Tempest: Chapter Sixty-Six: Tensions in the Watchtower
AN: Its been awhile since an update, sorry! School is the number one most important thing to me right now, so this will probably be the only update for a while.
There was a question about if Jason Todd will show up…I don't have any definitive plans, but…maybe
As always, if I portray anything inaccurately, let me know and I'll make sure to correct it.
"You look like shit."
"Have I mentioned I hate you?"
Dick thought Amy's professed hate would've been more believable if she wasn't taking up a portion of Roy's hospital bed, her cheek smooshed against his arm and her own arm flung across his chest.
"Sure, you do," Roy drawled out, moving slightly so that Dick was sure he was going to lean his head against hers but then his eyes flashed around the room and he thought better of it. It was one thing if Amy was giving public displays of affection, that was just her nature, it wasn't out of the ordinary to see her holding hands with just about anyone she knew -Dick could specifically name an incident when some smart-mouthed kid had made a jibe at her being too old to hold hands and Amy hadn't taken kindly to that- and hugs were something she loved to bestow, but Roy was something else. He was sweet on Amy, everyone knew that, but she might've been hanging off his shoulders like some spider monkey and he wouldn't even acknowledge it if other people were around; he was more private. "But you still look worse than me, and I went through surgery."
Amy scowled at him and Dick sniggered. Wally was coming after he woke up later, as his parents had practically forced him to come home for the night. He'd been pretty out of it from worry compounded with physical exhaustion when Barry had shown up to cart his nephew away, dashing a kiss against his daughter's head as she slept on before leaving just as swiftly.
"Go home," he told her, blue eyes as steely as an older brother trying to force his willful younger sister into complying. "Better yet, check on that friend of yours that you're hiding at one of your safehouses."
Amy blinked in surprise and then scowled. "Jade," she decided.
"Jade," Roy agreed, ruffling her hair until she squawked. "Get out of here, you damn brat."
"Fine, fine! I'm going! But I'll be back later to check on you!" Amy hopped off the bed, running a hand through her hair to fix it from the mess he'd made of it, bending to grab her bag before giving him a half-wave, tugging Dick out of the room without a look back.
Dick ran a cursory look over her. "How much sleep did you get last night?"
Amy heaved a sigh, shouldering her bag. "Sleep isn't the problem, nightmares are." Her eyes darkened, making them almost look emerald in color. "Hospitals…they remind me of Cadmus, remind me of when Merlyn shot me off Queen Industries…" He could see a muscle jumping in her jaw. She rubbed her eyes with a hand before allowing a smirk to warm her face, eyes sliding towards Dick.
"A little birdie told me you and Zatanna are dating now."
Dick wasn't sure he liked the look on her face, mostly because she didn't mind the idea of him dating -him dating someone else-, but Amy was the way she was and Dick wasn't going to change her. Besides, she should be happy two of her friends are dating, right? Still, something inside Dick's chest ached.
"It was Wally, wasn't it?" he asked dryly.
Amy laughed loud enough to be shushed by a nurse making her rounds. "Maybe," she wheedled before wrinkling her nose. "Dating sounds weird, let me know if it actually works." She hit the button on the elevator and they both stepped inside.
"Let you know if it works?" Dick couldn't help but be amused. "A lot of kids our age date, you know."
"Yeah, but are they likely to have a long-lasting relationship?" Amy's eyebrow arched and she gave Dick a significant look. "Besides, I'm demisexual and kinda 'meh' about dating in general."
"Weren't you the one claiming to have a girlfriend awhile back?" Dick asked archly.
Amy waved her hand carelessly. "That's different, Kitty and I aren't a thing, she's dating someone else. It was more like a running gag than anything else. Winding you guys up is fun." She winked and Dick had to force calm throughout his entire being. She was the spawn of the devil, that was for sure.
"But I thought with demisexuality you just had to have an emotional attachment to people before romantic or…um…" Dick's cheeks flushed and Amy took pity on him.
"Yeah," she said, taking the question honestly and without any joking. Sexuality was something Amy never joked about, especially hers. It didn't matter to her that G. Gordon Godfrey smeared her in the media for nothing more than being anything less than heterosexual, just as long as someone still figuring themselves out could look to her and realize there was a superhero on the ace-spectrum and not feel alone. "We do, but having a relationship is a personal preference…give it a few months and I might feel differently, but right now I'm fine where I am."
She shrugged, tossing a faint smile in his direction. "Its nice that you asked, though, people usually stick to telling me there's something medically wrong with me…something about asexuality being a disorder up until recently…"
Dick scowled furiously for his friend's sake. Sure, Amy wasn't what anyone would call normal, but she wouldn't be half as fun if she wasn't, still, if she said she was demisexual, no one had the right to say differently.
"But Zatanna is sweet," Amy continued like she hadn't seen the emotions warring on Dick's face, which was likely. "You guys seem cute."
And then she waved as she left the elevator, leaving Dick to frown thoughtfully.
Sofia woke up slowly, sleep heavy in her body and her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd slept so well. She could barely see sunlight pouring in through the drapes, they were thick enough that only slivers of light came through. She lay there, blinking lazily in bed, just marveling at her life.
This was not the direction she had been expecting it to go. Sofia had always wanted to dance, always, and ballet was her passion. That passion had been dulled by the continued presence of only ballerinas with pale faces and fair hair, but then Damali Faris had found her, her saving grace. Sofia could still remember the day clearly in her mind, Damali wearing a deep blue hijab with a dark floral pattern on it as she smiled and offered Sofia the chance of a lifetime with a ballet group that was the exact opposite of what was usually seen.
And that was when her troubles with her adoptive family began.
Sofia ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She didn't understand Amara the most. They'd barely become friends and she'd dropped everything to get Sofia out of a terrible situation.
And Sofia loved her for it. Amara with her secrets and sly smiles who could kick serious ass and wasn't afraid to wear shirts proclaiming her sexuality to anyone who saw her without any fear; Sofia wished she was that confident in her own.
Sofia waited a few more moments before pulling herself out of bed and getting a good look around. The industrial loft seemed almost bigger than it had the previous night, big and open. Sofia could see her stuff down on the lower level next to one of the couches and it dawned on her that she should probably get changed.
Finding the bathroom took a bit more effort, but Sofia was feeling phenomenally better after a hot shower.
She was only just toweling her hair dry and opening the drapes on the window when she heard sound on the other side of the door and a spike of fear raced through her -she had nothing to defend herself with!- but when the door slid open, she couldn't help but relax.
Amara's red head was the first thing she saw, with her friends piling in after her, looking around impressed.
Sabine saw Sofia first and she grinned. "Hey, Sof! Brought more of your stuff in case you're here awhile!"
There were a few bags of food in Nadira's arms and they smelled heavenly.
Adara didn't bother to hang back, lurching forward to wind her arms around Sofia who had never felt as painfully small as she did in that moment. Adara's arms were safe and secure and she sighed.
"You all right?" Adara asked, leaning back to get a look at Sofia.
Sofia hadn't said 'I'm fine' in literal months and she wasn't about to start now. "I'm better," she decided. "I slept last night." Her eyes shifted to Amara. She looked more tired than the others but somehow her eyeliner wasn't a smudge out of place; that was so like her. "How's your brother?"
"Brother?" Sabine was flummoxed. "What happened?"
Amara gave Sofia a half-smile, ignoring Sabine. "He's doing better. It wasn't actually a brain tumor like they thought, just cysts forming around some shrapnel in his head. They were drained last night so no more headaches, at least for now."
"You thought your brother had a brain tumor?" Nadira's eyes were wide and Amara waved her hand carelessly.
"Food," she said and Sofia laughed.
"Why do you even have a safehouse?" Sabine asked, stirring her chicken soup with matzah balls, a bit flummoxed as Adara and Nadira both shushed her.
"We're not supposed to ask about that," Adara informed her seriously and Sabine furrowed her eyebrows at Amara who was spooning her own soup -not homemade like Sabine's- into her mouth slowly.
"Let's just say that Sofia isn't the only one who's had an issue with people following her," Amara said simply.
Amara never wore low-cut shirts, which made sense, because she was thirteen, and all, but Sabine could always see a trace of jagged dark pink against her fair skin.
"Does it have to do with those scars?" Sabine couldn't help but blurt and Amara froze as though carved from ice.
Nadira and Adara slammed a hand each over Sabine's mouth, garbling any further words as Sofia looked on and Amara twisted her spoon around.
"My biological father had a bit of a temper," Amara finally decided to admit before wrinkling her nose. She remembered when she'd run away from home, from the League after lashing out at Barry. The screaming and the bolt of electricity had felt good at the time but that kind of rage seemed to only serve to wear Amara out. "This," she said, drawing the shirt down slightly so they could see the fractal pattern like lightning spread outward from the center of her chest, "is a Lichtenberg Figure, its what you get when you're struck by lightning…it usually only sticks around for a few hours or days, but mine are permanent."
Amara had no way of knowing if Mardon had meant for any of it, she had, after all, leapt between him and Barry to take the hit. Still, Mardon had been strong enough that he could've stopped the attack, but he'd kept it up.
She rubbed her fingers together, feeling a tingling along her skin. She remembered how it had been afterwards. She remembered how embarrassed and annoyed she'd been with how clingy she was with the West-Allens after being touch-starved for so long. Of course, she'd grown into it, but at least she didn't need to full-body hug people anymore to her get her physical-touch hit of the day.
Amara didn't really pay attention to the surprise on their faces and she jolted at the sudden buzz of her phone, barely glancing at the caller ID. "Kaldur, I swear to God, if you're calling to ask if I'm all right I am locking you in a sunroom and turning up the heat," she swore as she pressed the phone to her ear enough to hear Kaldur's soft chuckle on the opposite end.
"All right," he said simply, "I won't…I'll just ask what you want to do with your -ah- carnage."
"Carnage?" Amara asked blankly. "What're you–"
Then she remembered the previous night, back at the Cave, bringing a metallic bat -where had she even gotten that? Amara's memories of that moment were muddled in her anger- down on the computers, completely destroying them after Soothsayer had used her code against her.
She was going to fucking kill him.
"Oh, yeah," she drawled out finally, "I should probably get on that."
Kaldur chuckled again on the opposite side.
"Go see your best friend," Amara said finally, "I'll be working on it by the time you get back."
And then she ended the call and dumped the half of her soup she didn't finish, that she couldn't stomach finishing. "Sorry," she said to girls watching her, "gotta go and fix something I ripped apart yesterday."
"Are you sure you can't stay?" Adara asked, concern flooding her eyes.
Amara gave a faint smile. "Duty calls," was all she said before pulling her jacket up around her and making for the door.
"Hey, Amy, wait up!" Sabine had followed her, close enough that Amara could see a few freckles that dotted her cheeks. "I'm really sorry -I shouldn't've—"
"Don't worry about it," Amara found herself saying with a shrug. "All my friends know about the scars, its not that big of a deal."
"Isn't it?" Sabine's brow was furrowed, the concern clear.
Amara's smile became a touch sardonic. "Sabine, I've been in and out of therapy since I was nine. Maybe I'm not as well-adjusted as a thirteen-year-old should be, but I know what I'm comfortable with…he's in prison and isn't likely to get out anytime soon, and, besides, Mom's pretty great." This time Amara's smile wasn't forced.
Sabine's expression faltered just slightly, but she seemed to take what Amara said as she truth before the girl slid the door shut.
Miguel Garcia counted himself lucky that Oracle had been keeping away from BlackNet. Her temper could be worse than his.
Unbridled glee rose up in his chest when he remembered working her code, using it against her. He had never been fully certain that Oracle allied with the Justice League, she tended to stick to the morally grey area that she was the best suited for. But he had heard it in her voice when he called her, how angry she was, and that was thrilling.
If there was one thing he really liked to do, it was piss Amara Allen off.
He was typing out furiously on his laptop, so furiously that he didn't notice how his barely cracked window slowly creaked open to allow someone inside.
"So," came a distinctly feminine voice that he couldn't help but find unfamiliar. "I hear you've made an enemy of Oracle."
Miguel twisted around wildly and gaped because standing there in the middle of his room was Poison Ivy, skin green and filling the air with the scent of overpowering flowers.
Miguel tripped out of his chair, his throat seeming to close off, preventing him from calling out for help to his parents in the kitchen below, still unaware of what their son was doing behind closed doors.
"Don't worry," Poison Ivy informed him sweetly, "you'll forget this along with everything else that has to do with Oracle."
When Miguel Garcia awoke, he knew nothing of the mysterious BlackNet presence Oracle nor anything about a girl named Amara Allen.
Nobody ever said co-parenting your adoptive daughter with two villains (one mostly former and the other not so much) was easy. The biggest trouble was holiday dinners, currently, though Barry knew there were bound to be more. The problem was Amy had always celebrated with their family, with Wally and Mary and Rudy, with the Garricks, with her parents.
They'd probably come to some kind of agreement for Christmas, but Amy was with Pamela and Harley for another week, so it made sense that she would have Thanksgiving with them. Still, it was a bit disappointing not to have her with them.
Barry shook off those thoughts, bringing his cowl up as the rest of the Justice League settled into their seats in a private room in the Watchtower, small holographic projections appearing before each of them.
"Another expansion of the League could generate another escalation of hostilities from our enemies," Martian Manhunter pointed out as they began. "No one needs or wants another Injustice League."
Flash winced, thinking about Poison Ivy's abrupt kidnapping of Amy, using the Injustice League as a way to get close enough to grab her. At least things were better now.
"Point taken," Superman conceded. "But the option remains to vote no on all candidates." The larger projector in the open center of their U-shaped table glowed as it displayed a holographic image. "So, I nominate Icon for League membership."
"Why?" Green Arrow chuckled. He was in better spirits lately with Roy's discharge from the hospital, especially since, with it had come a slow rebuilding of the relationship he had with his adoptive son. Flash suspected that was partly due to Amy, but he was happy for his friend, nonetheless. "Because you suspect Icon might be Kryptonian, like you did with Captain Marvel?"
Captain Marvel, where he was sitting next to Green Arrow, widened his eyes with an eager smile. "You thought I was Kryptonian? Cool!"
"Icon interests me also," Wonder Woman assured Superman. "As does his protégé, Rocket." The hologram shifted to display a young dark-skinned girl around Wally's age. She wore form-fitting blue under brown coveralls. The brightest thing about her outfit was her wide belt, red with blue glowing circles, giving her the ability of flight and controlling kinetic energy enough to form barriers. "Athena knows the League could use more female members."
"Agreed," Black Canary said in time with Hawkwoman's "Hear, hear!"
"I nominate the Atom," Batman said, reining them back in, the hologram switching to show the smaller hero in his red and blue uniform.
"Seriously?" Captain Marvel was equal parts doubtful and amused. "The Atom? How useful could he be at that size?"
"It's the size that makes him useful," Batman replied in his monotone.
"Absolutely," Flash agreed in his drawling voice. "Still, we could always use more raw power. And Earth has a third Green Lantern, Guy Gardner—"
He was surprised by the vehemence of both Hal Jordan and John Stewart when they cut him off with a severe "No!"
"But we could really—"
"No!"
Flash grumbled a complaint under his breath, so very much like his daughter in that respect. He mostly zoned out when they started debating Blue Devil, only to brought back when Roy was mentioned.
"If we're considering Blue Devil, then I nominate Red Arrow," Green Arrow was quick to throw in. "Roy has more experience and he's not a kid anymore, he's eighteen, a legal adult. He's ready."
"Is he?" Aquaman countered. "Red Arrow has been uncooperative and disrespectful. If we reward that behavior what message does that send to the rest of the Team?"
Flash could see how Green Arrow's jaw tightened as he sat back down again. Honestly, the aggression wasn't really Roy's fault with cysts pressing down on parts of his brain, but Roy's medical condition wasn't anyone's concern but the Star City Heroes.
"No," Superman interjected firmly when the images of Kid Flash and Aqualad appeared before them. "Red Arrow may be eighteen, but the rest of the Team is too young. We're not inducting children into the League."
"That seems myopic," Doctor Fate's voice echoed strangely behind his helmet. "I have been one with Kid Flash and Aqualad. Both are ready."
Flash didn't like being reminded of when his nephew had so carelessly put on the Helmet of Fate.
"And what of Zatanna?" Wonder Woman asked, almost coy as the girl's image was projected.
"Absolutely not!" Rang with two voices, one clearer than the other.
"That sounded almost protective, Doctor." Wonder Woman's eyes gleamed. "At least we know Zatara is still in that helmet, somewhere."
That was when Captain Marvel stood. "Why is Doctor Fate a member? You coerced Zatara into giving up his life to you. Or else, lose his daughter instead. Not cool."
"Should such behavior be condoned?" Red Tornado asked with his metallic voice box, Zatanna's form shifting to that of Doctor Fate.
"Zatara desires Doctor Fate remain with the League," Doctor Fate informed flatly.
"Oh, please," Green Arrow muttered.
"It is true," Doctor Fate countered, his arms crossed. "Zatara's trust in Nabu is…measured. He desires the League to maintain a close watch upon us."
Captain Marvel settled.
"Maybe it's time we all talk about the elephant in the room," Flash suggested with a sigh. "Should Captain Marvel stay a member? Now that we know he's really only ten years old?"
"He does possess an adult body and the wisdom of Solomon," Red Tornado offered in what he thought was a helpful tone.
"Wisdom," Aquaman disagreed, "does not equal maturity."
"Hey, I'm sitting right here!" Captain Marvel came off as faintly stung.
"Then, Billy, maybe you should leave," Black Canary gave a faint smile. "Until we hash this out."
"No," Batman interjected sharply. "Captain Marvel is a member and is entitled to participate, until or unless he's voted out."
"It's not just his age," Wonder Woman said, her eyes narrowing with her tone. "It's the fact that he lied about it."
"I didn't lie…exactly." Captain Marvel's eyes shifted to the side. "I just left out the part about being a kid."
"A lie of omission is still a lie." Wonder Woman wasn't impressed. "You kept an important secret from us. No one in the League knew the truth."
"I did."
Everyone looked to Batman.
"I shouldn't be surprised," Wonder Woman sighed. "Since you indoctrinated Robin into crime fighting at the ripe old age of nine." She hoped her words were as biting as they seemed. Black Canary and Flash shared a look; Amy, after all, had joined at ten.
"Robin needed to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice," Batman turned towards her without a change in inflection.
"So he could turn out like you?" Her blue eyes narrowed.
"So that he wouldn't."
Martian Manhunter cleared his throat, and they quieted as the alien stood. "You seem to have reached consensus that eighteen years is a suitable minimal age for joining the League." Now Miss Martian appeared on the hologram. "Yet, what of Miss Martian? Though she is a biological adolescent by Martian standards, she was born 48 Earth years ago."
"So what is the deciding factor?" Red Tornado asked. "Chronology or biology? Take Superboy." The image shifted again. Superman looked very uncomfortable at the mention of his clone.
"Exactly," Black Canary pressed, "he's less than a year old. Does he have to wait 17 more to stand beside us?" Then her gaze sharpened. "And don't think it hasn't escaped my notice that my protégé hasn't been considered at all."
Artemis and Zatanna were completely off the table with how little experience they possessed, but Amy had been a hero as long as Roy.
His daughter's image flooded the hologram. There was a casual smirk on her lips and one hand on a cocked hip.
"She may be only thirteen, but she's had as much experience as Red Arrow," Black Canary threw out.
"Not including her year hiatus?" Hawkman tilted his head and Flash gritted his teeth while Black Canary narrowed her eyes.
"Due to a serious injury she sustained while working in the League's best interest." Green Arrow wasn't impressed by that excuse. "She wasn't taking a holiday. She was recovering and during that time developed her hacking skills."
"Yet, as Oracle she operates in a morally grey area," Batman had to counter. "And as the thief Masquerade she's even more so."
"Let's not pretend that's your biggest concern," Black Canary spoke before Flash could get his tongue to function. "Which one is it: the fact that she was cooked up in a lab or that she's the offspring of two villains?"
"Storm Chaser's temper is dangerous," came Red Tornado. "Her nightmares cause downpours. Her rage creates a tempest."
"That's out of line." Flash barely registered that he was speaking, too incensed. "I don't pretend to know or understand the extent of the physical or emotional trauma Mark Mardon put her through before she came into my care but the downpour was subconscious and the reason why Black Canary started working with her in the first place, and the second was when she was incredibly emotional."
It wasn't much of a defense, but Amy couldn't be blamed for things outside of her control.
"So, you're saying that we have an emotionally unstable thirteen-year-old supposedly acting in the League's best interest?" Hawkwoman asked archly.
"What? No, that's not what I said!" Now Flash was getting really annoyed.
"It's true that Storm Chaser has struggled in the past," Black Canary said carefully, her words inlaid with ice. "It's harder for born meta-humans to control their powers but she has made leaps and bounds. No one can say they haven't been emotionally unstable after finding out the truth that others hide from them."
Flash appreciated that she only glowered at Batman, but his ears burned hot under his cowl.
"Evidently this is getting us nowhere, let us continue," Wonder Woman spoke with a sharp edge, eyes hard as they swept around the room.
Ironically, Amy was the first person Barry saw when the League left the room after choosing the newest members of the Justice League.
"Amy, what're you doing here?"
His daughter looked up from where she was sitting on the ground. Her laptop was open and connected to one of the League's computers, the light reflecting in her eyes. "Making sure my corrupted code didn't make it all the way up here, don't worry, it looks like we're in the clear." She grinned widely, unhooking her laptop and tucking it back into her bag and standing before looking past him to see the other League members leaving the room.
"Tough crowd," she drawled, keeping the grin as Dinah squeezed her shoulder and Oliver patted the top of her head. "Oh, Wonder Woman!" She waved her arm and Barry pretended not to notice the fact that her cheeks had pinked faintly or that she was wearing Diana's symbol on her shirt (that didn't mean as much; Amy was wearing Dinah's on her jacket between her shoulder blades).
"Hello, Amy," Diana said kindly.
"Did you ever find out—?" Amy probed immediately.
Diana shook her head fondly. "Give me another week, this kind of permission takes time."
"Official channels are boring," Amy grated before giving the woman a mocking salute.
Diana laughed, continuing on to speak to Clark about something.
"I don't think the Hawks like me too much," Amy said when she was out of earshot, nodding to the pair from Thanagar both who appeared to be rather acutely interested in Amy. Barry could see how she frowned and her grip tightened on the straps of her bag.
"Must be that attitude of yours." He poked her cheek and then ruffled her hair.
"Dad!" she complained loudly and he laughed, light and airy, so very happy that after everything that had happened she was still comfortable enough to call him that.
"Come on, you," he caught his arm loosely around her neck to drag her away with muffled complaints. "Better get you home before your mom tries to take over Gotham by overgrowing it in plant life…again."
"Oh, come on," Amy muttered into his arm, "that would be super cool."
Barry could only laugh.
AN: So Roy is healing well and back in action…or is he? Season Finale is fast approaching…I wonder what changes I've got in store for you guys ;)
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
