Bam!
Superboy's fists smashed into the thick training dummy, denting the metal column holding it.
Pow!
The red plastic and padding on the torso of the dummy caved in, leaving fist sized holes in the chest and abdomen.
Whap!
Superboy roared and slammed his fist one last time into the training dummy. The whole thing finally broke in two, collapsing forward.
M'gann watched from the rafters of the training room. She sat on a metal bar nicked with signs of grappling hooks and scorch marks. Though Superboy hadn't once looked up, M'gann kept herself invisible. She didn't want him to know she was there, doubted he would have appreciated her as an audience. A frown marred her face as he tossed the broken training dummy into a heap where three more already laid in shambles and stalked off to find another training dummy.
"Pretty impressive, right?" Robin asked from her left.
M'gann jumped, a small squeak of surprise escaping. She reappeared and looked to her left where the Boy Wonder sat in his full uniform. She hadn't heard him approach. Then again, he was trained by Batman and she had been… distracted.
"I'm sorry," M'gann blurted hastily. "I wasn't spying, honestly, I just wanted to… to watch for a while."
"No worries." Robin waved a hand flippantly. "I do it all the time. But hey that's me, I was trained by a paranoid psycho. You don't seem like the skulking type, M'gann. You're way too out-going."
Before she could reply Superboy's footsteps echoed below. In a moment he reappeared dragging another training dummy by an arm. He flung it against a metal wall and instantly launched himself at it, fists flying again, their loud crashing masking anything he could hear from such a distance.
"I wouldn't normally," M'gann admitted. "I've trained with everyone–
"Almost everyone," Robin cut in gently.
M'gann sighed as she looked down at the rampaging Superboy. She flipped her cowl up, hoping to hide her saddened mien. "I don't think he likes me, Robin."
"Superboy he's…." Robin sighed. "He's going through a lot right now. One month ago he was six stories underground in a pod. A lot has happened to him since then. Every day there's something new. He's just trying to figure things out. He'll come around."
"You think so?" M'gann asked faintly hopeful.
"Sure I'm sure," the Boy Wonder laughed. "I bet you give it a week and you won't even recognize–
The last word has barely left his lips when the sirens blared. Red lights flashed in the room and the surrounding halls. "Intruder alert. Intruder alert," the sterile voice of the Mission Center computer announced.
Superboy looked up, his arm, cocked back for another punch, frozen.
"All Young Justice members to Mission Central. We've got company!" Aqualad's voice crackled to life in M'gann's ear.
M'gann tapped the earpiece. "On my way, Aqualad!" She turned to look at Robin, ready to ask if he needed a ride down but the Boy Wonder had already disappeared.
0000
"Who's attacking us?" Superboy demanded to know as he raced into the Mission Central. He arrived just in time to see Aqualad go flying by. The mariner landed hard, rolling thrice until he hit the wall on the opposite side of the room.
He got to his feet in a flash, both of his Aqua-hilts in hands, his mystical tattoos blazing blue. "I wish I knew!"
Superboy's eyes scanned the room and though there were cracks in the walls and dents in the floor he didn't see anybody. He narrowed his, gaze calling upon his Xray vision but still saw nothing. "Xray vision is a bust, I can't see anything– OOOF!"
Perhaps he couldn't see anything but it wasn't the case with whatever was attacking them. A hard fist launched into his gut, taking the wind out of his lungs. His feet left the floor and he sailed upwards until his back crashed against the ceiling. Stone and sheets of metal tumbled as he fell but he landed hard on his feet. He yelled as he swung wildly but his fists caught nothing but air. "What is this? Some sort of magic?"
"Not that I can detect," Aqualad replied grimly.
"Yeah and the sensors aren't picking up any heat signature," Robin confirmed as he swung in. He landed nearly beside Aqualad, three robin-wings between his fingers, ready to fly.
Superboy tried to bite down the rising wave of fury he felt. "Where's that Martian girl? She can turn invisible. Is this her idea of a joke?!"
"It's not me, Superboy," M'gann swore as she appeared over his head. She placed her fingertips to her head, her brow furrowed as she concentrated. Her eyes glowed completely green. "I can't pick up any brain waves either. No mind to read. I don't know what this thing is."
"Is it even still in this room?" Aqualad asked aloud.
"Has to be." Robin looked at the screen woven into his gauntlet. "All entry and exit access points are shut down. Zeta Tubes and Mission Control computers are offline to prevent hacking. Every room is in lockdown mode. Unless it can phase through walls this is the only place it could be."
Aqualad frowned. "But Superboy and M'gann–
"Made it just before the doors closed," Robin revealed. "Since Superboy has already been walloped that tells me our invisible friend is still in the room somewhere."
"Yeah and they're going to be getting way more than they can give!" Superboy shouted. He dipped into a crouch then jumped, nearly touching the ceiling as he came down with a crash. He swung at dust and debris as he launched himself again, creating small craters as he landed. "Show yourself!"
"Superboy, you're acting rashly," Aqualad scolded. "We need to search neatly, form a perimeter and close in!"
"Yeah and now they know we're about to do that!" shouted Superboy as he smashed his fist into a dozen Wayne Corp boxes as if to spook the intruder out of hiding.
"Superboy's right, it will know what we're planning," M'gann agreed. "Here let me…"
Superboy didn't know why her words trailed off until he felt it. Felt her. She was like the glow of the Zeta Tube only in his brain, like the little gray creations down in Cadmus feeding him information. How had she gotten into his mind so easily? How much did she see or know?
"I did it!" M'gann's voice happily filled his mind. "Now we can talk freely and the enemy won't know what we're saying!"
"Get out of my head Martian girl!" Superboy screamed. He fell to his knees clutching his skull, fingers fisting tufts of black hair. Memories of being fed information in Cadmus Labs flashed through his mind. He could still feel those gray imp fingers skittering over his arms as they climbed him to roost upon his shoulders and connect his mind to theirs. It had not been pleasant and the sensation of her entering his mind without permission brought all those unpleasant memories back out. "GET OUT!"
"M'gann it's not like on Mars!" Robin yelled through the mental link. "You can't just jump into someone's mind like that."
Instantly Superboy felt her presence depart. He could not explain why it almost felt worse without her there. Some sort of Martian trickery no doubt.
"I'm sorry!" Anxiety filled her voice, a voice he now heard with his ears and not his thoughts. "I thought it would give us a leg up on the bad guys!"
"We'll just have to think of another plan!" Robin shouted aloud. He moved toward Superboy but only took three steps before something grabbed is right wrist. He went flying through the air and into Aqualad, hitting him firmly in the chest.
"Aqualad! Robin!" M'gann screamed.
"There you are!" Superboy roared wanting nothing more than to physically vent his pain and rage. He launched himself again and began to come down like a rocket, his fist aimed for the ground.
"Superboy no!" From the corner of his eye he saw M'gann outstretch her hands then he felt weightlessness.
He struggled and kicked in her psychic grip. "So it was you!"
"No, but you might have landed on Aqualad and Robin!"
"No, I wouldn't have!" snarled Superboy. "Give me a little credit."
"It looked like you were gonna cut it a little close, Superboy," panted Robin. "Luckily I was hoping the Invisible Man here would start wailing on me." He grinned mischievously as he held up his bracer. The blue holo screen flickered to life and on it was a red dot – a tracker.
Superboy grinned. "Looks like he's headed for the vehicle doors!" He leapt and took off in the direction of the heavy metal doors. In his ears he could hear Robin's tracker beeping closer and closer. He was getting warming and whoever, whatever was intruding was about to have a very, very, very bad day.
The blips of the tracker increased in his ear. Superboy saw red, hungry for blood. He leapt again and began to come down feet first.
"C'mere you!" Superboy shouted
"I got it!" M'gann exclaimed.
A huge wooden box of spare parts levitated in front of Superboy. He raised both his arms instinct to protect his face but it was too late. Boy and box crashed fantastically, completely obliterating the box. Nails and splinters and big metal spare parts bounced harmlessly off Superboy's skin. He lost his concentration and the angle to land upright. By the time he opened his eyes again the ground was rushing up to meet him and he landed hard on his stomach.
Superboy rolled onto his back and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He felt bruised but mostly unhurt. His anger was unabated but after such a disastrous collision he just wanted the world to swallow him whole.
"Superboy are you hurt?" M'gann asked from above.
Superboy glanced up, his eyes shooting daggers at her. If looks could kill she would have burst into flames.
M'gann hovered above him, her face a mix of concern and hesitation and embarrassment. It was obvious now he wasn't hurt but the awkward silence hung thick.
"Superboy I uh… I mean it was…Oops…?" M'gann stammered.
"An apt term, Miss Martian," the android voice of Red Tornado agreed.
The hum of a cloaking device being deactivate filled the air. Slowly the crimson metal body of Red Tornado appeared. His bullet-shaped head slowly rotated, looking at the team.
"Red Tornado were you present all this time?" Aqualad asked as he neared their mentor.
"I was," he confirmed. "I was your attacker. This was a training exercise, in which you failed."
Superboy grit his teeth in pain. He pounded a fist into the ground, concaving the metal. "If it wasn't for the Martian girl…."
"No. You failed before that." Red Tornado lifted a hand causing a screen on the central monitor to activate. The screen showed the footage of Superboy coming down on Robin and Aqualad's location. "Trajectory indicators confirm you would have had a fifty-eight percent chance of striking Robin and a ninety-nine percent chance of hitting Aqualad. You are fortunate he is durable enough to withstand such blows."
"See, I told you that punch would have hurt someone," M'gann piped up.
Red Tornado's head turned to her. "But he would have managed to catch me with the resounding aftershocks. And he would have fully struck me had the levitated crate not hit him first."
M'gann blushed, her green cheeks burning until there was an undertone of red. "I just thought…."
"You did not trust Superboy to make up for his first error," Red Tornado replied mechanically.
"Red Tornado this fault lies with me," Aqualad admitted. He stepped closer, shoulders back and squared like a soldiers standing for punishment. "I have been derelict in my duties as leader. I will ensure more training is done."
"You and Robin performed admirably. You held your own. In time you would have found a way past the cloaking device." Red Tornado looked back as Superboy and M'gann. "Aqualad and Robin worked in tandem, you two, however, have not. For your failures I am remanding the two of you to Mount Justice until further notice."
"What!?" Superboy exploded. He finally surged up from the debris of broken box and dented parts and marched up to Red Tornado. He pointed a finger accusing at Red Tornado's metal chest. "You can't do that! I'm not a prisoner. I'm not going to stay here locked up with Martian Girl."
"Miss Martian," Red Tornado corrected. "And you will. The both of you will commence with one-on-one trainings along with your regular trainings with the whole of the team and Black Canary. Being disjointed can spell the doom of a team, you must learn cooperation."
Superboy slammed the heels of his hands against his eyes. He felt rage burning just beneath the surface of his skin. "I don't believe this!"
"While I can't say I'm thrilled it… it might be good for us. We can really learn to work as a team," M'gann suggested, interjecting a bit of positivity into the news. A frail, small smile tipped her lips but it was a wary, nervous thing. "And maybe this way we can get to know one another, Batman said–
Superboy spun to face her, seeing red. "I don't want to get to know you!" he shouted.
It wasn't a Canary cry by any means, but M'gann stepped back. Hurt etched her green face, her ruddy freckles crinkling some as her wary, forced smile faded.
Regret struck Superboy squarely in the chest. The anger faded from his face, replaced with apology that he couldn't express. How could he get her to understand without looking like some kind of fool? "I didn't mean…" His brow furrowed as he fought for the word until finally he pulled his eyes away from hers and stomped away. "Forget it," he growled. "See you in training tomorrow morning Martian Girl."
0000
As the team filtered away to their own quarters, Red Tornado broke his radio silence on the open communicator in his android brain. "Training was a failure."
"Expected. Most new training is," replied a familiarly stern but disembodied voice in his head.
"The test was unfair. They had no idea there were three attackers. Myself and two of my old android shells. We have not trained them to look out for Thanagarian cloaking technology yet. They were not prepared for this sort of attack."
"They need to be prepared for anything." There was a pause then, "Were the consequences handed out?"
"Yes. Miss Martian and Superboy are confined to Mount Justice for now and will have extra training together, just as you ordered…. Batman."