Tempest: Chapter Thirty-Three: Choice of Leadership


Storm Chaser's right arm was throbbing where the stitches had been sewn, hidden under the bandages that were in turn hidden beneath her uniform, and her ribs were aching. She probably could have done with some painkillers, but they had a tendency to make her sleepy and Storm Chaser needed to be fully awake, especially since this was her first mission with the Team, and the first official one of them all together.

She played with the straps of her seat on Miss Martian's Bioship, her legs bouncing with a bit of anxiety. She wasn't used to working on a team of so many people, especially when most of their fighting styles weren't ones she was used to. Kid Flash and Robin's were easier to adapt to, but she'd seen them fight before and had trained with them before, and the same couldn't be said for the others.

There was a nudge at her ankle and Storm Chaser turned around to look to see Robin giving her a reassuring smile and the tension in her shoulders eased a little.

Of the six of them, the ones with the most experience in heroing were Robin and Storm Chaser, and of the two of them, Robin definitely had more, besides, Storm Chaser wasn't really sure about being the leader of the group.

Their mission was taking them to Isla Santa Prisca, and island nation well-known for being the source of a dangerous neosteroid known as Venom. The drug had dangerous effects, from what Storm Chaser had gleaned of the documented cases, but the problem was that shipments of the drugs had stopped abruptly, despite that production hadn't halted, which meant they needed to find out what exactly was going on.

All in all, it relied on being very covert and there was at least one person that could hardly be considered covert, but Storm Chaser wasn't naming names.

"Drop zone A in thirty," Miss Martian said and Aqualad stood, pressing the symbol at his waist to darken the color of his uniform in an effort to better camouflage (Storm Chaser didn't have that problem, wearing black most of the time). "Putting Bioship in camouflage mode."

A hole formed in the bottom of the now invisible Bioship, or, at least nearly invisible, and Aqualad darted out, disappearing into the turbulent sea while they continued slowly overhead.

A moment later his voice came through the comlink. "Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in."

Miss Martian pulled the Bioship to a stop over a parted space between the thick trees. "Drop zone B," she said, opening a hole through the floor once more and Storm Chaser disappeared through it, rolling her eyes at her cousin's attempt to flirt with Miss Martian, conjuring a storm cloud under her feet as she did so, floating around the Bioship before shooting up into the sky to hide amongst the storm clouds already gathering.

Storm Chaser fixed her goggles over her eyes, twisting them to zoom in and focus on the heat signatures on the island when her teammates voices blared in her ear.

"Knew I didn't need a line," came Superboy's smug tone.

"And yet," Robin said with a bit of annoyance, "creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert."

"Aqualad," Miss Martian said, clearly ignoring the other two, "drop B is go…but I think we've misplaced Storm Chaser."

"That's likely," Storm Chaser sniggered.

"Storm Chaser, where are you?" Aqualad asked, sounding vaguely out of breath and Storm Chaser fixed her goggles towards where he was, evidently climbing his way up a cliff. Her eyebrows arched; he must have had a tight grip.

"Up a cloud, obviously," Storm Chaser drawled. "It's a good view of the factory up here…unless you want to regroup?"

There was a considering silence that she knew a bit too well as Robin weighed his options.

"You've got the location of the factory?" Robin asked.

Storm Chaser twisted the knobs around her goggles. "Noted."

"Rendezvous with Aqualad, you guys should be able to track us down."

"On it," Storm Chaser muttered, still hiding amongst the storm clouds until she was almost on top of Aqualad before dropping out of the sky to land on the cliff just as Aqualad managed to climb it.

"Do you make a habit of going off on your own?" he asked her wryly as he straightened up.

"C'mon, Kelpie," Storm Chaser smiled, "it's what I'm good at."

She couldn't tell if he was exasperated or feeling something else entirely, but Aqualad sighed all the same.

"Besides, I'm used to being the one staying back and monitoring everyone as Oracle, and I guess some habits are hard to kick."

Aqualad arched an eyebrow. It wasn't as though she hadn't been active since she'd come back home, and even when she'd been away, but she had been Oracle for months, she'd had to adapt to sitting at the sidelines.

"Did you hear that?" came Superboy's voice suddenly and they both paused.

"Uh, no," Kid Flash said, and Storm Chaser could almost see him rolling his eyes. "Wait, is this a super-hearing thing?"

"You do have great ears," Miss Martian sighed and Aqualad and Storm Chaser forced their eyes not to meet because they both knew they would crack a grin at the very least or full-on laugh at the most at how positively lovesick the Martian sounded in that moment.

"Okay, Rob, now what?"

There was a stilted silence following Kid Flash's words which were followed by the grumble of: "Man, I hate it when he does that!"

Undoubtedly Robin had pulled one of his vanishing acts, all in all, Storm Chaser wasn't terribly surprised.

"Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared," Aqualad said as he and Storm Chaser picked up their pace slightly, but still moving cautiously and silently. "See if you're being tracked."

Storm Chaser breathed out shortly to tug him behind a thick trunk of a tree, keeping them out of sight of a patrol. They both held their breath as the hooded figures moved past, their uniforms definitely not what the Santa Prisca workers would wear, with robes so long that they brushed against the ground.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," Kid Flash mentioned a moment later.

"Two squads," Superboy corrected. "But they'll meet each other before they find us."

The squad had passed them by, leaving them room to breathe, but Aqualad did little more than murmur: "Swing wide, steer clear."

"Yeah, yeah," Kid Flash assured him, "as soon as I find Rob."

"This is going to end badly," Storm Chaser decided with a sigh as the sound of gunfire filled the coms. She ran a hand through her hair before glancing to Aqualad. "Want to take a shortcut?"

He considered her; Speedy had mentioned on more than one occasion of his great distaste towards flying around with his partner, though, Aqualad supposed that the grin she was currently sporting wasn't helping matters. But he put that aside, considering how fast they needed to make it to their teammates sides.

"Yes," he said and he was sure she could see his reluctance, but, thankfully, she didn't comment on it, pulling his arm securely over her shoulders before tightening her spare one around his waist as she gathered the air around them to form a storm cloud which then shot into the air. Aqualad could barely make out where they were going, but Storm Chaser clearly followed the GPS to the location of the others.

Aqualad hit the ground running, but Storm Chaser's knees buckled when she hit the ground after she'd pulled to a stop too sharply, falling through her cloud rather than jumping off like Aqualad had, but it took her less than a few seconds to pull herself upright and dart after him, leaping onto the back of the nearest man, shocking him into unconsciousness.

Kid Flash was doing a series of impressive gymnastics in order to avoid the spray of bullets while Superboy faced off against one of the enemies that was easily the largest. Robin dropped from the trees to strike a pair who fell like rocks and Miss Martian sent one colliding with a tree while Aqualad used his tattoos to shock one into unconsciousness.

Storm Chaser arched an eyebrow that couldn't be seen before smirking at him over the complaints of Robin and Kid Flash. "We should hang out more, Kelpie."

His smile was rather wry as he helped her drag the last of the stunned assailants to the clearing to tie them up.

"I recognize those uniforms," Robin was saying when Storm Chaser tied the last knot. "They belong to the cult of the Kobra."

Aqualad crossed his arms and frowned. "I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation."

"Unless he didn't know," Storm Chaser pointed out, standing to move over to where the group had coalesced. "Batman didn't have a lot of information about the mission to begin with, remember?"

Robin bobbed his head in agreement. "And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultist and those goons—" He nodded to where they were all trussed up. "—I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it," Kid Flash said shortly, "Kobra wanted super-cultists, mystery solved. Radio Bats, and we'll be home in time—"

"These cultists aren't on Venom, Kobra's hoarding the stuff!" Robin interrupted. "We don't leave! Not until I know why."

"Until you know why?"

Storm Chaser's eyes flitted towards Kid Flash and Robin as they argued before shifting towards the others, and she could detect a level of exasperation from them.

"That one's up to something," Superboy murmured as she came to stand on his other side, nodding towards the man with large muscles and a black and white Lucha Libre mask. He was easily the most impressive of the bunch, speaking in Spanish under his breath to another.

"Such clever ninos," the man said chuckling at how Robin and Kid Flash doled out sass at one another, which was amusing to watch, if Storm Chaser was to give it a word. "But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

Storm Chaser crossed her arms doubtfully. That sounded like a trap if she'd ever heard one, and she had, and that man was definitely a shifty one.

Miss Martian moved to kneel before him, raising a hand to her temple, frowning in concentration, her eyes glowing white as she used her telepathy. "There is a secret entrance," she admitted to them after a moment, "but he's also hiding something."

"Big surprise," Storm Chaser muttered to Kid Flash, who stifled a chuckle with difficulty.

"Ah, ah, ah, chica, Bane is not that easy," the man –Bane– taunted her and Miss Martian groaned in complaint.

"He's mentally reciting futbol scores en enspanol, this could take a while."

"It's not complicated," Bane said with an all too knowing smirk, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

This will not end well, Storm Chaser thought, though she kept her mouth shut, inclining her head as the others nodded in agreement.


"Storm Chaser, wait a moment."

Amara paused before following after her teammates and Wally and Dick both shot her curious glances over before she agreed to meet them at the Bioship.

"Dad didn't want to put me on probation, did he?" she asked shrewdly, crossing her arms and Batman's lips twitched slightly.

"He had considered it," Batman conceded and Amara rolled her eyes. "This is about the mission."

Then she quirked an eyebrow in interest. It was curious that he'd separated her from the others to speak about the mission they'd all been assigned.

"I'm well aware of the many tests you've run for Black Canary and Green Arrow, many leading to arrests," Batman continued and Amara ran a hand through her hair.

"Anyone can work a machine," she said rather modestly, her heel digging into ground. "I'm guessing there's something you want me to test on the island…maybe some enhanced Venom?"

There was a slight tilt of his head as an indication of his surprise, but for the most part he remained impassive. "Your contacts in the BlackNet are well-informed."

Amara crossed her arms, a frown darkening her face. "You want their product tested? You could've said that in front of the Team, though."

Batman said nothing.

"Is this a test?" she asked.

"That'll be all, Storm Chaser," he said, "I'm sure your teammates will want to leave as soon as possible."

Amara was flummoxed even as she rejoined her companions.

"Why is your dad so cryptic?" she muttered to Dick and he snorted.


The problem seemed to be that Storm Chaser and Robin were so accustomed to working with their partners than working on a team and they both disappeared rather soon into using the secret entrance. Storm Chaser ducked behind several large containers, her eyes darting towards the various figures clothed in the robes that identified them as members of the Cult of the Kobra.

Why did Batman even ask her to get a sample? Did he know that Kobra had been the ones to take over the island? Was this a test? The Justice League had always been a bit leery of her connection with BlackNet, even if that connection had resulted in the capture of several criminals and villains during her time on it.

Storm Chaser shrank from view as one of the cultists came close to where she was crouching, her eyes darting towards a closed off room that most of the new product appeared to be coming out of.

Her eyes narrowed. There was a lot of Venom here, but the cultists weren't touching the older product, only the newer stuff, making her think that the older product didn't have whatever advancements that the newer shipments had.

She checked to make sure that no one was coming or going from the room before quickly making her way inside.

There were rows upon rows of vials full of a deep blue liquid, and thankfully with only minimal guards, but she still had to hide upon her entry. But that didn't stop one Kobra member from catching sight of her and very nearly raising the alarm.

Storm Chaser moved swiftly forward, slamming her hand over his mouth to silence him, but an unconscious Kobra member not checking in wouldn't really help their operation. Unfortunately, that really only left Storm Chaser with one option, as dubious as it was, though she had proven to have some skill in it, judging how easily she'd managed to disarm Robin back when she was still playing the part of Masquerade.

Pheromones, she knew from her research –because she'd done some extensive research on the subject when she'd discovered she might had an aptitude towards it– could cause the subject to become highly suggestible, hence how she'd managed to convince Robin to drop his eskrima sticks so easily.

Storm Chaser breathed in and out deeply and gave him her biggest and most flirtatious smile (and that was saying something, because Storm Chaser was definitely not a flirtatious person), feeling a light ripple on the air. For the most part her pheromone control was one she didn't notice most of the time, being rather subconscious, but she had proven that she had at least some conscious control of it.

She focused hard on the man on front of her.

"You didn't see anything unusual," she said, "and you're going to go about your business."

His eyes slid out of focus as the suggestion took root and he drifted away from her, though not enough to warrant attention, allowing Storm Chaser a small sigh of relief as she turned back to her work again.

She pilfered a vial from one of the boxes on the shelf, pulling a black cylinder from her pocket in order to lock the substance safely inside, before returning it to her pocket and searching for a nearby vacant computer. It was a sad testament of the security that she found one with very little effort.

Storm Chaser's fingers tapped out against the keyboard, clipping her flash drive into the slot as she waded through the information on the server before finding the information she was looking for.

Then there was a sound like metal banging and distant yelling. Storm Chaser grimaced; her teammates were not known for their subtlety.

There was an odd twinge in the back of her head and then Miss Martian's voice rang clear as day in her mind: Is everyone online?

Yeah, came Superboy's grumble.

You know it, beautiful, Kid Flash said and Storm Chaser couldn't resist rolling her eyes, scanning her eyes over a mutated chemical formula.

Good, Aqualad said, we need to regroup.

Busy now, Robin countered.

Seconded, Storm Chaser concurred and Kid Flash made his complaints loud and clear.

You two were the ones that vanished without a word!

Storm Chaser ignored him, and she was certain that Robin had done so as well, her attention was better suited on the screen before her eyes. It looked to her as though the chemical formula she was seeing recorded was a combination of the usual Venom and the Blockbuster formula from Project Cadmus…but how had Kobra managed to get that formula?

Robin, Storm Chaser, now! Storm Chaser grimaced at Aqualad's voice echoing in her skull, but she couldn't very well leave.

I'll meet you on the outside, she said instead, and she was sure if they weren't so pressed for time that Aqualad would have argued more.

Strategic retreat, he said instead, Kid clear a path!

But then Storm Chaser paid no heed to the noises beyond the enclosed room, nor the sounds of loud gunfire, she had a job to do, and they would get out without much trouble.

She zoomed in on the chemical formula…how had they managed to bond the separate formulas together? They'd seen the effects of the Blockbuster formula back at Project Cadmus, and it was overwhelmingly negative, though she would concede that the increase in strength was quite something and maybe some scientists under the employ of Kobra had found a way to combine the two to create an additive reaction.

Her fingers tapped the down key and she frowned, pursing her lips, hardly noticing how the sounds had faded out. The new Kobra-Venom's effects were permanent and in many ways disfiguring.

Storm Chaser's eyes scanned over the documents in the files.


The blocked off tunnel was where the change in leadership was transferred from Robin to Aqualad, less than ideal conditions, but they all knew who was better at getting their point across, and it definitely wasn't Robin, at least, not right now.

"Okay, but, elephant in the room," Kid Flash said sharply with his arms crossed, "has anyone seen my cousin?"

"She's still linked," Miss Martian informed him.

Sorry, came Storm Chaser's voice, but Kelpie was giving such a rousing speech, I figured silence was the way to go.

Aqualad sighed at the nickname, which made Superboy snort and Miss Martian smile, but the other two weren't surprised.

Amy, where are you? Kid Flash demanded.

Back at the warehouse, where did you think I was? Storm Chaser snorted.

Thought you were going to meet up with us, Robin prompted with an arched eyebrow.

I will, Storm Chaser said, but I was kind of busy with what Batman told me to do.

Which was? Miss Martian asked inquisitively.

That would be telling.

Kid Flash rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

Don't worry, I only got caught by one guy, and he's not talking, Storm Chaser sounded positively gleeful, which was a good reason to be suspicious.

Why's that? Superboy asked.

Do we want to know? Robin corrected.

Well…I might have suggested he not tell anyone about it, Storm Chaser wheedled.

There was silence as the others tried to make sense of it, confusion being the clearest feeling present on their faces.

Tell me you didn't, Kid Flashed muttered in exasperation.

C'mon, Wally, it's like you don't know me…besides, it's a subconscious thing, Storm Chaser defended.

You flirted with a Kobra member? Robin finally managed.

Flirted is such a strong word and he definitely wasn't my type, Storm Chaser countered sourly. By the way, they're fixing whatever Robin broke in the helicopter, so we could use a plan, a really good fool-proof one.

They all looked to Aqualad. We'll need to regroup first, Storm Chaser, keep an eye on Sportsmaster until you can meet us.

Will do, Storm Chaser's disembodied voice came.


"Cause a distraction, he says," Storm Chaser muttered to herself from where she was hiding within a cloud above the amassed people outside the operational helicopter. "Like I don't know how to cause a distraction."

You know we can hear you, right? Miss Martian asked with a vein of amusement, but Storm Chaser ignored her, dropping out of the sky to land on the ground a good couple of feet from Sportsmaster –and he was a lot bigger than she'd originally thought, it was like he was pure muscle– and surrounded by Kobra members who took note of her sudden appearance by jolting wildly.

"Hi!" Storm Chaser said, grinning as she twirled her batons in her hands. "Who wants to play a game of 'catch the meta-human'?"

Then the guns were trained on her and fired, but while Storm Chaser's speed was nowhere near the level of Kid Flash's, she'd learned that being quick and clever was always better than using brute strength. Storm Chaser vaulted out of the way, colliding her batons against the nearest Kobra members, knocking them out cold with a short burst of electricity. She'd managed to get ten before Kid Flash joined the fray.

He knocked his way through the cultists, grabbing Storm Chaser up so fast that the ones nearest her had to leap back in surprise, but Kid Flash only held her as long as it took to drop her off as Aqualad's side as the other members of the Team made their appearance, before heading off to take out some more cultists.

Aqualad had formed a thick stream of water that was controlled by his water-bearers, sending the water against the permanently mutated human that was called Mammoth. Storm Chaser extended a hand to cause a spark of electricity to form in the air around her hand before she pressed it against the stream of water.

The next thing either of them knew, Mammoth's body was contorting from the shock of the lightning being delivered to his system.

"Remind me never to anger you," Aqualad said once the man-beast was out cold.

Storm Chaser cast him a smile that was a bit too close to a smirk before rushing off to assist her cousin who'd gained an impressive number of Kobra members on his tail.

She socked one painfully in the face before pulling a bola from her utility belt and throwing it in order to trap another.

The pair lost track of their teammates in seconds, but it didn't matter; they all knew the plan.

The helicopter took flight with Sportsmaster on board, but that had been part of the plan as well, followed by a few moments of victory on his part until the strategically placed bomb on the merchandise blew, causing the helicopter to fall back towards the warehouse, alight with fire.

Storm Chaser focused her goggles over her eyes and scowled. That had definitely been Sportsmaster who had leapt out of the burning helicopter to freedom in the jungle, but it would be foolish to go after him now.

In the chaos Kobra had vanished too, but Storm Chaser wasn't surprised.

"Wow, great covert mission, guys," Storm Chaser voiced, locking an arm around Robin's neck. "I can see we've got the makings of greatness here."

Kid Flash flicked her cheek and Robin tried to throw off her arm which she then examined with a wince.

"Aw, man," she complained, "I ripped out my stitches!"

"That's what you care about?" Superboy asked dubiously.

"Girl's got enough scars, Gene Pool, that's all I'm saying."

And deep in her pocket the Kobra-Venom sloshed in it's container, ready to be analyzed upon their arrival back at the Cave.

Storm Chaser got the feeling it was going to be a long night.


"A simple recon mission, observe and report," Batman said sharply and Amara shifted uncomfortably in the line-up that was her and her teammates, of course, she thought she did a better job at observing and reporting, but she wasn't going to admit that now. "You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then…good job."

Amara was sure her neck had cracked when she whipped her head around to stare at Batman, and she wasn't the only one.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy," Batman said, "how you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success, and how you choose who leads determines character."

Batman was about to make his way towards the zeta-tube when Amara cleared her throat loudly, waving her hand obnoxiously. "Hey, how soon do you want the results to the Kobra-Venom I swiped from the cultists?"

"That's what you were doing for Batman?" Robin demanded, eyebrows raising above his sun glasses and Amara winked.

"How long do you need?" Batman asked instead.

Amara considered it for a moment. "Give me…ten hours, that should give you the most in-depth. I'll send you the results when I get them."

Batman inclined his head before making his way to the exit, leaving the Team together.

"Sneaking around in the warehouse, Amy, really?"

Amara crossed her arms. "Coming from the guy who skid and landed in front of Kobra and Bane's men?"

Wally flushed to the tips of his ears. "Oh, shut up," he muttered as Dick cackled.

"Why wouldn't Batman have been up front about you gathering a sample of the product to be tested?" Kaldur wondered aloud.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I always figured it was a test, you know, to see how trustworthy I am after coming back. You know what they say: once you go grey, you never go back." She grinned widely at them before pulling her phone out of her pocket and pressing it to her ear.

"Hey, babe," she said, rubbing at her eyes. "No, I just got back and I'm ready to hit the hay…the fuck, Jade? It's too early in the morning for this…all right, fine, I'll be there as long as there's coffee, lots of coffee."

Amara shoved her phone back in her pocket. "Sorry," she said, "gotta run, meeting the girlfriend for breakfast."

"Is this the girlfriend that's not really your girlfriend or have you actually started dating?" Wally called after her and Amara laughed before gave no answer.

"She is very confusing," M'gann said once she'd gone.

"Just wait," Dick snorted. "It's only going to get worse."