Chapter 10: Homefront
Over the next few days, Stevie was mostly left to her own devices. The team was jammed with school and extra training sessions with their mentors, so she was mostly left to herself. Occasionally, some of the team members would pop in to say hello and hang out for a while, but they were mostly out. Today was an exception. Connor and M'gann were here but when she saw what they were doing, she quickly retreated before she could barge in on the kiss fest.
Currently, she was in her room reading a book that Artemis lent her called Alice in Wonderland. She found that she really enjoyed reading and this book was interesting, especially the world that Alice got to visit. Once she was done, she would ask her if there were any other books that she could borrow. She was already halfway through the novel and it was just beginning to get good when something happened.
Stevie flinched as something unfamiliar entered the environment - some sort of technology. It was powerful and it took her a moment to adjust to the strong intrusion. Something wasn't right. Why would there be such a powerful, foreign piece of technology in the cave? It was very possible it was merely just something that one of the team members was bringing in, but it felt...different.
She folded the corner of the page over in the book and placed it down on her mattress, getting to her feet and shuffling toward the door. Her feet were light and quiet on the floor as she slipped down the hallway and into the kitchen. Everything seemed alright to her right now. She'd just check on Connor and M'gann to make sure...
However, when she poked her head into the the basement room, she knew exactly what was wrong.
Swirls of water and fire encased the entire room and the source were two shimmering red robots that looked strikingly similar to Red Tornado. Her heart pounded on her chest in an attempt to escape and she quickly ducked out of the doorway, her hand jumping up to her mouth. She wasn't even able to get a glimpse of Connor and M'Gann. How were they holding up?
Peeking back into the room once more, she looked frantically for any signs of her friends. There! In the water trapped in some sort of concrete substance were Wally and Connor. Kaldur and M'gann were also trapped, but inside of a fiery metal cage.
She had to do something! She couldn't just sit around and wait for something to happen. No one else was here to help and she was the only one that was free. The robots hadn't noticed her, so this may be the only chance she would get to try and do something.
Stevie drew in a deep breath and attempted to focus. The world around her morphed and she was soon surrounded by various chips, computer waves, and technology that she had never seen before, all lined up like a filing cabinet. The technological defense of these robots was strong and she had absolutely no idea where to begin. She'd only ever really tinkered with small things so entering the computer mind of something this complicated was way beyond her current strength.
Okay, okay. Just try something. Anything. You can do this, just focus.
And that's when she was roughly jolted into reality by a strong wave of water.
Stevie flew backwards into the wall behind her and then landed roughly on the ground, spluttering on water as she tried to get air into her lungs. Her gaze traveled upward to see one of them coming in her direction and that was the only cue she needed. Scrambling to her feet, she started down the hall at a sprint, finally drawing in an unsteady breath as she rounded the corner. She paused just long enough to see if it was pursuing her. A moment passed and nothing happened. Why was it staying behind? Wouldn't it be trying to get her too?
But then she heard voices and she backed away, ducking down the next hall and then pressing her back against the wall. The ground suddenly shook and she lost her balance as she fell to the floor for the second time that day. Water rushed down the hallway, but it was hardly deep enough to have to worry. Sitting up, she wiped some of the water off her cheek with her sleeve and glanced down at the inch deep puddle that occupied the hallway. Who was it that was attacking them?
Movement suddenly caught her eye and she jumped to her feet, nearly ramming into Robin and Artemis in the process.
"Stevie!" Robin exclaimed, latching onto her arm before she could fall over again.
"Do you know what's going on?" Artemis asked, glancing behind herself.
"Explain later, we need to get lost," Robin panted, letting go of her arm. "Come on!"
Stevie glanced back in time to see the shadows of tall figures coming down the hall. Definitely time to make a run for it.
They ended up back in the kitchen where the places to hide didn't really seem to be overabundant.
"The air vents!" Artemis shouted, pointing to the vent over the stove.
Robin nodded. "Good, go!"
Artemis hurtled toward the vent and began ripping it off. Robin stayed behind for a moment as he hooked his wrist computer up to one of the panels on the walls. Stevie wasn't sure what to do to help, so she remained silent as she paced back and forth.
"What're you...?" Artemis started as she looked over her shoulder to see what he was doing.
"Downloading cave blueprints. Could come in...," he trailed as footsteps echoed from the hallway. "Go! Go!"
Artemis climbed into the vents first with ease. Stevie was next. It took her a minute to climb up, but with the help of the blonde archer, she was able to get up in one piece. Robin followed and they were soon crawling through the vents in an attempt to escape and hide from the robots trailing them.
"Go left!" Robin instructed.
The three of them scrambled to get down the next vent and they did just in time, too. A blast of fire encompassed the vent they had just been crawling in and Stevie let out a shaky breath. They could've been scorched if they hadn't turned any quicker.
Robin voiced her exact thoughts. "Too close... Take the first right. There should be a vent cover right in front of you."
They turned down the next vent and Artemis ripped the cover off the floor before slipping down like a slide. Stevie looked down warily, teetering over the edge. It looked like a long way down...
"You can do it, Stevie. Just keep your balance centered and you should be able to land on your feet. We're gonna be alright," Robin reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She took in a deep breath and nodded before pushing herself over the edge and sliding down. Once the vent ended, she tucked her limbs close to her body to make it easier to control her landing and she landed heavily on her two feet. Maybe it was a bit clumsy, but it was better than landing on her head. She moved out of the way to make room for Robin to come down and he landed neatly behind her. They ended up being in a room she hadn't been in very often before.
Robin pulled up his wrist computer and she shifted her weight on the metal grated platform they stood on. "This way," he said suddenly and they were off again.
The three of them barely got down the path when a flaming figure leaped down from the vent they had just previously been occupying. She had to explain to them what was going on, but they didn't have the time to do it right now. Artemis leaped over the railing and landed on the floor below. Robin followed and Stevie grimaced. She had never really been fond of jumping from high places, even when the entire room around them was going up in flames.
She didn't really have any other option, so she carefully shuffled over the railing and dropped down. She ended up landing on her rear, but was quickly helped to her feet by Artemis. One of the machines next to them beeped furiously.
"That's not good...," Robin muttered, glancing back at them before taking off again.
Stevie was able to keep up as they weaved in and out of the hot steam emitted from the exploding pipes. They only made it a few paces before flames licked at her heels and she glanced back in time to see a fireball hurtling toward her. With a yelp, she jumped forward, nearly ramming into Artemis as they quickly turned to duck into cover.
Robin pulled up his wrist computer again and she leaned over and put her hands on her knees, panting.
"I know that other access tunnel is here somewhere...," he murmured, eyes locked on the holographic screen.
"You mean this one?" Artemis piped.
Stevie barely had a chance to figure out what was going on before Robin was grabbing her by the arm and pushing her down into the next vent.
She landed in a tumble but got up quickly to follow the blonde.
"Hold on," he breathed, stopping and yanking the cover off a USB panel. "Locking out cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us."
She sat back to take a breather as he did his computer thing.
"And I ask again, who is the enemy?" Artemis pressed.
"They're a couple of robots," Stevie whispered, glancing between the two. "I just remember something feeling wrong and I went to go see the others. There was fire and water everywhere. I got a glimpse of them. A couple of robots. I don't know why they're here and what they want."
"Let me check the cameras, see if we can figure out how they got in," he said, shuffling between the two of them so they could both see what was appearing on the hologram.
The security feed pulled showing a picture of the rest of the team working on one of the motorcycles. Kaldur asked them a few strange questions, but nothing seemed to be really out of the ordinary. Except for when a sudden explosion knocked the camera offline.
"What happened?!" Artemis blurted, looking intently at Robin.
"Explosion took out the camera, I'll find another angle," he explained.
He pulled up another camera, but each one of them was blown out by water or more explosions.
"That's it. All four are dead," he muttered, earning a surprised look from Artemis. "T-the cameras! I meant the cameras! I-I'm sure the others are okay. Just give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar."
Stevie nodded quickly. "I saw them before I ran. They were trapped, but alive."
Artemis didn't seem to be reassured by her words. "Yeah, they're fine! They've all got super powers. They can handle anything."
"We'll be fine," Stevie assured, though if she was being honest, she wasn't really believing her own words.
"We gotta go this way to the library," Robin said suddenly, the computer hologram disappearing as he slipped down the vent.
The three of them stopped halfway down and he opened up a hatch, dropping to the ground. Artemis went after and that left Stevie to teeter on the edge for a few minutes before deciding to take the plunge. It was getting easier and easier to jump from high places the more she had to, but it was still not something she was completely comfortable with yet.
"There's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases," Robin whispered as they picked up a run again.
"Seriously? Cliche much?" Artemis snorted.
"You should see the Batcave."
Stevie slowed her pace a little bit as they walked along the bookshelves. A metallic clang echoed through the room and she reared back, spinning around to see what was going on. It must've been them. The three of them rushed behind a nearby bookshelf and Stevie pressed her back against it, breathing slowly and silently as the footsteps neared.
"Artemis? Robin?"
It was the voice of Red Tornado.
But he knew who she was...why didn't he call for her too? Did that mean...?
"It's Red Tornado!" Artemis exclaimed, moving forward to reveal herself.
"Artemis, wait!" Stevie cried, pushing off the bookshelf to grab the girl's wrist but it was too late.
The blonde's eyes warped from relief to terror in less than a second as the large red robot approached her. Robin was quick to push her out of its reaching metal hands. Stevie quickly followed, ducking just in time to avoid the table smashing beside her.
"Yes on the red, no on the tornado!" Robin shouted as he jumped up from a dive roll.
Stevie caught up to them quickly, but the other robot stepped out in front of them to keep them from going any further. They jumped out of the way just in time to escape the blast of fire it shot their way. Both Robin and Artemis leaped on top of the bookshelves, but Stevie couldn't do so as easily, so she had to weave in and out of the water and fireballs that licked at her heels. Bookshelves started to crash to the ground and she quickly dived into the aisle that both Robin and Artemis occupied.
A small passageway opened up just as one of the shelves came hurtling their way and they slipped inside just in time. For now, it seem like they'd lost them.
"Did you know Tornado had...siblings?" Artemis boomed.
"No," Robin breathed.
"Why would Red Tornado not tell us about them?" Stevie asked as they turned the corner.
"Uh, maybe because they're crazy!?" Artemis exclaimed breathlessly, latching onto each of their arms and yanking them to a stop. "So now what? Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League! How are we supposed to take down two of him?"
"They did seem pretty user unfriendly," Robin joked in a low voice.
"Don't joke! They-"
"Attention Robin, Artemis, and friend. You have exactly ten minutes to surrender or the lives of your team mates will be extinguished."
Whoa. That definitely wasn't good. The three of them exchanged glances with each other. What were they supposed to do about this? Robin and Artemis had to know. They'd been on dangerous missions before. Stevie had no idea what to do. If they surrendered, what would happen? Questions and scenarios swam through her head and she took in a shaky breath.
"Come on, we need to do something," Robin said, starting down the hallway as the voice counted down their time left. "We can access the hangar from here."
A whoosh of water cut their plan short and she turned to see a a huge rush of water coming their way.
"Or not," Robin commented.
"Would you please stop saying that?!" Artemis hissed as they started to run.
"Would this be a bad time to tell you that I don't know how to swim?" Stevie squeaked, heart leaping into her throat.
"Maybe that would have been helpful!" Robin bellowed over the rush of the water.
And then it hit them.
Stevie lurched forward, taking in one gasp of air before she was encased in water. Flailing her arms and legs, she tried to get herself steady in the water, but the current just kept pushing her further down the hall and she couldn't control herself. That was, until a glove-encased hand grabbed onto her to pull her to a stop.
Robin pulled out a small device and took a breath through it before handing it off to Artemis. Once she had taken a breath, she handed it to Stevie. Fresh air entered her lungs and a huge wave of relief washed over her. That was until Artemis was suddenly being dragged backwards against her own will.
Robin acted quickly and latched onto her arm, shooting his grapple gun at the wall opposite. She grabbed onto the blonde's leg as they passed and they were soon hurtling away through the water, leaving explosions in their wake.
They surfaced a moment later and she spit the little black breathing device from her mouth. Hands instantly steadied her when she began to flail in the water, but she didn't have time to see who it was because Wally's voice was calling out.
"Look out!"
Large balls of fire streaked their way and her eyes widened. She was then suddenly under the water again and she didn't have time to recover when she was brought back up again. She heard the voices of Robin and Connor, but she couldn't really focus on what they were saying. All she could focus on was trying not to drown and snorting the water from her nose.
Yet again, she was only given a second to take in a breath and then she was being pulled under by Robin as another fireball hurtled their way. She could never catch a break, could she? After this, she was definitely taking swimming lessons...
They neared the stairs and she took in a gasping breath once they surfaced, but their relief didn't last long because even more fire and water headed their way. If they weren't constantly moving, they were dead and neither Artemis's arrows or Robin's shuriken were doing any damage.
"Take a breath!" he shouted over to her and the next thing she knew, she was being catapulted into the water again.
Okay this was getting real old.
Stevie was able to take a nice breath before she plummeted into the water once more, being dragged along by both Artemis and Robin. They went a lot deeper down than she cared to go and by the time they went through one of the vents, she was beginning to lose air. Luckily, they came along the surface a moment later and she took in a huge breath of air, climbing onto the ground quickly and rolling over on her side.
"What do we do now?" Artemis panted.
"We save them. That's how it works," Robin breathed.
"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but those robots took out our four superpowered friends!"
"What about Stevie?"
Stevie looked over at the two, eyes widening slightly as she scrambled to a sitting position. "What?"
Artemis sat up straighter. "You control technology! Shut those robots down!"
She shook her head, blinking the water droplets from her eyelashes. "It's not that easy. I tried earlier and the technology is too complicated. I-I can only tinker with small things. They're too...complicated."
Artemis shook her head and began muttering, "no, no, no..."
"You seem distraught," Robin commented.
"Distraught?! M'gann is dying, we have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow! Of course I'm distraught!"
"Well get traught, or get dead!" Robin said tersely.
"How can you be so calm?"
That was definitely a good question. He was so cool about this situation that he was cracking jokes and his usual sarcastic humor.
"Practice. I've been doing this since I was nine..."
He quickly started to crawl ahead and she followed after them, left wondering exactly what brought him into a life like this at such a young age. Guess the same thing could be said about her, just a different situation.
"What good is that now? What chance to we have against unrelenting machines?" Artemis queried.
There was a pause.
"Oh duh! They're machines! And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range!" Robin exclaimed, turning around and grinning at each of them.
"Great! But you better have an EMT emitter in your utility belt cause I know I don't have one in my quiver."
"Fresh out, but I'll bet we can make one. What do you say, KF? Do-able?"
"Totally do-able! You know if you had more time...," Wally muttered from Robin's wrist.
"And that's why we have someone who can," Robin murmured with a grin, gaze jumping to Stevie.
"Wha...? No I can't-"
"The others depend on you. I know you can do it," he assured. "Now come on!"
Stevie's mind was reeling. How was she supposed to do this? She wasn't even getting a chance to think properly because she was being ushered into the vent after Artemis. The darkened vents around her were just blurry blobs and it felt like merely seconds before they were climbing out of the vent again. A hand grabbed onto her shoulder and gently guided her to where they needed to go. Once they got there, she leaned against the wall, blinking away the blurs and staring at the machine in front of them.
"Stevie, just clear your head, it's okay. I know you can do this," Robin said softly.
Artemis looked at her expectantly and she let out a shaky breath. "Okay. Okay just...just tell me what I need to do."
"Wally?"
"All you need to do is reprogram it to EMPs," Wally informed.
Okay. Reprogram. Shutting her eyes, she focused all her energy on the machine in front of her. Numbers, letters, and files swirled in her mind and she tried to find exactly what she needed to change. There! Quickly, she exchanged different codes and blinked open her eyes.
"I got it!"
"Great! Now you just need to take out one of those cores and hook it to the main generator," Wally murmured.
"Where's that?" Artemis asked.
"Ahhh, you'll see..." Robin motioned for them to follow them in the vents and the next thing she knew they were in the room where everyone was trapped, only much higher up so they wouldn't be noticed.
Wally and Connor started to distract the two robots with insults and Robin hooked up a line from the wall to the generator.
"Stevie, I need you to come with me. Artemis, cover us," he said.
The blonde got her bow at the ready and Stevie stepped toward him, wrapping her arms around his middle. The two of them took off down the line and it was merely seconds before they got to the generator. She stumbled slightly and turned as he put the power core into the generator. He checked to make sure the power was on, but it didn't seem to be connecting.
"The circuit's incomplete. I need something conductible. A piece of metal," he mused.
"Robin, Stevie! Look out!"
Stevie turned just in time to see a huge wave heading their way. No, no, not good. Not when she couldn't swim.
Water encased her and dragged her down and she used every ounce of muscle she had to try and kick to the surface, but it didn't do her any good. As the seconds ticked by, her lungs grew hot and achy and then everything went black.
The next thing Stevie awoke to was a voice. She jolted upwards, nearly knocking M'gann over in her panic. However, she realized as she sat up that everyone was okay and the voice was coming from Batman.
"I'm glad you're okay. You had us worried...," M'gann said.
"What happened?" Stevie asked, drawing in a shaky breath.
"The Tornados escaped. We're not entirely sure what happened and why they were here. But they've disappeared," Batman explained.
She stood up, using the martian for support.
"Gone," Robin murmured.
A/N: Two things. One, I'm so sorry for lack of updating. Have had very low motivation to write lately and this chapter was a pain in the neck to write. Two, yes I know most of this chapter was basically the episode and I'm sorry for that. I'm not a big fan of basically copy and pasting the episodes into a story and adding the new characters, but I felt it was sort of needed for this chapter since it was Stevie's first "mission" of sorts. I'm going to try and refrain from doing this in future chapters unless I feel it's necessary. Anyway. Thanks soooo much for reading and reviewing, you guys rock so much you have no idea! Hope you enjoyed! :)
