N E W O R L E A N S
September 14, 16:53 CDT

If there was one thing that Reese hated more than lying to her friends and teammates about the potential mole within their team, it was dying her hair bleach-blonde. But, that was what the mission required, so she had to suck it up.

What mission, you ask? Well, as of about right now, Reese was standing in a warehouse with a similarly disguised M'gann and newly-named Conner, aka Superboy, in New Orleans.

The Terror Triplets, Tommy, Tuppence, and Tamara Terror, were set to be sent to Belle Reve, a prison specially designed to hold meta-humans. Only, instead of them being sent there, it was going to be Reese, M'gann, and Conner.

As the three sibling criminals lay dazed on the floor of the storage workhouse, Aqualad and Red Tornado stepped out of their hiding places, snapping inhibitor collars around the triplets' necks, negating their super strength.

"Hey!" Tommy Terror exclaimed as Kaldur put the collar on before he and his two sisters tried to escape, to no avail. "That don't feel right,"

"Our strength," breathed out the smallest Terror, Tamara, hence why Reese was going undercover as her. "What happened to it?"

"We just done gone toe-to-toe with Superman!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Congratulations," the disguised Conner called out as he, M'gann, and Reese stepped out of their own hiding places, escorted by Batman. "That's more quality time than he's ever given me,"

To say that Tommy and Tamara looked shocked to see two doubles of themselves would be an understatement. But, the two got even more freaked out when Miss Martian walked towards Tuppence, setting a single hand on her shoulder.

"Got your inspiration?" Conner called out, and Reese found herself smirking.

"Sister Tuppence?" she added, and M'gann spun around for a second before she turned herself into Tuppence Terror.

"I believe I do, Brother Tommy and Sister Tamara," the martian answered, as Tommy Terror started to have a sort of mental breakdown.

"Somebody tell me what's goin' on?" he exclaimed, and this time, Batman was the one who answered.

"It's simple," the Dark Knight began as he snapped inhibitor collars around the necks of 'Tommy, Tuppence, and Tamara Terror'. "They're under arrest."

B E L L E  R E V E   P A R I S H
September 16, 21:55 CDT

Within the armored truck that was bringing the three undercover heroes to Belle Reve, Reese, who was sitting on M'gann's right side, while Conner sat to her left, noticed that they were not alone on the prisoner transport.

Icicle Jr., of all people, sat across from the three on the other bench, and on the far end of the truck, Mr. Freeze sat in a subzero chamber that kept his temperature stable.

Close to the door that led into the cab of the truck, a prison guard holding a shotgun kept a watchful eye over the prisoners he was transporting.

Around each prisoner's wrists were a pair of specialized handcuffs, and when Reese shifted her hands to see if there was a way for her to get her hands free, she noticed the guard's eyes narrowed in a challenge, and she decided it'd probably be better if she didn't try.

No point in jeopardizing the mission before they were even inside.

When Reese turned back around, it was to find Icicle Jr. confronting "Tommy Terror", aka Conner, about...something.

"Dude," the white-haired teen said quietly after studying M'gann for a moment, and when Conner didn't react, repeated himself. "Dude! Your sister is sweet," Reese gagged, and she and M'gann exchanged a look as Jr. continued. "How about you put in a good word for me?"

Suddenly, before any of the 'Terror Triplets' could answer, Icicle Jr. was hit with the butt of the guard's shotgun, pushing him back into his spot on the opposite bench.

"Sit down," the guard said firmly. "We're here. Welcome to Belle Reve,"

Through of multitude of sirens and security checks, the prison transport eventually made its way inside the interior of Belle Reve, and Mr. Freeze, Icicle Jr., and the Terror Triplets were led for the transport into a courtyard, where on an upper balcony, an African-American woman stood stoically.

"I am the law of last resort," the woman began, her voice carrying through the courtyard as if she were speaking through a megaphone. She wasn't. "My name is Amanda Waller. I am not your mother, your maiden aunt, or your friend. I am your warden, and you are my prisoners. The proprietary collars you wear are custom-designed to inhibit your specific meta abilities," Waller held up a single remote. "No strength, no ice,"

Reese was suddenly immensely glad that she possessed neither of those powers. As Silverbird, her enhanced senses and sonic scream were not, in any way, affected. But, she couldn't say the same about Conner.

"In addition," Waller added. "The collars can and will be used to discipline inmates. A con who breaks the rules gets one warning,"

Waller pressed a button, and electricity suddenly arced from the inhibitor collar into Reese's body, and she felt herself begin to spasm. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood, lest she Canary Cry and give away their mission just as it was starting.

But, just as soon as the electricity had started, it stopped, and Reese found herself breathing hard, sweat dripping down the side of her face as Amanda Waller continued speaking.

"If order has not been restored," Waller added. "The next shock will render the offender unconscious. At the slightest hint of trouble, this facility goes into lockdown. Belle Reve's walls are thick enough to hold Superman. We know, we checked,"

At Waller's words about the Man of Steel, both Reese and M'gann glanced inconspicuously towards Conner, but he was already looking towards the floor.

"No one's ever escaped Belle Reve," Waller said firmly. "No one ever will," When she heard a throat clearing, Reese glanced up, noticed a bespectacled man with a goatee standing behind Waller. "Oh," the warden continued, beckoning the man forward. "This is Professor Hugo Strange. He is your maiden aunt,"

"Actually," Strange clarified, his voice having that same tone that all therapists did. "I'm the prison psychiatrist, and I promise you a sincere attempt at rehabilitation,"

"Because," Waller added, though her voice held a certain tone of contempt. "We know you types are all about sincerity,"

Reese hated Amanda Waller already. Hugo Strange seemed nice enough, but there was just something...off about him that she wasn't able to put her finger on.

But, it wasn't like Reese was able to focus much on it, because two female guards joined the five prisoners in the courtyard and led M'gann and Reese toward the women's cell block.

As they were going, M'gann set up a telepathic link.

'Conner,' she began. 'Can you hear me?'

'Y-Yeah,' the genomorph answered. 'But, I thought the collars--'

'The collar was designed for Tuppence Terror's super-strength,' Reese supplied, keeping her facial expression blank as the two guards led her and M'gann through the cell block. 'It wasn't designed for M'gann's telepathy,'

'But,' M'gann added. 'Your strength is--'

'Not at Superman's level,' Conner cut the martian off. 'I get it,'

'Conner, that wasn't what she--'

'Whatever,' Superboy cut Reese off, but before she could say anything more, the two guards stopped by a cell, and they ushered M'gann inside.

After the door had buzzed shut, the two guards, plus Reese, kept walking, and when they got to the next cell, one opened the door, and the other pushed Reese inside, the girl stumbling as she did so.

When the door shut, the first thing that Reese noticed inside the cell was the woman lying on the top bunk. Though Reese wasn't able to see her face, what she could see was a head of straight, dark red hair, and pale skin.

The woman then turned over to face Reese, and the girl figured she was maybe about Oliver's age, with odd-colored amber eyes.

"What's your name?" the woman asked, sounding remarkably...kind, and Reese stared at her for a moment, warily. This woman seemed familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen her before.

"Tamara Terror," she answered finally, putting the Southern accent into her voice that all of the Terror Triplets spoke with. "How about you?"

"My name's Clara," she began. "Clara Robinson. But, you may also know me as--"

"Candlewick," Reese breathed out, eyes widening as she suddenly remembered where she recognized Clara from. "But, you're a hero, or at least, you were. What happened?"

"Wrong place," Clara sighed. "Wrong time. Chicago is a dangerous place, you know. You try to help the wrong people, and the Justice League ends up throwing you in prison for it,"

Two years ago, there was a gang shootout in inner Chicago, that had escalated enough for Batman, Black Canary, and Green Arrow to be called in to help diffuse the situation.

Candlewick, also known as Clara Robinson, was Chicago and the surrounding area's resident vigilante/hero. A woman with the ability of pyrokinesis, she had done good work within the city for almost four years beforehand, but one mistake during that shootout, and she had been sent to prison.

Bruce, Dinah, and Oliver had never told Reese exactly what had happened, and she had never cared to investigate, not when someone with power over fire was concerned.

She was suddenly really glad about the inhibitor collars.

"But, if you're innocent," Reese continued, swallowing down a lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat after she realized who Clara was. "Then why didn't you tell the League what was going on?"

Clara only shrugged before she answered. "Those kids that were in that gang just got roped into the wrong crowd. They were barely old enough to be in high school, and I couldn't subjugate them to the kind of brutality that is America's prison system,"

"So you took the fall for them," Reese realized, and Clara nodded.

"But, the one drawback about being sent to prison was leaving behind my son," Reese tilted her head to the side, and after a moment, a sad smile appeared on Clara's face as she reached underneath her bunk's pillow and grabbed out a faded photograph, showcasing her and a boy about Reese's own age with blond hair, though his other facial features were reminiscent of his mother.

"What's his name?" Reese asked quietly, and Clara sniffled as she studied the photograph.

"Caden," she answered simply. "Caden James Robinson. His father, James Sr., died a month before Caden was born, so it was up to me to raise my son on my own. He sends me letters every day, you know? Telling me how his days at school have been, what friends he's made. After I came here, my husband's sister took Caden to live with her in Clarendon Hills. As far as I know, he's doing well,"

"You don't get to see him?" Reese asked, but Clara shook her head.

"No," she answered simply. "Warden Waller doesn't allow visitors. Professor Strange, though, he's been keeping in touch with Alia, Caden's aunt, and he conveys her messages to me regularly,"

"You don't really seem like Belle Reve material," Reese said after a moment and Clara glanced over at her, an almost conspiratorial look coming over her face.

"Neither do you, Tamara," she said, and Reese's eyes widened.

Was she really that bad of a liar that the Team's entire investigation had been compromised just because she decided to talk with her cellmate? She must have looked fairly freaked out because Clara gave her a small smile.

"You don't need to worry," the woman told her calmly. "I hold no qualms against the League for putting me in here. If I wanted to, I could've told them the entire story, I could've told them the truth, but I didn't, and as such, the only way I get to communicate with my son is through snail mail,"

Reese, though her guard was still up, relaxed the tiniest bit, wringing her hands together as she glanced up at Clara again.

"I think your son would be proud to know that you protected those boys," she said. "You were a hero, you're probably his hero. I think that's pretty admirable,"

"It may be," Clara said. "But, I never wanted Caden to have to deal with this life. This life of heroes and villains, right and wrong, black and white. As long as he doesn't inherit my powers over fire, he will be alright,"

"Inherit your powers?" Reese echoed, scrunching her eyebrows together. "Is your pyrokinesis genetic?" Great, Reese thought sarcastically. That's all I need.

But, Clara shook her head. "Truthfully?" she asked. "I'm not sure. Neither of my parents had superpowers, but my grandfather on my mother's side had it, and he passed it to me, so..." She trailed off, and Reese tilted her head to the side.

"Maybe it skips a generation?" she asked, and Clara let out a small half-sigh/half-laugh.

"Maybe," she answered softly, before shaking her head abruptly and turning back to Reese. "Well, it's getting late. Wake-Up is at five o'clock sharp, and the guards wait for no one. It's best to sleep while you can,"

"How did you survive here for two years?" Reese asked as she climbed onto the thin bottom bunk mattress, placing her head onto the flimsy pillow that lay on the end as Clara hummed above her.

"I focused on the good things," the older woman answered simply, and that was that.

➳➳➳

The next morning, all of the women of the cellblock were led into an indoor courtyard, where sunshine filtered through a skylight overhead.

Through a thick-paned glass window, Reese was able to see the men's side, and through walked Icicle Jr. and Conner, whom Reese assumed were cellmates with each other. That was an odd coincidence.

Clara walked over to the other side of the courtyard, so Reese decided this would be a prime time to meet up with M'gann, who had been stuck sharing a cell with Killer Frost.

Not that Reese didn't like Clara, but right now she wished that Candlewick possessed cryokinesis instead of pyrokinesis. Ice instead of fire.

When Reese sidled up next to M'gann, the two undercover heroes didn't say anything to each other, and instead, Reese studied where Killer Frost stood next to the window separating their courtyard from the men's.

Since their mission was discovering why two more of the ice villains that attacked during Independence Day both wanted to get sent to Belle Reve, it meant studying the ones that were already here.

But, suddenly, Professor Ojo, the villain who helped the League of Shadows release the F.O.G. on Wayne Tech, tackled Icicle Jr. to the ground.

"Hello, Junior," Ojo sneered. "I warned you what would happen next time we crossed paths,"

"Oh, oh," Junior scrambled for an excuse. "Buddy, pal, mi amigo--" Before Ojo could punch Junior's lights out, Conner knocked the criminal away from Icicle Jr.

"Get off of him!" he shouted before Conner punched Ojo straight in the helmet, knocking the criminal back several feet.

Brick and his goons stared down at the dazed Ojo for a moment before Brick looked up at Conner.

"Boy," he began roughly, cracking his knuckles. "That was not wise,"

As one of Brick's goons grabbed Junior, the others surrounded Conner in a loose circle, with Brick himself grabbing Conner under his shoulders so Ojo could get a clear shot when suddenly, Ojo froze.

"Wait," he said slowly. "I know him. He's--" Before Ojo was able to blow their cover, Conner had thrown Brick clean over his shoulder, the arms trafficker slamming into Ojo and throwing both of them to the ground.

"Not wise," Brick sneered as he sat up. "Not wise at all,"

"Don't you understand?" Ojo asked, setting a hand on Brick's shoulder to get the other man's attention. "He's--"

'He's Tommy Terror!' Suddenly, Reese heard M'gann's voice in her head, and Ojo's face seemed to turn blank for a moment before he turned back to Brick.

"He's Tommy Terror," Ojo answered wearily, and for a moment, all Reese could do was stare at M'gann in shock.

"Did you know you could do that?" she asked, but M'gann shook her head.

"No," she answered, and Reese's eyes widened even more before the two of them turned back to the fight in the other courtyard, just as a forceful voice echoed through the room.

"Enough," Icicle Sr., the father of one Icicle Jr., stood up from where he, along with Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold, was sitting on a group of bleachers against the wall. "Kid's got guts. The kind of guts a father wouldn't mind seeing in his own son,"

Junior stumbled back to stand next to Conner, rotating his shoulder with a grimace of pain on his face. "Great to see you too, Dad," he muttered, but Senior only stared at his son with contempt lacing his voice.

"Get over here," he snapped, but when Conner went to follow, Brick swung an arm out, hitting Superboy in the chest and stopping him in his tracks. "Not you, Terror," Senior said. "Just Junior,"

Then, considering Reese couldn't very well see the two Icicles without turning her head almost 180° on her neck, she had to rely on her other abilities.

Super-hearing had its advantages.

"Alright Icicle," Mr. Freeze spoke first. "We're all here. Now what?"

"Now we put the final pieces in place," Senior answered simply before he dropped the metaphorical bombshell. "To bust every single con out of Belle Reve,"

This was bad, Reese realized. This was really, really bad.

➳➳➳

Later that day, closer to sunset when everyone was inside their cells, Reese heard the sound of squeaky wheels get closer before the small vent in the cell door slid open, two new orange jumpsuits falling through.

Slowly, she stood up from her bunk and picked both jumpsuits, and turned around without a word to hold one out to Clara, who only shook her head.

"If Icicle Senior is doing what I think he's doing," the former Candlewick began. "I won't need that. My natural body temperature, because of my abilities, is a toasty one-fifteen. The collar may inhibit my power over fire, but it doesn't take away my body temperature,"

"Is that why it's always been so warm in here?" Reese asked, and Clara nodded. She had noticed it when she first arrived the day before but hadn't commented on it.

"What about you?" Clara asked suddenly as Reese slipped out of her old jumpsuit and into her new one. "You seemed...relieved when we met and you realized I didn't have my powers. I don't mean to pry, and if whatever mission you're on prohibits you from telling me, that's okay, but I would like you to be honest with me,"

If she did this and told Clara part of her backstory, and it turned out that Candlewick wasn't really on her side, then Silverbird would've given out Rhysalin Queen's backstory to a villain.

And then, if she dug deep enough, Clara would be able to find out the identities of Green Arrow, Red Arrow, Black Canary, and to an extent, Batman and Robin.

She couldn't risk it.

"I'm sorry," Reese said finally. "...I can't,"

Instead of getting angry with her, Clara only gave Reese a smile, before patting the spot on the mattress next to her. Warily, Reese hopped up next to her, and Clara stared at the wall for a moment before she spoke.

"When I first discovered my powers, I was seven years old," she began. "My grandfather had taken my parents and me camping out in Montana for the week, way up in the Rocky Mountains, near Beartooth Pass. One night, we lit a campfire, when I noticed that, whenever I walked away for a minute to get something or another from the tent, the fire would flicker, and almost die. At this point, I knew about my grandfather's powers, we all did, so he would be able to relight it, but it wasn't until he had gone to get something from his car, and then I left to get more marshmallow skewers, that the fire died out completely,"

"You were the one doing it," Reese realized, and Clara nodded.

"At first, I was terrified, I thought I was going to spontaneously combust or something, but my grandfather--" A soft smile curled Clara's lip, and Reese had a feeling that the two of them had been close. "He knew what was going on, and he taught me to control the flames, to control the way people saw the heat mirages I gave off, and make sure I didn't accidentally burn somebody,"

Everything else seemed pretty cut and dry, but there was still one thing that, to Reese, seemed a bit confusing.

"What are...heat mirages?" she asked, and Clara glanced over at the younger girl. Of course, Reese knew what a mirage was, but she wondered how Candlewick's powers factored into the whole thing.

"Essentially," Clara began. "They're illusions. If I could, I would demonstrate for you, but the collar kind of inhibits that,"

"Isn't that the point?" Reese asked, and Clara let out a small laugh, and despite it, Reese found herself smiling as well. Suddenly, she heard Conner's voice inside her head, through the mental link that M'gann had established between the three of them.

'The break is coming,' Conner began. 'Sooner than later,'

'Updating Aqualad now,' M'gann answered. Kaldur was their handler for this undercover mission, and he and Red Tornado were currently outside the limits of Belle Reve in the Bioship.

'Time to pull you out,' Aqualad said firmly. 'Callin the League--' before he could continue, Reese cut him off.

'Bad idea,' she told the Atlantean simply. 'Icicle would most likely only postpone the breakout until later,'

'Reese is right,' M'gann added. 'What we need is to learn how they're busting out, or they'll just try again,' Though he sighed, and sounded increasingly reluctant, Aqualad agreed, and the mind-link with their Atlantean friend was severed.

After she was back inside her own head, Reese turned to Clara, who gave a strangely understanding look.

"Anything I should be worrying about?" the older woman asked, but Reese only shook her head.

"Nope," she answered simply, before twisting her wrist.

Out of Reese's sleeve appeared the golden arrowhead from Kent Nelson, which she had managed to smuggle into Belle Reve without the guards or Amanda Waller noticing.

As Reese ran her fingers along the arrowhead's smooth surface, she began to think a few things over. It wasn't like Dick didn't know that she was undercover with M'gann and Conner, but not being able to talk to the Boy Wonder every day, not being able to see him, that was what wore down on Reese the most.

Inside the arrowhead was Dick's last note, which he had sent just before Silverbird, Miss Martian, and Superboy were "arrested" in New Orleans.

Fii în siguranță, pasăre drăguță, it said. In Romanian, the words almost directly translated to Be safe, pretty bird.

Thinking of the way that Reese kept lying to Dick by keeping from him the intel about the potential mole made a sickly feeling arise in her throat.

They told each other everything. Reese had never truly lied to him before, and she hated doing it now. She could only hope that, when Robin finally found out about the mole, that he didn't completely hate her.

➳➳➳

In the afternoon was the Terror Triplets' first therapy session with Professor Strange. The professor's office was painted a muted beige and had a small waterfall with a bonsai tree on a nearby table.

There was still something off about the man, but Reese couldn't for the life of her pinpoint what it was, and it was annoying.

So, as of right now, Reese, in her Tamara Terror disguise, found herself sitting between a distracted M'gann and a brooding Conner when suddenly, Strange himself spoke.

"Here's my concern," the man began from where he was sitting across from the three of them in another armchair. "Your anti-social tendencies are a roadblock to rehabilitation and are often the result of a conflict with a mother figure. Hmm?"

Glancing to her side, Reese saw the look on M'gann's voice and knew exactly what she was going to say before she said it. This...was not going to end well.

"It's...really more of a father figure thing," the martian began, the southern twang in her voice prominent, and Reese put her head in her hands, pressing her palms against her eyelids.

"Interesting, Tuppence," Strange said after a moment. "Expand on that,"

"Or don't," Conner snapped, channeling Tommy Terror as Reese slid down in her chair, wishing this whole thing was over already.

"Healing requires open dialogue, Tommy," Strange told the boy simply, before turning his attention back to M'gann. "Go on, my dear,"

"Well," M'gann began slowly. "He won't admit it, but Tommy really wants to be like his--our father. Be able to fill Pa's shoes, you know? But, Pa's distant at best. Refuses to give Tommy the time of day. It makes...Tommy feel unworthy of--"

Suddenly, Conner got up from his chair, and Reese was suddenly wishing she were anywhere else at the moment.

"Well," he began sharply. "Maybe Tommy refuses to live in Tuppence's stupid fantasy world where every problem's solved in half an hour!"

Reese had no idea what they were talking about, but it was giving her a headache, and as she rubbed a crease between her eyebrows, Strange spoke up again.

"Excellent," the professor said, causing Reese to look at him through her fingers, one eyebrow raised. What? "I think we made a real breakthrough today,"

If 'Tommy Terror' losing his temper was what Hugo Strange counted as a breakthrough, then sure, they'd made progress.

➳➳➳

That night was when everything went a bit wonky. Superboy had sent the message, saying the "Great Escape" was about to go down, and Reese and Clara were sitting in their cell when suddenly, the small orange lights that were on the front of Clara's inhibitor collar suddenly shut off, and twin licks of orange and red flames slithered up both of the woman's arms, vaporizing her inhibitor collar within the span of five seconds.

At the sight of the fire, Reese skittered back a few steps, but Clara quickly extinguished the flames, holding her hand out in a gesture of what Reese figured was supposed to be comforting.

"It's alright!" she said quickly once the flames were gone from her skin. "They're gone. I'm not going to hurt you,"

Quickly, before her adrenaline made her senses overwhelming, Reese tried to control her breathing, lest she gives herself an anxiety attack, which had happened on more than one occasion.

Then, once her breathing was under control, Reese reached up and took off her inhibitor collar, letting the device clatter to the floor. It wasn't like it had been affecting her before, but it felt good to finally have that clunky piece of junk off her neck.

"We have to find my uh...sister," Reese got a weird taste in her mouth when she said that, considering her only real biological sister was dead, but frankly, she could worry about that later.

Reese and Clara found M'gann with Killer Frost, Devastation, and Shimmer, cornering a female guard who had fallen to the floor.

"Please!" the woman exclaimed, holding her hands up in front of her. "I have a family,"

"Oh, beg some more," Frost sneered, morphing a spiked ball around her hand and lifting it above her head. "It's much sweeter that way,"

"No!" M'gann shouted, before using her telekinesis to destroy Frost's weapon and causing the blue-skinned woman to spin around in shock.

"Well," she began. "Tuppy, aren't you just filled with hidden talents?" Reese's eyes widened as she realized that, this time, their cover really had been blown.

Before M'gann was able to alert Superboy, Killer Frost had already frozen her within a block of ice. Then, Frost's attention turned to Reese and Clara, who were both staring at the frozen martian, eyes wide.

"What about you, little Tammy?" Frost sneered, and Reese shifted her feet back, getting into a ready stance. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd be able to do, but it was worth a shot. "Are you like your sister? Do you have any hidden talents?"

"Just one," Reese smirked, mentally hoping that Conner got here quickly before she turned and muttered three words to Clara. "Cover your ears,"

The woman who used to be Candlewick looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened, and the second Clara's ears were covered by her hands, Reese turned to where Frost was standing with Shimmer and screamed.

The Canary Cry consisted of layers upon layers of hypersonic sound waves, all placed over one another at intervals that made it practically impossible to dodge.

They left Reese's voicebox at a frequency that was almost too high for the human ear to process but it was forceful, more forceful than anything Dinah had ever accomplished, and was so forceful that it blew Killer Frost and Shimmer back far enough that they both flew through the wall of the women's cell block laundry room, just as Conner bust through the wall himself from the other side.

For a moment, Superboy glanced around, a bit confused at why Killer Frost and Devastation had suddenly flown through the wall, when he noticed M'gann frozen in the block of ice, and his face dropped like it had when Superman had refused to acknowledge his existence after Project Cadmus.

"Dude!" Junior cried out as he ran through the hole Devastation and Frost had made. "Anyone care to explain what just happened?"

Neither Conner nor Reese answered, with the former walking over to the ice block that M'gann was frozen in, and that, it seemed, was enough of an answer for Icicle Jr.

"Aw, Dudes," he muttered. "I'm sorry," Conner gently wiped some condensation away from where it had begun to fog up the ice as Junior continued his lament. "And she was such the total babe!"

At that, Reese paused, glancing over at Conner to see how he reacted, but he was too distracted staring at the frozen M'gann to give her much of a response. But, what did catch Reese's attention was when Conner drew his fist back as if he were going to punch the ice M'gann was trapped in, and that prompted Reese to quickly grab Conner's fist.

"No!" she exclaimed, but didn't back down, even when Conner turned to glare at her. "You could shatter her,"

"I might be able to help," a soft voice said after a moment, and all three of them turned to look at Clara, who was the one who had spoken. "My powers could allow me to heat the ice enough to melt it, without hurting your friend,"

Conner and Reese exchanged a glance before Superboy turned back to Candlewick.

"Do it," he said simply, and Clara gave a nod before she walked forward and took a deep breath, setting her hands on the ice, where they began to glow a subtle red-orange, getting brighter with every passing second.

The temperature in the room began to rise too, and from the corner of her eye, Reese thought it looked like maybe Junior was the one who was melting.

Finally, the ice that had been surrounded M'gann dissolved into a large puddle, dropping Reese's Martian friend to the floor, though Conner caught her before she was able to hit the ground.

When Reese saw Conner finally kiss M'gann, internally, she squealed. She may have squealed out loud too, and it may have been a bit louder than humanly possible, considering the look that Clara sent her.

Reese also found it funny that, as M'gann's Tuppence Terror disguise melted into her regular outfit, green skin and all, Icicle Junior realized that he had been truly and royally duped.

It felt very satisfying when Reese was finally able to set a right hook to Junior's jaw, knocking the older teen unconscious in one fell swoop.

"You're Silverbird," It wasn't a question, and Clara's voice held a certain tone of finality.

"I'm--" Reese went to apologize, but Clara only held up a hand.

"There's no need to apologize," she said simply. "I told you I held no qualms against the Justice League, and that includes their proteges. You did a brave thing coming here. I'm sure Green Arrow would be proud,"

In order to keep Clara from seeing how embarrassed she'd gotten from the compliment, Reese did what she did best...changed the subject.

"You can leave, you know?" she asked. "You can get out, get back to Chicago, see your son. I can vouch for you!" At the point, Reese was rambling but was stopped again when Clara held up her hand.

"It's alright," she answered. "I intend to serve my remaining two years within the law. Once I get released, I will reunite with Cooper and Alia, and hopefully, things can return to a sense of normalcy,"

"Are you sure?" Reese asked, and Clara nodded.

"I'm sure," she answered. "Now, go,"

Though the twelve-year-old archer was more than a little morose at having to leave Clara behind in Belle Reve, she was inclined to think that the pyrokinetic had a point.

Maybe now, things would get back to normal.

-----

A/N (October 2022): For any re-readers, I decided to change the name of Clara's son from Cooper to Caden. They are still the same character, just a different name because I decided I liked Caden better.

Did I write this all in one day? Yes, and I feel immensely proud of myself.

Okay, but like, Clara's now my new favorite character. I love her. Beartooth Pass is an actual place, and they have a spot where you can feed wild chipmunks, and whenever I go, it always makes me think of the first Alvin & the Chipmunks movie.

And really, Clara was originally only going to be this super minor character to provide a sorta backstory for Cooper, who will be one of the new OCs in INVASION, but I love Candlewick so much that I may bring her in just because!

---

Clara Robinson as Candlewick

Yes, I am aware that's Black Widow from Avengers Assemble, but she's how I imagined Clara to look like. Sue me.

Next Up: Homefront