Tempest: Chapter Sixty-Five: A New Kind of Safety

AN: Still concern over Roy, but there's a lot of changes coming to YJ canon, so some upcoming events are probably going to take you guys by surprise.

Merry Christmas! Sorry it's been awhile since an update, but nursing school completely drained me, so I hope this chapter is a good present for you guys.


Sofia kept her arms tight around Amy's back and kept silent as they went streaking down the streets on Amy's motorcycle. Amy was the one in their group of friends that everyone knew the least about, but that was to be expected, since they'd all known each other so long and Amy had only just joined their grouping, but mostly Sofia was surprised that Amy had a motorcycle and could drive it at thirteen. It sounded like she was breaking a lot of traffic laws, and she wasn't even going to get into the whole having a safe house that no one was allowed to ask her about.

It seemed like an age had passed before they came to a stop at a rather inconspicuous building and Amy parked silently, offering Sofia her hand as they walked past a crowd of people that were apparently walking away from a party a few blocks away. Sofia took her hand and pulled up the hood of her jacket, allowing Amy to lead her into the building, not speaking until they were in the elevator alone.

"It's up on the top floor," Amy said, rubbing at her eyes, and Sofia realized for the first time that her eyes were red and she had never looked so utterly exhausted.

"What's wrong?" Sofia asked gently.

"It's nothing," Amy said, running a hand through her hair and checking her phone again. "My…my brother's just in the hospital right now."

"Oh!" Sofia's eyes widened comically and she thought about the picture she'd once seen as a background on Amy's phone, a young man with red hair and roguish smile. "I'm so sorry…we didn't need to do this tonight, we-I could've—"

"Don't be like that," Amy cut across her quickly, her eyes sharp and the look itself was harder than Sofia could've ever managed Amy giving anyone. "You were in trouble, you were scared. It could take hours to get the results from Roy's tests." She rubbed her thumb against her first finger on both hands, an anxious move that Sofia had never seen before. "I'd rather get you away from a stalker than sit around in a waiting room for hours."

Sofia gave her a small smile as they stepped out of the elevator.

"You're not afraid of heights, are you?" Amy asked, though it was a bit too late at that point.

Thankfully, Sofia shook her head, following her friend, her bag banging against her leg as she walked, feeling lighter than she had in months. There was only one door on the floor and Sofia watched curiously as Amy inserted her key and twisted before removing it and drawing the door open from the side and flipping the switch on and Sofia gazed in awe.

"This place is…yours?" Sofia's eyes grew wide. "Its…wow!"

It was incredibly open, more like a studio apartment than anything else with stairs up to a small level that hosted a bed, while the main level held a kitchen against the wall, cozy armchairs and couches, scattered plants around the room, and an arching glass window that Amy moved to cover.

"Do you have work tomorrow at the theatre?" Amy asked her instead and Sofia was starting to think she didn't much want to talk about why she had the safe house in the first place, which was a bit suspicious, but Sofia thought it best not to ask, given the enormity of the favor that Amy had done for her.

"No, we're all off," Sofia said, sitting down on one of the comfy couches and sinking into it, "and the performance isn't for another week."

Amy nodded seriously. "I don't really have any food here right now, but I'll grab the girls tomorrow and we'll bring some food with some more of your stuff…I don't know how long you'll want to stay here, especially since you don't want to involve the police." She gave Sofia a sideways look but the girl gave a furious shake of her head.

She'd tried that once, but her adoptive family had money, a lot of money (she was starting to wonder if Amy was even with them now, in that regard) and they could easily make any claim she made go away for the right price, besides, it wasn't as though she had been hurt, just terribly frightened by her adoptive brother.

"Call me if you need anything," Amy said, checking her phone again, "but I have to get back to the hospital, and—" She seemed to tremble briefly and swallow thickly, for a moment becoming a fearful thirteen-year-old worried about her brother.

Sofia wanted to say something comforting, but, in that moment, she could think of nothing, so she settled for patting Amy's shoulder, her own emotions lodging in her throat. Amy barely knew any of them, at least, not yet, and she'd gone out on a limb for Sofia, and Sofia wouldn't forget that.

"Sleep easy," Amy told her, giving her a smile of her own, "trust me, there was no way he could've followed us here."

She gave a little salute and left Sofia alone in the very large apartment, but she couldn't help but feel as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and that night, Sofia slept like a baby.


"What d'you mean they took him into surgery? When I left he was just having an MRI!"

Amara's fingers knotted into her hair, and Jade had to coax off into a corner before she got herself kicked out the hospital, which would only make things worse, she was certain.

"Here," Jade said, pulling the scans out from manila envelope under her arm and Amara took them, holding them up to the light. She had to admit that her understanding of the human brain was minimal at best. She only knew the basics from Biology class, which were the different segments of the brain and what was the primary process for each.

"Okay, you see those white patches?" Jade asked with surprising patience. "That's metal –it took them three specialists to finally decide on that– and the doctors thought it was shrapnel."

Amara, who had been looking through the films paused and stared at Jade. There was no denying that Roy had been around explosions, it was a hazard of the job, but Amara had been around just as many. "How could he have shrapnel in his head and not know about it?"

"Unless it's not shrapnel," Jade said almost absently.

"What?" Amara said bleakly.

Jade shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said quickly, "that's just me thinking out loud…there was a large cyst around the piece of metal that's closest to the brainstem, its what's causing the most problems for him, the headaches, the forgetfulness. They're more worried about how invasive it would be to remove the metal pieces at this point, so they're just going to drain the fluid to decrease the pressure on the brainstem."

Amara's legs felt weak. She'd thought the other day was terrible and now this? The only upside in this moment had to be that Roy didn't have a brain tumor, but still, inoperable pieces of metal didn't sound any better in that moment.

She pressed a hand against the wall and breathed in and out deeply and Jade watched her, not quite knowing what to do. Jade was the least comforting person that she knew and she knew that Amara was going through a rollercoaster of emotions that would abruptly switch on her if she said the wrong thing (Jade remembered well the tales of Amara raging at her adoptive father before booking for Russia, and Amara adored him).

"I need a drink," Amara decided hoarsely.

"Probably not the best idea in a hospital."

Amara ignored her and checked her phone. All of her parents had called at least once; Pamela must've seen fit to inform everyone in Amara's parental grapevine. Still, none of the others had showed up, and Amara was certain there was a reason for that. Roy was a Star City Hero and his identity was secret for a reason, it would've been a bit difficult to keep it that way if anyone else showed up.

She didn't even think about Wally or Dick or Kaldur; they were all friends of Roy's and they had a right to know about him, but it was really up to Roy to tell them about that, not Amara.

A short sigh was expelled from her lips and she leaned fully against the wall, sliding down slowly, still braced there.

She'd thought her lowest point had been whenever Mardon punished her for doing something wrong or when she'd lost the ability to use her legs.

But this blew them out of the water.

"He'll be all right," Jade said as assuring as she could be, kneeling to crouch in front of Amara before giving a shrug, "and if he's not…well, I'll just kill his doctor."

That earned Jade a faint and choked laugh, even if Amara knew that she wasn't joking.


"What d'you think was up with Amy?" Dick asked Wally as they all re-entered the Bioship after their completed mission. He couldn't say why M'gann was so somber now that the difficulties between Bialya and Qurac had been put out into the open and it had been revealed that Queen Bee was behind the mind control of President Harjavti, making it impossible for the two nations to join together as she had been hoping.

It was a good way to end his first mission as team leader, which Wally had been the first to point out, but Dick couldn't help but feel jittery.

Amy had run off soon after laying waste to the computers in what was now termed the 'Oracle Cave' and in a spur of the moment, Dick had kissed Zatanna. He wasn't doing it to make Amy jealous, he doubted that it was even possible to make Amy jealous, the only thing running through his head had been what Roy had once told him: "What I'm saying is…maybe she'll like you like that one day, maybe she won't, but you're clearly her type…and maybe you don't want to wait around for her to make up her mind. Maybe you should go on your own dates, find someone that loves you like that."

And where Amy was secretive, Zatanna was open and, clearly very interested given how she'd responded to Dick's kiss.

"Dunno," Wally frowned in a bit of concern, "the last time I saw her really upset, she tried to electrocute Uncle B." They both winced at the memory of Amy's rage, her face just beginning to change to the green that Poison Ivy favored. "You don't think something happened to Roy, do you?" Wally couldn't imagine her being upset about anything less.

She and Roy were more than partners, they were the best of friends, and though Wally often liked to claim he'd known his cousin longer, the fact remained that they'd each gone to the ends of the earth for each other and there wasn't anyone that trusted and relied on each other more than those two.

"I hope not," Dick said, suddenly startled, and Wally gathered that he'd been so focused on the mission that he'd largely forgotten about the call Amy had made asking for Black Canary and Green Arrow to come to the hospital. "But that would explain her being so upset."

Wally grunted in agreement, leaning away from his best friend as the last of their group came up onto the Bioship and M'gann prepared for liftoff. It would've been easier to speculate with Kaldur around, as he was close with Roy as well, but only Dick, Wally, M'gann, and Conner had been sent on the mission. They'd have to wait until they got back to ask him about it.


"Recognize: Storm Chaser –B00," echoed loudly overhead and Zatanna looked up from her snack of cheerios.

"Hey, Amy!" she waved, but the metahuman stormed past her, clearly intent on getting somewhere at the expense of talking to anyone. Zatanna found herself a bit startled; she'd never seen Amy act in quite a way before. Zatanna almost thought it was normal until she saw Artemis, who had been lounging on the couch working on her homework with headphones in her ear, pull her headphones out and frown deeply.

"Was that Amy?" Artemis asked, befuddled.

Zatanna nodded in surprise. "She looked really angry."

"Yeah, but even if she's angry…she usually talks." Artemis frowned. "Come to think of it, I think I've really only seen her really pissed off twice, and one of those times she decided to only shout at Roy in Russian…loudly." She winced; that'd been the first time she'd come to the Cave and Amy had not been having a good day with the reappearance of the partner who had up and left her without a word.

They both stared as Amy walked back, this time with a computer monitor and its processing system before dropping them unceremoniously on the floor and stalking back in the direction she came in.

"Maybe she's still upset about someone using her code?" Zatanna offered with a grimace. She remembered the crazed look on Amy's face as she tried to figure out how much damage had been done to the Cave's system and the computers themselves.

"That would explain the computers," Artemis had to acquiesce, quieting abruptly when Amy returned to tumble more computer tech on the floor before making a third trip. "Five bucks says Kaldur tries to intervene."

"I'm not taking that bet," Zatanna remarked wisely as, sure enough, there could be heard the echo of voices upon Amy's return, this time she only had one thing in her hands, and it was a metallic baseball bat.

Neither Artemis nor Zatanna had ever seen her use one before and they hadn't even been aware that there had been one in the building.

"Amy, I don't know what's going on, but beating computer equipment isn't going to fix anything," Kaldur intoned, almost skipping backwards in order to keep up with her stride, it was almost like he was failing at stopping her, despite being in front of her and rather large obstacle. But Kaldur knew as well as anyone else on the Team that Amy could take out someone larger than her, depending on how skilled they were.

"Kaldur, I love you, I really do," Amy said flatly, her green eyes as hard as peridot, "but if you don't get out of my way, I am going to brain you with this bat without regret." She held it up threateningly and it was the first time that Artemis had seen the Atlantean so utterly thrown off by Amy before, and Artemis honestly believed that Amy would actually do what she said.

He stepped aside and walked past the other two before coming to a stop to the pile of monitors and processors and for a moment she simply stood there, and then she brought down the bat with such a vengeance that all three winced.

"Do you think we should stop her?" Artemis murmured to Kaldur as she and Zatanna came from their opposite sides of the room to reach his side.

"I suspect this is meant to be cathartic," Kaldur decided, heaving a sigh. "She needs to vent her frustrations somehow."

"Do you know what's upset her?" Zatanna's brow was furrowed.

Kaldur's lips drew into a thin line.

"You do know!" Artemis jabbed him in the arm, which only served to hurt her finger –really, was Kaldur pure muscle?

Zatanna was wincing every time Amy brought down the bat again. She could just see the sparks rolling off it. If Amy had any cool before attacking the computers, she had definitely lost it somewhere along the way.

"It's a," Kaldur fumbled slightly and then he took a breath, "it's a family problem, one that I don't feel the need to divulge."

The understanding that morphed onto Zatanna's face was almost painful to watch. If there was one thing she understood, it was family problems. Having her father as the barely-willing host of Doctor Fate and losing him as a parent was worse than losing her mother when she was barely old enough to understand what death meant.

Artemis, on the other hand, couldn't help but be faintly stung. "Why wasn't I told?" she demanded. "I'm Amy's partner!"

Amy's bat suddenly went flying and collided with the wall, leaving a small dent where it had hit. It looked like a tempest had struck the computers; all that remained was broken pieces, some of which were smoking from her sparks.

She sucked in a rattling breath through her teeth and then walked firmly past the three of them like she hadn't seen them in the first place.

"Let me go talk to her," Kaldur said, his hand on Artemis' shoulder stopping her from going after her.

Artemis looked rather like she was going to argue but Kaldur gave a rather direct look that brooked no argument, moving past them to follow after Amy.

He found her with a bit of difficulty, sitting on the edge overlooking the deep pool that she had once nearly drowned in.

"Feel better?" he asked lightly as he came to a stop beside her.

"Absolutely," came the croaking reply.

A soft smile warmed Kaldur's face. "Do you mind if I sit?" he asked her patiently, politely, and Amy made a general grunt, waving a hand towards the space beside her, allowing Kaldur to crouch down and finally seat himself so that their knees brushed.

"They said there's probably shrapnel in his head," Amy said, her head in her hands.

Kaldur nodded, even if she couldn't see it. Green Arrow had called him to inform him, since he was Roy's best friend after Amy.

"The last time Roy was in an explosion big enough to have shrapnel was because of me," Amy continued, her words almost breaking as they fell from her lips.

She was talking of course of when she'd still been in hiding from Mardon. Amy had been the one to shoot Roy weeks previously and was subsequently the reason that he'd been wandering the streets as a civilian instead of a hero when there'd been a bomb threat. She'd knocked him to the ground and later personally pulled shrapnel from his abdomen, arm, and shoulder.

Why didn't she think to check his head too?

"There have been other explosions, Amy," Kaldur said patiently, "you can't blame yourself. These things tend to happen in hero work."

Amy said nothing to that, taking in a sharp breath, trying to regulate her breathing a bit more, though Kaldur didn't think she was doing as good of a job.

He offered her his hand and Amy took it. Kaldur had seen her hold hands with a lot of different people, mostly sticking to her parents, Roy, and Wally, but she wasn't above holding hands with other members of the Team. Kaldur only knew a fraction of Amy's history in regards to how she came into the care of Flash in the first place, but he had seen the fractal scarring on her chest when they'd sparred together before, so he gathered she'd been so touch-deprived when she was younger that even holding hands was a bit calming for her.

Kaldur gave their linked hands a squeeze and Amy sighed.

"It's hard to beat up shrapnel in someone's head," she remarked decisively.

"It is," Kaldur agreed, "but it's also hard to take responsibility for something that isn't your fault."

"That we know of," Amy muttered, still not convinced.

Kaldur's lips curled just faintly. It was like Amy to blame herself completely for something that she had no fault in.

"We just need to catch a break," she said, "just for, like, a few weeks."

"Here's to hoping," Kaldur smiled before moving to kneel facing her and offering her his other hand. Amy took it, allowing him to pull her upright. Then he surprised her by pulling her into a hug. Amy's body stiffened in surprise at first, but then she slowly relaxed, winding her arms around his back. "He'll be all right, you'll see."

Kaldur would admit that he wasn't a person known for freely hugging or even touching another person, which he liked to think of as respectful but he knew others found it to be standoffish.

Still, Amy was the youngest in their group and Kaldur knew what happened when she got upset.

Amy stepped back from him, rubbing at her eyes. "I have to get back to the hospital," she said finally, though she looked a bit more in control of herself than she had before. "Did you want to come with me?"

Kaldur thought about saying no, but he found himself nodding and following after his friend, after all, he was Roy's friend as well, and he wanted to make sure he was all right as well.


When Dick and Wally finally made it to Star City General, they were both out of breath and their hearts were beating erratically, because Roy? In the hospital? For surgery where his neck met his head? That was the most concerning thing they'd dealt with that day, and that was including dealing the problems between Bialya and Qurac.

They creaked open the door to Roy's hospital room quietly in order to peek inside.

The room was bathed in darkness but they could easily see that it was full of people. Roy was in the center of the room with a thick bandage at the back of his neck, apparently sleeping rather soundly. The chair on his right appeared to have been hastily abandoned, but the one at his right was occupied by Amy, small and curled up as she kept her upper body bowed over the bed, trapping his arm to the bed as she slept soundly. Kaldur appeared to almost be sleeping in a meditative sitting position but someone had wrapped a blanket around his shoulders sometime in the night. Dinah and Oliver were leaning against each other as they slept on the only couch.

"He looks okay, doesn't he?" Dick whispered to Wally and Wally nodded with a bit of relief.

Roy stirred faintly and they both quieted abruptly, but he fell back into a restful sleep, and, unaware to anyone inside that room, within his brain on one of the metal pieces there, a light turned on.


AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It's probably still going to be a few chapters before we find out what's really going on with Roy, but I did enjoy writing Amy venting her frustrations and having Kaldur play voice of reason, because there haven't been too many scenes that focus just on the two of them.

We are getting close to the end of what was season 1 in the show, but remember, we are going very AU, so expect to be surprised.

As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!