I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Keeping Busy
Cassius looked around as the others took all the seats that had formed. After Miss Martian, currently going by Megan since it sounded like her real name of M'gann, had given them a tour, Superboy had smelled smoke and Megan realized her cookies were burning. Kid Flash hadn't minded and ate two, without bothering to ask permission, anyway, and Aqualad thanked her for him before everyone but Robin shared their names. Everyone except Superboy, who didn't have one. However, that fact had sparked a small problem when Megan used her telepathy to speak while trying to reassure him that they'd find a normal name. However, what she didn't realize was that the others would consider it an invasion of privacy, besides Cassius who was used to having her in his head after she had to search his mind for any sign of him being a spy every third day. Superboy took it worst, getting angry with her for it and telling her to stay out of his head, most likely because Cadmus had used the G-gnomes to control his mind his entire existence so far.
In order to try to cheer everyone up, Megan had decided to take them for a ride on her Bio-Ship, which was, apparently, a shapeshifting, sentient ship from Mars. Except, it had grown one too few seats when they all walked on, seatbelts growing from the seats to strap everyone in when they sat down. Cassius formed himself a goo chair, only for the floor under his chair to suddenly rear up and throw him before returning to normal. His body deformed into goo, shifting in the half a second it took to hit the floor so that he was landing on his feet in a low squat.
"What was that?" Cassius asked.
"Apparently you gross her out," Megan said. "I'm sorry."
"Well, if she'd give me a chair, I wouldn't have to make one," Cassius pointed out.
Megan was silent for a moment before a chair finally grew out of the floor, the chair about a third the size of the others'.
Kid Flash laughed. "Nice kiddie chair. Guess we know who the real kid is around here. Even the ship knows."
Cassius glared at him before leaning back against the wall. "I'll just stand."
The Bio-Ship took back the chair and Megan sighed and used her communicator to ask Red Tornado to open the bay doors. Once they were open, the ship lurched out of the base, Cassius being pressed back into the wall harder by the acceleration. However, when Megan pulled the ship up sharply and pulled a barrel roll, he had to stick to the floor and wall with his goo. The ship emitted a loud string of tones at him and he rolled his eyes as Megan levelled out.
"If you don't want my goo to touch you, give me a chair," Cassius said.
Finally, a chair grew and he sat down, the chair's restraints forming around him instantly.
"Incredible!" Robin said, staring out the window.
"She sure is," Kid Flash said, staring at Megan. "Uh...I mean the ship! Which, like all ships, is a she!"
"Quick with his feet, not with his mouth," Robin teased.
"Dude!" Kid Flash snapped.
"Teenagers," Cassius grumbled, settling back into his chair and closing his eyes.
"Hey, how about showing us a little Martian shapeshifting," Robin suggested after a moment of hushed conversation between him, Megan, and Kid Flash.
Megan stood and her body began to ripple and change from her feet up, leaving her wearing a Robin suit with black hair matching his own, though she was still female. Cassius grinned, unable to pass up the chance to take a stab at Robin.
"Wow, you're good," Cassius said. "You even managed to make them look more manly."
"Not cool," Robin said, glaring at him as Megan stifled a laugh.
She shifted into a female Kid Flash next.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Kid Flash asked.
"Yes," Cassius said. "Want to hear a philosophical question?"
"Sure," Kid Flash nodded.
"If you could make a clone of yourself who's a different gender, would it be incest, or masturbation?" Cassius smirked.
"Ew!" Robin said instantly.
"Good question," Kid Flash said.
"Next topic," Megan said, changing back into herself.
"Your shapeshifting is impressive, Megan," Robin said, apparently agreeing with her. "But...you know you're not going to be fooling anyone with those."
"Mimicking boys is a lot harder," Megan said.
"And...your clothes..." Aqualad trailed off.
"They're organic, like the ship," Megan said. "They respond to my mental commands."
"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy growled.
"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?" Kid Flash ask to try and lighten the mood again.
"Density Shifting?" Megan asked, hesitating. "No. I-It's a very advanced technique."
"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," Robin spoke up, then chuckled, gesturing at Kid Flash. "When he tries it...bloody nose."
"Dude!" Kid Flash snapped.
"Here's something I can do," Megan smiled, just as the bioship turned invisible around them. "Camouflage Mode."
"Red Tornado to Miss Martian," Red Tornado's voice said from the ship's speakers suddenly. "An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate. Covertly. I'm sending coordinates."
The others all looked around at each other, besides Cassius.
"Received," Megan said. "Adjusting course."
"Tornado's keeping us busy again," Robin said.
"You wanted a mission," Cassius said, once again lounging back in his chair with his eyes closed. "Not every mission's going to be like Cadmus."
"That's true," Megan said. "A simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert."
"I think I know the cause," Superboy said, looking to his right.
They all looked, seeing a massive tornado rushing toward them and Megan gasped harshly, turning the ship to pilot it away, only for them to flip backward as they were sucked in anyway. The ship flipped and spun for a moment before Megan regained control and used the tornado's wind to slingshot the ship back out of it before quickly flying to the ground in a parking lot and opening a hole in the floor for them all to drop out of.
"Robin, are tornados common to New England?" Aqualad asked, seeing he was already gone. "Robin!"
"No, they're not," Cassius said. "And certainly nothing this big."
Robin's voice laughed just before the windows of the power plant began to burst from one side moving toward the other.
"He was just here," Megan said.
"He and his teacher do that a lot," Cassius said. "Come on."
He covered his legs in goo before launching himself at the building, retracting it as he flew. The others chased him and he slipped through a newly shattered window just in time to drill a goo-covered fist into the face of the red and black robot that had used a tornado to blast Robin into a support pillar. The Robot flew backward before bouncing, growling in annoyance. He had black along his sides and the outside of his arms, black barrels on the insides of his forearms that could generate tornados, a tattered brown scarf around his neck, constantly blowing from his own wind, and blue hoses going from his shoulders to the outsides of his forearms, then smaller ones from his back to his tornado generators.
"Who's your new friend?" Superboy asked.
"Didn't catch his name but he plays kind of rough," Robin said.
"Your fault for ditching us," Cassius said.
"My apologies," the robot said. "You may address me as Mr. Twister."
He sent out a pair of tornados as Superboy and Cassius charged, stopping both, though both were able to keep from being thrown away, Cassius by using goo to stick to the floor. Then, he sent a tornado blasting into them directly and sent both flying away, a tornado forming around Superboy in the process to spin him for a moment. Superboy crashed to the ground and stayed there as Cassius walked back over, sighing and shifting his goo clothes into a black body suit with a metal mask over the lower half of his face. Then, the remaining five all charged, Megan flying and Kid Flash speeding ahead of the others. He leapt forward onto his hands, then flipped from there to launch himself at Twister with a dropkick, only for Twister to use a pair of tornados to hurl him out through an open door behind him. As he was turned around, Cassius dropped into a puddle of goo, streaking forward just as the robot blasted Aqualad and Megan, hurling them both.
"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero," Twister said. "I was not, however, expecting children."
"We're not children!" Robin said, hurling a sharpened explosive disk and a small bomb.
The bomb dispersed Twister's tornados when it exploded on the ground, allowing the disk to stab into his chest, only for him to flick it away, allowing it to explode off to the side.
"Objectively, you are," the robot said.
"But I'm not," Cassius said, suddenly reforming behind him, slamming a pair of massive goo fists down on his back. "I'm not a hero, either."
He slammed a punch down into Twister's head before Twister blasted the ground with a tornado, hurling Cassius, only for him to land on the wall, then leap off, his right fist extending and smashing a punch into Twister's entire body, smashing him into the ground hard. However, as soon as he pulled his fist back, Twister sent out another tornado, this one hurling Superboy into him and sending both crashing into the wall. A moment later, he formed two more to slam Robin and Aqualad into each other, then hurl them into Megan.
"I agree with you, child," Twister said. "You all are most certainly not heroes." He turned flying out of the building as Cassius pushed himself up, snarling.
"I will rip that fucking tin can apart!" Cassius growled.
He stepped outside just as a tornado carrying Wally exploded into the wall off to his left, only for Megan to catch Kid Flash with her telekinesis.
"I gotcha Wally," Megan said.
"Thanks," Kid Flash said.
Twister watched him for a moment before beckoning him forward. Cassius formed a pair of two foot goo blades from the backs of his wrists and charged, encasing his entire body below his neck in goo to enhance his speed and strength.
"Cassius, wait!" Robin shouted. "No killing!"
"It's a fucking robot!" Cassius shouted, charging straight through a tornado.
He leapt at Twister, slashing, only for him to avoid it and blast Cassius, hurling him backward. Cassius flipped, landing on his feet and a pair of strands of goo shot out, catching Twister by the chest before Cassius grabbed them and spun, swinging him over his head before smashing him back down on the ground. Then, as Twister was standing, the goo retracted, sending Cassius hurtling toward him, his right hand expanding into a massive goo fist before crashing into Twister, sending him flying. After a hundred feet, he crashed down, beginning to bounce and spin away before crashing through a tree and plowing a trench into the ground, finally stopping.
"Whoa!" Kid Flash said. "Just how strong are you!?"
"Not as strong as Superboy," Cassius said. "I simply use an appropriate application of physics to adjust the situation. In this case, momentum and a solid fucking fist."
"You are much more powerful than I expected," Twister said, rising into the air and drifting toward them.
"What do you want!?" Aqualad demanded.
"Isn't it obvious?" Twister asked. "I'm waiting for a real hero."
"Read his mind," Aqualad said. "Find a weakness."
"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that!" Megan said.
"It's okay with the bad guys!" Robin said.
"Nothing, I'm getting nothing!" Megan said, then smiled, slapping the heal of her hand into her forehead. "Hello Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic. An android. How many androids do you know that can generate tornados?"
"As many as two," Cassius said.
"Red Tornado sent us here!" Aqualad said.
"After saying we'd be 'tested' soon enough," Robin added. "This is his test! Something to keep us busy!"
"Speedy called it, we're a joke," Kid Flash said.
"While that's true, think of it this way," Cassius said. "Is his purpose to keep us busy, or test our teamwork to see if we're actually ready for a real mission that they have for us?"
The others looked around at each other before all of them nodded.
"You have a plan?" Aqualad asked.
"I have something better," Cassius said. "I have Superboy. I'm going to turn him into a bullet, with a bit of help from Miss Martian."
They all looked at Superboy, who nodded. Cassius expanded his right goo hand, picking Superboy up so the bottom of his hands was just below Superboy's arms. Then, he pulled his arm back.
"As soon as I say, use your telekinesis to speed him up and shove him through the tornado," Cassius said.
Megan nodded and Cassius pulled his arm back. Then, he nodded just as he stepped forward, moving to throw Superboy. Megan swiped an arm as Cassius released him, and Superboy sped through the air in a streak, passing through a tornado in an instant, though being blown slightly off course. However, it was lose enough, and instead of impacting directly, Superboy was just off to the side and slammed a devastating haymaker into Twister, sending him exploding toward the ground. Cassius formed two hundred feet of goo rope and held it out to Kid Flash.
"Wrap it around his arms and legs," Cassius said.
Kid Flash grabbed it and took off instantly as the remaining four ran toward him. Before he could get there, however, twin bolts of lightning flashed out of his tornado generators, blasting into Superboy, who shouted in pain, then crashed into Kid Flash, both of them bouncing back toward Cassius and the others. Cassius caught both, reabsorbing his goo rope before charging ahead of the others, Aqualad just behind him. However, before they could reach him, a bolt of lightning hit the ground, exploding into a massive fireball and hurling them backward. Cassius pushed himself up just as the Bio-Ship floated over them, between them and Twister.
"Fine then," Twister said. "I won't deny you children have power, but playing hide-and-seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives, so stay concealed!"
Kid Flash stirred suddenly, only for Megan to cover his mouth.
"If you confront me again, I will show...no...mercy!" he made a fist, electricity arcing around it for a moment before he turned, flying himself away.
"What happened?" Kid Flash asked.
"I placed the Bio-Ship between us-" Megan stopped as Superboy shouted in rage, punching a boulder beside him that had been blasted free of the ground by Twister's last attack.
"And that's supposed to make it right!?" Superboy demanded, storming over to her. "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!"
"She didn't do it on purpose!" Aqualad said.
"It-It was a rookie mistake," Robin said. "We shouldn't have listened."
"You are pretty inexperienced," Kid Flash said, hands in his pockets and staring at the ground. "Hit the showers. We'll take it from here."
"Stay out of our way!" Superboy snarled.
"Fine then," Cassius said. "Megan, feel like coming with me to stop Twister?"
Megan looked at him in surprise, as did the others. "Really? But...I messed everything up."
"How?" Cassius asked. "Because you made a logical guess based off of the information at hand? Robin, Kid Flash, could you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that the Justice League wouldn't stage a supervillain battle to test you?"
Both stared at the ground.
"Like I said, logical guess based on the information at hand," Cassius said. "Besides that, we didn't stop fighting. We tried something new that we're not good at, but we didn't stop fighting. We lost. Shit happens. If you want to bench one of our most versatile members because of that, that's fine. Megan and I will go and stop him ourselves."
"What do you mean versatile?" Robin asked.
"Uh, telepathy and telekinesis?" Cassius said. "Silent strategizing that Twister can't hear and the ability to manipulate objects around her from a distance, like, say, hurling a car at him from behind? No, you're right. Completely useless in a fight." He turned, walking past the others. "You coming, Megan?"
"Right behind you!" Megan said, pushing herself up and flying over to him.
"How much weight can you lift with your telekinesis?" Cassius asked as he lifted him by the arms.
"About twenty five thousand pounds," Megan said.
"Good," Cassius nodded. "Plenty of power. When we get there, turn me into a bullet like we did with Superboy. Then I'll keep him distracted."
Megan nodded as they spotted Twister, standing in a small park while controlling three tornados that were tearing a town apart.
"Keep us telepathically linked," Cassius said.
Megan nodded and released Cassius, only to catch and launch him with her telekinesis. Twister spun out of the way at the last second, narrowly avoiding Cassius's fist. He spun, slamming his hands into the ground to avoid being thrown by a tornado.
"Boulder from behind him!" Cassius instructed.
"I'll hit you!" Megan said.
"Now!" Cassius snapped, dropping into a puddle of goo when the tornado obscured him from view, sticking himself solidly to the ground.
A moment later, a massive boulder crashed into Twister's back, launching him forward past Cassius, who the boulder's rubble landed on. He reformed beside it, his right arm's goo formed under all of it before he swiped his arm, flinging it at Twister as a cloud.
"Throw as many as you can into him once they miss," Cassius said.
Twister blasted half the cloud back at Cassius, who formed himself a goo shield, then parted it just in time to see the rest of the cloud explode into twister's back, sending him exploding into the ground. Cassius rocketed forward instantly, slamming an uppercut into Twister's head just in time for Superboy to leap over him, drilling a punch into Twister's side.
"Megan, link everyone," Cassius said.
"We're linked," Megan said, everyone else holding a hand to their head instantly.
"What did we say!?" Superboy demanded.
"Trust me," Cassius said. "We need to figure out what he wants with Red Tornado." He paused to catch a boat Twister hurled at him and Aqualad who he'd ended up beside as Aqualad arrived. Then, he moved to hurl it back, feeling Megan's telekinesis helping him, sending it hurtling through a tornado and into Twister, where it shattered and sent him bouncing away. "Miss Martian can impersonate his looks and voice, telling us to hit the showers and he'll take over. Then Kid Flash can form tornados to fake the fight. Miss Martian has to get blasted and knocked out, however, so that we can see what Twister does."
"If she gets knocked out, she'll be defenseless," Aqualad pointed out as Superboy punched Twister toward Aqualad and Cassius, who moved to intercept him, only to both be blasted by a tornado.
"No, she won't," Cassius said. "Because I'll be transforming into a puddle of goo for her to land on. That way, even if she gets knocked out for real, I'll be close enough to react and surprise him before the rest of you get back."
"It's worth a shot," Robin said. "Good idea, Cassius."
"Don't thank me," Cassius said, hurling a boulder at Twister forcing him to block it so that Aqualad could smash a water mallet into his back, hurling him into Superboy, who sent him flying. "This was all Megan's plan. We went after the finer points before we linked you all."
"Alright," Aqualad said. "On your mark, Miss Martian."
Just as Twister pushed himself up, Megan floated down in front of them all as Red Tornado.
"Hit the showers, boys," Megan said in Red Tornado's voice. "I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly you cannot."
"But we've got a plan now!" Robin said. "And we're not doing too badly!"
"The subject is not up for debate," Megan said.
The others all acted dejected and turned, leaving quickly, and Cassius dropped into a puddle at the first opportunity, forming a pair of tiny eyes to watch the fight's progress near the center of it.
"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Twister said.
"I'm here now," Megan said, holding an arm out to the side, Kid Flash streaking to the spot and spinning a tornado into existence before guiding it at Twister when she swung her arm.
Twister avoided it, then blaster it as it spun back around, only for Kid Flash to escape. Twister hurled his tornado at Megan, who held out her hand and dispersed it with a blast of telekinesis.
"Tornado behind her for show," Cassius said. "Megan, hurl a bunch of rocks at him from the tornado. Small ones."
Megan and Kid Flash complied.
"We are evenly matched, Twister," Megan said as she hurled the stones, all about the size of her head.
"No, Tornado, we are not!" Twister said, punching the ground with his left hand and sending a massive blast of air shooting into the air, blocking the stones.
Then, he began to fire lightning at Megan. She flew out of the way first one way, then back the other. Finally, the lightning hit a boat and it exploded, Megan flying toward Cassius, who slipped out to get under her as she crashed to the ground, impressive fake electricity flashing over her body for a moment.
"You awake?" Cassius asked.
"I'm awake," Megan said.
"Remain still, android," Twister said, his fingers opening and extending a cord each, which reached down toward Megan's head, attaching to it in several places. "The reprogramming won't take long."
"Grab those," Cassius said.
Megan complied instantly, allowing her head to transform back to normal. "Longer than you might think."
"No!" Twister gasped, just before Cassius slipped out from under her, his goo exploded upward in a spike and driving itself completely through Twister's torso before he reformed his body behind Twister.
"Send us!" Cassius said, attaching himself to the android with his goo.
Megan hurled them both into the air just as Kid Flash spun a tornado into existence, hurling them away. After a moment, just as Superboy leapt at Twister, Cassius leapt off of his back, sending him streaking even faster into Superboy's fist, which shattered part of his back. Superboy caught his left arm instantly, slamming another punch into his gut, his fist breaking completely through. Just then, Cassius reached them, slashing Twister's trapped arm off.
"Batter up!" Cassius said, stepping out of the way.
Superboy swung the arm around instantly, shattering it against Twister's head and sending him flying out into the water where Aqualad reported he was waiting with an anchor. A moment later, the water lit up with electricity, then an explosion and Twister was hurled back out of the water missing his other arm. As he landed, Megan lifted him into the air, then ripped his legs off with her telekinesis before two of Robin's explosive disks blasted him in the back. He fell, crashing down hard on its back. Then, the torso opened and a man in a green jumpsuit scrambled out of it, collapsing beside it, a shallow scratch in the side of his face from where Cassius had nearly impaled him through the head.
"Damn," Cassius said. "You got lucky."
"Foul!" the man stammered. "I-I-I call foul!"
"Do it, Megan," Cassius said.
Megan ripped a massive boulder from the ground instantly and floated it over to crush him.
"M'gann, no!" Aqualad shouted, moving to stop her, only for the boulder to explode down on the man.
"Very well done," Cassius said.
"Dammit Void!" Robin seethed, turning and storming over to Megan, getting in her face as he yelled. "Megan, I don't know how things are done on Mars, we don't EXECUTE OUR CAPTIVES! ! ! This is exactly why you should have been locked up, Void!"
"Chill out, sidekick," Cassius said. "Megan didn't kill anyone."
"What?" Aqualad asked.
"You said you trust me," Megan said, lifting the boulder and revealing the crushed robot underneath.
"But..." Robin looked to Cassius. "How'd you know? Both of you?"
"I cut his face when I stabbed the robot," Cassius said. "Even as a shallow scratch, it would have bled because it's in the head where all of the blood vessels are shallow and the blood is fresh from the lungs, so it moves easier."
"And I knew he was a machine, because I couldn't read his mind," Megan said.
Kid Flash knelt, picking up one of the eyes. "Cool. Souvenir."
"We should have had more faith in you," Aqualad said, setting a hand on Megan's shoulder. "And for the record, Cassius was right about your powers' usefulness."
"Yeah, you rocked this mission," Kid Flash said. "Get it? Rocked?"
"Ignore him," Robin said.
"I don't know why it surprises you all still that I know how to fight," Cassius said. "All I've ever known is killing and violence. I got good at knowing how to apply violence in the right amounts."
"That's not something to be proud of," Robin said.
"Who said anything about being proud?" Cassius asked.
"We're all glad you're on the team, Megan," Robin said.
"Thanks," Megan said. "So am I."
"We're being recorded," Cassius said, kneeling and tapping on the eye still in the head, which had a small red light inside the pupil. "Hello there. Sorry we broke your toy. If you want to come collect it, we can wait here to pay you back for the damages." The light went out and he huffed. "Guess that's a no, then."
"How do you know we were being watched?" Robin asked.
"There's a camera in the pupil," Cassius said, plucking the eye from the robot's head and crushing it in a goo hand, then opening his hand and pulling the camera out the tiny camera. "It had a red light while they were still watching."
"Nice catch," Robin said. "Glad we didn't say anything incriminating."
"Agreed," Aqualad said. "Let's get it back to Mount Justice."
The others agreed and Megan focused, telling them she was calling the Bio-Ship.
"Thank you for sticking up for me, and for giving me credit for your plan," Megan said.
"I may be an assassin, but I'm not heartless," Cassius said. "I've never had friends before."
Megan smiled just as the ship arrived and they all got on, Megan bringing the robot's parts. This time, the ship made no fuss about giving Cassius a seat, and a couple moments later, they were on their way home.
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