Hey guys here's the next chapter for the story. Sorry about the extra delay. Had a review saying that my story mirrored another too much, but I went back through and changed a few scenes and added credit to the author in the previous chapter. Some of the scenes after I reread them surprised me at how similar they still were and so I would have sent the same review to myself that the guest did to whom I apologize too, since I also sent apologizes to the author, SnowWolf22 and also anyone who was following this story at the time.
So I changed a few scenes in previous chapters and this one as well and also changed some of the custom dialogue that I had put in. Though most dialogue for Red Robin was just from the episode and were Robin's lines just split between the two characters just to show that they have more chemistry between them then any other member of the team so those weren't really changed or messed with. Also went through and just edited some other things as well. I completely missed one of Doctor Desmond's lines in Fireworks, so that is in now. Eventually I'll really go back through and proofread.
Disclaimer: Don't own Young Justice or anything DC related. Also added a disclaimer in the previous chapter giving proper credit to SnowWolf22 and the story Strike for being the inspiration behind a couple scenes. Also, one line that Red Robin uses near the beginning was supplied by thebirdie so shout out to them as well for the line.
Speaking of thebirdie, our co-op story is underway as well titled Young Justice: Ignition so check that out when and if you ladies and gents get some free time.
YOUNG JUSTICE
WELCOME TO HAPPY HARBOR
STAR CITY
July 17, 23:16 PDT
It was a late night down at the pier in Star City. Despite the extremely late hour, the pier was a busy place. Red Robin and Robin were on top of a warehouse building looking through their binoculars at the goons below them getting ready to unload some cargo that belonged to the U.S. Government.
"We are gonna stop these guys even if Speedy doesn't show right?" asked Red Robin
"Duh" spoke Robin still watching.
Two goons grabbed one of the crates labeled 'U.S. Government', and they both let out a grunt at how heavy the crate was when an arrow flew in and hit the ground in between the two goons with the crate. The arrow unleashed smoke and caused the goons to fall and drop the crate. The crate then spilled its contents, which looked like new high-tech handguns, on the ground. One of the guns skidded over towards Brick, a crime boss in Star City that sported a finely dressed suit, a small white goatee, and cornrow hair that went down into a ponytail. Brick kicked the gun up to his hand and pointed it up in the air in the direction of the arrow, "You Again! I'm startin' to get insulted Green Arrow's not messin' up my operations personally," he shouted angrily at Speedy, who was watching the crime boss from above.
Brick then fired shots up at the new solo hero, Speedy, who leapt through the beams with his amazing acrobatic skills, dodging every shot.
"That's our cue," said Robin pulling out his grapple gun and quickly launching it and took off towards the combat.
Red Robin put a hand to his ear to activate his comm, "Flash Boy, Aqualad. Time to make our presence known"
"Would you stop saying that," came the gruntled response of Kid Flash.
"Understood" responded Aqualad.
Red Robin then pulled out his own grapple gun and took off towards the fighting, ready to meet Speedy for the first time after the incident at The Hall.
Speedy landed on a platform and then ran across it, still dodging the red energy blasts from the high-tech weapon. After a few more dodges, Speedy stopped and fired an arrow that went right into the barrel of the gun Brick was holding and exploded, ruining the crime boss' expensive suit.
Brick saw his ruined suit and was enraged even more, "Do you know what I pay for a suit in my size?!" he yelled up at the archer.
"Don't know, but there's a nice free orange suit your size at Belle Reve," came a voice over the area, but Brick didn't know who it belonged to. He then looked up and found out. Falling threw the air, cape flapping as he did so, was Red Robin. Brick at the last second took a few steps back and Red Robin landed just in front of the crime boss. Red Robin acted quickly and landed a few punches and a kick at Brick's midsection but Brick was unphased by the punches and went to grab the Batman protégé, but Red Robin jumped up and out of the way of Brick's grab and kicked off the villain's chest and in mid air threw two birdarangs at the metahuman and then landed a few feet away. Brick caught each of the birdarangs in his hands and crushed them with little effort, but the birdarangs exploded, ruining Brick's suit even more.
"Scorch the earth, boys" Brick ordered his four goons as the smoke cleared. They all grabbed the high-tech pistols that were on the ground from the crate that smashed open and aimed them at Speedy and Red Robin, but before the goons could act, a quick red and yellow blur sped by and knocked two over. The remaining two aimed at the charging Red Robin, but two birdarangs came from nowhere and disarmed the two remaining thugs and Robin's infamous cackle was heard before he dropped down behind the two goons and pulled from his belt his yellow collapsed bo staff. He flicked the staff, which caused it to extend to its full length of five feet and with three quick jabs to each of the two goons, dropped them both.
"I need one of those," quipped Red Robin to his partner before they both disappeared behind some crates. Brick, now even more mad, pried up a piece of concrete from the ground and hurled it up at Speedy. Aqualad then came down from above Speedy, and using his water bearers, smashed the piece of concrete before it reached its intended target. Speedy knocked an arrow and fired at Brick. The arrow hit Brick in the chest and smoke engulfed the crime boss.
"The cave is perfect. It has everything the team will need," Aqualad spoke, trying to persuade his friend.
Robin and Red Robin then dropped down behind Speedy, getting the archers attention, "For covert missions," Robin added.
"You know, spy stuff" Red Robin added along with his partner.
Kid Flash then appeared, after running up some crates, "And wait till you see Superboy and Miss Martian," Kid Flash added as well. All of them were trying to get their friend to join their team, "But I saw her first," Kid Flash quickly added, calling his dibs on the Martian girl.
As the smoke cleared, Brick grunted as he picked up another piece of concrete and threw it at the teen heroes. Acting quickly, Aqualad used his water bearers to create a mace and bring it down on the concrete projectile, while the other teen boys spread out.
Speedy to Aqualad's right fired three arrows, each making impact and exploding one after the other, knocking Brick back a few steps and knocking him off balance. Brick put his hand down on the ground to steady himself, "Heh heh. Tell Arrow he shouldn't send boys to do a man's job," he said gloating to the teens.
Speedy knocked another arrow and aimed it at the metahuman crime boss, "Go ahead," Brick said, spreading his arms out and letting Speedy have a free shot. Speedy let the arrow go and hit Brick square in the chest. Instead of exploding it released red bubbles that encased Brick in seconds. The bubbles then hardened trapping the villain.
Kid Flash then skidded to a stop by Speedy, "High-density polyurethane foam. Nice," he complimented the archer. Speedy just turned around to leave only to find the other three waiting for him. Robin and Red Robin propped themselves up against some crates, while Aqualad just stood.
"So, Speedy," Red Robin started to say.
"You in?" finished Robin.
Before making his leave, Speedy stopped in between the Boy Wonders and Aqualad, and looked at Robin, "Pass. I'm done letting arrow and The League tell me what to do," he answered, "I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse to hang out with the other kids. Your Junior Justice League is a joke, something to keep you busy and in your place."
Speedy then made his leave and as he disappeared into the darkness, he said one last thing, "I don't want any part of it," and with that he vanished, leaving the other four heroes stunned and looking at each other with shocked faces.
GOTHAM CITY
JULY 18, 3:00 EDT
Red Robin made his way to his bedroom window, which of course when he tried to open was locked. Parents shut it, guess I'll have to pick it he thought as he flicked his lockpick out of the hidden compartment in his right glove under his index finger and went to work. In seconds, the window was unlocked and quietly made his way into his bedroom.
Nathan, once inside, closed and relocked the window and immediately went to work getting out of his costume before his parents decided to drop in all of sudden. He got the costume off and angrily threw it in the hidden compartment he and Dick installed themselves in the back of his closet. Anger at Speedy ran through his body. Roy insulted their team as he declined their offer, or at least Nathan took it as an insult. He wasn't sure what the others thought, but he honestly didn't care what they thought at the moment. He grumbled to himself quietly as he got ready for bed.
"Clubhouse to hang out… other kids," he mumbled putting on a plain t-shirt and shorts. I'm no kid. I'm fifteen and a protégé to Batman…The Batman, he thought to himself.
"Junior Justice League" he growled through his toothbrush as he brushed his teeth.
"keeping us in our place" he grumbled while climbing into his bed for some sleep before heading to the cave tomorrow. Before finally closing his eyes, he checked his phone and he found a couple missed calls and texts from his parents, who he usually ignored. He then saw Barbara's texts, Barbara blew up my phone, he thought reading through. They weren't really anything too important just asking where he was and if he was ok, since she hasn't seen him as much as she used to the pass couple days. Nathan texted her to meet at the GCPD on a day she had free coming up., then put his phone down and tried to get some much-needed sleep. Barbara was really fun to hang out with and her dad, the Commissioner Gordon, was pretty cool too, usually giving him and Barbara the run of the GCPD, which usually ended with them in trouble or just reading case files, mostly Cold Cases because he thought they were the most intriguing since they weren't solved yet.
– Young Justice Theme –
MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 18, 11:10 EDT
[Recognized: Red Robin, B 0-4] called out the computerized voice of the zeta beam teleporter. Instead of his Red Robin uniform, Nathan walked into the cave with normal civilian clothes and a pair of black sunglasses.
"Red Robin!" greeted Miss Martian, "Good Morning!"
"Miss M," spoke Nathan in a groggy voice, while holding his head after hearing Miss Martian's high-volume greeting, "It's not a good morning till after eleven," just then his phone buzzed, Sure, would love to meet at the GCPD later -Barbara. Nathan smiled getting Babs' reply.
Aqualad then walked up next to Nathan and whispered to him, "Red Robin, it is after eleven."
Before Nathan could get his response out, he was interrupted by the computerized voice, [Recognized: Robin, B 0-1; Kid Flash, B 0-3] announced the computerized voice, marking the entrance of said superheroes, who stepped out of the yellow light from the zeta beam teleporter. Both were also in civilian clothes, and like Red Robin, Robin also sported the black sunglasses to keep his secret identity. The two sprinted towards the rest of the group in the middle of the room.
"Did you ask him?" came Robin's voice.
"What did he say?" chimed in Wally, speaking really fast.
"He's arriving now," answered Aqualad.
"Arriving for what?" asked a confused Nathan. He gathered they were talking about Red Tornado because of the holographic screen they were all watching, but he was confused why they wanted to speak to him. He had almost missed his alarm, and barely had time to shower. He quickly looked at his phone and saw he had messages from Dick, explaining everything that he was missing at the moment, about them contacting Red Tornado for a possible mission.
"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Wally as he took off to meet Red Tornado, followed by everyone else.
Outside the cave, a section of ground lowered revealing a secret entrance to The Team's lair. The six teens walked out to greet Red Tornado, who was descending down to meet the teens.
"Red Tornado!" waved Kid Flash getting the android's attention.
"Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?" he asked, looking at the teens.
"We hoped you had a mission for us," answered the Atlantean politely.
"But missions…" started Nathan, but was interrupted by the android, "are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado finished.
"But it's been over a week and…" Robin stated, but the android put his hand up interrupting the teens again, "You'll be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."
"This team is not a social club," replied Aqualad, who was also frustrated that the team hasn't received a mission yet.
"Sure does feel like one," mumbled Nathan under his breath. The conversation with Speedy the night before played over and over in his mind.
"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave," Red Tornado said, before making his way back towards The Cave.
"Keep busy," grumbled KF hitting Robin's shoulder. Nathan also understood, because Speedy used those words also last night.
"Does he think we're falling for this?" asked Robin.
"Oh, I'll find out," exclaimed Miss Martian, who also seemed eager to do something to benefit the team. Miss Martian stared intently at Red Tornado and Nathan was going to mention something, but as soon as he was about to talk, Miss Martian looked back at the team, "I'm sorry I forgot, he's a machine. Inorganic, I cannot read his mind," she apologized.
Nathan shrugged his shoulders, "It's all good," he said to Miss M, before looking at Red Tornado again, "They're still keeping us in our place. Let's just make our own team without the Justice League" he grumbled, taking a seat in the grass. Aqualad gave him a hard stare, "Or not," Nathan said nonchalantly.
Wally then got closer to Miss M, "So you know what I'm thinking about right now?" he asked flirtatiously.
"We all know what you're thinking now," shot Robin, elbowing Kid Flash.
"And now we tour the clubhouse," said Aqualad, also remembering what Speedy said.
"Well, Superboy and I live here," spoke Miss Martian, "we can play tour guides," she offered.
Nathan took one look at Superboy, who was obviously not keen on the idea of being a tour guide, "Don't look at me," the Superman clone added quickly.
"We won't," Wally answered quickly. He then looked at Miss Martian, "A private tour sounds much more fun," he said leaning into Miss Martian, giving her a wink, as he spoke. Miss Martian smiled back kindly still not sure what to make of Kid Flash's flirting.
"Sh-She never said private," Robin quipped.
"Team building. We all go," Aqualad said. The sternness in his voice stopped everyone else from talking. He then gestured for Miss M to start the tour.
Robin roughly pushed past Kid Flash who was obviously trying to get close to Miss Martian for the tour around the cave. Nathan, as they all walked back inside tapped the back of KF's head before returning his attention back to Miss Martian's tour, "So this would be our front door…"
"And this would be the back," Miss Martian said, continuing the tour, while leading the team to a small platform of rock, "The cave is actually the entire mountain," she said as she led the team back inside. Nathan let out a whistle as he actually took time to admire the cave for once instead of rushing around.
"It was hollowed out by Superman and Green Lantern in the early years of The League," Kid Flash interjected, trying to impress Miss Martian with his knowledge of The Cave. Red Robin just rolled his eyes at the speedster, but did find KF's failed flirting attempts amusing to say the least.
"Then why abandon it for The Hall of Justice?" asked Superboy
"It's secret location was compromised," answered Aqualad, giving his attention to the teenaged clone.
"So they traded it in for a tourist trap?" he rhetorically asked, "Yeah, that makes sense," the boy scoffed, not knowing The League had The Watchtower as its real headquarters.
"If the villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert!" exclaimed Miss Martian, sounding a little worried as she did so.
Robin then took Miss Martian's hand in his and began to explain things, "The bad guys know we know they know about the place, so they'd never think to look here," the Boy Wonder explained rather quickly, leaving a confused facial expression on the Martian.
Nathan then put his shoulder on Robin, using him as a prop, "What he means to say is that we are hiding in plain sight. You'll get use to his over explanations. I even started to catch myself doing them," he said, trying to explain Robin's wordy explanation, but M'gann still seemed confused, "This one time we were fighting The Joker, and his goons got so tired of us that…"
Red Robin never finished his story cause it was interrupted by Superboy after sniffing the air he said, "I smell smoke," rather calmly.
"My cookies!" gasped Miss Martian who then took off towards The Cave's kitchen. Once she made it to the kitchen, she used her telekinesis to pull the tray of cookies out of the oven and sat them down on the nearby table, "I was trying out Grammy Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of heh, nevermind," she said, stopping herself from rambling.
Nathan looked at the tray that was on the counter and saw the black lumps that were once cookies. He then raised an eyebrow at Kid Flash, who started to actually eat the 'cookies'.
"Bet they had tasted great," Robin said, grinning towards Kid Flash.
"Yeah, Flash Boy doesn't seem to mind," added Red Robin, still with an eyebrow raised, but a smirk started to appear on his face.
Kid Flash then stopped eating and looked at Red Robin, "I have a serious metabolism," he said cautiously, feeling the awkwardness of everyone watching him eat the black lumps.
"I'll make more," said a confused Miss Martian hesitantly, not knowing if she really should or not.
"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad said.
"Thanks, Aqualad," Miss Martian politely answered the Atlantean.
"We're off duty, call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur," he introduced himself to her.
"I'm Wally," came the yellow and scarlet speedster, trying to sound smooth as he leaned up against the counter where the tray of cookies was, "See I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike the two with dark glasses over there," he said gesturing towards Robin and Red Robin, "Batman's forbidden the Boy Wonders from telling anyone their real names," he said, still trying to impress the Martian.
"If we did go around telling everyone we met our 'secret' IDs then it wouldn't be a secret. I'm surprised you still have a secret ID Wally," Red Robin retaliated. He smiled and fist bumped his partner when he got a glare from Wally in response.
"Mine's no secret!" said an enthusiastic Miss Martian, "It's M'gann M'orzz, but you can call me Meagan. It's an Earth name and I'm on Earth now," she said cheekily.
Red Robin noticed Superboy turning to take his leave and it didn't take a genius to understand why, but the clone suddenly stopped and turned towards the direction of Miss Martian, "Get out of my head!" he shouted at her, putting his hands on the sides of his heads. The other teens looked at Superboy with questionable looks and then to M'gann.
"What's wrong?" she asked everyone telepathically, "I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically," she continued to speak telepathically.
The other teens all had their hands on their heads when she 'spoke', not use to the telepathic communication, "M'gann stop!" ordered Aqualad, making M'gann jump in shock, "It's different on Earth. Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy," Aqualad explained to her.
Wally then put a hand over his mouth to cover it from Superboy, but he still spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear anyway, "Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic g'gnomes left a bad taste in his brain," he said. Red Robin figured Wally was trying to defuse the situation, but he looked between the speedster and the clone to see if Superboy would do anything in retaliation to that, but was surprised when he did nothing.
"I didn't mean to…" but M'gann couldn't finish her apology to the group before she was interrupted.
"Just. Stay. Out." Superboy growled, before making his way to the green couch by the kitchen and taking a seat.
Silence filled the room before M'gann spoke cheerfully once more, "Hello Meagan!" she exclaimed as she hit herself in the forehead, "I know what we can do!" she continued. She then flew out of the room. The other teens exchanged glances with each other before shrugging their shoulders and then followed Miss Martian out of the room.
After they all left and made their way to the elevator Miss Martian stopped, "It's not right to just leave Superboy," she voiced to no one in particular.
"Give him a few minutes he'll calm down," Kid Flash offered, but Miss Martian ignored him.
"I'll be right back," she hastily spoke and zoomed off to go grab the Superman clone.
As they waited for their team members, Red Robin leaned down towards Robin and whispered so no one else could hear, "Dude, what's with you and redheads?" he asked, "You know she seems more into Superboy than Kid Mouth and you," he finished, a smile on his face as he saw his partner's reaction to his question.
Before Robin could respond, an ecstatic Miss Martian along with Superboy appeared and rejoined the rest of the team, "I got Superboy," she spoke happily. Then they all boarded the elevator.
The elevator ping was heard, and the doors opened allowing the six teens to step out onto the hangar floor. "It's my Martian Bioship," introduced Miss Martian, excited to show her new friends her spaceship.
"Cute," Wally voiced, being the first one to voice his opinion, "Not aerodynamic, but cute."
"We all can't cram into that," Red Robin was the next to comment.
"It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it," Miss Martian said, after chuckling at their reactions. She then raised her hand and pointed it towards the ship. Red Robin watched in awe as the Martian egg transformed into a large and fully operational ship. Miss Martian then waved her hand, and the ship levitated slightly and spun around and the wall in the back, between the two back wings, flowed down opening the back of the ship and also forming a walkway up so they could board.
"Are you all coming?" Miss Martian asked at the other teens who were still gasping at the bioship.
The five teens all gave each other looks and then walked forward, boarding the Martian vessel.
"Now it's a ship," Red Robin spoke in awe still, taking in Miss Martian's ship. Once they were all on the ship, the walkway melted back up into the ship and they all followed Miss Martian. The doors that blocked their path melted into the walls and the teens watched as the empty room responded to Miss Martian's telepathic commands and filled with seats and control panels and one raised seat in the center of the room.
"Strap in for launch," said M'gann. Robin, Red Robin and Wally all looked at each other and grinned and practically raced to their chairs, Kid Flash on one side of the ship and Robin and Red Robin on the other, and instantly after they sat down, organic belts came out from the seat and crossed in front of them, securing them in their seat.
"Ok, I can get use to this," Red Robin commented, taking an instant liking to the Martian bio-ship.
"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors," said M'gann and the hangar doors in front of the ship pulled apart. M'gann lifted her hands and in response two white glowing orbs rose from the ship, supported by bars that were made from the same organic material as the ship and everything inside the ship. As her hands made contact with the orbs, the ship levitated off the ground and took off. After clearing the bay doors, the ship rose into the air and with some commands from Miss Martian, the ship flipped around and headed towards Happy Harbor.
"Incredible!" Robin uttered, changing his view from looking out the window, to looking towards M'gann.
"She sure is," Wally sighed, his voice was more lovestruck as he stared at M'gann. M'gann turned her attention to Wally, who started to stutter and backtrack, "I… I mean the ship, which, like all ships, is a she," he quickly finished, sinking down in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Fast with his feet…" Robin started, only for his sentence to be finished by his partner in his own chair behind the original Boy Wonder.
"Not so much with his mouth," Red Robin chimed in, getting a laugh out of Robin and also himself.
"Dudes!" Wally exclaimed at them. All he got for a response from the Batman protégés was a fist bump between the two.
M'gann sat in her chair looking at a brooding Superboy who was have a whispered conversation with Aqualad. Not needing superpowers to see what M'gann was thinking Robin leaned in towards M'gann, "He'll come around," he told her reassuringly.
"He doesn't seem to like me much," M'gann sighed, looking from the brooding clone to Robin.
"Give it some time. First time all of us met him, he was trying to crush us all to oblivion," Red Robin spoke trying to lift the Martian's spirits.
"You guys remember he has super hearing, right?" he added, whispering to M'gann, Robin and Red Robin, but Superboy gave no indication that he did hear them at all. Red Robin pondered what powers of Superman's Superboy did have, but that thought was quickly thrown out of his head when Robin spoke up again.
"Hey, how 'bout showing us a little Martian shape-shifting?" Robin asked M'gann trying to change the topic to something more upbeat. M'gann smiled and stood up and black began to rise up from her feet. Seconds later a perfect copy of Robin stood before the group, well almost perfect. You could still tell that this copy of Robin was female, but the detail was a perfect match.
"Nice," replied Red Robin, giving Miss M props. To his surprise, Miss Martian then spun and faced him and Red Robin was now staring at a copy of himself, before she spun towards Kid Flash making a muscular pose for him in her best copy of the speedster.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Kid Flash asked in his lovestruck voice, staring at the copy of himself.
"Yes," came the stern one-word answer from Red Robin, arms folded over his chest with a smirk on his face looking at Kid Flash, who groaned at the Bat protégé.
"Impressive," Robin said clapping his hands, after M'gann reverted back to her actual look, "But you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone with those."
"Still pretty cool though for sure," came the words of applause from Red Robin.
Miss Martian sat back down in her seat, "Mimicking boys is a lot harder," she confessed, showing she hadn't fully mastered the art just yet, but was well on her way and very close to doing so.
"And your clothes?" Aqualad asked, seeing M'gann shift forms and now back in her regular attire.
"They're organic, like the ship," M'gann explained excitedly, "They respond to my mental commands."
"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy voiced, causing an uncomfortable silence on the ship for a few seconds.
Kid Flash then tried to brighten the Martian girl up this time, "Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?" he asked enthusiastically.
"Density shifting?" M'gann answered in a questioning way, applying the proper name of the power that Kid Flash was trying to describe, "No," she sadly answered, "I…It's a very advanced technique."
Red Robin then noticed his partner lean forward in his seat with a smirk on his face, 'this should be good,' he thought inwardly.
"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," Robin started chuckling as he did so , and Red Robin couldn't contain his own chuckle that came out from seeing KF's facial expression and from personally seeing what happened to KF when he first tried the technique, "When he tries it, bloody nose."
"Dude!" exclaimed Kid Flash.
"Here's something I can do," M'gann grinned. From the outside, the ship began to disappear starting from the front and working its way to the back, "Camouflage mode," she said as the ship continued to fly towards Happy Harbor
"Red Tornado to Miss Martian," the robotic, monotone voice of the red android came over the ship speakers, "An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate. Covertly. I'm sending coordinates," the android finished.
"Received. Adjusting course," answered M'gann getting the new coordinates and making the proper changes.
"Is it just me, or does The League just like to keep us busy and out of trouble?" asked Red Robin, getting the sneaky feeling that this was just something to occupy them.
"Yes on the busy, no on the out of trouble," replied his younger, but more experienced partner.
"Well a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert," Miss Martian reasoned, as she brought the ship down to find a spot to land by the power plant.
"I think I know the cause," said Superboy, looking to his right and seeing a tornado coming right for them. Before M'gann could maneuver the ship out of the way of the growing, swirling vortex, the ship was sucked into the tornado, causing the camouflage mode to short out. Everyone let out a series of grunts as the ship was tossed about inside the vortex. M'gann then finally was able to concentrate again and give the ship some commands and was able to pilot the ship out of the tornado and then was able to land the ship quickly. A decent sized hole opened up on the bottom of the ship and the six heroes dropped down and landed on the ground in the parking lot next to the power plant.
"Robin! Red Robin!" shouted Aqualad above the screams of the other people fleeing from the plant, "Are tornados common in New England?" he asked, but the two aforementioned heroes were already gone and two sets of laughter were heard in the distance.
Robin and Red Robin made a break for the power plant as soon as they dropped down from the bioship and onto the parking lot. Red Robin avoided the crowd of scared workers and made his way over to the wall of the building. On his way over, the windows at the top of the building exploded outwards.
"There's our entrance," he said to his partner, who was right behind him every step of the way.
Red Robin then pulled out his grapple gun and swung himself inside through one of the broken windows and landed on a railing and took cover, while Robin, who landed beside him, then dropped down to the ground floor behind one of the building's support beams.
The inside of the building was being torn apart by high wind gusts and Red Robin then began to search for the cause and it didn't take him long to do so. A red and black android with a brown scarf and two blue cords that went from the android's hands back to his shoulders, which Red Robin assumed made the high wind gusts.
Robin took the initiative and ran out from behind his cover and charged at the android first and as he did so, Red Robin dropped down to the ground floor to join his partner, but as he started his charge a blast of wind shot in his direction, throwing Robin into an unexpected Red Robin, knocking both to the ground.
As the duo sat back up, Superboy leaped down next to the two fallen Bat protégés, "Who's your guys' new friend?" he asked.
"Didn't catch his name," responded Red Robin, rubbing his back from the impact with the ground, as he sat up.
"But he plays kinda rough," Robin spoke, also sitting back up.
"My apologizes," came the monotone voice of their foe, who stood still looking intimidating as continuing pulses of wind emanated from around him, "You may address me as Mister Twister," he answered the Boy Wonder's question before getting ready for his next move.
"Original," muttered the Boy Wonder.
"Yeah, that's a tongue twister," replied Red Robin, who then sighed at his own terrible play on words.
Mister Twister then sent out more winds from his hands that were able to halt the charging Superboy in his tracks. Twister then sent out another burst from his hands and a tornado formed from under Superboy and was strong enough to launch the teen into the back wall, and create a small crater in it, before the superpowered teen fell to the floor.
The other teens exchanged looks with each other and braced themselves. Kid Flash then put on his goggles and he, Aqualad and Miss Martian took off to have their shots at Mister Twister.
Kid Flash zoomed towards Mr. Twister and lunged his whole body at the villain's chest and landed a kick, causing a loud 'ting' to be heard as his feet made contact but the villain then unleashed more winds from his hands and as he did so, turned and launched the speedster out the open doors behind him, before turning and throwing up more wind blasts to counter the charging Aqualad and Miss Martian, sending them flying backwards.
"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero," the android gloated to the Boy Wonders. Both were now even more angry and armed explosive disks behind both their backs, "I was not however, expecting children" he finished, still gloating.
"We're not children!" yelled Robin and threw his birdarang. Twister countered by throwing up a wall of wind, created by two tornados he summoned in front of him.
"Suck on this!" yelled the other Bat sidekick and threw his disk as well. Robin's disk went into the wall of wind and exploded, cancelling the wall of wind, allowing Red Robin's disk to pierce directly into Mister Twister's chest.
"Objectively, you are," the android continued to gloat, as he flicked the annoyance in his chest away, and the disk exploded in the background, barely leaving a mark where the disk had embedded itself in Twister's chest, "Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite… disturbing," admitted Mister Twister, still gloating and still in total control of the battle.
"Well, we hate to see you disturbed!" shouted the Boy Wonder.
"But let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your tin can!" Red Robin yelled at the villain, taking a stance with the rest of the team, getting ready for the next round.
"You're learning," smirked Robin, looking at his partner, picking up on the word play.
"Yeah, I'm picking up on your bad habits, since you don't have any good ones," Red Robin shot back before the team sprang into action.
Miss Martian went for a distraction and used her telekinesis to pull down a vent cover that was directly over top of Mister Twister covering the villain in smoke. Superboy with a rage filled cry attacked first, but was blown back by Mister Twister and collided with M'gann in the air and the two hurled towards the ground and impacted right in front of the charging trio of Aqualad, Robin and Red Robin who all dodged Superboy and Miss Martian and continued to run at the android, but before they could get close, the android sprang up more twisters which hurled the three around and crashed them together.
"Indeed. That was quite turbing. Thank you," the android gloated again before turning and hovering out the door. Red Robin groaned as he stood back up, I really hate this robot.
The five heroes made their way outside, just in time to see Wally get launched in the air.
"I got you Wally!" Miss Martian yelled. Acting quickly, M'gann caught the speedster before he could hit the ground.
"Whoa. Thanks," the speedster said, joining The Team for the next round against Twister.
"I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now," Twister remarked, seeing the team still wanting to pick a fight with him, as he floated in the air.
"What do you want?" yelled Aqualad taking a few steps towards Mister Twister, arms raised.
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Twister, rising higher into the air, "I'm waiting for a real hero."
Aqualad looked back at Miss Martian who was currently standing between the two Gothamites, "Read his mind. Find a weakness," Aqualad ordered.
"Ehh… I thought I wasn't supposed to do that," Miss Martian replied unsure about using the power.
"You can read the minds of the people trying to kill us!" Red Robin shouted. He didn't mean to sound annoyed, but Mister Twister was getting on everyone's nerves at this point.
M'gann closed her eyes and focused on Mister Twister, "Nothing. I'm getting nothing," she said frustrated, before coming to a realization, "Hello Meagan!" she shouted, bumping her forehead, "Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android and how many android do you know that can generate tornados?" she asked the team, feeling triumphant with herself for figuring out Tornado's little game.
"Red Tornado sent us here," Aqualad angrily grumbled.
"After saying we'd be tested soon enough," added Red Robin.
"This is his test! Something to keep us busy," the other not so happy Boy Wonder frustratingly spoke.
"Speedy called it," sighed Kid Flash, "We're a joke."
"Unh!" the angered Atlantean grumbled, ponding his hands together, showing his anger at the situation. He then made his way towards Mister Twister flanked by Robin, Red Robin and Kid Flash.
"This game, so over," said the speedster, spreading his arms.
The four made their way towards the hovering android, "We know who you are!" shouted Red Robin, pointing a finger at the floating annoyance.
"And what you want!" piped in Robin, also pointing a finger.
"So let's end this," Aqualad growled, spreading his arms.
"Consider it ended," agreed the android. Mister Twister then let off two more tornados that rose towards the sky and formed another, bigger tornado between the two, but it also turned the sky dark and the clouds gray.
"An impressive show!" shouted the Atlantean, "But we will not indulge you. We will not engage!" he continued to shout towards the android, who was still concentrating on what he was about to do to the team. Thunder boomed and then streaks of lightning appeared behind Twister.
"Uhh, can Red Tornado do that?" asked Kid Flash
"Ummm," came the response of Red Robin, still watching the sky.
"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic," said the unamused twister fiend.
"Oh crap," was all anyone heard of Red Robin before lightning came down and explosions rocked the ground, throwing everyone back. Red Robin put his arms up to defend himself out of habit, not that it would have done anything. All Red Robin heard was a ringing in his ears before darkness overtook his vision.
"Red Robin? Double R wake up," Red Robin heard someone say. He opened his eyes a little, but the picture he got was all fuzzy, so he blinked a few times to bring his vision into focus and found Robin standing next to him with an arm stretched out. Red Robin took it and his partner helped him up.
"What happened?" asked a curious speedster to M'gann.
"I…I placed the bio-ship between us," she answered him with gilt laced through her words.
Superboy's anger got the better of him and he punched a rock twice, that was in the kicked-up pile of rock behind him before he turned to face M'gann, "And that's suppose to make it right?" hollered Superboy at the Martian, "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!" he continued to yell, taking steps towards M'gann who was still kneeling on the ground.
"She didn't do it on purpose," Aqualad spoke, steeping in to defend the female Martian and reason with Superboy.
"It was a rookie mistake," Robin agreed.
"We shouldn't have listened," Red Robin added, nodding in agreement with Robin and Aqualad.
"You are pretty inexperienced," said Kid Flash, reluctantly siding with the others, "Hit the showers. We'll take it from here," he said, pointing back towards the team base with his thumb over his shoulder. Superboy then walked in front of Wally and looked down at the still kneeling M'gann, "Stay out of our way," he said, before taking off to deal with Mister Twister, followed closely by Kid Flash.
"Let's go," Robin said to his fellow Gothamite, pointing in the direction the other two ran off in.
Stealing one last look at M'gann, Red Robin turned and walked at first, "Yeah, right behind you," he said and then he and Robin took off in a sprint.
When Robin, Red Robin and Aqualad arrived, they found Mister Twister already in progress of wrecking the town he was in and already engaged in combat with Superboy and Kid Flash. The three waisted no time in continuing to run into the fray and join their two teammates.
"Totally a disaster," Red Robin said, while the three of them vaulted over a car, just in time to see Superboy crushed by a speedboat and Mister Twister to turn and greet them with more tornadoes. Robin broke right, while Aqualad and Red Robin continued to rush forwards after dodging another tornado. As they rushed forwrds Aqualad wasn't able to dodge the next one and he got picked up by another and thrown into a two-story building. Red Robin continued to rush forward, but a tornado formed in front of him and after whirling him around, shot him back the way he came.
Red Robin made contact with the ground and skidded across the ground. He stopped by a boat that was sticking straight up in the ground and rolled behind it for cover, while Superboy and Aqualad again made runs at Twister. A few seconds later, Robin and Kid Flash also made their way behind the makeshift cover of the grounded boat, watching the combat that was taking place in front of them.
"You guys brought your utility belts?" Kid Flash asked, looking behind him to see Robin and Red Robin strapping on their yellow belts.
"Never leave home without it," Robin shot back, "First thing Batman taught us."
"Yeah, right after never go to the bathroom without it," mumbled the speedster, rolling his eyes.
"Your just jealous of all the toys," Red Robin retorted, pulling out a birdarang and throwing it at Mister Twister, who simply caught it. The birdarang exploded in his hand, but when the smoke cleared, Twister was unaffected by it.
"Immaterial and Insufficient!" Mister Twister criticized whoever threw the birdarang, since he couldn't see who.
"Yeah," scoffed Wally, "I'm so jealous," rolling his eyes again.
"Listen to me!" the voice of M'gann shouting in their minds, "All of you!" she stated in a demanding tone.
Red Robin clutched at his head, as well as the other two around him. Superboy's yelling in his head didn't help either, "What did we tell you?!" he scolded, but Red Robin heard iT in his head and he clutched at it harder.
"I know! And I know I messed up, but now I'm very clear on what we need to do," she replied telepathically still in her take charge voice, "Please trust me."
"So what did you have in mind?" Red Robin asked, "No pun intended," he quickly added, and M'gann explained what her plan was to them. Kid Flash, Robin and Red Robin all looked at each other and nodded.
The five heroes regrouped and made their way towards Mister Twister, who froze on his actions of tormenting the civilians still running for cover, and looked in the air above the team, and all five heroes also looked up as well. Above the team and making his decent down in front of them was none other than Red Tornado.
"Hit the showers, boys. I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly you cannot," said the android, landing on the ground in front of the team.
"But we got a plan now," argued Robin.
"We just nee–" Red Robin was about to argue as well, but was interrupted by the red android.
"The subject is not up for debate," Red Tornado interjected, shutting up the two bats, causing all of them to lower their heads and sulk away.
Red Robin and the others, once they were a safe distance away, began to enact their plan. Robin and Red Robin took cover behind a vehicle till it was their turn. Kaldur made his way into the water and Kid Flash and Superboy also hid, waiting for their cue to strike. Once in position, Red Robin focused back on the fight between Twister and Tornado.
"I was beginning to believe you would never show up," shouted Twister to his new and finally worthy foe.
"We are evenly matched Twister," spoke the android, who then pointed both hands towards the ground behind him and then hurled big pieces of rock towards Mister Twister.
"No Tornado we are not!" Twister shouted slamming his hand into the ground in front of him, creating a wall that shielded him from the incoming rocks. After blocking the last of the rock, Twister shot back with his lightning, which Red Tornado levitated off the ground and began to avoid the strikes, however the lightning struck a boat that was wedged into the ground causing it to explode and start a fire near Tornado, which caused the android to crash to the ground and spark.
Mister Twister then moved in and outstretched one of his hands, "Remain still android. The reprogramming won't take long," he mumbled in a menacing voice, as wires sprung from his fingertips and went to the head and neck area of Red Tornado attaching themselves to the downed android.
Red Tornado's head suddenly jerked forward, looking at Twister and a hand shot up and grabbed the wires. The head of Tornado slowly morphed into M'gann's head, but still possessed the body of Red Tornado, "Longer than you might think," M'gann stated.
"No," said a surprised Mister Twister, before M'gann using her telekinesis pushed Twister into Wally's own tornado he created. Wally using his tornado, sent a tumbling Mister Twister towards Superboy. Superboy grabbed onto Twister's left arm with a vice grip, and then landed several good punches into Twister's chest area, causing Twister to spark from the damage that he was taking.
Superboy, with one final blow, shot Twister across the dock and then the android plunged into the water. Several seconds later, there was a giant explosion from the water and Twister emerged back on the dock.
M'gann wasting no time, used her telekinesis to lift what was left of Twister into the air beside her and then used her powers to rip off his other arm and then held him in midair as Robin and Red Robin came out from behind their cover and threw birdarangs at the android, which exploded on impact, sending Twister face first plummeting into the ground.
As the heroes gathered and approached Twister, he knelt on his knees and his chest opened up, revealing a man, who then slumped to the ground, "Foul, I-I call foul," he said, looking up at the team from his place on the ground. M'gann using her telekinesis lifted up a rock off the ground and then dropped it on top of the man, despite Aqualad shouting no at her.
The entire team had wide eyes at what M'gann had just done. Robin was first to snap out of his daze, "Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!" he shouted at her.
M'gann smirked at his outburst, which got Red Robin to raise an eyebrow, "I thought you trusted me?" she asked, as she lifted the rock, showing what was left of the human android.
"Huh," was the first thing out of Red Robin's mouth, "An android controlling another android from inside….creepy," shaking his head and making a 'yuck' expression.
Wally walked forward and knelt down to what was left of the human android and found an eyeball, "Cool. Souvenir," he stated, putting the eyeball in his pocket.
Aqualad walked up beside M'gann, putting a hand on her shoulder, "We should have had more faith in you," he said, apologizing.
"Yeah, you rocked this mission," Wally said, "Get it? Rocked" which nobody laughed to at all.
"Ignore him. We're all just turbed you're on the team," said Robin, shaking his head at Wally.
"Thanks, me too" M'gann replied, happy that she was accepted.
"Yeah, sorry about earlier," Red Robin apologized for how they treated her after the earlier fiasco, "Definitely glad you're on the team."
"Thanks," M'gann said cheerfully, replying to Red Robin's apology and to him congratulating her on being part of the team.
Inside Mount Justice late at night, the team was huddled around a table with the bits and pieces of what was left from the human looking android, that was inside Mister Twister.
"It was clearly made to sabotage or destroy you," Aqualad stated, addressing Red Tornado.
"Agreed," the android replied.
"Is that why you didn't help us?" M'gann asked.
"No," came the blunt answer of the android, "It was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you, nor should you solve mine for me," he answered, getting looks from the rest of the team.
"Well if you're in danger and we can help…" Red Robin started.
"Consider this matter closed," Red Tornado interjected, before walking off.
Wally and Robin watched the android leave, "Batman, Aquaman, and Flash, they'd have jumped right in to fix things," stated Wally.
"Guess if we're going to have a babysitter, then a heartless machine is exactly what we need," Robin sighed, guesting towards Red Tornado with his hand.
Red Robin came up behind Robin and put his hand on his shoulder, "That was harsh partner," Red Robin scolded, shaking his head.
"And inaccurate," Red Tornado spoke, showing the team was still in hearing range, "I have a heart; carbon steel alloy," Red Tornado explained. Tornado then stopped and looked at the three boys who were just talking about him, "I also have excellent hearing," he added.
Red Robin nudged his partner in the back with his elbow, "Right. I'll strive to be more accurate," Robin spoke, letting out a nervous sigh.
"And more respectful," Red Robin added.
Kaldur made his way over to where his three friends stood, "Speedy…" Red Robin began.
"Was so wrong," Kid Flash continued.
"This team thing," Robin echoed.
"Might just work out after all," Kaldur added, closing the matter on that topic.
Red Robin's feelings on the team started to finally feel good. The accidental mission today made him feel like Batman wasn't sending him and Robin off to a daycare or some far-off school for troubled teenaged superheroes.
Hey ladies and gents. So here's the update and again I apologize for the extra wait. There wasn't much to change in this chapter since it mostly just follows the episode. Just changed some small action scenes with Mister Twister and some of the custom dialogue I threw in. If some of the custom dialogue is familiar I mostly just tweaked the dialogue from my Green Lantern story, which I do plan to continue, just not sure when. Still trying to work on some bugs.
Also dont forget to leave a review ans as usual PM ideas or questions. I also wanted to thank everyone for being supportive even after I messed up and had to redo some things for the story