Nightwalker (Young Justice FF) Book 1 In the Night Series Trilogy

Chapter 19 Part 1: The Beginning Of The End

CHAPTER 19. I HONESTLY DIDN'T KNOW I COULD GET THIS FAR. THANK YOU, SO MUCH.

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We were coming back from our mission, laughing and takling like usual, going over the highlights. Aqualad spoke up. "We have reason to feel proud of yesterday's victories, but one thing has not changed." Robin filled in Kaldur's statement. "Somehow the bad guys are still getting inside intel about us." "Yeah, but at least we know none of us are the mole." Wally shot back happily. I was walking beside Robin, and was listening to the conversation silently. I didn't really have an input at the moment.

"That's correct. The mole was Red Arrow." My eyes widened in suprise, and I looked over to Robin, who had the same expression on his face. "Roy?" "No Way!" "Batman that cannot be. He was Green Arrow's protégé. We have all known him for years!" Wally, Robin and Kaldur spoke at once, protesting to the Dark Knight. "Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another project Cadmus clone." I cleched my fists behind my back, underneath my cape. No one could see my anger.

"The real Speedy was abducted and replaced, immediately after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick. The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League. Which is why he was so angry over any delays to his mission. And why he refused to join the team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone, or a traitor. And his sub-programming drove him to become, League worthy. So he struck out on his own, as Red Arrow. When he was finally admitted, his secondary programming kicked in. And he attempted to betray the League to Vandal Savage. Fortunately, I had already deduced Red Arrow was a clone; we were prepared." Batman wasn't telling the truth. And he knew I knew. I glared at him as Red Tornado talked.

"Savage was subdued, but Red Arrow escaped. He is now a fugitive, armed and dangerous." I narrowed my eyes at Batman, and he stared back at me. "If you guys haden't rescued me from Cadmus..." Superboy scratched the back of his kneck, trailing off.

"What, what happened to the real Roy?" I looked over to Robin, who had a sad expression on his face. "We don't know. He isn't at Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead." Batman sounded emotionless, which was expected. Robin looked down at the floor, and I put a comforting hand on his shoulder, which probably didn't do much.

"The clone Roy," Kaldur started. "the team will find him." Batman shook his head. "Negative. Red Arrow is part of the League now, leave him to us." He put a hand on his communicator, and turned back to us. "I'm needed on the Watchtower, Red Tornado, stay with the kids." He walked to the zeta beams, going to the cave. Meg'ann linked us up.

I grumbled incoherant words in my mind, and crossed my arms. I glared over at the beams, waiting for someone to talk. Kaldur turned to face us. "Clone or no clone, Roy was one of us. We will go after him." Tornado moved behind him, fast, so my reflexes kicked in. I kicked Red in the side, causing him to stumble and shut down. "Whoops. My foot slipped." Wally gave me an annoyed look. "And you kicked him in the side? Really? What actually happened?" I pointed to Red, then Kaludr.

"Tornado looked like he was going to attack Kaldur, so I kicked him out of the way. Case closed. Besides, I'm still wondering why Batsy was lying. He never lies about a mission, or anyone. He wouldn't lie to us." Robin moved over to Tornado, checking the Bioreadings on his computer.

"He's comlpetely shut down. All functions offline." Zatanna put her hands on her head, as if she was trying to remember something. "Guys, I'm sensing a low-level mystic force at play. I don't know if it caused his shutdown, but now that I think of it, I was getting the same buzz off Batman!"

"That's bullcheese. No wonder why he was lying. Bullcheese, bullcheese, bullcheese. It's all cheese. Ugh!" This time, while I was yelling, I went over and punched a wall. There was a nice dent there, too. I huffed, and punched the wall one last time. I came back over to the team, rubbing my now bleeding knuckles.