Welcome back to Young Justice Fall of Cadmus and the rise of the OC's. I am still taking requests for characters, any and all ideas are welcome, I will try and honor those I'm given. My story will encompass not only the television series but the comics from Young Justice as well. The story will follow a plotline in which some features of JLU are tied in. I do not own JLU or Young Justice but my OCs are my children so no stealing. Prepare for the hopefully smaller side mission filled Happy Harbor.
Young Justice Chapter VI
Welcome to Happy Harbor
Mount Justice, July 18 11:16 EDT
Things had been uneventful for the young heroes since the events at Cadmus, the heroes with secret identities had gone back to their somewhat normal lives, occasionally going on a mission or two with their mentors, while the members that lived at the Cave had a largely uneventful time as well, other than a 'small' incident with a G-Gnome that had followed Kid Devil and Superboy to the Cave. Instead of sending it back to Cadmus Kid Devil had decided to keep it as a pet. This would be the first time in two weeks that the entire team would be gathered together.
"Recognized B02 Aqualad, B01 Robin, B03 Kid Flash, B04 Hawkgirl." an electronic voice cried out as the the young heroes entered the Cave. They were all dressed in civilian cloths even Hawkgirl, though she still held her mace. The four heroes walked to the center of the cave, where their friends were waiting for them.
"It's so good to see you again!" M'Gann cried, running to give Hawkgirl a hug.
"It's good to see you too!" Hawkgirl laughed as she embraced her new friend.
Robin and Kid Flash walked over to Superboy and Kid Devil who were standing off to the side, the latter with a wide grin on his face.
"Nice to see you mates again," Kid Devil said as he shook hands with Robin, "I was beginnin' to think you forgo' abou' us, wha' with you guys going on missions with your mentors."
"Hey, it's not like we had all the fun," KF interjected, "I heard you guys had a real fun 'trip' while we were gone."
"That was not fun," Superboy growled, "That was torture."
"Hey don' ge' your knickers in a twis', Caesar didn' mean to do tha'," Kid Devil remarked, "He was scared by all the psychic mojo in this place, tha's wha' M'gann said anyway, and besides he needed to ge' our attention."
"He could have just contacted us mentally or approached us like he did after he technically traumatized us." Superboy replied angrily.
"He was lonely…" Kid Devil began to say meekly before he was interrupted by Robin.
"Wait who is 'he'?" the Boy Wonder asked, unlike the others who had been in contact with the Cave, Robin had been off on a black-ops mission with Batman, so he had no clue what the others were talking about.
"He is Caesar," Kid Devil explained, "A G-Gnome that followed Supie and I here, you see he was one of our 'teachers' and when we lef' he got lonely so he kind of showed up here."
"But instead of contacting us," Superboy interrupted, "He brought us deep inside a psychic 'playroom' that involved a maniac clown and his pet monkeys."
As he had been speaking Caesar had crawled up Kid Devil's back and was now situated on his shoulder. He looked like most of the other G-Gnomes except for the strange red markings around his eyes that looked like a mask.
"So basically Supie is angry, bu' wha' else is new." Kid Devil finished with a grin. KF smiled as well, while Superboy walked off to see what Aqualad and Steel were talking about.
"So my friend how have you been settling in to your new home?" Aqualad asked
"Well, kind of hard, most of the others are able to leave the Cave and explore the forest and the nearby town on a regular basis." Steel replied, "I, on the other hand, am apparently too noticeable, I left the Cave three nights ago and was spotted by a bunch of campers. They started screaming that aliens were invading, it was rather annoying."
As the young heroes were talking Red Tornado and Black Canary walked in from deeper inside the cave, the latter looking around with a smile on her face. KF noticed them first and raced over with an excited look on his face.
"Do you have a mission for us?" he asked excitedly.
Black Canary shook her head while Red Tornado turned towards the young speedster, "Mission assignments are Batman's priority."
KF scowled and stalked back towards his friends, all of whom looked a little depressed. Sensing their discomfort Black Canary spoke up.
"Why don't you guys take a tour of the Cave, it might help you get to know each other better."
"Superboy, Kid Devil and I can show you around," Miss Martian said with a smile, "We've spent a lot of time exploring the Cave."
"Sure whatever." Superboy said with a frown.
Despite being here for two weeks the only visitor Superboy had gotten from his "family" was Supergirl, she had checked up on him about six times over the past two weeks, had talked to him about his day and told him what was going on with the League. Superboy liked her visits but it made him mad whenever he asked after Superman and all he got back was that he needed his space. Supergirl had even offered him a place to stay at the Kent family farm which he had turned down politely but firmly. Superboy hadn't been the only one that enjoyed Supergirl's visits however. Kid Devil, though he denied it vehemently, was crushing hard on her, almost as bad as Miss Martian was crushing on the oblivious Superboy. Steel had mostly stayed to himself going through the both the library and the computer archives in a matter of days, he had then contented himself with setting up shop in the lab turning into his own personal sanctum.
Miss Martian with Caesar now perched happily on her shoulder, began leading the others towards the other side of the Cave talking animatedly and pointing out certain objects to her friends, while Kid Devil cracked jokes and tried to keep the others entertained. Halfway through the tour both Kid Devil and Superboy came to a halt as they sniffed the air.
"Smell tha'?" Kid Devil asked with a glance at Superboy
"Yeah, something's burning." the clone replied with a nod.
Miss Martian whirled around in shock almost knocking Caesar off her shoulders, "My cookies!"
She leapt into the air and took off down the hallway towards the kitchen. She entered the kitchen where smoke was pouring out of the oven. Using her telekinesis she opened the oven and pulled out a tray of what looked like a dozen pieces of coal. The others appeared to see her looking down sadly at her 'cookies'.
"I was trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of…" Miss Martian said sadly, "Sorry that they're ruined."
Wally shrugged and popped a cookie in his mouth to the shock of everyone except for Steel who picked up another of the cookies and took a large bite. Robin looked at him with a confused look.
"What?" Steel asked when he saw Robin looking at him.
"I get that Kid Flash has a incredible metabolism and all but you're an android," Robin said, "Why would you feel the need to eat one of the cookies?"
"Where else am I going to find a ready source of solidified carbon sulfide?" Steel replied as he turned back towards a shocked Kid Flash and a frightened Miss Martian, "Could I have the rest please?"
"Sure man take them all." Kid Flash said as he discreetly spit his cookie into a napkin and threw it into the trash.
Miss Martian was surprised by the robot's request, "Of course, I could make more if it isn't enough."
"Thank you, but maybe later, these are good for now." Steel said, consuming yet another of the hazardous baked goods.
Aqualad smiled at Miss M, "It was sweet of you too make any at all."
Miss Martian dipped her head in acknowledgement.
"Thank you Aqualad." she replied.
Aqualad held up his hand to stop her, "We're off duty, my name is Kaldur'ahm, but my friends call me Kaldur."
KF stepped forward with a charming look on his face, "My name's Wally West, see I already trust you with my secret identity, which is more then you'll get out of Mister Dark-Glasses over there."
Robin shot the speedster an angry look before scrunching up his face slightly.
"Batman won't let me tell anyone details about myself until I've known them for about a year and he has thoroughly checked their backgrounds...but you can call me Dick," He said, looking over at the others shocked faces and raised an eyebrow, "What it's not like I told her my life story."
"My name is Katie Hol and unlike the others I have no reason to hide my identity," Hawkgirl said as she flared her wings, "I'm pretty recognizable after all."
"My name is no secret, it's M'gann M'orzz," Miss Martian said with a nervous smile, "But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now!"
Kid Devil and Superboy both looked slightly downcast and jealous that neither of them truly had names yet. They both turned to leave when they felt a familiar feeling brush against their minds.
"Don't worry Superboy, Kid Devil," M'gann reassured, "We'll find you names someday."
Superboy clutched his ears, while Kid Devil gave a made a noise like a strangled chicken.
"Get out of our heads!" Superboy roared at M'Gann.
"What's wrong?" the young Martian asked startled, this time sending her telepathic question to the rest of the Team, "Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."
The others began to feel uncomfortable, as the kind yet intrusive presence invaded their minds,
all except for Steel who physically froze as the strange yet familiar feeling entered his mind. He shook himself slightly but something stuck with him, something begging him to try that again.
M'gann flinched at this odd pull but before she could elaborate Aqualad stepped into her line of vision.
"M'gann stop," the Atlantean said sternly, yet kindly.
To everyone's relief except for Steel, Miss M's presence left their minds, "That is not the way of things here on Earth, except perhaps in Gorilla City, when someone enters another person's mind and sifts through their thoughts, it is the greatest breach in privacy a non-telepath can know."
"En' to add a poin' Miss," Kid Devil said with a kind yet strained smile, "Supie and I don' exactly like i' when people invade our minds. Bad experiences with Cadmus en all tha'."
"I'm sorry," M'gann stammered, "I had n-n-no idea…"
"Just stay out." Superboy growled as he walked away, his hands clenched tight. Kid Devil ran after his brother, but not before giving M'gann an apologetic look.
M'gann looked downcast at first due to Superboy and Kid Devil's reaction until Caesar tapped her on the cheek. She looked at the little G-Gnome, who smiled up at her, then pointed over to where the two clones were sitting, gestured towards the rest of the Team, all the while sending her a psychic message with his horns.
"Fly. Pod. Fun."
"Hello Megan!" Miss M. cried, patting the little G-Gnome on the head, which startled her teammates slightly, "I know what we can do!"
She motioned for the others to follow her and flew excitedly out of the hall. Caesar jumped off her shoulder as she passed by Superboy and KD and sat quietly as they talked.
"She didn' mean to hur' us," Kid Devil said softly. Superboy shot him a writhing glare before giving a long sad sigh.
"How are you so calm about this, aren't you even a little bit mad about her invading our minds?" Superboy asked accusingly.
"She never invaded our minds mate, she jus' did wha' came naturally to her," Kid Devil said with a soft smile, "She's as new to this world as you or me, at leas' give her a chance."
Superboy looked down ashamed, "I think I've already ruined that."
Caesar made a chirping noise grabbing his attention. He pointed towards a frowning Miss Martian who was peeking around the corner.
"Are you coming with us?" she asked shyly. Caesar nodded vigorously before jumping on Kid Devil's shoulder. Superboy looked at his brother who grinned before jumping to his feet. Superboy shrugged noncommittally before getting to his feet and following after a now smiling M'Gann., with KD at his side.
The team stepped off the elevator and looked around at the impressive sea cave turned hanger. Only one platform jutted out into the cave, upon which sat a large red and black egg.
"This is my Martian bio-ship," M'Gann announced with a smile, "My Uncle J'onn had it brought here from home."
The others gave each other confused looks before Wally spoke up, "It's cute but it doesn't look very aerodynamic."
Miss Martian laughed before answering with a smile, "She's at rest silly, let me wake her."
Miss Martian extended her hand towards the ship, which instantly began to reshape and grow in size. When it had finished changing it was twice it former size and had sharply defined wings on either side of the cockpit. The ship then seemed to come alive as it hovered in mid air before the rest of the team. Many of the team had shocked expressions except for Robin, who kept his poker face on despite his awe, and Steel who was busy running scans on the ship.
"Incredible!" the android exclaimed as he took a step closer to the ship, "It is one hundred percent organic not a piece of machinery in her, not only that it seems to have a heart rate, cell regeneration, even brain activity!"
He gave M'gann an appraising look before turning back to the ship which had seemed to sense him. The robot reached out a towards the ship and was met with a red and black tentacle that took hold of his hand.
M'Gann smiled at Steel, "She likes you."
She turned towards the others with a wide grin, "Who wants to go for a ride?"
He teammates smiled at her before walking up the walkway that had appeared at the back of the ship. M'gann turned to see that unlike the others Hawkgirl and Steel had made no move to board the ship.
"Aren't you guys coming?" the Martian asked.
Hawkgirl smiled nervously and tightened her grip on her mace, "Of course I'm coming it's just I don't do well in tight spaces and since I have wings, I thought I would just tag along behind you."
"That's fine," M'Gann responded before acknowledging the robot, "What about you Steel?"
"I'm going to follow behind as well." the android added swiftly, "It's been awhile since I've been out in the open.
"Well alright." Miss M. said with a grin, "See you in the skies."
She climbed aboard the ship where the rest of the team was waiting. With a wave of her hand the cockpit transformed, chairs and controls appeared for the others, who all excitedly sat down and prepared for launch. Kid Flash and Robin sat on the left side of the ship while Superboy and Aqualad took the seats to the right. Kid Devil however decided it would be more fun to cling to the ship's ceiling, while M'Gann entered the pilot's seat with Caesar on her shoulder. Hawkgirl and Steel readied to take off after the Bio-ship. Once everyone was situated M'gann contacted Red Tornado, "Red Tornado, please open the hangar doors."
The doors slowly opened as the ship lifted off the ground and took off across the water. Following close behind were a slowly gaining Hawkgirl and a glowing Steel. The ship did a series of intricate dives and curls which it's tails followed almost expertly.
Robin grinned as he looked out the window, "Amazing!"
"She sure is," Kid Flash muttered, staring at M'gann, only to turn away hastily when she turned towards him, "The ship I mean, which like you said is a she."
Robin and Kid Devil grinned at each other before Robin elbowed KF,, "Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth."
KD started laughing earning him a glare from Wally, "Not cool man, not cool."
Meanwhile Kaldur was consoling the conflicted Superboy, "I may not have psychic powers but I know what you're thinking. You over reacted and now you don't know how to apologize for your actions."
Superboy nodded tersely but let Kaldur go on, "I can also guess that you don't understand how your brother patched things up so quickly. My advice, just say sorry, that should fix things."
M'gann meanwhile had caught some of their conversation. Seeing her frown Kid Devil tried to relieve her of some of her fears.
"Don' worry Supie is jus' wound a little too tigh' sheila." Kid Devil whispered.
Robin nodded in agreement, "Yeah he'll come around."
"I don't know," M'gann said softly, "He doesn't seem to like me very much."
Her sadness caused Caesar to give a soft coo and stroke her cheek.
"You do remember that our pal you're whispering about has super-human hearing right?" Kid Flash interjected with a grin. The tension began to rise again before Robin broke the ice.
"Hey, why not show us some of that famous Martian shape shifting?" he asked with a smile.
"Um, sure." Miss M. said slightly embarrassed. She stood up and closed her eyes and suddenly changed into the female version of Robin in full costume.
"Whoa, the Girl Wonder, nice." Kid Flash said which earned him a smack in the head from KD's tail. Miss Martian then changed into a female version of Kid Flash, who Wally began to ogle awkwardly.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot." he asked himself a little too loud.
"Yes," said Hawkgirl's voice from the ship's comms.
"Wait, could she hear everything we were saying?" Kid Flash asked sheepishly.
"Every Kid Idiot fueled word." Hawkgirl laughed, which was joined in by KD and Robin.
After the laughter died down Robin turned to M'gann, "That was actually quite impressive, but I don't think you'll be fooling anyone with those disguises."
M'gann smiled shyly, "Mimicking boys is harder."
"How did your cloths change like that?" KD asked with his head cocked to the side. M'Gann smiled at the Genomorph before explaining simply, "The cloths are organic just like the ship, they respond to my mental commands."
"Wow tha's a mighty fine trick righ' there sheila," KD replied as he looked at his shorts, "Wish I had gear like tha', migh' make i' easier for me to ghos'."
"Ghost?" Wally asked, KD turned his head to look at him and then disappeared leaving behind only a pair of black gym shorts. M'gann smiled at his trick, before an idea popped up in her head.
"Hello Megan," the Martian cried, slapping the side of her head before turning to the once more visible Kid Devil, "You can have gear like this, I'm sure my Uncle could make a bio-suit to fit your needs."
"Well tha' is jus' bloody awesome." KD replied with a grin.
Board of all the talk about clothes Robin tried to change the subject.
"Speaking about your Uncle can you density shift as well?" Robin asked.
"No, that is a very advanced technique," she said with a scowl, "Uncle J'onn hasn't taught me how to do that yet."
"Don't worry," Hawkgirl's voice said over the comm, "The Flash can vibrate his molecules through matter in seconds, his prodigy hear can't do it without getting a bloody nose."
"Hey!" Kid Flash barked, "It's not like your perfect either, how's activating the Nth metal properties of your mace going."
Hawkgirl flew closer to the window of the bio-ship and shot Wally a death glare. She was about to make a scathing retort when Steel cut her off.
"Hey guys, my heads-up display just picked up a massive energy surge at the central power plant in Happy Harbor. Coincidentally there are also reports of sporadic tornadoes appearing across the city, should we check it out?"
The question hung in the air for only a second before Aqualad gave the order, "Steel, Katie rendezvous with the bio-ship outside of the power plant, do not engage any possible threats until the rest of us disembark."
"Got it Kaldur," Katie replied, "Be careful okay."
The Atlantean replied with a grin, "Don't worry we'll be fine."
The android and the Thanagarian took off at their top speeds heading towards the now burning power plant with the bio-ship close on their tail.
Kid Flash turned towards the others, "I understand we are supposed to be heroes and all but doesn't a fire at a power plant fall more into the jurisdiction of the fire company."
Miss Martian looked at the speedster appraisingly, "A simple fire lead you to Superboy, Steel and KD didn't it."
Kid Devil grinned, "She has a poin' don' she Supie."
Superboy nodded in grudging agreement before looking out the window.
"Um guys, I think I know what caused the power surge." he said with a hint of shock in his voice.
The others turned just in time to see a massive tornado slam into Hawkgirl and Steel before continuing in the bio-ship's direction.
"Katie!" Robin yelled, "Are you okay?"
Steel responded to the worried cry, "We're fine for now, I put up a sphere right before the tornado hit, Hawkgirl might be getting a little nauseous," There was a wet splattering sound, "Okay really nauseous but other then that we're fin…" Steel was cut off as the tornado slammed his energy sphere into the bio-ship causing both of them to fly off course.
The tornado continued to throw the young heroes around until M'gann regained control of the bio-ship. She used the spinning of the vortex to lessen it's hold on the agile ship. Steel seeing her plan created a hard light clamp that locked his sphere to the ship. Finally the ship broke free before coming to a stop about fifty feet away from the massive tornado.
M'gann opened the bottom of the ship allowing everyone to jump out onto the pavement. Steel released his sphere and along with a slightly green Hawkgirl ran to join the others.
The young heroes stared at the vortex as it continued it's path of destruction away from the power plant.
"Robin, are tornadoes common in New England?" Aqualad asked but he was met with no response, "Robin?"
He looked around and saw that Robin had disappeared, while his signature laugh echoed across the parking lot.
"Can that kid telepor'?" KD asked with a hint of respect, "I mean 'e was just 'ere."
"No, but he does have an annoying habit of disappearing without any prior notice." Hawkgirl quipped.
"Well then where did he go?" M'gann asked before a series of explosions caught everyone's attention. Glass was exploding outward from the upper levels of the power plant.
"How much do you wanna bet…" Kid Flash began before Aqualad cut him off, "Let's go!"
Robin was slammed into a wall by a great blast of wind and almost fell thirty feet to his face before KD appeared right next to him in a flash of fire followed by a loud, "G'day".
Kid Devil landed lightly on his kangaroo-like legs and placed Robin down next to him. Superboy landed next to the both of them and instantly focused on the current threat.
"Who's your new friend?" Superboy asked his face set in a scowl.
"I don't know, I didn't get to ask his name but he plays kind of rough!" Robin quipped in response as he held his bruised ribs.
Steel was currently going one on one against what appeared to be a large red and black robot with over sized hands and feet, which were connected to it's back by a series of long glowing blue tubes. For some odd reason the only feature shown of the robot's face was it's glowing blue eyes, the rest was covered by a tattered brown scarf. Steel was holding his own against the mech until it sent a blast of wind towards his torso sending him backwards a few feet.
"I'm sorry." came the deep synthesized voice of the mech, "You may call me Mister Twister and I'm here to take back what's mine."
Two massive blasts of wind shot out of his over sized hands and picked up a charging Superboy and Hawkgirl and slammed them into the wall. Both collapsed with a grunt, while KD teleported over to check on them. Steel deflected another blast of wind away from Kaldur and the others before opening fire with two hard light machine guns. Kaldur gave a frightened M'gann a reassuring nod before pulling out his water-bearers, Kid Flash pulled on his goggles, while Robin regained his feet.
On M'gann's shoulder Caesar was arching his back like a cat and hissing, while his horns glowed bright red. M'Gann placed the frightened Genomorph on the floor and watched it scamper over to her hurt friends. She then turned around with a determined look on her face. She nodded at the others signaling them to charge forward. Wally and M'gann gained fast trying to reach the mech before it noticed them. The robot's head rotated one-eighty while still deflected most of Steel's hard-light bullets with a shield of compressed air. Kid Flash managed to land a high speed kick to the torso before he was caught in a cyclone and tossed out an open bay door. He bounced across the pavement before coming to a painful skidding halt.
M'gann and Kaldur continued to charge forward only to be thrown backwards by another powerful blast of wind. Steel advanced forward l keeping the pressure on with his now smoking guns. Mister Twister focused all his energy into creating a air-shield that stopped most of the bullets in their tracks. He pushed outward sending all the captured bullets catapulting backwards toward Steel. Steel raised a shield of his own but was still slammed through a wall due to all of the concussive force behind the attack. Kid Devil and Robin stood glaring at the mech ready to make the next move.
"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero," the android said snidely, "I was not however expecting children."
"Hey! Who are you calling a bloody child mate?" Kid Devil yelled, leaping at the robot. Twister began firing shots of super condensed air at the Genomorph but thanks to his teleporting and natural agility he dodged most of the attacks. Kid Devil got close enough to land a punch, but was brought to a halt when Twister grabbed a hold of his tail and swung him into a wall which crumbled on top of him.
Seeing that he was the last man standing not counting the still trapped Steel, Robin threw a quartet of explosive disks at the robot. The first group was deflected by a blast of air but the second caught the android right in the chest.
"Never call us children." Robin warned.
Twister looked down and flicked away the disk's before they could explode and looked up at Robin, "Objectively you are in fact children, do you not have any adult supervision? In fact I find your presence here quite disturbing."
The android looked off to his left noticing that several of the downed heroes were back on their feet.
"Well we hate to see you're disturbed!" Robin yelled back, "But let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can."
M'gann reached out with her telepathy and caused the vat over the robot's head to blow steam blocking its vision. Superboy and Hawkgirl again went on the offensive with Superboy jumping high in the air and Hawkgirl flying straight as she winded up for a uppercut. Twister blasted Superboy away from him with one hand while using the other to block Hawkgirl's mace. He grabbed hold of the mace and spun her around into the now freed Steel, who just managed to catch her, though the hit still knocked her out. Superboy however crashed into Miss Martian and knocked her out of the air before crashing to the ground as well. Aqualad and Robin ran around their downed allies and charged Mr. Twister with their weapons drawn. The robot almost lazily threw up his hands creating two twisters which grabbed the young heroes and flung them into one another. Mr. Twister looked around at all his handy work and saw quite plainly the last remaining threat was the android, who was busy checking on a knocked out Hawkgirl.
"Well your friends have me feeling quite turbed indeed," Twister quipped, "Now how about you just lay down quietly."
The robot turned to leave, only for a massive blast of energy to catch his right shoulder causing him to smash into a nearby column. Twister looked up to see Steel standing with a massive green cannon in his hands, the offending end pointing right at Twister's face.
"You want to face a real hero, try me on for size you coward!" Steel yelled, "I think you'll find me more than up to the challenge."
As the android spoke a new data screen appeared, and the information caused a great grin to cross his metal face.
"What are you smiling about android?" Twister asked, regaining his feet and powering up the coils on his back preparing to unleash his latest attack. Steel's only response was to hold out his arms like he was giving Twister a clear shot at his chest.
"Oh nothing." Steel laughed, his entire body glowing green, a synthesized voice crying out like a warning siren.
Warning Activating Anti-Doomsday Protocol! Warning Activating Anti-Doomsday Protocol!
"Anti-Doomsday Proto…. oh that can't be good." Twister mumbled as he backed away from the now glowing android.
Steel changed his metallic body retracting into the central node around the Starheart. Then with a massive explosion his body erupted outward once more except for a few drastic changes. Steel now stood over twelve feet tall, and was covered in spiked black metal plates. His body looked somewhat dinosaur-like and his head was reshaped into that of a bull. His normal green glow had changed to a bright blood red, and the Star Heart had reformed into a rough edged red octagon.
"Leave my friends alone you overgrown leaf blower!" Steel roared in a much deeper voice. He opened his mouth and blasted Twister through the nearest wall with a beam of red energy. Steel then followed after the battered robot with a massive leap leaving his teammates passed out on the cold power plant floor.
Wally came to just in time to see Steel blast through the ceiling after a now fleeing Twister.
"Oh great another damn mech to deal with." He growled in pain and frustration.
He ran back towards the factory to check on his teammates. He got their just in time to see the last of them come to. Kid Devil rubbed his aching shoulder before looking around in shock.
"Wha' in the 'ell 'appened in 'ere." he asked in shock, noticing the leveled wall and broken ceiling. KF looked around at the others who also looked very surprised at the damage around them all except Caesar who was currently sitting on M'gann's shoulder. He tugged on her hair to get her attention. She looked at the little Genomorph who instantly started a psychic conversation.
"Steel. Red. Big. Twister. Bye-Bye." the small string of words was accompanied by a collection of fast paced images which explained what happened after they had all blacked out. Meanwhile Superboy and Robin had noticed Steel's absence.
"Um where the heck is Steel?" Robin asked, looking around confused.
"I know." M'gann said with a sheepish smile, "He's a mile east of here and is currently giving Twister a run for his money but even with his new body I don't think he'll last long."
"Wait what do you mean new body?" KF asked warily before recognition flared in his eyes, "You mean that massive black and red monster I saw was Steel! Holy crap I feel kind of bad for Twister.
"What are you two tal…." Superboy began to say before Aqualad cut him off, "We can worry about the particulars of this fight later right now we have to help Steel."
The others nodded in agreement before collectively heading for the exit towards the bio-ship.
"You know you guys I've been thinking." Robin said as the bio-ship flew towards the forest where M'Gann said Steel was currently beating the tar out of Twister.
"Yeah Rob, what about?" Hawkgirl asked.
"Isn't it a little odd that we are fighting a villain with power over tornadoes, right after Red Tornado sent us off to explore the cave?" he asked critically.
"What are you saying?" KF asked, "That is all just an elaborate hoax to keep us busy?"
"That's exactly what I saying." Robin answered.
The others looked dejected until M'gann realized realized a very important fact..
"Hello Megan, if it's just Red Tornado trying to keep us busy and Steel is in a dangerous new form…"
"Then he could do our mentor serious damage without ever knowing the truth." Aqualad finished for her, "Can you make the ship go any faster, we need to reach them before Steel does something he'll regret."
"Roger that." M'gann cried as the ship tore through the air towards the marker.
When the team landed they found a huge, menacing Steel, towering over a severely beaten Twister mech. The android lifted his hand to give the final blow when he felt a familiar alluring presence touch his mind.
"No Steel don't! It's Red Tornado!" M'gann screamed mentally.
Steel turned to see the others forming up around him, some like KF and KD with looks of awe on their faces, while others looked slightly scared like Robin and Katie.
"It was a test, a cruel jibe to make us think that the League was really willing to work with us," Aqualad said with a hint of resentment, "That's only Red Tornado in disguise here to lead us away on a wild goose chase."
Steel backed away and looked at the others, whose faces now held hints of shame and betrayal. The giant android shook his head slightly, and retreated several steps. That didn't stop him from growling menacingly at Twister though.
"The games over!" Robin yelled at the android as it got to its feet. Mr Twister looked up at the gathered crowd of young heroes and began to laugh as he lifted his left hand to the sky and pointed the other at Steel's now exposed chest.
"Indeed it is." the mech said as a massive tornado shot into the sky causing it to darken and form harsh black clouds. Lightning began to flicker across the sky as Twister rose into the air.
"Can Red Tornado do that?" KF asked his friends who were now standing shoulder to shoulder behind Steel wondering when the show would end.
The android gave a cold laugh, "You still think I'm Tornado, how ironic considering I was sent here to hunt him."
The lightning then funneled through Twister's body and fired out his extended hand, catching Steel in the chest and causing him to stumble as the jolt caused his systems to go haywire. The android roared in pain before collapsing to the ground and reforming into his regular shape as the electricity ran through his body.
"Steel!" M'gann and Katie wailed as they saw their friend twitch uncontrollably on the forest floor.
"Oh man did you jus' make a big mistake Sparky." KD yelled as he and Superboy leapt into the air.
"Sparky, how quaint, but I don't think it really fits me." Twister replied as he fired two more bolts of lighting at the oncoming heroes. They were both caught in the chest and knocked to the ground alongside Steel. Aqualad pulled out his water bearers and tried to create a barrier using his magic tattoos. Though he was resistant to the next lightning strike, his friends however were not, the explosion knocked them all off there feet and caused several of them to lapse back into unconsciousness. Aqualad ran over to check on Hawkgirl while the still conscious Miss Martian ordered her ship to camouflage over the area obscuring herself and the others from the robot's view.
"Fine then," Twister said as its quarry disappeared, "I will not deny that you children have power, but playing hide-and-seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives. So stay concealed, if you confront me again I will show no mercy!" The robot then flew off towards Happy Harbor, electricity flowing through its damaged joints.
M'gann and Kaldur watched as the others woke up around them all except for Steel and Superboy, who still lay twitching on the ground.
"What happened?" Wally asked as he massaged his aching head. M'gann looked up only to see Kaldur was too busy caring for Katie's bruised shoulder.
"Well Kaldur tried to hold off the lightning as best he could and when that didn't work I moved the bio-ship over us to conceal our presence."
She was cut off when Superboy came to rather violently, he jumped up and smashed the rock beside him with a crazed look in his eye. He turned towards the others and his expression softened a little due to the worried looks that KD and M'gann were giving him.
"Sorry, reflex I guess?" the clone said with a half a smile before he turned his attention to the still knocked out Steel, "Is he going to be ok?"
A static filled grown captured everyone's attention, "Well he sure hopes so." Steel said as he propped himself up on his right arm, "What happened and why do I feel like I just got hit by an electrified Mac Truck?"
"You mean you don't remember getting all huge and playing hide-and-go-smash with Twister before he shocked the crap out of you?" KF asked
"Um no, I remember the prompt to activate the transformation sequence but that's about it." Steel replied.
"Oh man you were one tough bloke," Kid Devil began to say, "You were glowin' all red en you …"
"Later Kid Devil, right now we have to stop Mister Twister from harming any civilians." Kaldur said, staring towards where Twister had disappeared.
"We need to get his attention somehow and it just so happens that I have the perfect plan." Robin said with a smile, "You know how he said he came here looking for Red Tornado and Steel?"
"He never really said that's why he was here but go on." Hawkgirl remarked
"Well anyway, why don't we give him what he wants?" Robin said with a smirk, "But to make this plan work, I'm going to need KF, M'Gann and Steel to play along perfectly, so here's my idea."
Happy Harbor, July 18th 18:45 EDT
A set of huge tornadoes ripped through the docks of this once peaceful little town, large speed boats were sent high into the air only for them to fall again a second later. They slammed into the town square with the force of a missile. Civilians ran panicked throughout the streets trying to avoid the falling debris and rabid storms. A house imploded as yet another tornado touched down right on top of it.
Mister Twister stood in the middle of the chaos, directing the tornadoes like a conductor would an orchestra, "Certainly this will get the acquired attention."
"You've got ours tin-head, full and undivided" Kid Flash yelled as he, and Hawkgirl who was carrying Kid Devil, raced towards the android. Hawkgirl threw KD and mid air he opened a portal which he and Kid Flash raced through.
"Immaterial and inefficient, you are a distraction I can no longer tolerate." Twister said angrily firing a blast of electricity at Hawkgirl, who was trying to plow him into the ground with her mace.
The blast caught her in the chest and shot her backwards towards the pier. A wave of blue water shot into the air and cushioned her fall. Standing atop it was Aqualad who now held Katie in his arms, shooting the android a harsh glare.
"But I'm still not tur-hurk," the android began to say before a flaming form tackled him from behind. Twister was knocked forward right into the awaiting fist of Superboy. He fell backwards and looked up at the smiling face of KD.
"You really should pay more attention to surroundin's mate." the Genomorph quipped.
Twister growled in anger before punching his hands into the air creating a huge funnel cloud above the assembled heroes. Lightning began to flicker in the air, as thunder clouds gathered.
"You think you whelps can defeat me, I was meant to destroy Red Tornado, a League powerhouse, and I won't stop fighting until I achieve my objectives."
A clap of thunder breached the air as a massive bolt of lightning plowed into the ground. Superboy and Kid Devil were thrown clear while Robin, who had been looking for a sweet spot in the robot's armor was slammed into a nearby building. Kid Flash outran the blast and took shelter behind a wrecked car. Aqualad managed to put up a shield right before the blast hit but it was already starting to weaken. He looked down at Katie, who was gripping her mace with a sense of fear and trepidation.
"Do you trust me?" Kaldur asked as he grabbed Hawkgirl's hand. She looks up at his face, her skin flushed.
"Of course I do," Katie replied, "It's just Robin's plans don't always work out…"
"Don't worry, Robin isn't the one protecting you, I am." Kaldur said with a kind smile. He then raised his other hand and and closed his eyes as he concentrated. When he opened his eyes were glowing a bright blue and his tattoos seemed to come alive.
"Foúska apó Aegis!" he shouted and with that he and Hawkgirl disappeared beneath the waves, without even a ripple.
"Ha, look at that the brave Atlantean and Thanagarian running away, I am truly and utterly disappointed in you all." Twister said with a scoff
"Oh really?" Steel said as he emerged from the treeline, "Did I disappoint you when I nearly took off your head?"
The mech turned towards him, with his hands crackling with electricity, "Oh look, its Steel Lantern v.9115 etcetera, etcetera planning to face me alone once again I see."
The android smirked, "Who says I came alone?"
A massive tornado suddenly flew toward Mr Twister and knocks him aside. He quickly regained his feet and looked around surprised, "What the he.."
He's cut off by a bolt of green energy slamming him right in the chest. As the smoke cleared he noticed a red and yellow android in a blue cape standing next to Steel.
"I heard you were looking for me," Red Tornado said without any hint of emotion, "So I decided to make an appearance before you damaged my wards anymore."
"Finally, I was beginning to believe you would never show up" the mech said as he raised his hands to fry the two androids.
"Well I'm here now," Red Tornado said, turning to acknowledge Steel, "Shall we, how you young ones say, kick his butt?"
"Gladly." Steel said with a smile as he opened fire with two hard light machine guns, Red Tornado stuck his hand behind him and after a second a large tornado appeared and flew towards Twister who went on the defensive trying to avoid the incoming projectiles. He met the oncoming tornado with his own, and began to push it back towards Tornado. RT lifted his hand and his tornado grew in size and swallowed the other along with a section of pavement.
"We are evenly matched Twister." Red Tornado stated matter-a-factly, sending the pieces of concrete flying towards his adversary.
"No Tornado, we are not!" the android yelled, slamming his fist into the ground causing a massive geyser of air to shoot upwards and pulverize the rocks into dust. Steel then opened up with a whole new barrage of gunfire, which scarred Twisters right side. The android growled in frustration and then shot two huge blasts of lightning at Red Tornado.
"Watch out!" Steel yelled as he jumped in front of RT and took one of the blasts to the chest, the other curled around his outstretched arm and slammed into Red Tornado. Both androids collapsed on to the ground sparking and twitching, as Mister Twister looked around at the carnage he had caused. Robin, KD, and Superboy still laid passed out in the grass, while a small grey creature tried to shake them awake. Kid Flash had yet to reappear, while Aqualad and Hawkgirl hadn't resurfaced. Twister noticed that the Martian was missing but for all he knew she had run off scared.
Twister walked over to the downed androids, and reached out both hands, which grew long tethers that hooked into the back of both of their heads, "Lie still, the reprogramming won't take long."
Red Tornado turned his head quickly and grabbed a hold of the tether, as he spoke his face transformed into that of the Martian's.
"Longer than you might think." M'gann said with a smile.
Twister tried to pull away in shock but found that both of his hands were stuck. The tethers connected to Steel were glowing bright green and his eyes were filled with snatches of code. Twister pulled hard and the tethers snapped free of both the android's and Martian's grasp.
"No, this can't be." the mech said as he was blasted off his feet by M'gann's telekinesis. Wally caught him in a massive funnel cloud which sent him skyrocketing into the air.
"Guys now!" M'gann yelled telepathically as she and Steel got back on their feet. The ocean next to the dock erupted as Hawkgirl and Aqualad shot skyward, water droplets gleamed on the air as the both slammed down on top of Twister with their respective weapons. The now severely damaged robot stumbled to its feet only to met by a series of explosive disks courtesy of the Boy Wonder. The robot stumbled into the waiting arms of Kid Devil and Superboy, who nodded at each other as they each grabbed a hold of one of the mech's arms and heaved. The limbs tore away and what remained of the mech collapsed to it's knees, a panel opening in the chest with a puff of steam and out if it stumbled a small, rat-like man in a yellow jumpsuit.
"F-f-foul," the man said in a quavery voice as he looked around at the teens, "I c-c-call foul."
M'gann smiled at the man before using her telekinesis to levitate a massive piece of concrete over the man's body and proceeded to drop it. The others ran to stop her only for Steel to block their path
"M'gann no!" Hawkgirl cried reaching out to her but it was too late, the boulder crushed the man into the ground.
Robin shoved his way past Steel and grabbed a hold of M'gann, his face filled with rage, "I don't know how it's done on Mars, but here on Earth, we do not execute our captives."
"Don't you trust us?" M'gann said with a smile as she gestured to Steel and Caesar, who was perched on the robot's shoulder, "None of us could sense any thoughts or life signs from inside that mech suit."
She then lifted the concrete and revealed the smashed remains of another robot. Katie and Kid Flash gave a sigh of relief while the others just nodded in acknowledgement. KF then bent over and picked up one of the android's eyeballs.
"Cool, souvenir," he said with a smile before turning to Hawkgirl a smirk plastered on his face, "Speaking of souvenirs, how was your Percy Jackson moment Birdy?"
Hawkgirl blushed bright red and glanced at Aqualad, who looked slightly confused at the reference, before shooting KF a writhing glare.
"Don't call me Birdy!" she said with a growl.
Robin walked over to the mech suit and pulled off the tattered brown scarf.
"Hey Steel, catch." Robin said, chucking the scarf to the android.
"What's this for?" Steel asked as he uncrumpled the brown fabric.
"To the victor goes the spoils mate," Kid Devil said with a wicked grin, "With ou' you covering us, we probably wouldn' have bea' that bloody digger."
M'gann walked forward and wrapped the scarf around the android's neck, the scarf covered his face just as it had Mister Twister, but his eyes gave the look a more inviting feel.
"We all did good work here today," Aqualad said with his usual half grin, "But I believe it's past time we bring our "spoils" to the attention of our mentors."
The others nodded in agreement and began picking up the pieces of the robot and the mech suit before heading back towards the Bio-ship.
Unknown Location
"Now Brom," a man with salt and pepper hair wearing a pristine lab coat said to another man, who could have been the destroyed robot's twin, "Aren't you glad that I didn't let you wear the armor?"
"Indeed, Professor," Brom said, "But aren't you upset?"
"Why should I be, the suit worked up to expectations, the tracking system we implemented worked perfectly, we found the Steel Lantern and I'm sure if the rest of those children hadn't shown up we would have found Red Tornado as well. Besides as you very well know science advances in fits and starts. Even failure can be instructive," the man said, replaying the footage of Steel changing forms, "And I'd say we learned a great deal today wouldn't you?"
Mount Justice, 20:32 EDT
Inside the Cave, the League's top scientists were looking over the remains of the robot and the mech suit.
"This is disturbing," S.T.R.I.P.E said, removing his jack from the data inside the robot's intact processor, "As far as I can tell not only is this mech suit based off of Red Tornado's design it also contains several methods of overriding another androids protocol."
"Unless he was after Amazo, which is very unlikely, there are only two people he could be going after." Black Canary observed as she gestured toward Red Tornado and Steel.
"That means whoever built this suit planned on turning one of you or maybe even both of you against the League." Batman said with a grimace.
"Agreed," Red Tornado said, "It is very fortunate that you were able to stop our would-be saboteur; the damage we could have done would have been considerable."
"Thank you for the praise but I learned something else that I believe should be brought to everyone's attention." Steel said with a sense of urgency. The Leaguers and the Team all went silent and looked toward Batman who nodded for Steel to continue.
"After Twister tried to jack into my mind, I hacked him back and I found something very interesting, something that affects the two of you and myself," Steele said, pointing at Superboy and Kid Devil, "We all remember the prison break and battle with Blockbuster at Cadmus labs."
The original members of the Team nodded, while the adults stayed silent. Steel continued as he put his jack into the nearest holo-screen, an image of the world appeared and across it's surface three red dots appeared. One of these dot's was D.C.
"We all thought that we had finally shut down Cadmus for good with the destruction and takeover of their labs in D.C., but we were wrong. Cadmus has gone worldwide and as near as I can tell from the files I've already decrypted, This lab in England, and this one here in Vlatava are the only the tip of the iceberg but I believe I may find more information as I dig deeper into the files."
The others looked shocked all except for Batman who looked at the map seriously.
"This is an interesting new development, please keep me posted. However it doesn't change the fact that you all did good work here today. Get some rest, you're all going to need it, you will all be sent on a mission soon."
"Yes! A real mission." KF cried, fist-pumping the air, "I can't wait!"
As the team began to talk animatedly amongst themselves the Leaguers started teleporting home, Batman was about to leave when he turned back to the group.
"Robin aren't you coming?" Batman asked critically
"Yeah be right there," Robin said, he high-fived the other guys, gave the girls a hug and patted Caesar on the head before running over to the teleporter.
"Well we'd better get going too" Hawkgirl said as she hugged M'Gann goodbye. She walked towards the teleporter with Aqualad and KF right on her tail. They all turned and waved before teleporting away. Steel told the others good night and went to his room while KD and Caesar ran off to the kitchen to grab something to eat before passing out. M'gann and Superboy found themselves alone in the main hub. M'Gann gave Superboy a strained smile and made to leave but Superboy called her back.
"M'Gann wait! About this morning," he said with an embarrassed, sad look in his eyes, "I'm sorry for yelling at you."
And with that he went to join his brother and pet in attacking the kitchen, while a smiling M'gann twirled into the air and headed to her room her face unusually warm.
Well it has been way too long since I last wrote and I must formally apologize for that, It just been really chaotic right now but don't worry expect Drop Zone sometime this weekend. Now I really hope you love this chapter and the advancement in my characters. I hope you guys like Caesar, he was a split second decision and I hope you like his antics, I will also use him to help transfer those moments where for some reason in the show the characters just go along with something for no real reason. Ship who you may but I'm solid in the regular show ships plus a few of my own, and as you can see I clearly pushing for Aqualad/Hawkgirl. Speaking of Aqualad and the how speaking Greek and Percy Jackson references I plan on giving Aqualad more magical abilities considering the fact that Zatanna will not be joining the team. also I don't own Percy or any of his affiliates. Now remember Vox is looking for flames. This has been Damont Evermore Peace.