Chapter One — Independence day

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

Sitting at the rounded kitchen table in the Jordan-Gluck family apartment in nothing more than her fuzzy duck themed pajama shorts and the Flash themed sweatshirt she'd gotten the previous Chanukah Arley Gluck paid more attention to the book on Icoids— former natives of Jupiter's moons, who later moved to the rings of Saturn after constant attacks by Thanagarian pirates —she'd gotten from library on Oa the day before, then her bowl of Corn Pops that continued to get soggier and soggier by the second.

So engrossed in the alien history book the raven haired girl didn't notice her mentor entering the kitchen; nor did she notice the calico smile that grew on the pilots face as he looked at her and her hunched shoulders as she read line after line. Sneaking up behind her the man bent at the waist, his fingers curling around the top of the chair; Arley, who was still to captivated by the book— apparently though called native to Jupiter moon Io, the race of blue aliens were only considered so because they had been the first race to settle their; their original home world was some long forgotten and destroyed planet that rested just outside the Milky Way galaxy —didn't even notice the brown haired man as frizzy strands of her jaw length hair tickled the end of his nose.

No, Arley only noticed her mentor when he began cackling as he shook her chair. The fifteen year old loudly yelped as she used her arms to brace against the table, the table's wooden curve pressed uncomfortably against her bony ribs as the book she had been reading fell against the kitchen floor.

A bright green construct— a hand —shot out of her ring and lifted the adult man off the floor and into the air by the back of the tee-shirt he wore. Hal Jordan's eyes narrowed almost petulantly as Arley turned in her seat and looked at him; her chin rested on the top of the kitchen chair. She tried not to smirk as Hal hung limply in the air, inches above the kitchen tile.

"Why would you do that?" Arley wondered.

"You looked too calm," Hal told her, and just like the fathers in all those feel-good movies Arley watched the man reached out as he still hung in the air, and messed up her already unkempt hair with a smile. Arley's eyes narrowed; she would get him back for that, just as he always got her back when she dyed his shirt pink or told his not-girlfriend Carol Ferris an embarrassing story of something he'd done.

Tit-for-tat and whatnot.

"Right," she clicked her teeth, the construct didn't move as she turned and swept the book off the tile floor and tucked it under her arm, "I'm going to remember this the next time you forget your keys and need me to deliver them to the office."

Hals smile seemed to fall; the last thing Arley had told Carol Ferris was how Hal talked in his sleep so much so that the man could have a full on conversation with someone; Arley had told Carol of the time she had tried to wake Hal up only for the man to argue he was on the phone, because in his dream he had been on the phone, and couldn't be bothered at the moment because his dream call was oh so very important.

"No, come on! I was joking, trying to get you pumped for the big day!" Hal pleaded; in the almost seven years Arley had been under his care— and the nearly eight they had known each other —there wasn't a shortage of embarrassing things he'd done in front of the teen.

Arley couldn't help but smile at the mention of what was planned for later that day; her construct deteriorated and Hal dropped to his feet, "Whatever, I'm going to finish my book, we're leaving at noon right?" Hal nodded as he moved to the coffee machine. "Awesome!"

...

Arley had been to the Hall of Justice before; back when the League had been outed to the public by the Joker and his merry band of costumed villains. She hadn't been inside the Hall, instead she stuck close to Hals side as they stood behind Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman, all of whom promised the reporters and their cameras that the League was there to do good; to protect the people of the world and not just the cities in which the heroes came from.

It was also where she and Robin had been introduced to the public as the world's first child sidekicks, which she wasn't, because at twelve she'd been a fully fledged Green Lantern for over three years, but it wasn't like the League could tell the world of Oa and the Corps and how she had been chosen to be a hero— not a sidekick —so instead they called her Green Lanterns partner. His trainee, someone that would one day take up his mantle.

Now standing on the grassy hill that overlooked the Hall of Justice, side by side with Robin the two of them were ready to do more than have the world recognize them as part of their mentors' shadows; they were ready for the world to see them as their own heroes.

"Can you believe it?" Robin breathed; behind them Batman and Hal spoke to one another in hushed tones, neither teen paid their adoptive fathers much attention as she looked on at the gleaming steps of the Hall. "Justice League members."

"It sort of feels surreal, you know?" She said she could see the civilians crowding the Halls steps; and if she strained her ears she could hear the laughter of children as they ran too close to the water; and she could hear their parents shooing them away from the edge they played on.

She could remember when Hal, before her training on Oa had finished and he had formally adopted her, told her about the League having been put together by him and the other public heroes of Earth. She had been around when the League had been formed, and now she was going to be a part of it, a member.

"Hey-hey, look who it is," Hal cheered; Robin and Arley turned to see that half way up the hill both Green Arrow and Speedy had arrived. Arley beamed at the sight; she and Speedy may not have gotten off on the right foot when they had first met— he was older than her and despite having been at the hero thing longer then he had, the then fourteen year old boy had called her a little girl so of course she had to flip him like Kilowag had showed her how to do in their last training session —but the pair of them had grown close since then. Of course not as close as she and Wally West were— she and the Speedster were considered to be attached at the hip both in and out of costume —nor as close as she and Robin were, but still, Arley considered the young man a good friend.

"Robin, Greenie," Speedy jerked his chin up at Arley as he fist bumped Robin.

"You have got to stop calling me that, the civilians are starting to use that to tell me, Hal and John apart when talking about us." Maybe it was confusing for there to be three active Green Lanterns, all of whom went by Green Lantern, but her, Hal and John's jobs weren't to help make things easier for the tabloid news that reported on them, it was to keep them and the rest of Earth and sector two-eight-one-four safe.

"How do they tell John and Hal apart?" Speedy joked knowingly, Arley shot the archer a dry look, he knew exactly how the news told John and Hal apart and then turned to Robin,

"When do you think Aqualad's getting here?" She didn't bother to ask about the Flashes as they were always late. Wally liked to blame his tardiness on his uncle but Arley knew the boy had struggled to get to places on time long before he had gotten his powers and teamed up with the forensic scientist.

"Batman said Aquaman and Aqualad would be here the same time as us, must've gotten tied up," the boy wonder shrugged. Arley nodded and looked back to Speedy,

"Have you done anything fun since school got out?" The red headed teen shrugged

"Arrow and I stopped Icicle before we got here but besides that—"

"—I meant as you, moof-milker," Arley rolled her eyes. Both Robin and Speedy looked at one another with raise brows from the corner of their eyes;

"Moof-milker?" Speedy repeated. Arley's own brows knitted together for a second, she wondered exactly what the problem with the term moof-milker was, before clarity washed over her face,

"Dumbass, sorry, I forgot you two aren't used to galactic-slang." Speedy through his hands up, frowning.

"That doesn't-what the hell is a moof?"

"Why does it mean dumbass?" Robin wondered.

"It's kind of like a cow," Arley told Speedy, "Only they're found on Crul." The female Lantern said it like that alone should have cleared everything up, Speedy's bewildered expression didn't seem to dissipate; "Ah, Crul, it's a mostly aquatic based planet at the edge of the sector."

"But why does it mean dumbass?" Robin asked again, Arley turned to him, none of the teens paid attention to their mentors who turned from the semi-circle they'd made of hunched shoulders and bowed heads to the water in front of them.

"Why does dumbass mean dumbass?" She smirked, "Dumbass." Speedy laughed as Robin's fist swung out at Arley's shoulder, an indignant cry leaving the youngest hero's lips as he did so. Arley snickered as she moved out of the young heroes reach and closer to the archers' side. Speedy elbowed the girls side, pushing her away from him and back towards the caped sidekick.

"You're a dumbass," Robin told her and Arley, smiling— her tongue poking out between the slight gap between her two front teeth —rolled her eyes only to look past Robin, over his shoulder.

"Aqualad!" She beamed, Robin turned and saw the two Atlanteans who were joining them that day greeting his, Arley and Speedy's mentors. The female Lantern waved the dark skinned teen over as he turned away from Hal and to them.

Aqualad looked at his King and mentor who nodded and clapped the blonde boy on the shoulder, pushing him towards his friends. Arley was the first to meet the boy, she shook his hand as strongly as Kilowag had shaken hers when they had met; crushingly.

"It's great to see you again," she told him. Aqualad smiled politely; though she could see the joy and excitement she and the other two sidekicks felt shining behind his eyes.

"You as well Green Lantern," Aqualad replied as Arley stepped to the side so both Speedy— who shook his hand —and Robin— who fist bumped the Atlantean —could greet him as well. Speedy had only taken a step back when Batman cleared his throat. No words were needed for Robin to get the message as he strode over to his mentors' side; Arley and the other two boys got the message as Batman placed a hand on Robin's shoulder; the three of them made their own ways over to their mentors.

Hal placed a hand on the space between Arleys' shoulder blades as the four heroes and their young partners turned to the Hall of Justice. Arley looked around her, down the line of allies, and frowned. She then turned to Batman,

"Shouldn't we wait for Kid and Flash?" Wally had been excited the night before; he had talked a mile a minute through the speaker of the phone for hours, and the thought of starting without him— taking their first steps as Justice League members without him —just because he was running a little late didn't seem right.

"They're late," Batman said.

"They're always late though," Arley said, her eyes gleamed with determination. "Please?" She saw Batman's eyes narrow under the cowl. "Just, like, five minutes?"

"We're on a schedule," Batman told her. Arley would rather dive headfirst into a sarlacc mouth then enter the Hall of Justice without her best friend— without the boy she'd been head over heels for for years —so she breathed.

"What kind of schedule?" She wondered, "Color coded? Or is it more like an itinerary, and if so what kind of format?" She could see Robin smirking from where he stood next to the Caped Crusader, "Like did you make it so that every second of every minute is planned or is more like hourly? Cause if it's hourly that leaves so much—"

"—You're trying to distract me," Batman drawled, his voice gruff. Arley blinked up at the man, her hazel eyes wide and innocent. It was the same look she wore whenever she was caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. John liked to say she could sell someone a bridge with that expression.

"Me? Distract you? The world's greatest detective? Why would I try that, I mean, I doubt that would work, do you think I could do that, that it would work, distract you, I mean?" Arley placed her hand against the Lantern symbol on her chest, Batman didn't answer and she looked up at Hal who hid his own smile behind his hand. "Green Lantern do you think I could distract Batman?"

Hal snorted, he pressed his hand against his mouth instead of simply covering it and Batman turned. Arley's shoulder's dropped.

"Today's the day," he told them. Arley wondered if she tripped Speedy down the hill would the heroes stop for a moment; of course Speedy would be furious at her but Arley also knew that if she dipped into the money she'd been saving for the motorcycle she wanted and instead used it to buy him the new video game console he wanted then in hindsight tripping him down a somewhat steep hill wouldn't matter.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow spoke.

"Headquarters of the Justice League," pipe Aquaman, only for the exasperated voice of a teenage boy to pipe up behind them.

"Oh man," Arley beamed as she turned to face Kid Flash— neither he nor his uncle had arrived yet, the sound of their voices echoed before them —"I knew we'd be the last one's here." The Flash appeared first, his hands at his side and then Wally, half a second later, his goggles perched on his head and his arms crossed over his chest. Arley's heart spluttered in her chest at the sight of the young speedster and she beamed at him. It was hard for her to not smile around him.

"So did we," Arley joked, "Chuba, Kid!" She said using the Huttese greeting she'd picked up from the Twi'lekian Lantern Aayla.

Wally looked at Arley and smiled, his forlorn looked gone and replaced with a thousand-kilowatt smile; "Chuba, Glowstick!" He greeted her back. With every alien phrase she picked up from her adventures she taught Wally, not because he was interested— she had long ago learned the only alien words Wally was truly interested in were the swears and pick-up lines —but because he would listen to her.

Wally West, may not have loved Arley the way she wanted him to— the way she loved him —but that didn't mean the red headed boy didn't care about her. He knew how much she loved learning about the various alien cultures she encountered and so, even if it mean fiddling with his worn out rubix cube for hours while he listened to her talk— instead of running round, burning off the speedster energy he was filled to the brim with —Wally wouldn't just listen to everything Arley had to tell him, he would soak it up and file it away inside his brain because that was the same exact thing Arley did for him when he went on tangents about something he'd read in a newly published science journal.

Arley moved from Hal— Wally moved from Flash's side —and Wally reached out to Arley who took his hand and pulled him to her. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist as his arms circled her neck; Wally had always been taller than Arley but in the past few months he seemed to have sprouted; the top of Arleys head met Wally's collarbone. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest and she ignored the heat flooding to the tips of her ears. Arley felt her body warm from the tips of her toes to the top of her hair as they continued to hug.

He smelled like dry ice; Arley pulled back. "Why do you smell like dry ice?"

"We had a little mix up with Cold on our way over," Flash said, Arley, as she pulled back from Wally looked at the older Speedster. Wally's hand rested on her shoulder as hers was still perched upon Wally's hipbone. Batman made a humming noise from the back of his throat but said nothing else, he motioned with his head towards the Hall of Justice, as if to tell the other nine defenders of justice to get going.

Arley beamed at Batman thankfully, and though the masked bat-themed hero made no indication to acknowledge her wordless thankfulness, Arley was sure he smiled at her.

...

"Is that Batman?"

Civilians chattered around them; cameras shuttered and children bounced on their feet. Arley caught the eye of a little girl, one who though wore a plastic replica of Wonder Woman's crown, also donned a green lantern shirt. The girls pigtails were in two green scrunchies and she leaned forward against the ropes that sectioned the heroes off from the civilians.

Arley waved at the little girl who enthusiastically waved back.

"I see Flash!" A little boy cheered, "And Flash Jr!" Arley giggled and Wally, who's shoulders dropped nudged her elbow with his as someone in the crowded failed to correct the little boy;

"His name's Speedy duh."

"No," a third and older voice yet still child-like piped up, "Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick."

"Well that makes no sense," the boys' fathers said. Green Arrow leaned forward, Arley could hear the archer behind her as she headed the group of heroes from between Wally and Robin.

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?"

"Born that way," Speedy said.

"I'm glad we're all here," Aqualad said, and Arley caught the boy's eyes, his sea foam green eyes flickered to Wally who walked in front of him and Arley bit back a smile.

"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time before today?" Wally wondered. Speedy's face dropped and his lips thinned as he pressed them together, he glared at Wally from behind his cowl.

"Don't call us sidekicks," the red archer snapped. Arley frowned at the archer, she glared back at him.

"Don't get an attitude," she snapped back, her voice low enough so that the civilians around them wouldn't hear, "Kid was just saying—"

"—Well he shouldn't have," Speedy hissed, "We're not sidekicks, not after today." Arley, as her hackles raised in Wally's defense, felt Wally's hand wrap around her wrist as she opened her mouth to say something, the pads of his gloved fingers pressed against her pulse. He shook his head, his eyes flashed to Speedy.

"Sorry," Wally said, "First time at the Hall, I'm just a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin wondered, his voice exasperated as they walked under the arch that led to the Halls courtyard. Four of the five sidekicks— Arley, Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad —were greeted by the sight of several large statues; four of which were of their mentors.

"Oh," Robin whispered, "Maybe that's why."

The ten of them came to a stop outside of large metal doors marked Authorized Personnel Only; the doors opened with a hissed and the ten were greeted by Martian Manhunter, a hero Arley had gotten to know fairly well since receiving her ring, and Red Tornado.

"Green Lantern, Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, welcome." Manhunter greeted, with that the Martian turned. Wally and Robin fist bumped. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley and of course," Manhunter said as he led them down a hallway and to the largest of the Halls rooms, "Our library."

Arley took two steps forward, away from Wally as she looked at the books around her. She heard, as her eyes scanned the spines of the books that surrounded them, Wally and Robin snicker.

The Flash turned to the group, "Make yourselves at home," he told the five as he and the other adult heroes huddled together in the corner. While Robin, Wally and Aqualad all took seats, and Speedy leaned against the arm of Wally's chair Arley used her ring to fly to the top shelves of libraries bookcases.

Her fingers skimmed across the books as she read each title; History of the World, History of Europe, History of the Stars.

"You are such a nerd," Wally told her, he grinned as his neck leaned back over the back of the leather chair he was in so he could stare up Arley. Arley looked away from the books, her fingers still pressed against them, and down at Kid Flash. She ignored how her heart thumped in her chest as he beamed at her; his pearly white teeth almost seemed to sparkle under the library lights. She was certain she would rather die then ever say it out loud but Wally West was beautiful.

"Say's the kid genus," Arley shot back with a laugh.

"Quick debrief to discuss the confidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day," Batman told the group of adult heroes, his hands behind his back. He looked at the teens. "We shouldn't be long."

Batman turned to the door marked Justice League Members Only and a machine came down from the wall. Arley watched in fascination as a bright blue light shot out of the machine. Hal had told her the members who couldn't just fly to the Watchtower used zeta-beam teleportation to get to the satellite base, but she had never seen it in action.

"Recognized Batman, zero-two," echoed loudly in the library as the machine scanned the Dark Knight. "Aquaman, zero-six. Flash, zero-four. Green Lantern, zero-five. Green Arrow, zero-eight. Martian Manhunter, zero-seven. Red Tornado, one-six." The doors, like the ones that had been marked authorized personnel only, hissed open.

"That's it!" Speedy snapped, the heroes in the room turned to him. "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass." His arms crossed over his chest and Arley frowned.

"It's a first step, you've been granted access few others get," Aquaman told the teen archer.

"Oh really?" Speedy scoffed, his arm flew up and motioned to the civilians behind the library's glass ceiling. "Who cares about which side of the glass we're on!"

"Roy," Green Arrow said, "You just need to be patient."

"What I need is respect," Speedy huffed, he turned to Arley and the other boys, "They're treating us like kids. Worse," he corrected himself, "Like sidekicks. We deserve better than this." Arley floated to the ground and she and the other boys looked at each other.

"You're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Why? Today was supposed to be the day! Step one to becoming a full-fledged member of the Justice League."

"Well sure," Wally shrugged, "But I thought step one was a tour of the headquarters."

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real Headquarters," Speedy snapped. The heroes behind Speedy stiffened and the sidekicks around Arley straightened in their seats. She looked at Wally and then at the Flash and the other League members who had turned to glare at Green Arrow. Arley had assumed the other heroes had all already told their protegees about the Watchtower; that while she knew she was the only sidekick to ever step foot there— simply because that was where the League was keeping the comatose body of Guy Gardener, Earth's third Green Lantern —she wasn't the only sidekick who was supposed to know about it.

Arley crossed her arms over her chest as her teeth skimmed over her bottom lip. "I bet they never told you this is just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching the zeta beam teleporter tubes that take them to the real thing, an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower!"

"And?" Arley blinked, "So what if this is a front, you really expected the League to take new members on a tour of their secret base?" She hadn't, when Hal had told her she and the others would be taking a tour of the League's headquarters as their first step towards becoming fully fledged members of the League, she had never assumed they'd be taken to the outer space satellite the League hadn't even told the world governments about, she had always assumed he had meant the Hall because to most people that was the Justice League's headquarters.

It would have been foolish to do otherwise; letting a group of rookies— because when she and the others went from sidekicks to League members that's what they would be, rookies —know exactly where your top secret base was, was exactly how the Joker and the rest of what had become the Injustice League had found the League's original secrete sanctum.

Speedy growled at her, "Like it matters to you, you go there all the time." That was a gross exaggeration and Arley glared at the boy; Wally, Robin and Aqualad all turned and looked at Arley. "You don't get what this means."

Aquaman stepped up, "You're not helping your cause here son, stand down—"

"—Or what?" Speedy snapped at the Atlantean King, "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son. I'm not even his." Green Arrows face fell, it was as if he'd been slapped; "I thought I was his partner." Speedy gripped the top of his feathered Robin-Hood style hat and threw it to the ground. "But not anymore."

Arley's jaw dropped; the room watched on stunned. Speedy— Roy —turned to the four sidekicks, "Guess they're right about you four," he hissed as he stormed out, his shoulder slamming against Arley's as he passed by her— the girl stepped back but didn't stumble —and the other three boys got to their feet. "You're not ready."

The four of them watched him leave. Before any of them truly had a moment to process Roy's exit alarms blared and Superman picture appeared on the giant computer monitor behind them. The adults moved to the computer panel.

"Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus, it's on fire," the Man of Steel said.

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus," Batman said, "This may present the perfect opportunity to—" he was cut off by alarms, ones that sounded like what had echoed through the room right before Superman's picture had come to life.

Arley and the others moved closer to the League members.

"Zatara to Justice League," a voice said, before a picture of a mustached man appeared in the corner of the monitor, "The scorer, Wotan, is using the Amulet of Attan to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response."

Batman turned to the alien, "Superman?"

"It's a small fire, local authorities have it under control," Superman responded. Batman nodded.

"Then Cadmus can wait." Batman pushed a button, "All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates, Batman out." Green Arrow didn't wait for anything else to be said as he made his way to the zeta-beam tubes with Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado; Batman, Flash, Hal and Aquaman turned to their protegees.

"Stay put," Batman told them.

"What?" Robin gasped, "Why?"

"This is a League mission, you're not trained," Flash said.

"Since when?" Wally wondered.

"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team," Flash amended.

"There will be other missions when you're ready," Aquaman told the four;

"But for now, stay put," Batman ordered. Arley looked at Hal, like a child who went to the other parent after hearing an answer they didn't like. If someone was trying to blot out the sun in her sector then she should have been allowed to join, it was her duty as a Lantern.

The pilot shrugged, "Sorry kid you heard the man." Arley frowned as the four of them left. Red Tornado was the last out into the zeta-tube; the robot's expressionless face read nothing before it turned its back on the four teens. The door hissed closed.

"When we're ready?" Wally scoffed; "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like-like, sidekicks!" He threw his arms into the air and them back down and balled his hands into fists.

Aqualad looked solemnly at the ground. "My mentor, my King, I thought he trusted me?"

"Trust," Wally scoffed, "They don't even trust us with the basics, they got a secret headquarters in space—" Wally spun on his heels and looked angrily at Arley whose hazel eyes widened at the tone. "—Which you knew about! Why didn't you ever say anything!"

Arley blinked at the speedster, she could count the number of times she and Wally had fought on one hand. She frowned.

"I thought you knew," she told him honestly, she took a step forward and though she didn't reach out for his hand Wally's shoulders tenoned, like he would have ripped himself away from her if she had indeed tried to reach out for him. "Kid you know I would have told you if I thought you hadn't."

Wally frowned, hurt glittered in his eyes; "Roy said you've been there."

"Where do you think the League is treating Guy?" She asked rhetorically; "Hal takes me there to visit. Sometimes coma patients can hear you, talking to them is recommended." Even if it weren't though Arley would have gone to visit her fellow Lantern; Arley considered Guy family the same way she considered Hal and John family. Wally's face seemed to soften; he had been the shoulder she cried on when the red headed Lantern had gotten hurt and subsequently fallen into a coma, the one who, when they went shopping at either the Central City or Coast City malls, always offered to by the hospitalized Lantern that weeks bundle of get-well flowers with their left over allowance.

"Oh." He nodded. Aqualad sighed;

"What else aren't they telling us?" He wondered. Arley got where they were coming from; they were hurt and frustrated, they each had thought they had their mentors complete and utter trust only to find out what they had believed was wrong. Arley with an apologetic expression, slowly rested her hand on Wally's bicep and the speedster turned to her, a half smile on his lips; Arley smiled softly back at him.

"Better question," Robin sighed, "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?"

"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad wondered and Robin, with his brows furrowed together huffed.

"I don't know, but I can find out." The youngest of the four turned to the computer and began typing.

"Access denied," the computer said. Robin chuckled.

"Wanna bet?" He hit more buttons at a speed which impressed even Wally.

"Whoa," Arley breathed, Wally nodded,

"How are you doing that?" The red head wondered.

"Same system as the Batcave," Robin told them, and with one final button pressed the access denied that had been on the screen changed to access granted. A file about Cadmus popped up; "Alright, Project Cadmus, genetics lab here in DC." Robin paused, the boy frowned as he looked at the three others, "That's all there is, but if Batman is suspicious maybe we should investigate?"

Seeing where the boys thinking was going, Arley's brows raised with a smirk; "Solve their case before they do?"

Aqualad nodded, "It would be poetic justice."

"And they are all about justice," Arley said. She looked at Wally as Aqualad sighed.

"But they said stay put."

"About the blotting out the Sun mission, not this," Robin said. Arley rested her elbow on the boy wonders shoulder, her eyes innocently shining.

"Robin here's right, we were never expressly forbidden from going to Cadmus." Sure Batman had implied that they were supposed to stay at the Hall while he and Hal and the other members of the Justice League saved the solar system, but he had never said so in that many words, he had just told them to stay put after telling them they couldn't stop Wotan.

"Wait," Wally turned Arley, his hands on her shoulders, "Are you going to Cadmus cause if you're going I'm going!" They and Robin turned to Aqualad who looked at the three of them questioningly.

"And just like that, we're a team on a mission?"

"We didn't come for a play date," Robin said and Aqualad smirked; his mind completely swayed.

...

With a fully charged ring, Arley, Kid Flash, Robin and Aqualad crept through DC alleyways as they made their way to Cadmus labs. The closer they got the more smoke Arley could smell, and the louder the fire engines and cries for help got.

"Help!" Two men in lab coats cried from a window just as the four sidekicks paused in the alley across the street; "Help us!"

"Stay put!" The Fireman speaking into the loudspeaker told them as his men poured gallons and gallons of water into the burning building. "We will get you out." But just as he spoke the room the two men were in exploded; the force from the explosion pushed the scientists out of the window they'd been ready to escape from.

Before either Arley or Aqualad could react and use either the firemens water or a construct from her ring to catch the two falling men Kid Flash darted out from the alleyway, his goggles down over his eyes as he ran up the side of the building and caught both lab coats wearing men.

He threw them both over the ledge of the building roof only to begin to slip and fall himself— Arley's eyes widened and her breath caught halfway in her throat —though he quickly caught himself on the windowsill of the top floor.

"It's what's his name?" The fireman with the megaphone cheered as Kid Flash hung from the window, "Flash boy!" Though still worried Arley couldn't help but giggle. Kid Flash wasn't hard to remember; but then again neither was Green Lantern, especially when there were two other ones who went by the same title and yet people always called her things like Greenie, or Jade Lantern or Girl Lantern, everything but her name.

"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad wondered, "We need a plan, we—" Aqualad paused mid sentence when he noticed the boy that had been on his left had disappeared, leaving only an airy chuckle to echo behind him.

"Right," Arley breathed. "That hasn't gotten old." She breathed and lifted herself off the ground; as the caped boy used his grappling hook to jump from the top of the firetruck to where Kid Flash hung.

"Here's the plan," Arley suggested, "Save the men on the roof and then follow Thing One and Two into certain death." She of course was exaggerating, the smile on her face told Aqualad that much. The Atlantean nodded and the two took off towards Project Cadmus as Robin pulled her best friend into the burning building.

Arley flew up to the roof as Aqualad paused next to the fire trucks, the two men on the roof looked at her with teary eyes.

"Oh thank god," one of them gasped. Arley imagined a platform in front of her, at the edge of the building's roof and one, a glowing green platform, appeared from her ring; below her the water flowing from the firetrucks hoses bent to Aqualads will.

"You guys might want to get on," Arley told them as Aqualad stepped off the water he had used to propel himself to the window where Robin and Kid Flash had disappeared into, and into the building. The men scurried from the buildings roof and onto Arley's construct which she gently, but quickly lowered to the ground. She then, with all the elegance she had cultivated from her years of being a Lantern, flew into the room her teammates had entered.

"—etic justice, remember?" Robin told Aqualad.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Kid joked over his shoulder as Arley landed on the floor. Kid Flash closed the middle cabinet of files he had been looking through and crouched to open the bottom one. Robin hacked away at the computer in the corner of the unburnt room and Aqualad hovered in the room's doorway. Arley picked up the waste basket and dumped out it's contents on the floor.

"If I've learned anything from Green Lantern it's that an entrance is everything," she said as she uncrumpled the pieces of paper whoever worked in the office they were in had thrown away. Most of what she kept uncrumpling were takeout receipts. One of the papers was an expense report for office supplies; nothing suspicious showed up on the report, just beakers and chairs and goggles.

"Which one?" Kid joked and Arley smiled over her shoulder and she caught Kid's eyes; the pair of them grinned before turning back to one another. Aqualad stepped forward, into the hall and Arley paused, the crumpled paper she was half way done smoothing out stilled in her hands.

"Aqualad's on the move," she said, and not for the first time she wished her costume looked less like Hal's and every other Lantern in the universe and instead had pockets. She set the paper back on the floor as she got to her feet, she could always come back for the papers, Kid and Robin moved from where they had been and went to follow the eldest sidekick into the hall. Aqualad was several feet ahead of them but as he stopped at the corner of the hall Arley heard what she could only assume was an elevator. She frowned. She's been in public school long enough to know that during a fire elevators didn't work; or at least, they were supposed to.

"Elevators should be shut down," Kid said as Aqualad stepped towards the elevator; Arley floated next to the speeder and Robin, who'd run into Kid's back, braced himself against the red heads back.

Like his mentor more often than not did, Robin made a sound in the back of his throat as he looked at the elevator in front of him. Robin pushed past Kid Flash and moved past Aqualad as he breathed; "This is wrong." The gauntlet-like device on his arms projected a holographic image of the elevator that was in front of them. Next to the image of the elevator were a dozen different types of facts about the elevator.

"Thought so, this elevator is a high speed express elevator, it doesn't belong in a three story building."

"Neither does what I saw," Aqualad said, Arley and the others turned to dark skinned Atlantean. Aqualad moved forward and forced the elevator doors open with his bare hands, Robin ducked under Aqualads arm and Arley floated into what seemed to be a never ending elevator shaft.

"And that's what they need an express elevator for," Robin nodded. The boy wonder shot his grappling hook into the ceiling of the elevator shaft above them and jumped down the shaft; Aqualad and Kid Flash, as Arley flew down next to Robin, propelled down the boy wonders grappling cable.

Robin began to slow as they reached sub level twenty-six; Arley looked at Robin expectantly.

"I'm at the end of my rope," Robin told her, his voice hushed. Aqualad and Kid Flash slowed their descent above them. Robin jumped from his grappling hook to the ledge that would connect the elevator and the floor. Aqualad followed Robin's lead and did the same and Arley, as Kid Flash came to the end of the rope, effortlessly pulled the speedster from the rope to the ledge.

Robin hooked cables from his gauntlet to the elevator doors; "Bypassing security..." he trailed off, only to look up at Aqualad a second later, as his gauntlet beeped, "There go." The Atlantean boy, like he had done on the second floor of Cadmus, forced open the elevator doors.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin whispered. Project Cadmus, or at least floor twenty-six of Project Cadmus, was a long, dark industrial looking hallway, thick cable wires lined the ceiling and the few lights that hung there flickered.

Without a word to Arley or the other two boys, Kid Flash took off.

"Kid wait!" Arley hissed, only for the speedster to stop short as he reached the next corridor. Arley, Aqualad and Robin ran to catch up with Kid Flash only for the red headed boy to fall with a muffled scream. Kid Flash rolled out and just as he stopped the heavy foot of an elephant like monster came baring down on him.

"Kid move!" Arley hissed, Kid Flash rolled out of the way as the herd— the pack —of elephant-like monsters continued to pass. Arley openly gaped at the monsters as they moved by, as did the boys.

"What the nortz," Arley wondered. The monsters growled and hissed as they passed, though none of them turned their attention to the four sidekicks.

"No," Aqualad said sarcastically, "Nothing odd going on here." Arley pointed her ring at the monsters hoping that perhaps they were aliens; but when her ring came up with no answer; no holograph of the monsters race and what planet they were from appeared and the girl looked at the ring on her finger baffled because the monsters before her, if not in the Lantern database, meant only one thing.

Someone had created them; and Arley could only imagine what someone would want with monstrous creatures like those.

...

The four young heroes had gone down the hallway the monsters they'd seen had come from; they hadn't been running which meant there wasn't an even more dangerous creature lurking behind them and after a dozen more dark and dimly lit corridors the four of them had come to a large metal door Robin had to hack to open. Arley and Aqualad watched the boy wonders back while Kid Flash guarded his front; ready to defend the youngest of them if what laid behind the door was a monster.

"Okay," Robin said as the doors opened, revealing a room filled from floor to ceiling of bugs like monsters; all trapped behind glass as whatever machine they were hooked up to feed off the energy they were creating. "I'm officially whelmed."

"This is how they must hide this place," Arley breathed as she floated farther into the room, her pointed toes just inches above the ground; Kid Flash walked next to her.

"This must be what-whatever these things are bred for," Kid said.

"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad said, "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons into the Earth."

"And this Cadmus creates new life too," Robin said looking from the monstrous creatures around them and to Aqualad. He walked over to the control panel and plugged the cable from his gauntlet into it; "Let's find out why."

"They call them genomorphs," Robin said, "Whoa, look at the stats on these things!" Robin pointed to the picture of the elephant like monsters that had almost crushed Kid to death. The monster was labeled Genomorph zero-four-two-seven. More images of different genomorphs flashed; some were lean and fanged, right for fighting, others were large blobs Arley couldn't imagine being used for anything. "Super strength, telepathy, razor claws," he listed, "These are living weapons!"

"They're engineering an army," Kid breathed, "But for who?"

"Wait there's something else," Robin said, he leaned forward and frowned; "Project Kr, the file's triple encrypted, I can't—"

"—Don't move!" A man and a dozen genomorphs ran into the room. The monsters were blue; all of them had red eyes and tails that whipped back and forth. Arley thought they were something she should be seeing on a far off planet, not twenty-six levels below the White House.

"Wait," the man froze, "Robin, Aqualad, Green Lantern, Kid Flash?"

"At least he got your name right," Robin muttered to Kid as he continued to try and decrypt the file.

"I know you," Aqualad said, "Guardian, you're a hero."

"I do my best," the man smiled.

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid wondered.

"I'm Chief of Security and you're all trespassing," the hero said. "But we can call the Justice League and figure this out."

"You think the League is going to be okay with the fact you're breeding weapons?" Arley wondered, her voice sharp. The hero in front of her frowned,

"Weapons what are you—" the horns of the monster on his shoulder glowed red and the Guardian's pupils dilated, "—What have I?—" The hero grabbed his head and squeezed his eyes shut, "My head." When he opened his eyes his gaze was hard; "Take them down," the Guardian ordered the genomorphs around him, "No mercy."

The monsters around him growled and shrieked with appreciation as they each lunged forward.

Robin wasted no time jumping in front of Arley, Kid Flash and Aqualad; he threw a smoke bomb at their feet and thick fog-like smoke filled the room. Arley and Kid Flash got separated as they jumped apart, out of the way of one of the genomorphs sharp claws. Arley's ring formed a bat in her hands, and she hit one of the monsters over the head with it; it crashed to the ground. Arley had only just lifted the bat when a second genomorph emerged from the smoke, she batted the monster away as well and into the wall.

"Lantern, come on!" Kid shouted to her; Arley changed her weapons from a bat to a mace; swinging the weapon Arley lunged in the direction she knew to be the door, hitting every genomorph in her wingspan until she got through the smoke. Flying just slower than Kid Flash was running; and with Aqualad behind her, both Arley and Kid skidded as they came around the corner; Aqualad ran into Kid Flash's back as he ran forward to Robin who was hacking into the floors elevator.

"Way to be a team player Rob!" Kid snapped.

Arley looked back at the genomorphs who had followed them from the room and shot a large wall-like construct out of her ring; the wall took up the space of the corridor; stopping the genomorphs from coming any closer.

"Weren't you right behind me?" Robin asked as the elevator opened;

Arley looked at Aqualad who had paused underneath her floating form; "You first," she told the Atlantean, "The farther away I am the less tangible the construct is." Aqualad opened his mouth to say something only to close it instead; he took off towards the closing elevator doors.

"Lantern!" She heard Kid shout, his voice panicked. Arley looked towards the doors as they closed more and more, and when there was just enough space for her to wiggle through she dropped her construct and shot towards her friends like a glowing green bullet.

She crashed in the elevators far wall head first and crumpled to the ground; her head spun. Kid Flash fell to his knees and hovered over her as she groaned, her eyes shut tight, "What the hell was that!" The speedster demanded to know.

"Slowed 'em down didn't I?" Arley wondered as her eyes opened, she moved to get up; Kid helped her to her feet, one of his hands was on her elbow and the other was stretched around her, holding onto her hip. Wally looked down at her, his eyes narrowed. The banging against the elevators doors stopped.

"Don't do that again," he told her, and Arley knew if he head wasn't spinning she would have told him he wasn't her father; they were heroes risks were part of the job. Instead she said nothing as her eyes closed and she braced herself against the speedsters side.

'We're headed down!" Aqualad growled.

"Dude, out is up," Kid hissed, Arley opened her eyes, and though the world had slowly stopped spinning around her she didn't move from Kid Flash's arms.

"Excuse me? Project Kr, it's down, on sub-level fifty-two."

"Nortz," Arley breathed, "This is out of control, look, maybe-maybe..." Arley trailed her, catching her bottom lip between her teeth; Aqualad stepped forward, his hand on the back of his neck;

"Perhaps we should contact the League?" But just as the words had left his mouth the elevator dinged and altered the four of them they were on level fifty-two. Arley moved from Kid and once more began to float, her eyes narrowed, ready for whatever laid on the other side of the elevator.

The boys took defensive positions as well; birdarangs locked between Robins knuckles and Aqualad's fists stretched out in front of him, only the four of them were not met with enemies or another long and dark corridor, but instead a large hollowed out cave. Purple pods and machines stuck out of the cavern walls and the few lights that illuminated the cave made the rocks around them glow a pinkish red. Arley breathed; she had heard the expression And into the belly of the beast we go, but she had never felt like it was an apt description of any of the situations she had ever been in; at least, she never had, until then.

Robin, without a word to them, took off, out of the elevator. Kid turned to Arley; his expression uncertain and soft, "You're okay?"

"Yeah," she told him with a nod. Kid looked past her to Aqualad and shrugged;

"We are already here," he told the gilled boy before he himself took off in the same direction Robin had gone. Aqualad sighed; Arley placed a hand on the boys tattooed shoulder.

"Think like this, unless we see this project Kr and get out before the League gets back from space, they're coming here whether we call or not." That didn't seem to lift the Atlanteans spirits but the teen moved forward anyway, Arley floated just a few inches behind him.

The four of them stopped at a fork in the cavern; Aqualad turned to Robin.

"Which way?"

"Yeah, bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?"

"Halt!" A voice yelled, a tall genomorph appeared from what Robin had dubbed bizarre hallway one, it was dressed in white hospital scrubs and as it levitated two oil drums towards them it's large horns protruding from it's forehead glowed a bright red. The oil drums as they made contact with the wall behind the four exploded; Arley flinched at the explosion and ducked her head as Robin threw one of his birdarangs, only for the weapon to fall at the monster's feet before it could touch it.

Arley and the boys took off down bizarre hallways two; the genomorph throwing oil drum after oil drum after the four. Every so often Arley would turn back and use a construct to bat an oil drum away from them; exploding it the minute her construct came into contact with the drum; shattering the glowing green construct. Arley didn't think much about how her supposedly indestructible constructs shattered like glass, and instead focused on running. Arley and Kid Flash shot around a turn only for their eyes to widen as they caught sight of a female scientist who was paying more attention to the clipboard in her hands then the path in front of her, existing a door that in bright glowing yellow letters was labeled Project Kr.

Kid, skidding against the caver rocks knocked the woman's feet out from under her and Arley, using her ring to hold the door open, motioned for Kid to hop through. Arley continued to hold the door open waiting for both Robin and Aqualad who raced around the corner.

Under the pressure of the closing door her construct moaned; cracks at either end of her construct appeared and began to splinter through it.

"Hurry!" She shouted; Robin jumped into the room first, over what was virtually a glowing green doorstop. Aqualad jumped in next and Arley, seeing the female scientist turn, the Guardian and the genomorph monsters she and the others had encountered back in the power room jumped into the room recalled her construct, and with a slam, the doors sprung shut.

Robin who had connected himself to the access panel next to the door turned to Arley, Kid Flash and Aqualad. Arley breathed in as deep as she could and then, after holding her breath for a second, expelled the air from her lungs.

"I disabled the doors," Robin said as Arley walked over to Kid Flash, who was poking around the control panel just a few feet away from the doors access panel. "We're safe."

Arley's eyes widened as she looked at what was podded in the middle of the room; Aqualad corrected Robin, they weren't safe, they were trapped. Arley had been to dozens of planets since she had gotten her ring, she had seen aliens who were nothing more than giant floating jellyfish and others who could shoot lasers of their eyes; and yet what laid in front of her was the weirdest thing she had yet to ever seen.

Arley, though she tried to ignore them, couldn't help but notice yellow crystals that twinkled prettily in the stalactites above them. Worry settled heavily in Arley's gut; she gritted her teeth and did the best she could to ignore the panic that tried to claw at the back of her brain. Kilowag and John and Hal always told her to be calm in hairy situations and looking at what was in front of her Arley couldn't imagine a hairier situation.

"Guys," Arley heard Kid call from besides her; her eyes still glued to the pod in front of her. "You'll want to come see this." Aqualad settled behind Arley as Kid Flash hit a button and the lights in the room around them came to life, showing the four sidekicks the clone of who they knew to be Superman.

Kid was the one to get closer, Arley could see the reflection of his face in the pods glass; "Big K, little r," Wally turned, "The atomic symbol for Krypton." He turned to Arley and the other two boys that stood next to her; Arley couldn't help but look away from the podded boy in front of her. "Clone?"

Aqualad turned to Robin; "Hack."

"Right," Robin said, thinking he didn't move, Arley elbowed the boy who blinked away from the clone. "Right, right," Robin nodded and plugged the cable in his gauntlet into the pods panel.

"Weapon designation Superboy," Robin read, "A clone force grown in sixteen weeks?" Arley looked between what had popped up on the hologram Robins gauntlet projected and the clone behind Kid Flash, who had moved back over towards them. "From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen," Arley murmured, Kid Flash nodded;

"No way the big guy knows about this."

Robin ducked his head once more, and continued to read, "Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four-seven."

"And these creatures?" Aqualad pointed to the tiny genomorph monsters that had their own pods above the Superboy clones head.

"Genomorph gnomes," Robin read, "Telepathic, force-feeding him an education."

"And we can guess what else," Kid Flash said grimly, the dark look in his eyes turned soft, "They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son."

"Now we contact the League," Aqualad said, his voice firm. Arley nodded and lifted her ring to her mouth as Kid pressed the com in his left ear and Aqualad pressed his belt buckle.

"Hal do you come in?" Arley asked, no replay came through and her brows knitted together. "John? John do you hear me?" Arley paled; her ring was supposed to allow her to communicate with not only the Guardians but any other Lantern from anywhere in the universe. "Guardians of Oa this is Green Lantern Arley of sector two-eight-one-four, am I read?" No reply came through and Arley turned to the three boys whose own faces were etched with worry.

"This isn't-my ring, something's stopping me from getting through to anyone in the Corps." Arley looked down at her ring, not quite in horror but something akin to it. Anxiety clawed at her from the inside out. Kid Flash set a hand on her shoulder and rubbed his thumb in comforting circles over the joint; he then looked at the sleeping clone.

Her ring, no matter how far from Oa or any other Lantern, was supposed to be able to contact the Guardians and her fellow Corpsmen, her ring, as long as it was charged, was never supposed to not work. Something was wrong, very terribly wrong and Arley felt sick to her stomach.

"This is wrong, we can't just leave him here," Kid Flash said. Aqualad looked at Arley whose eyes had darted up from her ring, the question clear in his eyes; she nodded, casting her vote in what she thought the four of them should do and Aqualad turned to Robin.

"Set him free, do it." Robin lowered two levers on his holographic screen and the clone boys pod hissed open, Arley turned to the clone as slowly some of the glass lifted and the rest lowered; the clones hand, as he stretched it cracked and the horns of the genomorph gnomes above him glowed red; just as the one that had been perched on the Guardians shoulder had done before he lead the other genomorph monsters into attacking them.

The clones eyes opened and for a moment everything stilled, including the air in Arley's lungs, and then, faster than a speeding bullet, Superboy lunged at Aqualad. The two rolled to the ground and Superboy through a punch clean across Aqualads face; Robin and Kid Flash darted over the the clone and grabbed both his arms before he could hit the Atlantean boy again, and Arley pictured clamps; large claps that would circle around the Superboys body and pull him back but no clamps came.

Panic flooded Arley's veins as she looked down at her ring; her costume and mask were still on so it wasn't like it was dead— and it wasn't like it could be because Arley had not only charged it that morning but before she and the boys had left the Hall —so why were no constructs appearing?

"Hang on Supey!" Kid gritted, "We're on your side!" The Superboy tossed Kid Flash through an incubation chamber; the glass shattered as the speedster fell through it; when he hit the ground, bouncing as he did so, the speedster didn't even throw his arms up in front of him; Arley felt her stomach drop, it was like learning to fly all over again; looking down at the ground and only thinking of the sound you'd make when you'd fall. Only thinking the aftermath that followed the splat.

"Kid!" Arley shouted, ring or no ring, powers or no powers, Arley darted forward and she grabbed hold of the clone's neck as she put him into a choke hold she'd long ago been shown how to do; the clone thrashed in her grip but Arley held on tighter.

"I don't want to do this," Robin said as he continued to wrestle with the clones arm, though the bird themed boy still took out a gas bomb and stuffed it into the cloned Kryptoinans mouth; Arley jumped to the side as Aqualad raised his foot and kicked the clone back and into the pods control panel.

Arley looked to the two boys; "My ring's not working," she told them and both their eyes widened. Robin took out a stun gun and aimed it at the clone who stood up spluttering.

"What do you mean not working?" He fired and the two prongs hit the clone boy's chest; the clone ignored the thousands of volts of electricity that flowed through the cables and pulled Robin forward before he could drop the trigger. Superboy caught Robin by the front of the boys costume and slammed him down on the ground, his foot pressed against the struggling boys chest; Arley, as Aqualad slowly sat up rushed forward; knowing that while there was nothing she could do to the Man of Steels clone to hurt him, at least, not without her powers, Arley had to hope she could get him off Robin, but before she could land a hit the clone caught Arley by her throat.

Arley had of course been hit throughout her lifetime; she had been shot at and almost skewered by dozens of alien weapons throughout her time as a Lantern; but she had never had another person's hands wrapped around her neck. Arley clawed at the clones hand; black spots dotted her vision and her legs kicked out at the clone, and suddenly— she heard, over the aircraft jet level pounding in her ears, Aqualad's voice behind her, though she couldn't tell what he had yelled —the clone was thrown back; Arley dropped to the stone cavern floor as Aqualad pulled her to him. she felt Robin, who was on his own knees, place a hand on her shoulder; the boy wonder swayed as he knelled against the ground in front of Arley.

Arley could hear herself trying to breath over the pounding in her ears; gasping loudly for breath; the room was once more spinning but this time as her eyes shut Arley didn't open them to find everything still and upright, because as she fell forward, against Robin who had sloppily moved to catch her, she didn't reopen her eyes.

Authors Note: Hey guys, first off thanks for reading! Second off please leave me a comment letting me know what you guys thought of the first chapter of IIWBABT, and third of, who's your favorite Lantern? Cause while I do honestly love Hal with every fiber of my being have you guys read any panel with Simon Baz in it, have you seen him interact with Batman?

Also fourth and lastly the cover image for this story was drawn by tumblr artist allyallyorange so you guys should probably check out her work because it's amazing!

Anyway, thanks again for reading!