Tempest: Chapter Two: Naming a Protégé
"You know sometimes I forget we're not really related."
Amara cocked an eyebrow at that from where she was lying on her stomach, propped on her elbows under the fort she and Wally had made with wide and cheery grins. "What about if I do this?"
She unclipped her earring from her ear and the red or her hair faded back to the grey that she had been born with.
Wally scrutinized her intently. "Nah," he decided. "The grey looks better, actually."
"It does?" Amara ran her fingers through the strands in surprise.
"Not that I'd know anything about that," Wally said quickly. "There's just a lot of red-heads in the family."
Amara made a noise of agreement, twisting the earring between her fingers. Maybe a darker color would suit her better…
A head appeared at the flap of their fort. "Are either of you going to come out?" Iris prompted with a grin.
"No adults!" they both yelled, recoiling suddenly at the sight of her face and Iris withdrew with a laugh.
"When's Barry going to make you his sidekick?" Amara asked him once her adoptive mother's footsteps had faded.
Wally groaned into the pillow underneath him. "Not until I'm thirteen! Can you believe that! Its two years away!"
"Do you think he'll let me come along too?" Amara asked curiously.
She was now a part of a family of speedsters and one of the few that didn't have the ability to run fast enough to disappear into speed, but then again, no one could do what she could with the weather.
"Or maybe I should learn how to fly first," she contemplated before he could answer.
Wally's eyes went owlishly wide. "You can fly?"
"Maybe, I've never tried it," Amara said in contemplation, "but I'm not supposed to practice my powers out in the open."
"Me neither!" Wally bemoaned. "Or I'll get grounded for a month!"
Wally had it easy, he could control his powers, but Amara had made a large downpour in Keystone, nearly resulting in Wally being let out of school early because the storm had been so bad…all while she'd been asleep.
Barry had taken her whilst she was unconscious the medical wing in the Hall of Justice since he'd been unable to awaken her and the storm had continued for an hour until she'd woken up startled to find herself not in her bed.
Then she'd been confined to the Cave –which had been the first headquarters for the Justice League before the Hall of Justice had been established– for three days while tests were run on her endlessly. And these weren't three free days for Amara, no, she had school. Amara was homeschooled, taking a supplementary school course online rather than attending school physically like Wally did, which was helpful considering all the schooling she had missed out on when she'd been with her father.
Wally may have gotten grounded but Amara was forced into even more training with Black Canary, which was great and all, apart from being totally exhausting.
Her cousin didn't need to worry about causing intense lightning storms while he was sleeping, compared to atmokinesis, super-speed was much more desirable.
"How do you think this works?" Wally asked, pulling her back to the present as he poked cautiously at her earring where it was lying on the ground.
Amara's eyebrows creased in confusion. "What d'you mean?"
It was a glamour charm, wasn't it?
"There's no such thing as magic," Wally replied with utter surety. "It's just cheap tricks and illusions."
A grin warmed Amara's face. If there was one thing that she had Wally had in common, it was their love of science (Amara blamed Barry entirely for this).
"So what do you think it is, then?" she asked, screwing her face up as she thought about her science class. "Something that makes you see only red?"
Amara wasn't as far along in her science as Wally was, but Wally latched at the idea like it was a lifeline (making it really obvious how much distaste he held for magic).
"Oh, yeah!" Wally nodded furiously. "There are these things in our eyes, you know, that allow you to see either color or black and white! I bet that's it!"
Amara stared at him like she'd never seen anything as odd as him in her whole life, which might've been a little true.
"What?"
"Did you learn that in class?" Amara asked, canting her head slightly. It sounded a bit advanced for an eleven year old, not that Amara would know much about what one learned at eleven.
"Psh, no," Wally scoffed. "Internet, cuzz, that's where all the good stuff is."
"The internet's weird," Amara disagreed, wrinkling her nose in disagreement. She didn't completely understand it and only dealt with the basics that were needed for her schoolwork; apart from that, she had no idea what she was doing.
Wally opened his mouth to say something when there was the sound of a door opening and shutting.
"Barry's home," Amara offered helpfully as they crawled towards the entrance of their fort to peek their heads out.
Barry arched an eyebrow at the pair, not bothering to comment on Amara's grey hair. "I see you two have been busy."
Both grinned as they pulled themselves out to where they'd been hidden beneath pillows and blankets to eat the heaping dinner Iris had cooked up (feeding two speedsters was no easy feat, but, thankfully, Amara didn't require as much food).
It was only once Wally's parents had come to pick him up that Amara handed over the earring to her adoptive father.
"I think I like black better," she told him at his questioning look. "That's closer to grey."
And there were a lot of black-haired superheroes, one more could be overlooked easily.
Barry ruffled her grey hair with a soft smile. "I'll let Zatara know."
Amara's face was on the screen in the Hall of Justice, directly underneath the images of her mother and father.
"You think she's a clone?" Flash's lips thinned into a line. "If she was a clone her DNA would be genetically identical to whomever she was cloned from, but she has parents."
"I don't believe she's a clone," Batman said, "I think Amara was conceived through In Vitro Fertilization."
Barry glanced to the image beside Amara. The slanted green eyes and sly lips were as much a characteristic of Poison Ivy as her red hair.
"However, I was under the impression that Poison Ivy was infertile."
"Well, miracles don't just happen," Barry commented wryly and Bruce had to agree with him there.
"It's possible she had some of her eggs removed during her time with Floronic Man," Bruce conceded, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "But they would have been too toxic to form into an embryo…unless her immunity to toxins was introduced to neutralize the toxins."
"That seems like a lot of effort to create one child from two villains," Barry said.
Honestly, he should have brought the matter before the entire Justice League, but at the same time, they were likely to keep Storm Chaser at arm's length once they found out her heritage. At least with Batman he knew that he would only reveal such private information if the need ever arose; Batman was the best at keeping secrets out of them all.
"Children are easier to mold," Batman said, more as a statement of fact than anything else. "It's likely she was carried in a surrogate, given how Poison Ivy doesn't seem to be aware that she has a child and Weather Wizard only became aware of her after she was born."
It was lucky that she was more inclined towards atmokinesis than chlorokinesis. Barry wasn't sure how he'd be able to handle two Poison Ivys running around spreading toxic plants around.
"How is she?"
Barry jerked himself out of his thoughts. "She's adjusting," he said, "training with Black Canary helps, especially with how out of control her powers are, but she's working hard to get a handle on them…she and Wally want to come out with me. I'm considering making Wally my sidekick when he's thirteen, but I'm not sure about Amara."
"It's your decision," Batman said.
He really couldn't say anything, after all, Richard Grayson had become his ward and sidekick at the tender age of nine, but he certainly excelled as his partner.
But Dick didn't have a haywire superpower causing him problems.
Barry's thoughts drifted towards Amara as he excused himself. Maybe if Black Canary considered her to be in control by the time she was eleven, then he'd consider taking her on with Wally…though having two apprentices at one time, that might be a bit trying…
Amara was like a very cheerful storm cloud. The black hair suited her more than the red, but the grey made her…her.
However, the grey was more distinctive and she was going to save that for when she operated behind a mask or was around those in the League, like today.
Amara was scowling at her laptop screen as she attempted her math problems with great annoyance (science was her thing, math definitely not).
The zeta-tube fired up, shortly followed by the computerized voice announcing someone's arrival.
"Recognize: Black Canary -13"
"Hey, kiddo, ready for some more training?" There was a smirk on her lips and Amara groaned, scowling over the laptop, something she most definitely wouldn't have been able to do when they first met.
"Because who doesn't love pain?" Amara muttered, sinking further into the couch.
"You know what they say, pain is just weakness leaving the body," Black Canary said, responding with grin at Amara's reaction to the question.
"Whoever came up with that phrase has never met you," Amara grumbled. "It is so not crash."
Black Canary had gotten quite used to Amara's go-to phrase which included anything from "You're crashing my mode!" to "That's so crash!"
"What will be crash is your butt on the floor of the mission room."
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Amara shut the laptop and vaulted over the couch before the woman could kick her in the direction of the mission room, which doubled as their training area, because what wasn't better than her name being shown holographically always followed by 'failure'?
Absolutely nothing. And this was such a great way to start her Tuesday.
Note the sarcasm.
"Block!"
Amara did as she asked, mostly out of reflex than complying with her demand, blocking Black Canary's strike with her arm before leaping over the swipe that was meant to knock her legs out from under her.
The air seemed to solidify slightly underneath her, giving her a push off as she threw her heels against Black Canary's chest, cart-wheeling back as her teacher did the same, but they didn't stop there.
Black Canary dove towards her and Amara flipped over her shoulders to avoid the hit before aiming one of her own at the woman's back. It collided, but ineffectively.
The hero twisted around to grab the fist that Amara had been too slow to withdraw and threw her over her shoulder so the grey-haired girl fell painfully onto her back.
Amara muffled a groan as the words appeared above her.
Storm Chaser: Status: Failure
"Your blocking and dodging is pretty good," Black Canary said with a smile as she held out a hand to the girl to pull her to her feet and Amara accepted. "But your attacks need work. Hesitation can get you killed."
"I know," Amara sighed, looking down at her hands solemnly as they began to spark slightly with lightning. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply and the sparks faded.
A hand dropped to her shoulder and she opened her eyes to find Black Canary looking upon her with a kindly expression that Amara couldn't quite place.
"Hey, the reason you're here is so that you can learn to control your powers," Black Canary said soothingly, "the progress you've made is amazing."
"You think so?" Amara's green eyes were bright and imploring.
"'Course I do, kiddo." The hand on her shoulder moved to rest on the top of her head, but she didn't ruffle it like her father did. "Now are you ready for class to really start?"
Amara's lips thinned but she nodded, trying to keep her body from letting off electricity like it sometimes did. She caught the bottle of water the hero threw her way, gulping it greedily.
"I want you to make me a storm cloud."
Amara, whose attention had been entirely focused on the bottle in her hands and chugging down as much of it as possible to replenish after the brief workout (and it didn't help that she was thirsty to begin with), choked and it was a small miracle that she had managed to swallow before forcing out a befuddled "Huh?"
Typically Black Canary's requests were bit more…complex. How long could she maintain a bolt of electricity between her hands before she was too exhausted? How long could she manipulate the air around her to levitate her above the ground? (It was sadly not very long)
"A storm cloud, Amara," Black Canary said patiently as though her words made complete sense.
"B-But I've never made a storm cloud before!" she managed to stutter out.
"Yet you could make a storm over Keystone?" Black Canary prompted with an arched eyebrow and Amara flushed darkly at the memory.
"That was unintentional," Amara muttered under her breath. "I was having a nightmare."
"Your powers are tied to your emotions," Black Canary explained, "which is how you were able to create the storm; it was to combat against your nightmare, only with nothing to defend against, it simply settled over your city. That's why we're starting small here, so you don't cause another storm."
"One storm cloud coming up," Amara said, lifting her hands before her eyes, a crease forming on her forehead as lightning sparked between her fingers, the air condensing into a visible soft grey, not quite a storm cloud yet, but it was still a good first attempt.
Amara's eyes narrowed, her fingers tensing as Black Canary watched on in interest.
She doubted that the atmokinetic girl was aware of how spiky her hair had gone from static or how her eyes glowed faintly with electricity similar to the electricity that was visible every so often within the cloud that was slowly darkening from the light grey to a more solid grey, like the color of Amara's hair.
Black Canary smirked.
Amara Allen had potential.
The chair twisted around and around, making herself dizzy, but she didn't seem to care as she waited for her adoptive mother to show up.
"Hey, kid, your mom's going to be down in a few minutes."
Amara stopped swiveling around and her vision spun wildly before focusing on Denny, Iris' cameraman. She'd only met him a few times, but he seemed nice.
She gave him two thumbs-ups and he shook his head with a slight chuckle before continuing on his way out of the building.
Her fingers drummed against her mother's desk, which seemed to be the only one in Galaxy Broadcasting System (which was where Iris worked as a reporter) not completely cluttered with papers.
There was one picture on her desk and it was of Amara, Iris, and Barry. Amara's smile was blinding, her green eyes shining, her dark hair making the green more obvious.
"Hey, Amy, been waiting long?"
Iris' cheerful voice brought Amara's thoughts to the front of her mind as she tilted her head back to look at her red-haired adoptive mother.
"No," Amara promised, "Dinah dropped me off after school…that was about ten minutes ago."
Iris and Amara shared a knowing look. Amara couldn't very well say that Black Canary dropped her off after training her to control her abilities over the atmosphere; secret identities were secret for a reason.
"Barry sent me a text earlier," Iris added, grabbing her jacket and checking her phone as she did so, "he's going to be a little late getting home tonight, so I thought you and I could grab some dinner out, just girls."
"Crash!" Amara grinned and Iris released a short laugh at her words as she wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders securely, something that had once made Amara tense (physical contact hadn't much been her thing until she'd gotten used to the affection of the Allen family), and it was with great pleasure for Iris that Amara leaned against her arm.
"Did you have fun today?" Iris asked once they'd climbed into her car. "Finish all your schoolwork?"
She and Barry were fine with Amara taking the supplementary online homeschooling course rather than going to school, mostly because Amara had been so apprehensive about going to school when she was so far behind. As long as she did all her work.
"Yeah, but I'm having some problems with math." Amara scowled before brightening. "I made a storm cloud today!"
Her enthusiasm lit up her whole face in the same manner that Wally's did when he saw heaping piles of food and Iris couldn't help but reflexively smile as well.
"That sounds exciting," Iris agreed. "Was Black Canary impressed?"
"I think she was pleased," Amara said, screwing up her face slightly as she thought hard. "She said I did better than expected, so…that means she was impressed, right?"
The imploring look on her daughter's face was adorable and Iris reached to tuck a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear as they came to a stop light.
"Yes, sweetheart, it means she was impressed."
And Iris wouldn't have exchanged Amara's smile for anything in the world.
Amara was curled up under her blankets, trying to fall asleep after being awoken rudely by a loud crack of lightning from the storm outside that was not caused be her as she assured her adoptive parents when it came on suddenly. Sometimes weather just happened.
And it didn't help that Amara was a notoriously light sleeper.
She sat up on her bed at the sound of voices coming from downstairs. Her fingers rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she blinked to clear them, looking around her room.
A flash of lightning illuminated her room, showing her potted fern on her desk that Barry had been uneasy about getting her (why, Amara had no idea), and the papers scattered across the floor with a few pieces of clothing.
Amara was going to clean all that up tomorrow, she'd promised…but right now…
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, pulling her up into a standing position and then feeling her way blindly for the door, opening it as quietly as possible as she made her way slowly towards the stairs.
"I don't like it," Barry was standing beside where Iris was sitting with a contemplative expression on her face. "She's my daughter."
"No one is contesting that, Barry," Black Canary said smoothly and Amara's eyes widened in surprise.
Why were they talking about her while she was sleeping?
"But you taking on two protégés isn't the best course of action," Dinah continued, "especially if only one of them shares your super-speed; you could end up side-lining her simply because she can't keep up with the two of you."
"That won't happen," Barry insisted.
Black Canary cocked an eyebrow. "Why don't you just ask her what she thinks?" And then she turned to meet Amara's eyes from where she'd been crouching at the top stair.
Amara went stock still, as if hoping to simply camouflage into the background by imitating a statue, but it didn't quite have the effect she had intended and Black Canary crooked her fingers towards the girl.
"C'mere, Amara," she said and Amara hoisted herself up, descending the stairs slowly still wondering why it was an issue for her and Wally to both be Barry's protégés.
"Amara, how would you feel about being my protégé?" Dinah asked once she had Amara in her sights, and of all the things that the grey-haired girl could have expected her to ask, that was not even on the list.
"W-What?" she said blankly in incomprehension, looking from her teacher to her parents.
Mostly she was mentally excited at how Black Canary wanted her –Storm Chaser!– as her partner in crime.
"But you live in Star City," she said, forcing her mouth to move after a short silence that felt much too long to her young mind.
Black Canary smirked, resting her hands on her hips. "It wouldn't be the first time a mentor and a student lived in two different cities, besides, I'm just a zeta-tube away."
"I haven't agreed to this," Barry reminded Dinah, sounding a bit vexed to Amara.
"Barry, I get that you're protective of her, but you've got to let her make her own choices, especially if she wants to be a Leaguer one day," Dinah pointed out. "I know her moves and she knows mine. She doesn't need someone with super-speed trying to teach her, she needs someone who moves at her pace and who has some kind of special ability."
Barry's shoulders sagged and Iris reached up to intertwine her fingers with her husband's and he looked down to her.
She smiled. "I think that if that's what Amy wants…" She left the rest unsaid, but it didn't really need saying, if Amara was completely honest.
"What do you say, kid?" Black Canary had twisted back around to face the green-eyed girl. "Want to be a kickass sidekick to a Bird of Prey?"
Iris made a small noise at the use of the swear in front of her adoptive child, but Amara didn't seem to notice, practically bouncing in excitement.
Oh, this was so crash!
"Totally!"
A wide grin stretched across Dinah's lips. "I thought so," she said, withdrawing something black to hand to Amara and she saw that it was a simple mask.
Black Canary winked. "I know you're not the flashy type."
("Is that a slight towards me?" Barry muttered towards Iris who nudged him.)
"We'll start when I think you're good enough for field work, alright?" Dinah added, striding towards the door.
Amara looked down at the mask with a smile on her face that didn't fade even when she finally fell asleep.
World, get ready to meet Storm Chaser!
