BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME, YOUNG JUSTICE DOES NOT BELONG TO ME, BUT MY OC'S BELONG TO ME AND—DOES ANYONE EVEN READ THESE THINGS? AH, WHATEVER.
Okay, so after some thinking (I'm a little ashamed that I didn't come up with this kind of scheduling earlier) I've decided that I will try to have a chapter of this story up every other week. The week that I don't post for this story will be devoted to my Star Wars story. This way, I can try to have a steady stream of updates without burning myself out on one single story.
Unlimited Justice, Part 1
Chapter 3
Welcome to Happy Harbor
San Francisco, July 17, 23:16 PDT
While crime was kept generally low in San Francisco, that didn't mean it was nonexistent. Petty criminals would pop up like cockroaches; every time one was stopped, another would appear. Unfortunately for the ones by the docks, they were the latest roaches to be stepped on.
As a pair of men unloaded a crate of drugs from a shipping container, a smoke pellet landed at their feet and went off; the men dropped the crate, vainly trying to wave the smoke out of their eyes. As they struggled, a yellow-and-red blur ran in and knocked them out with a few super-fast blows.
Another trio of criminals stared stupidly at their fallen friends; exposed and vulnerable, they were easy pickings for a winged form as he swooped down and knocked them out with energy-enhanced gauntlets.
Finally getting their act together, the dozen remaining crooks grabbed their weapons and aimed at the flying intruder, but a pair of teenage boys, one wearing a blue-and-red jacket, the other wearing red and black, intercepted them. While one used acrobatics to avoid attacks, the other simply ignored the bullets bouncing off of him, knocking out men with a single hit.
"Thanks for the assist, guys," Ken 10 said, even as a bullet bounced off of his nose.
"Like you actually needed it," Robin commented, tripping up a fleeing criminal with a thrown bola, "You're bulletproof!"
"Yeah, that's true," Ken admitted, shooting out a fairly weak bolt of lightning from his hands, stunning another man, "But doing this by myself gets boring."
Kid Flash zoomed up, sliding like a baseball player, feet first, and knocking another man down. "At least you're giving us something to do; we've been a team for two weeks now, and still no mission!"
"Batman won't tell me when we're getting one," Robin huffed as he caught another man in a sleeper-hold, "So don't ask me."
"Maybe there won't be a mission," Warhawk added, punching out the last criminal, "Maybe this whole 'team' thing is just a way to make us stop asking for things until they think we're ready."
"Oh, come on," Ken said, gathering up the fallen criminals and wrapping a steel girder around them, "That's pretty underhanded, even for Batman. Er, no offense, Robin."
"I wouldn't be surprised if this really was one, big misdirection," Robin sighed, "I mean, they've kept secrets from us before; look at Miss Martian!"
"I did look at her," Kid Flash said, a dreamy expression on his partially-covered face, "I looked at her over and over… and I saw her first!"
"Ignoring the skirt-chaser," Warhawk said, "Did you know about her, Ken? I mean, she's the niece of the guy who married your great-grandmother!"
"That's a little confusing to say," Ken said, before returning to the topic, "But no, I never knew about her. In fact, I didn't know there were any Martians left, besides J'onn."
"Maybe we'll have a chance to ask her when we head to the Cave tomorrow?" Robin suggested.
"Great idea," Kid Flash grinned, "and while we're at it, I'll ask for her number."
"How long until he stops?" Ken whispered to Robin.
"Until he meets someone else, or she punches him," Robin whispered back.
"Anyway," Ken said at a louder volume, "I'll make sure the cops get these guys; see you tomorrow."
The other three heroes said their farewells and took off; once they were gone, Ken walked over to a payphone and dialed 911.
"Hello, police? I'd like to report some criminals that need to be arrested…"
…
Mount Justice, July 18, 11:16 EDT
As Ken, Jason and Barry were teleported into the Cave, the computer announced their presence.
"Recognized: Ken 10 B-01, Robin B-02, Kid Flash B-03."
The three teens were in their civilian clothes; Ken wore slacks, sneakers, a black T-shirt, dark-green jacket and a pair of square-rimmed glasses. Surprisingly enough, all he had to do to hide that he was a superhero was slouch slightly and act nervous around people; while he was around his teammates though, he acted more like himself.
Jason wore black pants, a black hoodie and a green shirt, as well as sunglasses to hide his identity from anyone who didn't already know who he was.
Barry wore jeans, a light-yellow long-sleeved shirt and a short-sleeved red shirt over that; out of the three of them, he didn't have to hide his face.
The three walked into the Cave's operations center to find Warhawk, Superboy and Miss Martian waiting for them. Rex was the only one who didn't change into civilian clothes; he usually preferred to wear his armor.
Superboy, who had yet to take a civilian name, wore jeans, his black T-shirt with the crest of the House of El on it and a brown jacket. Ken was glad that his cousin actually had civilian clothes, but it still confused him; Superboy didn't really have a secret identity to protect yet.
Miss Martian, whose name she had yet to share, was wearing a red skirt, white blouse and a red, short-sleeved jacket over that. She was still obviously a Martian; her skin was still green.
"So, are they here?" Barry asked excitedly to the three aliens who had been waiting, "What did they say?"
"They're here now," Warhawk said, his own excitement starting to get the better of him.
"Yes!" Barry hissed, before dashing off to the Cave's entrance in a blur.
"Should we head after him?" Superboy asked, after greeting Ken with a nod and a smile.
"Nah, let him get it out of his system," Ken said dismissively, "I think he had some coffee or something."
Jason and Rex shivered; they had seen the insanity that happened the few times that Barry had caffeine. The five teens hurried after the speedster, who was practically dancing in place at the Cave's secret entrance. A few seconds later, two figures flew down from the sky; one was Red Tornado, and the other was Jet Ray. As soon as the latter touched down, he transformed into Ben.
"Hey, everyone," Ben said with a grin, "Hope we're not late."
"We have arrived at the designated time," Red Tornado said, "We are not late."
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. "You really need to lighten up, RT."
Ignoring the banter, Barry dashed up to the shapeshifter and the android. "So, do you guys have a mission for us?"
Red Tornado shook his head. "Mission assignments are Batman's priority."
Ben shrugged. "Sorry, Barry; even I couldn't get the guy to tell me when you'll have a mission."
"I hope it's soon," Warhawk said, "If not, KF might explode."
"I'd pay money to see that happen," Jason muttered. Ken and Superboy heard him, thanks to their super-hearing; Ken struggled not to laugh, while Superboy's lip twitched upwards.
"Aw, man!" Barry moaned, "What are we supposed to do now?"
"Perhaps you could take a tour of the Cave," Red Tornado suggested, "It may also help build synergy between the team."
"What he means is," Ben said, rolling his eyes, "Until you get a mission, it might do some good to get to know each other; it'll help you work as a team."
"Thanks, Dad," Ken said; Ben had already told him that there wouldn't be a mission today, so he had already gotten over his disappointment. "Come on, let's check out our 'clubhouse'."
"Oh, Superboy and I can show you around!" Miss Martian said cheerfully, "After all, we've spent the most time here; we can play tour-guide!"
Superboy shrugged. "Sure, whatever."
Over the last two weeks, Superman had been getting to know his clone better, but had yet to offer him a permanent place to stay; his reasoning being that he wanted to talk to Lois about it first, but his wife was on a long-term assignment in the Middle East. Ben had wanted to let Superboy stay with his family until then, but Supergirl still had issues; with nowhere else to go, Superboy had bunked at Mount Justice, just like Miss Martian, much to her joy. It was painfully obvious to everyone—except Barry—that the Martian was crushing on the clone.
Everyone moved back into the Cave, where Ben and Red Tornado split away from the younger heroes to put the finishing touches on the android's quarters. Before he was too far away, though, Ben called out over his shoulder.
"Oh, Ken; just wanted to let you know that the team's ride should be in the landing bay in a few minutes."
Ken immediately gave a wide grin, while everyone else looked confused; they were getting their own transportation?
Despite not knowing the details, Barry grinned. "Sweet! We get our own ride! Do you think the League is giving us a Javelin or maybe something custom-built for us?"
"I'll show you when he gets here; until then," Ken cleared his throat and spoke in a mechanical tone, "please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle, and enjoy the tour."
"Uh…" Miss Martian looked at the others uncertainly, not getting it; Ken shook his head.
"Never mind, let's just go."
Miss Martian showed them around the Cave enthusiastically, while Superboy followed behind them with his hands shoved into his pockets, looking like he couldn't care less. Halfway through the impromptu tour, however, the clone sniffed the air.
"Is something burning?"
Miss Martian whirled around in shock. "My cookies!"
Levitating into the air, she flew into the kitchen, where smoke was starting to drift out of the oven. Rather than burning her hands, Miss Martian opened the oven with her telekinesis and then floated a tray onto the counter; on the tray were what looked like two-dozen lumpy hockey pucks.
"Oh, and I was trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of…" Miss Martian shook her head, "Never mind; sorry that they're ruined."
Barry shrugged and picked up what was supposed to be a cookie; he bit into it without a second thought, much to everyone else's amazement. He only shrugged again.
"I have a serious metabolism," he explained.
"I'll make more?" Miss Martian offered.
"It was nice of you to make any," Ken said.
"Thanks, Ken 10," Miss Martian replied.
"Hey, we're not on duty," Ken said back, "It's just Ken… not that anyone seems to remember that I have a superhero name anyway."
Miss Martian nodded uncertainly before moving to put things away. As she did so, Ken picked up a cookie; before trying to eat it, his eyes glowed blue, and he slowly put the cookie back down.
"What's wrong?" Superboy asked when he saw a mix of confusion and shock cross Ken's face.
"I tried to X-ray the cookie," Ken whispered so that Miss Martian, who was putting away some utensils, didn't hear, "I couldn't see through it."
Barry froze, the cookie in his hand halfway to his mouth; in an instant, he dashed to a trashcan, threw the possibly lead-lined cookie in, and ran back. Fortunately, Miss Martian didn't notice; she was eager to please, and to find out that her cookies had the same effect as lead wouldn't help her confidence.
"By the way, my name is Barry," the speedster said, covering for both himself and Ken, as well as trying to make a move on the Martian, "See, I already trust you with my secret identity… unlike Mister dark-glasses over there."
Jason rolled his eyes behind his shades. "Batman won't let me tell anyone details about myself until I've known them for a year and he's checked their backgrounds… but you can call me Jason." He shrugged at the incredulous looks that Ken, Barry and Warhawk sent his way. "What? It's not like I gave her my social security number."
"Rex Stewart," Warhawk said succinctly, "It's not like I have much of a secret identity; I have wings, after all."
"Well, my name isn't a secret, either," Miss Martian said, "It's M'gann M'orzz… but you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."
Superboy felt a brief pang of jealousy that he didn't have a name yet, but shrugged it off; he honestly didn't care that much. He started to leave when he felt something brush up against his mind.
{Don't worry, Superboy,} M'gann said, {we'll find you an Earth name someday.}
Superboy clutched at his head and glared at the Martian. "Get out of my head!"
{What's wrong?} M'gann asked, this time broadcasting her thoughts to the rest of the group, {Everyone on Mars communicated telepathically.}
The others began shifting uncomfortably at the intrusion into their minds.
"M'gann, stop!" Ken said sternly; with relief, they all felt M'gann's presence leave their heads. "That's not how things are done on Earth; when someone puts their thoughts into another person's mind, it's the worst kind of breach in privacy."
"Besides," Barry stage-whispered as he pointed at Superboy, "Genesis' G-Gnomes left a bad taste in his brain."
"I-I'm sorry," M'gann stammered, "I didn't know…"
"Just stay out," Superboy growled, then stormed away.
Ken sighed. "I'll go talk to him."
After he left, M'gann looked depressed, but also curious. "Why did only Ken leave?"
Jason shrugged. "He's Superboy's cousin; they get along pretty well, and Supey actually listens to him."
Down the hall, Ken found the clone sitting on a couch, scowling at the floor; wordlessly, Ken sat next to him. Finally, Ken spoke.
"That was a little extreme," he said; Superboy looked about to object, but Ken started talking again. "I understand why you don't like anyone in your head; believe me, if someone had been trying to brainwash me into killing my dad, I'd hate to have a similar experience ever again. But you have to remember that M'gann doesn't know what happened to you; if she did, I could understand you yelling, but that isn't what happened. She knows now; a simple apology on your part will probably smooth things over."
Superboy didn't reply, but he did look less angry; Ken took that as a sign that he was getting through.
"Anyway, I understand if—wait, do you hear that?"
Superboy looked over to see Ken listening to something with his super-hearing; the clone extended his own senses.
"What is that?" he asked, hearing the same thing.
Ken smiled. "Come on, let's meet up with the others; there's one more introduction that needs to be made."
Curious, Superboy followed Ken as they caught up to the others; M'gann looked at the clone hopefully, but was ignored. Ken spoke a little louder than normal, if only to get her attention away from a semi-hostile Superboy.
"Everyone, remember when my dad said that we'd be getting a ride?" getting nods, he continued, "Well, he's here now; let's go say hi!"
Using his X-ray vision, Ken easily led the way through the unfamiliar base, until they reached the aircraft hangar; instead of an aircraft waiting on the launch pad, however, there was a small, slug-like creature with a white belly, black back with green circuitry over it, two stubby front legs and a single eye over its otherwise expressionless face.
Ken jogged up to the creature, where it jumped into his arms, wagging its rear like a tail.
"Ship, ship!" the creature cried.
"Hey, little buddy," Ken said, placing the creature on his shoulder, "I know, it's been forever, hasn't it?"
"Um, what is that?" Superboy asked.
"This is Ship," Ken said as he walked towards them, Ship still on his shoulder, "Say hi to the team, Ship!"
"Ship!" the little alien said, then jumped off of Ken and scurried towards M'gann, his rear wagging even more, "Ship, ship!"
"Oh, he's adorable!" M'gann squealed, lifting him up and holding him tightly; this reaction only made Ship like the Martian even more.
"Well, you've scored points with him," Ken said, "He loves it when girls call him that."
"His name is Ship?" Superboy asked, "Why Ship?"
"It's the only word he says, even if the meaning is different," Ken said, "Besides, what would you call him?"
Superboy shrugged; honestly, he couldn't come up with anything better. Barry, on the other hand, had an idea.
"Why not Sluggo?"
To this, Ship made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a raspberry.
"There's another reason, though," Ken said, "M'gann, could you put him down so that he can demonstrate?"
Reluctantly, the two aliens separated; Ship moved further away before jumping into the air. His body extended, then morphed into a boxy shape with wide wings, each of which had several large weapons underneath.
"Ship!" the alien cried in a much deeper voice.
Ken grinned at the amazed expressions on the others' faces; Barry found his voice first.
"Dude, that is the best pet ever!"
"I know, right?" Ken's grin never left his face. "So, who wants to go for a ride?"
Nobody said no.
…
"I'm going to say it again," Barry said, as he leaned back in the chair that Ship had morphed for him, "You have the best pet ever!"
"I'm just glad he's here; he was missing for almost two weeks," Ken said, his hands wrapped around the controls after Ship had given him control, "Speaking of which, what happened, buddy?"
"Ship, ship," the living vessel replied, though only Ken knew what he was saying; as such, when both his eyes and smile widened, it left everyone else confused.
"What did he say?" M'gann asked.
"Apparently, he was getting an upgrade," Ken took a second to snicker at his choice of words before continuing, "He now has a stealth-mode."
"Really?" Jason grinned, "Let's see it!"
"Ship, if you would be so kind?" Ken said.
The air outside of the windows shimmered for a moment; if they had been outside, they would have seen Ship completely vanish.
"Oh, that is cool!" Jason said, "It fits perfectly for a covert-ops team!"
"If that's the case," M'gann said nervously, "Then I guess I do, too."
"What, you can turn invisible?" Warhawk asked.
"Well, kind of," the Martian said, then seemingly vanished, leaving only a slight shimmer in the air, "It's Martian camouflage; not quite invisibility, but it's pretty close."
"You should compare notes with my sister," Ken said, "She can turn invisible too."
"You have a sister?" Superboy and M'gann said simultaneously as the latter became visible again.
"Oh, right, you haven't met her yet," Ken said, letting Ship fly them around the area on his own, "She's nice, has all the same Kryptonian powers as me, but with different Ultimatrix alien powers; invisibility is one of them."
"Will she be joining the team?" M'gann asked, then noticed Barry blanch. "Are you all right?"
Warhawk rolled his eyes. "Are you still afraid of Jen?"
"No!" Barry said quickly, though Ken, Jason and Warhawk knew he was lying.
"Why is he afraid of your sister?" Superboy asked.
Ken laughed. "Well, to answer M'gann's question about Jen joining the team, it won't be for a while. As for your question, Superboy: remember that she's half Kryptonian. She's also eleven, and a hugger."
"A… hugger?" M'gann asked.
"She likes to hug," Jason said, "and she's eleven. Now, since eleven-year-olds still can't control their strength, and Jen first met Barry when she was nine…"
"She nearly broke Barry's spine," Warhawk said, laughing.
"Dudes!" Barry hissed, not wanting to get embarrassed in front of the pretty girl.
"Oh, I wish I had seen that," M'gann gushed, "That must have been so cute! Do you think I can read your mind to see that memory?"
That brought the conversation up short, and everyone spared a moment to glance at Superboy; the clone had a dark look in his eyes.
"Don't," was all he said.
For a moment, there was an awkward silence; thankfully, Jason was able to break it.
"So, other than invisibility, are there any other powers that you'd like to show us?"
M'gann nodded, eager to change the subject. She stood up and, after a moment of concentration, morphed into a female version of Jason in his Robin uniform.
"Hey, it's the Girl Wonder," Barry joked, only to get a punch in the arm from Jason.
M'gann then turned into a female Kid Flash; Barry had a goofy grin on his face.
"Is it wrong to think that I'm hot?" he asked.
"Yes!" Ken, Jason and Warhawk said in unison.
M'gann turned back into her normal form and sat back down, happy that she'd made a good impression.
"That was pretty impressive," Jason said, "But I don't think you'll be fooling anyone by turning into female versions of us."
"Mimicking boys is harder," M'gann admitted.
Jason shrugged, as Warhawk asked, "So, what else can you do? Intangibility?"
M'gann shook her head. "That's a very advanced technique; Uncle J'onn hasn't taught it to me yet."
Ken saw an opening for a question he'd been dying to ask. "Speaking of the Martian Manhunter, are you really his niece? It's just that, since he's married to my great-grandmother, I figured that I'd have seen you before."
M'gann looked uncomfortable at that. "Well, he's not really my uncle, he was just close to my family; I've always called him Uncle J'onn."
Still doesn't explain how she's stayed alive after all this time, Ken thought, then prayed that M'gann hadn't been reading his thoughts; since she didn't react, he could only assume that she wasn't.
He was pulled out of his musings by Ship, who brought up a holographic display. "Ship, what is this?"
"Ship, ship!"
The others saw Ken's eyes go wide again, but this time, it wasn't from excitement. "Hang on!"
Grabbing the controls again, Ken banked hard; only the safety restraints on their chairs prevented everyone from slamming into the side of Ship. Before anyone could protest, they saw a smoking object hurtle past them, heading towards the ground.
"What was that?" Barry asked, pointing at the trail of smoke left behind.
"Something just arrived from space," Ken said grimly, before turning to Jason, "Do you think you could hack NASA and see if a satellite fell out of orbit?"
Jason nodded, bringing up a holographic computer that was built into his watch; after a few seconds of typing, he shook his head.
"No reports of a falling satellite, official or otherwise," he said, "No reports of anything falling, actually."
"That's… suspicious," Warhawk said.
"The last time we looked into something suspicious, we ended up meeting Superboy," Barry pointed out.
"That was a good thing," Ken said, "Why don't we check it out?"
Everyone else looked at each other for a moment, then nodded.
Ken brought Ship in to land at the crash site, just a few miles outside of Happy Harbor, and they all hopped out; Ship remained as he was, in case his weapons were needed. The object that fell had left a large crater when it had landed, and any details about it were still obscured by smoke.
"That thing is probably red-hot," Ken said, "Superboy and I are the only ones who can get near it right now."
"Got it," Jason said, "I'll contact the Cave; maybe your dad or Red Tornado can give us some backup."
Ken nodded, and then he and Superboy slid down the side of the crater. At first, the object was still difficult to see; fortunately, a super-strength clap from Superboy created a powerful-enough shockwave that blasted the smoke clear.
The object in question turned out to be a pod similar to the one that had contained Superboy, but covered in a reinforced metal, probably meant to protect whatever was inside from just this kind of situation.
"Is this what you felt like when you found me in Genesis?" Superboy asked.
"Kind of," Ken said, "only less Genomorphs trying to eat my face."
"What's down there?" Barry asked loudly from his position at the lip of the crater.
"A pod," Ken called back, activating his X-ray vision to see what was inside, "I think there's someone inside of—okay, didn't expect that."
"What?" Jason asked, "What's inside?"
"It's a girl!" Superboy called out, using his own X-ray vision.
It was indeed a girl, and a beautiful one at that, but she certainly wasn't a human girl; she wore a purple top, skirt, thigh-length boots and elbow-length, fingerless gloves. Most of the rest of her was covered by silver bands. The only parts of her orange skin that were visible was her face, which was eerily similar to a human's, and her fingers, while long, dark-red hair spilled down to her waist.
"Is she hot?" Barry asked, earning himself an elbow to his ribs from Jason.
"What about backup?" Ken asked, ignoring the speedster.
"I can't get through to anyone," Jason replied, "I don't know if it's radiation from the pod or if we're being jammed, but comms aren't working."
"Great…" Ken muttered.
"What do we do about her?" Superboy asked, pointing to the pod.
Ken shrugged. "We open it up, hope she can breathe in our atmosphere and that she doesn't punch me in the face, like when I met you."
Superboy only huffed, but he helped Ken rip open the metal, their Kryptonian endurance easily ignoring the heat from the pod's reentry. After a few seconds, they had worked their way to the final, transparent layer. As they did so, they noticed the alien stir; carefully, they removed the last layer, then waited for the girl to regain consciousness. It didn't take long; her eyes fluttered open, revealing them to be a solid green in color. She looked around for a moment, confused, before she focused on Ken. He smiled in a reassuring way and slowly approached her.
"Hi there," he said softly, "My name is Ken; don't worry, you're sa—OW!"
The alien had moved almost as fast as Ken could, her fist colliding with his face; the impact sent him fifteen feet into the air, and he landed heavily next to M'gann.
"Oh, for crying out loud," he muttered, holding his now-shattered glasses, "Next time we meet an alien in a pod, someone else gets to open it up, because I'm tired of getting hit in the face."
Back in the crater, Superboy was trying to stop the alien girl, though if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't sure if he wanted to stop her or smash her. She had just punched his cousin, the first person to show him any real kindness, so he wasn't feeling particularly charitable.
"I should probably say that I'm sorry when I hurt you," the clone said, "But that would be a lie."
"Zhu vin sorn," the girl said; though Superboy didn't understand her language, the threatening tone in her voice still came across.
The alien crouched slightly as Superboy threw a punch; the clone had expected her to leap to the side or duck, but instead, she jumped ten feet into the air and stayed there.
"Oh, great," Superboy growled, "she can fly."
The girl floated down to land in front of the other heroes; Ken got to his feet, the punch not hurting him as much as stunning him. A moment later, Superboy jumped out of the crater, a vengeful look in his eyes.
"Now what do we do?" Barry asked tensely.
"She's strong," Ken said, "Fast, too; she's almost as fast as I am."
"And she can fly," Jason noted.
The alien girl took a step forward, then moved her arm back, as if to throw something; in her hand, a glowing sphere of green energy appeared!
"And she can do that," Warhawk deadpanned, as the girl threw the sphere, "Scatter!"
M'gann and Warhawk took to the air, while Ken, Superboy and Barry dove to the sides, the energy-bolt landing just behind where they had been, leaving a fist-sized crater; Jason, however, rolled forward, turning said roll into a scissor-kick. The alien caught Jason's foot and flipped him into the air in a single, fluid motion; as he came back down, she caught him in an iron grip, her hands clenching shut on his shoulders. Her green eyes, now glowing, narrowed.
"Jason!" Ken cried out; everyone knew that if they tried to interfere, this alien would kill Jason instantly. Ship, who had been about to open fire, powered down his weapons; he couldn't risk hitting Jason.
However, instead of killing him, the alien did something quite different; she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
"Dude, I think I know the way I want to die," Barry said, torn between worry for his friend, and jealousy.
The kiss lasted for a few more seconds, and then Jason was thrown to the ground. The alien opened her mouth to speak, but this time, it was in English!
"If you wish not to be destroyed," she said, "you will leave me alone!"
With that, she lifted into the air and flew off, leaving the six heroes confused.
"What just happened?" M'gann asked, voicing the question that they all had.
Before anyone could answer, a large tornado—moving parallel to the ground—hit them from behind and sent them sprawling. They got to their feet and turned to their assailant; it was a robot, or someone in a mechanical suit. Said suit was red with black highlights, easily ten feet tall, with oversized hands and a brown, ragged scarf wrapped around the neck and lower jaw of the robot, and large, blue cables were attached to the arms, and ended at a large, backpack-like device on the back.
"I can tell you what just happened," the thing said in a dangerous tone, "You have interfered in my business. For that, you shall die."
"For crying out loud," Ken groaned, "Who are you, and why do you look like Red Tornado on steroids?"
"Oh, I am far superior to that android," the mechanical being scoffed, "and you may call me Mister Twister. Now, if you children will excuse me, I must be on my way; that alien won't capture herself."
"Right," Jason said, slowly reaching under his hoodie, "Because you seem the helpful type."
"M'gann," Ken whispered, "can you read his mind? What's he planning for that girl?"
"I thought I wasn't supposed to read minds!" M'gann whispered back.
"It's okay when it's the bad guys!"
M'gann nodded and gave Mister Twister a hard stare; a moment later, she blinked in shock.
"I can't read his mind! It's like there's nothing there!"
"Guess that means that we'll just have to beat the info out of him!" Jason said with a grim smile, whipping out his utility belt and slinging it around himself like a bandolier.
"You brought your utility belt?" Warhawk asked incredulously.
"Never leave home without it," Jason said, pulling out an explosive disk, "First thing Batman taught me!"
"Yeah, right after 'never go to the bathroom without it'," Barry snarked, then glanced in the direction the alien girl had gone, "What do we do about her?"
"First things first," Ken said, sending a wave of fire at Mister Twister, but a tornado from the villain's hand dispelled it.
"I must say," Mister Twister said, "I was hoping to fight a real hero. I don't want to kill children. It would be… disturbing."
"Sorry you're so disturbed," Jason said, throwing his explosive, "Maybe you'll be a bit more turbed after we kick your can!"
Superboy jumped the twenty feet separating him and Mister Twister, but another tornado sent him flying into Warhawk. The two hit the ground with a thud. Twister moved to finish them off, but was forced to fly into the air when M'gann lifted several boulders with her telekinesis and threw them at him.
"Okay, we may have a problem," Ken said, "We need to tell the League about this."
"Do you have a plan?" Barry said, trying to counter Twister's tornadoes with one of his own when he rapidly spun his arm around.
"Actually, I do," Ken said, "Robin, Miss Martian: take Ship and go after the alien. While you're doing that, see if you can contact the Cave, get some help, intel, anything; we'll keep this guy occupied until then."
"I will not let you deny me of my prize!" Twister roared, but was knocked back when Ken hit him in the face with a blast of Mana.
"Hurry!" Ken yelled, "We don't know if this guy has friends!"
Nodding, Jason and M'gann boarded Ship, who sent a parting shot at Twister, in the form of several rockets, before flying off in the direction of the alien. Now Ken, Warhawk, Barry and Superboy were squared off against Twister, who had steadied himself.
"You called me Red Tornado on steroids," Twister said, raising his hands to the sky, "Let me show you how I'm not only more powerful than that android, I completely outclass him!"
In the sky above, dark clouds gathered, rain began to fall, and lightning struck near them. The four heroes glanced at each other, the same though going through their minds.
This was bad.
…
"How close is she?" Jason asked Ship as they flew towards Happy Harbor.
"Ship, ship," Ship replied.
"I don't understand what you're saying!" Jason said, exasperated.
"Maybe I can help?" M'gann offered; Jason glanced at her warily for a moment. "Please, just trust me." After he nodded, M'gann's eyes glowed green for a moment. "Try asking him now."
"Okay," Jason said slowly, then turned to Ship's controls, "Can you tell me where she is?"
"Ship, ship."
"H-hey!" Jason jerked back in his seat, "I understood that!"
"I imprinted his, uh, language into your mind," M'gann explained.
"Well, that's one problem solved," Jason said, but after a moment, he frowned again. "Still can't reach the Cave or the League; this storm is messing with the comms."
"I guess we're on our own then," M'gann said nervously.
Ship touched down just outside of an alley and opened up, allowing Jason and M'gann out. The Martian used her telepathy to detect the alien girl's thoughts, and the two followed the trail to the back of the alley, where they found her sitting on top of a dumpster, her arms wrapped around her legs. At the sound of their footsteps, she looked up; neither Jason nor M'gann failed to notice the tears falling down her face.
"Hey," Jason said gently, holding his hands out in what he hoped was a peaceful gesture for her people, "Remember me? I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."
The alien girl sniffed. "You cannot hurt me any more than I am already."
Jason and M'gann glanced at each other, confused.
"What do you mean?" M'gann asked.
"I am alone."
"Sorry, gonna need a little more than that," Jason said.
"I am… the last…" the girl sniffed, holding back more tears, "I am the last Tamaranean."
"Is that the name of your people?" M'gann asked gently, "Can you tell us where you're from?"
"The planet of Tamaran," the girl said, "I was captured by Gordanian slavers, then forced to watch as they… they destroyed…"
The memories overwhelmed her, and she broke down in tears. Unable to help herself, M'gann wrapped the other alien in a hug, gently rocking her back and forth.
"Shh," she said, "It's all right, just let it out… you're not alone anymore. I know how you feel."
"How!?" the alien demanded, pulling away, "How could you possibly know what it is like, being the last of your kind!?"
"Because I am," M'gann said solemnly, "My uncle and I are the only Martians left, and Superman and Supergirl are the last of their people as well, but I… I know what it's like for it to be sudden.
"When Mars was attacked," M'gann said, her eyes downcast as she relived the memories, "We were completely unprepared. My parents… they placed me in a stasis-pod in a hidden bunker until the war was over. I woke up a thousand years later, and everyone I knew was gone. I thought I was going to die of starvation, but a week later, my uncle heard my telepathic cry for help, and he came to rescue me. After that, I found out what had happened… and how alone I was."
"Everyone we know has lost someone," Jason added, a few feet away from them, "We can all relate to you somehow."
{Ken asked me about this, but I couldn't tell him,} M'gann said telepathically to Jason, {and I don't want to say this twice; could you tell him?}
{Sure,} Jason replied, not minding the unasked-for telepathy this time, {No problem.}
The girl looked at both of them and sniffed back a few more tears. "T-thank you. I believe I must bring apology to you and the others before; I did not want to harm anyone."
"You were in a strange place with strange people, totally understandable," Jason reasoned, then frowned, "Though there's one thing that confuses me: why did you kiss me?"
The alien tilted her head. "Among my people, it is a way to understand languages. Why, is it different on this world?"
"Yes. Yes it is." Jason's face betrayed no emotion.
Hesitantly, the alien girl looked at M'gann, who shook her head. "Don't look at me, I've been on this planet for two months."
For a moment, the alien said nothing, lost in thought.
"What do I do now?"
Jason shrugged. "That's up to you. There are a lot of people in the Justice League who can help you, but what you do with your life is up to you."
She nodded, smiling. "Thank you."
The somewhat optimistic mood was broken when a small, slug-like creature came hurrying towards them.
"Ship, ship!"
"What is that?" the alien asked.
"That's Ship," Jason said, not really explaining anything, and turning to Ship, "What's going on?"
"Ship, ship!"
"Oh, crud," Jason said, as Ship's words translated in his head, "We still need to help the others!"
M'gann smacked her forehead. "Hello, Megan! How could we forget?"
"Please, wait," the alien girl said as M'gann and Jason started to follow Ship out of the alley, "May I assist you?"
"Can you fight?" Jason asked.
The girl nodded. "The people of Tamaran are… were… warriors; I would like to aid you."
"That's wonderful!" M'gann said, smiling, "But, um, we don't even know your name."
"My name is Koriand'r," the girl replied, "In your language, it would mean 'star' and 'fire'."
"Well then, Starfire," Jason said with a grin, "would you like to help us beat down a bad guy?"
Starfire nodded, smiling back. "With pleasure!"
…
For the umpteenth time since the fight began, Superboy was hurled into the ground. The clone would jump fifty feet into the air, with the intention of slamming into Mister Twister, but the villain would see the attack coming and deflect Superboy with a tornado.
The others were also hard-pressed; Barry tried to counter Twister's twisters with his own, but he hadn't quite mastered that ability yet, and his tornados weren't as strong as the villain's. Warhawk had to remain on the ground; his armor and the fact that he preferred higher-altitude strikes left him vulnerable to the lightning that Mister Twister summoned. In order to keep his friends safe from the lightning, Ken levitated himself up with a platform of Mana, acting as a lightning rod. While he could absorb the lightning, his own attacks were either deflected by tornados or dodged entirely.
This isn't working, Ken thought, we need more people in the air to hit him on all sides.
"We could use some backup!" Barry said, unknowingly voicing Ken's thoughts.
"Bring all the backup you want; if it's more children, it won't be enough," Mister Twister boasted, "I won't be satisfied until I face a real hero. Where's Red Tornado? I know he's here, somewhere."
He was finally shut up when a bolt of green energy struck him in the back of his head. Warhawk looked up at Ken and gave him a wave.
"Nice shot!"
Ken shook his head. "It wasn't me."
"Then who…" Barry began to ask, when a purple-clad blur slammed into Mister Twister, moving so fast that he had no way to counter it.
The blur slowed down, then hovered in place, revealing itself to be the alien girl from before!
"What is she doing here?" Superboy asked, still annoyed with her, but seemed willing to hear her out when she floated to ground-level.
"I apologize for my actions before," she said, bowing her head at Ken, then Superboy, "I wish to assist you now."
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Warhawk asked.
{She is telling the truth,} M'gann's voice echoed in their minds, {Robin and I talked to her, and she's willing to help!}
"What did we tell you!?" Superboy yelled, fury being his knee-jerk reaction to telepathy.
{I know, I know!} M'gann said, {But Robin, Ship and I are too far away to talk normally right now, and we needed to make sure that you didn't attack Starfire by accident! Please, just trust me!}
Ken nodded. {Okay, I trust you.} Turning to the new arrival, he asked, "So, Starfire, you ready for a fight?"
Energy glowed around Starfire's fists in response. "Yes. Let us kick the butt!"
Ken opened his mouth, launching a blast of lightning at Twister, who had just stabilized; the electricity hit him dead-on, sending him hurtling to the ground. Before he hit, Barry ran underneath him and ran in a tight circle, creating a tornado of his own, buffeting the villain and sending him back into the air; while he had trouble creating twisters with his arms, this way was easy.
Disoriented, Twister was wide open for a vicious uppercut from Warhawk, sending him even higher; the Thanagarian flew away just as a barrage of missiles from Ship, who had just arrived. Jason hopped out and threw a pair of explosive disks, doing more damage to Twister. Before the villain hit the ground, he was caught by M'gann's telekinesis. Starfire flew over to his right side, while Superboy jumped onto his back; the two aliens grinned at each other as they each grabbed one of Twister's arms and pulled, ripping the mechanical limbs off. Superboy jumped and Starfire flew away as Mister Twister collapsed to his knees. With a hiss of hydraulics, Twister's chest opened up and a small man wearing a yellow jumpsuit fell out.
"F-foul," the man whined, as the teens surrounded him, "I c-call foul."
M'gann smirked as she used her telekinesis to raise a boulder over the man; Ken's eyes widened as he ran forward.
"M'gann, no!"
He was too late; M'gann dropped the boulder, crushing the man. Furious, Jason grabbed the Martian's shoulder.
"I don't know how things were done on Mars," he growled, "but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!"
"I thought you trusted me?" M'gann said, still smirking; she lifted the boulder, revealing the squashed remains of a robot. "I couldn't read his mind, which meant that he was inorganic; not alive!"
"Yo, dog," Barry whispered to Warhawk, as he gestured to the crushed robot, "I heard you like robots, so I put a robot in—ouch!"
"That joke is old," Warhawk said, after smacking Barry upside the head; the speedster grinned unrepentantly as he knelt down to pick up one of the robot's eyes.
"Cool, a souvenir!" he said, holding the eye.
Ken put his hand on M'gann's shoulder. "We should have had more faith in you. Sorry about that."
"Yeah," Barry added, "you 'rocked' this mission! Get it? Rocked?"
Starfire tilted her head. "He is… not very funny."
Warhawk smiled. "I think we're going to get along great."
"Ignore Barry and his bad puns," Jason said to M'gann, "We're all just turbed that you're on the team."
"So, what do we do about her?" Superboy said, gesturing with his chin at Starfire.
"I think it's out of our hands," Ken said, pointing; headed their way was Red Tornado and Ben, transformed into Chromastone.
"You guys," the latter said in mock-exasperation, "I can't let you out of my sight for five minutes and you go cause trouble."
…
Unknown Location
"Now, Brom," a man with graying hair and a white lab coat said to another man, identical to the robot who had been piloting Mister Twister, "Aren't you relieved I didn't let you wear the armor?"
"Extremely, Professor," Brom said, "But you aren't upset?"
The man known as T.O. Morrow shrugged.
"While helping my… associates… with the alien's retrieval was the catalyst for the resources, the test for our tracking system went perfectly. I'm convinced that Red Tornado was nearby; if those children hadn't been in the area, I'm sure that we would have found him. Besides, you know that science advances in fits and starts. Even failure can be instructive… and I'd say we learned quite a lot today."
…
Mount Justice, 20:32 EDT
After Mister Twister had been defeated, members of the Justice League had arrived to assess the situation. They gathered the android's remains and shipped it to the Cave, while the Martian Manhunter had offered to house Koriand'r and teach her about life on Earth. She accepted, but only after M'gann promised to visit often; the two girls had bonded over shared grief, and were already friends, though the Tamaranean had also expressed a desire to see the other members of the team as well.
Speaking of M'gann, she shared Koriand'r's story with the League, while Jason told Ken and the others what had happened to M'gann. Ken felt awful for bringing it up earlier, and resolved to make it up to her.
After J'onn had escorted Koriand'r out of the Cave, the team had been debriefed by Batman and were then brought to a table, where the Mister Twister armor and the android inside of it were being dissected by the Atom, Grey Matter and Red Tornado.
"Well, this is disturbing," Atom said, stepping away from the remains, "It would seem that this armor was not only based of Red Tornado's design, but also contained several methods of overriding another android's programming."
"And since the League only has one android member," Ken said, looking at Red Tornado, "I guess that it was meant to take you out, or turn you against the League."
"Agreed," the android said, "It is fortunate that you were able to stop my would-be saboteur; the damage that I could have done would have been considerable."
"You not only took the bad guy down, but you also helped that girl," Grey Matter said, before transforming back into Ben, "You guys did great."
The teens shared a grin, but Superboy shook his head.
"We only fought Twister," the clone said, "Jason and… and M'gann got Koriand'r to trust us."
Behind him, M'gann beamed at the praise.
Batman nodded at Superboy's words. "You all did well. Now, head home, all of you; as soon as the details come in, you'll be sent on a mission soon."
"Sweet!" Barry high-fived Jason, "Our team's first mission!"
As the teens headed to the teleporters to head home—save for Superboy, who was staying at the Cave for the conceivable future—Jason said something that had been on his mind for a while.
"I think our team needs a name; we need something that would fit a covert-ops group."
"What about just 'the Team'?" Superboy asked.
"He's got a point," Ken said, "If we're doing stealth stuff, we can't go advertising who we are; kinda defeats the purpose of being covert."
"Any objections?" Warhawk asked, as he punched in the coordinates on the teleporter, "No? Then I guess we're the Team."
"Could be worse," Barry said, just as he began to disappear in a flash of light, "We could have been called the Junior Justice League."
"Yeah," Jason laughed, "or Young Justice; what kind of name is that?"
Soon, the last one to leave was M'gann; just before Superboy activated the teleporter for her, he spoke.
"About before…" he said, not looking her in the eye, "I'm sorry."
As she disappeared, M'gann had a huge smile on her face.
Not gonna lie, this chapter was hard to write. I wanted to keep parts of the canon material, but also wanted changes. Big changes. Changing one of the reasons for Mister Twister being there, and adding Starfire…
Speaking of Starfire, she won't show up in the next chapter (she did just arrive on Earth, after all) but she will show up soon, I promise.
Before anyone gets mad, I have nothing against the name Young Justice, but if I were a teenage superhero, I wouldn't want to be part of a team that announces that I'm young. Besides, like Ken said, it's better to have a simple name that isn't advertised, like Justice League.
One more thing: When the heroes aren't in their costumes (or don't have names yet, like Superboy) they'll go by their civilian names.
Don't make me angry; I make muffins when I'm angry.