Disclaimer: I do not own YJ, they belong to DC. I own Mia!
Mount Justice
October 10, 16:58 EDT
Captain Marvel became Wally's waiter after the battle with the Injustice League.
"Pineapple juice?"
Wally takes the cup and took a nice long sip "Ahh. Just what the doctor ordered."
"How's the arm doing, Wally?"
"Well, nothing wrong nachos can't cure" he leans back in the chair.
"Nachos? Oh! I'll go get some."
Marvel makes a mad dash to grab nachos for Wally while the rest were training with Canary.
"Good work everyone. In fact, it's been a very productive week" Canary states.
"Yeah, for everyone except Kid Malingerer" Artemis retorts.
"Hey! Arm broken in combat against the Injustice League here" Wally counters.
"Oh so you're playing that game. Well let's see here: I teleported to the Watchtower sick as a dog resulting in getting massive internal bleeding and I went to the India mission the following day. Next I was tortured by some Shadows just nine days ago and I'm still training. Not to mention every other time I've gotten badly injured since joining the Team and you don't see me milking every injury I've gotten. Shall I continue?" Mia remarks.
Canary chuckles "I've really enjoyed being your, uh, den mother this week."
"Recognized: Zatara, 1-1."
Zatara appears and heads to the zeta tube controls to punch in a command.
"Access granted. Zatanna, Zatara. A03. Authorization: Zatara, 1-1."
"Zatanna, this is the Team. Team, my daughter, Zatanna" Zatara introduces.
M'gann was the first to greet her but a certain Boy Wonder cuts her off.
"Hi! I'm-"
"Robin! Ahem. I mean, I'm Robin. Heh. She's M'gann, and that's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Conner and Mia."
Mia smirks at the way Robin's acting. "I have found my second ship."
"Welcome to the cave" Kaldur greets.
"Thanks."
"So, uh, are you joining the Team?" Robin asks.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is strictly a visit. But I am sorry we missed the training. It's something from which Zatanna could benefit" Zatara tells Canary.
"Do the rest of you get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?" M'gann asks.
"Not just Zatara. I mean, why's Marvel still hanging around?" Conner asks.
"Don't diss on Cap. He's actually very nice once you get to know him" Mia crosses her arms.
"Because we like having him around" Wally states.
"You like having him around cause he waits on you hand and foot" Artemis jabs.
"And your point is?" he asks.
Mia slaps his shoulder.
"Mia!"
"That's for treating Cap like a servant, now stop it."
"It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenure as our supervisor" Kaldur comments.
"Yeah. At least he trusted us" Robin states.
"Are we going to ignore the fact that Robin has a gigantic crush on Zatanna?" Mia wonders.
A sly smile appears on her face making Robin glare at her which she counters with a cheeky grin.
"If you ignore the fact that we shouldn't trusted him! He was a traitor. That machine nearly got all of us killed" Conner states.
"Hey! What did I tell you about calling Red Tornado a traitor? I dare you to say it again and we'll see what happens to you when you do" Mia cracks her knuckles with intimidation.
"Are you guys having a psychic conversation? Cause I can't decide if that's cool or really rude" Zatanna comments.
Zatara and Canary waited for an explanation.
"All right. Fine. We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack."
"It wasn't an attack. I refuse to believe it" Mia cuts him off.
"The League hasn't told us anything" Conner finishes.
"The League is searching for Tornado, as well as the other androids that invaded the cave and their creator T.O. Morrow. Batman's made tracking them our highest priority" Canary explains.
"But you've found none of the above" Robin states.
"He's got you there Canary" Mia adds.
"Not yet, but Tornado is Justice League. The Team is not to pursue this."
"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a, uh, tour of the cave?" Zatara suggests.
They looked for Zatanna and found her next to Wolf and Lola. "She's good" Mia thought as she watches Zatanna pet Lola.
"You're giving a tour? Cool!" Marvel says when he came in with a plate of nachos.
"Actually I was hoping you'd take Wolf outside. He needs the exercise. We'll join you in a few" Conner says.
"I see what he's doing" "Hey Cap, can you take Lola outside too? I'm sure she'd appreciate climbing a few trees and stretch her legs for a bit. Like the idea Lola?"
Lola roars in agreement. Mia bends down so she's at eye level with Lola and a sly smile appears on her face.
"Keep him distracted, we'll be back soon" Mia whispers to Lola.
Lola nods and licks Mia's face before following Wolf and Cap.
"Sure, sure. I can do that. Come on, Wolf and Lola."
As Marvel left with the pets, Wally whines at the lack of nachos he has.
"What-my nachos!"
Mia steps on his foot with a smile and ushers him to follow the others. While they walked through the kitchen, Zatanna shows up wearing another set of clothes leaving Robin tongue tied.
"When did you-How did you-"
"We're not really taking a tour, are we?"
"No. We're hunting down that robot" Conner states.
"Tornado is not some savage animal that needs to be hunted down. I think 'searching' is a better word, don't you think?" Mia smiles sweetly but her eyes held anger and rage.
"Yes, we are" Kaldur confirms.
"Oh, wow. Out loud and everything."
"I'm liking her more and more already" Mia smirks.
"What about new girl?" Artemis asks.
"I'm sure she won't tell" Robin casually says.
"I can't tell. Not if you kidnap me."
"Oh, she's going to fit in great" Artemis states.
"I second that" Mia raises her hand.
All eight quickly made their way to the bioship and left the cave.
Meanwhile, Marvel was outside with Wolf and Lola. He sets the plate of nachos on the ground and grabs a log then tosses it.
"Fetch" but Wolf ate the nachos "Come on! Fetch. Please?" he begs.
Wolf did nothing as he continues to eat the plate of nachos. Lola on the other hand brought over a branch and places it by Marvel's feet. She paws at it then he got the idea of what she wanted to do.
"Come on Lola" Marvel floats a few feet above Lola and holds the branch over her so she would jump and catch it "Good girl Lola."
In the cave, Canary notices that the bioship was gone.
"M'gann, the bioship wasn't authorized for departure."
'We're kidnapping Zatanna-to show her Happy Harbor. Be back soon!'
'Don't worry Canary, I'll make sure no one does anything incredible stupid. Love ya!' Mia adds.
"Roger that. Have fun" Canary ends the call.
"I did not give permission for-"
"They're good kids, Giovanni. Trustworthy kids. Don't worry" "At least Mia is with them."
"Where are we going? Batman is the world's greatest detective, and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location. If we're going to do better, we need an illogical solution. A truly dumb idea" Robin turns around to look at Wally.
Everyone looks at Wally waiting for his answer.
"Well?" Mia asks.
"As a matter of fact…."
"That's actually a very dumb idea. Good job Stupid 2."
"Stupid 2?" Zatanna asks.
"You know the Things from Cat in the Hat?"
"Yeah."
"There they are. Robin is Stupid 1 and Wally is Stupid 2."
"Mia!" the boys yelled.
"It's true and you know it. Whenever the two of you are together, something stupid happens."
"Look Tornado. Your brother and sister are back online. We'll have you up and running, too. Maybe even turn your voice box back on, as soon as I'm done copying and downloading your memory files. In the meantime, I'll tell you a story"
Morrow sat down beside Tornado and leans in closer.
"Once upon a time, a brilliant scientist decided to build his own superhero to infiltrate and destroy the Justice Society of America. His first creation was…Red Torpedo, hero of the ocean deep, a machine programmed to think he was a man. Unfortunately, that programming was crude. Torpedo never quite fit in. Your eldest brother was a failure.
But the scientist believed in his plan and began again. Your sister debuted as Firebrand, a much-loved and admired heroine. If only she hadn't been so darn heroic. Yet our intrepid scientist would not quit, and this time, the android would know he was an android.
The new approach worked-Red Tornado, the robot hero, was inducted into the Justice Society. The scientist believed he had triumphed. But Tornado's original heroic programming and Pinocchio-like desire to become more human caused him to betray his creator, his father" Morrow walks to his first two creations "Still, the scientist refuses to give up."
Belle Reve
October 10, 18:35 CDT
"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break. He's given us 5 minutes with you" M'gann states.
"Spill Ivo. How do we find T.O. Morrow and his reds?" Conner demanded.
"Now, why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?"
"Because-and here's a truly dumb idea-your Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game. Who better to keep track of what he's up to, and where?" Wally explains.
"Ah. I see your point. So let me rephrase-why in the world would I tell you how to find Morrow?"
"Because do you really want to see me get angry? I'm sure you saw the damage I made to your robot monkeys a few months ago, now what would happen to you I wonder" Mia glares dangerously at Ivo.
"Threaten me all you like darling, I'm not saying a word."
Mia growls and lunges at him but Conner held her back.
"He knows. Do what you must" Kaldur orders M'gann.
Her eyes turned green and tries to read his mind. Ivo laughs at her attempt to get inside his head.
"Oh, please. As if I've never faced a telepath before."
"Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol!" Zatanna chants.
"Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park, 100 meters south of Old Faithful."
Everyone was shocked and surprised at how Zatanna got Ivo to talk. Mia nods in approval and high fives Zatanna.
"Wait. What just happened?" Ivo asks.
"We got our intel, thanks Doc. Hope you enjoy your time rotting in here" Mia bids farewell as they left the interrogation room.
Morrow presses some keys when the download was complete.
"Download complete."
He lowers the examination bed to work on the figure underneath the blanket.
"Time for the upload. But first, introductions. Red Tornado, Red Torpedo, Red Inferno-I like that name so much better than Firebrand-meet your baby brother….Red Volcano. This Red won't bother infiltrating the heroes. He'll simply destroy them, with the help of your memories. Finally, the scientist has built an android that transcends the need to be human. No more Pinocchios" Morrow turns Volcano online.
The android got up and grabs Morrow by the wrist.
"Hello, father."
"Son. You're hurting me."
"Yes, but pain is so human. And per your programming, I've transcended any concern for humans" he rips off Morrow's arms revealing that he's actually an android too "No more Pinocchios."
"His son was lost-son was lost-son was." Volcano stomps on the android's head, destroying it in the process. He turns around to face his older siblings with an "angry look" on his face.
"Did you know father was an android?" they didn't respond "We're a stick. Father, you were right. Humans are annoying."
The Team continues to make their way to Yellowstone National Park.
"Blackout all external communication. Soon, Canary and Zatara, Batman, too, I imagine-will know about our visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time" Kaldur states.
"Look. I'm trying to be all nonchalant here."
"Why? Be as chalant as you like" Zatanna retorts.
Robin smiles while Mia was silently squealing like a fan girl behind Wally. "They make the cutest couple! They're my second ship." Wally glances behind him giving Mia a weird look. Mia notices Wally's staring at her and sheepishly smiles. "Well that was weird. Who knew Mia's a shipper."
"I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers. Could you teleport us to Tornado, or Morrow to a cell, or force his bots to surrender?" Artemis asks.
"Or create peace on Earth for all time? Zatara couldn't even do all that, and I'm nowhere near on 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. Besides I thought Mia could do all that teleporting stuff, it's her thing right?"
This time everyone looks at Mia for answers. She took a while to respond.
"Can I actually do all that? I mean I can teleport myself, objects and attacks but I've never done it to living organisms. Need to try that out" "If I could do all that, do you think we would be wasting our time going to Yellowstone?"
"That's true" Wally answers.
"What's our ETA to Yellowstone? I'm way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor" Conner angrily states.
"You will do no such thing! There's no way I'm letting you get within five feet of him" Mia yells.
"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur asks Conner.
"Aren't you?"
"I am not convinced. And even so, that makes him but the victim of his creator's programming. Certainly, he deserves a chance to prove he's more than the weapon others designed him to be."
Conner got quiet after that. Mia slowly nods in agreement and starts remembering about her time at Ra's al Ghul's compound, training to be an assassin. "Everyone deserves a second chance no matter how much they've screwed up."
"Listen to me, my brothers, my sister. I have been downloaded with all your memories. Father's too. Oh. He left out the bit about him being an android, but he did reveal his plan, his dream for our destiny" Volcano pulls up an underground satellite image of Yellowstone "There's a semi-dormant supervolcano beneath Yellowstone. Father gave me the power to activate it in 3 stages. The eruption will decimate the planet, kill millions, and trap the rest under an impenetrable cloud of ash. While humanity struggles to survive, we four will build a Red army to make this Earth a red planet."
'Ivo to Morrow. Thomas, are you there?'
Volcano fakes his voice "I'm here, Anthony. What do you want?"
'Reluctantly, to warn you. The children have learned your location. I don't believe they told their elders and betters. But they are on their way.'
When the call ended, Volcano turns back to look at his older siblings. "Perfect."
Yellowstone National Park
October 10, 20:22 MDT
The bioships lands swiftly and safely close to Old Faithful.
"Stealth mode" Kaldur orders.
Everyone's clothes turned black and got ready. Zatanna opens the cargo door when Kaldur shows up.
"I recommend you stay behind."
"Is that an order?"
"No. You must do as you see fit."
"Good. Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool!"
Zatanna wears a magician suit similar to her dad's. Soon all eight raced out of the bioship to get Red Tornado back. "We're almost there T." They stopped at the edge of a clearing and Robin pulls up his holo-computer scanning the area.
"Ivo was right. Something's down there."
As they went into the clearing, a large gust of wind came right at them. The wind blows them to the ground and all of them looked up to see Red Tornado flying above them. A few tornados appeared, surrounding them.
"Why, Tornado? Why are you doing this?" M'gann asks.
"This isn't you Tornado! You're a good man despite what anyone else says" Mia states.
A few more tornados appeared and that's when Mia figured it out. "You sneaky son of a-"
"Message received" M'gann states.
"Who cares why? Nail him!" Conner yells.
"No!" Mia tries to "stop" him but fails. Kaldur was launched at Tornado with Conner's help but Tornado punches him back into Conner. Artemis fires two arrows at him but the arrows got redirected back at Artemis and Robin.
"That does it, Red. You're not the only spin doctor around here." Wally creates his own tornado and went after Tornado while M'gann came from behind. Tornado grabs her arm and throws her into Wally. Zatanna and Mia were the only ones left but Tornado quickly took care of Zatanna, leaving Mia alone to fight him.
"N-no" *sniffles* "I-I'm s-sorry T but no one hurts my family" Mia forces herself to cry.
She yells in frustration as she attacks him. Quickly appearing in front of him, she gets in a punch however it wasn't effective. Before she could teleport away, Tornado grabs her by the throat and stares at her for a heartbeat. Deep down Mia knew that Red Tornado was never a traitor and his gaze confirmed it. He throws her to the ground where she lays motionlessly. "I hope this works."
Red Volcano appears behind Tornado "Quite a performance, brother, but we both know that's all it was. I have all of your memories, Tornado, plus a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do."
Volcano raises the message that Tornado wrote in the ground while the Team began to stand up.
"Does anyone else have a better plan?" Mia asks but no one answers.
"Blowing a message into the sand?" Volcano throws the message at them.
Kaldur and Conner were able to take out the larger portions while the others dodged them.
"Zatanna?" Robin asks.
"I'm good. Red Tornado's getting away."
"Is he abandoning us?" Artemis asks.
"I don't believe that" M'gann answers.
"Neither do I. He's gotta be planning something" Mia adds.
"You stand no chance against me, humans" Volcano punches Wally away.
"We're not human!" Conner and M'gann yelled.
"Apologies. I suppose the properly inclusive term is" he creates two giant hands out of rock and slams the couple with them "Meatbags."
He creates a chasm and Artemis and Kaldur fell in. Artemis quickly launches an arrow and grabs Kaldur before successfully escaping the chasm. When it closed, Robin throws a bird-arang at Volcano who catches it and it explodes but it did no damage to him.
"Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move."
Mia appears in front of Volcano to punch him however he grabs her by the throat and looks at her.
"So you must be her then."
"What are…you talking…about?"
"The girl who's teaching Tornado how to be more human."
"Something…w-wrong with th-that?"
"If I am to have Tornado by my side, I must get rid of his humanity by killing you."
Volcano slowly tightens his hold around her neck, draining her life little by little. "Is this how I'm going to die? Death by strangulation at the hands of a homicidal android? Oh great." Mia felt her eyes getting heavier and heavier by the second until finally she couldn't open them anymore and fell into a state of unconsciousness.
"Ekoms emoceb a dlofnilb!"
A ring of smoke blindfolds him and he drops Mia as he tries to get the smoke off. As Mia falls, Zatanna chants "Etativel Aim!"
Mia's body came to a stop and was lowered slowly onto the ground. Just as her body touched the ground, Mia jolts right up gasping and coughing for air.
"Tornado never knew my moves."
"And I bet you've got some great ones. Whoa. Sorry. That may have come off as a little too Wally" Robin apologizes.
"I don't mind" Zatanna giggles.
"Will you two stop flirting and help take down the homicidal android" Mia states via telepathic link.
"Mia are you ok?" Wally asks.
Red Volcano causes the supervolcano to erupt.
"Let's have this chat after we defeat the bad guy."
Down in Morrow's base, Tornado tries to get his older siblings help take down Red Tornado.
"We must stop him."
"Why? Once we believed we lived. Now, there is only Red Inferno and Red Torpedo. Why should we help save humanity when we are no longer human?" Inferno wonders.
"The premise of your question is flawed. You were never human, but you were heroes."
Inferno and Torpedo looked at each other for a bit then back at Tornado.
"How have you come to care for humans?" Torpedo asks.
"A young girl, who I teach, taught me to care for humans and I have learned to care for her as if she was my child."
Volcano launches a few rocks covered in lava at Wally and he was able to dodge them.
"He's activating a stage 2 eruption. It gets to stage 3, kiss the hemisphere goodbye."
"Hit him from all sides" Kaldur orders.
"Gladly" Mia adds.
Kaldur goes first and Volcano punches him away then Conner went next and the result was the same. M'gann uses her telepathic powers to bring Volcano down so he opens a crack in the ground next to her allowing hot steam to come out and weaken her. Conner runs to her rescue but Red Volcano got in between them and holds M'gann by her cape.
"Ekoms dna srorrim…Etaerc Dik Hsalf snoisulli!"
Suddenly there was a swarm of Wallys in front of Zatanna and they went after Volcano.
"I used a scaled down version when I want to sneak out of the house" Zatanna explains.
"Awesome! Think you can teach me that?" Mia asks.
"Mia…" Robin warns.
"Ugh! We'll talk later Zatanna."
Red Volcano launches rocks at the Wallys while the real one got M'gann to safety. Out of nowhere a large tower of water appears behind Kaldur and attacked Volcano.
"Nice hit!" Robin exclaims.
"The hit was not mine. Look!"
Everyone looks to see Red Torpedo helping them then Tornado come in to help and Red Inferno does the same.
"I knew he wouldn't leave us!" Mia exclaims.
"Sister! Brothers! Stop!"
Soon Volcano was pushed into the lava and pulled down by Torpedo and Inferno. Tornado comes in to help by pressing down his younger brother with his legs.
"Father would be so disappointed" was the last thing Red Volcano said then he activates stage 3.
"Conner get him out of there!" Mia yells.
Conner grabs Tornado before he melted away and lays him on the ground by the Team. Mia goes to Tornado's side checking him over if he was alright. "He may be a robot but he should be treated as a human." The volcano goes into stage 3.
"Tornado, listen! We're on a verge of a stage 3 supervolcano eruption. There's no turning back from that. We need to vent pressure, fast. But the ash cloud will bring on worldwide nuclear winter unless you divert it" Tornado nods "Triangulate around the pressure locus" Wally tells Robin.
"Right. There, there, and there" Robin states looking at the holo-map.
Artemis shoots an arrow which splits into three smaller one and hits the targets. The ash begins to escape so now it was Tornado's turn. As he goes high up into the sky to divert the giant ash cloud, Mia tried to talk.
"You can do it T" her voice sounded rough and hoarse.
Wally gently presses Mia's neck to see how bad the damage Volcano did to her neck and he smirks.
"It's not too bad. Most likely it's strained so take it easy. You might have to stop talking for a few days thank god but check it out with Canary first."
Mia slaps his shoulder hard and her signature smirk shows up.
"You do realize that I can still talk to you via telepathy."
"Oh crud."
When the ash cloud vanished, the magma flow from the volcano cooled down marking the end of the eruption.
"Yes!" Wally exclaims.
Tornado finally came back down and everyone went to help him. They took him down to the lab and got his voice box to work.
"There that should do it."
"Yes. I can speak again."
"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet" Kaldur says.
"The planet would have survived. It is humanity that was saved-though not by me. My sister and brother were the true heroes this day."
"My point is this-you were never the mole, never a traitor."
"I told you!" Mia shouts. She quickly holds her throat in pain. "Ow."
"No. I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator, Morrow."
Mia went to Tornado's side and rests a hand on his shoulder with a watery smile on her face. Wally and Robin were looking around some parts in a large bin.
"Cool. Souvenir" Wally holds a robotic hand.
Robin pulls out a leg "Reddy, we can rebuild you better than you were before."
"I do not believe I should be repaired."
Mia got angry and slaps Tornado across his face. He looks back at Mia in confusion to see angry tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Why did you do that?"
Mia growls and goes on a telepathic rant. The others backed away from her. M'gann tries her best to tell Tornado a short version of Mia's rant.
"Mia said 'You have every right to be repaired because you're a hero and that you shouldn't bring yourself down' and she doesn't want you to do that ever again."
"I see."
"Why'd you volunteer to become our den mother in the first place?" Conner asks.
"I was the pragmatic choice. I do not require sleep. I have no secret identity or second life to live."
"But you do have advanced A.I. programming designed to learn, adapt, evolve" Wally states.
"Hello, Megan. You wanted to become more human."
"And you couldn't do that with the League. They're stiffs" Artemis says.
"You're sure not going to learn emotion from Batman. Trust me" Robin comments.
"Then the cave was not a proving ground only for us, but for you as well" Kaldur concludes.
"I do not know if these statements are accurate, but perhaps they are true. And if I understand the term correctly, I believe I have come to…care about you all especially you Mia" Mia was stunned "You have shown me what it is like to be a father and a good friend. Thank you."
Mia smiles brightly and makes the sign for "I love you too."
"See? Practically a meatbag already" Conner states.
"Which reminds me…"
In a hospital room, the assistant quickly turns around to see Red Tornado. He feared that Tornado would harm the real Morrow but he doesn't.
"I will not hurt him" Tornado walks to Morrow's bedside "He was evil, but T.O. Morrow is still my father. I will care for him. It is the human thing to do."
As the Team made their way back to the cave, Robin and Zatanna had a quick chat.
"So, good kidnapping?"
"Actually, yeah. Best ever."
"Heh. First of many, I hope."
"If my dad doesn't ground me for life."
"I'm sure he wouldn't do that" Mia softly says.
She looks out the window and starts coming up with wedding dress designs for the girls on the Team. Mia intentionally slips an image of Zatanna and M'gann in wedding dresses to Robin and Conner respectively. Both boys went stiff but they didn't dare look back at Mia because if they did then she would be able to see their beat red faces.
"Gotcha."
"She's grounded for life! 'They're good kids, Giovanni. Don't worry, Giovanni'. She's never joining this Team" Zatara tells Canary.
Canary turns around to see a soaked Marvel, Wolf and Lola.
"Um, are they coming out to play or what?"
Lola shakes off the water and begins to clean herself. When she finished, she heads to Mia's room and sleeps on her bed waiting for her.