Tempest: Chapter Eighty-Two: Am Bushed

AN: I might have monthly updates planned for the next two years, but if I don't get any response on chapters, I have no problem pushing those updates back, month by month by month.

I write this for me, and the one person who consistently reviews/comments just finished reading chapter 102, and I have no problem just not updating.


Robin was being awfully cryptic with his "Meeting in Oracle Cave in 5," and when the rest of the Team came either out of their respective rooms or out of the malfunctioning zeta tube (Robin and Amy had both promised to fix it over the weekend), it was to see Robin and Amy both wearing their uniforms.

"What's going on?" Wally asked carefully as he stepped down the stairs to join everyone else. He had been mostly absent from the Cave 2.0 since the funeral of his parents and there hadn't been many Team missions since the disaster on New Year's; all the cities that had been hit were still recovering. Kid Flash hadn't even been seen in Central City, leaving many to wonder if Flash's sidekick had died in the chaos, like a number of other citizens, but neither Flash nor Kid Flash came forward to speak about it, so, as it was, it was strictly speculation.

"They've been going at it for ten minutes," Artemis informed him. "I think there were some Russian swears thrown in." Well, that was a particular favorite of Amy's, Wally wasn't surprised.

Amy and Robin were shouting at each other, which was unusual for them, since they got on so well; Robin, after all, was her best friend after Roy.

"I can handle it on my own!"

"Like hell you can!" Robin fired back.

"You act like I've never done solo work before!" Amy was raging.

"Oh, sure you have," Robin's sarcasm was biting, "only the last time Roy shot you!"

"Why, you—!"

Wally moved quickly to hoist Amy up and keep her from ripping out Robin's throat.

"Lemme at him!" she snarled.

"Calm down," Wally snapped. "God, what's wrong with you two?"

"She's the one who wants to go off on her own!" Robin jabbed a finger at her and Amy growled, snapping her teeth. "Would you just ask for help once in a while! We want to help, let us!"

Amy balked at that and looked around at all the gathered members of the Team, at her friends.

"Whatever it is," Kaldur agreed sincerely, "we want to help."

Zatanna's eyes were soft and imploring and Amy looked away quickly. "Fine," she muttered.

Robin sighed as Amy was carefully deposited onto the ground once more, dislodging Wally's arms around her. He picked up Amy's typing pad, stepping back so everyone could see the screens that Amy had set up. "Okay, this is the security footage from the Asheville Regional Airport." An image of a woman in casual clothes with thick dark hair and olive skin, with a suitcase at her side as she took the steps up to an airplane, pausing to cast a wink and a smirk towards the camera. "Facial recognition confirms that's Jade Nguyen, Cheshire…and I'm guessing that look was directed to Amy."

"Why Amy?" Raquel asked with a furrowed brow.

"Because I'm the only one she flirts with or kisses on camera," Amy said dryly.

Zatanna felt a spike of jealousy at that.

"We've partnered up more than a few times," Amy had to admit.

"What, seriously?" Raquel's eyebrows rose high on her forehead.

"Did I forget to mention that?"

"Yes," came the dry response from everyone in the room with the noticeable exception of Artemis, but they all knew about her being related to Cheshire now, so the idea that she knew that Amy and Cheshire had partnered up wasn't really surprising.

Amy shrugged them off. "I need what's in that case she's carrying, and I am perfectly capable to doing it on my own." She shot a look towards Robin who scowled deeply.

"I don't know how you manage on patrol," he told Artemis flatly before turning back to Amy, "I can tranq you, you know."

Amy narrowed her eyes. "I'm quick on my feet."

Robin growled through his teeth, throwing up his hands.

"Amy, we want to help," M'gann said, floating in the air forward to grasp Amy's hands, as tightly clenched into fists as they were.

"Isn't it better to have us there and not need us than need us and not have us?" Conner offered helpfully. Kaldur murmured an assent and everyone else nodded in agreement.

Amy turned to Wally, attempting to appeal to him, but he gave a small shake of his head.

"Fine, fine," she said hotly, "if you're not in the Bioship in five minutes, I'm leaving without you."

And she pushed past all of them and even Zatanna thought twice about reaching a hand out to pull her back.

"What's got her so riled up?" Raquel asked, unused to the Amy that was so close to being out of control.

"I can think of one person," Artemis said with absolute certainty.

Kaldur nodded. "Roy."


People used to describe Amy as a cheerful storm cloud. Artemis couldn't see it, how could you be cheerful when it was storming? But she'd also seen Amy drag Wally out into the rain, spinning around and stomping in puddles, a wide grin on her face.

It had been a simpler time, then.

Amy wasn't a cheerful storm cloud, she was a ticking time bomb, and Artemis didn't know if she wanted to run from the prospective explosion or try to dismantle it and hope for the best.

Really, Artemis didn't think Amy could function if she wasn't multi-tasking. How she and Zatanna had time to date was honestly a miracle. They probably couldn't have picked a worse time to start dating, with Amy's aunt and uncle's death on top of the disappearance of Roy…if Artemis was them, she would've waited a little longer, until wounds weren't quite as fresh. But that wasn't her business and they were cute and worked together well, so what was the harm?

Still, a majority of Amy's time was spent doing Oracle-related things and that included trying to find Roy. She'd heard the story about Amy going AWOL for two weeks when she was ten to find him and he'd gone all the way to Russia to bring her back home after her violent explosion at her father months ago.

It wasn't really surprising. They'd always operated on their own wavelength, like twins that shared a womb, if that was possible. And since he'd disappeared…Amy hadn't been doing so great. Artemis could tell. She wasn't eating as much, wasn't sleeping as well, was remarkably scatterbrained about anything that didn't happen on patrol. It wasn't hugely noticeable but Wally had said Barry and Iris were thinking about asking if she wanted to start having sessions with Dinah again.

"I think she only really completely eats when she's with Dick," Wally had admitted to her one day when it was just them.

"Dick?" Artemis had never heard them talk about anyone named Dick before. "What, you mean like Dick Grayson?" Bruce Wayne's ward that happened to go to her school? The one that had taken a random picture with her for no reason?

"Yeah?" Wally said cautiously, careful not to reveal too much about his best friend's secret identity. "His dad and Barry are old friends."

"Your uncle is friends with Bruce Wayne?" Artemis asked dubiously. "Wait, is this the kid that Amy said had pretty eyes?"

Wally snorted. "Probably? Amy's a big fan of blue eyes, you might've noticed, what with Zee and Wonder Woman." It had been immensely amusing to watch her stumble over herself when she and Diana had started working together to find Steve Trevor.

"Huh," Artemis said. "And why does she eat completely with him?"

"Probably because he keeps her attention the most when they eat together," Wally shrugged. "They're both pretty hyperactive."

"Sounds like Robin," Artemis muttered.

"Yeah, him too."

"So, he keeps her attention more than her own girlfriend?" Artemis arched an eyebrow.

"Well," Wally said with a grin, "Zee's better at distracting Amy from eating."

Now Artemis thought Amy was just a bunch of live wires strung together, sparking and fraying. A glance to the side told her Amy was sitting in the same position she'd been in when they'd all gotten to the Bioship, and that was ramrod straight. That wasn't good for her muscles, that was for sure.

No one had even spoken after liftoff. Artemis got the feeling that tempers were still running high with Amy and Robin and no one really wanted to break that stalemate and set either of them off.

"Approaching Cheshire's jet," M'gann voice echoed hollowly in the silence.

The image before them was of a downed plane, ripped apart and broken. Artemis looked away quickly.

"Looks like there were no survivors," M'gann said sadly.

"No," Amy and Artemis said as one, glancing to one another.

"There's no way a plane crash would kill Jade," Artemis said with certainty.

Amy nodded. "She's tougher than iron."

The Bioship touched down. "So, a manual search," Kaldur suggested, but it wasn't really a suggestion.

Artemis and Amy were the first ones out of the cockpit.

"What're you thinking?" Artemis muttered as Amy fixed her goggles over her eyes.

"I'm thinking," Amy replied just as quietly as they descended into the ravine where the plane lay, "we pissed off a lot of people last year and your sister wasn't very subtle."

Artemis narrowed her eyes. Amy was right, Jade hadn't been subtle with that wink…so it could be a trap, and they'd have to make it good to get whatever she had in that case, because Artemis had a feeling that that was what was making Amy so desperate.

That was why she was determined to go after Jade on her own. Jade had tipped her off.

The Team catalogued the damage slowly, Amy settling herself into the pilot seat, looking for anything that could help them figure out what happened.

"How come Homeland Security and the NTSP aren't all over this?" Wally asked in the center of the carnage. He was shaking and Conner was hanging close to him; his parents had been killed in a plane crash just like the one they were investigating.

"Cheshire's ID was a League alert," Robin said, examining the black box which seemed a little damaged but still intact. "Authorities didn't pick it up and her jet didn't follow its flight plan. Flew under the radar, literally." Then he grinned. "But the Watchtower audited the jet and recorded the crash."

"Then why isn't the League here?" Raquel demanded.

"Because our Boy Wonder has some mighty hacking skills and arranged to get the alert first," Zatanna said with a light grin towards her ex-boyfriend. "Though I think he got the tip from someone else."

Everyone turned to look at Amy who gave no indication she was listening.

"I have a better question," said Conner. "Where are the bodies?"

That was a good point. There was no sign of any pilot or any passengers, like they'd never been there in the first place.

"Here's one," came a familiar sultry voice, and they all looked up to the ravine's edge to see Cheshire standing there, mask in place, case at her side. "And it is stunning."

Amy's lips curved and Artemis sighed, only to start at a second voice.

"I am flora, not fauna!" Artemis was remembering just how much she hated the Riddler. He looked even more ridiculous than usual in his green getup and manic grin. "I am foliage, not trees! What am I?" He snapped his fingers and out of the ground sprouted energy pylons that circled the entirety of the ravine.

"Fuck," Amy said, summing up the entire situation, twisting her batons together and flicking them into her bo-staff.

The pylons tips glowed green, the light seeming to bell out, encasing them in a domed shield.

Oh, that was going to cause problems.

"Come on, you can get this! I am shrubbery, not grass. What am I? – I—"

"—am bushed," Robin finished with annoyance taking note of all the reinforcements that seemed to be armed with Kobra tech, not including Shimmer and Mammoth, the brother-sister duo from Santa Prisca.

"Didn't you think we'd be tipped you were on Cheshire's trail?" the Riddler cackled. "We're tired of your interference, kiddies. This is the end game. Ordered from above and executed by their master strategist—"

"I don't see any master strategist," Amy fired back. "Guess all they could get is the second-rate!"

Amy was physically incapable of letting enemies feel good about themselves or get the last word in.

Miss Martian, is everyone linked? Kaldur's voice echoed.

Yes, came M'gann's quick reply.

Go!

Everyone took off in different directions, Zatanna throwing her hands out with a chant of "Ekahs siht ebolgwons!" The wind picked up around them turning it until a full-on snowstorm.

Zee, look out! Amy's voice echoed and she looked over in time to see Amy push Zatanna down and out of harm's way, swinging her bo-staff to destroy the first's weapon before colliding it painfully with the second's head.

Zatanna didn't have that many offensive spells and Amy was having to pick up where she fell short; that wasn't going to end well.

Superboy, the pylons! Kaldur called.

Working on it! Conner ground out, leaping up towards the edge of the barrier to crack one with his fist before moving onto the next one.

Raquel glowed with violet energy as she flew through the air, knocking down henchmen as she went. Wally was knocking people over left and right. M'gann's eyes glowed as she lifted stone and henchmen alike, sending them flying. Robin was flipping and flinging batarangs and bolas at anyone in range.

That just left Jade.

Artemis drew back an arrow and fired, forcing Jade to drop the case and dive back from the small explosion. Jade flipped and righted herself with ease, extending twin blades as Artemis fired again.

But Jade was quick, Jade had always been quick and Artemis had to meet her next strike with her bow. "It's just like old times!" Artemis could practically hear Jade's grin. "Dad pitting us against each other!"

An arm wrapped around Artemis' waist suddenly, throwing her back and she skidded in the ground to see Amy holding her bo-staff against Jade's.

"Help Zatanna! I've got this!" Amy forced over her shoulder and for a moment Artemis just stood there hovering but she was a distance fighter, Amy was the one that was close distance. "Go, Artemis!"

Raquel screamed as she was zapped by an energy ball and Kaldur yelled as he sent it flying into the downed plane. So, Artemis took off, bow in hand, firing at anyone that got to close to Zatanna.

Conner was making his way steadily through the pylons until he reached the last one, then Mammoth collided with him with a roar, sending him flying.

"How much longer can you keep this spell going?" Artemis asked Zatanna once she reached her side. Sweat was beading her brow and her breathing was labored.

"Not much longer," Zatanna forced through gritted teeth.

Conner threw Mammoth into the cliffside with a yell, punching him into it over and over until it caused cracks to grow until it was a cascading avalanche of rocks.

Amy!

Amy, look out!

Everyone's voices echoed as one as both Amy and Jade flung themselves back to avoid the rocks, disappearing behind the pile.


Jade's hand was over Amara's mouth, her other hand pressing a finger to her lips before dropping a hand to her hip. Someone else would've thought she was reaching for one of the swords, but Amara knew different.

She turned a dial on the box-shaped item at her waist. "Jammer's on, okay, we can talk."

"They got bugs on you now?" Amara asked archly.

"As if they could get close enough to," Jade scoffed, "no, it's just an extra precaution."

Amara arched an eyebrow, then remembered she had one in each of her rooms. "All right, fair…what's in the case? A lead?"

"The case isn't the lead," Jade shook her head. "The case is evidence. You'll understand it when you open it. My lead isn't necessarily a lead, more of a…way to get a lead."

"Okay…?" Amara was a bit confused.

"You've probably been scanning everywhere for Vandal Savage, right?" Jade probed, not even stopping for Amara's nod. "There is one person in this world that hates him more than we do that's willing to give us information about him."

That made Amara doubtful. "No one just up and leaves his side without ending up in a body bag."

"True," Jade agreed, "but this woman is a unique case."

Amara furrowed her brow. "How unique?"

"His daughter."

"His daughter?" Amara repeated. "What? Scandal Savage? The mercenary?"

"That's the one," Jade agreed.

"What makes you think she's just going to talk to us?" Amara sputtered.

"Not us," Jade corrected, shaking her head. Amara was having trouble seeing her in the dark and her goggles could only do so much. "Just you. She won't trust someone from my side…but Oracle and Masquerade she'll entertain."

"Why?" Amara scrutinized her. Scandal was a mercenary, why would she be more willing to trust someone in the neutral category that someone who aligned with villains?

"Because you have no reason to go against her…and she gets the added bonus of pissing off her dad." Jade snorted. "Can't say I would argue with that logic."

Amara rolled her eyes, but she was in the same boat with Mardon as Jade was with Sportsmaster.

"It's probably best if we keep to radio silence for a while," Jade added, "my superiors are keeping a close eye on me…but it'll probably take you a few months to even get into contact with Scandal; she's notoriously difficult to pin down."

"Of course, she is," Amara groaned.

Jade twisted one of the straight black swords in her hand. "All right, where do you want to be cut?"

People had seen them fall into the cave together and Amara could hear rocks rumbling as they were pulled free and distant voices and there was no way Amara would just let Jade get away, not as Storm Chaser.

"Leg, I suppose," Amara sighed, "that'll keep me from following after you." If she wanted to in the first place.

Still, it really hurt to have a sword run through her thigh. Amara fell to the ground clutching at her leg as red bloomed through the fabric. She really needed to get something more durable.

"You didn't use any atmokinesis today," Jade noticed before making to head off, deep into the cave, probably to hide out until the Team left.

"No," Amara agreed, pain spiking, her mouth dry.

"You'll tell me one day." It wasn't really a question.

"We'll see," Amara said, making Jade smirk before disappearing from sight entirely.


Amy, are you all right? Wally's voice echoed as the Team worked furiously to lift the rocks. Conner was muttering a string of 'sorry's that made it seem like he was buzzing as he threw rocks aside, while M'gann used her telekinesis to help pull rocks back. Zatanna would've been helping, if she hadn't been so exhausted from using her spells earlier.

Everyone else was staying out of the line of fire.

Yeah, came her simply reply, just a minor stabbing, no worries.

Minor stabbing? The words echoed with varying levels of alarm.

I said minor, Amy grated, I'll live.

But even if she didn't say anything, everyone could feel her rising panic.

Amy, Kaldur asked cautiously, are you all right?

Fine, she gasped, it's just, you know, dark in here.

They all looked to Wally, who, evidently, had been designated as the Amy-translator in times of need.

"She's having a panic attack," Wally scowled, "she was crushed under the Cave, remember?"

Amy was still sleeping without blankets on her bed to keep herself from getting tangled up in them, and while she no longer kept the lights on, she still used lamps and nightlights, as many as her room could handle.

Conner had dug out a hole large enough to reach a hand through. "Storm Chaser, grab my hand!" he called into the cave.

For a moment there was nothing but complete and utter silence, then Conner was pulling back, wrenching a small form through the rocks, helping her stand immediately as she winced painfully.

Zatanna moved forward first, throwing her arms around Amy.

"Oh, hugging," Amy said breathlessly, like she'd just run a marathon. "That's nice." She wound her arms carefully around her girlfriend, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. "Babe, I don't suppose you've got a spell to bandage my leg?"

Zatanna pulled back and there all got a look at the wound on her leg.

"Yikes," Raquel winced, "is that a through and through? Did she just stab her sword through your leg?"

Amy paused a little too long in looking at it. "Yeah, that seems about right," she decided, "'tis but a flesh wound."

Wally cracked a grin and Artemis groaned loudly, hooking one of Amy's arms around her shoulders while Zatanna handled the second, giving a go at one last spell.

"Dnuow siht dnib!" A bandage appeared out of nowhere, winding tightly around her thigh.

Amy hissed lowly. "Tell me we at least got the case."

Robin held it up. "Got it."

Her eyes flicked towards him and for a moment the air seemed crackle with friction.

"All right," Amy sighed, "I'm only going to say this once…you were right."

"What was that?" Robin was grinning, popping out an ear with a hand. "Want to repeat that?"

"I said once, little bird," Amy said sourly, "that's all you're getting out of me."

Everyone laughed as one, lighter than they had in a long time, and it was hard to tell if it was because Amy apologized or because Robin's nickname was 'little bird' and he apparently answered to it.


"Tell me if this sounds familiar."

Amara winced, tugging on her ear. They'd made it back to HQ, technically, they'd made it back to the Watchtower because someone had realized they'd all gone AWOL. The Team had just barely deposited the prisoners -which included everyone but Jade, who'd made a miraculous escape, taking advantage after downing Amara in the cave…that was the official story, anyways, but the Team was smart enough to read between the lines- before they'd been ordered to debrief in the Watchtower.

Black Canary was currently scowling at his side and Amara avoided her mentor's gaze quickly.

"You hacked League systems," Batman continued in that severe tone of his, "disobeyed protocol and endangered your lives."

Amara scratched her cheek uncomfortably, determinedly avoiding looking at anyone else, just testing her weight on her injured leg. Yep, still throbbing.

"And your initiative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons, proving Warden Strange runs Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activity." He paused and then a semblance of a smile appeared. "Well done."

Everyone looked to each other in surprise, expecting a reprimand. Were they in an alternate reality, or something?

"You feelin' okay, Bats?" Amara couldn't help herself from blurting out. "'Cause I think you just complimented us."

His mouth twitched more and Dinah snorted at his side. "Don't push your luck, Storm Chaser. Where are we at with the contents of that case?"

"It appears to be metallic in nature," Kaldur told him, "but it's hard to say anything else about it without further analysis."

Batman looked to Amara, rather well known for analyzing evidence from the field by now. "In depth analysis is going to take a full day," Amara admitted, the case swinging at her side. "I'll let you know my findings then."

He gave a short nod of assent. "Dismissed," he said, heading towards the zeta-beam.

"Amy, stay off that leg," Dinah warned.

Amara saluted, waving her off when she got close enough to inspect her protégé and see that she wasn't gravely injured, and Dinah spared her a smile before following after.

It was only once she'd gone that Artemis voices what was on all their minds.

"Anyone else think someone on the other side's got it in for us?"

Amara was too exhausted to think about that right now, but she'd definitely have to look into it; she'd had too many near-death experiences lately and definitely wasn't a fan.


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