Tempest: Chapter Fifty-Seven: Homecoming
Amara's first thought was: Fuck.
Her second thought was: Shit.
Her third thought was to quote Star Wars.
There were two ways a situation like this could go: rather terribly and out Amara as the sidekick known as Storm Chaser that apparently was a fan of extended absences or mostly okay, wherein Amara's hero identity remained intact and her would-be-killer's words were treated with dubious intent.
Personally, Amara was aiming for the second choice; it was less likely to get her killed.
Harley's collapsible baton was heavy in the pocket of her jacket, but even Amara knew that was a bad idea. Storm Chaser, the one rumored to be the daughter of Weather Wizard was the one with the batons; it was practically a death sentence for Amara.
But she could work with fiery, self-defense-trained, Amara Isley-Allen, the daughter of a CCPD Forensic Scientist and Reporter.
She forced her eyes to widen comically at the sight of the gun aimed at her head, like she hadn't ever been quite so close to one before and Amara only had a split second to lurch her body forward and out of the way of the bullet that pierced through the window.
Someone screamed, but Amara paid them no heed, kicking out her foot to knock the gun from the woman's hand. Retrospectively, wearing a dress probably hadn't been the best plan for the day, but not even a dress was going to stop Amara from kicking some ass.
"I don't know where you get your delusions laser-brain," Amara retorted quickly, her hands curling into tight fists. It had suddenly dawned on her how much at a disadvantage. This woman was impressive and tall and had eyes colder than Weather Wizard, and that was saying something, because Amara very much doubted that the man had ever looked on her with anything akin to kindness. "My father died when I was eight. I don't know who you're looking for, but it's definitely not me."
"I doubt that," the woman said, her voice rough and scratchy as she struck.
Amara was used to taking on opponents whose size far exceeded hers, and there were times that strength was no match for speed, so Amara swung out of the way to land in the wide aisle, rocketing her balled fist into the woman's shoulder blade, careening her sideways, but hardly doing any damage.
Was this lady pure muscle?
That was simply outrageous. Amara's day was definitely, definitely not crash.
It was a good thing that her opponent wasn't much of a talker as she landed a painful punch to Amara's cheek that sent her crashing back against the door that led into the next compartment. Amara gritted her teeth, tucking and rolling to avoid the fist aimed at her head.
It'd been awhile since someone had actually given their all to try to kill her; it was a bit refreshing.
Amara leapt, locking her arms around the woman's neck, clinging vainly as she whipped her body around in an effort to throw Amara off, and not for the first time, Amara wished she'd been wearing her mask.
The Team could've taken the Bio-ship, but Dick had loudly vetoed that; that was just going to get them reprimanded by Batman, besides, you didn't go and announce your presence when you were going somewhere without your hero uniform. The bus was slower, but it was also safer.
On our way, Wally texted his cousin, but she didn't answer, something that made him frown. Amara was a stickler about her phone; she had it on her at all times after being call-central when she worked as Oracle for the League. And she'd been texting him less than an hour ago.
He tapped his fingers against his phone and Artemis arched an eyebrow. "Worried about something?"
Wally leaned back and sighed. "My cousin could get in trouble by just existing, it's happened before…but I'm probably over-thinking it."
Of course, with Amara, one could never be too sure. There'd been the time Merlyn had shot her off Queen Industries and that man had forced his way into Amara's room with a subcutaneous micro-tracker…all because of Mark Mardon. Everything that had ever gone wrong in his cousin's life always seemed to lead back to Weather Wizard, and Wally couldn't help but feel guilty about being glad that his father wasn't like hers.
Artemis kept her eyes on him for a long moment and Wally willed the heat to stop rising in his cheeks and at his ears, and then she turned her grey eyes from him, allowing him to relax.
They didn't speak again until the Team piled out of the bus when it reached the train station.
It was clear outside, the blue sky bright above them with puffs of white crawling lazily over the blue, which was a contrast with the two police cars parked outside, their lights still on.
Wally felt a trickle of unease down his spine as he sped up his footsteps, practically leading the group inside (not that they even knew where to go anyways) and in the direction of the track that Amara was supposed to come in on.
The fear was well-warranted, because there was Amara leaning against the train making gestures with her hands to the two police officers standing there, writing down her words with serious expressions on their faces.
Barry was standing beside her, his own face rather stony as he kept a hand tight around hers…or was it the other way around?
She looked up suddenly, turning her head to where the Team was standing. She gave them a half-smile and a smile wave, and it was the smile that had highlighted the blossoming bruise on the side of her face that had M'gann wincing.
They saw Amara make a gesture towards them and her father asked the policemen something briefly before giving her a nod and taking the bag she'd come with, giving her a little push towards her friends with a soft murmur in her ear.
Amara moved quickly and Wally intercepted her, wrapping his arms tightly around his cousin as he spun her in a circle, enough to make her laugh as he set her down.
"Oh, don't look like that," Amara admonished when they all crowded around her in concern. "It's only a bruise."
"A few of them," Conner noticed with a scowl.
"Where'd you get them?" Dick asked, eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses.
"Some crazy lady that thought I was the daughter of Weather Wizard," Amara said carelessly and they all stiffened. It was one thing if Storm Chaser was the rumored offspring of the atmo-kinetic villain, that public rumor was completely based on the similarities in their abilities, but Amara Allen had no connection with Mark Mardon, and the effort to keep it that way had been rather painstaking. "I guess she wasn't expecting a kickass daughter of a CCPD forensic scientist."
She gave them a wide grin and Dick shook his head. Only Amara would be able to make light of a situation like the one she'd found herself in.
"You look like you got your ass kicked instead," Artemis pointed out, but Amara winked.
Of course, that had probably been her plan. Distance herself from the belief of being similar to Storm Chaser. Storm Chaser might've gotten a few bruises, but she wouldn't have looked as thrown around as Amara did. And Amara could claim to have some skill in self-protection that her father had forced her into, just not enough to come out unscathed.
"Clever," Kaldur admitted and Amara knocked her hip against his leg, positively preening.
Artemis rolled her eyes, leaning close to inspect the bruises on her partner's face as M'gann dug around in her purse for a tube of concealer.
"The color might be a little off," M'gann mentioned, looking from the concealer to Amara's skin tone, which was several shades lighter than the one M'gann wore with her human alias, Megan Morse, "but it'll make the bruise less obvious."
Amara grumbled under her breath as the cosmetic was smoothed lightly over her bruised flesh.
"It's a minor miracle you didn't mess up your lipstick," Artemis snorted.
"I'm a god," Amara declared and the whole group laughed.
"You're not a god," Artemis said with certainty and Amara pouted, rolling her eyes.
"A girl can dream," she muttered petulantly, "but Katya might actually be the daughter of Perun, so she's much closer to being a god…"
"You're ridiculous," M'gann laughed.
"Wally! The best thing happened today!" When M'gann had finished her work, Amara had positively latched onto her cousin, eyes gleaming. "When she said I was the daughter of Weather Wizard, I said 'I don't know where you get your delusions, laser-brain'!"
Wally's eyebrows rose high on his forehead and then he burst into laughter.
"You didn't!" he managed when he finally had the breath to gasp.
"I did!" Amara did a little sway from side to side. "Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do when there's a gun pointed at your head, but if you're going to go down, then Star Wars is the way to go."
"You're absolutely ridiculous," Dick corrected M'gann's earlier words and Amara blew him a kiss.
"Well, of course," she said unapologetically before dragging Wally by the hand, "come on, guys, Dad said to wait outside while he sorts everything out."
And they all turned to look over Amara's shoulders to see where the Flash was standing in his civilian identity, a deep frown like a scar across his lips.
Yeah, they wouldn't want to be around Barry Allen on a war-path.
"Are you coming back to the Team, then?" Kaldur inquired as Barry left the station to see the group of them sitting on the steps leading into it.
"I hope so…I think the Big Man is going to put me on probation," Amara said sourly, pursing her lips in aggravation. "But that's not really unexpected, so whatever. Mom Squared think I need to be open-minded about everything that happened, which I think is rich, considering how good at holding grudges Mom is."
"Mom Squared?" Barry voiced in amusement, and several heads twisted to look at him in surprise, not hearing him approach, well, everyone except Conner, who had super-hearing.
"Yeah," Amara grinned, "Mom and Harley, 'cause they're both my moms and they live together, two moms, so Mom Squared, its genius!"
Barry released a small laugh and maybe a few weeks ago it would've bothered him more, but if Pamela was willing to share her right to the child before him with him and Iris, he was going to take it.
"So, how'd it go?" Wally asked, nodding to the policemen taking away a woman in handcuffs that didn't have as many bruises on her as Amara did.
"They believe it's a case of mistaken identity."
The relief slumped so many shoulders.
"I told them that Amara's biological father died when she was eight, a few months before Iris and I adopted her, which I think is the same story you gave your attacker." The second half was aimed at Amara who gave a careless shrug.
"Unfortunately, someone in your compartment took a video of the attack with his phone," Barry added with an increasing annoyance and Amara stiffened. "You've already gone viral."
He held out his phone to her and Amara took it. "Star Wars Girl fights off Crazy Lady…not exactly the best title, if you ask me…" Amara read under the video to the comments.
Zafrina12: Imagine screwing up so bad that you try to kill the daughter of a member of CCPD, like DAMN
FrestOpum: Gotta feel for the girl, she probably just wanted a nice train ride…but also, KICKING ASS IN A DRESS, major kudos
Stormtrooper11: I don't know where you get your delusions, laser-brain, lol, classic
"So, are we in the clear?" Amara asked slowly, vaguely amused by the comment thread.
"I believe so," Barry said, taking the phone back from her and shoving it in his pocket. "But you might be called on to give a more official statement. The media might run with the story, but, from the looks of it, it wouldn't be a very big story, it's all very cut and dry, but I think you should wait until it blows over before getting back into Team business."
"Sounds like a plan," Amara yawned widely. "Can we take a nap now?"
To be honest, Amara should've probably slept on the train, but her attention had been rather focused on her laptop at the time. Oracle's work was never done.
"I'm fine," she assured her mother for the fifth time.
"I've seen that video, Amy, you most certainly aren't fine."
Amara grimaced, slumping back against the passenger seat of her father's car as he weaved them through traffic. "It looks worse than it is."
"The video or you?" Pamela responded without even a thought and Amara tenderly poked at the side of her face that had been dealt the most damage and was almost completely covered with concealer. The pain was down to a dull ache, with most of the feeling being rather numb.
"Both," Amara grumbled. "I'm just going to lay low in my room for awhile until it dies down…Dad thinks it'll be a week before the League lets me back in, anyways."
Her mother made a soft humming sound in the back of her throat and if Amara could see her face, she knew that the eyes that were identical to her own would have been narrowed almost into slits.
"Can I speak to your father for a minute?"
The question surprised Amara but all she did was hold the phone out to Barry. "It's for you," she said as they came to a stop behind a car at the stoplight.
Barry arched an eyebrow, but he still took the phone from her, answering it with a polite "Hello".
Amara twiddled her thumbs together, watching the streets go by once the green light switched from the red and the car started moving again. She sighed. She missed her motorcycle, but it was supposed to stay at Pamela and Harley's. They lived in a forest so a thirteen year old could actually get away with riding around on a motorcycle, but Iris and Barry lived on a street with houses that were rather close together, so the same couldn't be said.
Still, she was rather sour about it.
"Well, I thought you were rather stuck on the two weeks," Barry said with a frown and Amara looked to him quickly in confusion.
There was a long silence. "Ah," Barry said, "I guess it would make sense to have Amy out of the house for that…no, Iris and I would be more than happy to have her for a month…and maybe sometime soon we should work out the holiday matter…thank you, Pamela."
He returned the phone to Amara. "Love you, baby, be good for your parents, all right?" Pamela asked and Amara barely had time to promise she would when the phone connection cut off and she frowned suspiciously at her father.
"What was that all about?" she asked shrewdly.
"Your mother wants you to stay with us for a month," Barry said simply and Amara's eyes narrowed further. "There's some construction going on and she wants to keep you out of it."
"Construction," Amara repeated dubiously. "On the house?" The house was big enough, if you asked her, it didn't need any more construction.
"No, but on something near the house," he admitted. "It's supposed to be an early Christmas present for you and Harley and she doesn't want you figuring out what it is when it's still in the process of being built."
Amara scowled again; she hated surprises.
The sleep was well deserved and Amara lost track of the time quickly so that when she opened her eyes again, the light from the sun had long since faded, leaving her room bathed in darkness.
She could still see the DNA string ringed around the room that Wally and Barry had gone through a painstaking effort to paint on for her birthday, and the plants in her room had practically revitalized by exposure to her once more.
It was almost strange to be back in that room after everything had changed so much, yet everything was as she had left it; her closet doors wide open and half-empty, her books on genetics stacked on top of her bookshelf because she'd been too lazy to return them to their proper place, a ribbon board resting against the wall for all of Amara's pictures with her friends that Iris had gotten her just before she'd run away, and thus hadn't had the opportunity to put it up.
Amara sat up in the bed, rubbing at her eyes as she leaned over the bed to grab her bag. The pendent Sergei had given her when she left Mount Elbrus was cool to the touch as she drew it out from a small pocket against the side.
Her fingers roved over its grooves before she leaned over to the small table at her bedside, where the picture still sat of the Star City Heroes back towards the start of Amara's career as Storm Chaser. She looped the chain over the edge of the frame of the photo, letting the pendent clatter against the table.
A sudden buzz in her bag made her pause, as her phone was plugged into the wall, charging after she'd almost killed the battery, but then she remembered the one she'd gotten for BlackNet business when she didn't have access to her laptop.
Dorian Gray: Why, then, 'tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Amara arched an eyebrow.
Countess de Winter: Are you quoting Shakespeare at me?
Dorian Gray: Well, at least you knew it was Shakespeare.
Amara rolled her eyes, her thumbs tapping out letters once more.
Countess de Winter: …and you're quoting Shakespeare because…?
Dorian Gray: You have an English exam on his work soon, right?
She couldn't help but blink. She'd almost forgotten about that, after everything that had gone on with her parents and trying to make sure that no one killed each other, her schoolwork had completely slipped her mind.
Dorian Gray: Soooo, which piece is it from?
Amara could've cheated, she really could've, but instead she opted to give it her best shot.
Countess de Winter: It wouldn't happen to be Hamlet, would it?
Hamlet was one of the ones that she'd read the most on, mostly because she didn't particularly like the one he was most famous for, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet was full on tragic.
Dorian Gray: …you guessed, didn't you?
Countess de Winter: You've gotta lower your standards for me just a little, Dorian, Shakespeare isn't exactly my favorite for plays.
Dorian Gray: Suck it up, buttercup
Amara had to stifle her laughter in the crook of her arm, because never would she had imagined that the person behind the online persona of 'Dorian Gray' would ever tell her to 'suck it up, buttercup'
Countess de Winter: omg, I can't believe you actually said that to me!
Dorian Gray: Enjoy the good stuff, Countess.
Amara couldn't fight the smile on her lips as she put the phone down and settled back into sleep once more.
Iris watched as her daughter tapped her hands against her legs incessantly, waiting for Barry to come home.
Amara hadn't been allowed to go to the meeting, which the girl thought was a bit rich, seeing as she was the one that the meeting was about, but the rules were quite clear, so Amara had elected to pout and sulk, for once actually acting like her age.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Iris tried to assure her.
"Yeah, I mean if they say no, I'll just become an unruly vigilante that shocks them into a coma if they try to stop me," Amara said rather agreeably and smirked at the sight of the downright exasperated expression that had made its way onto Iris' face.
"Amara," she sighed, "you've spent far too much time around Harley and Pamela."
Amara hummed in agreement, largely unconcerned. "There are worse people to spend more time around."
Her thoughts drifted towards Weather Wizard and soured. He'd almost ruined everything in her life, and it wasn't the first time something like that had happened. It was practically a relief now to say that her biological father was dead and to not deal with the idea of having some part of Weather Wizard in her life.
She'd called up Dick and had him delete her from his next of kin list at Belle Reve, mostly because she didn't want to do anything remotely close to dealing with Mark Mardon and Dick had been only so happy to do it for her.
She was just Amara Isley-Allen, the biological daughter to Pamela Isley and the adoptive one to Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen, and it was that, more than anything else that lifted a weight off her shoulders.
"I'm home," Barry called as the door creaked open and shut behind him, and both looked up as he leaned against the wall to look into the living room where they were sitting on baited breath.
"So?" Iris inquired sharply.
"Well, it took some convincing," Barry admitted before grinning at Amara, "but you're back. You can resume your duties as Storm Chaser in Star City in one week."
Amara felt so light that she could fly and it took her a solid minute to realize she was actually floating as she clapped her hands together in excitement before rushing to hug her father around the middle.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou," she sang into his chest.
"You're still on probation," Barry reminded her, "but it'll only be for a few weeks; you aren't the first hero to have villains for parents."
Artemis was the first one that sprang to mind.
"Better than nothing," she said with a grin, even though in the cold and dark part of her mind hoped that Batman enjoyed the cold shoulder, because that was all he was going to get from her for awhile.
Sadly, Artemis had gotten a bit used to it just being the three of them on patrol, her, Green Arrow, and Black Canary, and that was the part about it that sucked the most, because she and Storm Chaser worked great together, almost as good as Storm Chaser had with Red Arrow.
Storm Chaser had been doing this longer than Artemis and she knew her stuff, but it wasn't the same as relying on Green Arrow and Black Canary to have her back.
"I hear there's an opening for your partner," a voice said suddenly and Artemis whipped around, clutching her bow tightly to see Storm Chaser standing off the edge of the roof on her own personal cloud. There was a grin on her lips and her extended bo-staff was resting against her shoulder, her green eyes impossibly bright from within the black mask on her face.
Artemis couldn't help her own grin as the girl dropped down onto the roof lightly. "I might be in the market for one."
Storm Chaser laughed. "I guess I'll just have to do, because, babe, I'm as good as it gets."
That one had Artemis laughing as she wrapped an arm around her younger friend's shoulders. "Whatever gets you through the night, SC."
And Storm Chaser threw a wink in her direction before tightening her grip on her waist and launching them up into the sky.
The night was definitely going crash.
