"Little, Red! Time to train!"

"Ooh, we get to watch both Lanterns in action?" Wally smirked, nudging my side.

"Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting." Canary said, standing beside Hal, her arm wrapped in a bandage. "Your job is to observe Zaria and Green Lantern and point out both of their flaws."

"I have none. I'm at the top of my game!" Hal exclaimed as I stepped onto the mat.

"Same rules apply?" I asked, cracking my knuckles.

"Nah, go crazy today. But-"

I interrupted Hal by constructing a mallet and hit him across the face with it, causing him to fall onto the mat.

Green Lantern, Status: Fail.

"Keep it under control. Got it." I smirked as the both of us removed our masks and he stood up. "Anything else?"

"I try that with the Bat and I'll be running laps around Gotham for a week!" I heard Robin say just as Hal constructed chains and they wrapped around me.

"Willpower overcomes rage, Red." Hal smirked as the chains kept getting tighter and I panicked. My eyes started glowing brighter and I glanced down to see the veins in my hand turn bright red. "Control it, Zar. Let go of your fear."

I bared my teeth and yanked the chains back, sending Hal to the other corner of the room. Using the Ring to break the chains, I flew up to Hal and threw him onto the ceiling and then blasted him to a wall.

"Control it!" He repeated, constructing a shield around him and I started punching it. "You're not your anger, Zar!"

"You don't understand my anger!" I yelled.

"Okay, training's over." Hal decided and blasted the shield back and threw me onto the training mat, using his Ring to construct a shield around it and chains to hold my arms down and keep my hand open so I wouldn't use my Ring. "Zar, you're starting to shift. Control it."

"On the blackest night, you all will-"

"All meet our destruction... that is our fate. I know!" He sighed and stepped forward. "It's the Ring talking, Zar. Come back home, it's okay... you're safe."

Slowly, the veins in my arms and my eyes turned back to back to normal and I fell to my knees holding my head.

"Hal?"

"Good job, kid... you're okay." He smiled and lowered the shield. Wally and Robin immediately rushed to my side to help me stand.

"What happened!?" Robin exclaimed once Hal released the chains.

"She still has these episodes where the Ring takes over for a moment. When that happens, find a way to ground her... but if she starts vomiting her blood or growing horns, it's game over and you summon me or the other Green Lanterns on Earth ASAP."

"What happens if she-"

"It turns to rage plasma, allowing the Ring to take full control of her body permanently. There's no way around it, unless we summon a Blue Lantern to reverse the effects of the Red Ring, but we haven't seen a Blue Lantern in decades."

"But it's happened once?" Superboy asked.

"Once and I barely managed to contain it... I do that again, and I might risk killing her."

"How did you-"

"Forced all the blood back into her body with pure willpower and rage. It wasn't a good bonding exercise for both of us." Hal sighed, wiping the sweat off my forehead.

"How often does she have these episodes?" M'gann asked.

"Hasn't had one since she left Oa and came to Earth two years ago. When she has hints of an episode, I take her away from Earth's orbit so she blows off some steam, but the moment she starts shifting I can't risk stopping it again."

"Shifting?"

"Red Lanterns are cursed to take the shape of their rage when the Ring takes over. It varies from person to person." I sighed, rubbing my temples. "I've only shifted once in Ysmault when Atrocitus tried to recruit me and almost killed Hal. It took a while for me to shift back to normal and I haven't shifted since."

"So you shift into a demon?" Wally widened his eyes and I shrugged.

"In a way, yes. It's more complicated than that, though."

"Batman to the Cave." the Dark Knight calls, and we all rushed to the computer. "A new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents."

On a smaller screen the image of the attacker becomes a video feed, where Superman goes for a massive punch, only for it to get caught and the attacker to then use the Kryptonian to take out Red Tornado, and Flash, before throwing the alien. Then turning to use its newly acquired laser eyes to take out two Batarangs.

"Arrow called in reinforcements," Batman continues as the video pauses. "which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant. In the end, it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."

"An android?" Robin questions. "Who built it, T.O. Morrow?"

"Good guess, Robin. But Red Tornado doesn't think so."

"If I had a fragment of the droid, the Ring could scan it to determine who built it." I shrugged and Batman bared his teeth slightly. "The Ring knows what the Guardians know, and the Guardians know everything about everything."

"The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo." Martian Manhunter tells them.

"Ivo?" Aqualad questions, shocked. "But Ivo's dead."

"So we all thought or hoped." Canary sighed.

"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized" another small screen pops up on the opposite side of where the footage from the fight was. "we're sending two trucks carrying the Android's parts to two separate STAR Labs facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains... You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

"Yes!" Kid Flash says excitedly. "Road trip."

"So now we take out your trash?" Superboy questions angrily.

"You had something better to do?" Batman counters, Superboy looks away just as Aqualad's transmitter goes off.

"Coordinates received. On our way." Aqualad confirms, everyone but Superboy and I running off.

"Oh, your first mission by yourself. I'm so proud." Hal wiped a fake tear and I punched his shoulder lightly. "You have it under control now?"

"Yeah... I don't know what set it off, though."

"Must've be the chains. Remember your first day in Oa?"

"How could I forget? I still have the scar." I rolled my eyes and gestured to the scars on my wrists and neck from when I was chained down for being a Red Lantern. "I'll be okay, though. It should be easy enough."

"Don't underestimate Ivo, Zar. He's not a guy you'd want to mess with." He said and I rolled my eyes. "And don't get cocky. That's the thing that almost got me killed several times."

"And yet, you still do it."

"Touché."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"STAR Boston is a go."

"STAR Manhattan is a go."

The trucks pull out in two opposite directions. Robin, Superboy and I following the ones going right, while Kid Flash, Aqualad, and M'gann follow the three going left.

"If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, if things are going wrong, they go right." Robin asked the moment we hit the road and I rolled my eyes while Superboy stayed quiet. "Uh, clearly you're both not feeling the aster. What's wrong?"

"Canary." Superboy replies instantly. "And what business does she have wanting to teach combat skills to a guy with Super-Strength and a Red Lantern?"

"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig." Robin states simply. "Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman and, well, me."

Though instead of snapping back or anything, Superboy revs his cycle and gets a lot closer to the back of the truck and a good five or six car lengths in front of Robin and I.

"And what about you? That was some scary stuff today in training."

"Green says my anger is justified and I have every right to lash out. But every time I do, someone ends up hurt." I sighed, slowing down my cycle and Robin did the same. "I've been trying so hard to not let it take over... to prove to Batman that I'm actually worthy of being in this Team and-"

"Wanna know a secret?" He interrupted and I raised my eyebrows. "I became Robin at nine years old to kill the man who murdered my parents. I didn't hold back because of Batman, I... I held back because it's not what my parents would've wanted from me."

"The golden boy wanted to kill someone? That's a new one."

"Yeah, and I also sent someone into a coma, but that's another story." He laughed and turned to me for a few moments. "Your anger is justified, Zar. You witnessed your people be killed when you were eight... I may have lost my parents at that age, but I can't imagine being dragged into a war."

"Sometimes I wished another Ring would've chosen me. You have no idea what I'd give to be a Green Lantern like Hal and John or a Star Sapphire like Carol... just any other color that isn't Red."

"Hey, red isn't that bad! It's my favorite color!"

"Until the Ring chooses you and you're cursed for the rest of your life."

"There has to be a loophole, Zar."

"You're funny, Robin. There's no loophole... Hal already tried to find one when he forced the blood back into my body." I sighed, speeding up the cycle again.

"That's because he wasn't raised by the world's best detective!" Robin grinned and I rolled my eyes.

"The Ring knows what the Guardians know and they know everything."

"Like I said, he's not a detective."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"Kind of figured."

"I hate monkeys." Superboy says angrily, his eyes zeroing.

The monkeys are not only attacking the portion of the truck with the robot, but also the driver's cabin. The truck swerves a little but remains to fair a straight enough drive.

"Robot monkeys." Robin says, his excitement showing before he laughs and gets serious. "Totally Ivo's tweaked style." then hitting the small screen on his cycle to show his R. As it does, the motorcycle's back wheel disengages, turning into a flying drone. Seeing that Superboy is leaning even further forward on his bike, Robin realizes what he plans to do. "Hey, hey. Switch your ride to Battle Mode."

"No point." Superboy says, before jumping off his and onto the truck.

"Ten bucks says he gets hurt or loses it." I smirked and shook Robin's hand.

"He really does whatever he wants, huh?"

"He'd be a terrible Red Lantern... right up there with the boss." I shrugged, jumping off my cycle and flew up to the truck, using the Ring to knock out some of the robot monkeys. "Need some help?"

"Go away!" Superboy yelled, throwing his helmet at the monkeys while I took off mine and threw it at Robin.

"Oh, you're not whelmed at all!"

"You're finally getting it!" Robin cheered before joining Superboy on the top of the truck. "Get the driver out!"

I nodded and used the Ring to pry the driver off the truck and onto the cornfield next to us. Creating a shield around the crate, I shielded Robin and Superboy from the crash.

Once the truck has stopped, now upside down the back gate blows out a group of five monkeys flying off with the android parts. Leaving a guard to stumble out of the smoking truck coughing.

Robin supports the driver as they come back to the side of the road. Setting him down as he watches the monkeys fly off.

Seeing where the monkeys are flying, Superboy jumps with a grunt to catch up to them.

"Superboy!" Robin calls in a vain attempt to get him to stop.

"Aqualad to Robin. We've lost our cargo. Did you-"

Robin cuts him off with a sigh. "It's gone." he confirms. "And so's one of my partners."

"What now?" I asked, scanning the monkey robots.

"No clue... This is a disaster. Very heavy on the dis."

"Y'know, sometimes I don't understand you when you talk."

"You haven't been on Earth long enough."

"Apparently not."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"Red, you getting anything?"

"I lost sight of Superboy after he left Crime Alley... which only you people would willingly have a place called like that."

"Hey, didn't we meet in Crime Alley?" Robin asked and I shrugged.

"You two met before the Royal Flush night?" Wally asked and we nodded.

"It was my first day on Earth. Green took me to Gotham to fight the crazies to adjust to fighting humans... and I saved Batman's life."

"And bruised his ego."

"Which I think is the main reason he hates me." I laughed, flying next to Robin's cycle. "Where we going?"

"They're at my school!" Robin widened his eyes and I let out a small sigh, constructing a few ramps along the way. "What the-"

"Giving you both some speed because I don't think you'll want to be carried like two toddlers by a girl."

"Good point..."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"I hate droids."

"Hate them enough to tear it to shreds?" Robin teased and I nodded. "Good, because we need that right now."

"Access: Green Lantern." The droid announced and I widened my eyes, immediately flying up to shield Superboy.

"I don't need your help!" He protested.

"I'm the only one here who knows Green's full powers, so you need me." I defended and blasted the droid back.

"Access: Superman." Before the droid could la d a hit, Wally grabbed both of us and sped to the other side of the gym while Robin launched a disk. "Martian Manhunter."

"Anything you can do to bring it down?" Wally asked.

"I'm thinking." I grumbled, using my Ring to scan the droid. "This thing works best with living creatures because that's all you'll find in space. Not droids built by men pretending to be gods!"

"Okay, calm down before you turn into a demon."

"Access: Red Tornado." a red tornado forms under its feet, moving towards us.

As we're hit, Wally and I are thrown back into the nearby wall, while Robin and Superboy rush in the opposite direction. Robin and Kid Flash give out a cry of surprise as they're snatched by the wind currents.

Superboy hits the bleachers, while Robin hits the outside edge of the court then skids to the be in front of the bottom bleacher.

"Access: Captain Atom." The droid announced and I constructed a shield just in time. "Access: Black Canary."

Wally and I parted ways as the scream reached us. I flew up to the droid and ripped out one of his arms, throwing it to the other side of the gym.

"Access: Green Lantern." He dictated, constructing a hand and slapped me, causing me to fall onto the bleachers next to Ivo.

"Oh, yawn." Ivo drawls, feeling the need to enunciate that, then continue still sounding bored. "Normally Amazo would study and mimic your abilities during battle, but what's the point? You're all such poor copies of the originals."

"So everyone keeps saying." Superboy states, his anger coming back onto his face and flowing through his words. "It makes me angry!"

"Makes me angry too." I grinned, pointing the Ring at Ivo as it glowed brighter. "Wanna see me channel that anger? You dare me to?"

"Amazo, protect your master. Priority Alpha." Ivo commands, diving further down the bleachers to avoid me.

"Anyone want to play keep-away?" Robin questions, before kicking Ivo in the back and sending him pitching forward since his feet weren't on the ground.

"Oh, oh, me, me!" Kid Flash yells, running on the other side of Amazo and catching its attention.

"Access: Superman." the android says just as Kid Flash gets in front of him. Lifting his left foot and stomping it to catch underneath Kid Flash's last step towards Ivo. Sending the speedster up and high into the bleachers, upside down.

"Follow my lead." I said to Robin and he nodded, pulling out a few disks.

Flying up to the droid, he summoned Martian Manhunter and Robin took the opportunity to throw the disks.

"Superman." the android dictates. Though he turns tangible just as my hand goes through his head. His face begins to spark and zap blue electricity before exploding and knocking me back, causing Robin to break my fall.

"Do all your plans involve risking your life?" He groaned as I got off him and helped him stand.

"You didn't seem to mind last year when I saved you from that Joker threat you got us into." I shrugged.

"We weren't friends back then."

"I know... what changed?"

"Cadmus." He admitted and I smiled. "Help me disassemble the droid?"

"Fine, but you owe me."

"Next mission, I'll risk my life and sanity. Don't worry."

"Funny."

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

"The Amazo android is in again safely being analyzed at the two separate STAR Labs but Ivo escaped, and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the Android."

"Capturing the professor will be a League priority." Canary informs.

"But we understand that your mission encountered other complications." Martian Manhunter states, crossing his arms. Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash glare at Superboy, who has the decency to look away.

"It's not his fault he's angry." I defended and glared at Batman but Hal stood in the way.

"Stand down." He mouthed.

"Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League." Batman stepped up.

"The whole League?" Superboy asks, knowing the answer.

"Given time, yes." Batman assures instantly. "Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads... Of course, there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists. Because there's some problems even we can't handle individually."

Please." Robin draws. "If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask." Kid Flash closes his eyes, knowing exactly what he means. Robin pulls out the arrow. "Look familiar?" he lets Batman take it from him. "You were following us." he accuses "Babysitting! You still don't trust us!"

"We didn't follow you." Batman states, passing the arrow to Green Arrow.

Green Arrow pulls an arrow out of his own quiver, holding them side by side. The tip and shaft are noticeably different than the one Robin handed over.

"That's Speedy's arrow!" I realized and turned to Robin with a smile. "It's Speedy!"

"He has our backs." Kaldur agrees.

"Souvenir!" Wally grinned and took the arrow.

"I meant what I said... about finding a loophole." Robin whispered and I nudged his side.

"Maybe another trip to Ysmault will give me the answers I need, Robin."

"We'll all go with."

"You'll die five minutes in."

"We'll take our chances."

"Hey, Red. Wanna blow off some steam?" Hal called out and I nodded frantically. "John's making a full blown obstacle course on the beach for you as we speak."

"Ooh, can we watch!?" Wally asked jumping around and he nodded. "Nice!"

"Don't turn into a demon. I don't think Batman likes you very much." Robin warned and I scoffed.

"He's hated me from the moment we met. I'm unfazed at this point."