"Not to sound like the kill-joy here, but where are we supposed to even start?!" Wally, now dressed as Kid Flash, exclaimed, his hands on his hips.
"I'd say that the Justice League will know something about this. Perhaps we should -," I started, before being interrupted.
"Are you crazy?! If we even attempted a suicide mission like this, we'd be headless!" I stared at him with slight anger.
"I'd prefer it if you didn't call me crazy right now. We have to focus. And that might be the only place to start, seeing as we don't have any LEADS!" I retorted, waving my hand in the air dramatically so he knew I was being serious.
"...Sure, let's call the Justice League! And write out our wills while we're at it..." Robin was muttering under his breath. Yes, very mature.
I raised my eyebrow and continued talking.
"Aqualad, would you be able to contact the League?" With a nod, Aqualad pressed his belt, summoning the League.
"They should be here momentarily. How exactly do you expect to convince them to give this information to us freely?" he asked, taking a single step towards me. Truthfully, I hadn't quite figured that out.
~~~.~~~
It felt like a lifetime had passed before the Justice League finally arrived, but in truth, it was only just less than an hour.
"Why do you summon us here?" Red Tornado inquired as they all landed on the ground. There was only Superman, Batman and Red Tornado standing before us and I was fairly sure that was all we'd see.
"We need to know what information you've gathered on Droughtstorm," I announced strongly, holding my ground.
"That information is confidential." Batman glared at me as I thought up an excuse.
"As is the case, but it seems there is much more that I know about Droughtstorm than is able to be researched. I had a connection with him, meaning that I can be baited, as well as I am able to detect his weakness and strengths. We simply need what information you have currently. I am certain that we will be able to help you destroy this evil, but you need to trust us." I had no idea how convincing I actually sounded, but I did notice just how stupid I felt sounding like an encyclopaedia.
"Well, Bats? She does have a point..." Superman agreed with me, taking a step behind Batman.
"Yes. The girl does seem to have some miscellaneous knowledge on Droughtstorm that may prove useful," Red Tornado added. Secretly, I did a little jig, just waiting for Batman to agree with the others.
"I'm not sure I can trust you. You've been in this team for just over a month, but in that time, you've barely known anything about yourself, or your family. How do I really known that you're not playing us for some twisted game?" I returned Batman's glare and stepped up in front of him.
"I'm sure you understand the feeling of losing someone. How hard that is to deal with. How you have to be able to cope. I know you don't want people suffering that same problem. That's why you took Robin in, because of his history. All I need is some information on Droughtstorm. I'll be out of your hair in no time." I managed to keep my voice to a mere whisper, confusing the rest of the team a little bit.
Batman continued to stare, but I was sure that I had gotten through to him.
"We haven't learned much about Droughtstorm at all. We know he picks out those he believes is weak-willed and converts them to follow him. We also know that on most occasions, a 'beacon' is required in order to summon him. We aren't sure where to find it or how to work it, but it is required."
I smiled and thanked him before turning back to Aqualad.
"We have the information. Now what shall we do?"
"Finding the beacon will be the only way. We must split up and search for the device. Superboy, Miss Martian and I will cover the north of the city. You, Robin and Kid will cover the south of the city. M'gann, link us up."
With a nod, we were all linked up telepathically.
"Good to go?" I asked, having everyone around me nod. "Good. Now let's head out."
~~~.~~~
"So, where are we heading again?" Kid asked telepathically as we made our way to the south side of the city.
"South. Looking for something that looks strange, like a little remote," I replied, also telepathically, carefully scanning the ground. It was much harder than it seemed. By the time about two hours had passed, we still weren't even close to finding the beacon!
"This is getting us nowhere!" Robin exclaimed mentally, exasperatedly throwing his hands up into the air.
"No, we'll find it! One of our groups WILL find it! I'm sure we will..." I was starting to lose hope, but then I heard something, some kind of incantation, followed by the appearance of the beacon right in front of me.
"Well, you were definitely accurate. I wonder how that worked..." We all looked around, Kid Flash running off to different spot in order to see who had helped us, but no one was there.
"Kid, come back here! We need all of us together in order for this to work!" I called, motioning for Kid Flash to rejoin us.
"Whatever you say, babe!" He came speeding back, leaving dust in his tracks. I waved it out of my face and coughed, before communicating with the group via my mind.
"We've found the beacon. Repeat, we've found the beacon. Regroup at Central Park."
"Understood. We shall be there soon." Aqualad's voice came into my mind and I felt a little more at ease. We were a step closer to finding my brother and helping out Leonne.
As we rushed to Central Park, a rush of sweat came over me, like I was becoming overly stressed out.
"Hey, Tempest, you look like you're in a sauna or something. Everything alright?" Kid Flash asked telepathically. I nodded, unsure myself.
"I think so... I don't know. I feel funny."
"You look it, too. I mean, strange. I mean, -." As noble as Kid Flash's intentions were, he kept making it sound worse for himself, but I got the gist of it.
"It's fine, I understand."
~~~.~~~
Eventually, we made our way to Central Park and I showed the beacon to the rest of the group privately.
"We found it with the help of an unknown source," I explained, presenting the beacon but hiding my body around it, so that no one else, apart from the group, could see it.
"Excellent. Now, how does it work?" Aqualad asked, examining the beacon.
"I'm not sure..." Fiddling with the beacon, I felt a trigger and flicked it, feeling a strange feeling coming over me. That's when the memory of Leonne, Malin and myself during the drought hit me again. With a groan, I dropped to my knees, the group running to my side. "I'm sure 'he'll' be here soon..."
"Nelly! Nelly! Look what I found!"
"Nelle, what's happening?"
"No! We need to find Droughtstorm!" I squealed, attempting to stand back up, but falling onto my face.
"We're looking for him, Tempest. That's why we're here..." Robin told me, helping me stand up. Staring up at the sky, there was nothing.
"He... He's not... Oh, God... This can't be happening..." I walked about in circles, stressing. What if Droughtstorm never comes? What would I do then? I wouldn't have any chance to see what happened to Malin and I definitely wouldn't be able to find the cure for Leonne...
And that's when I saw it. That's when I saw him.
"Shanelle? Shanelle, is that you?!" he called, running toward me. At first, all I saw was a shadow, but soon, he came into the light and I felt an immediate connection.
"Malin?" I took a hesitant step forward. What if I was being tricked? What if it was Droughtstorm in some kind of disguise?
"Shanelle! I'm okay! That day, seven years ago! It was fine, nothing happened! I was abducted by Droughtstorm, but I agreed to be his slave if he did not take away my will."
I stared. Being confused seemed to be my biggest asset lately. I watched as 'Malin' ran up to me and threw his arms around me. As excited as I should have been, I still wasn't completely sure. I hadn't seen him in years and now, he was pretending everything was alright.
That wasn't something my family would have done.
"It's great to see you being part of something bigger! I always knew you'd accomplish something amazing!" I continued to stare at him, examining him. "Shanelle, what's wrong?" I brought my arms onto his back and embraced my 'brother', but I still was not sure that he was really my relative.
"So, Tempest, is this your brother?" Aqualad asked, sensing my doubt.
"Uh... Yes..." I replied unconvincingly. 'Malin' just stared at me, a little hurt.
"It's been years, but you don't believe I'm really your brother? That's harsh..." He lowered his head and I found myself back tracking through the years of my life... Seven years ago... And that's when it hit me.
"How many years did you say it has been?" I asked, staring intently at him. Everyone else seemed a little confused. He did go missing several years ago, didn't he? But I continued staring straight at the man in front of me.
"Seven years ago. During the drought. Droughtstorm took me when you were fiddling with the homing beacon," he 'explained'.
I smirked and glared at him. He definitely wasn't related to me.
"Who are you? Really."
"What do you mean, I'm-."
"Don't pull that on me. I know you're not my brother. So just who the hell are you?"
"How are you so sure?" 'Malin' was smirking at me, moving a step closer to me.
"Seven years ago... That was when we have the snow storms for the year. It wasn't until the next year, six years ago, that the droughts occurred..." I pointed out, one hand on my hip.
"Ah, slight difference in time. You know I was never good at that kind of thing. Maths, time, geography and all that. It was an unnecessary thing."
"Again, my brother loved geography and maths. He wanted to be an excavator and travel the world. He knew he'd need geography and maths to help him, and time was an obvious 'must-have'. And I wasn't fiddling with the beacon when he was abducted. The aircraft came after I had already flicked the switch. He was huddling up to me, asking me what was happening... I couldn't answer him... But you're not my brother!"
I stood in front of the fraud, my hands on my hips, my eyes staring deep into his own.
"Very well played. It seems you have a stronger will and mind than He once thought..." I glared, but overall, refused to move.
"Where's my brother?! And where is Droughtstorm?!" I heard Aqualad pipe up from near us.
"And who is this 'He' you speak of?"
The fraud slowly smiled as though nothing was wrong. I could feel my blood boiling. He had the gall to do that right in front of me after pretending he was my brother? I had the urge to smash the guy right then and there.
"You're brother is dead. I am sure you know by now that the parasites, once they inhabit, they slowly eat away at their host, ending them very slowly and painfully. I am certain you have that experience currently in your life, am I correct?" I sneered and clenched my fist, causing him to smirk even more.
"Shut up! Shut the hell up! You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Ah, I see there is something similar happening in your life, right now, isn't there? Well, I'm sure that Leonne won't be very pleased to see that you've failed to defeat the Great Droughtstorm!"
I hated this guy more and more each se-, wait a minute... Leonne?!
"Droughtstorm..." I told the team telepathically, bringing forth my vines and aiming them straight at the traitor in front of me. "We know your secret. Only one person knew Leonne's case and that person was... Droughtstorm..." I exclaimed, my vines entangling the man in front of me, but it didn't seem to have much of an affect. I watched as he changed into his robot form, ripping the plants off of him with ease.
"Really? Now, I thought you would have been able to do much better than that."
We all tried to bring Droughtstorm down using what abilities we had, but nothing seemed strong enough to defeat him. Eventually, we were all down, lying on the ground in pain. We couldn't move, but I still knew that we had to defeat Droughtstorm.
"Come on, team! We can still do it! We can still defeat him!" I encouraged my friends telepathically, hoping they would join me, but they couldn't.
"We can't... He's too strong and even the Justice League wouldn't be able to contain him! It's pointless..." Robin started doubting, but I knew that there was no harm in trying.
"You can't give up! That's exactly how he'll win! His weakness is a strong-will!"
Despite my words of encouragement, the team refused to move, so I knew that I'd have to finish this on my own.
"W-why don't you p-pick on someone – your own size?!" I tried shouting, my knees wobbling as I stood.
"I already have. They no longer exist. So it seems people a smaller ratio than me shall have to do for the moment."
"Just because w-we're small, d-doesn't me-ean that we can't do anyth-thing!" I ran up to the robot, my arms ready to go through his torso, but he seemed to have other plans. As soon as I connected with him, I found myself flying backwards, a pain in my arm. But I still couldn't give up! I had to defeat him for me, for Leonne, for Malin...
"Justice League... We need you..." I heard Aqualad say very softly in the distance. Well, at least I'd have help.
"Really, human. I thought that you would have learnt that any attempt to contain or defeat me would be without reason. I am virtually unstoppable."
"Virtually unstoppable... But I won't give up!" I charged at him again, barely dodging his attempt at a blow to my head. "You missed me!" Throwing my hand at him again, I managed to hear a slight shattering; I just hoped to the Lord that it wasn't my fist. Pulling back, I saw bits of plastic falling from the hole that I had made in his side – the shattering.
"Do you honestly think that will stop me?" With a drop of his hand, I was on the ground, his fist pinning me to the ground. I struggled, but could not get free. At this rate, I was sure I would have a broken chest. With look down, I pulled my leg back and thrust it out again, connecting with Droughtstorm's leg. Despite the minimal amount of damage it caused, it definitely caught his attention, resulting in my release.
"No, but it will certainly help with that!" Again, I brought up the flora, and aimed it straight at Droughtstorm's head. The only difference was that thing time, I was definitely concentrating. I watched as the vines and thorns wrapped themselves around Droughtstorm's neck, in an attempt to strangle him.
"Petty plants will do you no good in a fight again me, human," he teased, pulling off the plants. Without a second's hesitation, I summoned more plants to recoil around the robot's neck, tighter this time. Each time he attempted to pull them off, I increased my will and tightened the plants grip. But soon, I was running out of energy, will and perseverance. It was becoming too hard to fight his fight for much longer.
A final hour passed and Droughtstorm was nearly at breaking point, as was I. Sparks came from his head, but I could barely keep a hold of his neck anymore. I could feel everything on me just losing all strength, especially my mind.
"Oh, poor human. Running out of 'juice', are you?" Droughtstorm teased, walking up to me and throwing an almighty hand down onto me. When he removed it, I felt myself broken, battered and bruised, but still, I wouldn't give up... I... I couldn't... give up.
"I... will... defeat you... Even if... I... die... t-trying...!" I threatened, trying to stand again.
"Is that so? Well, show me how you'll managed to do that." And finally, with the last bit of power I had, I morphed into a dingo, jumping from the ground and sinking my teeth into the exposed bit of Droughtstorm's neck. The electricity buzzed through me and I felt absolutely terrible. And that's when I saw the Justice League turn up, to finish what I had started...