Chapter 21

A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back! Anyways, remember, I just own the story and my OCs, otherwise nothing else is mine.

Telepathy

/comms/

Mt. Justice, October 10, 16:58EDT

"Good work everyone," Black Canary congratulated. "It's been a very productive week."

Stopping their spars, the teens looked to the woman with grins. "Yeah, for everyone except Kid Malingerer," Artemis snickered, causing all eyes to land on the redheaded speedster sitting in a chair at the edge with a glass in his hand.

"Hey! Arm broken in combat against the Injustice League's evil little hit squad!" Kid Flash reminded, waving his casted arm in the air. "Remember?"

"You know with the job we do, we're all going to end up with broken bones, Wally," Onyx reminded, crossing his arms. "So, you might wanna get used to fighting with a cast on, never know when you'll need to."

"Besides, it wasn't your leg that was broken it was your arm," Sky pointed out, "you can still run."

"Guys!"

Canary chuckled to herself, shaking her head at their antics. "I must say, I have enjoyed being your, uh, den mother this week."

"Have to say, it's definitely more fun with you and the other Leaguers here than with the old drone," Skylar snickered.

"Recognized: Zatara—11."

All heads turned towards the Zeta Tube as the magician stepped out of the glowing vortex. Stepping to the side, he pulled up a holopad, quickly typing on it. "Access Granted: Zatanna Zatara—A03. Authorization: Zatara—11."

The teleporter powered up again, allowing a girl about their age to come through.

"Team," Zatara greeted, acknowledging the group of teenagers staring at them, "this is my daughter, Zatanna."

Taking the invitation, the group came forwards, with M'gann taking the lead. "Hi! I'm—"

"Robin!" the Boy Wonder quickly interrupted. Pausing for a moment, the youngest member gave a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head, "Uh, I mean, I'm Robin. She's M'gann. And that's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Sky, Onyx, Conner, and Amber."

"Welcome to the Cave."

"Sup."

"Oh, thanks," Zatanna smiled nervously.

"So, uh, are you joining the Team?" Robin inquired.

"Eh, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara interjected, stepping forwards. "This is strictly a visit. Though I am sorry we missed the training. It's something from which Zatanna could benefit."

"Do the rest of you get the feeling we're still on probation with Zatara?" M'gann asked opening the mind-link.

"Not just Zatara," Conner agreed, "I mean, why is Marvel still hanging around."

"He likes us," Amber answered, putting her hand on her brother's shoulder. "I believe he is eager to become friends."

"Yeah," Wally nodded quickly, "We like having him around."

"You like having him around cause he waits on you hand and foot," Artemis scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"And your point is?"

Kaldur crossed his arms, "It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenure as our supervisor."

"Yeah, at least he trusted us," Robin agreed.

"More like spied on us," Onyx hissed, tail lashing. "I bet the only reason the tin can was so lenient was so we'd drop our guard around him and he could extract more information."

"Yeah," Skylar agreed, "I, for one, am more than happy to deal with the rest of the League. At least most of them have some idea of what fun is, or at least the semblance of a personality."

"Exactly!" Conner exclaimed, tossing his hands in the air. "Are we the only ones who remember that that machine almost got M—all of us killed?!"

"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Zatanna spoke up, "Cause I can't decide if that's cool or really rude."

Feeling eyes on them, the teens turned to meet the questioning gazes of Canary and Zatara.

"Ok, fine," Conner admitted. "We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack and the League hasn't told us anything!"

"The League is searching for Red Tornado, as well as the other androids who invaded the cave and their creator T.O. Morrow," Canary replied gently. "Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority."

"And yet you've found none of the above!" Robin pointed out.

"Not yet. But Tornado is Justice League," she replied, putting her hands on her hips, "the Team is not to peruse this."

Sensing an argument coming on, Zatara stepped forwards, "Why don't you all take Zatanna on a, uh…tour of the cave?"

"Oh, you're giving a tour?!" Marvel asked walking over with a plate of nachos. "Cool!"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could take Wolf outside?" Superboy said, stepping up to Captain Marvel as the massive canine approached the hero, tail wagging. "He needs the exercise."

"Sure! I can do that!" he grinned, patting the wolf's head. "Come on Wolf!"

"My nachos!" Wally whined watching his snack fly away with the hero as he was dragged off by one of his teammates.

The group was quiet as they strode down the hall, away from the adults towards the kitchen.

"We're not really taking a tour are we?" Zatanna spoke up.

"Wait—when did you…? How?"

"No," Conner said, interrupting the Boy Wonder's sputtering. "We're hunting down that robot."

"Conner," Amber scolded, "I know you're mad but we can't just—"

"Yes, we can, and we are," Kaldur stated.

"About time too," Remix smirked, "I've been itching to turn him into a paperweight."

"Wow, out loud and everything," Zatanna remarked, causing attention to fall back on her.

"What about new girl?" Artemis frowned.

"I'm sure she won't tell," Robin said.

"I can't tell," Zatanna smirked, "not if you kidnap me."

"She's gonna fit in just fine."

Amber shook her head, reluctantly following as they raced towards the Bioship. "This is going to end badly."

-.-

/M'gann, what are you doing? The Bioship wasn't authorized for departure/

"We're kidnapping Zatanna!" M'gann exclaimed. "To, uh, show her around Happy Harbor. Be back soon!"

/Roger that. Have fun/

There was a collective sigh of relief from the others as they turned to look at M'gann. "Seriously?" Onyx muttered. "We're kidnapping Zatanna?"

"I panicked!"

"Hey, at least they bought it," Sky shrugged.

"Where are we even going?" Robin grumbled. "Batman's the World's Greatest Detective and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location. If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution. A truly dumb idea."

All heads turned and Wally shifted in his seat as he looked around the cabin to see everyone staring at him.

"As a matter of fact, I do have an idea."

-.-

Belle Reve, 18:35CDT

"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break," Miss Martian stated, slamming her hands on the table, glaring at the figure sitting across from her, "he's given us five minutes alone with you."

"Spill Ivo!" Superboy growled. "How do we find T.O. Morrow and his Reds?!"

"Now why in the world would I know that?" the scientist grumbled.

"Because, and here's a truly dumb idea," Kid Flash started, "you're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game. Who better to keep track of what he's up to, and where?"

The corner of Ivo's mouth twitched as he sat back in his chair, interlacing his fingers. "I see your point. Now, let me rephrase: Why in the world would I tell you?"

"A gesture of goodwill," Aurora offered.

"Not getting burned to a crisp."

"Please, like I would do that little girl," he scoffed. "As for threats, hon, you should work on yours. I've seen much scarier."

"Llet su erew Worrom si!" Zatanna exclaimed.

"Morrow's in an underground basement lab beneath Yellowstone National Part one-hundred meters south of Old Faithful…Wait! What just happened?!"

"That was awesome," Nightmare grinned.

"Badass."

"What are we waiting for?! Let's get going!"

-.-

Wyoming, 18:45MDT

"Blackout all external communications," Aqualad ordered. "Soon Canary and Zatara, and no doubt Batman too I imagine, will know of our visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

"Then we'll make due with what we have," Nightmare said. "No way Morrow was able to repair all the Reds, especially since Sky basically made scrap outta one of them."

"Good times."

"But that still does not mean there won't be other traps waiting for us," Aurora reminded. "Plus, it won't be easy to defeat and capture Tornado."

"Who said anything about capturing him?" Conner snapped, glaring at his sister. "That android almost got all of us killed! And you're defending him?!"

"I'm just saying, he could be a victim to his programming. Besides, won't the League want to deal with him?"

"The League can deal with whatever scraps are left," Skylar hissed.

"I'm with Sky, Amber," Onyx agreed. "We knew there was a traitor and the moment something was said about it, to him, what happened? He can't be trusted. Not until the League does a full workup of his code and then some."

"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur spoke.

"Not you too."

"Certainly he deserves the chance to be more than the weapon others designed him to be," Aqualad replied, tossing pointed glares to the clones around the cabin.

"Programming or not, it's a robot," Skylar snarled, crossing her arms as she glared out the window, "There's no way it'll be going quietly."

-.-

Yellowstone National Park, 20:22MDT

"Stealth mode," Aqualad ordered. Getting up from his seat, he approached Zatanna, "I must recommend you stay here."

"Is that an order?"

"No. You must do as you see fit."

"Good," she smiled. "Emit ot oder ym kool!" Smoke rose up around the witch, falling away to reveal her clothes had changed from her tank top and capris to a magician's outfit.

Giving each other quiet nods, the group darted into the forest, leaves and pine needles quietly crunching underfoot as the grass became sparser. Reaching the edge of the tree line, they crouched down, looking over the geyser plains.

"Be careful guys," Remix warned, pressing her palm into the dirt, "there's a lot of volcanic activity here. One wrong step and the ground could give way."

"And what happens if that happens?" Zatanna questioned.

"You slip into superheated mud or what's essentially boiling acid that will give you second-degree burns at best," she answered with a smirk. "How deep you go just depends on luck."

"Think you can tell where the weak spots are?"

The redhead blanched, pursing her lips as she looked closer at the ground, "Um…I'm going with no."

"We may not have to worry about that," Robin chimed in. "Ivo was right, something's down there."

"Good."

The group raced forwards onto the empty plains only to be stopped in their tracks the wind suddenly picking up. It pushed against them, causing their feet to slide along the mud, before blasting off their feet.

Pushing themselves up to their knees, they glared up at the source. Red Tornado hovered above them, tornadoes bursting into life around them.

"WHY TORNADO?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" M'gann shouted, her voice barely heard over the wind.

His response came in the form of several more tornadoes forming, carving distinct paths into the dirt.

"Message received?"

"Who cares why?!" Superboy snapped charging forwards. "Get him!"

"Superboy! Maneuver 7!" Aqualad called out chasing after him.

Superboy turned around, interlacing his fingers, catching Kaldur's foot and vaulting him into the air towards Red Tornado. Aqualad raised his fist, ready to punch him when the android ducked under, slamming his own fist into the Atlantean teen's face, slamming him back towards the ground and into Superboy in a plume of dust that was quickly carried off by the torrent of wind that caught Robin's and Artemis's projectile weapons, sending them flying back to their owners. The weapons exploded upon impact shaking the ground and knocking both the archer and Boy Wonder off their feet.

Nightmare bared his fangs, tail lashing as he crouched against the powerful gusts, looking for an opportunity to strike. Seeing Tornado turn to handle M'gann, he took his opportunity to grab his lasso and race forwards. Pulling out the rope he ran under the android, throwing the loop at his feet as Tornado hurled M'gann into the ground, slamming her into KF and sending both sprawling on the ground. He closed his eyes, looking down, as a powerful light illuminated the sky, blinding Tornado.

Seeing the red glow behind his closed lids begin to fade, Nightmare tightened his grip and yanked on the lasso. Tornado lurched in the air, seeming to realize what was going on as he tried to catch himself, only to be blindsided by a red hot mace colliding with his head, sending the sickening crunch of metal resounding across the geyser field.

The ground shook with Tornado's impact, cracks spreading across the soil, allowing steam to billow out, mixing with the dying winds.

"Tell me, how long do you plan to keep up the performance?" a voice spoke up as another Red rose from the ground. "I have all your memories Tornado, and a next gen processor, I know your next more before you do." The field under them lurched as more cracks spread along the surface as a massive boulder levitated from the ground, revealing the words "Play Dead" that Tornado had carved into the ground. "Blowing a message into the sand?" the Red scoffed.

Realizing the jig was up, the others who'd been feigning unconsciousness got back to their feet as the new Red closed his fists, crumpling the massive boulder into smaller chunks. The large chunks flew towards them, prompting Superboy, Remix, and Aurora to shoot forwards. As they plowed through several of the rocks, Nightmare pulled his lasso back from Tornado, tossing the loop at one piece flying towards Robin and Zatanna, yanking it away from them as Aqualad used his swords to cut through one and Miss Martian telekinetically tossed the others aside.

"Is everyone alright?" Nightmare asked.

"We're fine," Zatanna answered, "but Red Tornado's getting away."

"Great! Is he abandoning us?" Artemis scoffed, firing an arrow.

"I don't believe that!"

"Actions speak louder than words!"

"You stand no chance against me humans."

"WE'RE NOT HUMAN!" several of them screamed.

"My apologies," the Red scoffed as two rock hands rose from the earth, clapping together to knock Miss M, Superboy, and Remix from the air. "I suppose the properly inclusive term is: meat bags."

Waving his hand, the ground once against shook violently as a crevasse ripped itself open in the field, swallowing Nightmare, Artemis, and Aqualad as they charged forwards. Firing an arrow with a line, Artemis grabbed onto Kaldur as the Atleantean used his free hand to clasp Nightmare's. The violent jerk of the line straightening knocked them into the wall, causing Kaldur to cry out as Nightmare dug his claws in to keep from slipping.

"Hold on!" Aurora shouted, diving down and grabbing onto the line. Yanking on it, the three attached to it gave surprised shouts as they were pulled up the closing shaft and thrown into the air for a moment before landing on the ground again. "You guys ok?"

"Fine."

"Less talking more fighting!" Robin shouted, racing up a boulder. Leaping off he tossed two batarangs in the Red's direction, landing on the ground and rolling to his feet besides his friends as the android caught them, the explosives going off in his hand, smoke curling through its fingers. "That didn't even leave a scratch!"

"This might be harder than we thought," Kid Flash winced.

"Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move."

"Ekoms emoceb a dlofdnilb!" Zatanna replied, smirking as a piece of cloth appeared and wrapped itself around the robot's eyes. "Tornado never knew my moves."

"And I bet you got some good ones," Robin smirked before pausing, "wait…whoa, sorry that might've come off a little too Wally."

"A little?" Nightmare remarked.

"Shut up Night!"

Above them, Remix took her opportunity and dove down, swinging her morningstar into the machine's face, smirking as the metal spikes tore at the metal faceplate as she knocked it off its pedestal. The android skipped along the geyser plains, leaving a groove in the earth as he slid to a stop. Landing on the stolen perch, she raised her weapon ready to strike again when something made her pause.

Like they would when she prepared to dive into molten lava, her feathers began to tighten against her wing, making them almost look scaled instead of their normal appearance. But they wouldn't do that unless…

Turning her attention away from the battle, Remix let her friends deal with it the android as she landed on the thermal fields, pressing her hand through the thin topsoil into the superheated mud beneath it. However, instead of meeting the hot grainy thick sludge she'd been expecting, her hand dove into scalding, viscous fluid that she could swear she saw a glow emanating from deep under it.

Now that she was paying more attention, she could feel it. The familiar heat rapidly rising to the surface from gigantic pockets deep underground as pressure built.

Eyes widening, Skylar shot to her feet, turning in the direction she knocked the robot in to see a bulge forming in the earth where she sensed the most heat radiating from. "Shit."

The ground audibly cracked violently as the first wave of blistering heat passed over the field as a spurt of hot magma sprayed into the air with a plume of gas. More spurts followed as the cracks continued to spread, letting lava flow from the earth onto the surface.

"He's activating a stage two eruption!" Kid Flash exclaimed. "If he gets to stage three we can kiss the hemisphere goodbye!"

"Hit him from all sides!" Aqualad ordered as he and Superboy leapt at him.

Remix didn't both as she landed beside Wally. "Is there a way to stop the eruption before it gets to stage three?"

"Not if—wait…" the speedster paused, trailing off and looking at her quizzically, "you're immune to lava right?"

"Yeah."

"And the toxic volcanic gases, right?"

"Get to the point!" she snapped.

"Rob!" KF called, waving the Boy Wonder over as he grabbed her, ducking behind a slab of stone. "Pull up a schematic of the volcano."

Robin frowned, but didn't question his friend as he quickly pulled up a hologram.

"Ok, so while the others handle evil Red, we need to stop a stage three supervolcano eruption, we need to relieve pressure, fast. Robin can you can for pressure sensitive spots?"

"Yeah," he nodded, typing quickly as red dots began to appear on the diagram. "These are the spots, but I don't know how we'll get to them with our new friend out there."

"We don't have to," Wally grinned, "but she can. What'cha say Remix, ready to take a dive into one of Earth's biggest volcanoes?"

Looking at the model, Skylar nodded, "I can get to the pressure points without him noticing, I just need you guys to occupy him."

"Got it."

The other two raced out back into the fray as Remix removed her comms and dropped her mace on the ground. Sprinting forwards, she spread her wings, and flew into one of the rising plumes of smoke.

"Guys we've got a plan…"

Skylar tuned them out as she flew above the battle, circling around to the back of the volcano for a clear shot into the caldera. Hearing Zatanna chant another spell, she took her chance and dove into the volcano.

On the ground, Nightmare lunged, attacking the android from its blind side. It stumbled in response to his punch, dropping M'gann, allowing Wally to sweep her up and carry her away from the intense heat. As the robot began to right itself, a ray of light hit it in the gut, blasting it back onto the ground close to the lava's edge.

The robot, sparking, dented and smoking from its various wounds, slowly began to rise back to its feet, only to get hit into the magma by a torrent of water.

"Nice hit Aqualad!" Robin praised.

"The hit was not mine."

"Look!" Aurora exclaimed pointing behind them.

All heads turned and eyes widened as they met the familiar form of the Red that had attacked them in the cave. Raising their fists, the teens expected a fight on two fronts, instead, they were surprised as it soared over them on a wave, accompanied by Red Tornado who slammed into the other Red as it tried to lift itself out of the molten rock.

The volcanic Red began to get up again only to be knocked back under the lava as the water controlling one leapt on it, pushing it under. It was followed by Red Tornado, flying down and flipping midair, kicking his feet into the chest of the other one until he was almost waist deep.

He might've gone further had a lasso not wrapped around his hips and yanked what was left of the hero out of the lava.

However, they didn't have time to celebrate as the ground shook again as more lava spewed from the volcano's mouth, cracks forming in the rock as pressure began to build. "I thought you had a plan?!" Artemis snapped.

"I do!" Wally replied.

"Where's Remix?" Nightmare asked.

The sound of an explosion made them all freeze as they looked up towards the volcano, watching as massive plumes of ash and smoke erupted from the side of the volcano.

"There she is," Robin smirked. As they watched a familiar ball of fire emerge from one of the new holes in the side of the mound, darting through the ash as lightning sparked through it. Splitting from the plume, Remix flew over, her wings and uniform coated in cooling magma. "Ok, the lava's flowing back down into the subterranean chambers," she panted as she landed, "but now, we have a plume of ash that's set us into nuclear winter. Tornado, redirect it."

The android didn't reply, merely flying up into the air. They all looked up watching as the ash clouds began to swirl, moving higher in the atmosphere through the barely discernable edges of a massive red twister in the air as it was funneled into the upper atmosphere.

Biting their lips, all attention turned down to the volcano itself, sighs of relief collectively escaping them as they watched the magma slowly cooling, stopping any further escape of ash and gas. "Yes!" Wally cheered. "I knew it'd work!"

"Remix!" Nightmare grinned, playfully punching the girl's shoulder. "You singlehandedly stopped a volcano! That's awesome! How'd you even know you could do it?"

"I...I dunno…I just did."

-.-

21:34MDT

"There, that should do it," Robin said, stepping away from the table and setting down the tools he'd been using.

"I can speak again," Red Tornado spoke, closing his faceplate. "And both optics are functioning at full capacity."

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet," Aqualad stated.

"The planet would've survived, it was humanity that was saved. Though not by me, my brother was the true hero this day, as were all of you."

"My point is this: you were never the mole, never the traitor."

"No," Red replied. "I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator: Morrow."

"You could've left us a note or something saying that," Skylar drawled, crossing her arms, "you don't want to know how close I was to ripping you limb from limb."

"I understand your anger Skylar, I can see how my departure would paint me in that light."

"Hey Red! We can rebuild you, better than before!" Robin called, diving into a box full of parts.

"I do not believe I should be repaired."

"Why did you volunteer to become our den mother in the first place?!" Conner exclaimed.

"I was the pragmatic choice. I do not require sleep, I have no secret identity, or second life to live."

"But you do have advanced AI programming, designed to learn, adapt, evolve!" Wally pointed out.

"Hello Megan! You wanted to become more human."

"And you can't really do that with the League," Artemis scoffed.

Skylar snickered, "Yeah, bunch of stiffs."

"You sure aren't going to learn emotion from Batman," Robin chuckled, "trust me."

"Honestly, I don't I've ever felt that man happy," Amber noticed.

"I'm surprised you can feel anything from him," Onyx remarked.

Robin nodded in agreement, "No kidding."

"Then the cave was not only a proving ground for us, but for you as well," Kaldur concluded.

"I do not know if these statements are accurate. But, perhaps, they are true. And, if I understand the term correctly, I believe I have come to…care about you all."

"Aw, that's sweet," Amber smiled, her wings glowing brighter for a moment.

"See, practically a meat bag already," Conner sighed.

"Can we just go home already? I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get our ass whooping by our mentors over with."

"Oh…"

"We're so gonna be grounded for life, aren't we?"