Tempest: Chapter Fourteen: Differences of Opinion

Amara's next assignment for class was a massive project that counted for fifty percent of her grade in Science and it involved focusing on a specific field in the broad spectrum of science and Amara, being what she was, an artificially conceived child carried to term in an artificial womb, had chosen genetics. The project itself was complete, but it had given Amara an idea about testing blood for DNA markers that could possibly show if a person had the potential to develop into a meta-human and attain powers outside the norm.

It was safe to say that Amara was getting a little obsessed with genetics and it was all her project's fault.

Roy didn't mind teaming up with Aquaman or Aqualad, Aqualad was pretty fun to be around and he hadn't met many sidekicks closer to his age (Amy, Robin, and Wally didn't count).

He was currently perched on the building opposite of his mentor.

"All I'm saying is that it's been four months," he said into his comm, "and she hasn't even tried to use her legs! It's like she doesn't want to use them!"

"Speedy," Green Arrow was caught somewhere between exasperated and startled at the assumption, "of course she wants to use her legs! You've seen her, you've seen how much she misses being out in the field!"

"I do not follow," came Aqualad's confused voice over the comm and Roy very nearly swore, forgetting that their set of comms were connected to Aquaman and Aqualad's.

"I believe that Speedy is upset with his partner Storm Chaser," Aquaman commented. "She was the one severely wounded four months ago, yes?"

Roy gritted his teeth together. "Yes, that was her."

"I am sorry—"

"Its fine," Roy cut across Aqualad brusquely.

"There's no activity over here from what I can see," Oliver mused, raising a hand to his ear, "Oracle, are you reading me?"

Aqualad was stunned by the young voice that responded, echoing in his ear, "Here, GA, where d'you need me?"

"Would I be correct in assuming you have eyes on us?"

"I have eyes and ears everywhere," came the ominous response and Roy couldn't help but wince.

"On a scale of one to ten, how pissed are you?" he asked.

"Fifteen," Amara responded shortly, followed by the sound of aggressive typing –she only typed that hard on the keyboard when she was annoyed– "it looks like your perp is on the fifth floor making a run for the roof."

And even before she had finished speaking, Green Arrow and Speedy had fired off on arrow that created a zip-line for Aquaman and Aqualad to zip across with their companions following suit, and Oracle had forcibly broken the connection.

Roy grimaced.

"Recognize: Green Arrow –08, Speedy –A04, Aquaman –06, Aqualad –A05."

The light from the zeta-tube faded as the four came out into the monitor womb of Mount Justice with a small vial of blood for Amara to analyze with the equipment in the MedLab. Ordinarily, it would have been done at Justice League HQ, but the speed was about the same at either location and there was at least a chance of there not being any backup at the Cave.

Aqualad had never been to Mount Justice and he couldn't help but look around in interest, though it seemed like some of it was still under construction.

"Black Canary is going to hold this over you, you know," a young voice commented over the intercom, "the record currently stands with Green Arrow escapes 1-0."

Green Arrow laughed as the figure wheeled into view on a wheelchair and for a moment Aqualad was baffled; this was the 'Oracle' who had assisted them.

She was so…young.

She had grey hair in wild curls and her green eyes were sharp as her head tilted back to look at them all, scrutinizing him and his liege for a moment before smiling.

"Hello," she said, "I'm Oracle."

Aquaman, King Orin, gave her a polite bow. "A pleasure to meet you, Oracle, I am Aquaman, and this is my protégé, Aqualad."

He gestured to the young Atlantian beside him and Aqualad gave his own bow.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Oracle," he said, his voice ringing with respect.

"Um, thanks," Oracle said, scratching her cheek awkwardly for a few moments, "I think you've got some blood for me to test?"

She studiously ignored Speedy, steering her wheelchair towards Green Arrow who pulled out a vial to hand it over to her. "I'm not sure if it will be enough for you to do a DNA analysis."

Oracle lifted it in the air, examining it in the lighting, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I've worked with less, it should be fine…but it'll still take an hour to analyze."

She stuffed the capped vial between her legs, moving far swifter than Aqualad would have thought possible in her current condition, pulling a condensed bo-staff from under the wheelchair, extending it with a flick of her wrist and rapping it painfully against the side of Speedy's skull.

"Hey! Ow!" he complained.

"Next time, you can take the neurological toxin that limits your ability to function below the waist, Speedy," Oracle growled before returning her bo-staff to its position on the underside of her seat, turning away and wheeling in the direction of the MedLab, it could only be assumed.

"Unbelievable," she hissed under her breath as she vanished into the hallway.

"She's dealing with a few things right now," Green Arrow told Aquaman as his protégé massaged the side of his head with a scowl on his lips, though, he was the one that had said it over the open comm, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that she'd been listening.

Roy gave a small sigh.

Amara pressed a button on the wall and it parted to reveal a mannequin garbed in the Storm Chaser uniform. A black mask with goggles over the eyes, black combat boots into which dark pants had been tucked, accompanied by a dark shirt with a stripe of grey from her throat to her waist where a grey utility belt rested.

Since she wasn't needed back in the field, there had been no need to send it in for repairs and Amara could see all the places where Merlyn's arrows had ripped into her.

She sighed.

"You were once the sidekick known as Storm Chaser," a voice commented in realization behind her and Amara swiveled the wheelchair to regard Aqualad.

"Yes," she said finally, "I was Storm Chaser, sidekick to Black Canary…before Merlyn nearly killed me and injected me with a neurological toxin designed to make its way slowly out of my system."

"That is why you must use a wheelchair to move around, yes?" Aqualad asked, his tone caught between curious and kind.

"For now," Amara agreed, looking down at her wheelchair. After the incident with Cheshire, Oliver had given her a new wheelchair that didn't have as stiff of a back as her last one, and this one could drop the back so that Amara could still train with her bo-staff in the chair. "Speedy…he's used to me having his back, and I think it bothers him that I'm not actively attempting to walk on my own."

She huffed in annoyance, looking at the costume one last time before pressing the button that hid it behind the wall once more.

"I am sorry your relationship has suffered," Aqualad said in that strangely formal manner.

"Well, it's not the only one," Amara said with a sigh, pressing a hand to her forehead. "But one day I'll have full function in my legs and things can go back to normal."

A sad light came to her eyes. But who knew just how long that would take? It was likely that she had another eight months before she'd be able to walk again, to run again…to do everything she'd been able to do before the accident.

"So you're from Atlantis, hm?" Amara queried, tilting her head back to look at him intently.

Aqualad had darker skin than his mentor with a shaved head and pale eyes, and Amara could see hints of the gills on either side of his neck as well as webbing between his fingers. At first glance he could pass as a normal person, a normal human, it was only after the second glance that one would have realized he was better suited underwater.

"I am," Aqualad said, drawing himself up proudly, giving Amara ample opportunity to trail her eyes over the black eel-like tattoos that curled down his arms.

"Do you have similar skills to Aquaman or different?" Amara asked him curiously; she had never seen Aqualad in battle.

"There are some similarities, I will agree," Aqualad said, "but I was trained in the mystical arts by Queen Mera, I can manipulate water and generate electricity, among other things…what is your skill-set?"

"When I was Storm Chaser I was famous for throwing around bolts of lightning," Amara said with a shrug, "but I'm atmo-kinetic and Black Canary thinks I only know about a fraction of what I'm capable of…but as Oracle I am just the hacker extraordinaire."

An eyebrow rose as Aqualad looked on her in amusement. "I do not think Green Arrow would have brought the blood here if he thought you were only that."

Amara gave a small chuckle. "He knows I have an interest in genetics; I've already collected a blood sample from him, Speedy, and Black Canary."

"What for?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

"I'm looking for any indication of the differences between ordinary heroes –you know, the ones without any powers– and meta-humans, looking for any link between those who can use powers and how their DNA is different from those without powers," Amara said with an excitement that made her eyes positively light up, a stark contrast with the dark emotion that had clouded her eyes before.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to part with a vial of blood for me to test?" she wheedled and Aqualad smiled.

It was clear that she had a deep fascination with her current study; Aqualad could remember a time when he had been the same.

"I do not mind," Aqualad assured her, "I would be fascinated to see what you discover."

Amara grinned widely. "All right, follow me, the equipment is back in the MedLab."

She knew her way around fairly well, Aqualad noticed, it was clear that she spent a great deal of her time in Mount Justice.

"Do you miss your time as Storm Chaser?" he asked her after a few moments of silence as he followed her slowly as she rolled her wheels down the hallway.

"Yes," Amara said slowly, "but it's not as though I've stopped using my powers all-together…it's not the same being stuck behind a computer and knowing I should be out there helping my friends, my mentor, but…" she bit her lip, rolling to a stop. "But one day I'll be back on my feet, then I'll be out there with Speedy, shocking people, kicking ass, and taking names."

All that was left was for her to wait for that day to come, and maybe that was why she hadn't tried her hand at walking yet, because she thought if she prolonged her wait then her ability to use her legs would increase…maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't, but Amara was too cowardly to try it for fear of failure.

"Here we are," she said, entering into the MedLab, the lights flicking on automatically, being tied to the motion sensors. Aqualad had to wince in the sudden brightness as Amara pulled out an odd contraption with needle and connected to an empty vial. "Arm please."

"This may sting just a little," she added, once she'd cleaned a spot on his arm, "but I'm sure you've dealt with worse."

"I have," Aqualad assured her before she pressed the needle into his skin, causing red liquid to fill the vial until it could hold no more.

"Thank you," Amara said brightly once she was done and Aqualad rather thought she was exactly like Speedy had described her to be; a bright storm cloud.

"I'm not sure if Speedy's told you," she added, "but I give all the sidekicks nicknames, well, the sidekicks I come across."

"It might have come up at one point," Aqualad conceded, "I presume you will be coming up with one for me?"

"Yes," Amara smirked widely, "how do you feel about Kelpie?"

Aqualad thought a shape-shifting water spirit was an odd name to give him, but he had a feeling that the question was rhetorical.

It wasn't often that Amara got to see the Garricks, but they were practically family and if Amara could have picked any more loving grandparents in the world, it would still end up being the Garricks.

Amara stirred at the batter in the large bowl she had balanced on her lap while Wally rushed around the kitchen trying to assist Joan and causing general chaos while the others sat outside, talking and laughing.

Jay and Joan had been largely horrified to learn what had happened to Amara –several of the Leaguers who worked closely with Barry had reacted in a similar manner, especially the Green Lantern, Hal Jordan– and had wanted to see her immediately after the incident, but it was only about two months afterwards that Barry had finally relented (Amara thought it had more to do with her not dealing with her handicap well than anything else).

"How are those muffins coming along, Amy?" Joan asked, taking a peek at the pork cooking in the oven. Since it was a family of speedsters, there was more food than typical to be cooked, but none of them seemed to mind.

"Wally hasn't eaten all the batter yet," Amara mentioned as an upside, casting a smirk to her cousin who pressed a hand to his heart, looking betrayed.

"Amy! I thought we were family!" he cried in outrage.

Amara arched an eyebrow with a smirk. "What's that on the corner of your mouth? Could it be some raspberry muffin batter?"

"No!" Wally insisted, though he rubbed quickly at his mouth to hide the evidence as Joan laughed, taking the bowl Amara handed over.

"Don't you have some blood samples to take?" Joan asked her kindly.

"Well, I already got Jay, Uncle Rudy and Aunt Mary's, so all I've got left is to get Wally's before I start my analysis and comparison," Amara said thoughtfully and Wally had to remind himself that his cousin was only twelve years old. But her interest in genetics had been profound enough that the last time Wally had gone over to visit he'd spotted a few thick books on her desk on the very subject.

"I dunno why you had to get my parents, they don't have any powers," Wally said as they moved into the living room so that Amara could get her sample from him.

"The experiment that gave you super-speed undoubtedly altered your DNA," Amara said in a no-nonsense manner. "I need a template of what your DNA would have looked like before the experiment in order to see what changed."

"You're getting a little obsessed, I think," Wally said, giving a small wince as she stuck him with the needle.

"Just a little?" Amara snorted. "Everything else I'm learning right now in class is boring, so I figured why not do a project on something that actually interests me?"

The easy thing about Amara being homeschooled and taking classes via computer as opposed to sitting in a classroom was that she could get farther ahead in class than Wally could, and during the time after she'd gotten out of the hospital and couldn't do hardly anything but laze around in bed, miserable about her condition, doing schoolwork just to not be bored seemed like the best option.

Somehow she'd ended up a few months ahead of where Dick –and Wally could call Robin that now that his best friend had finally revealed his name– was currently, even though the pair was the same age and in the same year, or, were meant to be in the same year. Uncle Barry joked that Amara was going to be out of high school a year early.

Wally had initially laughed at the idea, but now…Amara didn't fit anyone's ideal as a genius, even she knew it, but she thought very differently from Wally and it was always possible that something had been introduced to her during her fetal development that made her that way…either way, Wally didn't mind, plus it was always cool to have someone around who loved science as much as he did.

"Wally…West…" Amara capped the vial, labeling it with a sharpie. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain," she assured him in a would-be-bland voice that made him laugh.

"I was so worried," he snorted as she returned the vial into a cylinder container, securing it tightly before rolling her way out of the house and onto the patio outside.

"Did my blood-sucking leech of a daughter get you, Wally?" Iris laughed, waving Amara over to the empty space beside her with perfect dimensions for her wheelchair to roll up to.

"Oh, it was so painful, Aunt I, I don't think I can go on!" Wally fell dramatically, clutching at his arm in pain that was so clearly faked that everyone at the table couldn't help but join in laughing.

"Psh," Amara scoffed, "he's got super-healing. You could probably run him through with a pole and he'd bounce back."

"It would depend on where the pole is, I think," Aunt Mary said wryly.

"Mom!" Wally complained loudly.

Amara had considered her options.

She had once told Pamela to ask her again when she was sixteen about what she wanted to be when she was older, but since she'd come across genetics, it plagued her mind. What would she like to be?

Having a doctorate in genetics was definitely something she was considering, but getting a doctorate was an expensive endeavor and her parents made good money, but not that good…

So Amara had asked Sandra if she would hire her –as opposed to her simple volunteering–, in order to start saving up money for college –even though her parents told her not to worry about it ("Amy, college is years away," Iris had insisted, "you don't need to worry about saving up for it yet, you're only twelve!"). Sandra had required a parent's permission, since she was only twelve, in order to officially hire Amara and Barry had signed for her. (He'd given her a conspirator-like wink. "No matter what your mother says, I think it's good that you're thinking ahead.")

She didn't want her parents to have to pay her way through college, no matter what choice she ended up making about it.

"How's the genetics project going?" Pamela asked her, placing some flowers on the shelves while Amara cut some too long stalks off of some orchids.

"It's going," Amara said, giving the red-head a smile, "there's a lot of data to go over…my cousin looks over some of it with me when he stops by. But…did you know that there's this thing called genome variation that are differences in the sequence of DNA from one person to the next?"

"I wasn't aware," Pamela said, pausing to give Amara her full attention; Amara liked when she did that, treating her like she wanted to do nothing more than listen to her with rapt attention.

"Well, it's what makes the DNA sequence between Wally and me so completely different, because we're not related at all…of course there's a few other things too…" And Amara's attention drifted off, giving her a slightly vacant expression that made Pamela's eyes crinkle around the edges.

"Ella, do you think I could walk?" she asked her suddenly and Pamela blinked in surprise.

"That's sudden," she said. "What brought that on?"

Amara wrinkled her nose, thinking about Roy and how they hadn't spoken in nearly a week. "Just something one of my friends said…but do you think I could walk?"

"Have you tried to walk before?"

Amara liked how Pamela didn't dance around the subject, since that was practically the norm.

"No," she admitted with a grimace, looking down at her legs, the muscles atrophying from lack of use…and Amara was going to be so behind on her training when she finally got back on her feet. "I've been…afraid to." She tilted her head back to look at Pamela. "Do you think I could walk?" she pressed her.

Pamela gave her a kindly smile in return. "Why don't we find out?" she asked.

Iris had a long lunch today, so she was cutting through Granite Peak Park to reach Bouquet Boutique, thinking of surprising her daughter by taking her out to lunch, and there were parts of the park completely hidden in foliage that made it easy to be unseen.

"You can't say that her interest in genetics is bad," Barry's voice came through her phone where she had it pressed to her ear. "And she is right, it's one of the more expensive degrees."

"Yes, but who's to say that she's not going to change her mind by the time she graduates high school, Barry," Iris sighed, running a hand through her hair as she did so. "She's working herself too hard."

"I think it's more that she doesn't want to not be doing anything," Barry returned dryly. "And earning some money at the shop will make it easier to pay for college—"

"She doesn't need to worry about college," Iris pressed, "she's in seventh grade –almost eighth grade– she's –oh, she's here!"

Iris ducked around the thickest tree she could find.

"I thought you were taking a shortcut through the park?" Barry said blankly on the other end.

"I am," Iris said, peeking around the tree to see not too far away that Amara had been pushed to where she was completely hidden by thick branches from the rest of the park. Iris recognized her co-worker Ella helped her apply the brakes before moving around in front of her and Iris' eyes went impossibly wide.

"Ohmigod!" she whispered. "I think she's going to try to walk!"

"I'm coming!"

"No, you're not," Iris said quickly, speaking over his rebuttal, "If she's asked Ella to help her, then she doesn't want us to see it." Maybe she was afraid of doing it in front of them, that they would see her failure.

"But—"

"I'll call you back, Barry," Iris said, canceling the call before he could say anything more and watching the scene intently but, at the same time, trying to keep herself hidden from view.

Amara moved her legs manually so that they were lightly resting against the ground before Ella helped pull her upright by grasping her elbows.

And then Amara was standing, not very well, teetering dangerously, but she was standing. Iris raised a hand to her mouth, choked with emotion.

"Want to take a step?" Ella asked Amara and her daughter gave an uneasy nod as Ella moved her left foot back and Amara gripped her arms tightly, moving her leg –trembling violently from the effort– slowly but surely to accompany Ella's, even though the movement had been rather small.

Ella moved her right leg back and Amara struggled to follow before her knees gave out and she crumpled, but Ella caught her before she fell and Iris' breath caught in her throat as Amara released a euphoric laugh, despite barely making two steps, and Iris couldn't quite remember the last time she had laughed like that.

And she was glad that she had gotten to hear it once more and that her daughter was healing, slowly but surely.