Tempest: Chapter Forty-Five: The Truth Revealed


"How'd your last day go?"

Amara shrugged as she watched Dick and Kaldur try to land hits on one another during a brief training session. "It was fine. I helped with a wedding bouquet, cut a few stalks, you know, the usual stuff."

Artemis rolled her eyes.

"It actually ended up being Ella's last day too," Amara admitted as they watched Kaldur trip Dick in order to unbalance him. "Apparently the job she's taking in Gotham City really wants her, but she was only due to work for another week, so it wasn't that big of a deal for Sandra."

The pair ceased their fight and Wally, who had come from Keystone after his parents let him go for the day griped about their most recent supervisors, which happened to be Zatara and Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel, it appeared, really liked hanging around with them, but they were the closest to his physical age, so it made sense to Amara. Zatara, on the other hand, was rather quiet and serious. It made her almost miss Red Tornado.

The Zeta-tube glowed with light and the computerized voice uttered: "Recognize: Batman –02."

Batman had barely even appeared before he'd barked towards the holographic computer, "Computer, national news."

The screen showed the reporter Cat Grant on sight in Metropolis. Amara had met her once, she worked with Iris.

"The initial attack was short-lived, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve," Cat Grant said before an image of Metropolis was shown with a large green plant in the center, its vines spreading. "And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."

"Should we get out there?" Dick asked, ever-eager.

"No," Batman said swiftly. "The League will soon have the situation under control. That's not why I'm here. According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus' blockbuster formula to Kobra." Sportsmaster's image appeared on the screen and Artemis looked away.

"Who combined it with Bane's venom to create Kobra venom," Wally added.

"Which the Brain used to create his animal army," Dick continued.

"And upgrade Wolf." Conner patted said large wolf on the head when he gave a low growl at the mention of the Brain.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars like the ones used at Belle Reve penitentiary," M'gann said and Amara wrinkled her nose.

"Batman, is it possible that plant thingy's on Kobra venom, too?" Artemis asked, unease clear on her face.

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis," Batman said, pulling up the holographic keyboard in order to display the chemical formula on the screen and Amara frowned at it. "The vine's cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra venom variant."

"Trace amounts are not very much," Amara pointed out only to gain the attention of everyone in the room. "That's a small amount of the Kobra-venom variant that's doing that kind of damage? That's a problem."

"These cannot be coincidences," Kaldur agreed, "unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide."

Dick drew up the holographic keyboard and began typing and Amara shot his fingers a curious glance.

"Exactly." Batman's eyes narrowed. "It's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of secret society of super-villains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

"You got that right," Dick muttered before several other videos joined the first. "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei—"

But then all the images turned to static.

"Dude," Wally complained.

"It's not me," Dick insisted, fingers tapping faster over the keyboard. Amara would have helped, but she didn't really like holographic tech, she needed something tangible to touch; it was the reason she had her own computer set up in the med-bay for Oracle. "Someone's cutting into the satellite signal. All satellite signals."

Then the static cleared and all the images displayed Gotham's infamous Joker. He was about as crazy and murderous as they came with green hair and completely white skin and a smile stretched tight across his face. He'd given Batman and Robin trouble on more than one occasion.

The grin was rather obvious as the Joker gave the camera a small tap. "Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement from the Injustice League." The camera flicked towards a group of six villains as the Joker zoomed in on the figures, focusing on one in particular with a harsh chuckle from the Joker behind the screen.

Amara recognized Count Vertigo from the files at the Justice League had, his accent thick. "We are responsible for the attacks on your cities. If you wish to save them, a ransom of ten billion American dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit, but the longer your governments wait…" The camera was shifted back to the Joker's grinning face.

"The more we get to have our…jollies." He gave another laugh before the image turned to static once more.

Batman raised a hand to his ear, no doubt getting information on the other end of the comm. "Roger that, Aquaman. The UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback, but it won't come to that."

Dick was busy rewinding the video in order to see the figures that had claimed responsibility for the attacks, locking onto each of their faces. "Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy—"

Outwardly, Amara gave no indication that she was fazed by the mention of the chloro-kinetic villain, something Batman was quick to note. Perhaps she had no suspicions regarding her biological mother…but that glint in her eye was oddly calculating.

"—Ultra-Humanite," Dick continued, "Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan…seven heavy hitters. Probably behind everyone and everything we've faced."

"There's your secret society," Wally mentioned.

"Not so secret anymore." Artemis crossed her arms.

"Perhaps after India they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer," Kaldur considered.

"That's a bit proactive, don't you think?" Amara arched an eyebrow.

Wally grinned and pumped his fist. "I say we go kick some plant creature butt!"

"The Justice League will handle the plants," Batman countered. "I have a different job for this team."

"Oh, man," Wally grumbled only to yelp when Artemis punched him in the arm.

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it."

"You realize what you're really asking them to do," Zatara mentioned and Amara shifted uneasily on her feet. The Justice League was going to fight off plants while they searched for the control system, which would no doubt be guarded by several members of the so called Injustice League.

"They're ready," Batman said with certainty.

"Ready for what?" Wally asked in confusion only to be punched in the arm again by Artemis. "Ow! Will you cut that—"

"Hello, Wally," Artemis said in a way that was reminiscent of M'gann's "Hello, Megan!"s that she was known for saying, "if the big guns are fighting plants, who do you think we'll be fighting?"

"I don't know," Wally snapped, "I guess we'll—"

Then Artemis pointed at the screen and it was as though a light-bulb had lit inside his head. "Oh…"

Amara rolled her eyes as Dick brought up a holographic representation of the world in order for Zatara to search for any signs of concentrated sorcerous activity.

Zatara raised his hands and chanted out: "Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!"

Amara wasn't familiar with spells, but she was pretty sure that they were said in reverse or backwards, though she sure exactly why.

A red dot appeared on the globe. "There," Zatara said. "That is where you will find the Injustice League's central control system."

"Coordinates locked in," Dick said, scaling the location down. "The Louisiana bayou."

"We are on our way," Kaldur promised as they all rushed towards the locker rooms to change into their gear.

Batman couldn't help but feel uneasy about Amara being on a mission to apprehend her mother, the very same one who had been practically nonexistent in crime for the past year. Flash wouldn't approve, but there was little that could be done.


Storm Chaser was wound very tight. She didn't think the Team had actually fought so many super-villains at once. She played with the ends of her batons where they were strapped to her legs with unease, her legs twitching in her seat on the bio-ship.

Miss Martian gave a sudden groan, pressing her hand to her forehead.

"You all right?" Superboy asked in concern.

"Dizzy," she muttered.

"Martians get airsick?" Robin asked in surprise.

"She does look a bit greener than usual," Kid Flash admitted, twisting around to look at Miss Martian.

"Not me," Miss Martian said, shaking her head. "Her."

Storm Chaser and Artemis couldn't really be sure which one she was referring to, so they both looked at one another in confusion.

"I feel fine," Artemis said.

"Same," agreed Storm Chaser.

"No, the bio-ship," Miss Martian corrected her phrasing. "She's trying to shield us, but—"

She swerved the bio-ship and Storm Chaser clutched tightly to her seat, but a moment later the camouflage mode had failed completely and a forceful hit to the underside of the ship sent them flying.

Storm Chaser might have yelled a bit, but she certainly wasn't the only one as they landed in a swamp with vines wrapping around the ship dragging it under while a hole was ripped into the top by the man known as Black Adam before Superboy punching him back and they were dragged under completely with water quickly rushing in through the hole in the ceiling of the ship.

Storm Chaser's heart raced as she struggled with grabbing her rebreather out of her pouch. That whole incident with the Reds had done nothing for her fear of drowning. She calmed slightly when compressed air filled her lungs while Miss Martian created an opening in the bottom.

Everyone out, Aqualad's voice echoed in her head and Storm Chaser followed after Kid Flash until they came out on the shoreline.

Miss Martian pressed a hand to her head, watching the bio-ship pulled down into the swamp through the trees. "She's in shock," she said breathlessly, "She'll need time to recover."

A wave rippled through the air, sending them all to their knees and Storm Chaser didn't even need to hazard a guess to know that it was from Count Vertigo. After all, he was known for his headgear that released a distorting psychic force.

Storm Chaser's head spun and she leaned against the tree nearest her when Aqualad shot his own wave of water at the Count, disrupting his psychic attack.

Robin, Miss Martian, Storm Chaser, disappear, Aqualad ordered. We will keep them busy, you three fulfill the mission objective.

Miss Martian vanished and Robin and Storm Chaser disappeared into the forest while the others kept the attention on them.

Storm Chaser and Miss Martian hovered in the air on either side of Robin as they made their way deeper and deeper into the forest until the sounds of their friends battling Count Vertigo and Black Adam had faded entirely.

I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others, Miss Martian mentioned, her anxiety clear. Should we—?

Sorry, that's not the gig, Robin said apologetically, stepping through mud to look through the branches. This is.

They all peered through to look upon some kind of energy plant, the top out of which was growing a plant with large vines.

The Injustice League central control system.

That plant must be the thing that's in control of other ones, Storm Chaser said, nodding towards the plant in question with vines spread wide. Take it out and the other ones should die too.

Like an antenna, Robin realized and Storm Chaser nodded before twisting around suddenly as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

Looks like we've got company, she said shortly, tensing as the woman stepped forward. She was wearing a tight green uniform, but that didn't stop her skin itself from being green. Her deep red hair fell down her back in waves and her green eyes were the colors of leaves.

"I've got this," Storm Chaser said out loud, sensing some kind of familiarity with the woman standing before her. "You guys go on ahead."

"You sure?" Miss Martian asked as Storm Chaser pulled her batons loose, gripping them tightly.

"She's sure," Robin said, casting Storm Chaser one last glance before he and Miss Martian took off, leaving Storm Chaser with Poison Ivy.

She wasn't being very talkative. Storm Chaser wondered why, but that didn't stop her from rushing forward with her batons, dodging around the vines that shot towards her.

Was it just her or did Poison Ivy seem a bit reluctant to fight?

Electricity rolled off her batons, and she sliced through the vines without too much trouble, and when she got within striking distance, Poison Ivy actually moved, and it was a movement much faster than Storm Chaser had been expecting when she opened her hand and blew a fine powder into Storm Chaser's face.

Storm Chaser coughed and stumbled backwards, reaching for her pocket that contained a powder of her own making in order to do the same, but the world spun around her. She reached out to brace herself against a nearby tree only to find it wasn't there.

She tipped sideways, sprawling onto the ground, staring above her as her body got steadily heavier and heavier until her eyes slid shut and she fell into blackness.

"I'm sorry about this, baby," Poison Ivy murmured before pulling her daughter's unconscious form over one shoulder and taking off into the forest.


The plant had been destroyed and the villains apprehended in the sudden arrival of the Justice League, which was much appreciated, because Kid Flash had broken his arm when he'd been thrown into a tree and Aqualad had resorted to donning the Helmet of Fate.

"Hang on, where's Amy?" Kid Flash asked, looking around quickly for any sight of his cousin.

Robin and Miss Martian shared a confused look. "She stayed behind to fight off Poison Ivy," Miss Martian said and Flash went positively white.

"She did what?" he demanded.

"Poison Ivy wasn't among those apprehended," Batman mentioned.

"She must have gotten away," Aqualad remarked regretfully as he looked around the area and Artemis pulled two silver rods from the mud.

"Her batons are over here!"

"Poison Ivy kidnapped her?" Kid Flash asked weakly, his arm flopping in his makeshift splint, pain and worry mingling on his face. "Why?"

But Batman and Flash exchanged a glance that he couldn't comprehend, and he didn't think he'd seen his uncle so worried, even after Storm Chaser had been shot off Queen Industries.


Amara roused slowly, everything around her hazy and leaving her in a state of confusion. She was lying on something soft, which was odd, because the last thing she remembered was falling to the ground in that forest, and it had been much harder.

She blinked her eyes open slowly before looking around the room with vague interest. She was in some kind of apartment bedroom. It was kind of small and without any kind of decoration on the walls, like the room had been stripped.

"I may have overdone the sedative powder just a bit," a voice mentioned regretfully and Amara was startled to realize that she wasn't alone. "You've been out for about an hour."

Amara jolted away from the speaker who was standing at the edge of the bed, the speaker who just so happened to be Poison Ivy. She reached for her legs but her batons were gone; Amara had never felt so naked.

But Poison Ivy was quick to throw up her arms in a nonthreatening manner. "It's all right," she assured her, "I didn't bring you here to hurt you."

Amara pulled herself into a standing position, glowering distrustfully.

"I'm Pamela Isley," the woman said and Amara froze, the last name familiar to her.

"Isley?" she asked, still eyeing the woman. "That's the name they gave me at—"

"Cadmus," Poison Ivy finished for her, "yes, I know."

"Know?" Amara repeated, tensing. "How do you know?"

Poison Ivy appeared to swallow her nerves. "They gave you my name because I'm your biological mother, Amy."

Amara's lips parted in shock. When she'd done research into her mother, she'd considered the idea of Poison Ivy being her mother, mostly because she was the only chloro-kinetic in the Justice League's database. But she'd never thought that Poison Ivy would actually end up as her mother.

"You…" her voice grew weak. "You're my mother?"

Poison Ivy smiled sheepishly. "Surprise."

Shock had over-taken Amara and she raised her hands to knot them into her hair.

"I found out about you just before you had your…accident in Star City," Poison Ivy said gently, trying not to upset her too much. "That's when I came here. I didn't just want to drop that bomb on you…I thought it would be better if I eased you into it."

"Eased me into it?" Amara asked bleakly before looking at her and starting in surprise as the green slowly faded from her face and as she unclipped a voice modulator from her throat that was nearly identical to the one that Jade had gotten Amara for her birthday. Amara knew that face. She didn't know how she couldn't have seen who she was when she was staring her right in the face. "Ella?"

"I thought it would be best if you got to know me first," Ella said gently.

Amara was drowning and she didn't know what to do.

"I know I'm not what you expected," she asked when Amara stood in stunned silence. "I know that your birth father was horrible to you…but you are my daughter, Amara Pamela Allen, and I love every piece of you that he despised."

Amara's lower lip trembled and she chewed on the inside of her cheek, a habit she had unknowingly picked up from Ella.

"You don't have to believe what I say, but it is the truth," Ella said before she pulled a vial full of thick red and held it out to her. "But this is your proof. Test my blood against yours and you'll know I'm telling the truth."

The meta-human reached a hand out and grasped the vial gingerly. "How do I know this is yours?" she asked distrustfully, not even sure what was up and what was down or if day came before night or it was the other way around.

"If you test it against my DNA in the Justice League files, you'll know," Ella said with certainty.

"I could never get into your files," Amara said before realization slowly dawned on her, "they were always…encrypted…"

Her brow furrowed and Ella watched her slowly puzzle it out on her own.

"Dad never liked me being around plants," she muttered, more to herself than to Ella, "he never liked the idea of me working at a flower shop…"

"He guessed who I was a few weeks ago," Ella admitted awkwardly and Amara's head jerked up to stare at her. "He wanted me to stay away from you."

Evidently he had failed, but Amara's mind was racing a mile a minute. "But he knew, didn't he?" she asked brokenly. "He knew this whole time, didn't he?"

The question wasn't directed towards Ella, that much she could tell, but she knew the look her daughter was wearing very well: betrayal.

"I –I have to go," Amara said, bracing her hand against the wall, positively white, and Ella didn't even try to stop her.

"I'm heading back to Gotham City tonight," Ella mentioned. "I know you're probably not ready to deal with everything…I know me being your mother has come as a bit of a shock…but I'll be there if you want to…" The words went unsaid and Amara gave a jerky nod before disappearing.


It took a minimal amount of effort in order to break into STAR Labs when it was shut down for the night.

The blood Poison Ivy had given her was her own, and running it against the DNA on file for Poison Ivy was rather simple. And then Amara ran it against her own.

It was a familial match, the kind of match that a mother and a child would have.

Amara looked at the results and buried her head into her hands. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to do. She'd wanted to know who her mother was for so long, but now she knew and she felt as though the floor had been pulled out from under her feet.

How many times had she asked Barry if he'd run her DNA through the Justice League's system, and how many times had he said there were no hits?

How many times had he lied to her face?

Amara wanted burst into angry tears, she wanted to throw a fit…but what point was there to damaging STAR Labs property if he wasn't there to see it?

She wiped her eyes and replaced her mask before wiping all the data she'd introduced the STAR Labs hard-drive and threw the vial of blood in the biohazard box before leaving as silently as she'd entered.

She didn't know how long she flew around before she came to a stop above her house…the Allens house, she thought bitterly. Amara sat in the branches of the oak tree outside her window for the longest time.

Amara had seen the light on downstairs, so she knew Iris was still up…but she didn't know what to do.

She wanted to run down stairs and throw her arms around her mother and spill the whole story, she wanted to run away from everything.

The stronger will won, and she cracked the window and slipped silently inside.

Amara grabbed the rucksack from her closet and started filling it with things she needed; all of her clothes, her combat boots, toiletries, the laptop Dick had given her with Ella's skin pasted to the front, the crossbow that Roy had left her, the voice modulator and gun that Jade had gifted her, the small laptop she kept all her BlackNet things backed up on.

Then she opened the lower drawer in her desk and pulled out the box she kept locked within it and dropped it into the bag before zipping it up and disappearing out the window once more, her heart in her throat.


Wally knew something was wrong when the storm raged around the Cave, because there was something distinctly off about it. Maybe it was the years of being Amara's cousin, but it had left him with a sense of something being wrong with storms, particularly storms that Amara made.

Most of the members of the Justice League had gone, barring those that mentored the members of the Team, and Roy of course. Roy was especially displeased, mostly because Amara had disappeared practically under their noses and none of them had noticed.

Amara was the only thing that really got under his skin that bad.

There was a clap of thunder outside and then a minor explosion within the Cave that had everyone turning to look in the direction of the noise.

"What was that?" Artemis asked.

"Maybe the lightning hit something?" M'gann suggested, her green face tight with worry.

"I hear footsteps," Conner mentioned and a moment later a figure in black appeared.

Wally could not have faked how relieved he was to see her, and neither could Barry, because he'd rushed forward, so happy to see her, only to duck swiftly at the bolt of electricity aimed at this head.

That got everyone's attention at once, because Barry and Amara had a great relationship as father-daughter relationships went, and Amara was never the type to lash out against him with her atmo-kinesis.

Wally gaped.

"Hey, Amy!" Barry called, startled. "What—"

Rain had soaked through her uniform, but her hair was still spiky with static and the electricity practically rolled off her. Wally didn't think he'd ever seen her so furious.

"You're a liar, Barry Allen, a terrible, rotten, no good liar," Amara said, her voice raw with her fury.

"Amy, calm down," Dinah tried to placate her, but she appeared to be beyond that.

"Do you know what he did?" she demanded of her mentor.

Dinah's brow furrowed in confusion and she shared that same look with Oliver and Roy.

"He told me for years that he didn't know who she was," Amara hissed angrily, "he told me he tested my DNA against the Justice League database and found nothing."

"What're you—?" Roy started to ask only to stop as realization dawned.

"My mother!" Amara roared with the thunder booming overhead and Barry's jaw tightened. "What's the matter, Barry? Did you think I was going to turn out like her? Did you regret it? Taking Poison Ivy's daughter as your own?"

Surprise rippled through the room, most predominantly with the Team. No one had considered that Amara's unknown mother would be Poison Ivy herself…though it did make sense given some of her odd quirks.

"Of course not!" Hurt flashed across Barry's face at the very thought of regretting adopting Amara. "Amy, I love you!"

Amara shook her head and it was then that Wally saw the tears leaking out from under her mask. "Mardon was right," she said bitterly, "you can really only trust yourself…consider this my official resignation, I'm done."

"Done?" Dick voiced, his eyes wide behind his shades.

"With all of it," Amara said frostily, "the Justice League and its hypocrisy, and you!" She pointed aggressively at Barry. "You stay the hell away from me!"

And then she stormed out the way she came, and Wally joined Roy as he ran after her, yelling her name, trying to get her to come back, but when they both made it to the hole she'd made, she'd gone.

All that was left was the storm raging around them.


The air was so thin, but she was gradually getting used the feeling as she hiked up further and further. Mount Elbrus was the highest mountain in Europe, but its peaks were at such a height that not many made it to either of its summits. There were many paths up it, of course, but she was taking one that wasn't really known to the general public.

She consulted the map again before looking up, relieved to see a compound of sorts carved into the side of the mountain. She wasn't sure how that had been managed, but it seemed relatively stable.

Her rucksack weighed heavily on her back as she continued the climb until she came out on some very ancient steps and she practically crawled up them, so exhausted that when she reached solid stone, she collapsed on her back breathing hard.

She'd barely gotten her breath back when a man stood over her in robes the color of storm clouds. "Quite the impressive climb," he said. "What is the name to go with the face?"

She sat up, swallowing one last breath of air. "My name is Amaryllis Harper."


AN: Book one of Tempest has officially come to an end :)