Chapter 19

A/N: hey everyone! Welcome back! Glad to see y'all enjoyed the last chapter and thanks for the reviews. Remember, I sadly do not own FNAF or YJ, I'm just the person who came up with this crazy crossover idea.

/comms/

Telepathy/flashbacks/journal entries

Mt. Justice, October 10, 16:58EDT

"Good work everyone," Canary praised, stepping into the middle of the training ring. At her words, the teens ended their spars, turning to look at their trainer. "In fact it's been a very productive week."

"Yeah, for everyone except Kid Malingerer," Artemis snickered, putting her hands on her hips as all eyes turned to the speedster chilling in the lounge chair on the sidelines.

"Hey!" Wally protested, "arm broken in combat against the Injustice League here, remember?"

Mike crossed his arms, raising a brow, "I've gotten injured on missions before too. You haven't seen me begging people to wait on me hand a foot."

"Dude! You heal in ten minutes, so not the same thing!"

Opening his mouth to reply, Mike was cut off as his mentor chuckled behind him. Glancing back, he could see the blonde shaking her head, a small smile on her face. "I've really enjoyed being your, uh, den mother this week," she started.

However, whatever else she was about to say was cut off as the Zeta-Beam powered up. "Recognized: Zatara—11." All heads turned towards the portal as the magician stepped through. Without so much as a greeting, he stepped to the side, typing on the controls. "Access granted: Zatanna Zatara—A03. Authorization: Zatara—11."

The portal powered up again, allowing a black-haired girl to step through. "Zatanna, this is the team," Zatara introduced. "Team, my daughter, Zatanna."

M'gann smiled, flying forwards to greet the newcomer. "Hi. I'm—"

"Robin!" the Boy Wonder introduced himself, interrupting his teammate. "Uh, I mean," he coughed, "I'm Robin. She's M'gann, uh, and that's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Mike, and Conner."

"Welcome to the Cave."

"Uh, thanks," the girl smiled.

"So, uh, you-you—are you joining the team?" Robin sputtered, rubbing the back of his head.

Mike grinned, putting his hands on his hips. "Oh, someone has a crush," he sang teasingly. It wasn't loud, but it was loud enough to garner chuckles from his friends as Robin turned bright red.

Zatara, oblivious to the teen antics, stepped forwards, taking off his hat. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is strictly a visit. Though I am sorry we missed the training," he spoke. "It's something from which Zatanna could benefit."

"Do the rest of you still get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?" M'gann inquired.

"Not just Zatara," Superboy agreed, "I mean, why is Marvel still hanging around?"

"Because we like having him around," Wally replied.

Artemis smacked his arm, "You like having him around, cause he waits on you hand and foot."

"And your point is?"

"I hate to say it, but I might agree with Wally on this," Mike spoke up. "I don't think we're on probation with Cap. If anything, he just strikes me as overly friendly and childish. Dude probably doesn't get much fun chill out time in the League."

"True."

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

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

Mike scowled, crossing his arms. He would personally beg to differ. He'd rather deal with a rotating regime of babysitters than be under watch by a robot. "More like spied on us. Face it, that android probably just gave us a long leash in an attempt to get us to drop our guard so he could steal intel behind the League's backs. Down here, I bet there isn't nearly as much security as there is in the Watchtower. The moment he suspected that his cover was blown, look what happened."

"Mike's right," Conner quickly agreed. "That machine nearly got all of us killed!"

"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" a new voice interrupted, and all eyes turned to the new girl. "Cause I can't decide if that's cool or, uh, really rude."

Glancing behind them, they could make out the eyes of the two Leaguers looking at them questioningly. Surprisingly, Superboy was the first to break. "Alright, fine," he groaned, "We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack and the League hasn't told us anything!"

"Yeah, not telling us things seems to be becoming a habit," Mike muttered.

Canary gave her protégé a pointed look before she looked back to Conner, "The League is searching for Tornado as well as the other androids that invaded the Cave and their creator, T.O. Morrow."

Mike perked up at that name. T.O. Morrow, he knew that name. It sounded familiar. His dad had probably mentioned that he'd occasionally cooperate with different robotics experts for various projects and ideas. Perhaps Morrow had been one of them.

"Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority," Canary finished.

"But you've found none of the above!" Robin argued.

"Not yet," his mentor replied, "but Tornado is Justice League. The team is not to pursue this."

Zatara stepped forwards, looking rather uncomfortable, "Why don't you all take Zatanna on a, uh…a tour of the Cave?"

"You're giving a tour?" Captain Marvel said, returning with a plate of loaded nachos. "Cool!"

"Actually," Conner spoke up, "I was hoping you'd take Wolf outside. He needs the exercise. Uh, we'll join you in a few."

"Sure, sure, no problem," the hero grinned, patting the canine's head. "Come on Wolf!"

Wally looked rather despondent as he took off with the team's pet. "Uh, what-what about my nachos?"

"You'll live," Mike replied, dragging his teammate towards the hall leading towards the living room.

"Michael," Canary called. "I need to talk to you for a moment."

Sighing, he released his teammate's collar. "Go ahead, I'll catch up." The others gave him a few glances as they disappeared, but Mike opted to ignore them as he crossed his arms. "So…what is it?"

"I was just wanting to check in, see how you're doing," his mentor replied. "Batman told me about the evidence you found a few weeks ago. I'm sorry you had to go through that all by yourself."

He shrugged, "It's fine. I'm used to doing things on my own."

"I understand," she spoke, her voice sounding slightly sad, "but understand, your uncle, myself, Batman, and the rest of the League are here to help you. I know it's hard to change old habits, and I don't doubt your father's and our recent actions haven't helped. We were only trying to protect you."

"I don't need protection," he growled, jerking back from his mentor's outstretched hand. "What I need, is for Will—that bastard, to get what he deserves."

"And what is that?"

Mike paused. That…he wasn't sure. One part of him wanted to see that man live out his days behind the bars of Arkham or Belle Reve. Knowing that he'd been the one to put him there, to see his reputation and everything he cared about be burned to the ground. Another part of him…it wanted to see his father suffer. Suffer like all of his innocent victims before he died the exact same way Mike almost had. It wanted to make certain that that monster would never hurt another person again.

That part scared him.

"Mike?" Canary's hand was on his shoulder, and he found himself guided towards the wall, where they sat down.

"Yeah?"

"What is it? Is everything ok?"

He shrugged. "Honestly…I don't know…is—is it bad that I want him to suffer?"

His mentor was silent for a moment, pursing her lips as she thought of a response. "No, it's not. In fact, wanting revenge is perfectly natural. But, the thing is we don't want to act on those impulses. And I know it can be hard, especially after being what you've been through. I don't blame you for wanting William to feel your pain. However, you need to think about it like this: would revenge help you in the long run? Sure, in the moment, it might feel good, but, later on, something like that will weigh on you. And what about the families of the other victims? I'm sure they would like to see that the man who hurt their loved ones be put behind bars."

Mike nodded. That…that made sense. William may've been a monster, but, at the end of the day, he was still his father.

"Does that help?"

"Yeah, thanks," he smiled. Pushing himself to his feet, Mike rubbed the back of his head. "I should…I should catch up with the others. Thanks again."

"Remember, Mike, I'm always here to talk."

Giving her another nod, he turned, jogging down the hall towards where he last saw the team going. However, he didn't even make it halfway before he bumped into them. "Hey guys—" a hand covered his mouth, and he was whirled around, being pushed towards the hangar.

"We're kidnapping Zatanna, we'll explain on the way."

What the fuck had he missed?

-.-

Canary watched as he protégé ran off to join his friends.

She was glad they'd had the chance to talk. It wasn't as thorough of a session as she had wanted to do, but that would suffice until they had one of their one-on-one sessions. She didn't want to keep him from his friends longer than she had to. Especially when he was finally starting to open up and relax around them.

Mike had initially been reluctant to call the team his friends. Not that she blamed him. From what he'd told her, Mike's previous group of friends had been far from the actual meaning of the word. It seemed more like to her they were more interested in what Mike could get for them than actual friendship. They certainly hadn't hesitated to turn on him after the accident.

She had been relieved to hear that he was starting to fall into a relatively normal routine and life. That he was starting to act like a normal, carefree teenager. Mike certainly needed stability after everything that had happened to him.

Canary had glanced over the journal entries before Bruce had all but snatched them away to start his investigation. The few entries she had read…they were horrifying. She couldn't even imagine the hell it must've been for Mike and his siblings to live under that man's roof. They probably had spent every day of their lives living in utter terror. William had controlled almost every aspect of their lives either directly or indirectly.

Based on her protégé's x-rays, punishment for stepping out of line was brutal.

Frankly it was no wonder he was having such dark thoughts. Anyone would want revenge for suffering like he had. And, that didn't even include the psychological trauma of realizing his own father had not only tried to kill him, but had murdered his mother, sister, countless others, and had even been using him as a lab rat since he was a child. She would be concerned if he didn't want revenge after all of that.

But still, they were absolutely going to be having a long, long talk about all of this.

-.-

"So, we're going after the Reds?" Mike reiterated as he sat in the Bioship, crossing his arms as he looked to the others.

"Yep."

"And we're kidnapping Zatara's daughter so she doesn't tattle?"

"To be fair, it was her idea."

Mike sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was going to end one of two ways: very good or very bad. Either way, afterwards, Canary and Zatara—probably the rest of the League too—were going to ground their asses for a month after this stunt.

/M'gann,/ Canary's voice rang out in the cockpit, /the Bioship wasn't authorized for departure/

"We're kidnapping Zatanna!" the Martian girl eagerly replied, earning a few facepalms from her teammates. "To, uh, show her Happy Harbor. Be back soon!"

/Uh…alright then. Have fun/

The link closed and Mike couldn't help but lean back in his seat in shock. They actually bought that? Black Canary actually bought that. Holy fuck, if they got caught they were going to get their asses whooped.

"So where are we going?" Robin spoke up. "Batman's the world's greatest detective and he's searched for the Reds and Morrow in every logical location. If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution. A-a truly dumb idea."

Almost all eyes turned to a certain redhead eating a candy bar. Wally blinked a few times, looking to the others with a mix of disdain and betrayal. With an audible sigh, the speedster set down his snack, "As a matter of fact, I do have an idea."

Mike tuned out the rest of the conversation, choosing to lean back and look out the window. He felt slightly disheartened by Robin's statement. Yeah, Batman was the world's greatest detective, and even he hadn't been able to find his father when the man had been living in his own city. How were they supposed to do it now that William seemed like he was five steps ahead of them?

Running a hand through his hair, he gazed up at the ceiling, hoping a new idea would spring from it. The others were on the right track, checking places no one would think to look; but Mike had no clue as to where to even start. His best guess was somewhere in the woods. His father had always been fond of their camping trips. But, there were millions of acres in the U.S. alone. And, what if William went somewhere he didn't like? Hid out in some secret bunker in the desert? He could've even changed his name and face several times over by now. His father had more than enough money to do so considering when Mike had finally hacked into the accounts to pay bills back when he'd first been ditched all the accounts had been drained. Accounts that were worth millions. For all he knew, his dad was laughing his ass living the high life in Cuba or somewhere similar where the police could be bought. Free from the League's reach and free to murder indiscriminately at his leisure.

Maybe he'd have to pester Batman for another look at the journal. Or even ask about that one book he found and never bothered to look at. Maybe there was something in them that had a clue as to where his hiding place would be. It'd be better than sitting around on his ass and just wait for the man to strike again.

-.-

Batcave, 17:22EDT

To say Bruce was frustrated was an understatement.

He'd been meticulously combing over the books left by William Afton, trying to find a clue as to the serial killer's potential whereabouts. But so far, all he had found was victim names, the dates of their murders, and all the horrific experiments and rituals the man had done to those he had tortured.

What he had been able to determine was that the man's range had been much, much wider than initial estimates had predicted. Afton didn't appear to favor any particular area. He'd had victims in the Midwest, in the mountain areas, and along the West Coast. However, based on the journal entries, his methods appeared to differ based on region or circumstance. Which was why they never connected any of the cases had never been connected to him before now. Bruce was even willing to bet that Afton had a few aliases he went by as well, to further cover his tracks.

It was infuriating.

There weren't many people Batman would consider to be as paranoid as himself. And yet, Afton appeared to be just that. The man had covered his tracks so methodically, no one had even glanced once in his direction when something happened in his vicinity. Not even the murders of his own wife and daughter. He always had the perfect alibi, the perfect excuse, the perfect act prepared to throw investigators off the scent.

The worst of it was, most serial killers had a specific type. Afton…he just seemed to go with whatever worked. He didn't have a type. Yes, most of his victims were below the age of twelve. But he still killed teens and adults whenever it suited him. He didn't even stick to a socioeconomic background until after the successive disappearances in Gotham. It was only after he framed his employee for murder that he began attacking those who were less likely to be reported missing.

If they were reported missing to begin with. Some of the names he'd found had been initially reported as runaways. Some hadn't been reported missing at all.

Looking at the map on his monitor, he added a few new cases to the map, hoping to see if a pattern came up. There were areas the madman appeared to hunt more regularly, most along the East Coast, Gotham being one of them. However, there was one outlier. A city known as Hurricane, Utah.

Based on the various entries regarding the experiments he did on transients and runaways, it seemed to be an area William visited often. Furthermore, when he looked into it, Bruce found that William actually inherited some land in the area from a distant relative. A junkyard about over two hours outside the town limits on the edge of a national park.

Perfect area to dispose of a few bodies. Or, more importantly, the perfect area for a serial killer to hide out.

Either way, it merited looking into.

-.-

Belle Reve, 18:35CDT

"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break," M'gann said, slamming her palms on the metal desk, "He's given us five minutes alone with you."

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

A lanky man with greying ginger hair leaned back in his leaned back in his seat, "Now, why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?"

"Because, and here's a truly dumb idea," Kid Flash started. "You're Morrow's biggest competition. Who better to know what he's up to, and where?"

"Ah. I see your point. Let me rephrase: Why in the world would I help you find Morrow?"

"Because," Mike started, crossing his arms, "Ivo, currently, you hold the title as the robotic genius who built an android that was able to not only stand toe-to-toe with the Justice League. But also used integrated self-cloning nanorobotics with adaptive programming that almost instantaneously adapted the underlying circuitry of the endoskeleton, making it able to almost flawlessly mimic their powers on the fly." He stepped closer to the table, "Morrow, right now, I would bet good money he's using the memory files stored in the Reds' processors to learn every weakness about the League and construct a newer model that would be able defeat them. And even if the League does beat it, it's probably going to take several hours longer for them to beat. Taking your title as the most fearsome robotics expert in the world, as his was more dangerous and able to last longer against the League than yours."

Ivo paused, tilting his head curiously at Mike with a wry smile. "You know your robotics, young man. It's not every day I get to have an intellectual conversation. Tell me, what's your name?"

"He knows," Aqualad said, stepping forwards as the man tried to distract them. Looking to Miss M, he gave a nod. "Do what you must?"

The mad scientist chuckled, looking to the Martian girl challengingly. "Please, as if I've never faced a telepath before."

"Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol!" Zatanna snapped, glaring at Ivo.

"Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park one-hundred meters south of Old Faithful," finishing the statement, Ivo covered his mouth. His eyes were wide in shock as he looked around the room. "Wait…what—what just happened?"

"That was awesome."

-.-

Yellowstone National Park, 20:22MDT

"Blackout all communication," Aqualad ordered. "Soon Canary and Zatara, Batman too I imagine, will know of our visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

Robin broke the following silence with a small chuckle as he waved to get Zatanna's attention, "Look, I'm trying to be all nonchalant here—"

"Why? Be as chalant as you like," she replied.

Mike rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, "Kill me now."

"I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers," Artemis spoke up. "Could you teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force his bots to surrender?"

"Or create peace on Earth for all time?" Zatanna added. "Zatara couldn't even do all that, and I'm nowhere near my dad's level. I need to know a spell cold, or else have time to prep it. Plus, all magic requires energy, which usually has to come from within. I just can't make the impossible happen at will."

"Pity."

"What's our ETA to Yellowstone?!" Superboy snapped. "I am way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."

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

"Aren't you?!"

"I am not convinced."

"Well I am," Mike argued, typing quickly as he pulled up the schematics and code the League files had on Red Tornado. "You have to remember, Tornado is ultimately a product produced by a supervillain. His code probably has hidden directives: gathering data on League movements, locations, weaknesses, identities, loved ones, everything a bad guy would need to bring the League to its knees. My best bet, is that RT was a sleeper agent or trojan horse. Feeding intel to the big bosses who in turn gave orders to small time villains, this way when something the Injustice League felt was being almost discovered, they could send a decoy to occupy the League until the problem is dealt with. Isn't that how Cadmus worked? A small fire the League wanted to investigate only to immediately be stopped by some magic voodoo shit?"

"…Yeah. That's exactly how it worked," Wally remarked. "Had we not gone to investigate…"

"Cadmus probably would've been covered up by the time the League got there."

"Even so, that makes him the victim of his creator's programming," Kaldur responded. "Certainly he deserves a chance to prove he's more than the weapon others designed him to be."

Conner took a deep breath, leaning back in his seat. The clone looked less enraged by Kaldur's comment.

However, Mike just scoffed under his breath, opting to close the screen and glare out the window. "And sometimes all we are is the monster others made us into," he grumbled.

In the distance, he could make out the steam rising from the geyser fields, the occasional jet of scalding water shooting into the air as they made their approach.

It was different, seeing Yellowstone at night. Last time he'd been there, Mike had been what…six? Seven? Either way, it had been daylight, and back when his family had been whole. He still remembered his father letting him sit on his shoulders as they walked, eagerly explaining the mechanics behind the geysers and hot springs as they walked along the elevated wooden paths.

A small smile crossed his face at the memory. It was one of the few good ones he still had about the man. It was perhaps one of the only times he saw his father genuinely happy.

Though William had perhaps been too eager to explain the dangers of going off the path. Mike still had the occasional nightmare about being boiled alive by a rainbow-colored acid spring or being eaten by scalding volcanic quicksand. Granted, the stories did do their jobs in keeping him from running off to explore. So, if there was one thing his dad got right, he guessed standard wilderness safety was it.

The jostle of the Bioship landing pulled Mike out of his thoughts. Standing up with the others, all eyes looked towards their team leader.

"Stealth mode," Kaldur ordered, tapping his own symbol to let the colorful suit be replaced by its more muted counterpart. Following his lead, the others, save for Mike, Robin, and Superboy, pressed their symbols. Satisfied, Kaldur nodded, stepping towards Zatanna as she opened the door. "I recommend you stay behind."

"Is that an order?"

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

The black-haired magician smirked, "Good. Emit ot yrt eht wen kool!" Smoke swirled her frame and swallowed her before it disappeared just as quickly, leaving Zatanna in an outfit resembling her father's suit.

The others didn't comment on her new look as they raced out of the Bioship, towards the coordinates that Ivo had given them. "Link established."

"This is so weird."

"Eh, you get used to it."

"Everyone be on alert. Morrow may already know we're here."

"And watch your step," Mike chimed in, "Geyser fields are notoriously unstable. One wrong step and we're knee deep in boiling acid water or superheated mud."

"Good to know."

Crouching at the edge of the fields, Robin pulled out his scanner, "Ivo was right something's down there."

"Am I the only one wondering how the fuck he built a secret compound in the middle of the country's most popular national park's deadly geyser fields without anyone noticing?"

"You can ask Morrow after we kick his ass," Superboy replied, charging out onto the open plains.

They didn't get far before a powerful gust of wind stopped them in their tracks, knocking them flat on their backs as it blew them 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 audible over the powerful blasts of wind.

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

"Message received?"

"Who cares?!" 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. The force of the blow blasted Kaldur back towards the ground and he crashed into Superboy sending a plume of dust and steam into the air. It was quickly cleared by a powerful gust of wind, catching the incoming projectiles aimed at the android by the three weapons-based teens. The force of the gales flinging the explosives back to their senders. They exploded on impact with the ground at their feet, flinging the three teens back. Using the distraction to her advantage, M'gann flew up behind Tornado in camouflage. Unfortunately, she didn't get far as the android whirled on her the moment she got within arm's reach. Snatching her by her collar, M'gann barely had time to yelp before she was hurled towards the ground, slamming into Kid Flash, sending both sprawling across the ground.

Save for the gusts of wind, the geyser field was silent as Tornado looked over the unmoving forms of the teens sprawled on the ground. However, that silence was soon broken by slow metallic clapping. "Tell me, how long do you plan to keep up the performance?" another Red scoffed. "I have all your memories Tornado, and a next gen processor, I know your next more before you do."

"Well, we tried," Artemis grimaced as they all pushed themselves back to their feet, realizing the jig was up.

"Was worth a shot."

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. "Really? Blowing a message into the sand?" The hunk of land behind the red crumpled into several boulders that were sent flying towards them. Superboy leapt into the air, punching through one of them as M'gann used her telekinesis to toss several of them aside. Those that made it past them were intercepted by explosives, breaking them apart into smaller, less deadly bits.

"Is everyone alright?" Mike 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!" M'gann and Conner screamed, lunging for the android.

"My apologies," the Red scoffed as two rock hands rose from the earth, clapping together to knock them 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 Artemi, and Aqualad as they charged forwards. Firing an arrow with a line, Artemis grabbed onto Kaldur as the Atlantean. The violent jerk of the line straightening knocked them into the wall.

"Hold on!" Mike shouted, running up to the edge. Grabbing on the line he yanked up as hard as he could. He could hear their surprised shouts as they were jerked out of the closing crevasse and tossed into the air. "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?" Mike remarked, throwing an explosive towards Red Volcano. The device hit the android's shoulder, blasting it back.

"Shut up Remnant!"

The ground shook, and the androids eyes glowed red, behind him, the top of the Yellowstone Super Volcano began to spew lava. "That's not good."

"He's activated a stage two eruption. If he gets to stage three, kiss the hemisphere goodbye!"

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

A chunk of rock erupted from the rock tower their opponent stood on, slamming into the Atlantean's chest as the android caught Superboy's incoming fist. Jerking the outstretched arm to the side, Red Volcano tossed the clone out of the way. Before he could prepare his next attack, an unseen force tried to yank Volcano off his tower.

Mike took the opportunity of the robot's distraction to scale the rock tower with his grapple. Using the momentum, he swung himself over the ledge, kicking Red Volcano in the chest, sending him stumbling off the rock tower.

However, the fall didn't incapacitate the murderous machine. The ground jerked under Michael's feet as M'gann screamed nearby, a steam vent opening beside her to spew a gust of scalding volcanic fumes into the Martian's face. "M'gann!" Conner called, leaping over to help his girlfriend as the Red stomped towards her unmoving form. Volcano whirled on his feet, backhanding the Kryptonian away as he picked up the Martian girl by her cape.

Mike grit his teeth, that wasn't good. Turning around, he threw one of his few potentially working EMPs in the Red's direction as he leapt off the crumbling pillar. To his disappointment, he heard a clang followed by the sound of splashing lava. His weapon must've ricocheted into one of the magma flows.

"Ekoms dna srorrim etaerc Dik Hsalf snoisulli!" Zatanna chanted. Smoke rising from the various volcanic vents swirled, forming rather lifelike images of their teammate. Grinning to herself, the magician put her hands on her hips as the army of Kid Flashes ran to attack the android. "I-I use a scaled down version when I wanna sneak out of the house."

A few years ago, Mike would've killed for something like that.

However, the spell seemed to do the trick. Distracting Red Volcano long enough for the real Wally to leap from behind him, snatching M'gann out of his grasp. He skid to a stop in front of them, cradling their teammate to his chest.

They could all feel sweat starting to run down their backs from the heat. They needed to finish this battle now or risk the worst natural disaster the world had seen in a few millennia.

The next blow came in the form of a torrent of boiling water slamming the Red straight into a lava flow.

"Nice hit Aqualad!" Robin praised.

"The hit was not mine."

"Look!"

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 forced to defend itself as the fiery Red soared overhead, raining down fireballs. The force of the impact of the flames sent magma splashing as she quickly changed coarse, diving down to tackle the larger Red. "Sister! Brothers! Stop!" Instead of getting a reply, Red Volcano was 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 Superboy not leapt across the river of molten rock to yank their former den mother out just before the other Reds exploded.

Unfortunately, they didn't get to enjoy their victory as the ground shook under their feet. Looking up, all eyes widened as they could see the volcano's cone visibly distending as magma flooded the chamber below.

They didn't have long.

"Tornado! We're on the verge of a stage three super volcano eruption, there's no turning back from that! We need to vent pressure, fast, otherwise that ash cloud will bring on a worldwide nuclear winter unless you divert it!" Wally instructed. "Robin, triangulate around for pressure focus!"

"Right!" Robin said typing on the scanner, three red dots appearing around the volcano. "These spots!"

Artemis nodded and hopped on Wally's back, letting him run her around as she used her bow to fire explosives at the pressure points. With each blast, massive tides of lava spurted from the new exits, creating new flows of lava. It was an arduous process, but with each new vent, they all could see the bulge in the volcano's face begin to deflate.

Seeing they were no longer at risk for a magma explosion of epic proportions, the archer and the speedster returned to the group. They nodded to Tornado upon their arrival, whom, without a word, shot into the air, disappearing into the clouds of smoke and ash filling the sky.

To their collective relief, the ash began to get sucked up out of the atmosphere and, slowly, the tides of magma began to slow, steam rising off the cooling molten rock.

-.-

"There," Mike said, wiping his hands, "that should do it."

"Yes," Tornado replied, lowering his faceplate, "I can speak again."

Mike didn't comment, merely getting onto one of the computers connected to the android to look over his code.

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet," Kaldur spoke.

"The planet would have survived," the android corrected. "It was humanity that was saved. Though…not by me. It was my sister and brother, they were the true heroes this day."

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

"No," Tornado answered, "I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator, Morrow."

Mike scowled, typing quickly as he searched for keywords in the code. Something that would tell him that his distrust towards Tornado wasn't unfounded and that he hadn't been fully intending to dismantle an innocent…AI—robot—whatever he qualified as. A highlighted piece of text lit up on the corner of the screen, prompting Mike to take a closer look at the directives.

All eyes turned to him as a somewhat frustrated sigh escaped him. "He's not lying," Mike reluctantly agreed. "Tornado does have some old programs explaining his function as a trojan horse, but honestly, they're so corrupted they might as well be completely obsolete. Do you—actually, never mind, I'm gonna delete it, for security purposes."

"Are there any other potential hazards in my code?"

Mike glanced at Tornado, brow rising. He had been expecting some protest to deleting code, not inquiries if there was more he needed to get rid of. "Not that I can see so far. I'll probably be able to do a more thorough scan back at the Cave."

"Hey Reddy!" Robin called, holding a metal arm above his head. "Look! We can rebuild you! Better than before. Right Rem?"

Stepping away from the computer, Mike approached the box full of spare parts. Most of the limbs and materials seem inclined towards the other reds. They had complex exosuits when compared to Tornado's rather…can-like appearance. Picking up an arm from what he assumed was the water-Red, he compared it to one of Tornado's arms. Considering Tornado needed to be aerodynamic he would need as few seams as possible, cutting out any of Red Volcano's bulky parts and he wasn't even going to consider Human Torch or whatever her name was as she was too slight for Tornado. Besides, it stood to reason that the aquatic one would require one of the least amounts of friction besides Tornado. The build of the other one certainly seemed less bulky than Tornado. No doubt designed to increase maneuverability in the water and make the first model seem more human-like.

Still feeling his friends' eyes on him, Mike set the arms aside before he dove back into the box. "Yeah, I could do it. And," he tossed out some legs and a few metal bars, "with all of this I should be able to give you a couple more upgrades: faster processing speed, increased durability, and with some time and a fuck ton of coffee I should be able to give you your siblings' powers."

"I do not believe I should be repaired."

Mike paused at that. Red…didn't want to be repaired? Why? The last time Mike had encountered a robot that hadn't wanted to be repaired was…was back there. Back when they had planned to…he clutched his stomach, feeling his shirt rub over the massive scar that the—that it had left.

"Why did you volunteer to become our den mother anyways?!" Superboy demanded.

Mike didn't bother to turn to watch the android for his response. His heart pounded in his chest as he awaited the answer. Last time…last time he dealt with something like this, that damn…demon had wanted to escape. And it had done whatever it took to reach that goal.

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

Quietly, Mike gave a shaky sigh in relief, pulling his fingers out from the dented metal under his fingertips. He wasn't sure why he was so worried about his answer. Tornado…even if he wanted to appear more human, there was nothing he could do to achieve that. Not without someone noticing anyways.

"But," Wally spoke up and Mike felt his stomach drop, "you do have advanced AI programming, designed to learn, adapt, evolve."

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

Mike tuned out the rest of the conversation. The sound of his pounding heart and shaking breaths was all he could hear. He needed to calm down and pull himself together before someone noticed. What was that technique Canary gave him again? Find five things in his surroundings? Five things that grounded him to here and now. That shouldn't be hard.

Ok, first: where was he? He was in an underground lab—Yellowstone. He was in Yellowstone National Park. Not far from Old Faithful.

Second: what could he smell? Filtered air, motor oil, the copper tang of burnt electrical wires, blood. So much blood.

Digging his fingers further into the sides of the container, Mike bit his lip sharply, the pain grounding him for a split second before he tasted iron on his tongue. Just like…just like what it…

Three: What could he hear?

"If we looked like you…"

Nope, nope, nope. Now was not the time to remember that. He wasn't there. He was in Yellowstone.

Four: what was around him? Metal walls, robotic parts, cables—computers. There were computers in the room. There was a table in the room. There were people in the room.

That's right. There were people here. He wasn't alone.

Five: who was around him?

Taking a slow breath, Mike closed his eyes, listening to the chatter behind him. He could hear Artemis and Robin. They were making some joke about the League. There were a few chuckles from other people. Other living people. He could hear Kaldur talking, he wasn't sure about what, but right now he didn't care. Right now, Mike was just happy to hear human voices.

His throat tightened as he heard a robotic voice reply.

"The scooper only hurts for a moment."

That had been a fucking lie if he'd ever heard one. Mike didn't think anything would ever compare to that agony again.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Mike did his best to ignore the taste of copper on his tongue.

He needed to pull himself together. He was not in that room.

"Mike?"

Jumping in surprise, his head snapped in the direction of his friends, meeting their concerned gazes. Hopefully they hadn't noticed he had been mere moments away from a mental breakdown. "Uh, yeah?"

"You ok? We were calling your name for a few moments."

"Yeah," he replied, giving them his signature lopsided smile. "I think I zoned out for a moment there. Now," he clapped his hands together, shakily grabbing a few of the arms and legs for Tornado's model, "I think we should get this done before we're grounded for the rest of our lives."

He didn't mention that right now there was no way in hell he was going to upgrade Tornado.