I do not own Naruto or Young Justice
Humanity
Mount Justice; October 25th; 11:07AM
The mountain base was quiet, the team had set aside their training for the moment to watch the battle about to take place; Artemis, M'gaan, Kaldur, Conner, Dick, and Wally were all watching in complete silence aside, of course, from the speedster who couldn't help but chow-down on nachos during the event. They surrounded the holo-ring like spectators at a sporting event with Naruto and Sasuke in the center. Black Canary and Captain Marvel were watching over them and refereeing the sparring match; the former had stepped up to personally oversee Sasuke's hand to hand combat training along-side Naruto with the latter becoming the team's den-mother after Red Tornado's sudden betrayal. Canary had even asked Naruto for a crash-course on shinobi-abilities to better understand Sasuke's unique combat necessities and capabilities.
"Remember, no ninjutsu or genjutsu; that includes the Sharingan; only Sage Mode and hand to hand combat allowed," She backed away from the ring and activated the holographic score keeper; Naruto had borrowed Sasuke's eye-patch to cover his Sharingan whilst he kept his own eyes in their base forms.
Naruto and Sasuke kept their eyes fixated on one another; "Ready?" She asked as the two both focused for a moment, absorbing as much nature energy as possible in a few moments, before gaining purple and orange pigmentations over their eyes. Their muscles tightened across every inch of their bodies, Sasuke had been training vigorously for the past few days but, could still only access the Honored Sage Mode for five minutes at a time.
The two shinobi gave a quick nod towards Black Canary as she quickly chopped the air with her hand, "Begin!"
Naruto was the first to act, rushing forwards with his palms open prepared to adapt to any movement Sasuke would make in response. As he approached he noticed Sasuke focusing on his sensory abilities and letting his body react on its own rather than forcing it to move at the physical sight of an attack. Once in range, Naruto threw a jap forwards being barely avoided by Sasuke tilting his head to the side; in response he launched his own uppercut to the jinchuriki's solar-plexus, however, it was caught by his free palm. Sasuke suddenly felt the force of Naruto's frog-kata pushing his face with twice the potency of an ordinary punch. He realized that tilting his head earlier to avoid a punch wasn't the smartest move when dealing with another Sage Mode user. He used his chakra to flip mid-air landing on the tips of his toes, he bounced back towards Naruto at impressive speeds aiming a solid-kick for his back; he would have been done for if not for his sensing of Sasuke's movements through the nature energy in the air. He turned at the last second and used both hands to brace the impact, forcing Sasuke and Naruto in opposite directions onto their backs.
They rolled to their feet quickly enough and took a deep breath in before exhaling loudly; they're Sage Mode's dissipated at the same time giving them the rest they needed.
"I could have kept it up much longer," Sasuke noted with his casual stoic; Naruto rubbed his nose and smiled in response.
"I can hold Sage Mode for over half an hour, until you can do that, you won't have truly mastered it."
Dick rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times, "Okay, am I going crazy or was that too quick to even see?"
Wally gulped down a mound of cheese and tortilla before taking a breath, "No, it was that fast, I caught every… third movement, maybe?"
Canary clapped once and caught their attention, "Very impressive you two, but I could tell you were each itching to use ninjutsu the entire time. You need to rely less on that and more on you're skills."
Sasuke rubbed his wrists, "She's right, I wanted to light you on fire three different times but, couldn't which inevitably slowed me down," he unlatched his wrist weights and tossed them over towards Naruto who hurried to catch them both.
"Are you crazy?" He shouted wildly, "You're gonna put a crater in your own headquarters!"
The team began to walk towards them for mingling and individual congratulations even while they bickered, "I want to start working on unlocking the first three inner-gates," he was monotone as ever even as he unlatched his ankle weights.
"Already? How much weight are you tugging around anyways?"
"I'm still on the twenty-five tonners you set me up with last week but, I think with my unique chakra reserves that I'm ready to progress," He handed him the weights this time more cautiously than tossing them as Artemis approached from behind holding Sasuke's purple-hoodie.
Naruto began counting on his fingers with his free hand attempting to add up the tons before Sasuke annoyingly interjected, "It's a hundred tons total, dobe," he grabbed his hoodie and slipped it over his head, pulling it down and straightening it.
"I was getting there!" Naruto protested as he formed a single-handed sign and reversed summoned the weights to wherever they came from, "I'll pop over to my scroll-stash in Konohagakure and pick up the right inscriptions to help us begin."
M'gaan put a hand on Naruto's shoulder as he turned around, "Would you want some company on your trip?" she asked politely but, noticed the look he gave her as did Sasuke.
"Oh, no thanks, there's no need, I can totally handle it alone, ya know?" he rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward smile as he and Sasuke hadn't explained the details of the fate of their world yet.
"Oh," She responded almost sounding disappointed, "I see, okay then well, I'll see you when you get back?"
Naruto chuckled, "Of course, I'll see you then," he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek causing her green skin to heat up; he undid his eye-patch and tossed it at Sasuke who caught it without looking.
"Good luck," He muttered without so much as flickering a smile; Naruto nodded seriously and poured chakra into his Sharingan as it spun into the jagged Mangekyou.
"Kamui!" Reality began to spin around his eyes slowly sucking him into his Sharingan transportation dimension. Once he departed, the Zeta-Tube behind them began to light up announcing the arrival of another Leaguer.
Captian Marvel approached the team with Black Canary following close behind, "Well, it's been a pleasure helping train you, Sasuke and to all of you; we've enjoyed being your 'den-mother' this week."
"Recognized; Zatara 11."
From the tube stepped a middle-aged man with a handle-bar mustache wearing a classic twenties magician-esque tuxedo with a long top-hat and cane to match; he immediately turned to the command pad not far from the entrance tube and began typing away until it accepted his request.
"Access Granted: Zatanna Zatara A03; Authorization Zatara 11."
The tube exploded with lights and particles once again as this time a teenage girl, around thirteen years old, walked through wearing a button up white blouse, navy blue skirt, dress-heels, and raven black hair hanging down to her shoulders. She folded her hands behind her back as M'gaan approached with a kind greeting, "Zatanna, this is the team," Zatara waved his cane over at the group of teens, "Team, my daughter Zatanna."
"Hi! I'm-" M'gaan was interrupted by Dick leaping forwards and finishing her sentence.
"Robin!" He cleared his throat for a moment before continuing, "I mean, I'm Robin, she's M'gaan and that's Wally, Artemis, Sasuke, Kaldur, and Conner."
They each gave a warm smile and a wave aside from Sasuke whom didn't emote in the slightest, "Welcome to the cave," Kaldur added casually.
"Uh, thanks," She responded nervously, looking towards her father for a moment.
Dick rubbed the back of his neck and stuttered, "Are y-you joining the team?" His hopes were shattered by Zatara dropping his cane inbetween the two and adding himself into their conversation.
"L-Lets not get ahead of ourselves; this is… strictly a visit," he nervously panned back to Black Canary for support but, wasn't granted much, "Although, I am sorry we missed the training, it's something that Zatanna could have benefited…" he trained off speaking to Canary whilst the teens looked to one another.
M'gaan initiated her telepathic communication on the shallowest of levels to avoid any invasion of privacy, displaying this message to her fellow team-mates, "Does anyone else get the impression that we're still on probation with Zatara?"
"Not just Zatara," Conner pointed out, "Why is Marvel still hanging around?"
Artemis sighed internally, "Because they clearly don't trust us to handle a threat ourselves," she leaned on Sasuke for support who seemed to disinterested to add an opinion.
Kaldur agreed and stepped forward into the nigh-huddle they'd formed, "Almost makes one nostalgic for tenor as our supervisor…"
Robin scoffed mentally, "Yea, at least he trusted us!"
Conner physically raised his hands in protest, "If you ignore the fact that we shouldn't have trusted him! He was a trader, that machine nearly got all of us killed!"
"Guys…" Sasuke lazily pointed over to an annoyed Zatanna with raised brows and folded arms.
"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" She asked aloud which turned the heads of the entire team including the Leaguers, "Because I can't decide if that's really cool or really rude."
Conner gave an eye towards their superiors which were just as curious as she was before groaning loudly, "Alright fine! We were talking about Tornado; it's been weeks since his attack and the league hasn't told us anything."
Canary frowned, "The League is searching for Red Tornado and the androids that invaded the cave as well as their creator, Tio Morrow," she continued as they all turned to listen, "Batman has made tracking their location his top priority."
Sasuke closed his eyes and folded his arms with a monotonic, "Yet, you've found none of the above."
"Not yet," Canary corrected, "But, Red Tornado was Justice League; The Team will not pursue this."
Zatara cleared his throat and interjected passively once again, "Why don't you give Zatanna a tour... of the…" he looked around and searched but, took several seconds to notice her laying with Superboy's pet Wolf in the corner near the exit tubes, "Cave."
"Cool!" Captain Marvel noted as he approached but, before he could offer his tagging along, Conner stepped in.
"Actually, I was hoping you could take Wolf outside; he could use the exercise!" Marvel looked down at Wolf for a moment before smiling widely, "We'll join you in a few."
"Sure, sure; I can do that!" he turned and ran casually towards the back-exit, "C'mon, Wolf!"
Conner, Wally, Artemis, Sasuke, Kaldur, M'gaan, and Zatanna all headed down the corridor from the main-hall leading to the kitchenette and living space to commence the 'tour' when the magicans daughter ran up towards the front of the group next to Dick, Sasuke, and Artemis.
"We aren't actually taking a tour, are we?" she asked with a dull exasperation in her tone.
Sasuke didn't even glance in her direction, "No."
She saddened her expression slightly at his rude and unnecessarily annoyed tone until Kaldur spoke up on his leader's behalf, "What he means to say is, we are hunting down Red Tornado," he quickly gave Sasuke a glance receiving a nod of approval in response.
"Oh, wow, out loud and everything," She sarcastically chided.
"What about new girl?" Wally reasonably questioned until Dick shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm sure she won't tell, will you?"
"I could always put her in a genjutsu, make her forget where we went?" Sasuke leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, still disinterested in their conversation.
"I'm not even going to ask what a genjutsu is but, I won't tell if you don't; I could really use some action since my dad never lets me out of the house to begin with," Zatanna was genuinely ready to join a super-hero team of people in her own age-group after her fathers strict rules since becoming a teenager.
"Strength in numbers?" Dick added generously.
"Well, since Naruto isn't here, I guess we're going to take the Bio-Ship out for a spin then?" M'gaan added with a joyful clap, "I'll get her prepped!"
…
The Team plus Zatanna was now fully strapped into the Bio-Ship and flying three-thousand feet above the city when an incoming communication beeped on the pilot's console; M'gaan quickly answered telekinetically, "M'gaan, the Bio-Ship wasn't authorized for takeoff."
M'gaan thought on her toes for a moment before responding giddily, "We're kidnapping Zatanna," she received looks from the entire team awkwardly trying to correct herself, "To show her Happy Harbor, I mean."
There was a brief moment of silence until Canary reluctantly responded, "Roger that… have fun?"
The communication halted there as the team now focused on their real objective, tracking down Red Tornado; "Where are we going? Batman is the worlds greatest detective, and he's searched for Tornado in every logical location."
Sasuke stared at the changing scenery without looking away in his casual monotone he spoke up, "When the villages were attempting to locate enemy strongholds but, had no success; they would often find other villages with more relevant strife with their enemy and capture informants on their territory. Torturing them for information on the enemy village."
They all gave Sasuke a quick look without even receiving a glance back but, someone had to speak up eventually; Wally thought for a moment before tacking on his opinion, "Right, who better to find Tio Morrow than his biggest competitor?"
Kaldur added, "Professor Ivo."
…
Unknown Location
A tall man with brown hair shun a laser-scanner into the eyes of two even taller androids which had been shut off and rendered stationery. Their hide out seemed to be located somewhere underground but was, so well hidden it would be hard to tell. He routinely scanned both eyes of both Red Inferno and Red Torpedo; the fire and water manipulating androids respectively. He soon pressed a single marker on the scanner he held and they both lit up with crimson light in their eyes.
"Look, Tornado, your brother and sister are both online," A strapping man with dark hair and a twenties curled mustache wore a long white lab coat while he fiddled with the insides of Red Tornado which had been immobilized and left strapped to an operation table, "We'll have you up and running again too, maybe even turn your voice box back on." He turned around with a layer of cords setting them down on a workbench behind him.
"As soon as I'm done copying and downloading your memory files," He pulled up a chair and plugged Tornado's brain into a nearby computer, "In the meantime, why don't I tell you a story?"
…
Belle Reve Parish; Louisiana; 2:33PM
"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last months break out," M'gaan noted aloud referring to a solo mission her and Superboy had taken part in not too long ago involving being fake prisoners in this very penitently to stop the referred to breakout, "In return he gave us 5 minutes with you," she slapped her hands on a cold metal table in a small interrogation room with a single pane of two-way glass separating the security from them.
The entire team was behind her as Superboy was the nearest to Ivo aside from M'gaan, "Spill Ivo, how do we find Tio Morrow and his Reds?"
Ivo, the short ginger scientist from the battle with Amazo had been captured not long after the android was fried; he'd been held here since, "Now, why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?"
Wally stepped forwards, "Because, you're his biggest competitor in the evil android game; who better to keep track of what he's up to and where?"
Ivo raised his hand to his chin, "Ah, I see your point, than let me rephrase; why in the world would I tell you where to find Morrow?"
Kaldur stepped forwards and nodded to M'gaan, "He knows, do what you must."
She knelt down beside him and reached out to his mind telepathically; her eyes lit up neon green as she attempted to strip the information from him.
"Oh please!" Ivo shouted breaking M'gaan's link too easily, "As if I've never faced a telepath before!"
Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder, "Allow me."
Ivo lost his grin, "And who're you supposed to be?"
"Doesn't matter, you'll be in too much pain to care soon enough," Sasuke's eyes shifted into the Sharingan before morphing and pinwheeling into Mangekyou getting close to Ivo and looking him dead in the eye, "Tsukuyomi!"
…
Sasuke's Realm
Ivo's eyes snapped open, he could barely see and he couldn't move his body at all; he was pinned to a cross of some sort like a scarecrow, at the hands and feet. The sky was deep crimson red like blood dripping from the clouds and the darkness around him was overwhelming, "Where am I?!"
Sasuke suddenly appeared before him, on the ground below, "You're in my world, and you're going to tell me everything I need to know."
Ivo took a break and shook his head, "This doesn't frighten me! This is just some sort of illusion!"
Sasuke suddenly grew a sinister grin, "Not just any illusion; in this world I control time and space, not nearly as well as the original caster but, it'll do. Here I can make a year's worth of pain last only a few seconds."
"You wouldn't hurt me! You're bluffing!" Ivo shouted trying desperately to move his arms and legs but, feeling no ability to budge. Sasuke stepped forwards lifting a single hand and summoning a long blade with no hilt or handle of any kind.
"Let's see if I'm bluffing, shall we?"
Ivo shouted as the blade slipped right through his left leg like a warm knife through butter, "Tell me where Morrow is," The agonizing shouts were interrupted by blood spitting from his mouth. Sasuke summoned two more blades and slipped them through his arms, than two more through his chest, "Tell me where to find Morrow, and it all stops."
Hours went by and there were blades and knives sticking from every part of Ivo's body, his chest, neck, head, legs, arms, and even heart but; he was very much alive. It was six hours of torture that he could barely stand and just when Ivo thought he couldn't find any more spots to torture him in… all of the blades vanished and appeared floating around his body preparing to strike again.
Ivo was so relieved to feel his body again without the agonizing pain filling his every nerve but, when he opened his eyes and saw the blades awaiting a second attack; tears slipped down his cheek, "I will do this for days, even weeks, if I have to and no one will ever know."
"Please…Please make it stop!"
Sasuke smiled, "Tell me what I need to know?"
…
Belle Reve Parish; Louisiana; 2:35PM
Sasuke stood upright, allowing his Mangekyou to fade and his Sharingan to spin away into it's regular form; Ivo convulsed and began shouting in a low voice, "No more! Please, no more."
Artemis and Zatanna were stunned, "Woah," the thirteen-year-old nearly screamed herself in response, "What the heck did you do to him?"
"Sasuke?" Artemis asked as he walked towards the door and turned back to them with his casual stoic.
"Morrow is in a secret under-ground base beneath Yellow Stone National Park, 100 meters south of Ol' Faithful," he reached for the door as the security guards buzzed the lock open from the other side.
Artemis looked back at the frantic Ivo before turning to M'gaan for support, "What did he do?" she asked almost scared of what she would find out.
M'gaan sighed in response, "He uses a powerful illusion to extract information from enemies; he used it on Bane before and we've kept in contact with him since, the effects seem temporary," she finished by placing a hand on the archer's shoulder, "From what I understand he doesn't enjoy using it often so I wouldn't be worried about it."
They all tried to ignore Ivo's paranoid delusions as they filed out the door one by one.
…
Yellow Stone National Park; Wyoming; 5:12PM
"Download complete," Tio Morrow used a remote hooked up to a lever-system to lower down a metallic-canister from above the laboratory as it reached the ground and opened itself; it revealed a fourth android, taller and bulkier than Red Tornado or his siblings.
"Time for the uploads," He basked in his glorious triumph before clearing his throat, "But first, introductions; Red Tornado, Red Torpedo, Red Inferno, meet your bouncing baby brother, Red Volcano!" On the half-opened canister sat the android in question which was a darker maroon-red with highlighted glowing yellow markings running across his body leading to a symbol on his chest standing for 'volcanic eruption.'
"This Red wont bother infiltrating the heroes, he'll simply destroy them, with the help of your memories," he plugged Volcano in and began typing access keys into the main console, "Finally the inventor has created a machine that transcends the need to be human," the scientist programmed a remote and pulled it from the computer console before facing Red Volcano, "No more Pinocchios."
The android sat up as his eyes flashed crimson and the outlines of his joints followed the same example, he faced his creator and slipped his feet on to the ground, standing at a whopping seven-feet tall, he immediately grabbed and crushed the remote in Morrow's hand before grabbing his other free hand restraining him, "Hello, father."
"Son, you're hurting me…"
Red Volcano responded with a coy remark, "Yes, but, pain is so human," before stretching Morrow like silly-putty, "And per your programming, I've transcended any need for humans," he easily ripped Tio Morrow's arms from their sockets revealing wires, sparks, and circuits instead of veins and blood.
"No more pinocchios," he reached out and crushed Morrow's robotic head with his heel before spinning around discarding his arms to the side, "Did you know father was an android?"
The other three androids gave silence as a response easily confirming they weren't aware, "Ugh! Humans are annoying," he stared down at the crushed robotic face of his former father with an annoyed glare.
…
The Bio-Ship flew above the massive national park at descending speeds of over 800MPH, it's camouflage mode allowed them to approach the underground base of Tio-Morrow undetected; "Black out all external communication, soon Canary, Zatara, and Batman too I imagine, will be made aware of our little visit with Dr. Ivo."
"Look," Zatanna announced as M'gaan followed Sasuke's instructions, "I'm trying to be as nonchalant as possible but…"
Robin interjected with her response, "Why? Be as chalant as you want," receiving a short blush from the magician girl which cut off her train of thought.
Artemis intervened motioning towards Sasuke, "I think we're all just trying to get a handle on the majority of your powers…" She received a raised brow from her boyfriend whom was still seemingly disinterested in what they had to say, "I mean can you teleport like Naruto? Or mind-control the Red's into surrendering?"
Sasuke closed his eyes and formed a summoning hand-sign as his cloak and helmet appeared in his hands folded neatly, "No, I can't do any of that, the androids don't have minds they have computers. And each Mangekyou Sharingan comes with different abilities, I'll never be capable of teleporting."
They blinked for a moment as he slipped his helmet over his head and donned his cloak, "What's our ETA to Yellow Stone? I'm way passed ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor," Superboy shouted.
"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur asked as Conner turned hastily with an angered expression.
"Aren't you?!"
"I am not convinced, and even if I was, it makes him but the victim of his creators programming," Kaldur narrowed his eyes at Superboy, "Certainly he deserves the opportunity to prove he is more than the weapon others designed him to be," He clearly referenced Conner's own escape from Cadmus' mental brainwashing.
Superboy closed his eyes and understood, keeping quiet and turning back around to face the team in silence.
…
"Listen to me my brothers, my sister, I have been downloaded with all of your memories, fathers too, although, he left out the part about being an android," he was obviously irritated at that but, still continued otherwise, "But, he did program me with his plan, our destiny," he tapped a computer console and brought up schematics for the depths of Yellow Stone including the volcano lying within.
"There is a semi-dormant super-volcano beneath Yellow Stone; Father gave me the power to activate it in three stages, the eruption will decimate the planet and kill millions, trapping the rest in an impenetrable cloud of ash," he turned back to his siblings whilst the holographic screen displayed his words perfectly, "While humanity struggles to survive we four will build a Red army to make this Earth a perfect planet."
…
"Stealth mode," Sasuke announced fastening his cloak and adjusting his helmet as Wally and Artemis tapped their chests and allowed their uniforms to meld into a black and grey variant. Aqualad did the same only he tapped his Atlantean belt to activate the change whilst M'gaan simply used her mental prowess to shift her organic-clothing's appearance.
The bay-door to the Bio-Ship melted open as Pain approached the grass activating his voice-modifier, "I'd recommend staying put," but before he could continue she gave a coy smile in response.
"Is that an order?"
Pain turned away without a thought, "Whatever," he chided without enthusiasm, "Just don't get in our way."
"Cool," she noted as she lifted her hands and closed her eyes, "mrofinu ym otni tiftuo ym egnahc," a mystical smoke enveloped her body and, in its wake, left her in a traditional magician's outfit similar to her fathers only outfitted for a woman and missing the top-hat clad with stiletto heels.
They immediately dashed into the woods leaving the Bio-Ship in camouflage mode and using their stealth training to remain hidden, however; they couldn't avoid Morrow's advanced surveillance system.
…
Red Volcano and his siblings watched the camera feed as the Team of eight dashed through the forest-terrain, Volcano turned to Red Tornado and would have smiled if not for his robotic face, "Brother, prove yourself a loyal Red and kill them for me."
Tornado couldn't respond without his voice-box active but, gave a short nod in response anyways, still obviously apprehensive.
…
Robin, Pain, and Artemis approached in the front with the others lining up behind them; the boy wonder pulled a holographic screen up scanning the terrain below, "Ivo was right, there is definitely something down there."
Sasuke allowed his Sharingan to shift into its Eternal Mangekyou before blinking twice at the ground below, "Looks like a bunker to me but, it must have a pretty dense lining because even my eyes can't see through," he gave a nod and everyone leaped forth and began sprinting across a relatively flat plain. This is when they felt massive streams of wind pushing across the landscape and bringing them to a stop.
Red Tornado floated across from them in a cyclone of his own creation blocking their entrance to the rest of the plain, he folded his arms with a silent glare and formed eight more tornado's similar in speed and height to his own all around them trapping them in hurricane force winds.
"Why Tornado!?" M'gaan shouted aloud, "Why are you doing this?" Her only answer was the massive winds growing stronger than before as she finally noticed what his angle was, "Message received?"
Pain and Superboy nodded to her and continued, "Who cares why? Nail em!" Conner shouted and leapt into the air with rage attempting to strike Tornado head on but, was caught by a spinning vortex of air, spun around, and sent hurtling towards the ground at super speeds.
Aqualad shouted to Pain, "Maneuver 7!" in which he sprinted ahead of the shinobi and clasped his palms together using them as a springboard for him to be thrown up towards Red Tornado at higher speeds. Pain revealed a kunai strengthened by lightning style sparks which he attempted to short circuit and slash Tornado apart with simultaneously but, failed when he caught Sasuke's wrist and landed a devastating punch to his chest spiking him downwards into Aqualad tumbling into a heap.
Artemis and Robin launched multiple explosive projectiles at the android but, only watched them get redirected and launched into the ground at their feet; they were knocked out cold by their own explosions when Wally noticed this, "You're not the only spin-doctor in these parts!" he then spun around in place at super sonic speeds creating a grey and red vortex of wind that expanded upwards towards his target. M'gaan in her camouflage mode snuck up behind Tornado and attempted to sneak attack him when he turned and expertly caught her fist in his hand before launching her at the ground, hitting Kid head on, and knocking them both unconscious with the impact of the ground.
The only one left was Zatanna who attempted to prepare a spell but, was immediately cut off when Tornado sucked the oxygen from her lungs and quickly rendered her unconscious as well, she fell to her knees in seconds before toppling over. The surrounding wall of cyclones dispersed leaving only the one he used to levitate in place.
He watched their motionless bodies for a moment until he heard the sound of uprooting rocks behind him, "Impressive performance, brother," Volcano announced as he lifted himself to eye level with the floating android via rock-pillar, "But, we both know that's all it was; I have all your memories plus, a next-gen processor," he motioned to a stone tablet in the ground with the words 'PLAY DEAD' carved into it.
"I know your next move before you do!" He ripped a massive chunk of rock from below the message in the ground and levitated it above himself, "Pff, blowing a message into the rocks?" he launched it at the now recovering teen-heroes whom braced for impact from large boulders. Pain and Aqualad leaped into the air and crushed what they could to reduce the impact while M'gaan used her telekinesis to move other debris with her mind from hitting anyone. The others scattered and managed to dodge between the projectiles when they noticed Tornado taking off in the opposite direction towards the underground base.
"Red Tornado is getting away!" Zatanna shouted while Artemis pulled three arrows back on her draw-string.
"Is he abandoning us!?" She exclaimed while launching her arrows at the enemy who took them head on and barely flinched.
"I refuse to believe that!" Kaldur formed two machetes in either hand in preparation for a fight. Wally speed up Volcano's pillar and aimed a super-sonic right hook which missed and ended with a sucker-punch to his own chest sending him 40-feet to the ground, tumbling to a halt, "You stand no chance against me, humans."
M'gaan flew forwards with Superboy leaping beside her, "We're not humans!" they both attempted to attack Volcano but, didn't even get in proximity when two arms of solid stone extended out and clapped them together with a powerful shockwave.
"You're right, I believe the more appropriate term would be, meat-bags!"
Pain stood and watched them fighting for a moment, observing his fighting style, his movements; the Mangekyou Sharingan memorized everything. This android was no real threat to him, he wasn't very fast or strong and his manipulation of the elements was pitiful compared to the chakra natures he possessed. But, still he continued to watch until he saw a situation he couldn't ignore.
Red Volcano stretched his arm and suddenly the ground beneath Kaldur and Artemis opened up with a massive trench sucking them in. Artemis fired an arrow up at the edge of the canyon but, was shocked to find that corner become loose, falling into the abyss with them. She felt she was done for until a purple-hue of light surrounded her vision, she and Aqualad had been caught in the palm of a massive twenty-foot skeletal hand. It lifted them both up to the ground, letting them to their feet, "You guys okay?" Pain asked as the purple rib-cage surrounded half of his body with only the single arm outstretching from it.
"Yea, thanks for the assist," she noted with a warm smile.
Kaldur stepped forwards with a serious glare, "I don't mean to interrupt but, do you intend on stepping in any time soon?"
The Susanoo dispersed quickly as Pain stepped passed his comrades, "Perhaps," he looked up at Volcano who caught one of Robin's shuriken in one hand, exploding in his face with no damage, and held Superboy by the throat in the other. He dropped the half-Kryptonian a few feet and punted him in the side of the stomach sending him into the air where M'gaan hastily caught him before he hit the ground.
Suddenly, several orbs of red-hot flames smacked Volcano in the chest followed by a massive pulse of water that pushed him back on his pillar of stone, "What?!" Red Inferno and Red Torpedo approached with Red Tornado close behind them, "Brothers, Sister, Stop!"
"We are not human; however, we still have the ability to chose how we exist and in what light we are remembered," The female android noted as she bombarded her brother with pillars of fire with fire almost as hot as the Amaterasu.
Red Torpedo summoned water from thin-air and kept blasting Volcano with pressurized liquid strong enough to cut steel, "You may wish to destroy the humans but, we wish to protect them," his assault was combined with Red Tornado's who used pressurized air from different directions to keep Volcano guessing.
Volcano had enough and quickly lifted two boulders with his mind, accurately propelling them at Torpedo and Inferno respectively. They were both knocked to the ground and pinned beneath the heavy stone as Tornado continued his aerial assault; "I have had enough of your treachery, brother!" he shouted as a fist made of stone reached out from below attempting to grab him in mid-air; Tornado flew up to avoid this but was caught by the legs and pulled to the ground. Both of his metallic legs were crushed in the process leaving him handicapped, Pain noticed this and had had enough of watching, it was time he stepped in.
"Android!" Sasuke shouted with assertion in his voice; this caught Volcano's attention but, he still felt superior to these supposed heroes in every way. "Why don't you face me here?" Sasuke reached out with his Six Paths and gripped Volcano by unrelenting force which restricted all of his movements instantly, "Universal Pull!" everyone watched in awe as the android flew through the air towards Pain while being completely frozen. Once reaching him in seconds, Volcano grunted as he was gripped by the throat and slammed back first into the ground, cracking the stone beneath them.
"You can't be human and posses power like this! What are you!?"
Pain summoned a long black rod from the palm of left hand and snapped it in half with his right, "I'm a shinobi named Pain, that's all that's relevant here," he shoved the rod through Red Volcanos chest in the center of his yellow-symbol. He repeated the process and begun shoving rods through each of his limbs one by one incapacitating him completely. Volcano's eyes shun bright crimson as two pillars of rock pultruded from the ground on either side of them, they proceeded to close in on him attempting to crush him. This was futile as Pain caught the pillars with either hand out as the rock crumbled in-between his fingers, "How does it feel to be beaten by a meat-bag?"
Volcano was silent for several seconds as he took one last solemn look towards his fallen brothers and sister, "Father would be so disappointed…" his eyes lit-up bright crimson once again as rumbling begun underground causing lava to splutter from the top of the Yellow Stone Volcano. It trickled and poured out of every crevasse slowly making its way down the mountain side, Sasuke took note of this and quickly crushed Volcano's head with his boot, shattering it completely. The group gathered together quickly as they watched the super-massive volcano begin its eruption, "Listen! We're on the verge of a stage three super massive volcano eruption, there's no turning back from that!" Wally shouted over the earthquakes and lava explosions, "Something needs to stop the already pressurized magma!"
Red Inferno toppled the boulder pinning her and stood up, she faced her brother and took a moment looking down; he had been completely crushed, there was no hope for him. But, there was still a way for her to fix this situation she aided in creating, "I will travel inside and force the magma down with my control over heat."
They all turned to face her with shocked expressions, "Thank you," Zatanna exclaimed, "But, won't you be destroyed?"
"My existence began with the motive of aiding humanity, perhaps it is appropriate that it should end that way as well," Her mane of fire lifted her off the ground and quickly propelled her over the Volcano where she looked down and analyzed the boiling lava below. Without a second thought, she pencil-dived into the flames where she disappeared from sight; Wally looked up at the massive cloud of ash and soot taking over the night-sky.
"We still have a problem!" the speedster shouted, "We need to vent pressure fast, that ash cloud will cause a worldwide nuclear winter unless it's diverted!"
Pain removed his helmet and tossed it to the ground, "Maybe with my Rinnegan I could use the Almighty Push…" he stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Red Tornado's and he was floating using his aerokinetic prowess, he pushed himself off the ground and into the air at the speed of sound; soon, he was above the volcano and could see the curvature of the Earth from his altitude. He lifted his hands and formed a massive cyclone with all of his power sucking all of the soot and ash into the stratosphere. Soon, all of the dangerous chemicals were funneled into space where they could do no harm to the atmosphere or humanity below. The magma slowly trickling down the mountain side cooled and quickly darkened turning into solid rock; earthquakes slowed to a halt leaving everyone in state of relief.
"Yea!" Wally shouted in celebration.
Red Tornado slowly fell towards the Earth with his spinning vortex beneath him breaking his fall; he collapsed to his crushed knee-caps and could feel the strain he put on his mechanical body, however; he knew it was well worth it.
…
Mount Justice; 11:46PM; October 25th
Sasuke and Artemis were both relieved to be alive and well, they had finally solved the mystery of the Red's that attacked them and even recued their dear den-mother, Red Tornado. After arriving back to the Cave, they were obviously chewed out by the Justice League for disobeying direct orders, however; their blatant competence and success was undeniable. They not only tracked down Tio Morrow when even Batman couldn't but, took on two League level threats and came out victorious. Batman and The Atom agreed to repair Red Tornado's voice-box and legs after all was said and done.
And so, they lye in Sasuke's king-sized bed in the residential corridor of Mount Justice, one layer of cloth from being completely nude and tucked into the covers for maximum comfortability.
"Today was… quite a day," Artemis announced as she leaned into Sasuke's chiseled features, "Was pretty cool how you turned Red Volcano into mincemeat."
Sasuke gave a long sight, "You guys forget how often I hold back for the sake of keeping things interesting."
Artemis giggled for a second, "Of course," she looked around for another few moments and rolled onto her back looking up at the ceiling with him, "Ya know, my mom is starting to wonder where I'm spending all my nights…"
"So?"
She rolled her eyes before sitting up letting the comforter slip down past her chest, "So, I am only seventeen, you know."
"…So?"
Artemis scoffed, "Look, all I'm asking is you come over for dinner, meet my mom, tell her a bit about yourself?"
Sasuke took his eyes from the ceiling and stared at her, "Should I lead with being from another Universe? Or should I start with my psychotic ancestor trying to wipe out humanity?" He was making a joke but, his nonchalant stoic made it hard to tell.
She punched him in the arm causing him to shift in the sheets, "How about how you like to meditate, or how you like martial arts? Or how about your favorite foods?" she put her hand on his chest and gave him a smile, "I'm just asking you to try, for me?"
He groaned, "Fine," he muttered before pulling her down into the sheets, "Let's just try and get some rest, we have that mental training exercise tomorrow morning, remember?"
She smiled, "Right, thank you," she snuggled into his warmth as he gave his final response before drifting off into a comfortable slumber.
"Whatever."
…
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