Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"
Mt. Justice
July 18th, 2010
Recognized:
Robin B01, Kid Flash B03, Wildcat B04
Wally, Dick and I looked around and admired the cave quickly before running up to the others. Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian were standing at the Cave's holocomputer. When I saw what Miss Martian was wearing, I felt like I should have tried more. She was wearing a skirt and a cardigan, and I was just wearing a fitted grey sweatshirt with leggings and a pair of black converse. Unlike Dick, my sunglasses were in my pocket while I just left my green eyes feline.
"Did you ask him?" Robin rushed, hoping for an answer.
"What did he say?" Wally was in need of that answer as well.
"He's arriving now." Aqualad smiled, knowing how excited the other two were.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Wally nudged Robin just before the two of them took off once again. I walked with Kaldur while Miss Martian and Superboy followed awkwardly together. the wind outside picked up as Red Tornado landed in his crimson cyclone.
"Red Tornado!" Wally called out as he waved.
"Greetings." The android welcomed in his metallic voice. "Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?" He questioned, possibly curiously, if he was capable of that.
"We hoped you had a mission for us." Aqualad informed him, the rest of us looking at him with interest.
"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility." Tornado reminded us with a lower tone than before, like he was just reciting the statement.
"But it's been over a week, and nothing-" Robin tried to protest but Red Tornado put a hand up to silence him.
"You'll be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company." The android suggested, but no one necessarily wanted to do that.
"This team is not a social club." Aqualad stated harshly. It sort of will be considering it might be where we spend all our time with training and missions.
"No, but I am told social interaction Is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave." Red Tornado said as he walked past all six of us and entered the cave.
"Keep busy." Wally grumbled, nudging Robin.
"Does he think we're falling for this?" Rob questioned angrily. I just crossed my arms, hoping Batman will get it together and just give us a mission already.
"Oh, I'll find out." Miss Martian whispered with excitement as she focused. But the computer recognized Tornado as he moved out of range. "I'm sorry. I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I cannot read his mind." She sighed, looking down.
"Nice try, though. So, uh, you know what I'm thinkin' right now?" Wally asked her.
"We all know what you're thinkin' now." Robin snapped at him as I smacked the back of Wally's head.
"And now we tour the clubhouse." Aqualad said with slight boredom. It makes sense he wouldn't be interested in a tour.
"Well, Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides." Miss Martian offered, but Superboy just rolled his eyes.
"Don't look at me." He replied with a gruff tone.
"We won't. A private tour sounds much more fun." Wally said, leaning towards Miss Martian. With that, my my interest in today fell to zero.
"Sh-she never said private." Robin sounded nervous. The two of them have been competing for Miss Martian's attention, but I saw it the first day we met her. She has her heart set on Superboy, she just doesn't know exactly how to go about it.
"Team building. We'll all go." Aqualad smiled, seeing the friendly competition rising and the irritation coming from Superboy and I. As we approached the entrance, Robin pulled on Wally's shirt to get closer to Miss Martian.
"So this would be our front door," She said as we entered, and after entering a large room with water and taking a set of stairs, we found the exit. "And this would be the back. The cave is actually the entire mountain." She gave us a nice little fact. Once we made it back inside Wally continued it.
"It was hollowed out and reinforced By Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League." He explained, as he was probably interested in the engineering of the cave.
"Then why abandon it for the hall of justice?" Superboy asked, slightly confused.
"The cave's secret location was compromised." Aqualad explained for him.
"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah. That makes sense." Superboy commented, his naturally angriness bleeding through his speech.
"If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert." Miss Martian had a strange realization.
"The bad guys know we know they know about the place, So they'd never think to look here." Robin took her hand, trying to be gentlemen-like, but Wally removed his hand. I could see the discomfort on her face. I nonchalantly kicked Wally in the shin and glared at Robin. The two of them backed off from her.
"Uh, he means we're hiding in plain sight." Wally told her, trying to get as close as possible without setting me off.
"Ah, that's much clearer." Miss Martian lied, though I wasn't sure she thought the hiding in plain sight didn't make sense, or the boys' behavior towards her. But even I had to admit, she really picked an attractive human form. If I could do that, I would make myself look like one of those Victoria's Secret models, or someone like Kaya Scodelario.
"I smell smoke." Superboy said with an annoyed face, like the smell was a little too much for his heightened senses. But Miss Martian just gasped.
"My cookies!" She squealed with her upset demeanor before flying off to the kitchen. We all followed, finding her staring at a pan of burned cookies. "I was trying out grammy Jones recipe from episode 17 of… Heh, never mind." She just rambled, probably from her nervousness.
"I bet they'd have tasted great. He doesn't seem to mind." Robin gestured to Wally, who was about to cram his third cookie into his big mouth. I started laughing at him, drawing his attention.
"What? I have a serious metabolism." He reminded me as he crunched through his mouthful of cookies. I just stifled my laugh to a slight giggle as I reached out and brushed the crumbs from his chin and shirt.
"I'll make more?" Miss Martian asked as Wally kept chowing down.
"It was sweet of you to make any." Aqualad commented, trying to make the martian girl feel better about how today has been going so far.
"Thanks, Aqualad." She took her gaze off the charred cookies, giving him a proper thank-you.
"We're off duty. Call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur." He smiled as he revealed to us his name. I kind of felt nice that he trusted us that much, beside the fact that it wouldn't matter. All Atlanteans know who he is, it wasn't really a secret. But he considered s friends.
"I'm Wally. See? I already trust you with my secret I.D." Wally leaned forward, propping his head up on his hand, leaning on the counter. He just sparked agitation in me everytime he flirted with her. It was so obvious what he was doing and how awkward she felt.
"Unlike Mr. Dark Glasses and Ms. Kit-Kat, Batman's forbidden Boy and Girl Wonders from telling anyone their real names." Robin just frowned, his hands on his hips.
"Mine's no secret. It's M'gann M'orzz. Like, you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now." She seemed so excited, but there was an awkward silence as Superboy started to walk away, but he quickly lost his temper.
"Get out of my head!" He yelled just as my mind suddenly felt completely off.
What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically. I heard her voice echoing in my mind, and it hurt. My hand flew to my head as I backed away, trying to resist the pain burning through my conscious.
"M'gann, stop." Kaldur raised his voice, everyone looking at him as the pain subsided. "Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy." He explained as simply as he could without being rude to her. But M'gann's eyes just widened.
"Besides, cadmus' creepy little psychic genomes left a bad taste in his brain." Wally said with a hand up, like he was trying to keep it a secret from the guy with super hearing.
"I-I didn't mean to-" She tried to apologize but Superboy snapped at her.
"Just stay out." Superboy barked. We all just stood there for a moment until M'gann spoke again.
"Hello, Megan. I know what we can do." She smiled, flying off towards the hangar. Robin and I shrugged, the rest of us following her. We got into the elevator, the doors opening to the massive hangar. "It's my martian bioship." She introduced the rather large, red egg looking thing.
"Cute. Not aerodynamic, but cute." Wally commented just before stepping towards me.
"It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it." M'gann raised a green hand and the pod stretched like taffy into an incredibly designed ship, proving Wally wrong on its level of aerodynamics. It flipped around and the back stretched down into a sort of boarding dock. M'gann approached it and turned to face us half way. "Well, are you coming?" She asked, all of us following her in. "Strap in for launch." She told us.
"Whoa." Robin and I said at the same time as we each sat down on opposite sides of the ship, the ship strapping us in on its own.
"Cool." Wally observed as he sat down in the chair behind me.
"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors." M'gann requested. The giant doors in the side of the mountain slid open, and off we went, flying through the air.
"Incredible." Robin remarked, trying a little too hard to please M'gann with his impression of the ship.
"She sure is." I looked back to see Wally looking right at me, eyes wide before whipping his head around to M'gann. "I-I mean the ship, which, like all ships, is a she." He got out as fast as he could, failing in making things any less awkward for everyone. I faced the window and leaned away from everyone, trying to hide my red cheeks.
"Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth." Robin laughed, looking at M'gann.
"Dude!" Wally barked at Robin, upset with the Boy Wonder's need to one up him in the unwinnable competition for M'gann. I just tried to zone out everyone while I was trying to get a grip on my emotions. Today had a little too much irritation and embarrassment for my taste.
"Hey, how 'bout showing us a little martian shape-shifting?" Robin asked after a few moments. I felt like my face wasn't on fire anymore so I turned to see M'gann smile and move to the center of the ship. Slowly from the feet up, she became a taller, female version of Robin before twirling and posing as a female Kid Flash.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally said, seemingly melting to this just before M'gann made a perfect copy of my when I'm in uniform as Wildcat.
"Impressive, But you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone as Robin and Kid Flash." I said as my little brother and I both seemed to give her a light clap for the effort.
"Mimicking boys is a lot harder." She blushed, looking down at the floor of the ship.
"And your clothes?" Kaldur asked, a little confused as to how even the costumed worked out with her current outfit.
"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands." She explained with a smile. But Superboy didn't seem pleased.
"As long as they're the only ones." Superboy spoke gruffly, like he didn't mean to say the comment aloud.
"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?" Wally asked, interested in the ability
"Density shifting? No. I-it's a very advanced technique." M'gann said sheepishly.
"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall." Robin laughed for a moment, trying to make M'gann feel better with what he said next. "When he tries it, bloody nose." Rob gestured to Wally.
"Dude!" The redhead barked once again.
"Here's something I can do. Camouflage mode." M'gann spoke at I noticed the exterior of the ship disappear, only leaving a faint outline as the ship blurred the details of the town below as it passed over things.
"Red Tornado to Miss Martian." The android radioed in to us. "An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I'm sending coordinates." He informed, finally giving us something to do.
"Received. Adjusting course." She slipped right into a serious demeanor that I never expected to come from someone as upbeat as her.
"Tornado's keeping us busy again." Robin pouted.
"Yeah, not necessarily." I chided him, once again, irritated with his impulsive conclusions.
"She's right, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert." M'gann convinced the others.
"I think I know the cause." Superboy said as he looked out of the window to see a massive tornado in the middle of the power plant's parking lot. The ship got caught in the current, but M'gann maneuvered it just fine, getting the ship close enough to the ground for us to all drop out. Rob and I shared a look and disappeared, wanting to know what what was going on. We ran through the plant, each of us laughing at the excitement of finally getting in on some action. But what we found was a giant red mech. I was borderline thinking that it was a suit, but it could have been an android like Red Tornado. The thing seemed angry as Robin and I drew its fire, windows shattering as we past. The second Robin faltered in his change of course, the thing blasted him with pressurized air, sending him straight back into the wall. I ejected my claws and charged the mechanical man as the other's arrived, Superboy going to Robin's side as he picked himself off the ground.
"Who's your new friend?" I heard him ask loudly.
"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kinda rough." Robin replied, but the red and black mech slowed down, swatting me away.
"My apologies." He spoke in a cold mechanical voice as my body slammed into the wall behind Robin. "You may address me as Mr. Twister." The second he said his name, he ejected two more tornadoes, making it difficult to get close to him. But Superboy pushed on, only to be blasted back into a wall. Everyone prepared for combat as Superboy took a minute to recover. Rob and I moved over to the rest of the team as Wally put on his red Kid Flash goggles.
We all charged Twister at the same time. Wally running ahead and doing a front handspring to vault himself, his feet landing hard on Twister's metal chest. The red mech just grabbed him and tossed him outside, his momentum sending him out of range. Kaldur and M'gann tried attacking at the same time, but were blaster away.
"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children." Twister remarked as Robin pulled a few explosives out from under his jacket. I did the same.
"We're not children!" Rob shouted as we each threw two explosives at Twister. But he just shielded himself from the initial explosions, but my second one embedded itself in Twister's head as Robin's did his chest.
"Objectively, you are." The red mech spoke as he pulled out devices off and tossed them aside like he did with the others of our team. "Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing." He emphasized the word as he looked at his massive metal hands. Like a girl checking her nails to ignore someone.
"Well, we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can." Robin said as he found a new word to play with. The rest of the team minus Wally got together and stood strong against him, once again. M'gann used her telekinesis to rip open a part of machinery, sending a blast of steam over Mr. Twister to distract him. Superboy sprang into the air, aiming to smash Twister, but he was just blasted away by another tornado, sending him straight into M'gann as she tried to fly by. Robin, Kaldur and I charged as Twister punched the ground, sending Aqualad and Robin into the air, but I jumped just in time and somehow manage to get close enough to shred the metal that made up his face. He quickly grabbed my waist and threw my outside, sending my flying far past Wally. He saw and managed to get to my faster than I could hit the ground, catching me before swinging me onto his back and sprinting for Twister. I lept off his back as the two of us dodged the possibility of attacks and went on opposite sides of the mech.
"What have you done to our team?" Wally shouted, angry with the fact that this guy might actually get away.
"Embarrassed them, largely." Twister said as he launched a tornado at Wally, sending him flying once again. I pounced in rage, aiming to slash the blue tubes feeding the tornadoes to his hands, but he somehow sidestepped, grabbing my by the neck. I clawed at his hand, but all I was going was shredding metal, I couldn't find a weakness, as all the circuitry was shrouded by thick layers of steel and titanium.
"I got you, Wally." I heard M'gann say as I looked over to see Wally hovering in mid air above the ground as I dangled, struggling to fight the massive hand.
"I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now." Twister said as his fingers tightened, my breathing beginning to become labored. I caught this weird smell coming from Twister, like ash and wet dirt.
"What do you want?!" I screamed at him with everything I had. But Twister began flying into the air, taking my with him.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero." He snapped at the Team, throwing me with extreme force at my friends. Thankfully, Superboy leapt into the air and caught me, setting me down behind the others.
"Read his mind. Find a weakness." Kaldur ordered but M'gann hesitated.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that." She seemed worried.
"It's okay with the bad guys, just do it!" I yelled, picking myself off the ground, ready to fight again. I noticed M'gann focus before getting angry.
"Nothing. I'm getting nothing." She shouted. "Hello, Megan. Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornados?" M'gann seemed to have the right idea, but I knew she was wrong.
"He's not Tornado. I know this sounds weird but this guy smelled like wet dirt and ash while we were up close and personal. Tornado smells like our hideout and various members of the Justice League. Besides, RT's tornadoes are red and Mr. Twisters, are funneled from his back to his hands through tubes." I explained how I knew. I sounded absurd with the scents but I knew I was right. "Just trust me, he's not Tornado."
"But, Red Tornado sent us here." Kaldur seemed to be on M'gann's side.
"After saying we'd be tested soon enough. This is his test, something to keep us busy." Robin snapped, angry. Neither of them went with me. They went with M'gann. I didn't blame them, she sounded more solid, but I knew I was right.
"Speedy called it. We're a joke." Wally looked at the ground. I wasn't going to let it stop me that they didn't believe me. Kaldur punched the palm of his hand in rage before facing Twister. "This game, so over." Wally said as we all got closer to the hovering Mr. Twister.
"We know who you are and what you want." Robin shouted as I hung back behind the rest of the Team.
"So let's end this." Kaldur offered, but it didn't seem like Twister was going to go along with this.
"Consider it ended." Twister said in his deep, mechanical voice. He raised his hands and began making a massive supercell tornado, lightning flashing above him.
"An impressive show, But we will not indulge you. We will not engage." Kaldur tried to convince the mech as more lightning flashed.
"Uh, can Red Tornado... do that?" Wally asked, they were finally seeing it.
"No! I'm telling you! This isn't Red Tornado!" I shouted over the noise of the storm.
"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic." He said as lightning struck the ground, exploding before us with extreme force, knocking us all back. I was flipped over in mid air, my face hitting the ground first. There was a moment of fear as Twister drew closer, but something happened.
"Fine, then. I won't deny you children have power, But playing hide-and-seek with you Would not help me achieve my objectives, So stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy." Mr. Twister promised as he flew away towards town.
"What happened?" Wally asked before looking to me, his eyes widening. I touched my nose and found that it was bleeding, just a bit.
"I placed the bioship between us." M'gann explained as I made sure my nose wasn't broken. Superboy yelled as he decimated to stones.
"And that's supposed to make it right? You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado." He snapped at her.
"No, Any of us could have made the same conclusion, I'll admit even me. But none of you listened to me. I'm never wrong about scents, being feline, all of my senses are heightened, even smell. I know the difference between Mr. Twister and Red Tornado." I reminded them, my voice muddled as I held my nose to stop the bleeding.
"We should have listened." Wally admitted, putting a hand on my shoulder. In that moment, I fought my face heating up. I knew if that happened, I'd be as red as a tomato. But instead, an idea popped into my head.
"With that said, I actually have a plan, and it involves contacting Red Tornado first." I told them, looking right at M'gann. She was about to be the most useful person on the team.
Happy Harbor
"Certainly this will get the required attention." Mr. Twister said as he tore through the town with his tornados.
"You got ours, full and undivided!" Wally shouted as he ran up to Twister and slammed into his chest, properly this time.
"Immaterial and insufficient! You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate." Twister glared at Wally as Superboy game soaring through the air, a battle cry announcing his attack. But Twister moved out of the way, making Superboy miss. Twister sent a tornado at him as I ran up. Superboy threw me straight through the tornado and landed me on Mr. Twister. I slashed out his right eye before vaulting off of him, making sure not to let him get an upper hand. Twister used his abilities to throw a boat on top of Superboy as Wally ran me out of the way. Kaldur and Robin appeared, charging Twister. The atlantean was blown away, literally. Wally ran and did a front tuck, right over Twister's head to draw his attention. Robin threw bombs, disrupting the tornadoes and attacking Mr. Twister as Superboy came out of nowhere and knocked Twister back. M'gann was taking a little longer than I had hoped.
The town was being destroyed as Kaldur and Superboy drew attention away from Wally, Robin and I behind a crashed boat. Rob and I pulled out our utility belts from our jackets, extending them before securing it across our bodies from shoulder to side.
"You brought your utility belts?" Wally laughed.
"Never leave home without it, first thing Batman taught us." Robin defended and I checked my stock of weapons.
"Yeah, right after never go to the bathroom without it." Wally joked, but I backhanded his arm.
"Hit the showers, boys." I heard a familiar mechanical voice. It appeared to be Red Tornado, which was crucial for the plan to work. "I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly you cannot."
"But we've got a plan now." Robin technically wasn't lying, so it was perfectly convincing for Twister.
"The subject is not up for debate." Fake-Tornado said quickly. All of us walked away, getting out of sight and into place for the plan.
"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up." Mr. Twister seemed relieved.
"I'm here now." Fake-Tornado said as he disrupted the ground, a Tornado appearing beside him. If you had eyes like I did, you would see a faint shade of red from Wally's shirt. The tornado collided with Twister's before both dissipated, Wally running off to ensure not being seen. "We are evenly matched, Twister."
"No, Tornado, we are not." Mr. Twister said as he shot electricity at Tornado, managing to explode a boat, knocking Fake-Tornado to the ground, face electricity and everything 'escaped' his as he 'short circuited'. "Remain still, android. The reprogramming won't take long." He said as chords escaped Twisters fingers and attached themselves to the back of Fake-Tornado's head.
"Longer than you might think." M'gann said finally in her own voice as she removed the chords and her own face returned.
"No." Twister knew he'd been duped. M'gann blasted him back into Wally's tornado as she turned back into herself. Wally finally stopped at Twister sailed through the air. Superboy and I ripped through him, destroying his main motor skills before throwing him into the harbor. Aqualad held up his part of the plan with flying colors as Twister exploded from the water, one arm missing. M'gann used her telekinesis once again, ripping off his remaining arm before Robin threw explosives, ensuring he would stay down. Twister hit the ground, but got up to his knees. The inside of the machine opened up, a small man stepping out.
"Foul. I-I call foul." He spoke, but I knew he was just another android. I couldn't hear his, should be racing, heart beat. M'gann knew it too. She willed a giant rock to hover above the android.
"M'gann, no!" Kaldur shouted, but she smashed it.
"Don't know how things are done on Mars, But on Earth, we don't execute our captives!" robin stepped forward, trying to scold her, but I punched his arm.
"You should trust her more." I said, giving M'gann a smile as she lifted the rock to reveal a destroyed android, wires and all.
"That's why I couldn't read his mind." M'gann explained, proud of her decision. I saw Wally grab the disconnected eye.
"Cool. Souvenir." He smiled before putting it in his pocket.
"We should have had more faith in you, the both of you." Kaldur put a hand on her shoulder, looking at me.
"Yeah. You guys rocked this mission. Get it? Rocked." Wally punned, actually making me laugh.
"Ignore him. We're all just turbed you're on the team." Robin said to M'gann. Wally walked up to me with a smile, wiping a little drop of blood left under my nose.
The Cave
"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you." Aqualad said as we all observed the remains of the smaller android.
"Agreed." Red Tornado, the real one, said as he studied the data.
"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" M'gann asked.
"No. This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me. Consider this matter closed." RT said as he walked away.
"Batman, Aquaman, and Flash, they'd have jumped right in to fix things." Wally realized.
"Guess if we're gonna have a baby sitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need." Robin figured.
"Dude." Wally just looked at him.
"Harsh." I said, elbowing Robin in the side.
"And inaccurate. I have a heart, Carbon-steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing." Red Tornado said as he looked back at Rob. He just released a nervous chuckle.
"Right. Sorry. I'll strive to be more accurate." Robin said as Kaldur rested a hand on his shoulder.
"And more respectful." The atlantean instructed him.
"Speedy was so wrong." Wally smiled looking at me.
"This team thing," Robin started.
"Might just work out." Aqualad finished as we all headed to the kitchen.
Author's note: I hope you all are enjoying to story so far, if so, please review!
-thegirlwhoisstillwaiting