Going Blue

"We have reason to feel proud of yesterday's victories, but one thing has not changed," Kaldur ominously stated as we walked through the Cave to the mission room.

"Somehow the bad guys are still getting inside intel about us."

"Yeah, but at least we know none of us are the mole."

"Fair point Wally, but that does beg the question: if none of us are, then who is?"

"The answer to that is Red Arrow," Batman revealed as we entered the room; pulling up an image of Roy.

"Roy?!"

"No way?!"

"That's impossible!"

"Batman he was Green Arrow's protege. We have all known him for years."

"Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Project Cadmus clone."

"We've learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced immediately after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick. The clone was preprogrammed with a drive to join the Justice League. Which is why he was so angry over any delays to his admission, and why he refused to join the Team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone or a traitor, and his subconscious 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 and we were prepared."

"Savage was subdued, but Red Arrow escaped. He is now a fugitive, armed and dangerous."

"If you guys hadn't rescued me from Cadmus...," Conner trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

"But then...."

"What happened to the real Roy?"

"We don't know. He isn't at Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead."

"The clone Roy," Kaldur said, his voice strong, "the Team will find him."

"Negative. Red Arrow's a member of the Justice League now. Leave him to us." He tapped his com-link, "I'm needed on the Watchtower. Tornado stay with the kids."

Something about that last statement bugged me but I couldn't put my finger on it, and I was pulled out of my musing when Kaldur spoke over the mindlink. "Clone or no clone, Red Arrow was one of us. We will go after him." I looked over Kaldur's shoulder to see Tornado approach and lift his arm, only to freeze and drop it once again.

"Tornado."

"What happened to him?"

"He's totally powered down."

"All functions offline."

"Guys, I'm sensing a low level mystic force at play. I-I don't know if it caused his shutdown but- now that I think about it, I was getting the same buzz off Batman."

"Batman? Wait a second. He called us 'kids'," I realized and looked at Robin, "he never does that."

"Look," Wally grabbed something from Tornado's hand and held it up for the rest of us to see. "One of those biotech chips we confiscated off Cheshire."

"Something is not right."

I took the chip from Wally's hand and examined it more closely. "I knew it. Guys this is a piece of Starro."

"And I'm getting the same buzz from that as I was from Tornado and Batman."

"Robin, Kid, Lantern, Zatanna, Rocket, see if you can get Tornado back online. The rest of you with me to find Ro- Red Arrow," he corrected.