"Recognized: Robin-B-0-1, Acknowledged: Kid flash B-0-3." Announces a robotic voice while the league's teleportation machine turned on before two figures appeared in it, they were the said heroes in their civilian clothes.
The two looked at the cave before facing each other with smiles, with that they ran towards Aqualad and Megan who were watching a holographic screen in the middle of the cave.
"Did you ask him?" asks the excited Robin as Kid Flash looks on beside him.
"What did he say?" Asks the speedster at the same time making Megan blink with their animation and Aqualad smile.
"He's arriving now." Says the Atlante while pointing to the screen that showed the image of the red tornado approaching the cave.
It was at that moment that Robin realized something was wrong, two people who were not there.
"Hey, where's Superboy and his brother?" Asks the boy making the three heroes turn to Megan who laughed nervously looking away.
"Well..."
(Meanwhile in the other room.)
"I will not repeat myself, drop that controller Naruto, this is my favorite show." Growls Superboy with his back against the ceiling while his brother held him to the wall while trying to remove the boy's control.
"His favorite channel is STATIC, it doesn't change anything at all and you can watch it anytime!" Exclaims an irritated Naruto trying to change the channel until his brother punched him making them both fall on the couch.
(Back with the rest of the team.)
As soon as they heard the crash, everyone turned to the source before turning to Megan who shrugged her shoulders smiling nervously.
"Anyway, the Tornado should be coming now, come on." Kid flash declares before running away, being followed by his friends, while Megan sighed turning her head to where the brothers were.
"Naruto, come on, Tornado is coming now, bring your brother." Mentally transmit Megan to the boy.
"Okay, we're on our way." Answers the boy making the girl smile before following the flying trio.
(Some time later.)
All the young people gathered at the entrance to the cave, which was a ramp made of grass camouflaged with the forest all around; the three partners were in the front while Conner walked a little behind with Megan beside him and Naruto on the other, floating while reading a book.
The six watched as the red tornado descended from the sky shaking the trees and the heroes themselves; however, Naruto continued to float normally, although he held the pages more firmly.
"Red tornado!" Greets the animated Flash Kid making the robot face him.
"Greetings, is there any reason to intercept me outside the cave?" Asks the android looking at everyone before noticing Naruto who did not seem to care what they are saying.
Though he was not the only one who noticed, Megan and Superboy noticed and glared at the redhead before he blinked and looked at the two of them.
"Sorry..."
The other three heroes did not notice this small exchange as Aqualad stepped forward.
"We were hoping you had a mission for us." Reveals Aqualad making everyone stare expectantly.
"Distributing missions is Batman's responsibility." Announces the android coldly when Robin takes a step forward now.
"But it has been a week and nothing..." Starts the boy before Tornado raises his hand stopping the boy.
"You will be tested soon, for now enjoy each other's company." Declares the robot making most face each other while Naruto raised his eyebrow.
"Is it only now that they say this? Am I familiar enough with my brother and Megan already, but these three? I haven't seen them since they opened this mountain." Naruto thought with a small frown, although he was grateful to the three of them for freeing himself and his brother, he would not go to such lengths to call each other friends.
"This team is not a social club." Comments Aqualad making the clone of Darkseid roll his eyes.
"No kidding, I never would have noticed if Sherlock Holmes hadn't told me that." He scoffs in his head before his brother nudges him with an elbow and Megan glares at him with a small frown.
"But I didn't say anything..." Murmurs Naruto confused as the two stared at him.
"Your look says it all brother." Answers Superboy in the same low tone as Naruto before the three of them listen to the conversation again.
"... it is important for team integration, maybe you can keep yourselves busy getting to know the inside of the cave better." Comments the robot before passing by the teenagers.
Seeing this, Kid Flash punches Robin in the shoulder.
"Keep us busy? Who does he think he is?" Grumbles the red-haired speedster making Robin adopt a frown.
"Does he really think we're going to fall for this?" Comments Robin making Megan cheer up.
"Oh, I will find out." Declares the Martian before turning to the robot and narrowing her eyes on him.
Naruto watched this and could not help but let out a small chuckle at that before floating to Megan's side.
"Megan, Tornado is a robot, he doesn't have a mind... an organic mind to read," informs Naruto making Megan blink and stare at him before sighing realizing the clone's logic.
"You are right, sorry guys, I forgot about that." Regrets Megan making Kid Flash take a step beside her.
"Okay, at least you tried, but tell me, can you tell what I am thinking?" Asks the speedster giving the Martian a flirtatious look, something that makes Naruto narrow his eyes at the redhead.
At that moment, Naruto opened his book again and started to float away from the team, something that caught their attention.
"Naruto, where did you..." Megan begins, extending her hand to the boy who was walking away.
"I have something to do, I'll meet you later." Declares the boy starting to read his book again as he walked away, something that made most people shrug, but Superboy stared at him for a few moments and narrowed his eyes.
[…]
"This is ridiculous." Naruto thinks irritably as he floats around the cave reading his book calmly. "What the hell is happening to me? I should not be here... This is all nothing more than a simple futile attempt to keep me in line, Batman... no, the whole league is trying to keep me locked up, they fear me..."
With these thoughts, the boy begins to float up to the ceiling of the cave and crosses his legs as if he were sitting down before placing the book on top of his lap and crossing his arms.
"But is that really what is pissing me off? Kent told me that I shouldn't be what I was created to be, that I can be whatever I want... however what do I want to be?" Reflects the redhead before uncrossing his arms and looking at his fists before clenching them.
Naruto closes his eyes and can't help but remember his simulations, where he killed the league members, it was easy for him, in fact it still would be, but at the moment he found himself thinking about his current team, more specifically Kid flash .
For some reason, the speedster pissed him off more than the other members of the team did, a few minutes ago, he walked away from them before he actually did what he knew, what he trained to do, kill. The image of Kent flashed through her head and a growl ripped from her throat as a small reddish tinge appeared around her eyes before they faded.
At that moment, the boy opened his eyes that appeared to be normal; however, he brought his hands to them confused.
"Hot... hotter than usual, that's weird..." Comments Naruto before his hearing picks up some kind of confusion going on in the cave room, as well as his brother's scream.
Immediately Naruto disappeared in a blur before appearing in the kitchen almost breaking down the door seeing all the team members there, with Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin holding their heads and Superboy glaring at Megan.
"…What's going on…" Naruto begins before Aqualad looks at Megan with a hint of irritation in his gaze.
"Megan stop!" Exclaims Aqualad irritated making the girl startle and Naruto stare at him for having interrupted him. "Things are different on Earth; here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."
"And besides, the terrible genomorphs left a terrible impression on him." Comments the speedster pointing to Superboy; however before anything else was said Aqualad and Kid flash are lift by someone grabbing the back of their necks.
The two were hurl into the wall before someone grabbed them and lifted them both choking them with one hand, they both grunted before noticing Naruto staring at them with a small frown.
"…I might not be the most sensitive of the bunch or anything, but one thing I do know is that you two pissed me off right now." growled Naruto slowly getting into his battle form while ignoring his brother grabbing his arm trying to make him release his captives and Robin trying the same with his other arm.
"You Aqualad are a bloody hypocrite, are you going to complain to her about something like using your powers by culture difference when you did it yourself before? I can name seven incidents that you caused because of the cultural difference between the surface and Atlantis." Naruto growls at the boy before his gaze goes to the speedster. "And you, you haven't done anything since you got here but complained and flirted with Megan, but you got over it when you revealed my brother's possible trauma as if it were a goddamn joke."
"Naruto calm down please, it was my fault, and I didn't know how my powers would affect them." Declares Megan in his head, but the boy does not even turn his head to face her or nod that he heard her.
"You know, I myself have a long list of complaints for the three of you." Reveals Naruto giving a small look to Robin who is surprised by the clone's speech. "Of all the ones here that really tried to get to know each other as a team was my brother, Megan and I. We spent a whole week here getting to know each other and only now that I see you again… you were really right, this is not a club of socialization, it's a team together with a damn club of idiots."
With that Naruto lets go of Aqualad and Kid Flash who fall to the ground coughing, Darkseid's clone glared at them coldly as he reverted to his normal form before starting to walk away towards the couch, but he stopped mid-stride and turned to face them. Again.
"And just so you know, Megan has been talking to me telepathically almost the entire time I've been here and it never bothers me, because it's something she's used to and honestly I am too, that's how I spoke to my brother for the first time after all." With that, Naruto walks away and sits on the couch.
Superboy stood in place looking at his liberators before looking at Megan, narrowing his eyes and with that, he walked away towards his brother, sitting down next to him.
After that, a tense silence settled in the room as Robin helped Aqualad and Kid flash to their feet, the three heroes with pensive faces while Megan looked crestfallen exchanging glances to where the two brothers had gone and the three heroes before her eyes widened excitedly and she pats his head a little.
"Hello Megan, I know what we can do." Declares the girl before flying out of the kitchen.
The three heroes glare at each other before shrugging and following her, meanwhile the two brothers are on the couch with Superboy scowling while Naruto has his arms crossed floating above his seat, something that causes his brother to grab and pull him down.
"Superboy, Naruto, please..." Asks Megan returning to the room giving the two a look, which makes Naruto look at her with the corner of his eyes while Superboy continues to ignore her.
"Do not talk to me." Superboy answers quickly making Naruto face him and sigh giving a look to Megan.
"Sorry, but I go where my brother goes." Naruto declares making Superboy stare at him for a few seconds before he sighs and gets up leaving the room, something that makes Megan cheer up following him quickly.
Naruto soon got up floating and followed them.
[…]
An elevator doors opened revealing the team leaded by Megan who smiled excitedly before opening her arms.
"This is my martian bioship." Announces the girl walking forward making the three heroes face each other while Naruto and Superboy exchange a look before Naruto advances flying around what appeared to be a crimson sphere with black lines and a blue visor.
"The metal of this ship is different from most alloys on Earth, I can see that it is composed of some organic material..." Murmurs Naruto rubbing his chin while Megan perks up and waves to him.
"Yes, you are right, she has some shapeshifting and other Martian abilities in her look, I'll wake her up." Megan declares making the ship bigger, acquiring a more aerodynamic aspect.
Naruto watched the change in fascination, he had in his memories several scenes of Martian Manhunter doing something similar, but seeing it in something else was impressive.
At that moment, the ship turned with the back opening as a ramp descended causing Megan to climb onto it before stopping and looking at the others watching the ship in disbelief.
"You will come?"
With that, Naruto quickly enters the ship followed by the others, once inside everyone sees the cabin empty until six chairs leave the ground, along with some monitors. Megan immediately sat down on the chair in the center of the booth before turning her head towards the guys.
"Ah, use the belt to take off." Asks Megan making everyone sit on the chairs with Kid flash and Robin on the sides while Superboy, Naruto and Aqualad sat in front, with that done Megan started the controls of the ship before raising her head to some kind of communication device. "Red tornado, open the doors please."
At that moment, the hangar doors opened and the ship flew out of the cave, they barely spent a few seconds on the ship and Naruto was frowning with the trip, something his brother noticed.
"Naruto? What was it?" Asks Superboy softly making Aqualad approach a little curious and at the same time giving a discreet look to the redhead.
"Nothing, it's just that... this is much more boring than when I go out to fly..." Declares the discouraged redhead making his brother snort in amusement.
"Yes, I should have guessed that was it, it was obvious." Comments the amused Superboy making his brother face him confused with a raised eyebrow, with that the clone pointed to the boy's seat.
A sigh escaped Naruto before he stopped floating on the seat and sat down on it, the redhead stayed on it for a few seconds before floating back up causing Superboy to smirk.
"...Although it is a comfortable seat, I feel better this way." Declares the redhead crossing his arms slightly irritated, to the amusement of the other two with him.
"It's good to know you're not as dangerous as you appear." Comments Aqualad turning to the redhead who narrows his eyes at him.
"Thanks." The boy's answer made the hero shudder before starting to talk to Superboy.
With that, Naruto starts to look at the bored viewfinder of the ship watching the sky and clouds, although it is comfortable and he is with his brother on the ship it was terribly boring for the clone, completely different from when he flew through the skies. When he did that it was liberating, the wind hitting his face, the speed he reached, without any of his usual worries, he could not help but wonder if this was how super beings felt when they flew.
"Red tornado for Miss Martian, an emergency alert triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant, I suggest you covertly investigate." Announces the robot through the communicators making everyone on the ship animate. "I am sending the coordinates."
With that, a beep sounded on the martian's console making her look at him for a few moments before looking up. "Copy that, adjusting the route."
Beside her Robin sighed, exchanging a look with the girl. "Tornado keeping us busy again."
"Hey, a small fire took them to Superboy and Naruto, we better find out what caused the alert." Announces the girl while everyone looks at the factory; however, the two brothers end up looking at the other side of the ship.
"I think I know what caused the alarms." Comments Superboy dryly looking at a tornado approaching them.
However, it was too late and the tornado caught the ship, everything inside it began to shake until Megan managed to regain control running away from the tornado before landing the ship.
With that, everyone got out of it and fell into the parking lot, Naruto simply stretched a little when he got there and looked at Robin running from the group towards the factory.
"Robin, are tornadoes common in New England?" Asks Aqualad; however, when he does not receive an answer, the hero turns around and is surprised to not see his teammate. "Robin?'
"But he was right here." Megan comments in surprise before everyone notices the windows exploding with wind coming out of them.
With that Superboy, Megan, Aqualad and Kid flash run to the Power Plant while Naruto just flew to the windows, sneaking inside the power plant before sitting on one of the support beams, he wanted to see the level his teammates were at in relation to him, in addition to being able to gather information about his opponent.
Down there was a half red and black robot with red tubes coming out of the gauntlets and what looked like turbines going towards its back, in addition the robot wore a scarf around its neck. The probable villain sent Robin flying into a pillar, knocking the boy to the ground; it was at that moment that the other members of the team arrived.
"Who is your new friend?" Questions Superboy before giving Naruto a quick look at the ceiling, which made the redhead just shake his head and point to the villain and the team.
Superboy quickly understood what his brother meant and turned his gaze to the villain giving him a quick scrutiny before clenching his fists.
"I don't know, but he plays hard!" Claims the prodigy boy.
"My apologies, you may refer to me as Mr. Twister." The villain appears before sending two small tornadoes towards Superboy who ran towards him before thrown into the wall.
At that moment, Kid flash removed some glasses from his pockets and ran towards the villain before jumping extending his legs for a flying, in that Mr. Twister raised his hands and used the wind to dodge the blow and still throw the sprinter out of the power plant.
While this was happening Aqualad and Miss Martian approached the villain, until they thrown back by two tornadoes, Robin managed to get up and face his opponent.
"I was prepared to fight a hero, not a bunch of kids." Mocks the almost bored robot, making Robin growl.
"We are not children!" Claim the boy throwing a bomb and a shuriken.
The villain uses his winds to explode the small bomb while the shuriken hits his chest and starts honking, however Mr. Twister just flicks the projectile, ripping it off and watches as it walks away before exploding without causing a single damage to him, after which the robot faces Robin.
"…I'm sure you are, shouldn't adults be looking out for you? I can wait for you to call them if you want; I find your presence here a little discouraging" Comments the robot while the three heroes defeated in the factory got up and joined Robin.
"Well, we do not want you to be disappointed." Announces Robin making the villain face him. "Let's see if you get more excited when we bust your face."
With that, Megan reached for a metal capsule that was on top of the villain before using her telekinesis to break it by throwing smoke at the villain. At that moment, Superboy jumped up raising his hands ready to crush Mr. Twister when he get thrown by a very strong wind that sent him straight at Megan, knocking both of them down.
At the same time, Aqualad and Robin advanced before the villain used his powers to create two small tornadoes that ended up catching the heroes spinning them until they crashed into each other.
"I was right, it was very disheartening." Mocks the villain before flying out of the plant, at the same time Naruto who was on the ceiling stared at his brother and the other four with a bored look.
"... This... what the hell was that I just saw?" Naruto grumbles closing his eyes while rubbing them, clearly irritated with what he will just witness, it was a terrible 'teamwork'.
It was at that moment that the redhead realized that the four of them were leaving the Plant going outside, he did not know what was worse, the fact that they hadn't done almost anything or that they had forgotten about him. With a sigh, the boy flew outside before sitting on top of one of the farthest cars to observe what would happen.
Naruto watched as the team approached the robot and started talking to him before Mr. twister starts creating a storm in the sky and sends lightning at the heroes, which creates an explosion throwing everyone away. However as soon as the smoke from the explosion cleared it showed that Superboy was intact with his jacket in tatters.
In that, the boy jumped high in the sky going towards the villain with his fist raised before taking a ray in the chest, which threw him towards the team destroying the ground below him until he stopped.
With that the robot started to approach them before stopping, making Naruto raise his eyebrow until he noticed a certain contour between them, it was Megan's bioship, probably she put it there to hide them.
"Great so. I will not deny you have strength, but playing hide and seek will not help me achieve my goals, so stay hidden, but if we meet again I will show no mercy." He threatens the robot before turning around and facing Naruto floating behind him with his arms crossed, making the robot stare at him. "Great, another child..."
Before Mr. Twister could complete the sentence, Naruto disappeared along with an explosion-like noise that made the robot fall. The villain quickly got up from the crater and realized two things.
The first was that the young heroes he faced were there staring at him with wide eyes looking down at his arm; the second thing he noticed when he followed their gaze, his arm was gone. With that, the robot looked up to the sky and saw Naruto holding his missing member as he inspected it with an emotionless gaze.
"It's an impressive metal alloy that is a good part of it was made of the same material as the Red Tornado, I can see why they got confused, but that still doesn't change the main thing..." With that Naruto simply threw his arm out to backwards completely ignoring him as he falls to the ground. "It's just another piece of junk for me to destroy."
Suddenly Naruto advanced in a blur towards the villain and grabbed the robot's head tightly, he was now in his battle form again, Mr. Twister raised his other arm and just as he was going to do a tornado, the clone yanked it off with his other hand.
"That is your flaw, it depends a lot on your arms, you made to concentrate your firepower in just one point, remove that and it is as good as a rock in the middle of the road." At that, Naruto squeezed Mr. Twister, crushing it as well as causing several sparks to come out of it, suddenly the robot's chest opened revealing a thin man with almost white brown hair with sideburns on the sides of his head; he wore a white and green costume.
"Please… I surrender, I surrender." Asks the man looking directly at Naruto who just slapped him on the head sending him away, something that shocked Kid flash, Robin and Aqualad, while Conner just nodded crossing his arms and Megan just sighed in relief.
Naruto glanced at where the head went before the body hit the ground, at which point a tentacle of water latched onto his neck before he felt like he was electrocuted. However, it did not last long, curious Naruto turned around and saw his brother holding Aqualad by the neck while Megan made Robin and Kid flash float.
"What was this?" Asks Naruto confused with the looks of the heroes.
"I don't know how Cadmus screwed up with your head, but we don't kill our prisoners." Robin growls making Naruto blink confused.
"But I didn't kill him." Naruto defends himself making everyone stare at him this time.
"Brother, I'm pretty sure that decapitating someone qualifies as killing." Informs Superboy making his brother face him before sighing, shaking his head.
"Honestly, it seems like sometimes I'm the only one who has a brain and uses its powers." Naruto grumbles returning to his normal form and taking a step to the side revealing the various circuits and metal coming out of the robot's neck. "How would I kill something that wasn't even alive to begin with?"
With that the three heroes visibly flinched upon realizing their mistake as they were released by Superboy and Miss Martian, the clone however ignored them and went to his brother before punching him in the face, knocking him down.
"That's for not including me in your plan." With that Superboy walks away with clenched fists, Megan looks like she wants to talk to him before the boy gives her a look. "No, you made us believe he was Red Tornado! Do you think putting the ship between us makes up for anything!? Just do not talk to me."
After that, Superboy enters the bioship while the other boys, except Naruto, followed him Megan was looking downcast looking at the ground.
"I…I just wanted to be part of the team." Comments the girl when Naruto floated to her side.
"Look… I don't blame you, it was an understandable mistake to make and… my brother is always angry just give him some time, ok? As for the others, I don't think they have the team mentality, none of us do...yet." Guarantees the redhead making Megan face him before smiling.
"Thank you Naruto." She thanks the girl with a small smile until she notices the boy floating. "Don't you want to come with us?"
Upon hearing, the question Naruto gives Megan a look before looking up at the sky and the clearly divided ship, which causes her to scowl and nod before entering the ship quickly, before the clone says anything. After that, the ramp closes and the ship flies away leaving the boy there alone, he looks at his team moving away before facing the robot and growling at him.
"This is ridiculous." With that, he decide to collect the parts of his opponent before looking at where he threw the robot head. "I knew I should have just crushed her..."
(Some time later)
"Clearly it was created to sabotage or destroy it." Comments Aqualad looking at the android's body and the destroyed head, along with the rest of the team and the Red Tornado.
"I agree."
"Is that why you didn't help us?" Asks Megan looking at the robot.
"No, this fight was yours, I do not think it's my job to solve problems for you and it's not your job to solve mine." Declares the robot making the team face the hero while Naruto who was watching from above in the cave just waved before flying away receiving a small look from Megan and Conner.
[…]
"I don't think I'll be able to keep the promise." Comments Naruto floating in a lying position on top of a sofa while in an armchair next to him was Kent drinking a cup of tea.
The man nodded his head before looking at Naruto with a blank expression and sighed causing the boy to look at him.
"I understand, it was stupid of me to ask that of you." Reveals the man making Naruto widen his eyes stopping flying and falling on the couch, the boy moaned before sitting down and looking at the older man.
Noticing this Kent glanced at Naruto and saw him looking a bit uncertain as he stared at him trying to figure out what to say, which made the old man's eyes widen.
"I'm not angry Naruto, nor disappointed, I mean I'm disappointed, but it's with myself, did I charge you something I shouldn't..." Comments Kent before getting up thoughtfully, while Naruto stared at him confused.
The man paced back and forth for a bit before sighing and turning to the redhead.
"Naruto, what I said was something I clearly should have thought better of, it was the kind of hero I wanted to be like Dr. Fate, but Nabu wasn't the most cheerful or open of people, so I must have tried to tell you to be like I wanted to be, so I'm sorry about that." Laments the man making Naruto widen his eyes in surprise before adopting a thoughtful look.
"I see..." Comments Naruto a little uncertainly before the man approaches the boy and puts his hand on the young man's shoulder.
"I know things are difficult for you, but just keep going, be the best version of yourself and I'll be happy as long as you're happy." Kent's words made Naruto widen his eyes before giving the man a smile.
"Thanks…and…I think I have an idea of a name for myself, a hero name like you said I'd need." Comments the boy making the old man cheer up and look expectantly at the boy.
"And which one did you choose?"
With that Naruto starts to float a little in the air while remembering how his desire to fly ended up taking him away from others, but it was still his desire, the freedom to fly through the skies without anyone or anything holding him back.
"My hero name will be Ikarus."