Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Young Justice or any related characters or properties.

.:11:.
Welcome to Happy Harbor

MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 13, 11:41 EST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

The walls were bare, the room much warmer than his preferred fifty degrees. The air conditioning was on full blast at seventy, but he wasn't selfish. Everyone was on the same system, and the League was splitting the bill. He supposed he could ask the others if it would be okay to do that, because after all, he was living with a machine, a Kryptonian clone, and an alien girl who was too eager to please. They probably wouldn't mind if he settled for slightly more comfort and asked for sixty-two.

Even so, he knew he would get used to it. With hotel rooms, he hardly stayed in the same place more than a few days, so he usually just settled for whatever the lowest setting was and didn't care enough to complain. But this place was supposed to be home, was supposed to feel like it belonged to him, was supposed to be more than temporary. If he could have his setting and not negatively affect anyone else, he would choose to make it as cold as Atlantean waters could be and leave it as is. At least it would resemble his home then in theory.

He dropped what he had on the rickety bed, wondering how he was going to deal with this. It should be fun, in a really interesting way. Supporting his friends? Meeting new people? Working this closely with the Justice League? All of it looked so great on paper, on the surface level. It was exciting, doing something good with the abilities he worked hard for.

But Naruto knew better. The odd drachma spoke the truth, even if he couldn't get Hermes to literally speak from it. The god told him to accept his fate, and perhaps the most divinely-powerful sisters lead him to this cavern. He did want to come anyway. But to everyone else, that distinction didn't matter. He felt like he was sent here, for some nefarious purpose, against his will.

Surely the god wouldn't be up to no good. The Olympians were the good guys, and by extension, all of their private forces. A immortal army of the highest order, sitting somewhere in the sky above Greece and protecting the world from behind closed doors, beyond the veil of faith. They didn't intentionally cause harm.

Even so, to meet one of these gods, to have him be interested in him... It was all too much. And now, Hermes was essentially pointing him in the direction of the Team and pulling the strings.

He felt dirty, like he didn't belong here. He clutched the bedspread beneath his fingers and let out a small bit of anger, twisting it until he could feel the stress releasing bit by bit. His knuckles were white with pressure and his face contorted.

"Naruto? What are yo-"

He nearly jumped out of his skin, his shoulders tensing even further until he managed to let it go, turning to see M'gann staring at him, wide-eyed. She was carrying a basket of "Nothing," he lied, before shaking his head and frowning. "Sorry, it's supposed to be good for stress. I didn't mean to freak anyone out. Should have closed the door."

"I don't really like doors," the Martian said curiously, as she stepped into the nearly empty room. "Are you nervous too? I am really excited about a mission, but I have no idea how to I really feel about it."

Naruto turned to sit on the bed and gestured for her to make herself at home. She looked far more comfortable underneath the mountain than he ever had, no matter if she was in her room or anywhere else. "I don't think it's nerves as much as everything else that happened. Kobra really freaked me out. But honestly, I am ready to kick some criminal ass. Just need some time to get over all of this stuff."

The green-skinned girl nodded, her eyes filled with one hundred percent genuine concern. "Me too. Maybe you will get your chance to get back at him?"

Naruto both liked and hated the sound of that, for different reasons. "Maybe. It's the League's responsibility now. Green Lantern is looking into it." He didn't feel immediately comfortable with that, because it was his fault that the man jumped an entire threat level. He had a level of responsibility over the situation, and he wasn't sure he wanted to hand that over to everyone else. Batman and Hawkman were a very convincing pair, however.

He turned back to look at her, and there was an intensity in her eyes that was so sudden that he felt... disturbed. She seemed to notice and looked away, blushing an odd rosy tint despite her skin color.

But after a dull in the conversation, Naruto remembered something. "So what did a door ever do to you?"

She laughed. "Oh, it's not important."

"Sure it is. I gotta know which door to punch in the face for messing with my friend."

Her face after hearing the word "friend" was one of probably pure joy, and Naruto had no idea how to react to that. He made a mental note to ask Kaldur about it.

"Oh, well, on Mars, we don't really have them. If we didn't need to live underground to protect ourselves from the dust and the sun, we probably wouldn't have walls."

When she seemed to be finished, he raised an eyebrow. "So it's just weird to you?"

"Yes, just something I have to get used to." There was something more she was thinking about, but he decided not to press it.

"Well, I think we are going to get along smoothly," he said after a moment. "How cold is it on Mars?"

MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 18, 2:00 EST
TEAM YEAR ZERO

M'gann was absolutely in love with the Cave! That was the one thing she was one hundred percent certain about. The rest was floating in a nebulous cloud of doubt that she couldn't shake.

Red Tornado was a mystery, something completely new to her; robotic technology didn't exist on Mars, and there was definitely nothing even close to an advanced AI. Everything about him was so new and different that it was very new to her; television had not prepared her for that aspect of Earth. Despite the fact that he - or it? Does Red a Tornado identify as male? - apparently lived at the Cave, she had not had the chance to ask all the burning questions. The next time I see Uncle J'onn, I will ask him!

The person she was considering the very first friend she had ever made on Earth was a bit more easy to read, probably because he had a mind for her to decipher. She hadn't had to delve deep to feel his emotions; his face was an open book that usually matched his surface-level thoughts. He was a warm person, someone with a bright personality that was so easy to understand. Her curiosity begged to go deeper, to try to openly communicate with him, but she didn't want to test her luck. Their conversation from a few days ago was still fresh on her mind, and she didn't want to ruin what trust they had built.

The last person in their odd group of individuals who didn't seem to fit into society was Superboy, and in many ways, he was even stranger than Red Tornado. It wasn't his origins that confused her; the cloning process sounded quite a bit like how p'lips were cultivated into different shapes and for different roles back home. It was his whole persona, his mannerisms; she was both intimidated and intrigued. He was violently angry, like Naruto's stress relief activity turned to one hundred ten percent. The shattered mirrors in the Cave's weight room spoke wonders to what he was thinking about. She was almost too scared to try to read anything from him.

M'gann hovered from one room to the next, enjoying how unique each of the rooms were, telekinetically lifting laundry into a hovering mass. She giggled slightly to herself upon realizing that Superboy wore the same outfit everyday on purpose: Wally and his family had only bought several of the same kind of jeans and t-shirts, adding the red shield of Superman to the chest. The boy wasn't in his room, which probably meant he was sitting on the beach or working out in the still ruined weight room. She ached to find him, to have more than stilted conversations with him, but he obviously wanted to be left alone. She wondered briefly if he regretted not going with Naruto and the others to talk to Speedy. M'gann had wanted to go herself, but the look from her uncle told her quite a bit.

"You need to wait a bit longer," J'onn had stated in her head. "We need to know more about your capabilities first."

She had only responded in the affirmative, and had almost recoiled when she felt his mental probes lightly touching the surface, brushing farther than the communication level. Since coming to Earth, she had begged to keep certain aspects of herself secret from others. Families were so large on Mars that she had to hope he wouldn't recognize her and her disposition. He probably knew from the moment he saw her, and the idea of being rejected was too much to bear.

Her uncle's eyes had widened when she retreated into her head, forcefully hurling his metal probe away from her subconscious. Some secrets would stay buried beneath layers and layers of her memories.

M'gann pushed all of that away, closing Superboy's door and turning to find the washing machine. But the thoughts returned to her, and she was still partially worried about what her uncle might think the next time he saw her. She could intrude and find out, but his mind was closed to her, a heresy that went against the very nature of her homeworld. He was so calm and stern, a compassionate man who didn't seem to possess the nature to be so... private; nothing she ever heard about those people matched with her uncle. Was he only showing her a side to him? Was J'onn actually totally different from the way he portrays himself?

She sighed and tried not to think about it, hiding that train of thought beneath happier musings. Like what scent detergent Superboy and Naruto would like.

STAR CITY
JULY 17, 23:17 PDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

"You sure he's here?"

The sounds of several explosions were the answers to Naruto's question. Robin silently nodded as Kid Flash zipped past them, running into the fray. The other three ran after him, jumping into view just as the oddly large man with a tattered shirt shouted, "Scorch the earth, boys!"

Robin hurled his weapons and swung after them, just as Wally shoved two of them to the ground. Naruto lost track of them as he hurled twin blasts of wind only slightly larger than his palm, aiming for the leader known as Brick.

One blast was ineffective, bouncing off of his thick chest, and Riptide had to roll out of the way of the fired plasma that exploded next to him. The second managed to shove him back at least a meter, but ultimately didn't accomplish much.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Brick shouted, reaching into the ground with incredible strength and hurling a huge chunk of it at him.

Naruto shoved his own body out of the way with wind, the rock missing his nose by mere inches, just as a red arrow exploded against Brick's shoulder and burned away the rest of his ruined shirt.

He shouted angrily and tossed the second chunk in Roy's direction, but Aqualad's water weapons chopped it into bits.

Naruto couldn't hear their conversation, but decided to make a move, blades of wind spiraling in front of him as he ran toward Brick. At a closer range, they would do more damage and he swung them as closely as he dared. The large man shrugged off the attack, ignoring the decimeter-long gash running down his chest, and grabbed the Atlantean's arm before he could bring it back.

In a grip as tight as a vice, he spun on his heel and hurled Naruto into the dirt. The pain was indescribable, but a brief thought ran through his mind. Why did Superboy not want to come?

"I'm sure I can get some money from selling your head to a beach tourism shop," Brick declared, preparing to stomp just as something slammed into his chest.

The arrow suddenly activated, spitting gunk at a very rapid rate, until it looked like Brick was stuck in some kind of red, solid cloud. Kid Flash suddenly grabbed Naruto's shoulders dragging him out of range of the quickly expanding mass.

"Watch yourself, kid," he said, a frown on his face. "Don't go so gung-ho on us and get yourself hurt."

"Yeah, well, you four are all talking about trying to get Roy to join, in the middle of taking Brick out," Naruto said as he pulled himself to his feet. The aforementioned man shouted something too muffled to hear underneath the result of Roy's arrow. "At least I was doing something."

Wally frowned, prepared to retort, but Kaldur cleared his throat from his perch on the upper levels. The two of them joined the others, Wally always watching the man covered in what the speedster called some kind of foam.

"So, Speedy, you in?" asked Robin.

The archer did not seem remotely interested, barely turning his head to address Robin's question. "Pass. I'm done letting Arrow and the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hangout with the other kids! Your junior Justice League is a joke, something to keep you busy and in your place." And with that, Roy walked off. "I don't want any part of it."

The four shared a glance, but the others were far more upset about it than Naruto was. In some ways, he respected that decision because it was something Naruto felt like he was severely lacking at the moment. All the other sidekicks had formed the Team, and it would be expected for Speedy to join as well. But instead of doing what was expected of him, Roy remained steadfast and chose to go his own path.

Even if that was on the path that the Fates had outlined for him, he thought he was a free agent. He wasn't manipulated into a decision. Naruto wasn't quite experienced enough to be a solo-act that was worth something, so the Team made the most sense for his own path. But Roy could strike out on his own, and be one of the major players one day.

Naruto couldn't help but feel jealous. "I'm sure he doesn't mean it. How could he not think that it's awesome?"

Kaldur clapped a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I wouldn't take it personally. He feels like we would just hold him back."

"Is he wrong?" asked Robin, leaving everyone unable to answer.

MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 18, 11:16 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

"Recognized: Robin, B-01. Kid Flash, B-03." The computerized voice announced the arrival of the two boys in civilian gear, the machine spinning and flashing them out of golden light. Naruto glanced toward them from his perch on the stairwell leading to an upper level, reading scrolls of a potential spell that might help later.

M'gann watched the map of the surrounding area, a beacon showing Red Tornado's location fast approaching them. Kaldur tapped it and zoomed in, a timer showing an estimated arrival time of only a few seconds. Superboy had his arms crossed, jacket tight fitting on his huge frame.

"Did you ask him?" asked Wally as he and Robin joined the other three. Naruto dropped the scroll where he sat, nearly as excited as the other two newcomers were as he joined them.

"He's arriving now." Aqualad's calm voice was drowned out by Wally's exclamation of, "Well what are we waiting for?"

Within a few moments, the six of them stood just inside the hangar ramp, which slid open to reveal Red Tornado spinning toward the ground on a vortex of crimson wind. Naruto had to stop himself from geeking out, remembering all the stories that Orin had told him about Tornado. This was the first time seeing his abilities in action, and it immediately gave him ideas. Ideas that would probably never come to fruition, but ideas just the same.

"Red Tornado!" Wally yelled, the redhead incredibly excited to see him.

"Greetings," the robot answered, glancing between them. "Is there a reason you intercepted me outside of the Cave?"

"We hoped you had a mission for us," Kaldur supplied.

"Seriously," Naruto interrupted before Red could finish, "I need some action to take my mind off of all this."

Robin eyed him carefully as Tornado nodded once. "Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility, as the chairperson of the Justice League."

"But it's been over a week and nothing's-"

"You'll be tested soon enough," Red answered, cutting Robin off with a hand gesture. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

Naruto rolled his eyes just as Kaldur began to speak what they were all thinking. "This Team is not a social club."

"No," the android agreed, "but I am told that social Interaction is an important team building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the Cave."

Naruto scoffed as the android walked toward the innards of Mount Justice, earning a very interesting look from M'gann. "What? That's exactly what Speedy said last night about why this is going on. Sounds like he was right."

Kid Flash nodded once in agreement. "Yeah, the kid is actually making sense for a change."

Naruto's knuckles tightened. "How about you recognize that I have a name? I don't care which one you use. Riptide, Naruto, it doesn't matter. But I am not a kid."

"As if," Robin said, immediately coming into defense of his best friend.

"I'm older than you!"

The speedster was staring him down in a fraction of a second, glaring at him. Both Kaldur and Superboy stepped into the middle, surprising Naruto a bit. He expected that out of Kaldur, but he didn't expect Superboy to follow him. He nearly fully-expected Superboy to jump in and pick a side, just to punch something. "Enough. Stop arguing. Naruto has as much right to be here as you do, Wally."

"I would say more of a right," Naruto said, ignoring Kid Flash. "Have you fought in a city-wide battle? How many times have you risked your life when you didn't have your mentor to back you up?" As Wally tried to think, Naruto just nodded. "That's what I thought. As far as I am concerned, Kaldur and I are the only ones who deserve to be here."

Naruto turned to leave, recognizing that he wasn't going to continue arguing with them.

"Wait! What about the tour?" asked M'gann, but he just shrugged and left the others behind him.

MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 18, 12:04 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

This was not going anything like she expected. She had already done a personality sweep of everyone, to see how they would get along, and it truly did seem like they would mesh well together! Wally's humor would break Superboy out of his shell, Kaldur would keep things sane, Robin would be a mixture of serious and entertaining, and Naruto would be the happy-go-lucky one who didn't let anything get him down. Now, she wasn't so sure, but she was determined to find out. Maybe a bit more prodding would reveal an angle she could try, but she had to wait for the right moment.

As she lead the others through the Cave, most of them not caring more than the bare minimum to look interested, she was very aware of the fact that this was all going to blow up in her face, not unlike the fact that her cookies nearly burned. Even though they were clearly ruined, Wally still managed to eat them and no one complained.

"I mean, Speedy isn't right about all this, is he?" asked M'gann carefully, as she lead them through the shower rooms. "I wish that Red Tornado was organic; I could figure it out from his mind."

"Maybe he heard something from Green Arrow that no one else has," Robin said. "He did hear about the Watchtower from him."

M'gann barely knew what that was, beyond the idea of an orbiting satellite headquarters. "Yeah, maybe that's it. But even then, I can't imagine that the League would trick us like that."

Superboy grunted. "I'm starting to think this whole thing isn't what it was cracked up to be."

M'gann couldn't even begin to relate to what Superboy was feeling. He was merely days old, at least consciously, and was immediately thrust into a world that could be playing them along. He had no idea what to think about any of this, but he needed a family. He needed the structure and interaction that the Team could provide. That she could provide.

She simply could not take it any longer, her need to comfort Superboy with her mental touch too strong. The Martian breathed slowly and concentrated, imagining a tether drawn from one mind to the next, connecting to hers and feeding through a loop. It was nearly effortless and nigh-instant, her telepathy touching everyone's minds and connecting them through a network.

"Don't worry, Superboy. I'm certain that if we all stick together, we will get through this."

Immediately, the clone shouted, clutching his temples with both palms, fingers grabbing at his head and running through his hair. "Get out of my head!"

"What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."

"M'gann, stop!" Kaldur said, earning a shocked expression. "Things are different here on Earth. Your powers are considered an extreme invasion of privacy."

"Besides," Wally added, "Cadmus's creepy little psychic genomes left a bad taste in his brain." Superboy's visible grimace from Wally's words made her fear for the redhead's life for a fraction of a second.

Regret filled her every thought, the anger on Superboy's face pointed directly at her. Naruto had not reacted like this. "I didn't...mean to..."

"Just. Stay. Out!" the black-haired clone shouted, vanishing into the next room to sit on the couch and sulk.

M'gann couldn't believe that she had screwed up so badly. First Naruto, and then with her; this Team might be doomed from the start. The second that a mission was given the go ahead, Batman would probably call it off before they even started.

MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 18, 12:15 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

Naruto stared at the ceiling, already feeling like dirt. He had heard the very unimpressive tour slip past his room, despite all attempts to keep it silent around his door. Wally had managed to keep his mouth shut for once, which was impressive as far as he was concerned.

He had never met Wally before the aftermath of the Kobra incident, before the others practically razed Cadmus to the ground. But he had been nothing but condescending to him ever since. Naruto could give the other boy some benefit of the doubt; he probably didn't mean for most of it to come across the way that it did. However, that did not excuse him from consciously throwing his age into his face, treating Naruto like he didn't belong.

As far as Naruto was concerned, Wally deserved to hear what Naruto thought about all of them.

"I screwed up, Naruto. They are all angry at me."

The touch of M'gann in his head was still jarring but not unfamiliar; it would take some getting used to, but she had seemed so eager to connect with him on that level that he had obliged.

"Surely not," he answered back. "How could anyone be mad at you? You're awesome!"

"I just wanted to connect with them, like I did with you. To reassure them that the League probably didn't mean badly, or that Roy was wrong. Superboy hates me now."

He shook his head, actually not sure if she could see that or not. Her telepathy was definitely new to him, but as far as he could tell, the communication mode of her powers was just like the long-distance spell he used to tell Kaldur he escaped from Kobra only a few days ago. It made a mental connection, but she couldn't look deeper without you feeling it, at least on some level.

"You just gotta show them that you would never take advantage of them," he explained. "I will help vouch for you later. If they know we have been talking for the past couple days like this, they might be more receptive of it."

She started to ask how he was doing, but was cut off. It was an odd feeling, almost like being on telepathic hold. "I just got an alert from Red Tornado! The Happy Harbor Power Plant just went on alert."

Naruto jumped off of his bed. "Doesn't sound like something we should have to investigate, but I will take anything at this point."

"A simple fire at Cadmus did lead the others to Superboy," she reminded him. "I will radio an alert."

But Kaldur beat her to it, explaining that they needed to head to the hangar where her ship could be found. "The action will do us all some good."

HAPPY HARBOR
JULY 18, 12:32 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

Miss Martian remained in civilian clothing, despite her urge to transform them into her uniform. No one else was wearing one, if you discounted Superboy; they had had to leave quickly. She glanced toward Naruto, remembering that orange t-shirt from the laundry she had done the night before. It made her laugh inwardly that she would have to wash it again after this, or at least teach him, as it was nearly the only one he owned.

The mood as the Bio-Ship hurled through the sky, cloaked in order to remain covert, was bleak. Naruto refused to look to his left, where Robin and Kid Flash were sitting together. Aqualad was whispering in hushed tones to Superboy, and she fought the urge to use her powers to listen in. Considering what trouble they had caused, she wasn't sure she would ever feel comfortable using it again.

"This ship is incredible," Robin offered, attempting to break the ice for a few seconds.

"Yeah, seriously, it's awesome," Wally agreed. "What fuel source does it use? How does it do that cloaking move?"

She pondered how to explain it when they descended upon the town, realizing almost immediately what the problem was. A spinning vortex of wind was approaching from the north, a tornado threatening to destroy the power plant. She angled toward it, remaining cloaked, as they worked through what to do.

"This ship have any weapons that can stop a tornado?"

"Do tornadoes even happen this far up north?"

"If the Flash was with me, we could stop it, but I doubt I could do it by myself."

Naruto rose from his chair, surprising everyone. Immediately, Robin started to protest, but he shook his head. "I'm not going to do something stupid. Just get me as close as you can to that thing and start circling it. Kid Flash gave me an idea."

"It would never work, the air velocity is too strong and tumultuous. We won't be able to go fast enough around it with a steady course. If our spin vortex is too unstable, it will collapse before we can do anything," Wally argued. "On the ground, it's different, because you can't get shoved in as many directions."

The vortex was fast approaching, so M'gann knew they had seconds either way. Superboy was the unexpected voice of reason. "Well, if we don't do something, that thing is going to ruin the power for the whole town."

Naruto just nodded to M'gann, who took a moment to adjust the course. She steered as clear as she dared, allowing the ship to tell her the diagnostics that she needed to know to pilot it. Naruto nodded once again, and she opened the back hatch as he approached it, closing it off with a small panel covering him and the opening to prevent the air change.

"Strap into the ship," she told him with her powers, manifesting something for him to hold onto.

"Aye, aye, Captain."

"I'm going too," Wally suddenly declared. "I'll run parallel to him on the ground. We don't have to do much to stop it, just enough. Then we can figure out what's happening."

After angling the ship toward a tall building, Wally gave a thumbs-up and dropped through the central hole in the ship's floor, immediately catching himself and running down the side of the small building, speeding toward the vortex.

HAPPY HARBOR
JULY 18, 12:46 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

This entire plan was painfully stupid, but that didn't mean they were above trying it. Naruto pulled on his magic and gave Miss Martian the go-ahead, and as soon as the ship started to go faster, the Atlantean's tattoos burned to life.

Any bit of air that the Bio-Ship generated as it flew, hard and fast, Naruto tried to collect it and created a counter vortex, shining silver and surrounding the top of the storm. It looked as though the ship was tethered to the storm by a silver light, flowing toward it. Every few seconds, she had to weave the ship away from a bit of turbulence, threatening to weaken the connection that was slowly forcing the tornado to taper off.

When he looked below him from his perch on the Bio-Ship's ramp, he saw the multi-colored vortex being generated by the Team's speedster, and a bit of pride swelled in his head. He was happy that Wally was agreeing with him, that Kid Flash was respecting his ideas. Naruto didn't need his respect to know he was doing a good thing, but since he had it, he couldn't judge the other hero-in-training.

Naruto tapped into his reserves, the part of his energy he only used when he really needed it, against people like Kobra or Ocean-Master. Immediately, the silver wisps of air seemed to strengthen, spinning around and around in the opposite direction as the odd weather event. He felt at peace, glad to be surrounded by allies and doing something good. And Kid Flash was helping him.

The feeling was absolutely amazing when their individual efforts collided in the middle, and it took seconds for the tornado to disperse the moment they did.

"Holy shit!" he shouted, waving down at the speedster below him. "It worked!"

Wally beamed at him, removing his goggles and giving him a cheeky thumbs-up. But something obviously wasn't right, because as Naruto watched Kid Flash, he was shocked to see a sudden burst of wind grab him off of his feet and hurl him into the wall of the power-plant, slamming into the concrete hard.

Stepping from behind the corner was a tall, red-skinned man with tubes running along his arms with some kind of blue liquid running through them, glowing slightly. He couldn't see much more detail, but when the man reached up and pointed at the slowing and uncloaked ship, twin bolts of electricity arced toward them.

"M'gann! Get us down now!" he shouted in his head, hoping she was still connected. He supposed so, because she moved down so fast that only one lightning bolt made its mark, the discharge sent through the entire ship. Naruto didn't jump toward the ground fast enough, the electricity running through his body. He shrieked in agony and slumped against the strappings holding him to the metallic exterior of the organic ship, fighting off whatever effects he could. His magic was too immediately taxed after the abnormally large spell; he would have to find a way to recover quickly enough so that his starfish magic could kick in.

When the ship abruptly half-landed, half-crashed, it was Kaldur who managed to get out first and grab him, holding him upright against his shoulder. He leaned closer and supported all his weight on the concerned friend, as Robin, Superboy, and Miss Martian ran toward the mysterious stranger, turbulent winds flowing around him.

"Are you going to be all right?" Kaldur asked.

"Yes, but Wally first. I'll be fine in a few seconds, if I have a few moments to recharge. I'll jump back in as soon as I can."

The other Atlantean just stared at him for a moment, but nodded. "We'll do our best to defeat him so that you don't have to. You have done enough."

HAPPY HARBOR
JULY 18, 12:47 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

Miss Martian had not seen Naruto's winds in action before a few moments ago, and while they were impressive, this stranger completely dwarfed him in the control over the element. He didn't hold a candle to him.

He effortlessly halted Superboy in mid-jump, a small tunnel of wind grabbing him out of the air and then throwing all of his momentum at the ground. Kaldur couldn't get close enough to strike him with his hydrokinetic weapons, thrown like a ragdoll as easily as Superboy was. None of Robin's projectiles even stood a small chance against him, the explosive bird-a-rangs never getting close enough to do damage. One of them nearly ricocheted and blew up in her face, forcing her to hurl the shrapnel out of the way with a split-second telekinetic grab.

"Miss Martian, toss Aqualad over his head!" Robin shouted, earning an odd look from her before she grabbed the Atlantean and aimed where they were planning. Robin tossed several pellets that exploded into freezing smoke, trying to halt the enemy's movements. At the same moment, Kaldur expanded his weapon into a scythe-like blade and tried to swing at the man's chest from over his head. The strategy proved relatively successful, the watery construct cutting a small gash in his metallic chest plate, but ultimately useless. A wall of spiraling wind dispersed Kaldur and tossed him so far to the left that he threatened to crash right into a car.

Reaching out with her mind, she latched onto his abdomen like a hook and stopped his forward momentum, holding him in place. "I got you!"

Wind slammed into her, shoving her hard against the concrete, just as Superboy attempted to rush him headon. With a wave of his hand, Superboy suddenly lost his footing and was hurled far overhead in an arc that ended with him face-first into the ground. "You're pathetic! Not one of you is worth my time. I am an element incarnate!"

"Don't you need flesh to be 'incarnate'?" taunted Robin, readying his next attack, the utility belt strapped to his chest. M'gann didn't really know where Robin's comment had come from, or why it sounded so enticing, but it gave her an idea.

As she flew in and out of the fight, trying to hurl pipes and earth at him while Kaldur and Superboy unsuccessfully rushed him, she scanned his mind and was unable to do so. Combined with his appearance and his robotic voice, it was even more clear to her that this man was inorganic, a robot not unlike Red Tornado. Robin suddenly made a lot more sense.

Something shot across her brain, nearly as fast as Kid Flash attempted to run, now that he had recovered. But the speedster was slammed with an entire vortex that spun him off of his feet and hurled him far to the right. Superboy met the same fate at nearly the same time, landing hard.

Everything was making so much sense that it almost hurt to know.

"Everyone stop fighting!" she shouted, the sincerity and tone in her voice enough to make Kaldur pause. "This guy is obviously Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android! How many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?"

The gears turned in everyone's head at nearly the same time, and it was Aqualad that processed it first. "Red Tornado sent us here!"

"After saying that we'll be 'tested soon enough'!" Robin argued back. "This is his test! Something to keep us busy!"

"Speedy called it!" Kid Flash shouted.

Before anyone else could say anything, Miss Martian was aware of movement happening in her peripheral vision, and Naruto ran forward, tattoos glowing as wind ripped around his body.

"Didn't you hear us? This fight's not real," Miss Martian declared.

Naruto shook his head. "This guy has got to just be amused that we're standing around doing nothing, while he prepares to kill us however he likes."

"But-"

"No, buts. Is no one here using their eyes? Red Tornado's wind is red," Naruto said, just as the clouds began to form overhead, two twisting vortexes appearing over the android's outstretched hands.

"I don't know whether to be flattered or disgusted by the idiocy of you six," the enemy declared. "My name is Mister Twister, and honestly, I am insulted that you would mistake me for an obviously lesser being!"

Lighting struck the ground between them, and Wally had to shove Robin out of the way. The group, now with Naruto, split up and tried to take over, but everything was going so, so wrong.

M'gann couldn't begin to comprehend how badly she almost screwed up, and if Naruto had not intervened, she was almost certain that they might have died. The fear of failure on her first ever experience was nearly crippling, and now that she passed that threshold into abject failure, she didn't even want to move.

HAPPY HARBOR
JULY 18, 12:56 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

It was shockingly difficult to do anything against Mister Twister. Every blast of wind was met with one of greater power, forcing Naruto to keep moving or be blown off of the ground or worse. He was, for all intents and purposes, quite literally toying with them.

He didn't have the limits that Naruto did. He considered himself the most powerful wind mage in all of Atlantis (well, he knew he was the only one, but it sounded much cooler to say it that way), but this android was nearly impossible to gauge. Moves that would take a lot of either energy or preparation were done nearly instantly. He didn't know if it was because of a processor for a brain or if it was because his power source was so strong that it was nearly impossible to measure. Naruto had no idea what limit to hit first, even if he did.

Robin might though, but the Boy Wonder was only equipped with his emergency equipment, and probably didn't have a way to do that. Even so, Naruto dodged a spinning gust of wind nearly twice his height, crossing the field over to where Robin and Kid Flash were waiting, preparing their next move. Superboy grunted and was tossed out of the sky, a bolt of lightning crashing into him.

"He's a robot," Naruto began. "Any weaknesses to exploit?"

Kid Flash's smile was so blinding for a moment that it genuinely surprised Naruto. "An EMP! You're so brilliant, Riptide!" The blonde smiled at the fact that he used his name; progress, perhaps? "Does Bats make you carry one?"

The black-haired boy just frowned. "No, but that's a good idea to add to the belt. Any idea how to make one?"

Naruto glanced toward the ginger, who stared at his friend like he was speaking a second language. "No, but there's not enough time for me research it. I'll have to add that to my pile."

"You have a pile?"

"Yeah. Now, EMPs, current theories about quantum mechanics... Oh, that reminds me that I need to finish that book by Ray Palmer!" Wally practically shouted, earning a dead look from both boys. "What? We are only as sharp as our minds."

"Whatever," Robin said. "You got anything to stop him?"

Naruto thought about it, but his skill-set was so dwarfed that nothing he had could compare. Thinking back as far as he could, he did remember the condensed sphere of wind that practically tore through Ocean-Master's armor. "I am stronger up close, but I can't get close. I'm sure me, Superboy, and Aqualad are all in the same boat on that front."

They glanced back to see that Superboy and Aqualad were being blasted back and forth, every countermeasure not enough to actually do anything. But curiously, Miss Martian has not there or anywhere in sight.

"M'gann?" he tried to say on the mental link, but they weren't linked.

Robin must have noticed the same thing he did. "I can't say I blame her for running."

Wally's scowl in agreement was not pleasant, but before he could open his mouth, Naruto interrupted. "Don't count her out just yet," he said, his faith in her strong enough to know that she was up to something. Naruto considered telling them about the mental link, but they had left the burden of fighting to their heavy hitters long enough.

Naruto half-ran, half-jumped with the effort of his magic, silver blasts of wind propelling him forward. He crossed in front of Aqualad, essentially tagging into the fight, just in time to land on one arm, tattoos shining as he kicked outward with both feet and sent a jet of powerful silver wind into the android's chest. In a moment of what felt like pure triumph, a Mister Twister was hurled back a few meters, just as Superboy bounded toward the robot.

The Kryptonian clone managed a single strike to graze off of the red metal, denting ever so slightly, before a vortex carried the clone off the ground and as far into the sky as he could.

"Where is the real hero? You are mongrels to me!"

"Says the laboratory experiment gone wrong!" Kid Flash shouted, zipping to join their fight.

Robin snickered as he fired the taser attached to his wrist. "Doesn't that describe you too, KF?"

"Oh, shut up!" the speedster shouted as Mister Twister evaded Robin's attack with a precise side step, coupled with a blast of wind to knock it out of the way.

Kaldur and Superboy ran forward at the same time, a mace shimmering in the Atlantean's grasp. Naruto prepared for it, channeling his magic and attempting to surround the android with air in his control, sharpening it so that it might cut into the armor. Mister Twister was not even slightly harmed by it or even seemingly concerned, but when the mace slammed into his chest and left a massive dent, Robin tossed an exploding disk at the same time that Superboy tried to knee him in the back.

With a swirling display, the android broke Naruto's air hold on him, the vortex carrying him high into the sky and disrupting any of their attacks. "Simpletons!" Twister shouted. "You cannot hope to be a challenge to me. Why are you here? Why do you continue when the odds are so stacked against you? One of you has already given up. Why not follow her?"

No one said anything for almost half a second, but it was Naruto who first stepped forward. "We fight because we have to."

"Because we want to!" Superboy agreed, teeth clenched nearly as tightly as his fists.

"You threaten innocent people, and we are not going to accept that." Aqualad's fury was noted.

But before anyone could do anything, a voice cut them off. "Listen to me. All of you!" M'gann's voice cut through to their very thoughts, interrupting their speech.

"What did we tell you?" Superboy half-shouted, and Twister turned toward him, confused.

"I know! I know I messed up, but now I'm very clear on what we need to do." Her pure sincerity and determination was tough to ignore, and Naruto was secretly proud that she sounded so confident. "Please, trust me!"

HAPPY HARBOR
JULY 18, 1:09 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

M'gann returned to the battlefield, her skin metallic and her voice morphed. A blue cape made of her clothing billowed behind her, the insignia of the android member of the League on her disguised chest. She was calm and collected, prepared to do whatever it took to win. She glided down with her telekinesis, mimicking the wind as best she could.

"Hit the showers, boys!" her fake voice declared, matching Tornado's computerized inflections perfectly. "I was hoping that you could handle this. Clearly, you cannot."

"But we've got a plan now!" Robin shouted, playing along with the actual plan.

Twister just laughed. "Of course. These children finally give their rousing speech to try to muster some courage before they die, but you arrive to bail them out." Electricity flickered around him. "You shall share their fate!"

With practiced effort, M'gann hurled back her hand and kicked up the smoke cloud along the ground, debris swirling and mixing into the winds that the speedster created the second he was given the chance. The plan was, so far, working nearly effortlessly. She just had to to get the chance.

A second tornado hid behind the first she pretended to create, this one generated by the Atlantean hiding behind the cloaked Bio-Ship behind her. When Twister easily avoided it and hurled more wind to cancel it out, the second vortex was suddenly there, this one charged with sharp blades of crescent wind hidden among the swirling. It slammed into his body, unprepared for it, and Twister was not able to do much more than allow the winds to waylay him.

"I have the upper-hand now, Twister!" she shouted from her disguise, both hands hurling back to shoot rocky debris from behind her in his direction.

"No, Tornado, we are not!" Twister angrily tried to slam his fist into the ground, but a long gash from Naruto's latest vortex cut into one of the hydraulics in an arm, rendering it utterly useless.

The earthen debris slammed into the android, further annoying the enemy. But when M'gann saw the first explosive disc from Robin's utility belt among the debris she fired, she couldn't help but smirk through the shapeshifting. Instantly, the disc exploded in the android's face, another landing on his hip and detonating, leaving him with nothing more than a glorified stump on that leg.

"No!" he shouted, wind taking him to the skies as he raised a single hand, attempting to fire electricity at her. The faux Red Tornado flew expertly out of the way, her mind guiding her toward the Team's hiding place, and almost immediately, Kaldur jumped in front of the lightning bolt, his tattoos burning as he absorbed the discharge, lightning utterly useless.

M'gann, as Red Tornado, flew toward the now losing android, proud that her plan was working so well, that the Team was working so well. "You're finished, Twister!" She telekinetically lifted him, not even trying to disguise her attacks as wind anymore, and flung him toward the ship, removing parts of his body as she went.

The Bio-Ship de-cloaked just as Superboy jumped out of it, shouting loudly as he landed hard on the enemy's chest, throwing him toward the ground. There was now nothing more to his chest cavity than a pile of rubble, a metal plate barely hanging on.

She dropped to the ground and revealed herself, transforming into her green-skinned human form, earning a robotic gasp of anger. The feeling of confidence was so great, glad to know that her initial idea was enough.

Kid Flash zipped toward her, putting an arm around her. "I knew you could, babe."

She didn't bother to shrug him off, just glad for the contact after screwing up so badly, twice in the same day.

But when someone suddenly coughed and tried to pull themselves out of the android, a much smaller man with long brown hair and an odd goatee, M'gann raised an eyebrow. A quick mental scan revealed nothing, just like before, so she just pulled a piece of rubble from the fight and lifted it, ignoring everyone's shouts toward the man to freeze. They didn't even imagine that she would hurl the huge rock on top of him, crushing him beneath the weight.

"We don't know how things are done on Mars," Robin said, walking forward. The look on all their faces was one of shock, anger, and probably terror. Naruto had an unreadable expression, and Superboy might as well have seen a ghost. "But here on Earth, we don't execute our captives!"

She just smirked. "You said you'd trust me." Lifting the rock off of the crushed robotic body of the pilot, everyone just looked on in amazement.

"A robot inside of another robot," Naruto stated, laughing. "That feels like overkill."

"I don't really understand the strategy here," Kaldur admitted.

"That's why I couldn't read his mind," she said, waving to it, as Kid Flash reached down and picked up one of the eyes.

"Cool! A souvenir."

MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 18, 16:01 EDT
TEAM YEAR ZERO

For the better part of the rest of the day, beyond debriefing Batman and the rest of the League of what happened, everyone stayed around the Cave and just hung out. They actually took up Red Tornado's earlier advice about social interaction being part of any team's success. Naturally, everyone ended up watching the brand new movie Inception, which naturally brought up quite a few interesting issues. They had to thank the League for setting it up through the Flash's deal with the Central City Multiplex, who basically shipped them the movie after they paid for all the tickets.

"Obviously, Cobb was still dreaming at the end," Wally half-shouted, a third bag of popcorn filling his mouth. "It wasn't going to fall down. It doesn't really matter though, because he was happy."

"I doubt it," Superboy said. "Looks like he escaped from it, and that's what he deserved for doing that in the first place."

Naruto had not made up his mind about the ending to the movie, but he didn't know what Superboy was referring to. "What do you mean?"

"For going into someone's dreams at all," he explained, eyes glancing toward M'gann.

Naruto immediately understood what he was actually referring to, so when everyone kept arguing and she went quiet, he rolled his eyes, standing up from his place next to Kaldur on the couch. "All right, we need to talk. About all of this. If we don't talk about it now, we never will."

"I don't know what you mean," Kaldur began, just as confused in the dark room.

"M'gann and I have been talking quite a bit for the past few days," he explained, earning a wide eye from Robin, who immediately nudged Wally.

"Looks like your chances with her are over." Wally shot him a death glare.

"No, it's not like that at all," Miss Martian said, truthfully, to which Naruto nodded.

"I'm talking about telepathically," he explained. "Maybe you guys aren't comfortable with it, and I admit, I wasn't at first. But I got used to it and you can too."

"Why should we?" the clone asked.

"It feels like she's going to figure things out she shouldn't know," Robin added.

Naruto paced in front of the long couch, barely glancing up to the kitchen to think about how to say what was next on his mind.

"It doesn't work like that," she explained. "Not unless I want it to, and if I wanted to snoop, you'd feel it. I usually can't feel much more than emotions on the surface, what your body language would probably already tell." The pointed glance toward Superboy was obvious; the guy was practically always standing with his arms crossed, a frown on his face. "When I create a mind link for communication, I don't get more than what you want to send. Your deeper thoughts will be hidden behind the projected thoughts, and I can't go farther without hurting any of you. And I would never do that."

"We won today because M'gann communicated her plan to us without Mister Twister being able to find it out," Naruto explained, looking at each of them. "All I'm saying is that we can use this to our advantage going forward."

He sat back down, waiting for someone to bring up the courage to speak. But something must have occurred to Kaldur, who suddenly glanced up with realization. "He's right. We're the covert arm of the Justice League; if we use your telepathy, M'gann, it's silent and hidden from any kind of breaching signal." Naruto inwardly cheered Kaldur's military mind on, because that kid was weirdly tactical.

Basically everyone but Superboy suddenly burst into conversation about how awesome the idea was, about how awesome M'gann was, and everything was great. But eventually, the clone sighed.

"This is a good idea." He met her gaze. "I'm sorry for how I reacted earlier."

She just smiled brightly.

And that's it for now! I hope this gives you a clear idea of how the fic is going to go in terms of the character-centric episodes. This is definitely a M'gann episode, so I wanted to get into her head a bit and ensure that it was still about her, while also adding a bit of conflict for Naruto himself, conflict that didn't necessarily include fighting the villain conflict. I also hope that you don't get the impression that Wally was written under the bus or something by this; canon Wally has definite moments where he's a frustrating human to be around. The entire episode called Denial is basically all about it.

Anyway, let me know what you thought in a review. Here's hoping that this website actually allows me to post the chapter this time so that everyone can read it immediately. I had to post chapter 10 three times, and email support twice. If you could review and explain that you did get to read chapter 10 after all, that would be awesome.