Quiet the Storm

The second Gale lost control, Starlight braced for impact.

Electricity surged across Gale’s skin, her eyes burning with wild, chaotic force. Starlight had fought Supes before—unhinged ones, dangerous ones, ones who didn’t care who got hurt in the crossfire.

And she’d seen that exact look before.

She could have blasted her. Should have. That was the smart move, the tactical move. But Starlight had been watching Gale since the second she walked in.

Something about her wasn’t right.

And then she saw it—the way Gale flinched, the way her mouth moved like she was arguing with someone who wasn’t there.

That was when Starlight realized.

She wasn’t losing control—she was fighting for it.

But before Starlight could act, Cate did.

No warning. No hesitation.

Cate stepped forward, sliding in before Gale could unleash another discharge—not to attack, not to fight.

To take.

Her bare hand pressed against Gale’s temple, firm, unyielding—a connection made in an instant.

Starlight didn’t move—because she knew better than to interfere when Cate went to work. She had seen this before—this wasn’t a brawl, it was surgery.

Cate felt it immediately—an unnatural pressure, a storm raging inside Gale’s mind.

And deep within it, something that didn’t belong.

Cate’s grip tightened.

“Enough.”

Her voice cut through the static, through the chaos, slipping beneath Gale’s defenses with surgical precision.

“You are not her.”

She wasn’t trying to erase it—not yet. That kind of corruption was too deep, too tangled in Gale’s psyche. But she could push. She could mute it, suppress it, make it weaker.

“You don’t get to control her.”

Cate dug in further, not caring how invasive it was. She wasn’t asking. She wasn’t suggesting.

She was rewiring.

She found where Stormfront’s voice lived, where it dug its claws into Gale’s consciousness, and she pushed it down.

Drowned it out.

Shut it up.

Starlight could practically feel the shift in the air as Cate buried herself inside Gale’s head.

It was always unnerving, watching Cate work.

Starlight had seen manipulation before. She’d seen how Vought twisted words, how they sank into your mind and made you believe what they wanted.

But Cate’s approach was different.

Surgical. Precise. Unstoppable.

The electricity still crawled across Gale’s skin, but Cate could feel the storm losing its grip.

“You hear that?” Cate whispered now, her voice almost gentle, but the weight of her power still pressed like a vice.

“Silence.”

She held it there just a moment longer, long enough for Gale to feel the difference.

Then she let go.

Cate stepped back, tilting her head, watching—gauging.

Waiting for Gale to realize she had just tasted control again.

Real control.

Silence settled heavy in the air.

Starlight let out a slow breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

Her eyes flicked to Cate—who looked calm as ever, like she hadn’t just cracked open someone’s mind and rearranged it.

Then back to Gale—who was still standing, still breathing, but something was… different.

Finally, Starlight spoke.

“…Well.” She exhaled sharply, flexing her hands. “That was fucking weird.”