A/N: Sorry this took so long to update guys! I sincerely hope that from now on that I will be able to update on a schedule. Anyway, this is VERY IMPORTANT! Well, not really, but it does have some importance to the story. I have a poll on my profile currently where you can vote when, if ever, Naruto will be paired with one of the many characters in the show. You have the choice to decide whether you would like him to be paired up in the first season, the five year interlude, or not at all. Please vote because whatever the outcome is, I'll do. Well, that's about it, so without further adieu, Chapter 4: Welcome to Happy Harbor
p.s: I'm not a very athletic person; more of a eat healthy and run ever so often kind of person. So the training session may be under or overly exaggerated... tell me if it's either and I'll fix it right away!
p.p.s: I'm very tired so if things don't make sense right now, I apologize. Also... While I don't like this chapter, I hope you all do!
Key:
"Regular talking"
'Thoughts'
"Megan's telepathic conversations"
"Kyuubi"
"Computer speech."
Chapter 4: Welcome to Happy Harbor
Mount Justice
July 16 12:00 E.D.T
"Again!" Fire Shadow demanded of Team Young Justice, who were currently fighting the urge to collapse on the floor. They had been training all morning since the crack of dawn, nearly six hours since they had began. None of the teens really knew what to expect when they passed Fire Shadow's test, but if the test was any indication, it would be tough.
Tough was an understatement.
It was torture.
From the moment they walked into the training simulator, which had taken the form of a large gym equipped with various obstacles, Shadow had started them off by stretching for a good forty minutes. At first they were confused why they had taken double the normal time of stretching, only to realize he had a reason for doing so.
He was pushing their muscles to their limits.
First, a thirty minute run. Which would have been particularly easy, had they not been forced to sprint the entire time or face the wrath of Shadows rubber balls of fury; whenever they lost a bit of speed, Naruto would bombard them with small rubber balls in order to push them to maintain their speed. Kid Flash thought he was going to breeze right through the run. He was the fastest kid alive after all. A thirty minute sprint wouldn't be too taxing. Maybe cause him to eat an entire buffet later, but hardly difficult. That is, he thought it would be. Fire Shadow knew that this sort of exercise would be nothing for the young speedster, and prepared before hand. He had the young teen dressed in a weighted body suit, making him weigh roughly 300 pounds. After the run, the boy was sweating as much, if not more so that his other teammates.
Of course, Naruto couldn't leave the young Kryptonian clone without something that would cause the training to sink in. Thanks to a little digging around, Naruto was able to come into possession of a shard of Kryptonite, Kryptonians mortal weakness. Rather than simply placing it on him and hope for the best, Naruto asked the Kyuubi for help on duplicating it's effects into a seal in order to, in a sense, 'level out the playing field.' He had placed it in Superboy's training shirt, a shirt that was given to each of the members as they were also slightly weighted. When the young Kryptonian asked what it was, Naruto had answered honestly, omitting exactly how he had created the seal, of course.
He couldn't exactly let out all of his secrets after all. Though Shadow had to give it to Robin and his rather... cunning ways of asking questions which to an ordinary person would have fooled them to say exactly what he wanted to hear unknowingly.
Naruto knew that once Batman looked through the training sessions videos, he would come to the right conclusion that he had an 'unknown amount of Kryptonite in his possession,' and, more than probably not, up his surveillance on him. It wouldn't be that hard for a "master detective" to deduce that much. That, or believe that Superboy wasn't full Kryptonian (which could be the actual case now that Naruto thought about it). Either way, Shadow didn't particularly care, he simply wanted to teach and train the young heroes so that they wouldn't one day loose their lives on the job as some have, regardless of the methods he would have to use. Without crossing the line, of course. He would rather rot in hell than see himself turn into Danzo.
A while after they completed the sprint, Shadow had them go through two obstacle courses multiple times with each run through slightly different than the last. The first base-course was a rather simple one compared to the others: a timed course that consisted of monkey-bars, a high wall to climb, a mud pit they had to crawl themselves through without getting hurt, or caught by the lowly hung net of barbed wire, and finally a simple run through a treadmill going the opposing direction.
The second, was more difficult. Unlike the first, the obstacles were more intricate. While it still had the same course, dozens of traps were laid flawlessly throughout it. From trip wires, to weighted sensors that triggered a blaze of shuriken to elemental jutsus. All of which were illusions of course, and would simply splat paint on the person should they be caught in it and feel something equal of hammer slamming into them.
He wasn't out to kill his team after all.
Of course, after finishing the second obstacle course, each young hero simply knew without a shadow of a doubt that their new Head Supervisor was a sadist.
While they had breaks between the blocks of exercises, where Shadow provided them with water, energy boosters, and offered each of them a very low-level stamina pill to each of them so they could continue, the young heroes still felt as though they were just about ready to collapse.
"Come on Team, one more quick run and we can all call it a day." Naruto said, hoping it would motivate the team to finish the last exercise, which was a quick combination of jumping jacks, pushups, pullups, and situps. He had watered down his original training regime for the team, knowing they wouldn't be able to handle the stress of his so early off in their training. While his team was sweating what seemed to be every last drop of water their bodies carried, Naruto was sweating only a fair amount that seemed down his mask. There were a few surprised faces when Naruto told the Team at the beginning of the morning that he would be joining them in their Training. Simply because he was training them didn't mean he couldn't use the opportunity to train himself. After all, there was always someone better and always ways to better yourself. Though throughout it, he cursed himself for dawning the full face mask. The thing was not made for good ventilation.
Of course, Kurama had scolded him for acting so weak. Even though they were mutual allies and some sort of friend to each other, they still bickered as though he were still a thirteen year-old kid. Though now it held little to no malice and ill intent, the bickering was more for the sake of keeping normalcy in the universe that was not their own.
When Shadow received weak groans as a reply, Naruto and the Team finally finished their training and the young heroes couldn't hold back the need to fall on the floor panting heavily.
Robin was currently wondering how Fire Shadow, who seemed particularly laid back when not fighting, could possibly be more of a slave driver than Batman! He thought that Bruce's training regimes were taxing, but Shadow's made his training session simply blew everything Bruce had thrown at him out of the water.
Superboy, while panting and sweating slightly, was ransacking his knowledge of Superman and trying to figure out just how he was sweating! Everything he knows about the man clearly state that he's practically invincible and nowhere does it state that he sweats. Could Shadow have been wrong when he said he could surpass Superman? He couldn't fly, he didn't have heat vision or arctic breath, and he sweat...
The other young heroes were far too exhausted to even wonder such thoughts about their new Head Supervisor, but one thought did run through their minds, and that was that even though this training was harsher than the arctic winds in the heart of Winter, this was helping them become stronger, and that much closer to the League.
"Good job, Team." Naruto said with a happy tone, "Honestly, I half expected you all to bail out halfway through, but you surprised and impressed me by not giving up." While the group of teens were exhausted, they managed to grow small grins on their faces at the praise. They felt as though they had passed another test from their new Head Supervisor, and it felt nice.
"Cool down and head to the showers, I'll be out on League business till tomorrow night, so you probably won't see me. Either way, this training regime you all faced today will be the standard from now on, and whatever Black Canary will want from you every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with some light weight training on the other days. When I come back, I don't want to hear anything about misbehaving or disrespect, otherwise you'll see just how much I can push your body past it's limits." Naruto said in a calm chilling voice that practically screamed doom to all those who didn't obey him.
Wisely, the teens all nodded in agreement and watched as their Head Supervisor left the room, letting the young heroes calm their muscles and breathing before they left themselves.
Observation Deck
"That was a bit much, don't you think?" the melodic voice of Black Canary rang through the metal walls of the halls, ringing into Shadow's ears.
"Not really. You and I have done training worse than that." Naruto replied with a smirk evident in his tone.
"They're just kids, Shadow. Ease them into it." she added in a soft yet stern voice.
Naruto, though his face was completely covered, let him face grow cold and his aura darken. "They haven't been kids since they donned the masks, Canary. They want to be apart of the League, then they need to see exactly just what they're getting themselves into. You saw them in there, Black. That Team has everything it takes to be members of the League except experience. The determination is testament to that, all they need to really work on is their teamwork. I'm not going to let themselves believe that they're ready for something they're not. I will not allow them to die simply because I was too easy on them."
Canary, at that point, realized she had said the wrong thing. The past couple years she had gotten to know Shadow was that he took their work seriously. At times, she thought, equal to Batman's seriousness, if not more so. While it was clear in his movements that he had faced more than a few life-and-death situations, she didn't know just how many, and who he had lost during those times.
With an apologetic expression, she said, "Alright, I understand. I won't question it from now on."
Nodding, Shadow made his way toward the Zeta-tubes. "Thank you, Canary." he said with a calm tone before the computer recognized him and he was engulfed into the light and brought directly to the Watchtower.
'Ugh...Time to get to work...'
"Stop whining and get to it." Kurama growled slightly.
With a small sigh, Shadow walked forward and went to see what Green Arrow wanted from him.
Star City
July 17 23:16 PDT
"You again! I'm starting to get insulted that Green Arrow's not messing up my operations personally!" Screamed a thug at a newly solo act known as Speedy.
Said young man merely glared, fresh resentments shining through at the mention of his past mentor. As the thug began shooting at him, Speedy expertly dodged and managed to fire a exploding arrow at the firearm destroying it, and in the process, ruining the thugs suit. Which apparently, was expensive for a man his size.
Before Speedy was overwhelmed, a blur of red and gold knocked a couple of the lackeys down, and birdarangs thrown by a small laughing teenage boy knocked out a couple more before a rather serious looking Aqualad took down the remaining thugs with his waterbearers.
The "Head" of the operation had since removed the remnants of his shirt and began to lift parts of the concrete floor and threw it at the kids who decided to play hero.
"The cave is perfect. It has everything the Team will need." Kaldur aka Aqualad said to Speedy after cutting through a thrown concrete boulder with his waterbearer.
"For covert missions. You know, spy stuff!" Robin said with a bit of enthusiasm at the hope of his long-time friend at joining their newly formed Team. Ever since the fiasco at the Hall of Justice, Speedy had become estranged and wanted nearly nothing to do with any of the League, including League member protégés like Kaldur, KF, and he.
"And wait until you see Superboy and Miss Martian. But I saw her first!" Wally said, adding his two cents into the conversation before all of them dodged the coming boulder the thug threw at them. Speedy, ever quick with his bow, shot three exploding arrows that stuck onto the thugs chest before exploding in concession to their attachment on his body.
The explosions only seemed to annoy the thug rather than actually bring him down. Rather cockily, he said, "He-he. Tell Arrow he shouldn't send boys to do a mans job!" While Speedy readied another arrow, "Go ahead." he finished while spreading his arms out, leaving him wide open. With narrowed eyes, Speedy sent the arrow flying, knowing the thug was expecting another explosion, he was slightly satisfied with his look of shock as the arrow exploded into foam, spreading over the thugs entire body until it fully covered him, ending the fight.
"High-density polyurethane foam! Nice!" Kid Flash observed while impressed at his friends choice of arrow.
"So Speedy, you in?" Robin asked with a hopeful tone.
"Pass." Speedy said with finality, "I'm done letting Arrow and the League telling me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse handout with the other kids. Your "Junior Justice League" is a joke. Something to keep you busy, and in your place. I don't want any part of it." he finished with much venom lacing his voice.
While the young hero was engulfed in the shadows, leaving the three remaining heroes behind, a fox masked man walked over to the young archer causing him to stop in his path.
"Is there something you want, Fire Shadow?" Speedy asked the masked Leaguer with slight anger in his voice.
"Sure, a lot of things." Shadow replied with a small shrug, "I could go for a nice bowl of miso ramen right now."
With a small exasperated sigh, Speedy clarified, "I meant something from me, Shadow."
"What? I can't just stop by and visit a friend?" Shadow said with mock hurt in his voice.
"I am not your friend, Shadow." Speedy hissed out with narrowed eyes, his grip on his bow tightening.
"Alright," he conceded, "I'll stop bullshitting then." Naruto said with a sigh before getting serious. "Technically, I'm on an "official" League assignment to extend a hand and offer you a place on the Young Justice Team." he finished with a dull tone to his voice.
"Something tells me you don't want me on the Team." Speedy said with a cold voice.
"Of course I don't want you on the Team." Shadow said nonchalantly, causing the young archer to tense with anger, "For several reasons in fact. Firstly, you don't want to be on the Team. Secondly, you want to be a solo act without the League on your back. And thirdly, you don't need much direction. You already know what you want and have a plan on how to prove that to everyone else. While there is a major need for a long distance fighter on the Team, I'm not going to deal with someone who doesn't want to be a part of it. All that'll do is cause problems later on."
After his explanation, Speedy's shoulders relaxed. 'Finally' he thought, 'Someone who gets it.' "Then, thanks for the offer, but no thanks." he said with a small nod of respect to the Leaguer. Speedy had met the guy when Green Arrow and he accompanied him on an assignment to prevent a large drug shipment and take down the leader of the cartel behind the shipments.
Back then, he looked onto the young Leaguer with awe. It was obvious he was powerful, and he worked perfectly in sync with Green Arrow and he that he felt as though they had been working together for years.
He was the perfect teammate.
"No problem, Speedy." Shadow replied with a small shrug, "Though, if you ever change your mind, you are always welcome, and if you ever need anything from me, don't hesitate to ask."
With a small nod of his head, Roy Harper watched as Fire Shadow disappeared in a swirl of leaves and smoke.
I'll be sure to remember that, Shadow. Speedy thought before he too returned to the shadows and left in the night.
Mount Justice
July 18 11:16 EDT
"Recognized. Robin, B-01. Kid Flash, B-03"
As the light from the Zeta Tube disappeared and brought forth the two young heroes, Robin wasted no time in running toward his friends that remained standing by a large monitor. "Did you ask him?" the teenager asked with a small smile.
"What did he say?" followed Kid Flash's question as he to jogged over to his teammates.
Taking notice of his friends arrival, Kaldur answered, "He is arriving now." 'He' being none other than Red Tornado.
"Well what are we waiting for?" Kid Flash continued before speeding his way toward their "front door."
When the Team made it's way outside, they were met with a small tornado and Red riding it before he landed on the grass in front of them.
"Greetings." the Leaguer said politely, "Is there a reason you intercepted me outside the cave?" he queried the Team.
Robin, taking initiative, said, "We were hoping you had a mission for us.." Red Tornado looked at the other members of the Team and saw that they all were hoping that he'd say yes.
Answering honestly, he said, "You know that is is Fire Shadows duty to assign team missions as he is Head Supervisor."
Getting a small groan from Robin, the teenager said with frustration lacing his voice, "It's been a week!" Which it had since their little Cadmus debacle. And that technically speaking, had been a self assigned mission for..."poetic justice."
Knowing that nothing short of a mission would appease the young heroes, Red Tornado began to take his leave before saying, "You will be tested soon enough. Until that time, perhaps you should use this time to take pleasure in each others company."
Now, fully frustrated and reminded of what Speedy had told them the night before, Kaldur said stiffly, "This Team is not a social club."
Turning, the Leaguer said, "No, but I understand from Fire Shadow that team interaction is a good teamwork exercise. Perhaps you should take this day off from your training and learn more about each other." With that, Red makes his way to the opened door and is recognized by the computer before leaving the young heroes outside completely.
"Does he really expect us to believe that?" Kid Flash said annoyed at their lack of missions.
"Oh, let me find out." Megan offered, reaching out to the Leaguer telepathically before continueing in a dejected voice, "I am sorry, I forgot he is a machine. Inorganic... I cannot read his mind.
"It was a good try, though." Kid Flash said comfortingly with a hand placed on her green shoulder.
With his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed expression smothering his face, Kaldur said, "And now we tour the club house." with frustration lacing his tone.
Trying to defuse the obvious tense feeling in the air about them, Megan said, "Well, me and Superboy live here, maybe we could be your tour guides?"
Taking slightly pensive expressions, the rest of the Team turned to look at the young Kryptonian who merely shrugged his shoulders and firmly stated, "Don't look at me." While he didn't have anything better to do, he wasn't about to play tour guide to the rest of his Team. They could take a look around the Cave the same way he had: exploration.
"Don't have to." Wally said with a wide mischievous grin toward Miss M, "Private tour guide sounds like fun." he finished with what he thought to be a suave tone of voice.
Slightly sputtering at the subtle insinuation Robin knew Megan would innocently miss, he exclaimed, "She never said anything about it being private!"
"Team building." Kaldur said in a calm commanding voice that brought the rest of his teammates attention to him, "We'll all go." the Atlantian finished with the same commanding voice that left nothing up for debate.
Quickly afterwards, Megan began to show them around the cave, from the Front door, to the bedrooms, and everything in between. While she knew she couldn't cover everything as the Cave was rather large, she managed to show the most important of areas until Superboy's voice broke through her musings.
Sniffing the air slightly, Superboy said in a slightly confused and curious voice, "I smell smoke."
With an ever so slightly horrified gasp, Miss M exclaimed in a panicked tone, "My cookies!" Without another word Megan flew with haste to the kitchen and telekinetically opened the oven door to place the burnt tray of cookies on the counter. Just as soon as the tray hit the marble, the rest of her teammates had entered the kitchen and looked at the small flat circles of char with slight amusement.
"I'm sorry." Miss M apologized, "I wanted to make you all cookies."
"Do not worry about it, Megan" Kaldur said with a grateful smile, "It is the thought that matters."
"Yeah," Robin added with a smile gracing his teenage face, "Besides, the cookies you made us last time with Shadow were great, and it doesn't look like Wally minds!" he finished with a definite smirk looking at his speedster of a friend that had two charred cookies in hand while taking bites from them each.
Noticing that the attention of his friends were on him completely, Wally looked sheepish before admitting, "I...I have a serious metabolism?" Which was true. At the speed he moved his body, calories were of constant need due to the speed that the young man worked them off. While his eating habits were... unsightly, the need for nutrition was an absolute must.
As his teammates laughed, Superboy brought up a topic the everyone else had been curious about as well.
"Still wondering how Shadow managed to eat with his mask completely on." he said with a slightly annoyed huff.
"I know!" Wally exclaimed after finishing his third charred cookie, "I was so looking forward to seeing what he really looked like too!"
The rest of the Team nodded as they too had hoped their Head Supervisor would take off his mask to eat. Of course, with everything else he was capable of, Shadow had managed to eat three large plates of the food Megan had made without so much as touching his mask. It was as if there were an invisible hole whenever he took a piece of food into his mouth that none of them could see. Even as they stared intently, none of them could quite recall just what they had seen.
It was absolutely frustrating.
"I wonder why he chooses not to show his face. I know from Uncle J'on that some members of the League let their secret identities be known to each other, but Shadow has always been... recluse."
"Keh," Superboy snorted, "sure didn't seem "recluse" when he talked non-stop at lunch." he said. Which was true. During the lunch their mysterious Head Supervisor hadn't stayed silent for long. Bringing up stories about the Justice League that none of them had heard, telling jokes, and over all having a good time with them. What they didn't know was that Naruto had realized how lonely he had been the past two years during that lunch. Dealing with so many adults constantly had caused him to miss interaction with those closer to his age. Roy Harper, aka Speedy, was really the only teen hero that was closest to his age, and he wasn't exactly his friend, as the archer so liked to state.
"Yeah, from everything I head from Bats, I thought he was going to be... different." Robin said with a thoughtful expression. Everything the young teen had expected their Head Supervisor to be, was completely thrown out the window during their "Bell Test of Humiliation." While the young boy had in fact been on a mission or two with the youngest member of the League, he certainly didn't act anything like he did with them here. 'Maybe he just doesn't like Batman? Knowing Bruce he would have done something to annoy Shadow.' Robin pondered over the thought before Kaldur spoke, breaking his musings.
"I, too, expected something different of Shadow." he said, "My King explained that he was a complicated individual, but I did not expect him to be so..."
"Excentric?" Robin supplied just as Kid Flash said, "Sadistic?"
With an amused smile/smirk that matched Superboy's and Megan's, Kadur finished, "...friendly. Though those do describe him rather well." he admitted.
"Well, coming from Mars, I didn't know what to expect of him, but he is a great teacher." Megan added with a small smile as she watched Kid Flash finish the last of her forgotten attempt at cookies.
"Cadmus couldn't supply much about him, but he is strong." Superboy said. While he didn't want to admit it, it was evidently clear that Shadow outmatched him in strength by a long shot. But he knew that the training their Head Supervisor was making them do would help him greatly. Yet another reason why he begrudgingly respected the man.
"Sooo, who do you think would win in a fight? Superman or Shadow?" Kid Flash asked truly curious. THE Man of Steel against the Enigma of the Justice League. That would be the battle of the century!
"Who knows." the mini-ninja said with a small shrug, "Though I'm betting on Shadow. Everyone knows Superman's strengths and weaknesses... Shadow on the other hand...well, no one really knows everything about his powers other than himself. So no one can know what else he has up his sleeves. For all we know he could spout Kryptonite gas from his mouth." Robin said. While he respected Superman, Shadow was THE Fire Shadow! However young, he was completely unpredictable.
"Well, we toured most of the 'clubhouse'." Kid Flash said a bit annoyed, "What else is there to do?"
"Oh! I know what we can do!" Megan stated excitedly before floating off with a small yell of, "Come on!" to her teammates knowing they would follow.
When the rest of her team had caught up to her, they were in what they presumed to be the Hangar Bay that would exit to the bay outside. In the center of the large oval piece of metal, shinning a nice red.
"It's my Martian Bioship." the Martian said happily, motioning toward the piece of metal.
"Cute. Not aerodynamic, but cute." Wally said with a slight shrug.
Laughing a bit, Megan said, "It's at rest silly. I'll wake it" with a mental command, the small oval piece of metal morphed into a fairly large red ship. Turning to her gawking friends, she asked, "Well? Are you coming?" With her friends closely behind her, she walked into the ship and sent out another command that brought up the pilots seat, and four other seats for her Team. "Strap in for launch." she said taking the pilots seat.
"Woah!" Robin exclaimed when all of a sudden black straps crossed over his chest in a seatbelt like manner on their own.
"Cool!" was Kid Flashes reaction to the same thing. What can he say, technology was simply amazing like that, what else could be expected from martian technology?
"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors." Megan asked and soon enough the Team was off flying through the surrounding area aimlessly.
"Incredible." Robin breathed out. The Bats ship had nothing on Megans!
"She sure is..." Kid Flash said unknowingly. When both Megan and Robin looked at him questioningly, he quickly added a bit lamely, "I mean the ship! Like all ships...is a...she..."
Snickering, Robin said to Megan, "Fast with his feet, but not~ so much with his mouth."
"DUDE!" KF exlcaimed with a pink twinge on his cheeks.
"Hey," Robin said to Megan, "Show us some Martian shape-shifting!"
Smiling amused, Miss M morphed her entire body into that of a female Robin and then turned to change into Kid Flash before reverting back into her normal green self.
"Nice." Robing commented with a few claps of applause. "But, you know you're not going to fool anyone with those." he said talking about how it was blatantly obvious she was a female version of themselves, rather than male.
Slightly downtrodden, she said, "Mimicking boys is a lot harder.."
With a wide grin, Kid Flash said, "Maybe you should ask Shadow! He can turn into a really pretty girl!" When his friends looked at him with smirks of their own, Kid turned a red that matched his hair before groaning to himself. When Robin had managed to get the video from their "Bell Test" with Shadow that they quickly and silently deemed the "Day of Humiliation," he had shown it to all of them under the partial guise that they could better themselves by looking at their mistakes. In reality, Robin just really wanted to see what the other members of his team had to go through, while expertly omitting his last moments with Shadow. So, the entire team saw how Kid Flash lost from a nosebleed when their Head Supervisor turned into a nude, while attractive, girl.
"You know, that is not a bad suggestion." Kaldur said after chuckling at his friend, "While I am unsure if it is the same as your shape-shifting, he may have good pointers for your benefit."
"You're right!" Megan said happily. "I'll ask him the next time we train with him."
"Oh! Can you do that ghosting through walls that Manhunter does?" KF asked excitedly.
"Density shifting?" the young Martian asked for clarification, "No...that is a very advanced technique." she admitted. As hard as she tried, that particular technique was still a bit too much for her.
Chuckling a bit, Robin said, "Flash can vibrate his molecules through a solid wall," snickering, the teen finished, "when he tries it. Bloody nose!"
"DUDE!" Wally exclaims, even more embarrassed.
Before anyone could say anything else, Fire Shadow's voice broke through the com.
"Team." he said in his usual muffled voice, "There has been a disturbance at the Harbor Power Plant. Investigate covertly and I trust you all will be able to deal with the problem, whatever it may be should the situation arise. I am sending you the coordinates now."
"Received. Adjusting course." Megan said in a serious tone before turning the ship toward Happy Harbor in New England.
"Finally! A mission." Robin said with excitement.
"What do you think caused the alert?" Miss M asked.
"Uhh, I think I know the cause." Superboy said while silently motioning outside the window. There, just outside the window was said Power Plant with explosions setting off in various areas.
Soon after that was said, she brought the ship down to land so that the Team could exit and move toward whatever was causing this.
"Wait!" Kaldur said to his teammates as soon as they exited, stopping a thirteen year-old in his attempt to see the problem alone, "We should deal with this as a team."
"Right, what Shadow said." Robin said quickly berating himself for almost running off alone, something Shadow had told him specifically not to do at that lunch.
"Hey Suppie, can you use your x-ray vision to see the disturbance?" Kid Flash asked putting on his own goggles in preparation.
Nodding, the young clone looked into the building and said, "It looks like a girl, masked face, and is carrying two sais. "
"Alright, we surround and subdue. Stick together and we cannot allow civilians to get caught in cross fire so we must maintain ourselves in a certain area until they are evacuated."
"Right," Robin agreed, "Megan, go camouflage mode, keep out of sight and use your telekinesis to fight."
"Understood." she said bringing her hood over her head before turning invisible to the untrained eye.
"Then let us move out." Kaldur said before running with his Team to the Power Plant.
Mount Justice
Observation Deck
Back at the Cave, two figures stood in front of multiple monitors that displayed live footage of the dealings at Happy Harbor and watched with a keen eye as their new charges dealt with the situation. Due to the explosions, all the security cameras inside the Plant were either destroyed or damaged, so they had to wait for their Team (as both Robin and Kid Flash had tiny cameras on their sunglasses/goggles) to enter before they saw what caused all this mayhem.
"Are you sure it is wise to leave them to deal with the situation alone?" Red Tornado queried the youngest Leaguer. While he had two years to learn about the newest member of the League, he realized that in the past few days he had learned more about the young man than in the past two years. And as much as he trusted his teammate, he could not help but question whether or not his judgement was sound in this situation.
The Team was brand-spanking-new, and the teen heroes had only spent one day of actual training with their Head Supervisor. While their work at Cadmus Labs was impressive, they still didn't know what caused the disturbance and whatever it was could very well be over their heads in terms of skill.
Not looking away from the many screens as he watched his students talk to each other making a plan as a Team should, Naruto answered, "I have complete faith in the Team. They are after all being trained by me, and all of my students are just awesome."
"Careful, gaki. You're starting to sound like your old idiotic self."Kurama said in amusement.
'Oh shut up, furball. I meant it. All of my students are just amazingly awesome.'
"Keh, whatever, kit." the giant fox growled at his container sans the venom is once had before.
"If you are certain, then I am sure they will be fine." Red Tornado concluded.
"Of course they will be." Naruto replied, quickly dropping his mental conversation with Kurama at the sounds of Red's slightly automated voice.
"Then let us return to watch their progress."
With a small nod of his head, Naruto said, "Yes, lets."
Happy Harbor
As soon as they all enter the factory, each in different spots to cover all exits and surround their target, they were slightly surprised by who they were up against. The woman was approximately 5'6", wore a white mask that was carved with a wicked looking grin, red markings on the cheeks and one straight down the forehead and black hair flowing down her back. She wore a dark green kimono with slight rips and tears through it along with black high-knee boots.
"My my, such little heroes. Out here... all alone." spoke the woman. While her face was completely hidden, the smirk in her voice was evident.
"Hey, we are sooo not little!" Kid Flash exclaimed, unable to keep it in.
"What do you want?" Kaldur asked with a commanding voice.
"Wouldn't you just love to know." she said twirling her sais in her hands.
"Enough of this!" Superboy practically screams before he runs in and tries to punch her stupid mask off her face.
Quickly, the girl jumps over the raging clone, kicking his back in the process and sending him into the wall painfully. Bringing out her shuriken, she throws them quickly at Aqualad before she hits the floor. Only to see them be sent back at her by an unknown force. Dodging the projectiles with quick reflexes, she also cuts off both attacks from the speedster and bird-a-rangs sent by Robin in quick succession.
"Hmm, this is getting a bit too interesting." she said with a dry voice, her body in a tight defensive position.
"Who are you!?" screamed Kaldur.
Not bothering to answer his question, the masked woman said, "Tell Shadow to meet me at our old spot tomorrow at 6pm. Or else I plaster all of his little secrets for everyone to see." With that message and threat said, she threw down a smoke pellet and vanished as though she were never there in the first place. Leaving five concerned and frustrated teenagers in the factory.
Mount Justice
Observation Deck
"Isn't she...?" Kurama asked with annoyance laced in his growl.
'Yeah... she is.' Thought Naruto. With a heavy sigh, he turned away from his fellow Leaguer and left the cave without another word.
'This just got a lot more complicated.'
A/N: I have no idea who the thugs name is... if he had a name that is important to the DC world, let me know and I'll edit it. Yeah... yeah you can go ahead and hate me... I wouldn't blame you. But this seemed like a perfect place to stop, so... yeah. It's my absolute promise to have this updated by March 16th. If you see that I haven't, pm me, bug me, something until I do!
edit: I somewhat insinuated that Megan could in fact density shift in the past chapter, please ignore that as I'm going back to change that. :3 Also, yes, we will be seeing Mister Twister soon.
randomness: LONGEST CHAPTER YET! :D
