Chapter 6: Storm Warning

M'gann tries to fly us out of there, but by then it's too late. We're caught in the twister, spinning out of control for at least a good minute. Then we start circling around the twister, going with the speed of it. Next thing I know we're out of it and landing on the ground. Like Hal says, 'Any landing you can walk from, I consider a good landing.'

We all jump out of the ship to see this twister causing destruction to the power plant, and by the sound of it, hurting people as well. I take my ring out of my pocket and put it on my ring finger, but I make it so I'm not wearing my uniform.

"Robin, please tell me the tornadoes aren't common around here." I turn to ask directly but only to see he's long gone. "I hate it when he does that."

Then I hear windows crashing from the building, glass falling to the concrete. Looks like we found our Boy Wonder.

"Come on." We all head inside the plant to find Robin on the ground. We also find what looks almost like Red Tornado, but not him. A red robot with blue gloves and sidings, light blue tubes connecting to his hands to his back shoulders. He's also wearing a ragged scarf around his mouth, blowing in the wind he's probably creating.

"Who's your new friend?"

"You may address me as Mister Twister."

Superboy takes off for Twister, but he creates two twisters, keeping Superboy running in place. Then one circles around him, spinning and throwing him to the wall, then falling to the ground. M'gann looks over to him, probably wanting to check on him. But before she does, I try something.

"Superboy will be fine. Focus on the task at hand. If you don't, we'll lose the battle before it even begins."

She nods towards me in agreement, knowing we have to deal with Twister now before anyone else gets hurt. Talking to people through our minds is definitely weird.

We all head towards Twister, my ring charged and ready to fire at him. Wally takes the first shot, kicking at him, but only for Twister to grab him and throw him out of the building. We then throws Kaldur and M'gann aside with more of his hot wind.

I take my turn and fire green energy shots at him, hitting him mostly, but not doing much. "I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children."

"We're not children!" Robin yells as he throws his batarangs at the robot, only for him to knock them away like toys.

"Objectively, you are. Have you without supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."

"Well we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can." More turbed? Really Robin?

Something above Twister breaks apart, sending hot air down towards him. Nice one M'gann.

I ready to take my shot at him but Superboy goes charging in as usual to tear him apart, but instead gets blown back to M'gann's way.

I take to the air as Kaldur and Robin run towards him. I continue shooting energy at him, getting a hit to the head. Did I hurt him? Before I can figure out if I did or not, he sends a twister my way, but I try to push back in the air. But his wind is too strong, sending me outside to the ground.

I get back on my feet and look back to see Wally still on the ground, so I fly over to him. "Wake up Wally, this isn't over yet." He brings his head up, shaking off the pain. He then looks over to the plant, and so do I. Twister is leaving. Not if we have anything to say about that.

Wally runs in his path to keep him here. I decide to take the defensive and put up a barrier construct around the robot. "Let's see you send us flying now."

"What have you done to our team?"

"Embarrassed them, largely." He brings his hands up, creating a small twister while inside my barrier. I keep pushing on the willpower to keep in him. "Impressive, for someone so young, so inexperienced."

"Trust me, I've got more experience than you could ever imagine." The others join us as I keep our weather robot under control. "I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now."

"What do you want?!" Kaldur yells at the automaton.

"Isn't it obvious?" He places his hand on the ceiling of the barrier, sending air currents its way. He continues to do so until it breaks, sending me back for Kaldur to catch. He then floats up to the sky, gloating his victory over us. "I'm waiting for a real hero."

"Read his mind. Find a weakness."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that."

"Not with us, but with crazy super villains and killer robots, you're golden."

She goes on to read his mind, but from her look it doesn't seem to be going well. "Nothing, I'm getting nothing. Hello, Megan! Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He's inorganic, an android. How many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?"

I look over in disbelief. "That doesn't make sense, why would Red Tornado knowingly disguise himself and attack us like this? Red may be a lot of things but there's no way he would attack us for no good reason."

"But Red Tornado sent us here." Kaldur says.

"After saying we'd be tested soon enough. This is his test, something to keep us busy." Robin adds on.

"Speedy called it, we're a joke." Wally says, bringing everyone's mood down.

"Guys, this is nuts. There's no way that's Red Tornado. There has to be another reasonable explanation. And since when do we listen to Speedy when he calls what we're doing a joke? We know this is important to us, and that makes it not a joke."

But they ignore my words of reason, feeling anger and annoyance more than ever. Robin, Wall and Kaldur head towards Mister Twister, getting ready to tell him off about his 'test'.

I go over to M'gann. "Why did you have to say that?"

"Because it's the truth. Who else could this be if not Red Tornado?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe another robot that can generate tornadoes and twisters. That is a possibility you know."

As we continue to argue, I notice the sky getting darker and darker. I look up to see Twister creating storm clouds, with… lightning?

"There's no way that's Red Tornado now. He can only generate wind and tornadoes, not lightning."

"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic." Twister then sends a strike of lightning our way, sending us back to the ground. I raise my head to see Superboy still standing, jumping his way to Twister. But he is struck back down by two strikes of lightning from the evil robot.

As I get my feet back onto the ground, Twister makes his way towards us. M'gann brings her head up along with me. I ready my ring to fire full blast on the robot, but before I get the chance, something blocks my shot. Camouflage mode. I look over to M'gann, who signals me to keep quiet. No argument there.

"Fine then. I won't deny you children have power, but playing hide and seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives. So stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy." Twister then flies off after giving us his threatening warning.

"Thanks for the save M'gann."

Superboy then smashes the ground more, angry still. "You think saving us will make this right? You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado."

"She didn't mean to, she was trying to help figure this out."

"It was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened." Robin adds on.

Wally jumps in now. "You are pretty inexperienced. Hit the showers. We'll take it from here."

"Stay out of our way." Superboy says as he leaps after Twister, with Robin and Wally following.

"Guys!" I angrily kick the ground, mad at them for telling her to head home. "Kaldur, we need all the help we can get if we're going to stop Twister."

"I was just trying to be part of the team." She brings her head down, sad as ever.

Kaldur walks towards us. "To be honest, I'm not sure we really are a team."

Kaldur then heads off to join the others. As much as I want to help them, M'gann needs my help more right now.

I kneel down to face her, bringing her head up and her focus to me. "Hey, don't get so down on yourself. Everyone makes mistakes when they're new to this. I know I've made my fair share of mistakes."

She still has that saddened look on her face. "But just because we screw up doesn't mean we throw in the towel. You quit now, then you might as well quit this team. But I know you won't do that."

Her expression changes from sadness to surprise from my belief in her. "How do you know I won't?"

"I don't know, but I'm hoping you won't. I'm an optimist, I have to have hope, not just for a better tomorrow but for people as well." I say as I smile towards her.

And she smiles back to me too. "There's that martian smile." She starts to laugh now. "I've got an idea. How 'bout we call Red Tornado? If anyone can stop Twister, surely he can."

"You're absolutely right! Come on Kyle!" We both head into the Bioship and take off into the air. "Miss Martian to Red Tornado."

"Red Tornado. Did you discover what the situation was at the power plant?"

"We did, and we found an android, like yourself. He can generate twisters like you can generate tornadoes, but he can also generate lightning as well."

Red seems to be pondering at my explanation. "Hmm, interesting."

"The team really needs your help." M'gann tells him.

"If I intervened, it would not be to help. Still, it is an odd coincidence that this Twister shares my elemental abilities and my immunity to telepathy."

I then turn over to M'gann, who bops her head again. "Hello, Megan!"

"What, you figure something out?"

"Yes, but I need you to join the others in helping them defeat Twister. I'll join you soon enough."

"Okay." A door morphs open for me to fly on out. "Oh and Kyle?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for helping me earlier." She says smiling my way.

I smile back, feeling her gratitude. "Hey, what are friends for?"

I then jump out of the ship and fly my way to the others. I can see them fighting Twister at the docks, and it's not going in their favor unfortunately. So I join in the fun and blast Twister with energy shots of mine, pouring on the willpower to strengthen it. And it seems like it's working, actually hurting him, knocking him back a step or two.

I fly back over to Robin and Wally, who're taking cover behind a wrecked boat from the automaton. "Where've you been Rayner?"

"Trying to figure a way to stop this. Still working on that. What about you, Boy Wonder?"

"Still trying to get close enough to blow him to pieces."

"Great strategy, definitely working in your favor."

He grabs a hold of me and pushes me against the boat. "If you have any better ideas, I'm all hears Rayner."

"Listen to me. All of you." It's M'gann, talking in our minds, again. "I have an idea, let's hear out the martian girl."

"What did we tell you?" I can hear Superboy scream that without telepathy.

"I know, and I know I messed up. But now I'm very clear on what we need to do. Please trust me."

"Trust her boys, or else we'll never succeed together as a team." I say loud enough for everyone to hear me, and they all nod in agreement. "Alright Miss Martian, tell us your plan."