Chapter 4
A/N: Hey everyone, good to see y'all back for the next chapter! Hope y'all're enjoying the story so far. Anyways, remember, I just own my OCs.
/comms/
Telepathy/flashbacks
Mt. Justice, July 18, 11:18EDT
"Recognized: Wonder Woman—03. Nightmare—B08. Hawkman—09. Hawkwoman—10. Remix—B09. Aurora—B07. Captain Atom—12."
Onyx blinked as he held his bag, looking up at the massive structure around him. He could see what looked to be a circular ring, and some hallways. Overall, he wasn't sure if he liked the place so far, it seemed…confining.
"I thought someone was supposed to be here to meet us?" Skylar muttered shoving a hand into her pocket as she tossed her duffel bag over her shoulder.
"Red Tornado must be running late," Hawkman said crossing his arms.
"Apologizes," a monotone voice spoke and the three hybrids jumped as the android walked in. "The Team decided to intercept me outside the Cave."
Caption Atom crossed his arms, brows furrowing. "Something wrong?"
"They were seeking an assignment. I have informed them that missions are Batman's responsibility. Right now, I believe they are familiarizing themselves with the cave."
"Well, while they do that, do you want to get your rooms set up?" Diana questioned patting her protégé on the back. Taking the lead, the Amazon walked to the living quarters. Prying a door open, she raised a brow as she saw a few pink things scattered around the room. This must've been Miss Martian's quarters. She turned to the door right across, only to find Captain Atom helping Amber hang up the sets of clothes they'd gotten when they went shopping. Guess that room was taken. Down the hall, she could hear the Hawks helping Skylar in one room with an open door. She strode to the room across from it, smiling when she saw it was empty. "What do you think kiddo?"
Onyx peered in, biting his lip. "It's big…"
"But?"
"Aren't there any windows? Like at the Watchtower?" he asked. "Is this my new cage?"
"Hey, hey," she said sternly, "this isn't the lab. Remember? You're more than welcome to come and go as you please. There's even some doors where you can go outside. Does that help?"
He shrugged, his tail curling near his ankles. "I guess?"
It was a start. "Come on, maybe once we get you settled in everything will feel better."
Onyx did admit, this place didn't seem as prison-ish once he got his clothes and stuff all set up. His bear alone made it seem more comfortable. Plus Diana had helped by getting him a few random little things to place around the room, some books, a sketchpad, a coloring book, not to mention lots of soft fuzzy blankets.
A strange scent reached his nose, causing the hybrid to sniff. What was that smell? "Do you smell that?"
Diana turned, sniffing the air, her blue eyes going wide. "Smoke!" she flew out of the room, nearly barreling over Atom and Hawkman as they came out to see what was going on. Racing down the hall, they came to a large room that reminded the three teens of the lounge on the Watchtower. There was a couch, tv, and a whole kitchen. In said kitchen, they could see smoke coming out of the oven.
Sky sighed, walking over and pulling out the tray with her bare hand. "Who the heck was cooking rocks?"
"MY COOKIES!" they hear a female voice exclaim. A moment later, a green-skinned girl with red hair flew in with several other teens following her. "Oh…you already got them. Thanks. I was trying Granny Jone's recipe for episode sixteen of—well, never mind…Who are you?"
"Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Robin, Superboy," Captain Atom greeted. "Meet your new teammates: Aurora, Remix, and Nightmare. They'll be staying with you in the Cave."
"Isn't that hot?" the tall boy with the S-Shield shirt asked looking at the girl holding the smoking tray.
"Not as hot as her," one quipped only to yelp as one of the black lumps slammed into his forehead.
The glasses boy chuckled at his friend's misfortune, "I like her."
"Glad to see you're all getting along," Hawkwoman chuckled. "Now, we have a briefing in ten minutes, so we'll let you all get to know each other. We'll be back to see how you three are settling in later."
As the Leaguers left, Skylar tossed the tray on the counter, raising a brow at the green-skinned girl. "What were those rocks supposed to be?"
She pouted, "They were supposed to be cookies."
"Bet they would've tasted great," the small boy with glasses reassured, motioning, "He doesn't seem to mind."
All heads turned to the redhead currently munching down on what used to be food. "Uh…I have a serious metabolism?"
"I'll make more?"
"It was sweet of you to make any," the dark skinned one with pale hair replied.
"Thanks Aqualad."
"We're off duty, call me Kaldur'ahm," he introduced. "Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."
"I'm Wally," the redhead boy said leaning on the counter. "See, I already trust you with me secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over there. Batman isn't letting Robin tell anyone his real name."
"Mine's no secret it's M'gann M'orrz," the green girl grinned. "But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."
"You're not from Earth?" Amber asked her large wings instantly perking up.
"Nope, I'm from Mars."
"That's so cool!" she smiled her wings flittering a bit. "Oh, I suppose this means I should introduce myself. I'm Aurora, on missions, but my name is Amber. Captain Atom is my mentor."
"Amber?" Wally nodded. "Pretty name for a gem like yourself."
The girl blushed, folding her wings, "Um…thank you?"
"So what about you?" Robin asked turning to the lone boy of the new arrivals.
"I'm Onyx," he spoke quietly.
"And I'm Skylar."
"So where did the League find you guys?" M'gann asked.
"Cadmus," all three shrugged.
That reply, made the others freeze. Superboy stepped forwards, "You guys were also in Cadmus?"
"Yep," Skylar shrugged. "Don't remember leaving the lab to go there, but whatever, not the first time something weird's happened. Being here's better than being an experiment. I'm guessing you're the clone Superman mentioned."
Superboy's face darkened at the mention of the Man of Steel. "What's it to you?"
"Just curious," she smirked. "So what's your name?"
"Superboy."
"Oh."
With that the super-clone began stomping away before freezing and whirling around on all of them, rage blazing in his eyes. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
"What's wrong?" a female voice spoke in their heads. This caused most of them to grab their heads as the three new arrivals bristled. "I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."
"M'gann stop!" Kaldur ordered. "Things are different on Earth. Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."
"Besides, Cadmus's creepy little Gnomes left a bad taste in his brain," Wally pointed to Superboy, before looking at the other three, "and probably them too."
"I—I didn't mean to—"
A hand grabbed the front of her shirt and the Martian girl was yanked forwards. "Listen here girly," Skylar snarled, "do that again, and I promise," she opened her palm and a flame appeared in it as he wings began to glow like magma, "you'll regret it." Shoving M'gann away, she turned on her heel, walking back towards her friends. "Are we sure this is the right team?"
"Give them a chance, we did only just meet them," Amber reassured quietly.
Onyx raised a brow, crossing his arms. "I dunno Amber. We did just watch one eat rocks, and," he motioned to Superboy, "I don't think Sky's the only one with anger issues."
"I don't have anger issues!" she protested and they looked at her. "Ok fine! I have some. But at least I can control it…mostly."
The green girl withered slightly under the glares of her teammates. Glancing down, she tried to think of something they could talk about, or something they could do, to smooth things over. It didn't take long for an idea to hit her. "Hello Megan!" she exclaimed slacking her forehead. "I know what we can do." She flew down the hall, leaving them to follow before they were suddenly left waiting on her as she went back to get Superboy.
-.-
"It's my Martian Bioship!" M'gann revealed as the doors slid open. In the cent of the landing pad, sat a red and black egg-shaped thing.
"Cute," Wally complemented. "Not aerodynamic, but cute."
The Martian girl chuckled. "It's at rest silly. I'll wake it." Turning to the ship, she held out her hand and all of them took a step back as the egg grew into, well, a ship. "Well, you coming?"
Looking at each other, Wally and Robin took the lead, sprinting into the ship with the others following. Getting inside, the boys slid into their seats, jumping as harnesses came out from the chairs. "Whoa!"
"Cool."
"Red Tornado, please open the hangar doors," M'gann said as they all took their seats.
The doors began to slide open and the ship took off into the air. "Incredible!" Robin grinned.
"She sure is," Wally smiled, before flushing bright red as M'gann looked at him. "The ship, which like all ships is a she."
Robin chuckled, "Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth."
"Dude!"
Skylar rolled her eyes, looking at her comrades, "I dunno about you, but I prefer using wings than," she tugged at the harness, "whatever this is."
"Says the one who can fly," Onyx deadpanned.
She snickered leaning back, putting her hands behind her head, "Not my fault you didn't grow wings."
"Please," Amber spoke softly, "now is not the time for a fight. We are already on thin ice with these guys," she narrowed her eyes giving Skylar a glare, "especially after what you pulled."
"In her defense Amber, one of them went into our heads," Onyx reminded with a hiss. "I don't know about y'all but I'm not going to become a puppet again. I'd say they're on thin ice with us."
"No kidding," Skylar agreed tossing a wary glare over her shoulder at the Martian.
"Can't we at least try to give them a chance?" Amber pleaded. "The League said that these guys were their protégés. They haven't steered us wrong yet."
"Key word: yet," Skylar replied.
"Hey," Robin spoke up, "How about a little Martian shape-shifting?"
The trio turned around, looking at M'gann as she got up from the controls. Her clothes began to change and suddenly, there was a second Amber on the ship. She changed forms again, looking like a female form of Robin, this time in some red, black and yellow uniform—must've been his suit. Twirling around, the darker clothes were replaced by a bright yellow and red suit along with a red crop of hair.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally asked.
"Impressive," Robin clapped. "But you know you're not gonna fool anyone with those."
M'gann sheepishly nodded, taking her seat. "Mimicking boys is harder."
"And your clothes?"
"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands," she excplained.
Superboy scoffed, "As long as they're the only ones."
"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?"
"Density shifting?" She shook her head, "No, it's a very advanced technique."
Across from them, Robin began snickering. "Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall, but when he tries it, bloody nose."
He flushed in embarrassment as the others chuckled at his expense. "Dude!"
"Here's something I can do, Camouflage Mode," she grinned and they all looked outside, watching as the wings of the ship became almost invisible to the naked eye.
/Red Tornado to Miss Martian, an alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate, covertly. I am sending coordinates/
"Received, adjusting course."
Robin scoffed, crossing his arms, "Tornado's keeping us busy again."
"Again?" Amber asked.
"It doesn't matter," M'gann said. "I mean a simple fire lead you to Superboy and our new friends. We should find out what caused the disturbance."
"I think I know the cause," Superboy spoke up.
Looking out the window, their eyes all widened at the sight of a tornado coming towards them.
The Bioship was sucked in as it grew closer, forcing its passengers to grip onto their seats as they were pushed around by the g-forces as their ship spun. Under M'gann's hands, the controls began to glow. She pulled them out of the twister, landing them a safe distance away.
"Robin?" Aqualad spoke as they got off the ship. "Are tornados common in New England." Getting no response they all looked around, finding the small boy to be gone. "Robin?"
"He was just here?"
They all heard a blast, whirling away from where the boy had previously been they could see the windows exploding outwards. Racing over, they arrived to see Robin get blasted back against a column. Falling to the ground, he sat up as Superboy landed next to him. "Who's your new friend?"
"Didn't catch his name but he plays kinda rough!" he warned.
"My apologies," the red and black figure said, "you may address me as Mr. Twister."
"That sounds like a stripper name," Sky smirked as Wally and Robin choked.
Superboy charged forwards to attack. At the same time Twister aim his arms towards the ground, some spots on the weapons on them beginning to glow. He sent out two torrents of wind, blasting the clone back and slamming him into a wall.
Kid Flash put on his goggles charging forwards with Miss Martian and Aqualad on his heels. As he jumped to strike the man, a whirling wrapped around him and the speedster was sent flying out the door and across the parking lot. Twister then turned and blasted Aqualad and M'gann back.
"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero, I was not expecting children," Twister sneered.
"Hey, life's full of disappointments," Skylar rolled her eyes. "Trust me, you aren't the only one disappointed right now."
"Have you no adult supervision, I find your presence here quite disturbing," Twister continued. Movement came from his right and Twister crashed through a wall, rolling to his feet. Looking up he saw a boy with a tail and a fairy girl shaking out her wrist.
"Gotta love distractions," the boy smirked.
A fireball hit him from above, lighting the scarf around his neck on fire. Ripping the burning cloth off, Twister glared as the same girl that distracted him a minute ago landed. "Oops."
She did not sound the least bit sorry.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Aqualad demanded as he and the other regrouped.
Twister took to the air. "Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero."
"Read his mind, find a weakness!" Kaldur ordered.
"But I thought I wasn't supposed to—"
"It's ok with the bad guys!"
Nodding, the Martian raised her hand to her head, closing her eyes. "Nothing! Getting Nothing!" Opening her eyes, the girl smacked herself on the head, "Hello Megan! Mr. Twister is just Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can create tornadoes!"
"Red Tornado sent us here…"
"After saying we'd be tested soon enough," Robin continued. "This is his test! Something to keep us busy!"
"Speedy called it: We're a joke."
Amber looked at Onyx and Sky getting just as confused looks in return. "Um…that doesn't seem right. Heroes are supposed to protect people, not put them in danger."
"Besides, aren't his tornadoes supposed to be, well, red?" Onyx asked.
The others ignored their points as they stomped towards the so-called villain. "This game," Wally spat, "so over!"
"We know who you are and what you want!" Robin called. "So let's end this!"
"Consider it ended." Raising his arms into the air, thunderclouds began to form and whirl around Twister.
"And impressive show," Aqualad said, "but we will not indulge you, we will not engage!"
The team's confidence wavered when lightning began to crackle around him, "Uh…can Red Tornado do that?"
Twister chuckled. "You think I'm Tornado, ironic."
Lightning struck the ground, blasting most of them back. Shrugging off his jacket, Superboy charged forwards. He leapt into the air, only for Twister to fire lightning at him. The blast hit him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground where he made a massive groove in the dirt.
Onyx emerged from the tree line behind Twister and charged forwards. He leapt into the air, stretching out an arm. The loud screech of metal could be heard as his claws dug into the suit. Twister kicked down, hitting the boy in the head and knocking him off. Firing a blast of lighting after him, he growled as he saw the boy basically redirect it.
Diving out of the way of the bolt, Twister grumbled to himself. Of course. One one of these infuriating children could handle lightning; one already ran at the speed of sound, two more were clearly from space, there was an Atlantean, a fairy, and a dragon-like girl. Of course there had to be a lightning-wielding lizard-boy in the mix. Why was he surprised?
Seeing a moment of distraction, Amber flew up in front of her team. She spread her wings, and the normal glow turned to blinding white, forcing Twister to look away or lose his eyesight. At that moment, a shadow dove past, and Skylar, raked her claws along his chest, before grabbing his arm and hurling the villain down into the trees.
Hopefully one fell on him. That'd keep him occupied for a while.
Nodding to Amber, the two girls joined Onyx on the ground. As the others began to regain consciousness, Skylar couldn't help but bare her fangs. This was their team? They were pathetic. There was no coordination, no planning, just chaos. She thought the protégés of the Justice League would be better than this. They'd been trained better than these idiots.
"Ugh, what happened?" Wally groaned sitting up rubbing his head.
"You got your asses kicked, that's what happened," Onyx growled crossing his arms. Nearby Skylar raised her brows in surprise. Took the words right outta her mouth.
Superboy stood up, punching a rock. "You act like that's our fault!" he pointed towards Miss Martian, "She's the one who tricked us into believing Twister was Red Tornado!"
Skylar rolled her eyes, "And maybe if you got your head out of your ass, you'd remember we were trying to warn you!"
"She is pretty inexperienced," Kid Flash spoke up to agree avoiding M'gann's gaze. "Hit the showers. We'll take it from here."
"Stay out of the way," Superboy snapped, only to stop as claws dug into his arm. Looking at the perpetrator, his gaze met Skylar's dark green eyes.
"Really? You're telling her to stay out of your way?" she sneered. "What was your plan again? Just run up and hit it hoping everything works out?"
"Guys, please," Amber spoke up. "Fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to solve anything."
"It is if it keeps us from getting killed by these idiots," Skylar hissed shoving Superboy away from her. He began to step towards her, when she released a warning blast of heat. They could even see more magma-like glowing emerging on her wings and arms. "Come on, try it, I dare you!"
Onyx stepped forwards, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Sky, if we're going to beat the shit out of something, it might as well be something our mentors won't kill us for." He leaned in, speaking quieter, "And face it, the League will believe them over us any day. We still aren't sure if they're really on our side."
The girl raised a brow contemplatively, before folding her wings back down. "Right," she whispered giving a small nod.
As much as she hated to say it, Onyx had a point. They still weren't sure how many of these guys they could trust. Her mentors, Onyx's, and Amber's definitely could be, they hadn't set off the empath or the resident lie detector. But the others…they still weren't sure. She especially didn't like how Batman could always sneak up on them. Seemed like he always had eyes on them, just like in the lab.
With a nod of his own, Onyx sprinted off in the direction Twister fled in, leaving her and Amber to take to the air after him. If the others were smart, they'd stay out of their way.
They could see several tornadoes moving through the small town. They pulled cars off the ground, hurling them into boats and buildings, picked up boats sending them flying out of the water into buildings and cars, and other twisters just demolished buildings. Needless to say, it was not pretty.
"Surely this will get the desired attention!" Twister exclaimed.
"YOU GOT OURS, FULL AND UNDIVIDED," Wally shouted sprinting past. Leaping into the air, he flipped, using his momentum to push Twister back as he vaulted off.
"IMMATERIAL AND INSUFFICIENT! YOU ARE A DISTRACTION I CAN NO LONGER TOLERATE!"
There was a loud scream and they three hybrids looked at each other as Superboy crashed down on Twister. Of course they couldn't stay away. "So…while they distract what kind of plan do we have?" Sky proposed. "Cause right now, I'm thinking popcorn so we can watch this shit show go down.
Onyx rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Well, obviously we have to strike while he is distracted with attacking the others," he said. "He'll be too focused on them to realize we're moving in for the kill."
"Ambush? I like it."
"Shouldn't we fill in the others on this plan?" Amber inquired.
"They don't look like they do plans," Onyx pointed out. "I know we were told that improvising was good, but this is ridiculous."
"Well, fire is a no go," Skylar said watching as Robin explosives were sent flying through the twisters. Putting a hand on her hip she looked at the others. "You guys got anything?"
"I would offer lightning, but considering he can generate that…"
"Touché."
"Guess that leaves you Amber."
"Me?!" she squeaked watching a boat fly through the air onto Superboy and Kaldur.
"Yeah, blind him again!"
"I could blind the others too!" she reminded.
"Listen to me!" a voice exclaimed in their heads. "All of you."
"What did we tell you?!"
"I know! And I know I messed up! But I know what we need to do, please trust me."
"Tell us what you have in mind and then we'll decide from there."
-.-
"Hit the showers boys," Red Tornado said landing in front of the four teens fighting Twister. "I was hoping you could handle this, clearly, you cannot."
"But we have a plan now!" Robin protested.
"The subject is not up for debate."
Looking dejected, the boys made a retreat, leaving the superhero to fight the new bad guy.
"I was beginning to think you'd never show up," Twister sneered.
"I'm here now." Pushing his hand back a tornado he sent it flying towards him. Twister created his own, using it to countereffect his before sending another his way. Raising his hand, Red Tornado stopped it before it could hit him. "We are evenly matched Twister." Thrusting his hands behind him a larger twister formed and he motioned forwards. Rocks flew over his head, flying towards the villain.
"No Tornado we are not!" Twister argued. Punching the groud, he released a wind column that shot up, deflecting the stones away from him. Twister threw a hand forwards, firing his lightning, chasing after Tornado as he attempted to avoid his attacks.
Straying too close to a boat, the bolt hit it, causing an explosion to erupt knocking the red android back onto the ground, sparking running over his frame.
Twister flew over the tips of his fingers opening to reveal plugs that moved down to connect. "Remain still android. Reprogramming won't take long."
Tornado reached up, grabbing the cables and pulling them away. Turning to face him, Twister found himself looking at the smirking face of the Martian girl, "Longer than you might think."
"No!" Stepping back, Twister found the ground lifted out from under him. He flew around in a spriral, he was in a twister, looking down, he could see the blurred form of a speedster below. A flash of light came from his left and Twister froze as the fairy dove in. Her fist hit his faceplate, forming a sizable dent in the metal, sending him flying back across the plaza. Rolling on the ground, he was stopped as Superboy began punching. Smoke erupted from his side, the armor had definitely been breached. His other arm was grabbed and Twister looked to see Nightmare grabbing his arm. Pulling hard, the boy ripped it off before swinging it like a bat, sending the villain flying into the docks.
Sinking in the water, the clang of metal reverberated around him and he saw Aqualad holding an anchor. The marks on his arms began to glow and electricity shot down through the damaged circuits, causing the remaining arm to explode. The blast sent him flying into the air, where the fiery girl dove at him, flipped in the air, and send a fireblast from her feet down at him.
Twister crashed to the ground, sparking and smoking. He sat up and the chest opened as the teens gathered around him and a small man in a green and white suit fell out onto his face. "Foul, I call foul."
M'gann raised her arm, summoning a boulder. Realizing what she was doing, Kaldur began to charge as Skylar moved to intercept.
"M'GANN NO!"
"M'GANN YES!"
The boulder crashed down onto the man, leaving the stunned. Or most of them, sniffing the air, Onyx relaxed, tilting his head. He knew the smell of blood, and the smell of death, yet neither of those scents were present.
"Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth we don't execute our captives!" Robin exclaimed storming up to the Martian.
M'gann raised a brow, "You said you trust me."
"Seems like it'd be more efficient and lower crime rates if you just killed them all," Skylar remarked.
"Well, our dude in the rock isn't dead. I don't smell blood," Onyx pointed out.
Smiling, M'gann raised the boulder, revealing a mess of broken machinery. "That's why I couldn't read his mind!"
"Sweet," Skylar grinned resting her elbow on M'gann's shoulder. "Not as cool as actually killing the guy, but still cool."
"Souvenir," Wally grinned picking up an eye.
"We should've had more faith in all of you this mission," Kaldur said nodding to his new teammates.
"Yeah, you rocked this mission!" Wally quipped. "Get it? Rocked?"
"Very funny," Amber laughed.
"Don't laugh it's stupid!"
"Ignore him, we're all just turbed you guys are on the team."
"Thanks."
"Yes, we apologize for our…behavior," Amber smiled elbowing her comrades.
"No prob, you guys didn't trust us yet. No big whoop, at least you didn't beat the crap outta us like Supey did when we first met," Wally laughed.
Superboy crossed his arms, "Mind control."
"Eh, we've all been there," Onyx shrugged. "So…should we get this back to the cave? Or wait for the paparazzi?"
-.-
7:45EDT
"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Kaldur said as the gathered around the table the remains were on with Red Tornado.
"Clearly."
"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" M'gann inquired.
"No. This was your battle. I do not believe I should solve your problems for you, nor should you solve mine for me."
"But…if you're in danger—"
"Consider this matter closed," the android stated, turning to walk away.
"Batman, Aquaman, and Flash, they'd've jumped right in to fix things," Wally muttered.
"Guess if we're going to have a babysitter a heartless machine is exactly what we need," Robin frowned.
"Dude! Harsh!"
"And inaccurate," Tornado corrected making them all jump. "I have a heart: carbon-steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."
"Ah…I'll try to be more considerate next time," the Boy Wonder grimaced.
"And more respectful," Kaldur reminded
"Speedy was so wrong, this team thing might just work out," Wally grinned. "So, who's up for a movie night?"
"Just as long as there's no sappy, romance stuff," Skylar scowled. Onyx smirked opening his mouth to say something when she slapped his hand over his mouth. "Not. A. Word."