Chapter 3: Welcome to Happy Harbor

I own nothing seen here.

Location: Happy Harbor

Date: July 18, 2010

Time: 11:16

It had been almost two week and absolutely nothing had happened.

The first Team meeting had been cut short since Batman and Robin had almost immediately needed to return to Gotham—although Nate had no idea why—prompting the others to disperse as well, reasoning that they would be called back soon enough.

Since then, however, the Team had yet to be summon by Batman for any reason and the 'veteran' sidekicks were starting to grow frustrated. Nathan had been told to zeta to the cave that Sunday by Robin, who had dropped by to let him know they were assembling the whole group to provide maximum power to the effort of pestering Red Tornado into letting them do something.

Aqualad and Robin were already there by the time he arrived, although the others were absent. They were both in civilian clothes despite the purpose of their assembly.

Nate, for his part, almost always wore civilian clothes, today just clad in jeans, a simple t-shirt and a custom jacket made from UHMW. Everything was chosen for its abrasion resistance, since keeping clothes together was more important for him than blocking anything like a bullet. The only non-functional item he had was the crucifix he wore. A gift from Matt.

He walked up to the two, "So . . . what do you think the chances are we actually get a mission?"

Robin shrugged, "Probably not high, but it's no use being all full of mism'."

"It's. . . what?"

"Opposite of optimism," replied the bird with a cheeky grin, "It's what Roy is."

"Roy? The same one who's Speedy?"

"Indeed," confirmed Kaldur, "Although I would not advise addressing him as such currently."

"Why?" asked Nate, slightly confused.

Robin snickered, "Have you ever imagined Roy, Palpatine-spinning across the room to smack you?"

"Uh. No. But now I am."

The mental picture was certainly interesting. Based on their tones, Robin and Aqualad were not currently regarding Roy with a deep-seated fondness, but that could probably be expected.

Roy could certainly be a jerk when upset, and often even when not. But since one of the first things Harper ever did as a vigilante had been to help Nate move past the 'jumpy-stabby-cat' phase and get use to the world, Nathaniel had a better baseline opinion of him than most. He didn't see his friend very often anymore though.

Recognize: Miss Martian, B-05. Superboy, B-04.

The non-human representatives exited the zeta-tube and made their way over to the group. The Martian smiled excitedly—she seemed to be in a constant state of joy—and approached the group, "Hello!" she gestured to Superboy, "We went to look around the Hall of Justice really quick! Did you find out about any missions?"

The three exchanged a quick glance and moved to greet their teammates, wordlessly agreeing to avoid discussing Roy. Instead, Aqualad shook his head and responded to Miss Martian, "He has yet to arrive, and as we are still missing Kid Flash and Power Ring, perhaps that is for the best."

Recognize: Power Ring, B0-7

The latter of the two was announced almost as soon as he finished his sentence. Power Ring exited the zeta-tube and made her way over to them, giving a small wave, Aqualad offered the girl a smile, "And now we are only missing—"

Recognize: Kid Flash, B0-3

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" whined Kid Flash as soon as he saw the group. Nathan snickered and Robin immediately started to laugh at his friend. The redhead zipped up to the group, "Why am I always last?" he grumbled before immediately brightening and looking at them, "Wait! Did you get a mission?"

"Tornado–" Aqualad began to speak when an alert appeared on the monitor and he paused and corrected himself, "–is arriving now, it seems."

"Well? What are we waiting for?" demanded the speedster excitedly before punching Robin in the arm, "Let's go!" The group followed the speedster towards the ramp exit of Mount Justice. As soon as they stepped outside the mountain, Red Tornado descended upon them.

"Hey, Red Tornado!" welcomed Kid Flash, waving at the android.

"Greetings," replied the android tonelessly, "Is there a purpose for this interception?"

"We had hoped that you might have a mission for us," replied Aqualad, half inquiry and half statement.

"As I recall, missions are the Batman's responsibility," responded Tornado.

"But it's been over a week, and nothing's happened," cut in Robin, sounding impatient.

"Perhaps the lack of threats should be celebrated," noted Tornado his tone carrying a hint of admonishment, which was impressive for an expressionless robot, "Nevertheless, your test will come soon enough. In the meantime, simply enjoy each other's company."

Aqualad objected firmly to the last statement, "This team is not a social club."

"It is not. But social interaction is important for team cohesion, or so I am told," Tornado turned away and walked towards the mountain, "Since your last meeting was cut short, perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with one another, and the cave?" He walked down the ramp into the Cave.

Kid Flash punched Robin in the shoulder, much more infuriated this time, muttering unhappily, "Keep busy . . ." Robin was in step with his friend, crossing his arms in displeasure, "Does he really think we're falling for this?"

"Oh! I'll find out!" said Miss Martian happily, pausing for a moment as Tornado was scanned by the cave before her smile dimmed, "I'm sorry, I forgot he's inorganic," she sighed, "I can't read his mind."

"Nice try though," offered Kid Flash as he smirked, "So . . . you know what I'm thinking right now?"

Robin scoffed and elbowed him, "I think that's pretty obvious."

"Ow," muttered his friend, although somewhat indifferently.

"Maybe . . . Tornado is right?" offered Power Ring somewhat hesitantly, before quickly clarifying upon seeing the slightly sour looks the duo sent her way, "I mean about the lack of threat! Silver lining, right?"

"Perhaps," remarked Aqualad, "Still, it would be nice for this team to be put to use," he gave a slight grimace, "and now, I suppose, we tour the clubhouse."

"Hey, another silver lining, at least we got a mountain base," commented Nate.

Kid Flash laughed sarcastically, "Yeah, Batman could have stuck us in a tree house. Boy, am I glad he didn't. We get to do nothing in a cave."

"It's not that bad," insisted Miss Martian, she gestured to her and Superboy, "We live here, we'll give you a tour."

The group turned to look at Superboy who answered grimly, "Sure. She'll give you a tour."

"Gre-aat!" grinned Kid Flash, looking over at Miss Martian, "A private tour sounds great," he turned towards Power Ring, who was standing next to Nate and Superboy, "Actually, you're more than welcome to tag along as well," he offered as suavely as he could. Which was not very.

"No I'm fine," instantly refused the girl, before she blinked in surprise and then looked at her shoes in slight embarrassment.

"Who said anything about a 'private tour'?" disputed Robin, getting irate and once again elbowing the speedster, who turned on him.

"I'm betting on Robin," whispered Nate to Power Ring, who glanced at him warily. Superboy gave him a look confusion.

"Team building. We'll all go," interjected Aqualad firmly before anything more could happen.

Aw.

The sidekick fight from misplaced anger interrupted, the group followed Miss Martian down the ramp back into the cave, with Robin yanking Kid Flash to the rear of the group.

"So this would be our front door . . . "

The tour had been fairly quick, and the group was currently looking over the central room of the cave that contained the Zeta-tubes and power system.

"The League hollowed out the mountain during their early days," Kid Flash informed the group.

Superboy frowned at that, "If they put so much work into it, why abandon it for a tourist trap?"

"The cave's secret location was compromised by an opponent," said Aqualad, "It was necessary to relocate."

Miss Martian glanced around in concern, "If the bad guys know about the cave, we need to be on constant alert," she said, looking at the others to confirm. Considering what villains that the heroes of the Justice League– cough–Batman–cough–had, that was a reasonable suggestion.

Robin took her hand and covered it to reassure her, "Not quite. See, the bad guys know that we know that they know where we are, so they would never expect us to be here!" he grinned, "its brilliant."

"Uh, what he means is, we're hiding in plain sight," clarified Kid Flash quickly moved to disentangle them.

"Oh. That's . . . much clearer," replied Miss Martian hesitantly.

"The cave has additionally received security upgrades," noted Aqualad calmly, "They may not completely prevent a villain entering, but they will allow us to avoid a surprise."

"I would expect that our 'secret' nature would also give some security," offered Nathan, "If they don't know who we are or that we're affiliated with the Justice League, they won't think to look here."

The group nodded, although the Sidekick Trio looked put out by the reminder of their inaction. Nate made a face as he felt as a familiar stinging smell hit him, "Also, something is on fire," he advised. The other teens looked at him curiously, except for Superboy, who frowned and sniffed the air, "He's right. I smell smoke."

Suddenly the Martian gasped and flew out of the room, "My cookies!" she shouted in the distance. The group looked at each other startled before Aqualad walked forward and waved at them to follow. The Atlantean led the group towards the strengthening smell of smoke, which was originating from the kitchen.

They found the Martian looking sadly at a tray of severely burned cookies, "I was just trying Grammy Jones' recipe from episode–" she stopped and laughed nervously, "Uh, I mean, never mind."

Robin consoled her, "I'm sure they would have tasted great," he gestured to Kid Flash, who had eaten one cookie and was reaching for another, "He doesn't seem to mind."

Ah yes, the refined taste of burned.

The red head stopped with a cookie half-way to his mouth and smiled sheepishly, "I have . . . a serious metabolism," he explained before biting into the cookie. Robin didn't seem surprised, but Nate was kind of impressed he could eat that, as were, it seemed, the other three heroes. He also appreciated it, since it meant that he didn't have to. He would have probably choked.

The Martian gave an uncertain smile, "I'll make more then?" she offered.

"It was thoughtful of you to make any," asserted Aqualad.

"Thank you Aqualad," replied Miss Martian smiling earnestly, before ducking her head.

The Atlantean smiled, "Please, call me Kaldur'ahm," he corrected himself, "Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally," Kid Flash offered in a low tone as he casually leaned on the counter, "See, I actually trust you with my secret ID," he tilted his head towards Robin, "Unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here." His friend frowned at him and crossed his arms. Wally continued, "Batman has forbidden the Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."

"Is your name actually Wally?" asked Nate curiously, he shrugged when the speedster turned to frown at him, "What? It's not a typical name."

"Well . . . technically its Wallace, but I prefer Wally" replied the red head reluctantly, "What about you? Nathan isn't a typical codename, is it just your regular name?"

"Regular name," confirmed Nate, "I have no nickname, just Nate, or Nathan, or Nathaniel."

Although Daredevil usually says 'Kid'. And The Program called me 'Weapon' or 'Nemesis'.

He amended his statement, "So I guess a few nicknames."

Matt had gotten his Nom de guerre from the press, but they seemed to be undecided on a one for Nate. Multiple papers had come up with one simultaneously and they currently alternated between calling him Kid Devil, The Tasmanian, and Honey Badger. He had even seen 'Ratel' and thought for a moment they were calling him a pasta, which was odd, but it turned out to just be another word for Honey Badger.

"Right . . . so . . . what do we call you?" asked Kid Flash. Err, Wally.

Superboy frowned at Wally as though he was being obtuse and bluntly replied for Nate, "I thought he just said a version of Nathaniel would work?"

"We can't call him that in the field," protested Wally.

Robin nodded in agreement and turned to Nate, "What about your secret identity?"

"I mean, I think just 'Nate' is fine for now. It's a common name," he offered indifferently.

He had no last name and he seriously doubted that a villain who heard the name would immediately think 'Nate? As in Nathan? As in Nathaniel? As in, the Nathaniel that lives on 181 Romita Street Bludhaven?!' so he was pretty sure that it would be fine.

Either that or a lot of 'Nates' were going to die.

"My Earth name is going to be Megan," interjected Miss Martian excitedly, "on Mars it was M'gann M'orzz, but I think I should have an Earth name."

"I'm Jessica," offered Power Ring, who had been silent for quite a while. She hesitated, "I, uh, I don't know what friends would call me."

Ouch.

It occurred to Nate that he had only heard of three Green Lanterns on Earth, all of whom were knocking it out the park when it came to name creativity. He turned to ask Jessica about her hero-name, when Superboy abruptly yelled loudly at Megan, "Get out of my head!"

Startled, the group turned to look between the two in alarm. Nathan suddenly felt a sharp stab in his head, like a really bad headache, before he heard Megan's voice, "What's wrong? I don't understand, on Mars everyone communicates telepathically."

"M'gann! Stop," he heard Kaldur command. The pain disappeared immediately.

"Ow."

Kaldur looked at M'gann seriously, "Mars is different from Earth. Here your powers are considered a severe invasion of privacy."

"Yeah, and Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-gnome goblins . . ." whispered Wally, before waving in Superboy's direction, ". . . they left a bad taste in his brain."

Cadmus? What's a G-gnome . . . goblin?

M'gann's eyes widened, "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean–"

"Just stay out," snapped Superboy before storming over to the connecting lounge.

The group stood awkwardly in silence for a moment before M'gann actually facepalmed, "Hello, Megan!" she turned to the others and smiled, "I know something we can do!" she motioned for them to follow her and led them out of the room before stopping and going back to the kitchen. She returned a moment later with Superboy in tow and the group entered an elevator.

When the door opened, they found themselves in a hanger and dock area, with a red egg-shaped blob sitting in front of them. M'gann stepped ahead of the group and gestured to the blob, "It's my Martian Bioship," she explained.

"Cool. Not very aerodynamic, but cool," noted Wally.

"That's because it's at rest silly," replied Megan with a smile, she reached out towards the ship, "I'll wake it." The red egg immediately transformed into more impressive shape that resembled a genuine sci-fi ship. It floated into the air and set down so that a door and a ramp opening from its back could be accessed.

"Huh. Does Manhunter have one of those?" inquired Nate.

Megan smile became slightly awkward, "Uh, no. No, he does not."

It sounded like there was more to it, but in all honesty, Nate didn't care. He walked with group up the ramp, inside there was a pilot's seat and 6 more passenger chairs, he went and sat down in one of the seats which immediately sprouted buckles from it and secured him. Robin and Wally also raced into their seats.

Miss Martian asked Red Tornado to open the bay doors and the android complied. As the ship began to fly, Robin immediately expressed his excitement at the experience, which Wally followed up on by putting his foot in his mouth.

Nate ignored the red head's Martian crush and assessed the dark-haired boy.

Wally had mentioned that Batman had forbidden his sidekick from sharing his identity, so he obviously didn't trust the group, and given its roster, that was probably wise. Now, if he had heard Robin's name, Nathan wouldn't have run to the nearest supervillain or told the news, but he would have reported it to Daredevil as soon as possible. After all, it would lead to the Batman's identity and the vigilante didn't have a monopoly on snooping. Hitting him with his own blatant disregard of privacy would have also been just a bit deserved.

Nathan heard Kaldur say something to Superboy, but ignored it and instead contemplated, not for the first time, the question of The Batman's identity.

He knew Bruce Wayne. That much was confirmed when, a few months after meeting Batman, Matt had received a phone call from Wayne himself, telling him in a very wink-wink-nudge-nudge-say-no-more fashion that a "mutual friend" had recommended him.

But despite his knowledge of their identities, the two still had no idea who The Batman was. Matt had considered Wayne himself, but he didn't seem to be more than an eccentric man who had somehow met Batman. And who could put his sizable amount of money where his well-meaning mouth was better than most.

That said, Matt had noted his lack of in person meetings with Wayne. Ostensibly due to his blindness, Matt was given accommodations, but those accommodations were very adept at inconveniencing any potential personal meetings with Mr. Wayne. And on the one occasion Matt had met him in person—at a party for employees of Wayne Enterprises—the man had worn a very powerful cologne, although Wayne had joked it was to cover up him having a bit too much to drink the night before. If so, it had succeeded at covering up the smell. In fact, it covered up any smell, such as, dare Matt say it, those smells that might accompany a bullet and stab proof suit and a cave . . .

Nathan, for his part, still remembered the video of Bruce Wayne falling into a chocolate fountain at his birthday party, and he was deeply disturbed by the very idea that the man in question could be Batman.

"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" He was jarred from his thoughts when he heard the abrupt and out of place question and turned to see Wally grinning, looking at a female version of himself.

What.

This is worse than when I fell asleep watching the History Channel. One moment you're watching a documentary on WW2, the next, some guy is talking about alien probes.

Nate mentally reprimanded himself for letting his focus slip so completely. Heroes or not, he should have been aware enough to notice Wally somehow gained a female clone. Robin applauded and also answered Nate's mental question inadvertently, "Very nice, Miss M."

The Martian reverted to her original green form, and Robin continued, "But, you know, you're not exactly going to fool anyone with those."

"Mimicking boys is a lot harder," admitted the Martian.

Jessica coughed, "and uh, what about your clothes?"

The Martian brightened when she looked at the other girl, "They're organic. Like the ship, and they respond to my mental commands."

Superboy scowled, "As long as they're the only ones," he muttered, causing M'gann's smile to fade.

Wally immediately pushed past the moody boy's comments, "Can you go through walls like Manhunter?"

"You mean density shifting? No. That's too advanced for me right now, but maybe one day," replied M'gann attempting a cheerful tone, although she doesn't manage to bring a smile back.

"That's ok. Flash can vibrate his molecules through a solid wall," said Robin, before turning to grin mischievously at Wally, "But when he tries it, all he gets is a bloody nose."

"Dude," complained Wally loudly, clearly embarrassed by the bird's comment.

An alert interrupted the conversation and Red Tornado appeared on screen. He directed the team to investigate an emergency alarm triggered at Happy Harbor power plant. Miss Martian confirmed the coordinates and adjusted the ship's course.

Robin crossed his arms in irritation and scoffed, "So, Tornado's keeping us busy again."

M'gann was more optimistic, "A fire led you to find Superboy–"

It did what now?

Did Superman lose his sidekick?

"–so we shouldn't disregard this." The bioship sank down to hover over a parking lot outside of the power plant.

"I think I know what the problem is," commented Superboy urgently looking out at a tornado heading in their direction. M'gann attempted to avoid the twister but it struck them before she could, sending the ship tumbling through the air.

The bioship managed to escape the tornado and returned to the parking lot. The straps on their chairs relinquished the team and a hole opened in the floor, allowing them to jump down. The tornado continued to swirl its way behind the power plant.

"Robin!" asked Aqualad urgently, "are tornados common in New England?" he looked around to find the smallest member missing.

Superboy answered the question instead, "Tornados occur approximately 8 times a year in New England, but Rhode Island has only twenty since 1787," he seemed to be reciting something rather than simply answering the question.

"Where did Robin–? Never mind," replied Aqualad, he gestured to the building as the windows burst from the inside, "Get inside the plant!"

Nate zipped up his jacket so that it wouldn't annoy him before joining the team as they complied and sprinted towards the building. The team ran through a large roll-up door just in time to see Robin get hurled back by a tornado summoned by what appeared to be a man in a suit of some kind.

Superboy leapt from the stairs to land in front of the Boy Wonder.

"Who's your friend?"

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays rough," replied Robin tersely.

"My apologies. You may address me as Mister Twister," replied the villain, his voice slightly distorted by robotic tones.

Superboy charged 'Mr. Twister' and Nathan followed close behind him, swinging wide to approach opposite Superboy, although he didn't unsheathe his claws. Given the metal suit, they would be his best weapon against this opponent, and while someone could assume Superboy's powers given his shirt, they would be hard pressed to guess Nate's. If Twister didn't see his claws, the villain might allow him to get closer than he should.

Unfortunately, Twister summoned two tornados and hurled them at the duo, and while Superboy was only slowed, Nate was immediately ripped off his feet and flung backwards, slamming his head as he impacted into the wall. He vaguely registered an additional sound of impact a few seconds later before passing out.

Nathan wasn't on the level of Superboy, but he was more resistant to damage than a normal human, that, however, did little when it came to concussions. Still, one of the upsides to a healing factor—and there were a lot—was that he could recover faster from said concussions.

". . . expecting children," Twister was saying something to Robin when Nate regained his awareness. He blinked in surprise as he saw the rest of the team were groaning and appeared to have been trounced as well. Robin protested the children thing and threw some explosives at the villain, who continued to mock the group.

"Have you no adult supervision?" inquired Twister derisively.

The Team struggled to their feet one by one and moved to form up behind Robin.

"I find your presence here . . . disturbing," added Twister.

"Well, we hate to see you disturbed," shouted Robin, "Let's see if your more 'turbed once we kick your can!"

Even as Miss Martian used telekinesis to shatter a pipe above the villain's head and obscure his vision with steam—provided his helmet didn't have enhanced optical sensors—Nate took a second to note and question Robin's use of "mism" and "turbed".

But only a second.

Evidently, Twister did have some form of optical sensors because, despite the smog, he immediately repelled Superboy, who attempted a leaping attack against him, and slammed the teen into a beam which caused him to take an unfortunate bounce and hit M'gann as well.

The group scattered to avoid the two and charged Twister, Nathan went right again and saw a flash of green light out of the corner of his eye. Twister sent out multiple tornados, quickly dispatching Aqualad and Robin, who charged the center, by sending them flying into one another. He then rerouted the tornadoes into Jessica, who was now clad in a lightly glowing dark green suit. Nathan didn't get a chance to dwell on that however, as Twister turned and fired a cone of air that hit Nate and sent him once more into a wall.

This is going really poorly.

The armored villain sent a final remark sarcastically thanking them and floated out of the warehouse. Nate and the rest of the team got up and followed him as soon as they could.

". . . What did you do to my team . . . ?" he heard Wally distantly ask.

". . . Embarrassed them mostly . . . "

Nate grimaced. He's not wrong.

Another tornado was immediately storming towards them as soon as they exited the warehouse, Miss Martian held up a hand right before it burst into dust, clearing soon after to reveal Wally hovering in air.

"I got you," she duly informed him.

"Thanks."

Mr. Twister turned to look back at them, "I would have thought you would have learned your limitations by now."

"What do you want?" demanded Aqualad, shouting to be heard.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero," replied Twister smugly.

Aqualad turned to M'gann, "Quickly, read his mind and find a weakness."

She paused and replied uncertainly, "I thought I wasn't supposed to do that?"

"It's fine against the bad guys," interjected Robin impatiently.

The Martian hesitated a second longer but did eventually close her eyes, lifting two fingers to her temple. The team waited patiently for a moment before she opened them and shook her head.

"There's . . . nothing. I'm getting nothing," she suddenly facepalmed again, "Hello Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! I can't read an inorganic android's mind, and how many androids can generate tornados?"

Nathan frowned, "Yeah, come to think of it . . . what were the chances a wind villain just conveniently attacked a small town powerplant right next to us?"

Jessica nodded, "Tornado said at the cave that we would be tested."

Aqualad looked stunned for moment before he quickly became irate, "And Red Tornado sent us here."

"Then this is his test!" concluded Robin furiously, "It's just something to keep us busy!"

"Speedy called it, we're a joke," muttered Kid Flash despondently.

"Given how we did . . . maybe a test instead of a real mission was for the best," remarked Nate, immediately getting a few glares in return from the trio, "What?" He defended himself, somewhat surprised by their anger, "You guys didn't exactly coordinate well."

Aqualad growled and punched his palm before turning around, followed by Robin and Kid Flash, who muttered unhappily. The trio walked up to the robot-in-disguise.

"We know who you are and what you want!" insisted Robin pointing angrily at the android.

"So let's end this!" commanded Aqualad with a note of finality.

". . . Consider it ended," replied the flying figure ominously, before raising his hands above him and forming a massive storm.

"An impressive show," commented Aqualad, "But we will not engage you!"

Lightning stabbed through the clouds and a loud crash of thunder followed. The group waivered, looking at one another uncertainly. Wally voiced what they all were thinking, "Can Red Tornado do . . . that?"

"You think I'm Tornado?" inquired Twister, sounding amused, "How ironic." Clearly, he did have some sort of enhancements in his armor if he could hear them over the wind and thunder.

The villain hurled a huge bolt of lightning at them, but it was blocked by a shield of green energy. Nate only had time to register that Jessica had cast it from her ring before a dozen other lightning bolts followed and the shield began to crack. Twister immediately sent another huge lightning bolt, this time aiming for the ground in front of them—and the construct—and caused huge explosion that successfully shattered the energy shield, the resulting shock wave knocking the team off their feet.

Nate landed hard on his front. He clenched his hands into fists, and punched the ground, attempting to get up. A shadow passed over him and as he looked up, he saw Twister stop in the air.

"Fine then," declared the villain, "I will not deny you children have power, but you should now stay hidden. Because if you come out of hiding, I will show you no mercy." He caused a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder, presumably for dramatic effect, before floating away.

The group stared at the disappearing figure for a moment.

"What happened?" asked Wally shakily.

"I-I placed the bioship between us," replied M'gann cautiously.

Superboy punched a chunk of earth to pieces, startling them.

"And that makes it right?" he demanded, "You tricked us into believing it was Red Tornado!"

The team immediately moved to the Martian's defense.

"She didn't do it on purpose," insisted Aqualad.

"We almost all agreed on it," added Jessica pointedly.

Robin frowned but nodded, "Yeah, it was . . . it was just a rookie mistake, and we shouldn't have listened so easily."

"Yeah. Just a mistake out of inexperience . . . that said," Kid Flash hesitantly looked towards Miss Martian, " . . . Why don't you should just hit the showers for now?"

The Martian blinked in surprise and hung her head. Robin then turned to Jessica and tilted his head in thought before opening his mouth.

She quickly forestalled him, "Hold on," she protested, "I may not be the most experienced, but I can obviously help against the lightning."

Robin closed his mouth but Wally stepped in, "Yeah, you can, and that shield was impressive," he gave her a smile, "but you look pretty wiped out, so maybe you should stay put as well."

Jessica narrowed her eyes, but then dropped her gaze and said nothing.

The four boys began to walk away, Nate hesitated but moved to follow them. Kid Flash noticed, however, and the hero turned around and held up his hand, "You should stay behind too," the speedster told him coldly, not making an attempt to be nearly as nice as he had the girls.

"Really?" asked Nate in disbelief, his eyebrows raised, "I'm not exactly inexperienced."

I've literally been doing this my whole life.

"No, you're not," replied Robin, his sunglasses hid his expression, but his crossed arms said enough, "Apparently though we need to be better coordinated and since the four of us are the only ones who can coordinate for sure–"

"Your experience is likely extensive and valuable," interrupted Aqualad, noting Nathan's rising irritation, "But we simply need you to keep an eye on the others for now."

"Yeah," scoffed Superboy turning away, "Stay out of our way."

Nathan grit his teeth, Jessica stared at the ground, and Miss Martian watched as three of the four ran off, before looking at the others sadly, "I just wanted to be a part of the team . . ."

Aqualad stopped and looked back at them, almost apologetically, "I'm not sure there is a team," he told them before running off.

The three rejects stayed where they were for a moment.

"Maybe we should just return to the mountain," said Jessica finally, scuffing her feet.

Miss Martian stood up but then hesitated, "How will they get back?"

"They'll walk," replied the other girl crossly.

Nathan laughed at that, although he suspected it wouldn't inconvenience anyone but Aqualad and Robin.

Mostly Robin.

He shrugged when the two girls looked at him, "Might as well, they'll just get angrier with us if we show up. Well, with me."

Robin seemed like he might forgive them quickly and Aqualad didn't seem to blame them. Superboy might have a problem that went beyond them, and Nate suspected, for reasons totally mysterious, that Kid Flash would not hold a lasting grudge against either of Nate's current compatriots over the incident.

The two girls wordlessly nodded, and the trio walked up the ramp into the bioship, which took to the air as soon as they were all strapped in. As the ship began to head back to Mount Justice, M'gann tapped a few buttons and a screen appeared, displaying an alert that they were attempting to contact Red Tornado.

"You're calling Tornado?" asked Nate in mild surprise.

The Martian girl nodded, "You saw how easily Twister beat us, I don't want them to get hurt."

Nathan couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he just shrugged and leaned back in his chair. Jessica stared idly out the window in thought, propping her head up with her hand.

The alert stopped, "Greetings," said the voice of the friendlier android of the day, "What is the status of the power plant?"

"The power plant is still standing," answered M'gann, "But we encountered a villain, called Mr. Twister, that had a suit of some kind, lightning and wind powers, almost exactly the same as yours, as well as your immunity to my telepathy,"

Jessica chimed in, "He kept talking about how he was waiting for a real hero, and dispatched us pretty handily."

M'gann nodded and with a greater urgency told Tornado, "I think the Team really needs your help."

"If I were to intervene, it would not be to help," replied Tornado in his monotone voice, "It is an odd coincidence that this Twister should share my abilities. Especially the telepathic immunity," The android sat in silence for a moment before tilting his head slightly, "In fact, I wonder if this enemy has not been designed to fight me. And if that is the case, I suspect the most help I would be is if I contacted other league members."

"I'm sure they'd be delighted by that," muttered Nate.

"Indeed," replied Tornado, "I will allow you a second chance, but I will now be monitoring the situation. If destruction of nearby property exceeds acceptable league minimums, I will contact your mentors."

M'gann who was thinking deeply, suddenly smiled, "Hello Megan!" and facepalmed again.

She needs to stop doing that.

"Thanks for your help Tornado," she told the android, sounding optimistic, "I've got an idea."

Tornado nodded and the call ended.

". . . Hit the showers, boys," instructed the false Tornado, "I was hoping you could handle this, clearly you cannot."

"But we have a plan now!"

"The matter is not up for debate."

Nathan watched off to the side as the four cleared out, Robin passed some smoke bombs to Kid Flash discreetly, to cover him when he formed the tornadoes. Aqualad ran off and Nate heard him splash into the ocean a few seconds later. Superboy walked over to stand away from the fight next to Nate, and Jessica, presumably, was waiting somewhere as well.

Twister fought M'gann and Wally for a few moments exchanging barbs, before the Martian faked being defeated. The villain immediately closed on her and extended some sort of wires that snaked down to M'gann's head. He heard the villain mutter ominously about reprograming before M'gann grabbed the wires. That was their cue, so Superboy and Nate began to run forward.

M'gann immediately launched Twister backwards with telekinesis, right into Kid Flash who in turn hurled the villain right at them. Nathan clenched his hands into fists and flexed, causing his claws to shoot out. As Twister tumbled to the ground Superboy ran up and grabbed one arm and Nathan leaped and slashed the villain's armor slightly above the elbow, slicing the arm clean off from there.

He could have slashed higher on the arm or stabbed through the head or the center, but he was reluctant to do so, since he would likely hit whoever was inside and possibly kill them.

He didn't mind that outcome terribly, but the others just might.

Superboy yelled in anger before punching the villain across the chest several times and throwing him by his other arm into the water. The villain was sent flying out of the water second later with electricity sparking across his body.

Aqualad leapt out after him.

M'gann caught and froze Twister in the air and Jessica fired a beam of green light that shattered his remaining arm. Several explosive discs throw by Robin impacted him in the chest and exploded, rupturing most of the remaining armor and leaving several exposed holes.

Finally, M'gann let the villain drop to the ground.

Twister landed with a thud and as the Team assembled in front of him, he raised himself to his knees. The chest panels sparked and finally flew open, revealing a middle-aged man in some sort of green and white containment suit, who fell to the ground.

"Foul," muttered the man weakly, "I call foul."

Nathan sheathed his claws, but he was only partially paying attention to the man. He had caught his first glimpse of Jessica fully powered up, and although she depowered almost immediately, he had seen enough. He looked away and pretended to stare at the villain, but his mind worked quickly, and he felt his hand clench into fists, so he crossed his arms to partially hide it.

He vaguely registered the man getting smashed by a falling boulder, and reflected briefly that that was pretty convenient, until he heard Jessica make a choking sound and Robin yell at M'gann.

"I don't know how you do things on Mars! But on Earth, we don't execute our captives!"

Oh. That makes more sense than a falling boulder.

The Martian girl simply smiled, "You said you trusted me." She lifted the boulder off of the man with her mind and revealed another shattered android. Kid Flash, unfazed, reached down and grabbed one of the robot's eyes.

"Cool, Souvenir."

Nathan chanced a glance at Power Ring, who looked extremely shaken and was staring at the robotic parts of the android. He looked away.

Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad all began to congratulate M'gann, before eventually turning to the other two, Kid Flash naturally stepped up first, and looked at Nate, "Hey, uh, look man, sorry about what we said earlier. To all of you guys, actually."

"Yeah," added Robin, "We were way too harsh on you. But trust me, we're all glad you guys are on the team."

The flight back to the mountain had been quick and quiet. Miss Martian had telekinetically lifted the android parts on board the bio ship and they had returned to report to Red Tornado.

They all currently stood assembled around a table set up in the central room, M'gann levitated the parts over and set them down on the table. Red Tornado walked into the room from one of the hallways.

"Hey Tornado," said Wally, "We got something for you to look at."

The android moved to the table and began examining the robotic remains.

"The android was clearly designed to sabotage or destroy you," noted Aqualad after a moment.

"Clearly."

"Was that why you wouldn't help us?" asked M'gann.

"Partially," replied Tornado as he looked up from examining the parts on the table, "The other part is that this was simply your battle. I did not want to interfere in your affairs unless absolutely necessary. Nor do I want you to interfere in mine."

"If you're in danger–" started Miss Martian.

"Consider the matter closed," interrupted Tornado before turning and walking off.

Wally shrugged and looked at the others contently, "Batman, Aquaman, Flash . . . they'd have jumped right in to fix things. But not Tornado."

Robin nodded and gave a smirk, "Hey, I guess if we're going to have a babysitter, a heartless machine is the best option."

"Dude!" muttered Wally, "Harsh."

"Inaccurate, as well," commented Tornado as he continued to walk away, "I have a heart made of carbon-steel alloy. And excellent hearing."

Robin laughed nervously, "Right! I'll . . . uh, I'll try to be more accurate in future!"

"And more respectful," Aqualad chided as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. Robin nodded quickly.

As the boys headed off to the showers, Nathan heard Superboy quietly offer a single word of apology to M'gann.

Location: Happy Harbor

Date: July 18, 2010

Time: 18:36

An hour after the fight, most of the team had dispersed. Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin had gone off to celebrate somewhere. Superboy was busy staring at the TV and Miss Martian had gone to get more cookie ingredients to massacre. Nate was examining the android on the table some more when a distant voice caught his attention.

"No . . . I'm in control."

He frowned. That was Jessica's voice. He heard her say something else, but she lowered her voice and the distance between them was too great for him to make it out clearly. He stood up from the android table and walked away to find her.

"I wouldn't kill somebody . . . If he were real. . . If I had known she would try . . . I would have stopped her," she insisted, sounding distressed. And closer.

He turned and walked down a hallway, he had intended to stop at a distance, but her tone had caused him to decide to interrupt whatever was going on.

He finally located her in the library, clenching her right hand into a fist and staring daggers into a bookshelf. He had tried to make his footsteps quiet, but evidently she heard him, as she whipped around and looked at him in surprise.

"You ok?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm . . ." she paused and took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm fine." She quickly walked past him and out of the room. As soon as she left his line of sight, he could tell by her footsteps that she broke into a run. A minute later he heard the Zeta-Tube confirm her exit.

He stared at the table in the center of the library for a moment.

Jessica was not fine. And he knew why.

Robin had recognized her the first time they met, that was why he had been alarmed at their assembly. When Nate first saw her, she had looked familiar, but it was only when he had seen her fully powered up that he had recognized her.

A little over a year ago, an unnamed villain had attacked the league. When they managed to ditch the Justice League in the middle of the fight, Flash had been told by Batman to inform every hero. So the speedster had sent Daredevil an image of the villain. Which had been all kinds of funny to Nathan, but ignoring that . . .

For everybody not a superhero, details had been scarce. The media could find nothing on the perpetrator, no pictures, no video, no name . . . Nothing.

The League had been unhelpful and declared the enemy had been handled and that was that. After what Daredevil believed to be some Trinity level urging, the President had caved and sent the Sentinel of Liberty to back them up in a press conference declaring the matter handled.

And when both Superman and Captain America said case closed and to trust them, most people accepted it and did.

But to some, it had felt like a serious obstruction of justice, and distinctly ill feeling cover-up, for a super who had leveled an entire town.

Not to mention the danger and fear that came with not know what had happened to villain who had taken the entire League hours to defeat, injuring several of them in the process.

Whatever people felt, there was one important fact for Nathan, right then.

Jessica was that super.

Who now evidently had a name.

Power Ring.

And Batman had stuck her on their team.

/

/

/

I found Jessica Cruz while looking at the DC fandom wiki, I thought her backstory was cool, so here we are with a slightly altered one. I hope I can do the character, ahem, justice.

Some random things of mild interest:

Apparently, the bio-ship was supposed to Martian Manhunter's, but M'gann bonded with it before him and swiped it. Guess it's Megan's now.
Turns out ARGUS doesn't actually exist in the Young Justice universe, although I could have sworn they did. Oh well, I'm including them anyway.
Littleneck bridge is an absolute unit according to the DC fandom's map of Bludhaven. Seriously. Compare it to the airport, park, and stadium. Also, won't matter much—if at all—but I changed Highway 61 to Route 9 in my offscreen-notes, since I don't KNOW but I am fairly sure that Bludhaven isn't on the Mississippi.

Until next time.