Author's Note: Okay, so… hi. This is my first fanfiction – err, one that I want to actually last longer than a chapter, anyways – so don't hate me. I love Young Justice and I love Chalant. Hence, I will – hopefully – make this story from Zatanna's introduction in Episode 15 to the end of the series, revolving around Robin/Nightwing/Dick and Zatanna. Will use stuff from the wiki. Will probably change it too, because after they broke up in Season 2 – or before Season 2, as I plan it to be - it says they are still in good standing… I don't want that. I want angst 'cause I love it. I take it in and it comes out as grumpiness.
Also, does anybody even know why they broke up? Is that, like, explained in the comics? Because… it isn't on the wiki. Or explained in the show. Like, ever.
Anyways. Read and review, please! I want to know if I should continue this or curl up into a ball and cry in the corner because the fandom hated it.
"…Team, my daughter, Zatanna."
Seven teens greeted her, in varying ages. This must be the Team.
The green one – a Martian; probably related to the Leaguer, Martian Manhunter, somehow – flew in front of her, an excited greeting practically flying from her lips.
"Hi! I'm-"
"Robin!"
A young teen that looked to be around her age jumped in front of her. He looks like he could be Batman's sidekick, was Zatanna's first thought. Mostly cause he had a mask. Meh. Moving on, brain.
"Ahem. I mean, I'm Robin. Uh, she's M'gann, and that's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, and Connor."
M'gann looked at Robin with slight amusement, but then smiled over his shoulder at Zatanna.
"Welcome to the Cave," Kaldur said kindly.
"Uhh, thanks," Zatanna mumbled. Way to make an impression there. Totally impressing them with that mumble.
"So, uh, are y-y-y-y-you joining the Team?"
Well, someone seemed nervous.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara replied quickly. "This is strictly a visit." He looked apologetically at Black Canary. "I am sorry we missed the training. It's something from which Zatanna could've benefited from."
Her father stood off to the side, probably talking about super secret League stuff with Canary.
M'gann turned her back to Zatanna, frowning at her comrades. They glanced back and forth. Artemis glanced at Wally with a teasing expression; Wally stared back with a blank face. Kaldur said something, and in response Connor glared, looking furious, and waved his arms angrily. Zatanna moved out from behind Robin, staring at the Team with curiously.
"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" she asked suspiciously. Zatara and Black Canary glanced at them, their attention now focused on the Team.
"Because I can't decide if that's cool, or," – a small laugh – "Really rude." Zatanna finished with an almost teasing glare.
Silence hung. Then Connor said exasperatedly, "Alright, fine. We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack and the League hasn't told us anything!" The last part he finished with an almost pleading glance at Black Canary.
"The League is searching for Tornado, as well as the other androids that infiltrated the Cave and their creator, T.O Morrow. Batman has made finding them our highest priority."
"But you've found none of the above!" Robin exclaimed angrily.
"No, we haven't – yet. But Tornado is Justice League, and the Team is not to interfere," Black Canary replied.
"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a, uh, tour of the… Cave?" Near the end of Zatara's sentence, he was glancing over Robin's shoulder in surprise at the clearly comfortable Zatanna lounging against Wolf, who had somehow moved with no one noticing . She stood up quickly, though, as Wolf got up and ran over to the now entering Captain Marvel, in tow with nachos.
"A tour? Cool!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"Actually, I was hoping you could take Wolf outside," Connor asked politely. "He needs the exercise – we'll meet you in a few."
"Sure, sure, I can do that! Come on, Wolf!" Captain Marvel said quickly. He seemed eager to please.
"B-b-b-but my nachos!" Wally said sadly.
The next second, Connor had grabbed him by the arm and they were heading to the kitchen. After a quick spell, Zatanna had changed into more comfortable clothes. Robin glanced at her as she came up next to him, then gawked at her, seeing as she was now in a completely different outfit.
"When did you – how did you-?"
"We're not really taking a tour, are we?" Zatanna said. Tours were so boring. It was also a good way to completely blow off Robin's question. No complaints from her there – a magician never reveals their secrets.
"No. We're hunting down that robot," Connor said darkly. He glanced at Kaldur for confirmation; apparently the Atlantean was the leader, then. "Yes," Kaldur replied. "We are." Zatanna glanced at them both appreciatively. "Oh wow, out loud and everything."
"Uh, what about new girl over here?" Artemis said. She sounded slightly annoyed.
"I'm sure she won't tell," Robin said, smiling. Zatanna turned around and smirked. "I can't tell," she said mischievously. "Not if you kidnap me."
There was a pause, and then Artemis said, smiling:
"Oh, she's gonna fit in great."
A couple minutes later, they were all seated inside the bioship. A ring sounded as Black Canary called. "M'gann," she said worriedly. "The bioship wasn't authorized for departure."
"We're kidnapping Zatanna!" M'gann replied excitedly. Then, as an afterthought: "Err, to show her Happy Harbor, of course. Be back soon!"
"…Roger that. Er, have fun."
The call ended. The bioship continued on.
"Batman is the world's greatest detective, and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location," Robin mused aloud. "If we're going to find them, we're going to look for them with an illogical plan – a truly dumb idea."
The sound of chairs swiveling around filled the room. Now they were all staring at – you guessed it – Wally. He glanced at them, and said smugly:
"As a matter of fact…"
Inside of Belle Reve prison, Zatanna said against a table in the back of a prison room, watching the team interrogate Ivo.
"Warden Strange owes us a favor for stopping last month's prison break. He's given us five minutes with you," M'gann said curtly.
"Spill, Ivo," Connor snarled. "Where can we find Morrow and his reds?"
"Now why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?" Ivo asked. He leaned back in his chair, staring at them coolly. He seemed annoyed already.
Wally walked over, standing next to M'gann, arms crossed. "Because – and here's a truly dumb idea – you're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game. Who better to keep track of what he's up to, and where?" He stared down at Morrow, proud of his plan.
"Ah. I see your point. Then let me correct myself," Morrow said exasperatedly. "Why in the world would I tell you how to find Morrow?" He glanced at them sneakily.
"He knows," Kaldur mused. "Do what you must," he said quietly to M'gann. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, they were glowing green. M'gann was probably planning on taking the information directly from Ivo's mind. Yay for Martian mind powers, Zatanna thought.
"Oh, please. As if I haven't come across a telepath in my time," Ivo said. He leaned back in his chair, a smug smile on his face.
Seeing as this was going nowhere, Zatanna walked over and stood next to the prisoner. "Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol!" she snapped. Zatanna glared at Morrow, waiting for her spell to take effect. At once, he sat straight up in his seat and replied automatically: "Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone national park, 100 meters south of Old Faithful!" He blinked, staring around at the circle of teens. "Wait! What just happened?!"
Zatanna stood back, looking a little smug. Everyone stared at her, surprised – Robin even had to stand up on his toes to stare at her in wonder.
They left a couple minutes later, Ivo still trying to figure out how they managed to make him confess. The Team was flying towards Yellowstone inside the bioship. "Block out all outside communication," Kaldur quietly told M'gann. "Soon Canary and Zatara – Batman too, I imagine – will know of our… visit, to Ivo. We haven't much time."
Robin swiveled his chair towards Zatanna. "Look, I'm trying to be all nonchalant here - "
"Why?" Zatanna interrupted. She smiled at him. "Be as chalant as you like." Robin grinned at her, his question already forgotten.
"I think we're all just trying to get a hold on your powers," Artemis said from Zatanna's right. "Could you, teleport us to Tornado, maybe? Or put Morrow in a cell? Or force the bots to surrender?"
Zatanna gave a quiet chuckle. "Or make world peace for all eternity? Even Zatara can't do all those things and I'm nowhere near on my dad's level. I need to know a spell cold, or at least have time to prep it. Besides, all magic requires energy, which usually has to come from within." She held her hand up and glanced at it, to illustrate her point. "I just can't make the impossible happen at will."
"What's our ETA to Yellowstone?" Connor growled. "I'm way past the point of wanting to shove Red Tornado into a trash compactor."
Kaldur glanced at him coolly. "Are you so certain he betrayed us?"
"Aren't you?"
"I am not convinced. And even so, that makes him but a victim of his programming. Certainly he deserves a chance to prove he is not the weapon his creators designed him to be?" Kaldur held Connor's gaze until he glanced away. He seemed to direct it at Superboy for a reason.
Zatanna's thoughts were cut short as they arrived at the dormant volcano. Kaldur ordered the Team to change into stealth mode. They all tapped somewhere on their uniform – or in M'gann's case, simply shifted her clothing – into a black version, which also looked really cool.
"I recommend you stay behind," Kaldur said simply. Zatanna glanced at him. "Is that an order?" she asked slyly. He shook his head. "Of course not. You must do what you see fit."
"Good," Zatanna said happily. "Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool!" Now, her casual clothing turned into her magician's outfit. She nodded, satisfied.
They exited the bioship. Robin crouched, pulling up some type of technological gizmo from something on his wrist. "Ivo was right, something is down here!"
Suddenly, tornadoes. The Red Tornado himself appeared, blowing air at them, forcing the Team back.
"Why, Tornado?" M'gann shouted. "Why are you doing this?"
He simply stared at them silently. More red tornadoes surrounded them.
"Superboy, maneuver seven!" Kaldur shouted. He ran up to Connor and got a boost from his hands, flying up to Red. He yelled a war cry, but Tornado simply slapped him out of the air. Aqualad slammed into Connor. Artemis tried to fire some explosive arrows at the android, but he blew them back at her. Robin, who had run up beside Artemis, was unfortunately also caught in the blast; they flew backwards, lying on the ground.
"That's it, Tornado!" Wally shouted. "You're not the only spin doctor around here!" He spun in a circle, heading towards Red. M'gann flew up behind him, and was about to grab him, when suddenly the android twirled around and grabbed her. Tornado threw her at the cyclone that was Kid Flash, and they both flew back, slamming into the ground
Now Zatanna was the only one still up. She stood there, trying to come up with a spell on the fly - which is a lot harder than it looks, y'know.
"Etaerc a... a... dleihs dnuora ym-!" Her incantation got cut short as Red Tornado flew in front of her. He grabbed her neck, and she choked; then fell back onto the ground as Tornado threw her.
When they all came to a new android had appeared atop a pillar of stone. There was a volcano etched onto his chest. A large chunk of rock was floating behind him, PLAY DEAD etched into it. "Carving a message into the sand?" he sneered at Red Tornado. He broke the boulder apart, and hurled the large chunks of rock at the Team and at Red. Aqualad and M'gann jumped and flew up respectively, and chopped the rocks in half. The remains flew towards Artemis, Robin, Wally and Zatanna. Robin and Artemis jumped to the side and Wally zoomed away, but Zatanna remained. She let out a small shriek, and the rock imploded. Tornado flew off.
Zatanna? Robin asked through the mind link. The dust cleared, revealing a perfectly fine Zatanna.
I'm good, she replied. But Tornado is getting away!
Is he abandoning us? Artemis growled angrily. I don't believe that! M'gann said defensively.
Wally zoomed up the pillar the new android was on, but the volcanic android threw him to the side. "You stand no chance against me, human," he growled.
Connor and M'gann flew towards the android. "We're not human!" They shouted in unison.
"Apologies. I suppose the properly inclusive term is…" He raised two giant fists of stone from the ground. "Meatbags." Volcano smashed M'gann and Connor with the hands, using a clapping motion.
He sent a ripple of stone at Artemis and Kaldur, causing a chasm to appear beneath their feet. They fell in. After a few tense seconds, one of Artemis's rope arrows flew up and caught on the edge; moments later, both appeared, Artemis carrying Aqualad.
Robin jumped up and hurled a birdarang at Volcano Man, but he simply caught it in his hand. It exploded harmlessly.
"Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to predict your every move!" he said, amused.
"Emoks emoceb a dlofdnilb!" Zatanna shouted. The smoke from the explosion coiled, then twisted around Volcano's face. He staggered back, clutching at the rope that was blinding him.
"Tornado never knew my moves!" she said. "And I bet you've got some good ones!" Robin joked. As Zatanna just stared at him, he held up his hands in a please don't hurt me way. "Eh, sorry, that might have come off a little too Wally…" Zatanna chuckled. "I don't mind."
Volcano began raising lava from the, uh, volcano. It flowed towards Wally, and he zipped to the side. He's activating a stage two eruption, he said telepathically. It gets to a stage three, kiss the hemisphere goodbye!
Kaldur ran up. Hit him from all sides! he declared.
Connor jumped up and tried to punch Volcano, but the android simply grabbed his fist and threw him to the side. M'gann, who was cloaked behind Volcano, used her telekinesis to force the android back. The next second, though, a wall of lava had sprung up next to M'gann, and she shrieked.
"M'gann!" Connor shouted. He jumped with his super speed, trying to reach her, but got blocked by Volcano. The bot punched him, and Superboy flew like a bullet. Volcano reached behind him and grabbed M'gann by her cloak, holding her above the heat.
"Ekoms dna srorrim... Etaerc Dik Hsalf snoisulli!" Zatanna chanted. Multiple versions of Kid Flash appeared; he ran towards Volcano, trying to get to M'gann. The android threw chunks of rocks at the illusions – most disappeared, but the real Kid Flash was able to run up and snatch M'gann into his arms. He stood with the rest of the team. A spout of water from behind Aqualad rose up, and slammed into Volcano. "Nice hit!" Robin praised. Kaldur shook his head. "The hit was not mine – look!"
There stood Red Torpedo. He used jets of water to propel himself at Volcano; the android staggered back. Volcano tried to raise himself up out of the pool of lava using a pillar of rock, but Red Tornado appeared and slammed into it – a rather effective way to destroy his tower. Volcano stood back up, but was bombarded by balls of fire. That would be Red Inferno's doing. Both the reds flew at Volcano, clinging to his arms, and dragging him underneath the lava.
"Brothers! Sister! Stop!" Volcano shouted – it sounded more like a plea.
Red Tornado flew in, and slammed his feet into Volcano. He stood there, atop of Volcano's body, melting, but then Connor jumped in and grabbed Red's torso. Volcano's last act was to activate the dormant volcano into stage three.
"Tornado, listen! We're on the verge of a stage three super volcanic eruption!" Wally shouted at Red. Who knew? He was apparently a science geek. "There's no turning back from that! We need to vent pressure, fast – or the ash cloud will bring on a world-wide nuclear winter unless you divert it!" Red nodded. Wally shouted some science at Robin, and he marked out three spots on the map of the volcano. Artemis fired three rocket arrows at the spots. Whatever Wally was wanting to happen, happened.
Red Tornado flew up, and created a giant cyclone. Seconds later, the volcano was cooled. He flew down, and fell on his robotic face – it is hard to stand when you have no legs.
The Team brought him underground to Morrow's secret base. After a few minutes, Robin had fixed Red's vocal processor.
"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet," Kaldur noted. "The planet would have survived," Red said in a monotone. "It was humanity that was saved – though not by me. My brother and sister were the true heroes this day."
"My point is," Kaldur continued, "you were never the mole. Never a traitor."
"No," Red agreed. "I left to protect you from further attacks, and to find my creator. Morrow."
Wally looked around. Seeing spare robot parts lying around, he picked up an arm. "Cool! Souvenir!" Wally exclaimed.
"Red, we can rebuild you!" Robin said excitedly.
"I… do not know if I should be repaired," Red declared.
After a tense pause, Connor said angrily, "Why did you even bother to become our den mother in the first place?"
"I was the pragmatic choice. I do not require sleep. I have no secret identity or second life to live."
"…But you do have advanced AI programming, designed to learn, adapt, evolve!" Wally counted off each point by ticking the fingers on his robot hand souvenir.
"Hello, Megan! You wanted to become more human!" M'gann declared, facepalming.
"And you couldn't do that with the League – they're stiffs!" Artemis added.
"You're sure not gonna learn emotion from Batman – trust me," Robin joked.
"So then the Cave was not only a training ground for us, but for you as well," Kaldur mused.
"I do not know if these statements are accurate, but perhaps… they are true. And if I understand the term correctly, I believe I have come to… care for you."
"So, good kidnapping?" Robin teased, as they were flying back in the bioship.
"Actually… yeah. Best ever," Zatanna said.
"Heh. Many more to come, I hope," Robin replied, a small smile on his face.
"Yeah… If I'm not grounded for life."
So… whatcha guys think? Pretty long, eh? Translations for spells:
Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol - Blurt out Morrow's true location!
Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool - Time to try out the new look!
Etaerc a... a... dleihs dnuora ym! - Create a... a... shield around my - !
Emoks emoceb a dlofdnilb! - Smoke become a blindfold!
Ekoms dna srorrim... Etaerc Dik Hsalf snoisulli! - Smoke and mirrors... Create Kid Flash illusions!