Tempest: Chapter Twenty-Five: Raging Tempest
Green Arrow didn't really believe in bad luck but today he'd take it into consideration. Cupid had been one thing, but Weather Wizard was something entirely different.
Mark Mardon had a tendency to go between attacking Central City and Star City, though, now that Green Arrow thought about it, that might have had something to do with Amara living in Central City and patrolling in Star City. Attacking his daughter's home turf was to elicit some kind of reaction, probably one from the girl in particular.
Whatever it was, Amara was at the center of it.
A lightning bolt came down and Speedy –who'd suited up against Green Arrow's wishes– missed electrocution by a foot only by leaping sharply back, and unfortunately into Weather Wizard's area of control.
Speedy gave a surprised hiss –from jarring his stitches, probably– as he was hoisted into the air, his feet dangling in the free air as the villain hovered in the air on his own makeshift cloud that Green Arrow had seen Amara use far too many times.
"Where is she?" Weather Wizard growled, static coming off the hand wrapped around his Weather Wand.
"No idea," Speedy said shortly before grinning widely, "probably thought you were weak enough—"
Green Arrow had strung his bow in seconds before letting an arrow go flying, its speed amplified by a short scream from Black Canary, nailing him in the chest, releasing a high-density polyurethane foam to engulf Weather Wizard, and thus causing him to release his grip on Speedy who was quick to roll away.
Static came over his comlink as someone outside the Star City heroes tried to speak over the secured line, but they were too out of range for it to come through (they were using location-centralized comlinks, after all).
Green Arrow shot a glance towards Black Canary, but she looked as confused as he felt as the foam began to tremble with the electric force from his lightning.
Then, a single voice rang out as clear as day: "Incoming!"
Green Arrow had lost count how many times he'd heard Amara Allen's voice come over the comm, and there was no way to fake that.
But then the foam was blown apart and none of the three had any time to think about Amara's impending arrival –but Green Arrow could have sworn that Speedy wasn't surprised by the knowledge and he got the feeling he was going to have a serious conversation with his ward after the battle was sorted– choosing to scatter instead.
"Wow, he's gotten a bit more psychotic since I last saw him."
Green Arrow's eyes shot to the girl that had dropped out of the sky to land beside him, her descent hidden in the chaos. He hadn't gotten the chance to see her in the new and improved Storm Chaser uniform before she left, but it did suit her rather well, and she had grown a little so he didn't have to look down nearly so much.
"I see where you get it," Speedy fired back over the comlink and Storm Chaser's grin widened as she tossed a wink towards Green Arrow who couldn't help but feel exasperated.
"Aw, Arrowhead! You're too sweet!" she simpered.
"Children," Black Canary warned and both fell silent but Green Arrow could see that though Amara's lips were pressed together, they still formed into a smile. "We do have a bit of situation here, please save your bickering for later."
"That's no fun!" and then Storm Chaser had dashed out into the street before Green Arrow could wrench her back by the neck of her uniform.
"At last," Weather Wizard breathed, his grip tightening over the wand as Storm Chaser stepped out into the open, her hands resting at her sides, close enough to her batons to grab them in an instant. "The wayward daughter returns."
"Wayward? Well, that does explain a lot about my childhood," Storm Chaser said, raising a hand to examine her nails with interest.
"I'm going to kill you!" Speedy hissed over the comlink, but Amara ignored him.
"Two months, little girl," Weather Wizard said, his voice positively frigid and Black Canary could see how her spine stiffened and the muscle in her jaw jumped. "You know how I am about being kept waiting."
"What can I say? I'm a perpetual disappointment," Storm Chaser said before bracing her legs as Black Canary raced out, using Storm Chaser back to vault over, a shrill scream leaving her lips as Speedy and Green Arrow darted out to provide cover with a spray of arrows.
"You took your time, Storm Warning," Speedy drawled as the girl in question leapt over a bolt of lightning, landing lightly on her own feet to release one of her own. Storm Chaser may have had one up on her father merely for having her powers ingrained in her genes rather than focused from a weapon, but there was a reason she had taken the name Storm Chaser. Weather Wizard could call down storms but she could only chase them.
It would take Amara years to reach his level, and as it was, she was remarkably weaker than him, but, luckily, the battle was four on one, so that helped.
"Babe, I'll have you know that my safe house isn't even remotely close to here," came Storm Chaser's short reply and Green Arrow couldn't help but snort as Speedy gave an indignant squawk of "Babe?"
"Babe, Arrowhead, there's not much of a difference is there?" Storm Chaser appeared to weigh the options in her hands.
"There's a hell of a lot of difference!"
Storm Chaser grinned widely, throwing an arm around his shoulders, dragging him into a crouch to avoid a sharp gust of wind intended to knock them back just as the skies opened in a downpour, pressing a kiss against his cheek before he could stop her. "It's okay to admit you love me, Arrowhead, we all know it's true."
"I'm really going to punch you this time," Speedy promised as Black Canary leapt forward, moving quickly in her attempt to snatch the wand out of his hand, but she wasn't fast enough and was knocked back, colliding heavily with Speedy that they both ended up sprawled on the ground.
Storm Chaser wasted no time, even as Green Arrow fired a few explosive arrows, but he was hardly deterred; if there was one thing that Weather Wizard was, it was determined. So Storm Chaser leapt onto his back when it was turned, winding her limbs around him and hanging on tightly like an eel.
"SC, move!" Black Canary yelled as two bows trained on the father-daughter pair and the meta-human prepared to unleash another killer scream.
But it was impossible to take aim without running the risk of hitting Storm Chaser as well. And Storm Chaser had her arms locked around his eyes to prevent him from seeing, and he was doing his best to throw her off, but she had a steel-clad grip on him, her teeth gritting together to keep from crying out as his eyes gained an electric charge.
"You'll never be one of them," he hissed, for her ears only and Storm Chaser knew it. "Who could trust the child of villain?"
"Oh, am I your child now?" Storm Chaser spat angrily back, his words incensing her. "Thought I was just a bastard, the daughter you never wanted."
Maybe there was a small part of her that wished his view on her would change. She was half of his blood, after all, he was part of who she was, the dormant half of her DNA, and whether she liked it or not, he was her father.
"You are," he sneered and those wishes faded in less than a second and Storm Chaser felt rather like he'd stuck her in the stomach with a rusty knife and twisted, well, that would probably hurt less, she conceded after a moment. "But you could have been greater."
"Villainy was never my strong suit." Storm Chaser could feel her flesh burning now, "I guess I take after my real father."
And she allowed herself a brief moment of vindictive pleasure as she felt him tense in anger before throwing her off him bodily, sending her right into the nearest wall.
Storm Chaser's eyes swam and the base of her skull throbbed.
Iris' heart was in her throat racing faster than Flash could run, and that was saying something.
The GBS broadcasted over the whole country, and Iris only worked in the Central City headquarters, but there were several headquarters over the US and the GBS showed other headquarters live recordings and the ones from Star City had stopped her in her place.
"Breaking news," the reporter said from somewhere off screen, "after an almost year long hiatus, Storm Chaser has reappeared in Star City to fight alongside fellow Star City heroes Green Arrow, Black Canary and Speedy as they face off against Weather Wizard who hasn't been seen from since his break out from Belle Reve more than a year ago."
And there she was, her baby, clad in her dark uniform, her grey hair the thing that identified her more than anything in the cloudy downpour. She could make out her form beside Roy's as Speedy –of course, where else would Amy be than by her best friend's side?–, the pair crouching to avoid an attack that Iris couldn't make out and then she had leapt onto Weather Wizard's back, an action that she could recall Amy using on Wally when they were much younger, latching onto her cousin and not letting go until he tripped and they both fell to the grass, their laughter belling out around them.
But this was so very different. This left Iris terrified watching her daughter cling to her biological father, covering his eyes with her arm, cling to the man that had forced her sudden departure from her home and her family.
She hit her speed-dial to call Barry, who was no doubt still busy at the CCPD and unaware of what was transpiring in Star City.
"Yeah?"
"Barry, you need to turn on the news," Iris said, her eyes not even leaving the screen. "Right now."
There was a moment of silence on the end as Barry set down whatever he was working on to fumble with his computer to show him the news.
"Oh my God," he breathed on the other end just as Amara was wrenched off Weather Wizard's back and thrown against a nearby wall, pulling herself up and diving out of the way of a blast of lightning. "I'm heading over."
"You can't!" Iris said, hating the words even as they left her lips. "Remember? Central City heroes just can't go running off to Star City! People will notice."
Amara had gotten in several fights with her parents over the matter, particularly after her first patrol in Star City. She'd only been ten years old when she'd first started, all raw and untempered, clumsy in executing her attacks and slow in defending herself. Seeing the cuts and bruises she came home with had been difficult, especially since she didn't have same kind of increased healing factor that Barry –and Wally, to a lesser extent– had. But Barry couldn't very well run over to Star City every time his little girl got a little scraped up; Central City needed him.
Iris could hear an annoyed huff on the other end and she had the distinct feeling that Barry was regretting making that agreement, but he knew what would happen if went to Star City. Hero team-ups were common, but those were usually the big missions or ones where villains moved from one state to another with a different hero in charge.
Storm Chaser pulled herself upright, a hand at the back of her head, to rejoin the fray once more and Iris watched on bated breath.
It was going badly, and by badly, Amara meant really really badly. She wasn't sure how Mardon had managed it, but he'd increased the power on the wand since she'd last seen him use it, which only increased the difference between their atmo-kinetic strengths.
"Did I mention I hate your dad?" Speedy muttered beside her.
"It's hard not to," Amara retorted as the pair dived out from behind the wall alley corner that had been providing them with cover only to freeze.
They must have looked rather humorous, Storm Chaser with her batons in her hands and Speedy with an arrow ready to fire, both staring at what lay before them.
Speedy was openly gaping as Black Canary tried a loud cry and Green Arrow tried another one of his powerful explosive arrows, but it had little effect on the matter. "What the hell is that?"
"That," Amara decided grudgingly, "is a problem."
Despite the gravity of the situation, Speedy turned to glower at her, which Amara could make out plain as day despite the domino mask barring her from seeing his eyes. "It's not a lie," she said wryly before he punched her in the arm. "Ow!"
He jabbed his bow at her and then at their most recent problem. This problem just so happened to be a twister in the center of Star City, which was troubling to start with, but the most it had done to the surrounding structures was create a few cracks in their foundation. The issue would be if the twister picked up in strength; that was a devastation that Amara didn't want to see.
She slipped the goggles over her eyes, focusing on the figure within the twister. She could make out Mardon easily with his body heat. "I would call it a raging tempest," she said rather frankly.
"And if it keeps going Star City is going to be in trouble!" called Oliver's voice over the comm and both Roy and Amara had to wince at the loudness of the voice in their ears. "SC, can you control it?"
"Control it?" Amara positively balked as she twisted to look at him. "Are you insane? The wand's power has increased since we last saw each other and if he was stronger than me then, he's definitely stronger than me now!"
"We don't need long," came Dinah's reproaching voice and Amara got the feeling she didn't much like the lack of faith in her protégé's voice. "A small window of opportunity in order to use the Canary Cry to imbalance him."
Exasperated didn't even begin to cover how Amara was currently feeling.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," she muttered –and if the others were surprised by her swearing, they didn't mention it– before jabbing her finger towards the twister. "Even if I could remotely stall something like that, you wouldn't have a very big window."
"Because we aren't used to that," Green Arrow said with a snort.
Amara's eyes went from one face to the next before deciding. "I hate all of you."
"Duly noted," Black Canary said before Amara conjured up her own cloud and shot up into the air to brace herself close to the twister, but far enough not to be sucked into its vortex.
She took a deep breath and centered herself before extending her hands outwards towards the tempest, drawing on every bit of her strength that she had left, trying to decrease the speed of the wind as it wrapped around and around.
It was like thrusting your hands into boiling water without any protection against the heat; it was like a burn that rubbed you raw and left you exposed. Despite not moving an inch, Amara could already feel the familiar burn in her muscles. That was the problem with being a meta-human whose powers came from the elements themselves; you didn't need to move to over-exhaust yourself.
The twister slowed, but not by much.
"More," Amara whispered to herself, not knowing or even caring if Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Speedy could hear her –though that was unlikely over the roar of the wind– as she gave a roar of her own and the pressure on her arms increased tenfold.
The wind quieted and slowed some more, like there was something sluggish about its speed, but it was still enough that Black Canary could unleash her Canary Cry, causing the twister to weaken before dissipating entirely, and Green Arrow and Speedy each shot out a bola arrow of their own in order to incapacitate Weather Wizard, who teetered over onto his back, his Weather Wand clattering uselessly to the ground beside him.
"Seems a bit anticlimactic, doesn't it?" Amara mused, floating down on her cloud so she was hovering beside Roy (wary about resting her legs on the ground, not knowing if they could bear her weight) as the rain lightened before fading away completely, her arms crossed and breathless from exertion. "I thought he'd put up more of a fight."
He cast her an exasperated glance. "And what? Send along a hurricane?"
Amara shrugged as she watched Dinah and Oliver lock an inhibitor collar around Mardon's throat, because the years of using the Weather Wand had caused him to have slight atmo-kinetic manipulation without the wand. His eyes were on her, a dark smirk on his lips. It was unsettling.
"I'm glad you got away from that guy," Roy added gruffly, glaring when he saw the looks his partner had garnered.
Amara gave a conceding nod, feeling a chill wash over her that had nothing to do with her soaking uniform.
Iris was holding tightly to Barry's hand as they made their way through the Hall of Justice, walking quickly –and Iris had to move just a bit faster to keep up with Barry's long strides. They had waited rather anxiously to get the call to come to the Hall of Justice, and then, after what had felt like an age, the phone had rung and Barry had swept Iris into his arms and raced to the nearest Zeta-tube (it might have been easier for him to just run there, but since he had Iris, it was safer to just take the Zeta-tube).
"How's the head?"
"It's just a small bump, it'll be fine in a few hours," came the voice that she had never realized she would miss so much.
Roy snorted. "Lucky you."
"Ah, yes, being a meta-human who can heal just a bit faster than the average human being, what a great thing it is," Amara remarked with a vein of amusement just as her parents rounded the corner.
And there she was, sitting side by side with Roy, their hands interlocked –Iris had almost forgotten about that tactile fixation of hers– as Roy looked over his phone with vague interest. Amara was a stark contrast to her partner, though they were both a good bit wet. Her grey curls were plastered to her neck and cheeks from the rain, an unfamiliar leather jacket over her shoulders –like she didn't know how warm it was, or maybe it was simply because the material was black– and her face brown from the sun.
Her eyes glowed and a beaming smile overtook her face as she caught sight of them, releasing her loose hold on Roy in order to stand and race towards them with an exuberant cry of "Mom! Dad!"
Iris reached her first, wrapping her in an embrace as tight and as warm as possible. "Oh, Amy! We missed you so much!"
"Missed you more," Amara smothered into her shoulder before Iris drew back to look her in the face, suddenly taking note of the bruising along her jaw as well as a few cuts. "I'm fine," she promised with an easy grin, "I mean, my arm got a little torched, but you know me, Mom, I bounce back."
And then she set her sights on Barry and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely, and he responded in kind with so much enthusiasm that he lifted her briefly off her feet and Amara released a short laugh.
"You worried you mother and I," he told her, kneeling so their difference in height wasn't nearly so pronounced.
Amara chewed on the inside on her cheek. "I'm sorry," she said, and she meant it, "after that guy came to the house, I–I panicked a little."
Barry's eyebrow twitched at 'a little'.
"I was afraid if I came back then Mardon would find you and hurt you to get to me," Amara muttered, averting her eyes, keeping them low and to the floor. "I…I just didn't want anything to happen to you."
Her eyes fixed on them, big, green, and imploring.
"Oh, sweetie," Iris sighed and Barry tucked one of Amara's loose wet curls behind her ear and pressed a kiss to her brow.
"It's a parent's job to worry about their child," he told her, "not the other way around."
"I'm sure it goes both ways," Amara retorted with just a hint of vexation that made her parents laugh. "What? I'm being serious, you know!"
But they still laughed and Amara crossed her arms, a pink flush rising up her throat to suffuse across her cheeks.
"Why are you laughing? It's not that funny!"
Barry curled an arm around her neck and ruffled her hair as she tried to bat his hand away while Iris watched on wistfully; it was like she had never left.
"We just missed you," Barry laughed, pressing another kiss to her head, before ducking away with a laugh as she tried to swat him again, "but when we get home we're going to have a serious talk."
"Oh," Amara said with false enthusiasm, "just what I was looking forward to. Yay!" The false cheer made Barry roll his eyes and Iris giggle behind her hand.
"Roy, if I don't come back, you know what happened," she called ominously over her shoulder to the archer in question.
"Then I can have all your stuff…maybe I'll sell it, it's got to be worth something, right?"
Amara's eyes narrowed as she scowled. "Who was it that saved your sorry behind from a bomb yesterday? Oh, yeah, that was me!"
"Oh, yeah?" Roy retorted. "Who was it who—"
But then Barry and Iris dragged Amara away before the conversation devolved into an all-out shouting match of who had saved who's life more than the other.
Yes, nothing had really changed, and that, was a relief.
