hadn't Wally and Dick and Kaldur had left her behind; they'd all forgotten about her and moved on.

So Arley, stepping into Oliver's vault, ignored the waiver in this Not-Roy's voice. Because it might not have meant anything it way it would have years ago.

There were arrows, all labeled, mounted on the wall. Vials of poisons with no known antidotes on a desk. Bombs and grenades and weapons Oliver had just picked up over the years but never turned over to the Star City Police because knowing that virus that had been made to just eat through human flesh at a slow and agonized speed, was just sitting in some minimal security evidence wearhouse waiting to be disintegrated via furnace, was enough to make a man go mad.

There was a box in the corner of the vault for transportation. Arley snagged it and kept it open on the floor; she then grabbed not just four very dangerous arrows off the wall and placed them each individually into the box, but several vials of poison she placed on their sides, against the foam that lined the transportation box.

And then in her bag, Arley put every grenade and explosive device she could fit into the bag she'd had strapped to her back.

When she exited the vault several minutes later Artemis was gone, Roy's clone was unbound but still in his knees and Dubbilex had his twiggy arms crossed over his chest somehow looking both angry and perturbed.

"He's clear then?" Dubbilex's dark eyes flew from Roy Harper's clone to Arley.

"Yeah. Do you have what we need?"

"Oh yeah."

"Okay. Superboy is in Green Arrows system, he's almost down downloading the files. I'm going to join them." Arley's brows quirked upwards, it was clear Dubbilex was giving her and Roy's clone space to speak privately.

About what though, she hadn't the faintest.

"Okay, once that's done, get to the top floor. There's a window all the way to the right, don't blow it yet, I'll catch up." Dubbilex simple nodded before turning away and heading back to the main floor of Oliver's Arrow Cave.

When he was gone Arley crossed her own arms over her chest, the case filled with what she'd taken from the vault sat by her feet.

"What's up?"

"Why didn't you shoot me?" Arley blinked.

"What?"

"Before. And on the roof, why didn't you shoot me in face?" Roy Harpers clone asked, "Or anywhere else."

Arley's brows quirked up before knitting themselves together, "I did shoot you."

The clone huffed out a long suffering sigh. He moved from his position on the floor, not upwards but backwards so that he was sitting on his butt rather than his knees. His ankles crossed over one another.

"I mean why didn't you kill me? I attacked you-I was working for Savage."

"Oh." Arley looked away from the clone. The answer was simple, he was wearing her friends face and while Arley knew she was a lot of things— she knew she was a monster at the end of the day —she was, above everything else, loyal.

Even to a false image.

"Why?" She responded instead, "Does it matter now?" The clone's head snapped upwards so fast Arley was almost surprised he hadn't hurt himself. "I mean you're free from the Light."

"I'll never be free Arles, I'm a clone! I'm not real, I don't even have my own name, I was made up of the bits and pieces of someone else-the real Roy Harper and when he comes back—" Roy's clone stopped himself short.

Arley felt her heart twist in her chest, unhesitatingly she kept down and set her hand on the clone's shoulder.

He wasn't Roy. He wasn't her Roy, but he had his face and his memories and his heart. He was made up of Roy's best pieces, he had to have been, Savage had been trying to make a hero.

"When I get Roy and the others back they're going to want their lives back, but none of that means you have to stop living yours."

"I am living his."

"No, you're not," Arley refuted. "I came out of that cell different. That girl in your memories, she's dead. Something's changes not just after hell dude, but when you realize the world kept turning without you." Arley swallowed.

She always knew she was replaceable, she never thought she wasn't and yet at the same time knowing Dinah and Oliver and Barry and every one else— except for Hal and John and Guy and the boys who had given themselves up for her —had just gone on living their lives while she was ripped apart, piece by piece, right where they had left her hurt.

It cut her far more sharply than any knife Sportsmaster had in his possession.

"What I'm trying to say is that the minute the boys got caught and you and the others got out in their place, their life stopped being theirs. Yeah some twisted version of it became yours but it still became yours, you know?"

"No."

Arley nodded. She had never been super motivational, even before her capture. That had always been Hal and Kilowog; and John to a lesser extent.

"That's fair," Arley said standing, her fingers wrapped around the handle of the case from the vault. "I've got to go, but I'll see you, okay? On the other side of all of this."

"Why would you even want to?" Roy Harpers clone asked, he sounded genuinely confused and Arley paused for half a second thinking back to when she had found Superboy.

She'd thought she was going to be killed either by the genomorph's on the other side of the door or by the Guardian and all she had cared about was saving Superboy from a life of puppetry.

"Because this isn't your fault and in case you forgot I used to be a Green Lantern. We're all pretty big on willpower and all that."

Roy's clone tilted his head upwards, the light of the Arrow cave hit his face making his skin look far more pasty and waxy and all around gaunt-like.

"Be careful?" The clone requested. "Please?"

"I'll do my best," Arley swore instead. "After we leave contact Kyle, tell him to keep his ringer on."

"You're getting the actual Roy now?"

He had only mentioned Roy. The ball in the back of Arley's throat appeared once more. Probably because he is Roy, Arley waved away mentally.

That had to be it.

She wouldn't doubt Wally. Not again.

"Yeah." Roy's clone got to his feet.

"Let me come!"

"No," Arley replied just as quickly as the clone's demand had come.

"What? Why the hell not!"

"Because I can't be worried about my team and the boys and you all getting hurt or killed or captured. The less people on the field the better."

"I can handle myself."

"You couldn't handle me and that's when you didn't look like this," Arley motioned to the entirety of the clone. He shot her an affronted look as she set a hand on his shoulder.

Blue met hazel. Neither of their eyes were as bright as they had once been.

"I'm going to bring Roy back okay? I'll get all of them back, I promise."

"I still want to come," Roy's clone persisted, "I mean if anyone should give up their lives to save the real Roy Harper, then it should be me! I mean," Roy's clone continued on, softer, "Shouldn't it?"

"Who knows," Arley shrugged. And because he had trusted her the clone hadn't been ready for Arley's hand to clamp round the side of his neck, punching the nerve just under this skull.

Six and a half seconds later the clone dropped to the Arrow cave flooring and for another several seconds Arley just stared at the clone.

Maybe he should give his life for the real Roy Harper. Maybe that was the only way to atone for the fact he's taken the young sidekick's place in life, even unwittingly. But Arley wouldn't watch it; clone or not, that was Roy's face, and Arley would be damned if she watched even the very image of her friend die.

Especially if she could have stopped it.

Without really meaning to, Arley pressed the palm of her hand against the clone's face; "I'll save them, I swear it okay? Don't worry about Roy, just focus on your own shit dumbass."

Blinking, realizing she was kneeling over the unconscious form of what looked like her friend, Arley jerked her hand back.

Fight smart, Kilowog had once said. Not hard.

Not with a bleeding heart and tunnel vision but with her brain.

Fight smart.

Arley felt herself clamp down on the feelings— sadness, guilt, doubt and confusion —coursing through her and instead focused on the rage bubbling up in her gut.

As Arley climbed the stairs of the Arrow Cave and met her team she focused on the drive humming through her veins.

She caught sight of her own reflection in the heavily tinted window and felt her jaw involuntarily clench at the sight of herself.

At the sight of what she had become.

"Is M'gann ready for us?" Arley asked unable to make out if the Bioship was on the other side of the Arrow Cave's walls or not.

"Yeah she is," Dubbilex replied.

"Okay then, Superboy-aim for the walls, the glass is made from the same kind of shit they have on the Watchtower." That really just meant that while it wasn't completely Kryptonian-proof, whoever material Brice had found to give Superman trouble would really just give Superboy a run for his money.

"Got it," the dark haired clone nodded. He stepped up towards the wall and curled each of his right hands fingers into a fist before he threw his hand out. The wall seemed to explode as the clone brought his left fist forward in succession.

The brick on both sides of the wall seemed to crumble as the metal sheet that laid between both layers exploded outwards.

Alarms began blaring. The lights of the Arrow Cave turned red.

Superboy brought his right fist forward once more and Arley could see the bay doors of the Bioship open and ready for them as he manually peeled back the metal layer, creating a larger hole for them to jump through.

Arley could see M'gann standing in the Bioships entrance.

"Supes, take Lex!" Arley shouted over the alarms as she tightened her grip on the case from Oliver's vault.

Superboy, with the clearly filled duffle bag he'd taken from Artemis, wound his arm around the genomorph before leaping several feet and onto the ramp that led into the ship.

M'gann's eyes glowed brightly as she made a pull motion in Superboy and Dubbilex's direction, yanking them telekinetically into the ship.

Arley looked at Artemis as the pair of them back up several feet.

"Ready?"

"I can say no?" Arley smiled.

"Nope." And then they were rushing forward, leaping from the edge of the building, out of the hole Superboy had made. Air threw her hair back and though there had been a significant force in Arley's leap she— due to the extra weight of the case she had latched tightly in her hand —began to fall before Artemis.

Air didn't escape Arleys lungs as she began to fall. If anything it filled them, the familiar feeling as she started to cut through the air caused a rush of adrenaline to flood through Arley's veins only to stop seconds later.

It was almost as if a lasso had been thrown herself. Arley felt a tug upwards and then, suddenly, she was no longer falling towards the concrete ground, but rather standing upright with both feet planted firmly on the Bioships flooring.

Dubbilex was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you okay?" M'gann asked, a small smile on her face.

"Course," Arley said, touching the Martian's arm as she passed the case filled with dangerous weapons and incurable poisons to Artemis.

"Lex already getting us out of here?" M'gann nodded. "Good-Lex!" Arley called out as she made her way to the ship's cockpit. "Start heading to Yellowstone, we'll plan on the way there!"

"You don't want to take a day or so to come up with something?" Dubbilex asked, Arley shook her head.

"Oliver will have an inventory of everything we have before the end of the day, no need for the Light to know what we're packing before we hit them with it."

Arley watched as Dubbilex's lips pressed together. He was quiet for a moment; Artemis entered the cockpit and took her normal seat up front.

"Alright," the genomorph said with a nod, "You have a point. I'll type in the coordinates." Arley nodded before turning to the Bioships windshield.

Cityscape, as the Bioship flew higher and farther, got smaller and smaller.

I'm coming, Arley thought; green eyes flashed through the forefront of her mind as her heart twisted in her chest cavity, I'm almost there. Please.

Please, what Arley wasn't sure of.

Please wait? Or please be there?

…

"Kid! Hey kid-Roy, please, wake up!"

Roy Harper's clone woke up to both Oliver and Dinah standing over him. He was on the floor of the Arrow Cave, sprawled out and somewhat disoriented.

"Heyheyhey," Oliver fretted as the clone pushed himself upward on his elbows. "Don't move, we don't know if anything is broken. Bats is on his way."

"Hey," Roy Harper's clone looked at Dinah who set a hand on his shoulder, "Can you tell us what happened? Do you remember?"

Roy Harper's clone focused on the open vault door.

Arley .

Arley had been at the cave. She'd spoken to him, she'd all but forgiven him for hurting her.

He hadn't told her the truth.

He hadn't had the heart to explain that only Roy Harper would be found. She'd be hurt when she learned the truth; he could have prevented that hurt.

That thing— the blue guy; the genomorph who had read his mind —had told him to tell her the truth.

"She deserves to know."

Roy Harper's clone laid back down, flat against the Arrow Cave's flooring.

"She should have just killed me."

"What?" Oliver blinked, "How can you-kid you can't just say that!" As Dinah wondered over the archer, "Who? Who're you talking about?"

Roy Harper's clone just stayed quiet, his heart hurting.

Why? Why had she left him behind? Why had she wanted his life once more?

Why hadn't she killed him?

She should have.

Notes: ... Okay so first off, I really meant to upload this sooner, I swear! Anyway while originally this was supposed to be Arley getting the boys, I ended up having to split this into two chapters for the flow.

But since I did, how do you guys like it? How do we feel about Roy (Will) in this chapter? How do we feel about the direction this is taking the story, I mean I'd love to hear how you guys think Arley is going to react on the boys (sans Roy) not being in Yellowstone? And like, how do you guys think the best way to end this is cause I already have a rough outline of how I want this all to end (epilogue and all) but I'd really love to hear from the people sticking this out with me!

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