Disclaimer: DC Comics owns Young Justice
Tempest: Chapter Sixty: The Helmet's Consequences
AN: There's a lot of love for the GCB and the four girls in particular, and you will definitely see more of them in the fic.
For the person that asked: you're thinking of the DC cinematic universe where Steve Trevor died, this is an entirely new universe, one where he's still alive in the present day.
"I'm not saying that it isn't a good idea," Black Canary pointed out as that chased after a woman in a skin-tight black suit that was producing flames from her hands and Storm Chaser thought the woman, who had dubbed herself Pyra-Maniac, was getting a bit out of hand, "but the internet is a cesspool, you know that, right?"
Storm Chaser heaved a heavy sigh. "Yes, I might've been aware of it," she informed her dryly. "But a lot of people asked me if I'd do a self-defense video, and that's not a terrible idea."
"No," Black Canary had to agree as she let loose a sudden scream that threw the woman off her feet, the flames extinguishing from her hands.
Her father had been rather disapproving of the whole Amara having her own twitter account, but he recognized that some of what Amara did, like sponsoring the GCB and Gratia Art, actually helped people and that Amara was free to make her own choices (honestly, what did he do to deserve such a willful daughter?), he just wished she thought them through a bit more. And grounding her from twitter wasn't really going to solve anything, as Iris had pointed out. So they'd set out a rule: don't tell people where you live specifically. And Amara thought it was a rather simple rule to follow.
"I wanted to take her out!" Storm Chaser complained as she returned her batons to the holsters on her legs, turning to say something to Black Canary, but the next thing she knew, her mentor had blipped out of existence, like someone had turned to another channel on a TV. "BC?"
She twisted around, thinking maybe she'd mis-seen her or something, but her mentor was definitely gone. "Black Canary!" she yelled before raising a finger to the comm in her ear. "Green Arrow, come in!"
No response.
"Shit!" Storm Chaser muttered and that was when she noticed the kids on the streets, the ones that had been with their parents' moments ago, but were now alone and looking around for their parents. That was definitely not good.
It took her a few moments to get the kids back to their respective houses with older siblings and neighbors respectively to keep an eye on the kids before she made her way to the nearest zeta-tube.
"Recognize: Storm Chaser –B00," the computerized voice echoed loudly in the monitor womb of the Cave, echoed by Amara's voice demanding loudly, "Does anyone know what the fuck's going on?"
Zatanna and Dick were the only ones in the monitor womb and their attention was focused on the holographic projections on the holographic computer, and it was plain from the worry lining Zatanna's face that this was not how she had been expecting the day to go.
Dick turned to face her with his shades covering his eyes, as usual. "BC vanish during patrol?"
"Not just BC," Amara nearly grumbled, "every adult in the area we were patrolling disappeared, I couldn't even get Green Arrow on the comms!" A dawning horror suddenly morphed on her face. "Oh, God, I completely forgot about Roy!"
And then she was pulling out her phone, ready to call her partner, when her cousin spoke from what could've only been the Cave's answering mic. "Don't bother, Amy, all the adult heroes are out of commission, including Roy."
"Dad, too?" Amara asked, ice in her veins.
"I checked," Wally said, sounding just a bit upset, but Barry was his uncle on top of being his mentor, he certainly had a right to. "But, Rob, any luck with—?"
"No," Dick retorted sharply, "Can't reach the Batcave, the Hall of Justice, or the Wat—or anyone else…it looks like it's just us."
There was silence on Wally's end for a short pause. "We're setting up a refugee center at the high school gym, so if you see any kids out wandering about, that's where we're sending them."
Amara smoothed a thumb over her phone. The last time she'd talked to Roy he was heading off to a date with Jade and she'd been making fun of him for turning into a sap. The last time she'd talked to Barry and Iris she'd agreed to be back in time for dinner. The last time she'd talked to Pamela and Harley they'd told her how much they were looking forward to seeing her in the next week.
"Where're you going?" Zatanna asked her suddenly as Amara turned her back, heading off in the direction she had came, back to the zeta-tube.
"To make sure my city doesn't go up in smoke while the adults are gone," Amara threw back, disappearing just as quickly as she'd appeared.
"Don't worry about her," Dick assured Zatanna, "she's right, we've got to keep on top of keeping everyone safe."
Zatanna supposed that Amara was used to it as Storm Chaser, she'd been doing this for literal years, but somehow going off on her own didn't seem like the best idea. Zatanna tightened her shoulders and then relaxed them, breathing out slowly as she flicked through pages on the internet. "Traditional media is offline," she informed Dick, "but kids worldwide are all posting the same thing: every adult, eighteen or older, has…disappeared." She turned back to Dick, unease clear in her blue eyes. "The sorcery necessary to pull this off…scary big."
"And we need you to find its source."
Zatanna reeled back sharply. "How am I—?"
"I pulled this footage," Dick interjected, his fingers dancing across the holographic keyboard until he pulled up a recording that focused on Zatara. "It's your dad helping us locate Wotan and the Injustice League."
Zatanna watched her father raise his wand towards a holographic globe and intone the incantation: "Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!" Which caused a red dot to appear on the globe.
"But the-the words," Zatanna stumbled over her own, "I mean, that's only part of it! The rest takes training, and…" Zatanna could feel the doubt setting in. "Robin, I'm just not on Zatara's level," she admitted quietly.
"I know it's hard," Dick said kindly before giving her a smile, "but try to stay whelmed. We'll find your dad, Batman, all of them, it's what we do."
Zatanna couldn't help but warm at his faith in her.
It was much easier than Amara had been expecting to convince the kids in Star City to look after themselves and keep close to the older kids and their parents would be back soon.
There were a few vandals that gave Amara a bit of trouble, but she opted to do what Barry liked to do if given the opportunity, talk with them. In the end it had worked out rather well and she'd gotten them to look after a group of toddlers before running off again.
As soon as she was sure that everyone could either look after themselves or were looking after those that couldn't, Amara had switched outfits and switched cities.
She was a thief, and really, this was an opportunity like no other. No adults around to keep their eyes on priceless artifacts and jewels? Sign her up. Somehow the rumor had gotten around between governments that Masquerade had stolen the Diamond Riviere back for the royal family of England, so the Chinese government had reached out to Masquerade about an item that had showed up in Gotham, though not in any museum. The Qianlong Vase was made of porcelain and was well preserved for being from the eighteenth century and it was worth fifty three million dollars, half of which Masquerade was promised if she delivered. It was probably the best score Masquerade would ever make.
Barry wasn't as negative about her work on the BlackNet as he had been before, but she didn't want to think about how he would respond to that sheer amount of money.
The woman who currently possessed the vase was a high-end CEO who had been so foolish in getting her photograph taken in front of the vase in her building, though she'd clearly thought ahead enough to label it with a different name. But that didn't change its designs from identifying it as the Qianlong Vase.
"What are you doing?" Kaldur's voice echoed loudly in her ear as Amara snuck in through one of the windows of the large office buildings.
"What d'you think I'm doing, Kelpie?" Amara retorted, her voice distorted with the modulator as she took a look around, but it seemed that the company that Miss Langston worked for only hired people over eighteen.
"Thievery during a crisis isn't exactly sporting, Amy," Kaldur pointed out and Amara rolled her eyes as found a computer to deactivate the security cameras and the protective invisible lasers around the vase, because clearly Miss Langston had been wary of someone doing what she had done in the first place; stealing the vase.
"Aw, babe, you break my heart," Amara grinned as she took the glass case gently off the vase before holding the vase itself very gingerly in her hands, careful not to break it.
"We could use you back at the cave," Kaldur pointed out, trying not to be too exasperated, which, personally, Amara thought he was doing rather well. It made her kind of glad that she wasn't really leader material, she was the one everyone expected to go off on their own, rightly so, and Amara rather thought 'runaway' was a good word to describe her with her tendency to go rogue at the drop of a pin.
"I'll get right on that," Amara said flatly, considering the porcelain vase in her hands.
It was a good thing she had a safe house within the city limits…she didn't know how the vase would hold up if she had to fly to the one in Sea Isle City…
"Exactly how many safe houses d'you have?" Artemis demanded when Amara finally showed up back at the Cave decked out in her Storm Chaser uniform once more. Kaldur, Wally, and Dick had already sent out a planet wide message of calm, asking kids to look after each other in this state of emergency.
"A fair few," Amara said, unperturbed at her friend's exasperation, it seemed to be a common feeling when people dealt with her, "it might've dawned on you…but I'm very paranoid."
"It's dawned on us," Dick sniggered and Conner allowed himself a smile while M'gann hid hers behind her hand, her eyes glittering.
"I've got the one in Fiji, and then the one in Russia," Amara ticked them off on her fingers, "and three in the US, it's not that many!"
It was clear from the snorts that turned into hasty coughs that they didn't agree, but she'd be fighting a losing battle there.
"Um, guys?" Both girls broke up their squabbling to turn their attention to the resident magician who was dressed in the same outfit she'd worn the day they'd all gone toe-to-toe with the Reds. "I'm ready to try my father's locator spell."
Amara gave Artemis one last elbow in the side before darting forward with interest as Dick displayed a holographic earth in front of them. Zatanna swallowed thickly and steeled herself, extending both hands, one with her wand, the other without and incanted: "Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!"
Similar to when Zatara had done the spell, a red dot appeared where the magic had originated from.
"Coordinates locked," Dick grinned only for her. "Roanoke Island, you did it!"
Zatanna turned positively pink and tried to not make it very noticeable, but they were all distracted by the sudden sound of "Shazam!" and the next thing they knew there was a ten year old standing in the monitor womb.
"Hey, it works!"
"Billy!" the name left Amara's lips before she could stop it and she darted forward. "I thought you would've vanished with the rest of the League!"
Billy Batson, the boy who became Captain Marvel with a single word, flushed red at the attention she gave him, rubbing at the back of his head sheepishly.
"With the rest of the League?" Conner repeated doubtfully, "he's just a kid!"
"Storm Chaser, do you know this boy?" Kaldur inquired.
Amara opened her mouth, but Billy grinned quickly, focusing on M'gann. "Quick! Read my mind!"
M'gann's eyes glowed a bright impossible green and then she let out a gasp of surprise as the color faded. "He's Captain Marvel!"
"Yeah," Wally snorted, "and I'm Speedy Gonzoles—"
"He is Captain Marvel," Amara insisted, with some small amount of annoyance, "I've seen him transform from Cap into Billy and back again…Billy, how did you appear out of nowhere? I didn't think you could do that, even with being Captain Marvel."
"Oh, Cap can't teleport," Billy laughed before stalling, "but that would be so cool!"
Amara snapped her fingers and his eyes cleared, making Wally snort behind Amara. "I was just with Batman and Zatara, we found out there's two dimensions—" No one mentioned the clear relief at the mention of Dick's and Zatanna's fathers.
"One for adults," M'gann said.
"And one for kids," Artemis finished with a groan. "Of course."
"We need to coordinate an assault," Kaldur said, turning to Billy, "will you be willing to relay information to the League?"
"Shazam!" Billy grinned and vanished in a flash only to return a few moments later.
The focus of the mission was to perform a coordinated simultaneous attack in both dimensions, intending to strike fast and disrupt their efforts, and hope that the two dimensions would naturally back into one.
If you asked Amara there were too many unknown variables, too much could go wrong, but it seemed like the only option.
Storm Chaser was partnered with Robin and Artemis and the three of them were meant to be the first distraction when they reached Roanoke, finding Klarion standing at a rounded edge of a glowing pentagram circle with clear designs running through it and a glowing yellow gem in the center. Storm Chaser had only seen Klarion in pictures never in person –though Wally had when he'd been trying to protect Kent Nelson– but he certainly seemed rather child-like even though he physically appeared to be a teenager, albeit one with what appeared to be something like devil horns protruding out of his head.
Robin and Artemis respectively loosed batarangs and arrows on him, but he turned swiftly, extending a hand and the weapons hit a red shield that faded as all the projectiles fell to the ground harmlessly.
"That's the best you can do?" he smirked widely, his hand glowing red before crimson lightning arched from his hand towards them.
"Get back!" Storm Chaser yelled, darting in front of them, raising her arms to block the lightning. It sizzled and burned and Storm Chaser gritted her teeth together, but then Klarion grinned suddenly and it felt like she was burning alive, agony searing through her arms and she let loose a terrible scream of pain as Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Superboy attacked from all sides only to collide with the same red barrier from before, but it was enough to cancel the spell on Storm Chaser, whose knees hit the ground as she tried to catch her breath, her arms aching.
Amy, are you all right? Miss Martian called over the mental link.
I'll live, Storm Chaser conceded grimly, her eyes glowing white with lightning and rage.
"Etativel mih ffo eht margatnep!" Zatanna incanted, raising her arms, but whatever she'd been intending didn't have its intended effect.
"Baby magic," Klarion scoffed before returning one of his own that sent Zatanna flying back with a scream and Storm Chaser thought it was lucky that Superboy had run back just in time to catch her, because she could've gotten some rather serious injuries from a hit like that.
Miss Martian flew forward levitating rocks and throwing them at the shield while Storm Chaser gave a roar and released a bolt lightning against the shield, but both had to duck as pillars of fire were shot out of it. Artemis tried to shoot Klarion's familiar, the cat hanging outside the red barrier, but then it grew to a massive size and Superboy had to avoid being crushed by its swipes.
So the attack was going great, and Storm Chaser was definitely going to feel it for days.
Then the gem in the center started going haywire, so the League must've been doing pretty well on the other side, the downside was that Klarion could shoot bolts of lightning from its energy through the barrier hitting the nearest three, which happened to be Aqualad, Robin, and Artemis. Aqualad managed to hold it at bay, but the other two were knocked out and Storm Chaser was busy trying to keep Kid Flash from getting fried the same way.
Don't shout, Billy, came Miss Martian's voice suddenly and Storm Chaser didn't have the chance to look over to where they were to know that Billy had appeared once more. She was now trying to keep Aqualad from being electrocuted, but redirecting electrical flow wasn't exactly as easy as it seemed. I've linked you telepathically to the others.
That's so cool, Billy's excitement echoed briefly before he sobered. I mean, it's the gem at the center of the gram! Destroy it and we win!
That's all I needed to know, Zatanna's voice came this time with a startling certainty.
"Zatanna!" Aqualad yelled.
"Stop!" Kid Flash's eyes were wide behind his cowl.
Storm Chaser looked back in time to see the magician place Doctor Fate's golden helmet on her head only to be enveloped in a flash of bright light to reveal Zatanna in the gold and blue robes of Doctor Fate, the Ankh glowing large and golden behind her. "Klarion!" Doctor Fate's voice overpowered Zatanna's own. "This ends now!"
"Oh, shit," Storm Chaser hissed out loud as Kid Flash beat a fist against the ground.
Klarion shot off another attack at Doctor Fate that was blocked with an intense golden light while M'gann's voice echoed in Storm Chaser's head again. Billy, tell Zatara!
"Right, yeah," Billy agreed out loud. "Shazam!" There was a minor explosion as he vanished.
M'gann levitated Robin and Artemis out of the way before the remaining Team members gave a grim nod before rejoining Doctor Fate, battering against the barrier with everything they had, but then it was as if Zatanna suddenly phased out of the robes before they reappeared with the helmet.
"Ha!" Klarion crowed. "There, see? When the world's divided, the helmet's split, too! You're not all here, Nabu! And you're losing hold of that poor, soon-to-be-dead girl!" Storm Chaser gritted her teeth at that, shocking the barrier harder. "She gave herself for nothing!"
"No, Witch Boy," Doctor Fate barked, raising a glowing hand high. "Fate decrees her sacrifice will not be in vain!"
Pure light battered down against the barrier, joining the bolts of lightning, the rocks being thrown, and the two water-bearers shaped like hammers as Klarion screamed in outrage, his shield falling around him before Doctor Fate nabbed him in an Ankh, stopping him where he was.
Kid Flash darted forward, grabbing the gem and throwing it up to the Doctor. "Yam eht owt emoceb eno ecno erom!"
The other sorcerers that made up the pentagram appeared and fell with the other League members appearing alongside them as Klarion made his escape, giving Artemis and Robin just enough to rouse fully to realize that the adults were back with them and to see Zatanna as Doctor Fate floating above them.
"Fate!" Zatara called up to the Doctor before swallowing and backtracking slightly. "Great Nabu, release my daughter."
The flat "No," couldn't help but surprise Storm Chaser, especially since both Kid Flash and Aqualad had managed to put it on and take it off without difficulties. That didn't bode well.
"Witness the havoc wrought in these hours," Fate responded, "the world needs Doctor Fate, and the girl's natural affinity for the mystic arts makes her the perfect candidate."
"You can't do that!" Artemis yelled furiously, with Robin adding just as angrily: "She's got her own life to live!"
"Kent would never allow you—" Kid Flash bit out, but Doctor Fate cut across him.
"Kent Nelson did object," Doctor Fate agreed, turning in the air to survey Kid Flash, "strenuously, so I released his spirit to the afterlife. He is gone."
Storm Chaser knew that her eyes weren't the only ones bulging at that revelation. Kent was the one who had always been around to control Fate into letting Kid Flash and Aqualad be released by Nabu, without him…
"Take me instead." Storm Chaser almost didn't realize that Zatara had spoken. "My skills are already at their peak. My body is physically stronger, better able to withstand the strength of your power."
"All true," Doctor Fate conceded, eyes narrowing behind the slits in the helmet for the eyes. "But if I remove the helmet, what guarantee have I that you will don it?"
"My word," Zatara said, extending his arms openly and incanting a spell that Storm Chaser couldn't follow, but it was enough for Doctor Fate to float to the ground and remove the helmet.
And then she was Zatanna again in her tuxedo and white gloves and her smile brightened her face as she saw her father standing before her.
"Dad!"
She held him tight with the smile still present on her lips, but Zatara didn't smile, he just hugged her tight for the last time and Storm Chaser looked away.
"Remember," he said when they parted with a kiss to her brow, "I love you."
He took the helmet from her hands and turned to look to where the Leaguers were standing with the Team. "Take care of my girl."
"You have my word," Batman swore and Zatara lifted the helmet.
"No, please! This was my fault!" Zatanna shrugged off Robin's hand when he came to stand at her side, desperation and fear echoing from her voice to her eyes. "Dad, don't! Dad!"
But the helmet had slid into place and where Giovanni Zatara once stood was Doctor Fate again.
Doctor Fate turned away, lifting the four captured sorcerers up into the air with him with a declaration of: "Leave these to the Fate."
And they all vanished in a brilliant light and not a moment later Zatanna fell to her knees, eyes wide and shocked.
Storm Chaser wished she had something to say, but her throat had closed and anything she said would've sounded hollow, she knew.
Zatanna cried for almost a week straight. She'd lost her father because of her own stupid mistake and all she had left of him now was his wand but every time she looked down at it her eyesight fog up and the tears would flow over.
The wand clattered to the floor of the Cave that was her home now and Zatanna scrubbed viciously at her eyes only to realize that there was someone kneeling in front of her. She blinked.
Amara was on one knee, lifting the wand and holding it out to Zatanna with a sad smile like it was a peace offering.
Zatanna took it with a throaty 'thank you' and Amara stood again, a bag swinging at her side.
"Hi," Amara gave her a slight smile, "I was just coming by to check out you and bring you this."
She pulled a tub of Oreo ice cream from the bag and Zatanna almost cried again. "You said it was your favorite."
Somewhere deep in Zatanna's chest felt warm. "I-I didn't think you were listening," she admitted and Amara gave her a half smile.
"I also brought this—" Amara pulled Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl from the bag as well. "I was going to bring Harry Potter, but Wally thought that was a bad idea…or you could just take the ice cream, I guess." Amara scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"No," Zatanna said quickly, "this is great…usually everyone asks how I'm doing…"
Amara shrugged. "I figured I'd just skip that part and just give you someone to keep you company."
Zatanna's heart fluttered.
"We could go to the lounge with M'gann, Conner, and Kaldur, if you want?" Amara suggested.
"No," Zatanna said quickly, so quickly that her face flooded with heat, "um, it's just that there is a TV in my…room."
Amara smiled at her and it lit up her eyes and Zatanna felt quite like she couldn't breathe.
"Probably best," Amara agreed, "I think M'gann is trying another one of her recipes."
And for the first time since her father had become the host of Doctor Fate, Zatanna laughed.
AN: I really didn't like writing this episode, but we had to get through it and Amy would absolutely fuck off to steal from someone during the split. Someone mentioned on tumblr awhile back that Amy seems to have a lot of safe houses, and the short answer is she's super paranoid. You'll get to see one of them sooner rather than later, I think.
Also, news: If you aren't aware, there's going to be a lot of massive changes to what's YJ canon that I'm including in this fic. Season two is being completely thrown out and the season one finale is being dramatically altered. So prepare to be surprised.
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
