No major missions had happened since the leave of Batman adnd others, but since Nightwing was the Team leader, Storm would usually hold Gotham in Batman's absence.
Storm wasn't able to go and confront Red Arrow with Kid Flash, Nightwing, and the others because the City of Crime never rests and life's evil.
When Nightwing called her later to tell her about it. She wasn't exactly shocked about the results.
Roy was a difficult person and had anger issues, like her and Superboy, but when he defected from the Team, he'd changed a lot.
No one could get him to see sense or even listen.
She sighed when the call ended, then quickly ran across the rooftops to continue her patrol.
With no one else other than hersel,f Storm had to satrt patrol eralier to be able to cover all of Gotham. To be fair, she could just use her senses, but sensing with water molecules over a long period of time could drain her energy.
Storm was delighted when her break came in the form of Bialya.
------
Qurac
19/02/2016, 19:06 UTC+2
"Investigating the origin of the alien bomb that destroyed the Krolotean invasion force is still a high priority. We suspect the bomb may have been smuggled to Earth via boom tube," Nightwing was saying.
Currently, Storm, Miss Martian, Batgirl, Bumblebee, and Wonder Girl were all on the Bio-Ship and headed to Bialya. Nightwing was explaining the mission.
"Watchtower sensor scans of Bialya have recorded an uptick in boom tube activity. Alpha Squad. you mission is to-"
Nightwing was interrupted byb the youngest, Wonder Girl. "Sneak behind enemy lines, recon known boom tube hotspots, and find alien tech matching the bomb. Oh, and don't get caught or create an international incident, right?"
"That about covers it." Nightwing smiled
"Psimon?" Miss M. asked, eyes narrowed in a glare. Storm shared the sentiment. Psimon was, in all honesty, an asshole.
"We have confirmation that Bialya's telepathic enforcer is still catatonic in a Quraci hospital after his last encounter with you," Nightwing replied. Storm and Nighwting had always been confused as to how the encounter ended, what hppened, but no actual solid theories. Nightwing continued, "But Bialya's dictator, Queen Bee, is another story. Her ability to control the minds of men is why Alpha is an all-female squad for this mission."
Every single member of Alpha squad rasied their eyebrows, well Storm raised one, but they judged Nightwing.
Batgirl voiced their thoughts. "Oh, really? And would you have felt the need to justify an all-male squad for a given mission?"
Nightwing coughed awkwardly. "Ahem...uh... There's no right answer for that, is there?"
"Wing, you should shut up," Storm said drawing Nightwing's gaze to her immediately. The Romanina flowed from her pretty smoothly. What she said would forever remain a mystery to everyone else except Nightwing. They hadn't even seen what she had done. What had Storm done? Nightwing would take that secret to his grave.
"Nightwing out."
Batgirl chuckled. "Queen Bee isn;t the only woman who can mess with a man's mind."
They all laughed together, well Storm kind of just sat with sprakling eyes, but she was clearly enjoying the joke.
"Wait, what did you say to him?" Wonder Girl asked, turning to Storm.
Storm glanced at the younger girl and her eyes sparkled just a little brighter. "Nothing, just an inside joke."
------
Bialya
20/02/2016, 00:12 UTC+2
The other boom tube hitspots have all been busts, but-
Wonder Girl interrupted/finished (depending on how you look at it) Batgirl's train of thought. But this much security must be guarding some big-deal alien stuff, right?
Wonder Girl, calm down. You are correct, but you must stop interrupting and allow others to finish, Storm reprimanded lightly.
Wonder Girl looked sheepish while Batgirl sent her a grateful look.
It is our job to find out what this place is hiding, Miss Martian thought. Batgirl, take the north hangar. I'll take the south. Bee, take the middle. Storm, take to the roofs. Wonder Girl, hold position.
What? Wait. Why can't I go in?
Miss Martian was about to reply when Storm sent her a look. The look basically said "let me handle this".
Storm looked at Wonder Girl. I am not going to sugarcoat my words here. You are a heavy-hitter, not a stealth operative. While us four have specialised skills for this, Wonder Woman has trained as she has been trained, to fight honourably and head on. You are back up if things go south since this is not a frontal assault.
Wonder Girl looked really hurt and she even seemed to shrink in. Strom sighed and put her hand on Wonder Girl's shoulder. When in the field, we can't make mistakes. I know you don't want to, but you are still relatively new. Do not be disheartened, just wait for a better opportunity because this is not the opportunity you want. You have great skills and talent, this is just not where your skills extend, yet. Understood?
Wonder Girl nodded. Yes, Storm.
Miss Martian nodded her approval. Use the psychic link only. The Bialyans have the tech to intercept our radios. Anything goes wrong, we scatter and meet at the rendezvous point. Clear?
Clear, replied everyone except Wonder Girl, who still looked down.
The four scattered, leaving Wonder Girl there for lookout.
Miss M flew over, invisible, easily. Bumblebee too. The two Bats snuck through the Bailyan defenses and grappled onto the roofs.
Batgirl used a knife to open a vent while Storm stood on the roof for watch. She was looking around when a van pulled in. She stared at it, hard, and watched as four figures got out the back.
She narrowed her eyes and watched the front of the truck door open. Out stepped a short man with his hood up, but she could already sense who it was.
Psimon lowered his hood.
Storm turned to look at where Wonder Girl was and hoped the girl had seen. She wasn't disappointed.
Wonder Girl arrived on the roof beside her in seconds and silently.
"You warn Megan. When you do, tell her to warn Bee. I'll find Batgirl," Storm gave her orders quietly. "Than, meet at the rendezvous point."
Wonder Girl nodded and crept to a vent, opened it easily, then went inside.
She arrived to a vent in the sealing and took off the top of the vent to look around better. She found Miss Martian in the corner by some boxes.
Wonder Girl flew down to Miss M. and grabbed her shoulder to pull her back. She pointed at Psimon and Megan followed her finger. When she noticed Psimon, her eyes widened and then she narrowed them, making a plan.
"I've shut down our psychic link, but we need to alert the others," she whispered.
"Storm is finding Batgirl. She said you should look for Bee while I keep guard on the roofs," Wonder Girl replied quietly.
"Okay. Meet at the rendezvous point ASAP," Megan replied. Winder Girl nodded and turned to leave when Megan stopped her. She smiled at the younger girl. "Hey, you did good, Cassie."
WG smiled proudly and escaped the same way she entered. She arrived at the roofs and looked down to see guards right below.
She needed to get to the other roof, so she jumped and flew.
That was her big mistake.
The moon shone above her and cast her shadow on the ground, right above an enemy. Said enemy was enhanced.
The enhanced was Devastation. Devastation jumps up and grabs Cassie's ankles, throwing the girl back to the ground.
Cassie crashes, causing a crack in the rgound. She doesn't have time to recover before Devastation is back and shoving her into the ground.
She's immobilised, her arms behind her back and Devastation holding her down.
"Sound the alert! Lockdown!"
Cassie's senses are going haywire. After being tossed and practically eating concrete, she isn't sure what she's hearing, she just knows that she made a mistake and she had to fix it.
------
Storm had sensed Batgirl and she sensed Bumblebee close by.
Storm was in the vents and crawling through, harder than expected, when she met at an intersection. Batgirl and Bumblebee were there too.
"Hey," she greeted.
"Psychic link went down, why?" Batgirl asked.
"Psimon," replied Storm.
"We were about to head to the larger chamber twenty metres below," said Batgirl. Storm nodded and decided to follow.
Batgirl dropped down, followed by Storm, and then Bee flew behind them.
"Can you say Temple of Doom?" Bee asked. "This place must be thousands of..."
Bee's voice faded as Storm ignored it, her attention on the hieroglyphs on the opposite wall. She tapped the camera on her suit so as to make sure it was videoing.
She and Batgirl had disappeared before they heard whatever Bee was saying. They, as most Bats did, disappeared mid sentence.
The two came upon a runway and there was a plane as well. They exchanged glances and nodded to each other. Storm would board the plane while Batgirl looked around.
Batgirl watched Storm dissipate into green mist and appear on the ramp for the plane. She sent Batgirl a wave then disappeared into the dark interior.
Batgirl dropped down and ran to the red pods to the side. She stood up and her jaw dropped at how many teens were unconscious and in the pods.
Her shock caused her to ignore her surrounding and Batgirl was hit by a psychic attack from Psimon. She fell to the floor with a yell, causing Storm to exit the plane.
Storm hid in the shadows of the plane, perfectly still and trusting her cmouflage suit. She was vaguely picking up the important parts.
"Strays...batbrat...missed..."
Kidnapping, but what for? She registered Bee near her and looked at the little yellow hero. "Warn Cassie and Wonder Girl while I try and figure out what's going or distract them long enough so you guys get here."
Bee nodded and flew away.
"I want this bird in the air in 10."
She had ten minutes. Okay, Storm could work in time limits and under pressure.
------
Bumblebee found Cassie and Megan standing in the rendezvous point.
"Storm is there, but Batgirl is captured. We need to go and help those two because I bet Storm is planning something reckless."
Bee and Megan exchanged glances knowing exactly about Storm's reckless tendencies.
The arrived at where the runway was and none of them could see Storm. Megan went to do her part in subduing and replacing Shimmer.
Bee flew onto the plane to find Batgirl standing beside Storm. Storm was handing Batgirl some water while she held her sword in front to protect.
"Batgirl and Storm, you two are the only two out of Alpha who can fly this cargo plane safely, which is ironic since you two are the only two who cam't fly."
"Thanks, Miss Obvious," Storm replied. "You fine?"
"Yeah," Batgirl answered.
"O.K. Batgirl, get to the front and get ready for take off. Bee, tell me the rest of your plan," Storm decided.
Batgirl walked to the cockpit while Bee hovered by Storm.
That was when Storm sensed movement outside. She ran past Bee to find Junior, Devastation, and Mammoth were all stalking towards Psimon and... Shimmer?
Storm figured out it was Megan pretty quick and she quickly chose to fight Mammoth. "Bee, take Devastation."
Bee nodded and flew to Junior. Storm launched into the air and landed in front of Mammoth, dropping and sweeping at his feet.
Mammoth, caught off guard, fell on his back. Storm stood, twirled her sword, and grinned. "Hello Mammoth, where's your sister?"
Mammoth growled, but there attention was diverted when the plane started driving along the runway. Junior ran past Storm to the controls, obviously going to close the hangar doors.
Devastation ran after the plane and Mammoth stood before Storm, growling.
Their last encounter had been four months ago and Mammoth had been beaten. He only escaped from prison because of some outside force, probably Psimon and Queen Bee.
Storm twirled her sword again, the placed it in its sheath. She wouldn't need it for this fight.
Mammoth roared and charged. Storm ducked under his punch and punched back, the strength pushing Mammoth back. Mammoth jumped up and tried for a slam, hitting her from above.
Storm glared at Mammoth as he fell down to her. She was out of his line faster than he could've predicted and Mammoth was now being held down by a 6ft tall woman who fought dirty.
He hadn't exactly been able to fight back because of her strong hold and she'd been controlling the water molecules in the air, forming thin water ropes to hold Mammoth down.
Storm knocked him unconscious pretty easily.
She knew Megan and Bee had Psimon and Junior handled, so she turned to see Wonder Girl and Devastation fighting on the plane.
Storm ran pretty quickly and she reached the back of the plane because it was only just picking up speed again. Glad no one was watching her, Storm created small water platforms and landed on the plane's roof.
She landed on the top and watched Wonder Girl throw Devastation onto the ground.
"Nice one!"
Wonder Girl looked at her and threw her lasso, wrapping around Storm's torso. "So you don't fall!"
Bumblebee and Miss Martian were now flying beside Wonder Girl.
Yes, we did it! she celebrated in the mind link.
Unfortunately, Devastation had other plans. She had acquired a small pick-up trcuk and threw it at the left plane wing.
Wonder Girl and Miss M landed on the plane beside Storm as they watched the wing light up on fire.
The right wong hit the wall and fell off too.
The plane was already getting out the hangar and it plummeted.
Storm had barely managed to hold on, but Wonder Girl's lasso was gone and the three flying heroes had fallen off the plane.
Wonder Girl, Miss Martian and Bee flew down after the plane.
She could tell they were trying, but she also knew the plane would be too heavy to try and hold up, so when the signature red Bio-Ship came into view, Storm felt relieved.
Bio-Ship attached to the plane and held it up. They narrowly escaped nosediving into the ground.
Storm, knowing that everyone was safe, pretty much just as on the plane roof until Bio-Ship sent down a rope. "Thanks girl," Storm murmured.
------
Mount Justice
20/02/2016, 03:24 EST
If you readers want the long explanation, watch the episode of what Nightwing and etc. said. If you want a summary, the debrief was basically explaining how Psimon was there and yeah, Storm thought, watching as the other four walked away from the main area.
Wing walked to Storm and he held her right arm, more specifically her wirst (that didn't have her forearm guards because she had taken them off). "You okay, Princess. You look a little spaced out."
Storm shook her head, glad for the comfortable hand of Nightwing around her wrist. "Fine, Wing, just confused and-"
Whatever she was going to say was cut off by her watch beeping. Storm checked and groaned. "Joker's destroyed another jewelry store and is stealing some other things. I have to go."
"I'll come with," Nightwing offered, and that was how the two found themselves fighting Joker.
It was just like old times for a few moments.